National Armed Robots Train with National Guard

RicInOR · Sep 2, 2017

Instapundit » Blog Archive » WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Armed Robots Fight Alongside Soldiers at National Guard Ex…

Armed Robots Fight Alongside Soldiers at National Guard Exercise

But while the robot is delivering the effects, "it is a human that is pushing the button that pulls the trigger," he noted.

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The Heretic · Sep 2, 2017

This is not really any different than what we have been doing for years with drones.

Howard1955 · Sep 2, 2017

R3dundantC · Sep 3, 2017

The Heretic said:
This is not really any different than what we have been doing for years with drones.

Since the 1940's at least
The Russians were doing it in the 1940's with their teletank program with TT26/TU26 tanks

Andy54Hawken · Sep 3, 2017

The Germans in WWII had the "Goliath tank mine" which was remote controlled ... Not really a "robot" but close...
So yep nothing really new ... and nothing I really am happy to see in use.

If we take away the human cost / factor / element in warfare , war may be seen as a "game" or lose its effect of being deadly and therefore may be seen as a far more attractive option , than it already is seen as , by some.
Andy
Edit to add:
"It is well that war is so terrible , or we should grow too fond of it."
Robert E. Lee

Connor Murphy · Sep 3, 2017

The fake Russians too, apparently.

The Heretic · Sep 3, 2017

Of course, new drones have much better imaging - thermal/etc., and can be controlled by satellite. So in one sense this is a good thing.

However, I am not particularly happy about the NG having this tech - they are not covered by the Posse Comitatus act. But then the PC act has been pretty much gutted by Congress now; the POTUS can call in troops for domestic violence (riots, etc.) and the so-called "war on drugs", so that gives the gov. a lot of leeway in how they use troops for domestic law enforcement. Plus I know the NG needs to train with this equipment because they can and often will be deployed overseas.

No_Regerts · Sep 3, 2017

Skynet.....

The Heretic · Sep 3, 2017

No_Regerts said:
Skynet.....

Weapons are just one part of it. Another part is all the surveillance of your comms (internet, phone, email, etc.) and you financial transactions, and more and more - firearms. Even though the ATF, and states, et. al. claim to not archive records in general, they usually do, and even if they try not to, once something is in a computer system for a large org, it is almost impossible to remove all copies of data - it is backed up and multiple copies make it into multiple systems/apps/DBs/etc. that get backed up too. It just ripples out. Then there are also hard copies that someone may have, of which there is no way to keep track of because it can exist without anyone knowing. Finally, back to the fact that the feds pretty much capture and analyze almost all internet traffic, including dedicated VPNs/etc., means even if the state and ATF/etc., do manage to delete the data they are supposed to, the NSA/et. al. have a copy of it somewhere.

All of that data can be used to tell the gov. where you are likely to be at any given time, who your friends and family and coworkers are, where you buy anything, what you have bought, when you bought it, when you sold it, what your driving patterns are, and almost any other thing they need to know about you if they decide they want to do anything with you - such as take your guns.

No_Regerts · Sep 3, 2017

The Heretic said:
Weapons are just one part of it. Another part is all the surveillance of your comms (internet, phone, email, etc.) and you financial transactions, and more and more - firearms. Even though the ATF, and states, et. al. claim to not archive records in general, they usually do, and even if they try not to, once something is in a computer system for a large org, it is almost impossible to remove all copies of data - it is backed up and multiple copies make it into multiple systems/apps/DBs/etc. that get backed up too. It just ripples out. Then there are also hard copies that someone may have, of which there is no way to keep track of because it can exist without anyone knowing. Finally, back to the fact that the feds pretty much capture and analyze almost all internet traffic, including dedicated VPNs/etc., means even if the state and ATF/etc., do manage to delete the data they are supposed to, the NSA/et. al. have a copy of it somewhere.

All of that data can be used to tell the gov. where you are likely to be at any given time, who your friends and family and coworkers are, where you buy anything, what you have bought, when you bought it, when you sold it, what your driving patterns are, and almost any other thing they need to know about you if they decide they want to do anything with you - such as take your guns.

Back in the early 90s when the Brits were putting up cameras everywhere, I remember the sentiment here of "NO WAY"!

Now we line up to buy the latest and greatest voice/image/video/data/GPS tracker! Yay for cell phones!

The Heretic · Sep 3, 2017

The cams give the gov. a way of using face recognition when they need to find someone who is trying to hide by turning off their phone, using a burner, etc. - and another dataset for tracking people. We don't have as many cams as some parts of the UK, and staying out of cities helps, but still...