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- trojanbark@lemmy.worldEnglish10 days
Sorry but what the fuck did they think they were making these stupid ass things for
- MBech@feddit.dkEnglish10 days
I guess some people see a difference between using them to hunt poor brown people in the middle east, and using them to hunt down poor brown people (or better yet,
protestetsenemies of the state) in USA.Clearly these and the humanoid robot, were always just going to be used as machines of war, wether it be domestically or internationally.
- 10 days
I’m sorry, where do you get the idea these are made for war? Is that what you think whenever you see a machine shop or a hardware aisle?
- MBech@feddit.dkEnglish9 days
Where do you get the idea that these aren’t for war?
Why else would the Department of War (Formerly Defence) have dumped $123m into the company over the last 18 years?
- 9 days
Fair point but there’s a huge gap between “this company receives DOD funding” and “these robots are designed to hurt people”.
I’ve worked in robotics and I’ve worked for companies that have accepted government contracts. Funding can be challenging in the robotics industry so using gov contracts to develop generally applicable technology is tempting. I would never work on a system designed to hurt people, and I want to give the engineers at Boston Dynamics the benefit of the doubt that I would want.
Spot and Atlas both look like glorified tech demos to me. I have a hard time imagining them as any kind of effective weapons platform, even though they can look uncanny-valley scary. Especially when we already have effective robot weapons: drone with a bomb.
- 9 days
Fair point but there’s a huge gap between “this company receives DOD funding” and “these robots are designed to hurt people”.
No there’s not, lmao
- cecilkorik@piefed.caEnglish9 days
The gap may be huge morally but it’s very narrow in practice. The problem is that general purpose includes any purpose, including murder. It’s rather different from airborne drones because it can be much stealthier and can simply move into position in advance, wait in silence and strike without warning and like drones it is effectively disposable so there would be very little form of effective defense against such tactics deployed at scale, but qualitative differences like that aren’t really the main point we should be concerned about. The point is, we cannot ignore the extreme, profound danger these technologies pose to the protection and continued functioning of human civilization simply because it is not designed for it. It may be too late to stop it completely, but that’s absolutely no excuse for leaving it unchecked and allowing it to run rampant.
Nuclear weapons technology never stopped developing, but as humans, we all agreed it was too dangerous to let proliferate freely, and we have kept it in check and so far managed to avoid annihilating ourselves with it. It may not be the greatest success story, but it is the best we’ve been able to do, and there’s no reason not to keep trying, if the alternative is annihilation, and I believe in both cases it is.
- 9 days
Thanks for the thoughtful response. Yeah I’ve seen the Ghost Robotics prototype and I’m not a fan.
I agree with you about keeping a watchful eye on the potential dangers of developing technologies. My original point was simply to add nuance to the “robot = weapon” reaction. These things are tools. A knife can prepare food or inflict harm.
I think these days all of the new tech seems shitty or scary because of societal issues. Like how the absolute worst people in the world are in charge of these companies.
- 9 days
My worldview that the United States’ technology breakthroughs will be used to kill civilians across the globe? Yeah I don’t have to worry about being wrong, pretty much ever about that, lol.
- VubDapple@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
First thing I thought when I saw these robot dogs years ago was “gun platform”
10 daysI think they got too used to mines and other industries using them for lidar inspections and forgot that they were literally working for a defence contractor.
- SHY_TUCKER@lemmy.mlEnglish10 days
“Defense” Contractor? The 20th Century called, they want their “Woke” terminology back. These guys contract with “The department of War” now.
Search-and-rescue operations in a hostile environment (e.g. Fukushima nuclear accident)
- cecilkorik@piefed.caEnglish9 days
Are they actually radiation-hardened though? My understanding was that robots for radioactive work tend to be extremely simplistic because of that limitation, and you probably don’t want a radioactive particle flipping a bit that makes the dog decide now would be a great time to do a backflip into the spent fuel pool.
- 9 days
@cecilkorik No, they are not. The most rad hard robots survive only a short time in places like the melted Fukushima reactors.
