Army and M.I.T. Unveil Futuristic Soldier Center
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:39 p.m. ET
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ( Reuters) - If you ask the U.S. Army's chief scientist what the future American soldier may look like, he points to the science fiction body armor depicted in the ``Predator'' movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Mock futuristic warriors took center stage on Thursday at the debut of The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. Last year, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology won a $50 million Army contract to form a center that develops combat gear using materials the size of atoms.
The idea is to develop high-tech gear that would allow soldiers to become partially invisible, leap over walls, and treat their own wounds on the battlefield.
We are all but ready to build robots to fight our wars but far from prepared to resolve the cadre of attendant ethical questions.
It's perfectly logical to put machines at risk before humans, clearing minefields and performing guard duty in hostile locales. But if war can be fought virtually without loss of human soldiers' lives, it could jumble the entire strategic and political calculus of war.
A big mechanical dog capable of carrying ammunition
Mobile Robots Take Baby Steps
Wired News, Jan. 07, 2004
The Army's Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) has awarded $2.25 million to two robotics firms to prototype a big mechanical dog capable of carrying ammunition, food and supplies into battle.
Depth perception is essential for recognizing obstacles and avoiding them, so NASA JPL developed a way for robots to see in three dimensions, using two separate cameras that take images of the same scene. JPL built a similar system for NASA's Spirit rover, now sending back spectacular images from Mars.
The contracts are part of a broader Pentagon look into robots that take their cues from animal-inspired devices.
We Are Becoming Cyborgs
by Ray Kurzweil
Published March 15, 2002
The union of human and machine is well on its way. Almost every part of the body can already be enhanced or replaced, even some of our brain functions. Subminiature drug delivery systems can now precisely target tumors or individual cells. Within two to three decades, our brains will have been "reverse-engineered": nanobots will give us full-immersion virtual reality and direct brain connection with the Internet. Soon after, we will vastly expand our intellect as we merge our biological brains with non-biological intelligence.
We are growing more intimate with our technology. Computers started out as large remote machines in air-conditioned rooms tended by white coated technicians. Subsequently they moved onto our desks, then under our arms, and now in our pockets. Soon, we'll routinely put them inside our bodies and brains. Ultimately we will become more nonbiological than biological.
We already have devices to replace our hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, jaws, teeth, skin, arteries, veins, heart valves, arms, legs, feet, fingers, and toes. Systems to replace more complex organs (e.g., our hearts) are starting to work.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists that control the fool
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
