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by isjamesalive 1996 days ago
Really scary. Whenever I see the latest Boston Dynamics video, I’m always thinking ‘and now imagine it’s hunting you’.
3 comments

Meh. If someone wants to "hunt" you with a robot they can already do so with a UAV (think MQ-1 Predator, not an off-the-shelf quadrocopter). It is an already existing true and tested technology. Large governments around the world already maintain literal armies to maintain them and efficiently employ them to kill people. The fact that that weapon is not aimed at you or me is merely a political decision. With legged robots a lot more development is needed before they can do the same. I guess what I want to say: These robots are not deadly yet. The kind of people who can turn them deadly can already kill you if they want. I don't see why you should worry marginally more.
If someone with the resources to hunt me with a robot wants me dead I’m sure they could also afford some terrifying merc to do it too.
Bombs cause infinitely bigger international uproars for good reasons.

Robot assassins that cannot die change the calculus. Governments don't have to risk losing their human assets in order to take out a target. They can just send out a 4-legged drone to prick them with polonium and call it a day.

Which means that governments start making robots that can defend people.
Or nuclear bomb, you know.
Too messy. Bad press. State actors would also break some sort of treaty without plausible deniability.
A robot like the one in the video seems like it could make a decent enforcer though.

It has the benefit of being in your face and we having been trained by movies and games that robots that look like that are enemies.

Watch Black Mirror episode called Metalhead.
One of the best episodes!

It’s like a totally different series to that last season with vr-gay/not-gay falcon man and Miley Cyrus signing a bad NiN cover.

But yea. The mean robot dogs, just good short form story telling with so little dialog.

That was my first thoughts watching this video "Shit, these things are going to be on the battle field any day now".

I mean, I guess better a robot than a person.. but still.. pretty terrifying to think we are soon to have people hunting robots.

> pretty terrifying to think we are soon to have people hunting robots

for the robots, maybe

Animal traffic is a lucrative and it seems as illegal as unstoppable. My bet is that if this robots will deploy in a signifiant number, the people soon will realize that can make a life if they trap, club and dismantle expensive robots for selling metal parts and any valuable cargo that they would carry. Will be also illegal but some will try anyways. Anything electric can be insta-fried with a higher voltage or, more slowly, with a cheap molotov cocktail. Not much different than hunting a bear or deer, maybe more profitable.