Banking on the notion that programming glitches are entirely preventable, the U.S. Army is commissioning studies on the creation of autonomous armed robots that could find and destroy targets on their own. Ronald Arkin, one of the robotics experts working on the study, feels that “Robots can be built that do not exhibit fear, anger, frustration or revenge, and that ultimately behave in a more humane manner than even human beings in these harsh circumstances.”

As a programmer, I have this to say: Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I had to actually check the article date to make sure it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke. Even assuming that we could come up with some kind of AI routine to tell an enemy combatant from a friendly soldier or a civilian or, y’know, a wombat; and further assuming we could implement Arkin’s proposed “ethical governor” so that the robot followed proper rules of engagement; there’s still the issue of making sure that code malfunctions aren’t possible. Good luck with that.

Link (via Posthuman Blues)