Monday
VR Adventure:
Kicking it off with Supernatural. One thing that I might suggest is more banter about the setting itself. That whole transport yourself away to an incredible location is wonderful, and I find myself wanting to know a bit more about the areas we visit. That’s a tough ask for trainers though: to be a motivator, a music connoisseur, and a travel guide. Really love what they’ve done so far.
Food: 35
McDonald’s breakfast, steamed veggies, and I may have stolen a handful of my son’s goldfish crackers.
Weight: 189.4
Today’s Dive:
I changed the name from “Today’s Awesome” to “Today’s Dive” because I’m not sure I want killer robots to be branded with “awesome.” Still, as we consider warfare of the future, it’s worth considering the dangers. And there are dangers.
And while it may sound reassuring to have human control from the research and development stage, this also glosses over significant technological difficulties. Namely, that current algorithms are not predictable and understandable to human operators. So even if human operators supervise systems applying such algorithms when using force, they are not able to understand how these systems have calculated targets.
For Your Consideration:
Just a picture of the video. You don’t need to watch it. Y’all know what he said.
Tuesday
VR Adventure:
We go into Pistol Whip again! It’s really fun so far.
Food: 53
We go way over. It’s Fat Tuesday! Have a meaningful Lent tomorrow, to all who celebrate.
Weight: 188.4
Today’s Dive:
There are, in fact, at least one organization dedicated to stopping the rise of killer robots. Has informative links on the policy efforts. Also this Human Rights Watch group.
For Your Consideration:
Wednesday
VR Adventure:
You know, I said I was tired of the zombie knight sword fighting VR game, but I gave it another go and got super far. And I unlocked new swords! So I’m back in the game.
Food: 37
Hang out at some coffee shops, and my appetite got the best of me. Not terrible, but not great.
Weight: 189.2
Today’s Dive:
The first robot to fatally injure a human? An accidental industrial death in 1979. Heartbreaking stuff.
For Your Consideration:
Thursday
VR Adventure:
Nothing today.
Food: 21
Weight: 189.2
Today’s Dive:
A reminder however, that fears of artificial intelligence and machine learning aren’t really in a full takeover via Terminators/Skynet, but more subtle and destructive means. It reminds you of how brittle our world really is.
For Your Consideration:
Friday
VR Adventure:
More zombie knights. The new gear is pretty solid. But it might be a while before I beat the game, even on easy.
Food: 40
Weight: 190.2
Today’s Dive:
We don’t need to get into every bad robot being made out there, but these kamikaze drones are something else.
The killer drone whooshed out of its launch tube, spreading its carbon wings and shooting into the sky.
Flying too fast for the naked eye to track, the battery-powered robot circled the Utah desert, hunting for the target it had been programmed to strike. Moments later, it sailed through the driver’s side window of an empty pickup truck and exploded in a fireball.
“Good hit,” exclaimed an operator from AeroVironment, the company that produces the drone and sells it to the U.S. military.
…
“There are over 100 countries and nonstate groups that have drones today, and the technology is widely proliferating,” said Paul Scharre, a former Army Ranger who is a scholar at the Center for a New American Security and the author of “Army of None,” a book about autonomous weapons. “It levels the playing field between the U.S. and terrorist groups or rebel groups in a way that's certainly not good for the United States.”
Today’s small lethal drones are difficult to detect on radar, and they can even be programmed to hit targets without human intervention, based on facial recognition or some other computer wizardry. And while the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security are spending billions of dollars to come up with “counter drone” technology, experts say there is, as yet, no foolproof version of it.
For Your Consideration:
Saturday
VR Adventure:
Big ol’ Supernatural workout. Excited that the hard-mode boxing workout I did featured P.O.D. It was full of nu-metal, like Limp Bizcuit (not great), and Linkin Park (better). I submit that nothing provides more pre-game athletic hype than a good nu-metal soundtrack.
Food: 33
Weight: 189.8
Today’s Dive:
Apropos of nothing, the Department of Homeland Security has a post excited to deploy robot dogs at the border.
For Your Consideration:
Sunday
VR Adventure:
None.
Food: 45
Weight: 188.4
Today’s Dive:
I hesitate to wade into debates on killer robots, because it seems clear that they are pretty clearly a terrible idea. That’s probably what someone like me would say about anything the military does that’s new though. There are reasons the military and proponents want robots on the battlefield.
“For example, there is the claim that robots can be sent to do ‘dull, dangerous and dirty’ jobs without having to risk a human soldier, sailor or aviator – far better for a machine to get destroyed than for a member of the armed forces to be killed or maimed.
…
“They also argue that LAWS [lethal autonomous weapons systems] will be less prone to using indiscriminate force, because they don’t get scared, angry or confused in the way that human combatants can in the midst of combat.”
I notice that the writer of the book laying out the debate doesn’t really have an answer here:
“The other main type of argument is that, consequences aside, it’s simply fundamentally wrong to allow a machine to make the choice to kill a human being.”
There are so many reasons to oppose killer robots. That last one is pretty powerful. It takes a prominent spot at www.stopkillerrobots.org
Whether on the battlefield or at a protest, machines cannot make complex ethical choices, they cannot comprehend the value of human life. Machines don’t understand contexts or consequences: understanding is a human capability – and without that understanding we lose moral engagement and we undermine existing legal rules.
Let the record show that after weighing the arguments, I hereby oppose killer robots. (Very brave of me, of course). Kind of nuts that at the moment we have, and have had for a while, something far worse: nuclear weapons. Every day we don’t have nuclear winter is a little bit a miracle.
For Your Consideration:
Outro:
Well, no new lows for the week individually, but we’re at our lowest weekly average: 189.2. We’re creeping along, losing a tenth of a pound a week here and there. Tough going this plateau.