Swarming drones on 60 minutes

Geo-TH,In · Aug 21, 2017

Recently posted an article where a beer truck drove 120 miles in Colorado without a driver.

Some are saying we are on the edge of drones working together, communicating, learning, artificial intelligence.

A lot of what if questions. Some think if this works it will change our military. They even showed a ship that has a range of 10k miles that can operate without sailors. Who would think we could wage war with loss of human life on our side. I can't imagine what would happen if our enemies had this technology and we didn't. They are saying this could be bigger than the atomic bomb.

Who would think computer technology would be so advanced.
geo
swarming drones.

jm. · Aug 21, 2017

George I watched the 60 minutes thing and yes it is or will be a game changer but my first question on the swarming drones was what was powering those things, Has to be battery powered, but they never mentioned flight time. Seems like they were getting a lot of work out of a little battery. Maybe the military has developed better batteries.

Deere Scotty · Aug 21, 2017

Probably a repeat! I saw a story several months ago with f-18's (I think it was) dropping about a hundred drones on 60 minutes. Yeah its kinda frightening to think about. An old B & W episode of the Outer Limits had the scenario of Brainwashed Soliders fighting to the death. This goes a step beyond! Just last week a prominent Billionaire came out & warned us about a computer that is able to learn how to play a wargame, & deafeat its human opponent. Which did happen last week!

buickanddeere · Aug 21, 2017

Drones lack the ability to discern variables, "shades of grey" or put two and two together ".
Computers can play a game of chess or a video game battle field. As far as what we see in TV and movies and begin to believe it is real be it T-800, T-850 , T-1000 and TX Terminators . Or Star Trek with hand held phasers with Mega Watt power supplies .

JML755 · Aug 21, 2017

Saw the same episode last night. Funny thing is that I rarely watch TV and sat down for a few minutes and found something worthwhile on the idiot box regular channels.

The drones DID communicate with each other. Reminded me of a flock of small birds (starlings? sparrows?) who fly in unison w/o crashing into each other. See them all the time around here. As for battery power, a number of the drones crashed when their battery power gave out.

I was wondering why the military was showing this. It would seem to me to be classified information. The idea must have been to show our enemies what they're in for to give them pause to think. However, IMO, that's wishful thinking. When you're dealing with people who have no respect for ANY human life (their own included), a few drones won't make them come out waving a white flag.

Anyway, I applaud the concept. This technology is a game changer when it comes to surveillance and troop assistance.

Mark-Mi · Aug 21, 2017

What would Hal think?

BarnyardEngineering · Aug 21, 2017

It's going to be a while before we see walking metal Arnold Schwarzeneggers, but we're not far off from the machines depicted at the end of Terminator 3, when they first turned on humanity and launched the nukes. Strap a gun to a large autonomous quadcopter drone, and you're pretty much there.

All that seemed so far fetched in the 1980's. Now it's coming true.

Maybe self-awareness is impossible, but I would like to know how the designers of these things are programming them to ensure that some logic flaw isn't going to cause the Terminator movies to come true.

kcm.MN · Aug 21, 2017

Barnyard, well said!

It's not the folks designing and building the newest technology that worries me - it's the people [b:bbf49ffa05]above them[/b:bbf49ffa05] who are paying for that technology to be created!

JML755 · Aug 21, 2017

Actually, part of the episode showed robots that the military was considering arming and said they had the technology for them to recognize an enemy and presumably terminate them. They also said it more of an "ethical" question and that current policy will not allow a "machine" to kill someone without human command, i.e. pulling the trigger.

paul · Aug 21, 2017

Star Trek and many other sci fi movies have had the war of machines themes, what happens when we get to that point? And it looks like we will.

If humans are taken out of war, it gets pretty easy to fight a war - the higher ups don't see much at stake.

But then, who wins or loses, and how? Our machines beat their machines, but what was gained or lost? How will such a 'war' be judged by future generations? When one side has their machines lose, do we keep going after the people, or.... What was won or lost?

Lot of ethics, as always in war, questions.

Tomahawk missiles are the early stage, as we continue to computerize driving on public roads so everyone can be on their cell phones 100% of the time instead of the current 75% while driving, all this technology will become simple and small and easy enough.

Paul

Two Dogs · Aug 21, 2017

They may even learn to drive Navy destroyers.

BarryfromIA · Aug 21, 2017

You mean drive destroyers without hitting an oil tanker.

Traditional Farmer · Aug 21, 2017

The military already has drones flying around killing people,all they have to do is to create a fleet of them.Great idea in my opinion try them out in N Korea.

Ray · Aug 21, 2017

I wonder if I could short that beer truck signal out and drive it to my house.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 21, 2017

Keep in mind this is proving a swarm of drones is possible. We can't fathom what the final generation will look like.

Good chance they will exceed anyone's expectations. And yes we don't know what we don't know and there will br a lot of what IFs.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 21, 2017

Eliminating the human factor will put an
end to many accidents and save lifes.

dr sportster · Aug 21, 2017

The question was is it ethical for a drone to make a decision on taking human life without any human involvement. A fighter jet can release all the drones it wants but that SAM will still be seeking the aircraft not the drones.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 21, 2017

60 minutes covered that. Humans have to pull the trigger.

Traditional Farmer · Aug 22, 2017

The point of War is to kill as many of the enemy and destroy as much of their equipment as possible so if we have a drone that can ID the enemy then let them have at it.

Bill VA · Aug 22, 2017

I think I'd be more concerned with the gubernet "drones" regulating us out of our old iron tractors due to emissions standards. It may be that before we run out of fossil fuel, you'll be required to turn your old (yet still productive) tractor into the crusher and choose between going out of business or spending north of $50k for a "clean" tractor.

buickanddeere · Aug 22, 2017

. Socialist republic of Kalifornia has for years regulated out of state transportations and industrial equipment from entering the state or regions within the state.
Some older engines are legislated to be destroyed rather than rebuilt.

Swarming drones on 60 minutes

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