Stone-Cold Robot Killers

The prospect of a robot army continues to capture the attention of the mainstream press. Writing in the Washington Post, John Pike states that "the Army stands on the threshold of one of greatest transformations in war-fighting history . . . Within a decade, the Army will field armed robots . . . These killers will be utterly without remorse or pity when confronting the enemy." Pike notes that only a small percentage, perhaps as little as 1 percent of human soldiers, can be relied upon to take aim directly at the enemy, however, "Armed robots will all be snipers. Stone-cold killers, every one of them. They will aim with inhuman precision and fire without human hesitation." Pike, who is the director of the information Web site GlobalSecurity.org goes on to discuss the advantages afforded by a robot army, but does not discuss any of the problems that may arise from having a robot soldiers.