Wednesday, November 13, 2013
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killer robots ‘threat to humanity’
Campaigners want deathbots banned
A FIRST step towards banning ‘killer robot’ weapons that think for themselves could be taken by the international community later this week. Nations will vote on whether to consider the move at the annual meeting of the Convention on Conventional Weapons taking place in Geneva on Friday. Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is urging governments to back the mandate, which could lead to a global agreement not to develop fully autonomous drones that select and engage targets without human intervention. ‘Governments should begin to act now to ensure that human control over targeting and attack decisions is never relinquished to machines in the future,’ said Steve Goose, from Human Rights Watch, a co-founder of the Campaign. Fully-independent functioning weapons do not yet exist but drones operated by the US, UK, Israel and South
by john von radoWitz
Korea already have some degree of autonomy and some military hi-tech countries, such as China and Russia, are believed to be moving towards systems that would leave combat decisions to machines, say campaigners. Scenarios of Terminator-type machines wiping out the human race seem far-fetched, but Mr Goose and his colleagues believe the dangers of releasing human control over ‘intelligent’ weapon systems are very real. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is an international coalition of 44 non-governmental organisations in 21 countries launched this year. Prof Noel Sharkey, chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control said it is possible to prevent the development of autonomous robot weapons, ‘but only if we act now before there is too much investment’.
Fears: Campaigners believe the dangers of killer robots are ‘very real’
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A security guard stands near an artwork titled Shark Bra during the Young Malaysian Artist New Objection exhibition at a gallery in Kuala Lumpur. The piece took two months and 300 bras to complete, according to its creator, Louis Low Picture: reuters
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