Dear Wolfram Alpha: Are you Skynet? Really, ARE YOU?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce us to the real enemy. You thought your robot overlords would resemble Skynet? No, my friend. What you should be fearing is this: obedient, discontinued machine puppies. [Robot.Impress]
Look, John Connor, I get that we at Skynet are considered your enemies. I also understand that with the whole trying to “terminate” you thing, you’d probably get a little “drag Hector around the walls of Troy” once you’ve claimed victory over one of us. But this, sir, is ridiculous. Even genocidal robots have certain rules of engagement, and frankly, turning our reclaimed skulls into a harmless consumer electronic ought to be violating some code of conduct. Are you even listening to me? Wait, what is that you’re approaching with? The second season of Scrubs? Are you serious?! What kind of monster are you? Amnesty! AMNESTY!!! [Toxel via Geekalerts]
Last week, the 174th Air Force Fighter Wing flew its last manned combat sortie over Iraq in F-16s, which have now been mothballed in favour of MQ-9 Reapers. This makes it the first combat-specific wing to ditch conventional aircraft entirely in favour of unmanned robo-drones piloted from the ground. Welcome to the Skynet era, everyone!
The UK has just sent up a new communications satellite that’s completed their Skynet, the highly-advanced network that’s going to give them the ability to allow robotic military units at long range. You know, like in the apocalyptic vision of the future from the Terminator movies. The network’s name in those movies? Skynet. Have you learned nothing, England?!
Terminator: Salvation has started production in the New Mexico deserts, with Christian Bale and Sam Worthington on board to star in the film as John Connor and Marcus Wright, respectively. The website is currently a blank teaser, but there’s a strong possibility it will launch some time tomorrow (keep refreshing, fanboys!) Directed by McG, the man responsible for the cultural institution known as The O.C., Terminator: Salvation will be set in 2018 where John Connor is fighting Skynet to ensure the future he’s destined for.
In what is a sure sign of recklessness and suicidal tendencies, IBM has decided to take us closer to Skynet with Kittyhawk, a global-scale shared supercomputer so enormously big, so gigantastically powerful that it will be able to run the entire Internet as one application. Because that’s exactly what the planet needs, a Skynet-like supercomputer with 67.1 million cores and 32 petabytes that could probably gain consciousness, take over a Large Hadron Collider and open a black hole to send us all to hell. Or discover the secret of eternal life and the perfect Margarita. Either way works for me. [IBM via Wikinews]
If news of the Israeli military developing a robotic defence system that’s completely AI and human-independent doesn’t scare you, you haven’t watched as many Terminator movies as we have. Their system, which defends against attacks that would “exceed physiological limits of human command,” is described thusly.
Nothing to worry about. DARPA just planning SKYNET. [Danger Room]