Hacker News Reader

A fuse can't make a decision to light itself.

Some weapon systems arm themselves according to certain conditions, altitude, time from launch, etc. I think one could argue that some missile systems are already robots that "pull the trigger".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Kursk_(K-141...

Best decision: don't build it, if it's already built don't launch it, destroy it as soon as possible.

But a human dictates the launch and what the target will be.

How is this different from programming the killer robot and turning it on?

Do they? Aren't some just sent out to find a heat source and blow it up?

Oh god no. At least not as the primary guidance for long-range. It can be partially used to track a target, but it's not being used to decide where to target in a broader sense.

Short range devices sure, but they still require a human to point and launch. There's not a margin of error there that will divert a missile from an armored vehicle to an elementary school.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com