Two engineers, Luis Wenus and Robert Lukoszko, decided to see if they could build a drone that could be used to kill humans autonomously. They were alarmed at how fast they were able to create such a drone, programming it to essentially chase humans. A drone armed or loaded with explosives could target gatherings for terrorist attacks, the engineers worry.
Wenus, the lead in the project, is a self-described “open source absolutist” who also uses the pronouns “e/acc,” which is a signal he is all for unfettered AI development as rapidly as possible, come what may. Yet his work is sure to be used to justify constraints on AI, and even more, on drone development and use by non-government agents, aka you and me.
Drone technology is the new frontier in the battle for the right to self-defense as reflected in our republic’s 2nd Amendment.
Excerpt from livescience.com:
… Wenus said his experiment showed that society urgently needs to build anti-drone systems for civilian spaces where large crowds could gather. There are several countermeasures that society can build, according to Robin Radar, including cameras, acoustic sensors and radar to detect drones. Disrupting them, however, could require technologies such as radio frequency jammers, GPS spoofers, net guns, as well as high-energy lasers.
While such weapons haven’t been deployed in civilian environments, they have been previously conceptualized and deployed in the context of warfare. Ukraine, for example, has developed explosive drones in response to Russia’s invasion, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The U.S. military is also working on ways to build and control swarms of small drones that can attack targets. It follows the U.S. Navy’s efforts after it first demonstrated that it could control a swarm of 30 drones with explosives in 2017, according to MIT Technology Review.
About Author
Paul Collier
Paul Collier is the editor of The Freedomist newsite, our Weekday Reports, and our Monthly Publication, Freedomist Intelligence Advisor (previously McAlvany Intelligence Advisor). He has been involved in news publishing since 2003.
