Maybe drones will make human soldiers unacceptable in the future.
reply“It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished.”
― Richard Jordan Gatling, 1877
replyShould write a MIT case study on that in "Bad Hypotheses 101"
replyIf only wars would end when all the soldiers on one side were dead.
replyIf the people fought before they'll keep fighting, even after their robots are gone.
They will certainly make human soldiers unviable. (I draw mostly dystopian conclusions from that prediction.)
replyOr it will just lead to lopsided massacres like the maxim gun did.
replyOn the plus side there is now quite a lot of drone on drone combat saving people's lives
replyThey are being operated by humans
replyBut imagine the efficiencies to be gained if you swapped out the direct human operator with an automated operator. Then, you can have teams of automated operators being operated by a single human!
replyThere was never any other option, given the direction of progress and basic human nature.
replyI know I know, but this and that and not me nor you, yet here we are and this is just beginning.