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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 10/19/2007 : 17:14:19
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Has it begun?: A female artillery officer risked her life on Friday in a desperate bid to prevent members of her battery dying from their own anti-aircraft gun.
Oerlikon gun firing.
But the brave, as yet unnamed officer was unable to stop the wildly swinging computerised Swiss/German Oerlikon 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft twin-barrelled gun. It sprayed hundreds of high-explosive 0,5kg 35mm cannon shells around the five-gun firing position.
By the time the gun had emptied its twin 250-round auto-loader magazines, nine soldiers were dead and 11 injured.
A ninth soldier, a woman, died moments after landing in Bloemfontein, after being airlifted by a South African Air Force helicopter to Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein. |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 10/19/2007 20:55:00
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2007 : 23:42:09 [Permalink]
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| has what begun? |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 02:11:22 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by On fire for Christ
has what begun?
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What sci-fi movie scenarios go through your mind when you read of a robot killing people?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 05:11:14 [Permalink]
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| Perhaps by using torture techniques, like stripping its gears or putting the CPU under oil until it almost short-circuits, they will be able to find out if it is working for SkyNet or, even worse, Al-Qaeda. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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| Edited by - pleco on 10/20/2007 05:12:02 |
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On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 06:01:08 [Permalink]
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| isn't it a little soon to be making jokes |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 06:24:28 [Permalink]
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| You're right, I should have waited at least a month after they melt the gun down and sell it for scrap before making jokes about it, out of respect for all things computerized. We shouldn't disrespect a machine designed solely to kill other human beings. Or is a month too short? Perhaps you could inform me as to the proper time? Is it written down somewhere? |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 07:25:07 [Permalink]
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OFFC wrote: | isn't it a little soon to be making jokes |
As a fan of SF, I didn't take Half's comment as a joke. Maybe it was, but I know many people for a long time have been concerned about the autonomy of certain military technologies. I remember my husband and his best friend once getting into an incredibly passionate debate about whether it should be legal to have automatic military weapons. The best friend said that it was basically a moral imperitive that a human being have to "press the button" so to speak.
I recently read a short story that deals with this issue. In it, a robot discovers that fairies are real because he can see and hear them on a visual spectrum that humans cannot. Once the human scientists realize this truth, they want to study the fairies using science. BUt since the humans can't see or hear the fairies, they must rely on the robots to do the work. The robots watch the fairies scream and cry and try to warn each other with language just like humans, but because the fairies are not human, the robots aren't morally concerned. The humans aren't concerned because they think the fairies are simply some kind of unaware animal, and they are in a race with scientists in other countries to discover how to make their military personnel and equipment undetectable in the same way. Sure, this story is fantastic, but its correlation to reality is pretty clear when we read a news story such as this.
However, even if it were a joke, many people deal with shockingly horrible events with humor as a way of coping. I often find myself starting to laugh and emphasize the ridiculous elements when I tell a terrible story to others. If I emphasized the sadness, I'd cry, but laugh or cry, both can be an emotional reaction to the weight of what has occurred. I fail to see how Half's post is disparaging those who died. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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| Edited by - marfknox on 10/20/2007 07:27:49 |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 07:27:15 [Permalink]
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| Crap, I'm an idiot. OFFC was responding to pleco, not Mooner. But actually, same argument goes. I don't think pleco is actually making light of the situation in a way that disrespects the people who died. His joke was quite on target. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 10:52:46 [Permalink]
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Great work, Pleco. Best laugh I have had since visiting this usually somber place! Your dry wit makes me cry!
Bill Buck |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2007 : 12:42:19 [Permalink]
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Just for the record, I don't think there's anything funny about the deaths in what is essentially a horrible industrial accident. In posting this, I wasn't looking for guffaws; more funny "peculiar" than funny "ha-ha" (though perhaps there was a small undercurrent of dark humor. (For which I apologize, though it was kind of frickin' funny.)
That a robot has shot a bunch of people dead is certainly worthy of attention, though. I recall the first killing of a human by a robot was perhaps twenty-odd years ago, when an automotive assembly robot killed someone. In neither case, certainly, was hostile "intent" involved. But for safety's sake, one would seriously hope that no war robots are online when and if the Technological Singularity approaches.
This accident in South Africa brings up some safety concerns, too. Why the Hell wasn't there a foolproof "off" switch somewhere? There have been "Deadman" switches on train locomotives for about a hundred years to prevent runaway trains.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 10/20/2007 16:48:42 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 17:55:14 [Permalink]
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I also have a dark/bizarr sense of humour, and I just love pleco's comment.
On Fire for Christ, think of the deaths in this way:
Those who were killed and believed in Christ, they'll be in heaven. As for the infidels, well... they are where they deserve to be. 
As for myself, I think the accident is a tragedy.
Edited to add: But that doesn't prevent me from holding several different emotions and views on the deaths. On one hand it's a tradegy, on the other hand, I have no problem seeing the irony, and the dark humour of relating this incident to Terminator and other work of fiction where machines rebel against their masters(?)... |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 10/22/2007 13:49:56 |
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11 humans reported dead in robot shooting rampage
