Shades of Terminator

I love the Terminator movies (minus the foul language, which my DVD guardian system beeps out for me). I can envision a planet that has been taken over by artificially intelligent machines that some wacko dictator or subversive government has developed.

That’s why this article caught my attention.

For those not inclined to go and read the article, here’s a synopsis.

University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey is warning that technology is producing more autonomous robots that have the ability to act in the place of the human soldier on the battlefield.

Sounds great. Less loss of life – a clash of robots instead of a world war bloodbath, right?

So what happens if this type of technology gets into the wrong hands?

What about terrorism? Instead of a terrorist strapping on a bomb, just send in a robot.

And what about robots making life and death decisions on their own, totally apart from their makers?

"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me," Sharkey said.

Interesting stuff.