Israel Eyes Thinking Machines to Fight 'Doomsday' Missile Strikes

[The Straight Story]

Israel Eyes Thinking Machines to Fight 'Doomsday' Missile Strikes (Updated)
By Noah Shachtman EmailJanuary 22, 2008 | 5:15:00 PMCategories: Drones, Missiles, Sabra Tech

Israel has been hit in recent years by thousands and thousands of rockets, mortar shells, and missiles. And that could be just a preview of the onslaught Iran may one day unleash. So Israeli military leaders have begun early planning for a new, robotic defense system, armed with enough artificial intelligence that it "could take over completely" from flesh-and-blood operators. "It will be designed for... autonomous operations,' Brig. Gen. Daniel Milo, commander of Israel's air defense forces, tells Defense News' Barbara Opall-Rome. And in the event of a "doomsday" strike, Opall-Rome notes, the system could handle "attacks that exceed physiological limits of human command."

Israel already uses a blend of Arrow and Patriot interceptors to handle incoming rockets and missiles. This new command-and-control program would be "superimposed over all those defenses" -- and over new ones to come.

Air defense systems today often take a great deal of the work away from the troops who supposedly run them. The machines automatically slew to their targets, lock on... and then await instructions from flesh-and-blood.

At least they do, most of the time. Back in October, however, some sort of glitch allowed a South African air defense cannon to spin out of control -- killing 9, and wounding 14.

In "extreme scenarios, where the number of incoming weapons could overwhelm today’s systems and their human operators, envisioned super system could take over completely," Opall-Rome writes.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/israel-thinking.html

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Don't these people ever watch movies?

[RC]

2. Maybe if Israel would stop instigating events the incoming would slow down or

maybe even stop with some diplomacy instead of violence. Ya think?

[thunder rising]

3. artificial intelligence ... bleeding edge stuff here

[thunder rising]

5. Or now we can slaughter more Palestinians and blame it on software.

"Blue screen of death" takes on a whole new meaning.

[jpgray]

4. "Shall we play a game?"

First one not to respond with a movie reference loses.

[C_U_L8R]

7. How about a nice game of global thermo nuclear war?

[Voltaire99]

6. Eyes more US handouts, actually

Why should Americans keep subsidizing Israeli colonialism?