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Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by JumpCrisscross on Sunday March 14, 2021 @04:13PM (#26458608)
> 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

There is a massive difference between guns on automated fire control and an AI aiming missiles.

One could argue that, by making the fire control guaranteed, the border might stop being challenged and deaths thus go down. (Nobody to taunt, either.)

Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by m463 on Sunday March 14, 2021 @04:21PM (#26458708)
> One could argue that, by making the fire control guaranteed,

Landmines work by the same principle. Many killed by landmines are children.

> 87% of the casualties were civilians and 47% were children (less than 18 years old).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_mine#Casualties

Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by JumpCrisscross on Sunday March 14, 2021 @04:26PM (#26458773)
> Landmines work by the same principle

Not really. Mine fields are not certain death. They don’t always have the opportunity to announce themselves. Guns on automated fire control have the option of announcing themselves prior to engaging. They can also be turned off, something not easy to do with mines.

It’s painful but necessary to note that Hamas have a track record of weaponising children [1]. A child approaching the border is thus not guaranteed safe, and could reasonably be fired upon by a human or a gun on automated fire control. (Not arguing for killing kids. Just that “kids could get killed” isn’t an effective argument against this weapons platform.)

War is terrible. I don’t think automatic guns make it significantly more terrible. (Landmines do.)

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_child_suicide_bombers...

Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by samatman on Sunday March 14, 2021 @06:11PM (#26459867)
This would seem to be a strict improvement over antipersonnel landmines along every dimension, while providing the same necessary function of area denial.

In particular, you don't set up a few thousand roboguns and then leave them there when the conflict is over, which is responsible for most of the civilian deaths you're referring to, including those of children.

Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by imtringued on Sunday March 14, 2021 @06:08PM (#26459842)
>Landmines work by the same principle. Many killed by landmines are children.

That makes no sense to me. Children being killed by landmines is an example of a lack of fire control. If the land mine had fire control it could detect enemy soldiers then children wouldn't have to die.

Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by ruined on Sunday March 14, 2021 @04:41PM (#26458929)
The incentive to challenge the border is not going away, it's simply more suicidal and ineffective to do it at the border. Perfect automated defense will encourage "challenges" away from the unassailable border, against easier targets such as police stations, shopping centers, and schools...
Re:Israel's autonomous 'robo-snipers' and suicide drones rai... by einpoklum on Sunday March 14, 2021 @07:09PM (#26460446)
> One could argue that, by making the fire control guaranteed, the border might stop being challenged and deaths thus go down. (Nobody to taunt, either.)

Except it's not a border, it's more like a massive concentration camp. Plus, the kill zone is hundreds of meters inwards.