Newsgroup: it.cultura.militare
Titolo: La Corea del Sud costruirà un esercito robotico (e anche una polizia)

Friday, January 27, 2006
South Korea Is Building Legions of Robots -- Soc, Tech
*
Nearly 80% of the homes in South Korea have high-speed, always-on 
broadband connections to the Internet. What could they possibly use all 
that bandwidth for? Well, among other things, controlling the security 
and military robots they intend for widespread use by the 2010s.
As noted in this article in The Korea Times:
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200601/kt2006011617112710160.htm
     When completed, the outdoor security robots will be able to make 
their night watch rounds and even chase criminals, according to Lee.
     The government also seeks to build combat robots. They will take 
the shape of a dog or a horse, with six or eight legs or wheels.
     Toward that end, the Ministry of Information and Communication 
(MIC) and the Defense Ministry will combine to channel a total of 33.4 
billion won ($33.9 million) through 2011.
     ``The robots will be directed by a remote control system or move 
autonomously via their own artificial intelligence systems,'' MIC 
project manager Oh Sang-rok said.
     ``The two sophisticated robots will be empowered by the country's 
state-of-the-art mobile network, thus enabling mass production at an 
affordable price,'' Oh noted.
     Smart robots need three basic functions of sensing, processing and 
action. Thus far, robotics researchers have tried to cram the three into 
a single dummy, causing expenses to soar.
     Instead, the planned robots will be receiving most sensing and 
processing capabilities via a Web connection. Only the ability of 
movement will be located in the robot.
All right, I've scoffed, however mildly, at the idea of 50s SF-style 
legions of robotic shock troops in the past. And I still don't think a 
corny B-movie AI takeover is in the offing. But given a very serious 
push in the Pentagon to replace pilots on dangerous, long-range bombing 
missions (and perhaps ultimately all strike missions), we could end up 
with some very formidable military forces that are controlled entirely 
by robots.
Assuming there are still humans securely in the decision-making loop, 
this still may not be a critical concern. After all, our most powerful 
weapons, ICBMs and SLBMs, have been controlled by robotic guidance 
systems for as long as they've existed. So long as we (and the Soviets, 
Chinese, British, French and Israelis) controlled those programs, it 
wasn't the robots we were worried about.
And honestly, it's still human decisions about warfare and terrorism 
that bother me, not what the coffee machine may be plotting. But it is 
curious to see how much of our life has been automated in recent 
years... even tasks many thought could never be done without humans.
And it's also important to remember, even if we're not going to be 
overthrown by random tankbots or bombsniffing security programs, we're 
still going to have to secure all this infrastructure and make sure we 
can keep control when hackers and saboteurs decide to disrupt it. 
Honestly, I'm not so much worried about robotic aircraft going berserk 
on us (see Stealth) as I am seeing nations becoming dependent on 
remote-controlled aircraft in an era of radio communications. Until you 
have quantum entanglement communications (or something else that beats 
light speed and can't be physically disrupted) you'll always be 
vulnerable to someone with a big enough jammer. And if jamming your 
signal is the only way to stop your invincible Air Force, believe me, 
the bad guys'll have a big enough jammer.
Still, the idea that more robots may end up dying in our next war than 
people isn't necessarily that disturbing. What is disturbing is the 
question: With the technology we're developing now, for how much longer 
will war between nations be feasible, or even survivable?

 broadband connections to the Internet.
i coreani mi stanno molto simpatici ma per certi versi il loro paese non è
affatto tecnologicamente avanzato, anzi spesso le infrastrutture sono
peggiori di quelli italiche, almeno per quanto ho avuto modo di vedere.
Ritengo che l'articolo sia la solita aria fritta.

 peggiori di quelli italiche,
veramente si parlava della korea del *sud*, non di quella del *nord* ;)
Saluti,
Dott. Piergiorgio.

dott.piergiorgio ha scritto:

LOL
CMQ dubito che la Korea del Sud abbia capitali sufficienti per creare 
una simile cosa.
-- 
"This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time 
examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time ignoring his 
fundamental ones. He is proud that he has the biggest brain of all the 
primates, but tries to conceal the fact that he also has the biggest 
penis." Desmond Morris