Killer Robot Weapons Lab

After watching the dreary Terminator: Genysis movie last night, I read a couple of articles (see links below) about the controversy surrounding "autonomous artificial intelligence weapons." These hypothetical weapons could be available soon, if those articles can be believed.

Photo courtesy of
The Doctor Who Experience.

In crude terms, these could be "killer robots" that seek and destroy without meaningful human control. Steven Hawking, Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak warned against the danger of developing such weapons several years ago. Back then, these noted geniuses believed the technology to deploy armed robotic "quadcopters" (such as those in the Terminator movie franchise) was only a few years away.

That was in 2015. It is now 2018.

If my arithmetic is correct, killer robots may be coming for us any old time now. How would you like to wake up in the middle of the night and find an autonomous artificial intelligence weapon rolling through your bedroom door, flashing and beeping and waving mechanical arms and squawking "Exterminate -- exterminate --" in a harsh electronic voice like a Dalek in a Doctor Who episode?

Let's work together, as Canned Heat counselled in their 1970 hit song. Team up with misfits, weirdos and hopheads. Hide out in cabins in the mountains. Get off the grid in shacks in the desert. Fight back against Daleks, robotic quadcopters or whatever the hell they are. Together we will stand, every boy, girl, woman and man, as ol' Bob "The Bear" Hite counselled nearly 50 years ago.

References

Canned Heat. Let's Work Together. YouTube video.

McLean, Asha. Researchers boycott Korean university over killer robot weapons lab. ZDNet. April 5, 2018.

Shalal, Andrea. Researchers to boycott South Korean university over weapons work. Reuters. April 4, 2018.