Wow... didn't mean to set you off like that. Can you expound on why my comment is an example of lazy thinking?

It was more the trend for discussions about robots in the military to degrade that annoyed me. This thread is going down that path.

You specifically were lazy in that we already have automated tools of killing each other and each others automated tools. It is heavy influence of hollywood that makes us think something without a human on board is fundamentaly different.

Robot armies fighting each other and super AI taking over military robots are two of the most common topics brought up in the context of military robots, and two of the least realistic or likely.

It's particularly irrelevant in a story about a mini robot used as a radio relay, 100% human controlled, with no weapons. This thing is a wi-fi repeater with a camera on top of an RC car.

You're not alone. The over-hyped "terminator case" is not only tiring, its also ridiculously unlikely and not even very scary. These are just wifi AP's on rc cars. With openWRT, and $40 at the Rat-Shak, you could make one too. And that's whats really scary. It only costs $40 now to make the land mines walk.

I'm much more concerned about suitcase nukes and a grad student that could make a super virus. I'll almost certainly die of the latter :(

While I don't disagree with you overall (i.e. that military robots are not necessarily Skynet), there is a fundamental difference between having military decisions, even at the tactical level, being made by machines vs. having them made by humans, at least until we have AGI (and possibly even afterwards).

Probably isn't about your comment specifically but about the robots -> all-robot war connection.