[RyanZAG]

It's a good point, and if anybody thinks an arms race isn't already happening then they are very naive. While we're debating the morals of this, the Chinese, Russians and many others are trying to make it happen. For all we know, they may have already succeeded, and we're discussing the morals of it while it's already in full production a few thousand miles away.

The relevant research papers, knowledge and skills are widely available across the world. There are some advanced courses at Chinese universities right now that can only be seen as 'AI for military'.

[philwelch]

And I can almost guarantee that, unlike the US, the Russian and Chinese militarized AI programs are not optimized for minimizing civilian casualties.

[marricks]

Really? Looking at drone strike causualities you’d have no clue how much the US even tries.

Its funny cause I haven’t heard of large scale Chinese or Russian drones flying over other countries targeting terrorists but ending up murdering children on more than one occasion.

Perhaps these technologies can be just evil and the US is the only country powerful enough to get away with using them.

I really have no stomach for just a vapid excuse, and I cannot fathom how so many people fall for it.

[RyanZAG]

If you ever end up in a war with China, you'll be seeing plenty of drones. Obviously China doesn't use drones for killing terrorists - China doesn't kill terrorists because terrorists have no way to get into China in the first place.

[simion314]

So if China does X US can do it too, also if China could do X but we do not know for sure then US can also do X.

Using this logic then US can do anything with the exception of the things you are 100% sure China(or insert other country here) is not and will not do it.

This means surveillance, killer robots, black magic,genetically enhanced humans, illegal experiments and procedures, is a valid tool for US because "what if we have a war with China, we must have same tools as them"

[RyanZAG]

Not so, nobody forces anybody to compete in an arms race. My point is that there is an arms race - and inventions such as AI for war are part of that arms race and are being developed. These are very easy inventions too, given the widely available and extremely powerful software and hardware. These are facts. No amount of upsetting moral arguments make the arms race go away.

The question is: should America compete in the arms race? I don't know. But there are big consequences either way.

[simion314]

Sure, you are not forced, I said "CAN",

Say US wants to spend a lot of many with some black magic consultant that could assassinate at a distance, you can justify it by launching a rumor that China does it too or probably does it or it will do it.

So you throw away any moral discussions by blaming China , they do it so we have no choice.

[zkomp]

They have plenty of terrorists and frequent attack, but also no free press so you do not get to know much about it...

[wilsonnb2]

I would really love it if a single person who derides the US for their drone strike casualties would actually back their position up with some data.

At a minimum, I would like to know the civilian and non-civilian casualty rates of drone strikes, the definition of civilian being used, a good idea of what alternative military action the US would have taken if they didn't have drone capabilities, and the civilian and non-civilian casualty rates of those military strike options.

Without that, bringing up the drone strike casualties is nothing more than moral grandstanding based on how certain types of military action make you feel. Bonus points if you use the words "murdering children" in an attempt to bypass any logic and go straight for emotions.

[mkaziz]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/under-o...

Here's your definition of a "combatant".

[philwelch]

Look at Syria and Chechnya if you have the slightest amount of ignorance about how Putin does counterterrorism. Are you literally a Russian troll?

[ionised]

Doesn't seem like the US one does either.