Advanced body armor, drones, cyborgs. CYBORGS. Is this the future of the police?
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This is Trace for DNews! Robocop is out in theaters, promising action and a crazy cool
reimagining of the 1980s robotic future film. The old film had a lot of social commentary,
and represented the fear of turning over our safety to the dominion of robots. 30 years
later, with robotics permeating more of our society than ever, the concern is still real,
and far closer to the surface. ... I mean, we may not be ready to put a man's head into
a machine body, but we got a chance to talk to the cast of the new Robocop to ask them
why the idea of a robotic human hybrid is so compelling.
It can just take us to a place where we have to be careful of the consequences. There's
an interesting emotional aspect of this [film] that's also a moral dilemma: when do you stop
being a human being and when are you a machine?
I'm not talking about singularity, but in the case of Robocop, he's amputated from his
throat down. The rest of his body is mechanic and he also has artificial intelligence implants
in his brain that control some of his decision making.
We have to be careful of the consequences.
I just think the idea of the combination of man and machine is quite the delicious cocktail.
The best free roaming humanoid robot we've got now, according to the DARPA Robotics Challenge,
is SCHAFT. The Japanese robot isn't as sexy as RoboCop, but it's designed to help with
nuclear disasters, not to look good while battling on camera. SCHAFT doesn't inspire
quite as much fear. It can drive a car, navigate rough terrain, remove debris, open doors,
cut holes in walls and manage a number of other dexterous tasks like hooking up hoses
and turning valves -- all extremely valuable in disaster scenarios, but not exactly the
scariest things in the world. And SCHAFT is nowhere near to being the robot-human hybrid
The new film deals with drone warfare, too. In the year 2028, Robocop is created by the
multinational conglomerate "Omnicorp" as a way to circumvent a new law prohibiting drones
from bearing firearms.
As of today, private unmanned aerial vehicles that fly above 400 feet are still prohibited
by the FAA, though there's a mandate for American airspace wide open to drones by September
30, 2015. So far, filmmakers, border-patrol and police have made some basic use of domestic
drones, but at the moment they're still expensive and hard to find here at home. The U.S. military,
though, they've deployed 11,000 drones since 2002, and 50 countries have their own drone
programs -- including China, Israel, and Iran. We might be looking at a future without humans
at the control stick.
Luckily for us, RoboCop is still safely in the realm of science-fiction, but the technology
is on the horizon. Drones can already fly, drive, run and navigate disaster area -- but
are we REALLY that far off from a military robot soldier? Would we be somehow LESS afraid
of cyborgs than straight-up robots?
There's always going to be a man behind the machine behind the machine behind the machines...
There's never going to be a finger that's pointed nowhere.
As technology advances and predictions of the merging of man and machine looms, our
laws, police, and citizenry are going to be rushing to keep up with the advance...
If something like RoboCop really existed and you came across him, how would you feel?
It's freaky to me. As Gary, I'd be very weary. I'd be a little unnerved by it.
What do you think? Is a human-robot hybrid the future? Or pure drone warfare like in
other movies and science fiction? Release your paranoia in the comments, thanks for
watching DNews, make sure you subscribe.