# Automated Killer Robots "Threat to Humanity": Expert **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597 "2008-02-29T03:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/1 "2008-02-29T03:15:20Z")
Story [here](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080227065417.ub47xy9n&show_article=1). You have now lived long enough to see a news headline like this delivered in all seriousness. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/2 "2008-02-29T04:19:50Z")
If there is a sudden spate of Sarah Connors being killed all around the same time, I’ll start to worry. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/3 "2008-02-29T04:28:06Z")
Heh. [Quote=the linked article] Teaching a computer-driven machine – even an intelligent one – how to distinguish between civilians and combatants, or how to gauge a proportional response as mandated by the Geneva Conventions, is simply beyond the reach of artificial intelligence today. [/Quote] Uh, yeah, and beyond the reach of lots of human intelligence, too… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/4 "2008-02-29T04:30:37Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] Heh. Uh, yeah, and beyond the reach of lots of human intelligence, too… [/QUOTE] Kill 'em all and let HAL sort them out! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/5 "2008-02-29T13:21:50Z")
News is finally catching up to science fiction. The Killer Robot is an old idea in SF, long predating The Terminator. Look up Philip K. Dick’s “Second Variety” (1953) [Second Variety - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety) Kate Wilhelm’s “The Killer Thing” (1969) Robert Sheckley’s “Watchbird” (1953) (This one was filmed for the TV series “Masters of Science Fiction” last year, but never aired) Harry Harrison’s “The War with the Robots” (1962, although I believe the stories are earlier) …and others. I realize that it’s an easy thing to come up with an idea and claim to have invented it, but this one seems kind of obvious, especially considering that the earliest of these was written just after WWII, when there was still plenty of unexploded ordnance, and when the war involved mobile, unmanned devices, it wasn’t a huge leap to imagine mechanical intelligences used as guidance systems, and extrapolate from there. The miniaturization of computers and Moore’s Law have finally made that enough of a reality for it to become a real threat. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/6 "2008-02-29T16:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Philip K. Dick’s “Second Variety” (1953) [Second Variety - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety) [/QUOTE] First thing I thought of. I read that story when I was much too young and it scared teh crap out of me. Although it did put the phrase “slag and ash” in my vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/7 "2008-02-29T16:56:51Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Kill 'em all and let HAL sort them out! [/QUOTE] Hey! You clean up your own apocalyptic mess, mister! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/8 "2008-02-29T17:02:35Z")
Better make sure your [Robot](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1435090770451224720) [Insurance](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/95/95foldglory.phtml) is up to date! ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/9 "2008-02-29T17:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Philip K. Dick’s “Second Variety” (1953) [Second Variety - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Variety) [/QUOTE] Also made into the movie “Screamers”. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/10 "2008-02-29T17:53:44Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] [QUOTE=Siam Sam] Kill 'em all and let HAL sort them out! [/QUOTE] Hey! You clean up your own apocalyptic mess, mister! [/QUOTE] Heh heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/automated-killer-robots-threat-to-humanity-expert/439597/11 "2008-02-29T18:15:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Also made into the movie “Screamers”. Yeah. Seen it. Not particularly thrilled. As someone pointed out, though, the “flashback” (Flashforward?) scenes in the original **Terminator** are practically stolen from Second variety. More than from Ellison’s work, IMHO.