Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Obama May Widen Drone War Over Pakistan
March 18th, 2009Via: Wired: Six times in the last two months, the new administration has used unmanned aircraft to strike at Taliban camps in the largely-ungoverned tribal wildlands on Pakistan. That could be just the start, however. New York Times reports that President Obama’s national security team is considering an expansion the target set, to include the […]
Pentagon Dirigible Would Stay Aloft for Ten Years; Constantly Monitor Activity on the Ground
March 13th, 2009Don’t miss the part about the energy source. You’ll love this: The dirigible will be filled with helium and powered by an innovative system that uses solar panels to recharge hydrogen fuel cells. Military officials said those underlying technologies — plus a very lightweight hull — were critical to making the project work. “The things […]
Remote-Controlled Planes Could Spy on British Homes
February 24th, 2009Via: Telegraph: Police could soon use unmanned spyplanes like those used to track enemy troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance operations on British homes. The Home Office has suggested that the remote-controlled drones could be used to help police gather evidence and track criminals without putting officers at risk. The miniature aircraft could be […]
Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World
February 12th, 2009UPDATE: Contest Results The target was a picture of my ancient, tattered Audio Technica headphones sitting on the concrete floor. There were no direct hits, but 9 of 13 submissions had something to do with round things. For days, it looked like Evil Chopsticks was going to be the closest one, since he or she […]
The Army’s Remote-Controlled Beetle
February 4th, 2009The Singularity is here somewhere… It’ll be great. Really. Via: MIT Technology Review: A giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back can be wirelessly controlled, according to research presented this week. Scientists at the University of California developed a tiny rig that receives control signals from a nearby computer. […]
Pentagon Wants “Virtual Renditions” of Deployed Personnel to Interact with Their Children
January 8th, 2009“My real daddy died in Iraq, but daddy_lite v3.7.2 lives in my cell phone now. The kind man from the Army also gave mommy a backup disk in case we need to re-install daddy on any of our computers or mobile devices. Mommy cries a lot, but daddy seems happy inside the screen.” Via: Department […]
Pentagon Hires British Scientist to Help Build Robot Soldiers that ‘Won’t Commit War Crimes’
December 1st, 2008Via: Telegraph: The American military is planning to build robot soldiers that will not be able to commit war crimes like their human comrades in arms. The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately. By […]
Packs of Robots Will Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans
October 24th, 2008Would you like some freedom fries with that? Via: New Scientist: The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”. One thing that really bugs defence […]
DARPA Contract Description Hints at Advanced Video Spying
October 20th, 2008More inputs for Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation. Via: Washington Post: Real-time streaming video of Iraqi and Afghan battle areas taken from thousands of feet in the air can follow actions of people on the ground as they dig, shake hands, exchange objects and kiss each other goodbye. The video is sent from unmanned […]
New Homeland Security Magic 8 Ball Removes Terrorists Fast! Now with 100% More WTF?
September 24th, 2008“Sorry, officer, I’ve been reading Cryptogon for so many years I thought the twitching would have stopped by now.” Via: Fox News: Baggage searches are SOOOOOO early-21st century. Homeland Security is now testing the next generation of security screening — a body scanner that can read your mind. Most preventive screening looks for explosives or […]
