Lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs)

There is a category of military weapons called LAWs, that’s the short form for Lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs).

These are a type of weapons that can independently search for and engage targets based on programmed constraints and descriptions.

Now we have that definition out of the way, let us look at real life applications beyond the battlefield. Let’s say there is a popular app that everyone has on their phone, this app collects finger prints and face-ids of all its users to uniquely identify them.

The finger prints are synced with the national database such that this app can now communicate the location and identify of the user to every device around the person including their fridge, doors, other phones, satellites, street cameras and cars.

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This is beautiful because you wouldn’t need ATM cards again, once you are approaching the ATM machine, you can key into the amount you want in your phone and the cash will be ready once you are there. Doors open for you based on your access level before you get there, your car unlocks for you based on your proximity etc.

Since cars drive themselves, cars can be programmed to identify the user who other the ride and stop exactly for them and pick them up. If the wrong person enters the car, the car will know and refuse to move.

Back to LAWs, since these cars drive themselves and can uniquely identify each user, some malicious person can program the car to identify a targeted person and eliminate that person by knocking them down or driving them into a pole in an accident.

Imagine that 1,000 cars in the streets are hijacked at once to assassinate 1, 000 key political opposition members the same day? What if a banker connives with a hacker to track down and eliminate a client so they can rob his account?

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