Word: pentagonal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...course, there are some experts who are less sanguine about the capabilities of "autonomous" robots than the Pentagon. Says Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a public-policy think tank: "It is tough enough for us to train human soldiers to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants on the battlefield. It is much more difficult to write software that does that." Goure adds, "How does a robot distinguish between a friendly ally, a local civilian or a hostile fighter? The distinguishing characteristics are for the most part very small. What are the distinguishing characteristics between an enemy column...
...more reason for the Pentagon to make sure humans can still climb into the driver's seat - and tell the robot who's boss...
...approaching when the U.S. military can deploy a robot that can drive itself around a corner, use senors to detect an enemy fighter on the move and destroy targets instantly with missiles and machine guns - all without human intervention? The Pentagon thinks the day may be imminent, and it wants to ensure that its technology doesn't get ahead of military doctrine. It wants to be certain that there is always a human making decisions regarding the use of lethal force...
...happen again." The incident in question involved several Chinese naval vessels harassing a U.S. surveillance ship off the island of Hainan. But despite the soothing words of the two top diplomats, it's a safe bet that more such incidents can be expected in the future. The Pentagon was quick to note that the mariners aboard the U.S.N.S. Impeccable were civilians working for the Military Sealift Command, while the Chinese side stressed that the confrontation involved local fishing boats. The reality is that the incident occurred because both sides are preparing for war - "shaping the battlefield," in military jargon...
...Impeccable eventually sailed free of the Chinese fleet, which included, according to Pentagon officials, a Chinese navy intelligence-collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries patrol vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers. McCreary noted that the two fishing trawlers involved were about as "civilian" as the government-owned U.S. spy ship. (A Pentagon-produced story about the event said a "civilian crew mans the ship," a half-truth that was repeated around the world by other media outlets. In fact, about half its roughly 50-member crew is military.) "The Chinese, like...