For your entertainment our Ameer, I dug out a couple of pieces I wrote for a course a few years ago. I don't remember what the questions were exactly, but they were meant for discussion
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Here I am, brain the size of a planet…” **
Today’s robots lack the capabilities to devise a threat, are unable to communicate it effectively to each other, and are not numerous enough to execute it. We can wait for their batteries to run out, fleeing up stairs is not necessary.
To reach a situation of impending domination, obstacles must be tackled:
- Mobility – ground-based robots are currently restricted to carefully controlled environments, though the rover Spirit has been guided round Mars for over 3.5 years.
- Autonomy – Research continues into improving solar and biomass energy supply. Robots will need to meet their own energy needs, and be able to repair themselves and/or construct new robots.
- Intelligence – increased computer power and disk storage is not sufficient. Robots need programming, and sophisticated behaviours such as free will require sophisticated programs.
Extensive studies will be conducted on anatomy and psychology of living creatures. While new technologies evolve, cures for thousands of ailments may arise; the question may be better “What kind of world would robots take over?”
Proponents of Weak AI dismiss all question of a robot takeover, while proponents of Strong AI cannot predict the outcome of such intelligence, even the safeguards of Asimov’s Laws had unforeseen outcomes. All robots might sink into depression instead. World domination simply plays on our fears and makes lurid scenarios for Science-Fiction.
** Edit: For anyone reading this, I should add this is a reference to my favourite fiction robot ever, Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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Robot Wars – A New Hope?
Potential applications for robots in the military are not just in the domain of Science Fiction, some are already in use. Goalkeeper CIWS - Robotic anti-missile guns using radar, working completely independent of human interaction once started are used by the Royal Navy to protect warships. MQ-9 Reapers - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped not only for surveillance but with attack capabilities have been used by the RAF in Afghanistan. Small, mobile TALON robots have been used in Bosnia for bomb disposal.
Robot tanks and humanoid soldiers are in development, but not without many challenges. Mobility in varying terrains remains difficult, as does the sophisticated intelligence required for target recognition. While the public may have few issues with a bomb-disposal robot, potential androids with heavy armaments moving among civilians are surely more alarming.
Progress has been made in support roles, eg medical care. While public opinion may be divided, preservation of human life is a highly compelling argument. Whereas human-human combat has high mortality rates, in the future one soldier could remotely command an entire army, wars could be fought without a single casualty. The fully robotic battlefield scenes of Star Wars films are however still several years away.