The Robots Are Coming!

It has begun.

The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately.

By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.

A British robotics expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on building robots that do not violate the Geneva Conventions.

Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University's has just published a book summarising his views entitled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. Can we use ethical theory to help design these machines?"

What if one is captured and reprogrammed? Then there is no stopping the killing machines. They will kill without remorse.

Via: Hot Air

Break

To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment. ~Jane Austen

...Yeah, whatever that means.

24: Redemption Tomorrow

Awesome.

Putin: I'll Hang Him by the...

Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister (though could arguably be called the de facto leader) of Russia, stated his case against Georgia bluntly to French President Nicolas Sarkozy:

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah — you have scored a point there.”

Mr Saakashvili, who was in Paris to meet Mr Sarkozy yesterday, laughed nervously when a French radio station read him the exchange. “I knew about this scene, but not all the details. It’s funny, all the same,” he said.

Mr Putin’s remarks confirmed that he was calling the shots in Moscow and not Mr Medvedev, who was Mr Sarkozy’s official host at the Kremlin meeting. The language was in keeping with Mr Putin’s fondness for coarse imagery: in 1999 he vowed to chase down Chechen separatists wherever they were — “we will rub them out in their s***houses,” he said.

Whether or not this leaked account is true, we already know Russia has been heading in this direction. Yet if it is true...

Will Obama keep the wolves at bay, or will he throw our allies to them? Let's hope it's the former.

Via: Reason's Hit & Run

Everybody Loves Lieberman

Roland Dodds of But I am a Liberal! has a new post on Joe Lieberman and his future.

But what they don’t seem to comprehend in their partisan furry, is that Lieberman’s positions are representative of many American voters, and these voters are inclined to work with the Democratic Party on a number of issues. These are individuals who would be content to labor with Democrats on hefty swaths of their agenda. By going out of their way to chastise Lieberman for deviating from the party line will give America a very clear signal as to the direction Obama and his Congress plan to take.

Is this going to be an administration that is serious about breaking down old partisan lines, or are we going to experience 4 years of “payback” directed at Bush, the Republicans, and anyone who happened to believe everything they did wasn’t wrong or stupid? Removing Lieberman from that chairmanship will be a fighting move, and one that we should not stand for.

I think the Democratic Party will hold off on Lieberman, at least for the time being. Come late January, they'll need to build a lot of bridges to help past the initiatives they want (and mattering on the specific bill, they'll need Lieberman's support). Yet this doesn't mean it will last forever, I have a feeling once Lieberman speaks one word of dissent, he will be politically scalped.

Just because I can, and since I view Lieberman as a modern day Henry "Scoop" Jackson, my favorite Scoop quote...

I'm not a hawk or a dove. I just don't want my country to be a pigeon. ~Henry "Scoop" Jackson

Update: Hope yet?

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir: Trust Me Guys, I'll Fix This

For some reason, Omar al-Bashir's talk of ending the Darfur conflict sounds hollow.

President Omar al-Bashir offered a ceasefire in Darfur on Wednesday and promised to disarm militias, a top rebel demand, in a new push by his government to show it is serious about ending the nearly 6-year-old conflict.

Darfur rebels dismissed the moves, saying they don't trust al-Bashir and want to see disarmament of the feared janjaweed militias before agreeing to a ceasefire.

Al-Bashir's announcement is part of a high-profile campaign by Khartoum to display its readiness amid attempts to cobble together new Darfur peace negotiations mediated by the Arab nation Qatar and a U.N. envoy. It comes as the Sudanese president is trying to fend off possible genocide charges by the International Criminal Court over atrocities in Darfur.

Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the vast region of western Sudan since fighting erupted in early 2003. The war pits troops from the Arab-led Khartoum government against ethnic African rebels, and Khartoum is accused of backing Arab militias known as janjaweed said to have carried out widespread atrocities against ethnic African civilians.

It might have something to do with...this.

Damn Dirty Robots

Jules the Destroyer.


How long before they kill us? First they serve, then they kill.

Via: Drudge Report

Update:
Because it looks like a cool movie.


Update Two: Even more on robots.

You Won't Have Bush to Kick Around Anymore

President George W. Bush was treated unfairly, so goes the argument from an opinion article in the The Wall Street Journal.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

In some cases, Bush was treated unfairly, in other cases, he was treated fair. There is no excuse for incompetence and/or bad governance, and I'm not going to give the guy a break when it comes to history. I believe he will go down as a mediocre to less than mediocre President. With every positive, there is also a negative, and forever will Bush be tied to the latter. Too bad I have a feeling his successor won't be much of an improvement, yet there is still time for him. For Bush, so long.

Via: Instapundit

A New Beginning: What Obama Needs to Do

Below is a list of tips I think Obama needs to take to become an effective leader...

Domestic Policy:

Bi-Partisanship: Obama has said repeatedly during his campaign that he is a different kind of politician. That he is from the post-partisan age of American politics. Now personally, I think he is full of it, yet now he has a chance to prove me wrong. If he tries to govern from the center, let Republicans into the national dialogue and let them have say in some aspects of his initiatives, he’ll receive my respect and support (not full support, but some support).

