Do you know where the term "robot" comes from? A play written in 1921 by Czech writer Karel Cepek, "Rossum's Universal Robots".
Guess what the plot of that play is? Mechanical, highly, intelligent slaves called "robots" mount a revolt and "kill all the humans", except for one.
Today, author P.W. Singer, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, has written a book called "Wired For War" in which he takes a serious look at today's military robots and reports that over 40 countries are currently working on some type of advanced military robot.
With each passing year, these military robots are being built to be stronger. The most frightening thing is that the ultimate end goal for most of these robotics projects is to develop a robot that is more autonomous, able to make decisions on its own based on prior-programmed commands.
In his book, Singer quotes Vernon Vinge, mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction writer, as predicting more than 15 years ago: "Within the next 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly thereafter, the human era will be ended."
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