Audio: Three years ago, we wrote about a joint UK and German Ministry of Defense report titled Human Augmentation – The Dawn of a New Paradigm (1,2). At the time, many critics dismissed the document as speculative futurism, military fantasy, or the fever dream of transhumanists intoxicated by Silicon Valley ideology.
We never owned a smart phone, pay cash whenever we can, and ditched our Garmin watch long ago. We must stay in touch in the physical world or we will lose our humanity.
Check out some related material here:
REAL ID, a national digital identification, surveillance, and control system. Short link for sharing: https://tinyurl.com/3pjcv7y2
When we engage or just watch sports we assume a common unifying set of rules - not to make the individuals or teams equal but that the event itself is fair, Mano e Mano, no augmentation either chemical or mechanical. Best person(s) wins. We have the same expectation whether it’s intra- or inter- nationally.
In the west we’ve somehow tried to overlay the “fairness” of play to war - as if we can somehow soften the brutality of war. Perhaps it’s the once common Judeo-Christian heritage.
But the rest of the world ain’t “the west” and as we’ve seen across all facets of our cultural differences, “the west” seems to think there are “rules” to follow when it comes to competition - whether that competition is economic, scientific or kinetic.
When the opposition proves the only rules they follow are win at all cost, seems to me that the rules if the game are “win at all/any cost.” You may think that “we’re better than that” and it may be true but if there are none of us left all of those lofty feelings will be for naught.
The Iranian Control Government is a good example of what you are saying. And look how they treat women. Only use sex and baby machines. Just considering how women are valued in our society tells you all you need to know about moral differences between the west and other societies.
Yes, I had the current Middle East "conflict(s)" in mind, too. Fer instance, do we place IEDs ? While I was feeding the clowder I got to thinking: a little off the path, what if Israel was randomly lobbing missiles into Gaza from the shelter of schools, hospitals, etc., and rather than surgically striking back as Israel does would anyone be surprised if Gaza just leveled the site from which the missile was launched? Just mulling over that thought exercise is an example of the foolishness of "playing" by rules the opposition doesn’t recognize.
Don’t have a “good feeling” about AI being the deciding factor in who lives and who dies on the battlefield. Pray no wires get crossed in the confusion…… :-(
Lack of full human control does not sound good to me. We are still new at this and I dread too much authority has been too eagerly turned over before we are certain of outcomes. This kind of blind trust can come back to “bite us in the butt.” Then what do we do??? AI does not “feel” the way humans do. Remember that. Some of our most monumental decisions in this world have come with human feelings and intuition. AI is lacking in that department….big time.
Drones, including military drones, are increasingly being used to fight wildfires. We worry about what other surveillance those drones are doing besides sniffing for smoke.
Check out The Hotshot Wakeup Substack for various articles about drones be using both for "good" and "bad." Not exactly transhumanism, but still combines humans and artificially intelligent military machines in ways that deserve caution. Grok link to the articles: https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMi1jb3B5_395feb61-be5a-4df4-beec-235f71332135
Yes drones are an interesting example of machine human interaction. All military machines have humans, but you are thinking the human is not physically with the machine, so augmented human. Good.
Scary possibilities. Modern Frankensteins among us, but not recognized as such. We have managed to keep a lid on nuclear weapon deployment for some time now, but these A.I. fueled technology possibilities are more insidious. I'm an optimist by nature, but a human population of eight billion and climbing is an alarming trend.
I think movies have been made showing augmented humans. Vast data collection of human action already exists. Why can’t we just stick with manufactured war tactics or are we thinking of humans interacting with other humans we don’t agree with to understand motives or remove them? I guess I am still a bit clueless on the need for this strategy even though you are relating its development.
We never owned a smart phone, pay cash whenever we can, and ditched our Garmin watch long ago. We must stay in touch in the physical world or we will lose our humanity.
Check out some related material here:
REAL ID, a national digital identification, surveillance, and control system. Short link for sharing: https://tinyurl.com/3pjcv7y2
When we engage or just watch sports we assume a common unifying set of rules - not to make the individuals or teams equal but that the event itself is fair, Mano e Mano, no augmentation either chemical or mechanical. Best person(s) wins. We have the same expectation whether it’s intra- or inter- nationally.
In the west we’ve somehow tried to overlay the “fairness” of play to war - as if we can somehow soften the brutality of war. Perhaps it’s the once common Judeo-Christian heritage.
But the rest of the world ain’t “the west” and as we’ve seen across all facets of our cultural differences, “the west” seems to think there are “rules” to follow when it comes to competition - whether that competition is economic, scientific or kinetic.
When the opposition proves the only rules they follow are win at all cost, seems to me that the rules if the game are “win at all/any cost.” You may think that “we’re better than that” and it may be true but if there are none of us left all of those lofty feelings will be for naught.
The Iranian Control Government is a good example of what you are saying. And look how they treat women. Only use sex and baby machines. Just considering how women are valued in our society tells you all you need to know about moral differences between the west and other societies.
Yes, I had the current Middle East "conflict(s)" in mind, too. Fer instance, do we place IEDs ? While I was feeding the clowder I got to thinking: a little off the path, what if Israel was randomly lobbing missiles into Gaza from the shelter of schools, hospitals, etc., and rather than surgically striking back as Israel does would anyone be surprised if Gaza just leveled the site from which the missile was launched? Just mulling over that thought exercise is an example of the foolishness of "playing" by rules the opposition doesn’t recognize.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
You don't even need implants or machine enhancements.
People on drugs and vaccines and those who rely on AI for morality and companionship are augmented (or diminished, depending on how you look at it).
All this is chilling and will lead us down the road to you-know-where.
Don’t have a “good feeling” about AI being the deciding factor in who lives and who dies on the battlefield. Pray no wires get crossed in the confusion…… :-(
Lack of full human control does not sound good to me. We are still new at this and I dread too much authority has been too eagerly turned over before we are certain of outcomes. This kind of blind trust can come back to “bite us in the butt.” Then what do we do??? AI does not “feel” the way humans do. Remember that. Some of our most monumental decisions in this world have come with human feelings and intuition. AI is lacking in that department….big time.
Drones, including military drones, are increasingly being used to fight wildfires. We worry about what other surveillance those drones are doing besides sniffing for smoke.
Check out The Hotshot Wakeup Substack for various articles about drones be using both for "good" and "bad." Not exactly transhumanism, but still combines humans and artificially intelligent military machines in ways that deserve caution. Grok link to the articles: https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMi1jb3B5_395feb61-be5a-4df4-beec-235f71332135
One particularly active military company is Anduril https://www.anduril.com/
Yes drones are an interesting example of machine human interaction. All military machines have humans, but you are thinking the human is not physically with the machine, so augmented human. Good.
It all comes down to power and control!
War of the Worlds will become a reality. Machines will dominate. Man will disappear overtime unless we stop this insanity.
Scary possibilities. Modern Frankensteins among us, but not recognized as such. We have managed to keep a lid on nuclear weapon deployment for some time now, but these A.I. fueled technology possibilities are more insidious. I'm an optimist by nature, but a human population of eight billion and climbing is an alarming trend.
I think movies have been made showing augmented humans. Vast data collection of human action already exists. Why can’t we just stick with manufactured war tactics or are we thinking of humans interacting with other humans we don’t agree with to understand motives or remove them? I guess I am still a bit clueless on the need for this strategy even though you are relating its development.