Are we coming dangerously close to "Skynet"?

While doing my daily news reading I found 2 very cool articles. Separate they are interesting but if you combine the technology, it kinda gets scary.

The first technology is something from BAE systems called ALADDIN (Autonomous Learning Agents for Decentralized Data and Information Networks).

[ALADDIN]is BAE’s response to the overload of sensors and data now confronting battlefield commanders who now have UAV observations, soldier-based sensors, satellite data, and reams of other intelligence washing over them in such volumes that, as Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula puts it, they’ll be “swimming in sensors and drowning in data.” The system allows a network of robot soldiers to quickly collect and exchange information and then to bargain with each other to determine the best course of action and execute it.

Source

Now this is interesting (somewhat scary) by itself. But what if you add technology that can create machines/robots without human interaction.

At the Fraunhofer Institute, researchers have created "genetic robots" that are created fully automatically from a software algorithm and a 3-D printer, without human intervention.

The notion of genetic robots certainly isn’t new, but the Fraunhofer team has reached a milestone by creating a computer algorithm that can take into account environmental factors, physical laws, the task at hand, and other external characteristics to design -– from scratch – a robot for the job.

Source

Both of these technologies are awesome and I believe will be very helpful. However, when combined I believe it would get dangerous. This type of combination is the the featured "badguy" in movies like The Matrix, Terminator and 9, where a machine is created to design and construct other machines. Now I doubt we are very close to the type of situation where the human race will be in danger. But it makes me wonder if some mad scientist league somewhere is working on a system that will accidentally (or purposely) become a "Skynet" like system.

reply to post by Topsy_Cret


Nice finds!!! Definitely something to keep an eye on. It could become a horror show, but think about the amazing things we could do with this tech. We could send 1 ship to a distant planet with an initial stock of material, and it could build a small factory and device to extract ore from the ground there, and then build more devices to terraform, and essentially prepare a colony long before any humans arrive.
This is just one PRACTICAL application, and by that i'm implying that using this tech to kill on a grand scale is NOT a practical application.

reply to post by demaggio


I completely agree with you, this type of tech has alot of uses. Potentially you could send the same space probe to any planet and it could design and create the perfect "rover" for the current terrain.

Just what we need: sentient robots. Most of us have a hard time handling pets; how in the world are we supposed to handle something like that?

scary stuff

Skynet_(satellites)
Made me think of this ?
And terminator

reply to post by Topsy_Cret


Read my signature.........

reply to post by Topsy_Cret


Although I believe we are still years away from a Skynet scenario it is still a scary thought..
Mybe my grandkids will worry about it..

w00t.

robots making robots!! That's how it starts and i think it AWESOME!!!

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if we are already living in a "skynet" type world.

reply to post by Freedom_is_Slavery


Thanks for providing that link... defiantly adds to the big picture

reply to post by Topsy_Cret


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f2c1ef401667.jpg[/atsimg]

Hey i looked into the company and there sky-net satellites and a few things caught my eye

There are now three military hardened Skynet 5 military communications satellites in orbit, delivering pinpoint, precise communications anywhere in the world.

Skynet 5 is hardened to demanding NATO standards and the world-leading anti-jamming antenna is extremely effective against hostile or non-hostile interference.

The Skynet 5 satellites also feature steering mechanisms so they can be focused onto particular regions of the world, to support ongoing and active military operations.

• Skynet 5 is the first military spacecraft that isn’t owned by a government or international organisation (like NATO).

It is way to strange that they are the first non country or NATO/ext owned satellites and they are called sky-net ?

reply to post by Topsy_Cret
Good articles!

Some people think skynet is only science fiction, and while I'd agree it's not reality today, those articles show that it's approaching faster than we thought. I think there will be something like skynet within 100 years and possibly within 50 years, though artificial intelligence will continue to evolve over time.

And if the robots see that humans are growing population faster than the plant's ability to sustain it, then they just might do something about it. We've already stripped the oceans of most of the large fish supplies. Sometimes science fiction does become science fact, like the fictional submarine in Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues that became reality.

• Skynet 5 is the first military spacecraft that isn’t owned by a government or international organisation (like NATO).

Thats very interesting. I must have missed that when I was reading the link you provided earlier.

I have always said,no matter how much data can be collected,they will not be able to get to analyzing all of it.

This is pretty dangerous,having machines do what human's wanna do,but can't.

Wait,that's called robotics!.

Nevermind that unemployment thang.

Originally posted by gnosticquasar
Just what we need: sentient robots. Most of us have a hard time handling pets; how in the world are we supposed to handle something like that?

I am not sure "we" would be handling it rather we would be replaced by it becoming totally useless eaters in the eyes of the elitists who view us as inferior.

That is something that I have always wondered about... If and when the robots take over all of our jobs, what will humans be doing? I mean will we just be going on vacations and doing the things we love? What would we do for money to pay bills and such, or will everything be free?

It would be pretty lame to not be able to get a job because the robots do it better... I kinda like food and stuff ya know.

Human Labor...

Technology...

...Conflict...

To damn late if you're just really noticing it now...

reply to post by Topsy_Cret

I found this link that is Skynet related:
jmerton.blogspot.com...

Paradigm

Paradigm supplies military hardened satellite communications, primarily to the UK armed forces but also to a range of other governments and organisations around the world. Our military satellite communications (milsatcom) services are delivered through the three Skynet 5 satellites launched between 2007 and 2008. The satellites can be precisely controlled so that pinpoint voice, internet, and broadcast communications can be directed to any part of the globe. Skynet 5 has been designed to meet the needs of the UK armed forces through to 2020 at least. Under the terms of our arrangements with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), the massive additional capacity designed into the system can be made available to other military and government users, including NATO. As a company, Paradigm was established to deliver the Skynet 5 service for the UK armed forces, as part of an innovative and sophisticated £3.6 billion PFI (Private Finance Initiative) arrangement. Paradigm is wholly owned by EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.

Perhaps the real skynet is in learning mode. The strategy game I played on my old pc did things it wasn't programmed to do. That was very strange. It was like it learned from me and was learning and executing new strategies even though it was using an old strategy game where the programming typically sucked or I might not have noticed all the changes. The changes made the ai a lot more fun to play as if it were a dumb human instead of just a really stupid old ai. However I am better at the game than probably 98 percent of everyone else from playing the old game for so long.