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Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

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Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#41

Post by aeleos »

jpm_sd wrote: post #38
return0 wrote: post #10

Has boston dynamics put these things to some real usage? They 've been showing impressive videos for 7, 8 years?

Unfortunately there is no practical application for them. They're incredibly capable, but they're also expensive, fragile, and difficult to maintain. This is, in a nutshell, why Google decided not to hold on to the company - no consumer market whatsoever.

They were never actually sold, the only news related to it was back in march 2016 where alphabet said they were looking to sell. Afaik nothing has come up about it since.

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#42

Post by jacquesm »

BadassFractal wrote: post #34
Nokinside wrote: post #24

News from the future: Man in a wheelchair beats everyone in a street fight.

I think at some point we're going to have to have another uncomfortable conversation about whether cybernetically enhanced (say ex amputees) humans should be allowed to compete in sports where their new physiology is giving them a distinct advantage. The same way right now we're stuck between biology and political correctness when talking about ex-male MMA or wrestling competitors dominating in the women's side of th…

We passed that milestone years ago:

https://uksportsci.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/prosthetics-in-s...

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#43

Post by danbruc »

joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

What is even the point of having a war once you are fighting with robot armies? Why not just throw a coin and hand the country over to the side that picked the correct outcome? Use an unfair coin to correct for military strength. Or each side sends its best players for a game of Risk or Rock, Paper, Scissors or Command and Conquer.

You get a winer and a loser, it does not take years and costs a fortune and you avoid all the unnecessary loss of life and the damage you have to fix after the war. That seems like a win for everyone involved. Well, that could actually also work right now, no need to wait for robot armies.

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#44

Post by elsewhen »

aeleos wrote: post #41
jpm_sd wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately there is no practical application for them. They're incredibly capable, but they're also expensive, fragile, and difficult to maintain. This is, in a nutshell, why Google decided not to hold on to the company - no consumer market whatsoever.

They were never actually sold, the only news related to it was back in march 2016 where alphabet said they were looking to sell. Afaik nothing has come up about it since.

and their about-us page still says that they are a "wholly owned subsidiary of Google, Inc."

http://www.bostondynamics.com/bd_about.html

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#45

Post by alva »

joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

Because killing thousands upon thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Somalis, Yemenis and Syrian civilians so far with relatively conventional weapons has been reliable judgement? Maybe with robot armies they could have killed even more. These partisan trenches are blinding so many.

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#46

Post by danblick »

joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

I guess I'd worry more about rogue nations developing (cheaper) biological weapons and chemical weapons. I imagine it would be easier to build something like [1] than a robot like this.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M139_bomblet

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#47

Post by krapp »

danbruc wrote: post #43
joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

What is even the point of having a war once you are fighting with robot armies? Why not just throw a coin and hand the country over to the side that picked the correct outcome? Use an unfair coin to correct for military strength. Or each side sends its best players for a game of Risk or Rock, Paper, Scissors or Command and Conquer. You get a winer and a loser, it does not take years and costs a fortune and you avoid…

If one side has the robot army, they'll target the human soldiers on the other side. If both sides have robot armies, they'll probably target one anothers' civilians.

Nations are never going to rid themselves of the desire for war, or the need for war to involve bloodshed, because we're just another species of simian bludgeoning the out-group to death with extremely abstract and over-engineered rocks. We already have non-violent ways to resolve conflicts between nations, we fight wars explicitly to kill people.

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#48

Post by joshpadnick »

alva wrote: post #45
joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

Because killing thousands upon thousands of innocent Afghanis, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Somalis, Yemenis and Syrian civilians so far with relatively conventional weapons has been reliable judgement? Maybe with robot armies they could have killed even more. These partisan trenches are blinding so many.

Of course those deaths are horrible. Even a single needless death is the most tragic thing in the world. The point of my question was that "conventional" weapons are still limited compared to robotic warfare / AI. Very strong military in the hands of a repressive regime has always been bad, but I fear the robot military age will make it far worse.

Re: Introducing Handle – Boston Dynamics [video]

#49

Post by _ihaque »

danbruc wrote: post #43
joshpadnick wrote: post #31

This is really cool tech, but given the current political state, I can't help but worry about a powerful army of robots -- presumably with weapons attached -- being put into the hands of a leader we might consider to have "unreliable" judgement. I wonder: if a country can deploy an army of robots to achieve its military ends, how does that play out in the long run? Does this mean future wars will just be "our" droids…

What is even the point of having a war once you are fighting with robot armies? Why not just throw a coin and hand the country over to the side that picked the correct outcome? Use an unfair coin to correct for military strength. Or each side sends its best players for a game of Risk or Rock, Paper, Scissors or Command and Conquer. You get a winer and a loser, it does not take years and costs a fortune and you avoid…

This was essentially the plot of an original series Star Trek episode, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Armageddon:

  In this episode, the crew of the USS Enterprise visits a planet whose people
  fight a computer-simulated war against a neighboring planet. Although the
  war is fought via computer simulation, the citizens of each planet have to
  submit to real executions inside "disintegration booths" to meet the casualty
  counts of the simulated attacks.
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