- TrackShovel@lemmy.todayEnglish10 days
Man, these T-1 Terminators are sweet! They have Vulcan gatling guns on them! Just think of all the flowers you can put in the barrels!
- Wolfram@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
I was forced to sit through a military tech demo at a school I went to, and they showed off using Boston dynamics type dogs for “rescue”. But I think we all knew where that was going as soon as it had anything to do with military. The Boston Dynamics employees have to be delusional to think this wasn’t on the cards.
- gastroglizzy@piefed.socialEnglish10 days
And just what in the fuck did you think the autonomous robot dogs were going to be used for, exactly??
Boston Dynamics has been very upfront about the fact that they’ve been developing the robot dogs for “police and military” applications. This protest is performative; they’ve known exactly what they’re doing for a very long time.
- Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish10 days
Workers at Terminator factory upset that Terminators being sold to people who love Terminating
- Carl@anarchist.nexusEnglish9 days
No, you don’t understand! The company said we were designing our robots to be able to hold a gun, so that it could use seed cannons to autonomously plant trees! So that it could use squirtguns to fight fires! So that it could play laser tag with children! Why would they lie about something like that?
- ElChinchilla@lemmy.worldEnglish10 days
I thought Black Mirror nailed it.
The real helpful usage could be a pack animal type carrier, but I dont think that causes enough Pain and Suffering^^tm^^ to appease the overlords.
- uber_chicken@lemmy.worldEnglish10 days
They thought they would be used in other countries. Not theirs
Well, they ain’t gonna do much. For $1.3M they’re only getting 3 or 4. You couldn’t control my little redneck town with 4 robots.
- gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish10 days
Dr. Venture: Weapon? What are you talking about? Why the applications are limitless.
UN Science Director: Are you kidding me? You blew up a model city with it. What are we suppose to think? Look, it even melted all the little people and stuff. Awww.
Dr. Venture: Well, I suppose if it ever fell into the wrong hands it could be modified and used as a weapon after a fashion. But thats true of almost any technology.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
Not for MAGA’s ICE and their controversial ways, but for respectable, well trained police, soldiers, and commercial manufacturers.
Well this is about the US, so I’ll focus on them. Their police kill 1000 people every year and the US has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world, as well as the single largest imprisoned population. As for soldiers, their wars kill people by the millions.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
Not news. Sounds like you’re trying to normalize MAGA’s quota driven, race-profiling, warrant bypassing, masked ICE. No such thing existed when employees joined Boston Dynamics.
The exact opposite. I’m trying to tell you that the US is an evil country and always has been, long before MAGA.
It has one of the most violent police forces in the world, the most violent military in the world, and that is who they were making robot dogs for before ICE. That’s why this is so ridiculous, they’re acting like their hands were clean before.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
I would not expect any country to give up police and defence. But I think ICE can return to what it was before MAGA. I’m willing to criticize MAGA and their ICE, but not the US as a whole.
Sometimes I worry that maybe the state doesn’t have our best interests in mind 👉👈
- humanspiral@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
It’s people like you that require state to have robodogs with machine gun turrets on them.
- 10 days
Here at Torment Nexus we’re appalled that our company is going to sell the newest Torment Nexus to an organization that wants to use it to torment. We thought our management would act differently. After all, they’ve read “Don’t Build the Torment Nexus” just like we have and they know the risks of the Torment Nexus getting into the wrong hands.
- LuigiMaoFrance@lemmy.mlEnglish9 days
Are we supposed to believe those employees weren’t aware of Boston Dynamics long history of being funded by DARPA with the explicit intent of employing their robots for state use?
https://www.darpa.mil/node/2035
https://www.darpa.mil/about/innovation-timeline/atlas-robot-debut
- AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
There are legit uses, such as bomb disposal and military scouting. At one point their ads focussed on carrying supplies
But this is not one of those
- cpbsy@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
DARPA is not ICE. They have different focuses geographically, politically, technically, and culturally.
- IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
One kills brown people abroad and the other one kills brown people internally
- cpbsy@lemmy.worldEnglish8 days
I’m not siding with them, just pointing out that their position isn’t logically inconsistent.
- yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
“We cannot be proud of working at [Boston Dynamics] when that work is being used by a government agency that brutalizes civilians, including some of our own colleagues … ,” the petition read.
But like, what did they think their dogs would be used for? Walks in the park? Of bit ICE, then what?
- ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zipEnglish10 days
I mean…up to this point they’ve been used as advanced scouts in disaster areas, as well as equipment carriers for rough terrain. Non violent functions.
Didn’t they have videos of guns strapped to these things like ten years ago? This was obviously always gonna be how they’re used.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
No, ICE being funded with billions, poorly trained, and working with quotas and masks, instead of warrants, was never predictable with high confidence.
- yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
Year I view it kind of like firearms. You can say you have one for self defence but they’re used more for crime and war and hunting.
- idiomaddict@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
Paramilitaries are exactly the same as militaries, without the official sanction.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
Which confirms they are not “exactly the same”. The ICE agents I’ve seen are unprofessional, and not nearly as disciplined as military soldiers able to march, run obstacle courses, and instill confidence in civilians.
- yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
Maybe by definition, but in practice ICE looks like the military these days.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
The military only works on US soil when called upon to help people, never to hurt anyone. ICE mimicking a military look is to intimidate people. They have shown to be much less competent than the military, and without being called for.
- melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
ICE has lots of money it seems. Too bad the american people hardly have any.
- 9 days
They, If you are American and you want money you can join Trump’s private militia and hope that you don’t get Nurnberg’d when he flees the country
This is only $1.4 million for 3-4 dogs. Not a big deal financially or operationally. Not sure why they’re even bothering.
- melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
That’s enough for breeding stock, if I understand my robot dog sex correctly. /s
Who did they think their market would be?
Of course it’s ICE, and any other government agency with a budget to burn through.
- redballooon@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
You see, being the good guys that they are,they wanted that going against people with darker skins in other countries.
- TheObviousSolution@lemmy.caEnglish9 days
They are really going to be used for one thing: walking flock surveillance. They are going to be deployed around neighborhoods to see who they can spot that’s latino looking enough or who’s simply on their suspect list. Wanna bet if they will get the local police departments to deploy them for ICE as well? They will spot suspects, build a profile, and when they have enough ICE moves in.
What I expected robots to be uses for when I was a kid:
- Construction operations.
- High risk rescue operations.
- Hazardous environment operations.
What robots are actually going to be used for:
- Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
The company’s ethical principles state “if our products are being used for harm, we will take appropriate measures to mitigate that misuse.” However, it’s unclear what those mitigation measures would be.
ICE’s entire purpose is to cause harm, you stupid assholes!
Boston Dynamics was a much cooler company when they were known as Boston Acoustics, selling car audio gear.
- mangobanana@discuss.onlineEnglish9 days
The most batshit insane thing about this whole ice and immigration nonsense is that about 99% of Americans do not want a Gestapo running the streets under the guise of getting rid of immigrants. I am so sick and tired of supposed politicians who are supposed to be representing the American people and the people’s will, just doing whatever the fuck they want. Sure, a small minority of Americans really love the Gestapo aspect of torturing people who are undocumented (which by the way is a misdemeanor, it’s paperwork for fucksake) it’s really sad and pathetic that people support this.
The most batshit insane thing is that not a single bullet has been launched in their direction. Masked, armed men, no uniform, no warrants, beating, kidnapping and killing with utter impunity.
Totally not related, but anyone can buy their gear, including the POLICE patch on Amazon. These people could be anyone.
- FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.worldEnglish9 days
Gang tactics. They roll up on one person and harass them while brandishing weapons at anyone nearby. I’d love to see a few unmasked posthumously but they can radio for backup and your average citizen cannot.
- DeadEndLink@lemmy.caEnglish10 days
It’s super funny that cops think they won’t eventually be replaced by some version of this shit.
