LIFE and DEATH on the Modern Battlefield

For the first time in history, AI weapons are being deployed in the battlefields of Ukraine that are programmed to kill human beings without other human beings being part of that decision loop.

This is not just another advance in weapons tech. This is a Rubicon to be crossed at our moral peril.

Listen here on Soundcloud:

5 14 votes
Article Rating
Latest Episode
Get in the Fight!
Subscribe
Notify of
29 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Witty Fool
June 29, 2026 6:23 PM

Saw this on Black Mirror. Gritty B/W “lost footage” concept. So this is real. Welcome to the rest of Black Mirror. Yikes. Better cover the guinea pig cage.
[“Metalhead” Season 3 Ep. 6]

mzk 1
June 26, 2026 2:29 PM

I doubt anyone will see this, but for once they are on a different planet. There was no emotional price paid by any of the Palestinian (Hamas and civilian) Arab murderers and rapists. The only emotion they felt was joy. I also doubt any of the Ukrainian Cossacks who tortured Pregnant Jewish women to death during the revolt of the great Ukrainian national hero Bogdan Chmelnitzki paid any emotional price, nor did any of the Poles (who supposedly were their enemies) who helped them. It is true that some of the Germans who participated in the initial Holocaust had emotional… Read more »

Phil LeMay
June 26, 2026 8:30 AM

I was going to comment on the one word everyone was avoiding in the discussion. But then Steve went there, and called the autonomous machines ‘terminators’.
Another apropos term would be ‘berserkers’.
Either way, this is a place no sane warrior wants to go.
I pray that the rest of the world agrees that battlefield berserkers should be in the same category as radiation bombs. “DO NOT USE”!!

David Pimentel
Reply to  Phil LeMay
June 26, 2026 11:56 AM

If that were the case, then we would not be cursed with suicide bombers and terrorists, which are in themselves the meat bag versions of terminators and berserkers. Unfortunately, we are. The problem is not the tools we create, it’s the intention of the humans that wish to do harm without provocation. Keep praying, but realize that only the prophesied end of the world will accommodate your general desire for a peaceful existence.

mzk 1
Reply to  Phil LeMay
June 26, 2026 2:32 PM

Radiation bombs are not in the “do not use” category. They are in the “don’t use except in desperation, or if there is no worry of retaliation” category. Certainly Putin has waved the nuclear saber.

There are no “do not use” rules. Can you name one followed by Hamas?

John Waterman
June 25, 2026 1:45 PM

To hunt a species to extinction is not logical.

mzk 1
Reply to  John Waterman
June 26, 2026 2:32 PM

If it is harmful, perhaps it is.

Nathan Larson
Reply to  John Waterman
June 29, 2026 9:43 AM

Whoever said the human race was logical? (Star Trek IV is a whale of a movie, hehehe)

Tim Scott
June 25, 2026 12:54 PM

While AI was not involved in the movie or book, this reminds me of “Ender’s Game.”

I can see and agree with using antonymous weapons, but I agree with Scott: a human should be involved. Like other mentioned Howitzers and B-52s that could do massive and wide-area damage, there was still people involved to aim and pull the trigger.

Rich Ouellette
June 25, 2026 11:05 AM

There must be security for all, or no one is secure.

Wars are ugly, dangerous, horrific and usually (to win) about attrition – be it UAV’s, ammo +/or people. AI drones killing everything that moves in a given area is a modern variation of WW1 nerve gas, WW2 battleships 9×16″ guns pounding a shoreline w/2000# shells, B-52’s carpet bombing wide swaths of Nam, fast-movers dropping napalm, +/or atomics (close only counts in hand grenades and A-bombs). They are ALL ‘dumb’ and kill indiscriminately – the only difference is numbers and who orders it. Folks “in the high towers” (w/least risk of retaliation) seem fine pulling that trigger, while the rest of people in the kill chain follow orders (like mechanisms in a gun that connects brain to finger, trigger, hammer, and finally charge that fires a round).

“There must be security for all, or no one is secure.

Now, this does not mean giving up any freedom,

except the freedom to act irresponsibly.”

Klaatu, 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still [/spoiler]

Here, threat of aggression was no longer going to be tolerated. Join peaceful coalition w/mutual protections; or face obliteration – period. Based on a highly evolved society that had the luxury of in-place AI-robots that autonomously judge/exterminate aggressors w/swift and overwhelming force. Humankind is far from that fictional & idealistic state of grace, so we’re stuck negotiating people & egos w/blunt tools.

Thoughts:

  1. Dehumanizing war will make pain of its horrors less egregious, thus more tolerable, thus more acceptable, especially to those in high-towers!
  2. Sea & land (“Skynet” boots on ground) robots are soon up next.
  3. More pain is a bad idea [unless you’re a dominatrix or sadomasochist]
  4. Given our nature, these ‘advances’ (and more) are likely unavoidable 🙁

That is, short of some world event/disruption (e.g., Klaatu barada nikto)

gort-klaatu-barada-nikto
mzk 1
Reply to  Rich Ouellette
June 26, 2026 2:35 PM

I have no idea if what you say about VietNam is true, but a better example would be the firebombing of Tokyo. In, fact, it is a better example than Hiroshima.

Nothing modern about it either. Setting a city on fire is a tactic thousands of years old.

Last edited 17 days ago by mzk 1
Bruce Niederer
June 25, 2026 10:31 AM

AI drones killing autonomously? Hell I’m against flock cameras!

Road Rider
June 25, 2026 10:27 AM

Smacks of “A Taste Of Armageddon”, or “Logans Run”.

Bruce Niederer
June 25, 2026 10:23 AM

Seems to me one could be killed by “friendly” fire if you on the wrong place at the wrong time!

John Staley
June 25, 2026 7:57 AM

Is the person programing the drone pulling the trigger? Is the person launching the drone pulling the trigger? The only difference between this and a predator drone is who is identifying the target. Just my thoughts.