<story><title>Israel&apos;s autonomous &apos;robo-snipers&apos; and suicide drones raise ethical dilemma</title><url>https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-autonomous-robo-snipers-and-suicide-drones-raise-ethical-dilemma-44557</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jbob2000</author><text>You could argue that the Iron Dome has allowed the Israelis to perpetuate the conflict. If Israel citizens were faced with actually dying, they might push for a peaceful resolution faster.</text></item><item><author>fossuser</author><text>Reminds me in a weird way of this episode: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt0708414&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt0708414&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;A culture has computer simulated war and “casualties” must report to euthanasia chambers.&lt;p&gt;This was the end result agreed to to stop actual bombings.&lt;p&gt;Of course, the officers disrupt it in the end. But it’d be interesting if they returned and nothing was left but craters.&lt;p&gt;More on topic, iron dome is an automated missile interception system and works well to protect Israelis from missile attacks. Just because a system is automated doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad idea, but obviously there’s high risk.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Iron_Dome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Iron_Dome&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rossdavidh</author><text>So, I realize that lots of apocalyptic projections get made about AI that have a habit of not coming true, but this seems like an awful idea.  Also, an awfully hard one to resist.  If your opponent has fast-as-a-computer-can-pull-the-trigger firepower, it&amp;#x27;s going to be pretty hard to resist the urge to get your own.&lt;p&gt;Once you have two sides with automated offensive capability, we are one bug away from the kind of mistakes that, during the Cold War, were intercepted by humans in the loop.  I&amp;#x27;m not sure how this can NOT end badly.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dang</author><text>Flamebait like this is totally unacceptable on HN, regardless of how you feel about the underlying topic. We ban accounts that damage the site this way. No more of this please.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;newsguidelines.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;newsguidelines.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Israel&apos;s autonomous &apos;robo-snipers&apos; and suicide drones raise ethical dilemma</title><url>https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israel-s-autonomous-robo-snipers-and-suicide-drones-raise-ethical-dilemma-44557</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jbob2000</author><text>You could argue that the Iron Dome has allowed the Israelis to perpetuate the conflict. If Israel citizens were faced with actually dying, they might push for a peaceful resolution faster.</text></item><item><author>fossuser</author><text>Reminds me in a weird way of this episode: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt0708414&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.imdb.com&amp;#x2F;title&amp;#x2F;tt0708414&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;A culture has computer simulated war and “casualties” must report to euthanasia chambers.&lt;p&gt;This was the end result agreed to to stop actual bombings.&lt;p&gt;Of course, the officers disrupt it in the end. But it’d be interesting if they returned and nothing was left but craters.&lt;p&gt;More on topic, iron dome is an automated missile interception system and works well to protect Israelis from missile attacks. Just because a system is automated doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad idea, but obviously there’s high risk.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Iron_Dome&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Iron_Dome&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>rossdavidh</author><text>So, I realize that lots of apocalyptic projections get made about AI that have a habit of not coming true, but this seems like an awful idea.  Also, an awfully hard one to resist.  If your opponent has fast-as-a-computer-can-pull-the-trigger firepower, it&amp;#x27;s going to be pretty hard to resist the urge to get your own.&lt;p&gt;Once you have two sides with automated offensive capability, we are one bug away from the kind of mistakes that, during the Cold War, were intercepted by humans in the loop.  I&amp;#x27;m not sure how this can NOT end badly.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fossuser</author><text>On the subject of ethics - proportionate response, narrow targeting, and trying not to kill civilians are good things.&lt;p&gt;This topic is too political to have a nuanced internet discussion and quickly dissolved into weird anti-semitism most of the time.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;samharris.org&amp;#x2F;podcasts&amp;#x2F;why-dont-i-criticize-israel&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;samharris.org&amp;#x2F;podcasts&amp;#x2F;why-dont-i-criticize-israel&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>