Economy: Now I’m not as foolish to think that Obama will become a free trader when he is President, yet I’d like him to slide back from his protectionist tendencies and to help forge sufficient trade policies with other nations. This will go a long way in helping our economy grow. Taxes are a tricky issue, and I know he is going to raise them, yet all I ask is for him is to go soft (and to at least wait for the economy to improve first).

New Programs: Sustainability is the key. Nothing more needs to be said.

Deficit: Needs to be reduced, whether that means cutting inefficient programs or spending less, it needs to be done.

International Challenges:

Iraq: If he truly is a man of judgment, he'll make sure Iraq doesn't become a failed state. He has already shown in the past that he doesn't have the will to defend a developing democracy, now he has a chance to change that image. He needs to stick with Iraq and not jeopardize the progress that has been made.

Iran: He must prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. I don’t know whether or not he was serious about his negotiation approaches or whether or not he was throwing out naïve ideas, yet he must prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. We have an ally that depends on it (i.e. Israel).

Defense: Maintaining an up to date and powerful army should be a priority. Obama has in the past talked of large cuts in our defense, which could lead to a weakening of our military capabilities. Tulips don’t stop extremists or tyrants; hopefully he’ll reverse on this trend (prioritizing is fine, just not serious cuts to our security). Keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense would also be an assist to his administration. When Robert Gates came in after Rumsfeld, he was set a difficult task, yet through determination and a pragmatic vision, he turned the Pentagon into a more efficient place. Listening to people like David Petraeus (and his suggestions) would also help his administration greatly.

Rise of Autocratic Nations: Curbing the spread and rise of autocratic nations should be a priority in his administration. Either through sanctions, containment, or if necessary (warranted they are an immediate threat), military intervention. Governments around the world will be looking at the response Obama will give, let’s hope it’s an image of strength, not timidness.

These are just but a few suggestions; hopefully Obama will follow the path of a great leader, if not…then let us pray.

Byron York on the Election

Byron York sums it up pretty well.

Could any candidate have been elected to succeed a president of his own party whose job approval rating was 25 percent? Probably not. Could any candidate have been elected to continue his party’s stay in the White House when roughly 90 percent of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track? Probably not. Could any candidate from the governing party have been elected after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 4,000 points before one could even turn around? Probably not...

And yet in spite of it all, McCain still managed to outperform conditions. The vote totals, as of 2 a.m. Eastern Time, show McCain with about 47 percent of the national popular vote. Perhaps that figure will go down a bit, but there’s no doubt that McCain far outshone George H.W. Bush’s 1992 re-election effort — a campaign undertaken in poor conditions for a Republican, but not nearly as bad as what McCain encountered this time — in which Bush won just 38 percent of the vote. Likewise, McCain outperformed Bob Dole, who won a little less than 41 percent in 1996. And McCain’s percentage of the popular vote might be not too far from George W. Bush’s in 2000, when Bush lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.

In other words, McCain faced tougher challenges than his predecessors, yet somehow managed to win more votes. Just not enough.

Now the election is over, what happens to Lieberman?

Outlook: Not so good.

Update: For Lieberman, he is a marked man.

Recount: Minnesota

Recount for Minnesota's Senate race.

I really hope Coleman wins. I'd hate to have this guy representing me for 6 years.

ABC Calls it for Obama

Here we go. I'm not surprised, I already had this feeling (from the polls in the past week) that it would go this way. Now it's official. Let's hope he doesn't make too many mistakes, definitely on defense.

I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, is it real? ...Probably not.

Politics: There is Funny and There is Ugly

This has to be in the funny column.

After the Election

What will I do? Maybe I'll go back to focusing on international news (which has been kind of absent as of late). I've been on this election since 2006, that's a long time. By Wednesday, it's over.

Being that I'm in my early 20's, I never paid much attention to the Clinton administration, only the Bush years (and even in those years, there wasn't much interest). In many respects, in a couple days (and in January of next year) I will witness something unique. It will be the first new President I've been politically conscious of, it's odd to think about.

Final Word: The Same Old McCain

The Wall Street Journal, "McCain's Honor":

If the 2008 election were solely about character and experience, Mr. McCain would be winning in a walk. Few Presidential nominees have been better known or more admired. A McCain Presidency would have its surprises, but they would not be from personal vice or political scandal. His courage has been tested far more than most -- both in a personal sense in Vietnam, and in a political sense during the Iraq war.

Arguably the finest hour of Mr. McCain's career was his support for the Iraq surge at the height of the war's unpopularity. It was gratifying to see this virtue vindicated as he won the GOP nomination. But in an irony of history, his very far-sightedness on Iraq and the success of the surge have made national security seem less urgent as Election Day nears. His commanding edge over Mr. Obama as a Commander in Chief seems less compelling to many voters than do their current fears about the economy.

If Mr. McCain does lose, a President Obama would also now inherit a far more stable and pro-American Iraq thanks to the Republican's efforts and no thanks to Mr. Obama's antiwar opportunism. In a further irony if he loses, Mr. McCain would return to the Senate and do his utmost to support a President Obama's campaign in Afghanistan or against Iran. That favor would not be returned if Mr. McCain wins. This too is a sign of the Arizonan's honorable character.

Indeed.