Comments on: RoboSoldier is near

By: Ben-David

Ben-David — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:52:29 +0000

Anything that makes Israeli responses less and less “proportional” is OK in my book… unless this will be used to justify further withdrawals.

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:45:26 +0000

This is horrible. High tech is really dangeous when one thinks about it, and certainly there will be innocents killed. Seems if its a machine, they can brush off easier as an accident. But, people need to beware, as Governments could use these forces on anybody, and who is to know, when they may use such devices on their own people. I truly don’t trust them.

By: Soccerdad

Soccerdad — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:13:56 +0000

The full Gregg Easterbrook post is no longer available, but Noah Schachtman references it.

By: John M.

John M. — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:54:15 +0000

Ugh. As a former military officer, I am somewhat uncomfortable with this. Part of the responsibility of discharging ordnance is positive identification of the target. I know we already have remote systems that give as good or better ID than a human on site (Predator, etc.), but it all just seems too creepy to me. Too removed. Too much like a video game.

There was a guy several months ago that offered virtual hunting over the internet. Users would target animals in an enclosure via webcam and fire the weapon remotely. The antlers and meat were shipped to them FedEx. There was outrage over this, not because the animals deserved a better chance, but because it somehow insulated the shooter from direct moral responsibility. This seems similar.

By: Tom Frank

Tom Frank — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:53:48 +0000

Not bad, but when will they install the Phalanx system to shoot down the Qassam’s? That would be much more valuable.