Re: [GZG] [OFFICIAL] Question: was Re: [SG3]: What if?

["john tailby" <John_Tailby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Atkinson" <johnmatkinson@xxxxxxxxx>
> You can handwave what ever you like--although I suspect that the
> economic costs of training infantrymen/controllers AND buying remotes
> for them AND the recovery and maint assets will be prohibitive for a
> long, long time.
>
> Which won't stop people from designing them, putting them on TV, or
> inserting them into wargames.
>
> It's really a question of what do you want to include?

I could imagine the military backlash against autonomous weapons the first 
time there is a blue on blue incident or the automated weapons get hacked or 
electronically subverted in some way.

You might not have to subvert that much of the weapon systems programming 
just change it's recognition of the IFF codes and suddenly it's surrounded 
by enemies.

If all future infantry are plugged into a datanet receiving all sorts of 
sensor information how would you guarantee that it is 100% secure? I don't 
think there is an unhackable network that humans have built so far so why 
would this not continue into the future?

I think that's why the Mk1 eyeball comment will always be relevant. Human 
beings are likely to be the hardest weapon system to subvert via EM warfare. 
Unless you subscribe to the future weapon systems described by Richard 
Morgan where soldiers get their brains wiped by signals received over their 
comms units.

I think it is likely that weapons will get smarter and do more, but humans 
will always want to be in control of the decision making process.

I agree with John Atkinson that humans are likely to need to be involved in 
future combat for as long as it resembles infantry combat. To quote some old 
sci-fi, "Nothing is more adaptable than a humanoid", maybe that is what we 
will always be able to bring and what will give us an edge, adaptability, 
unpredictability and flexibility. 


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