Now that brilliant looking duo, the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F22 Raptor, stealth-tech enabled air superiority aircraft capable of ground attack, electronic warfare and SIGINT, the current golden boy (or should I say bird?) of the United States Air Force....forget the payload and tech-specs, the design alone tells me that its no time to go bird-watching when this mean mother-** is in the skies. And am I hearing what I'm hearing?? Big bad birdie is gonna be the last of its generation, with no planned successor. Instead, the Pentagon has decided to ditch the pilots and send the future versions of it, unmanned.
And no kidding here. Its part of the Pentagon's initiative to revamp the US army by taking out most of the human element and fill in the blanks with AI enabled, unmanned warbots which in addition to having a degree of self-awareness, will also be able to measure the degree of hostility of the opposing party and act accordingly. The net budget is estimated to hit a staggering 130bil, driving up American military budget by 20% with a projected deadline of 2 decades. Remote controlled warbots have already shown success in Afghanistan, probably killing off both terrorists and camel-herders in the caves (they fucking look the same anyway). One particular bot codenamed the Predator (wtf were they thinking) had effectively sent 12 jihadis holed up in some vehicle right to Hell.
The next generation calls for advanced AI. And according to Gordon Johnson of the US Joint Forces Research Centre, its not a question of 'if' but 'when'. Of course why not, since its cost effective anyway? Why spend millions training a pilot (who might OD on dope mid-flight anyway) when the same job could be done by a software program designed by a team of geeks? That'd cost a nominal paycheck, on the house pizzas and beers at the most. Naah, thats oversimplifying it for the brain-dead types I'm all too familiar with, but if you examine this from an economic standpoint, the brachiosaurus-worthy bulk expense is only in the creation. Once the system is up and running, maintainence of a software code will hardly be a fraction of the cost involved in maintaining a human equivalent (and far more effecient in a sense). Staggering monthly wages for military personnel, not forgetting the costs involved in repeat trainings, equipment, upkeep, fuckloads of pensions etc, become redundant. The long-term fiscal gains ARE lucrative.(at the expense of human lives that you can conveniently blame on "tech glitches" and "industrial accidents". Think Uncle Sam gives a shit?)
These are gonna be designed to work in units, comprising of 2000 men and 150 bots, inclusive of land-based infantry units and drone aircraft. Military lawyers have pointed out that it would be perfectly legal to send out machines with decision making abilities, decisions which concern life and death. According to Mr Johnson, advanced machines which decide to kill on the battlefield after deeming a possible target hostile, would be legal. (I wonder if that legality would include shooting down a kid armed with a super-soaker. How the fuck is the machine gonna know the difference?)
This is the moral dilemma facing some computer developers stateside...what if the bot makes a mistake, especially one equipped with sufficient payload to incinerate an entire community, like big bad birdies above. But hey who cares? Some douchebag surrounded by bigger dipshits in the government (not mine but the world's) decides to save a few extra pennies, and we have the all-clear signal for this project.
Head over to http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/pentagramrobotarmy.html and follow the links from there to read more on the current stages of the project. America has already cranked up the juice on this, and the UK is following suit. (what else can I expect from the little servant boy of the States?)
Check out the charts above. Those are currently in the development stage.
Oh and in case if you are wondering who's that Oriental chick up there in the pics, thats no chick. Go check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EveR2-Muse. So here we have a couple of gynoids developed in the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, EveR-1 and EveR-2. A couple more are underway, with increased intelligence, hydraulic systems, motion data process sensors, the works and would probably be able to sing, dance, fuck etc etc. (ok not that last one...I'd leave that to the Jappos) Check out the link seriously. Oh and did I forget to mention, EveR-2 is covered in soft, artificial skin. Man! Gotta give it to them though. This one looks more human than the dehumanized natural variants you tend to get over-exposed to on a working day.
Don't ask me which one is that chick above though. They all look the same, East Asians that is.
The technophilic side of me though, dictates that I should get myself that doggiebot below (as long as I can still shut it down without getting my arm yanked out). Check the video. This is an advancement in the AI's learning ability. To navigate rough terrain it has NOT been exposed to yet, via trial and error. (Hey that's something!! I know some female who can't navigate around a drain without getting her stiletto heels stuck in the grill)
Nice knowing all you lovely darlings, and hope to see u guys in hell with me. We are getting closer to judgement day...:(
*peace*
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