Packs of robots to hunt down "uncooperative humans"

The latest request from the Pentagon seems like a precursor to Terminator. They are looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human". One thing that really bothers DoD is having their troops diverted from other duties to control robots. So having a pack of them controlled by one person makes logistical sense. But I'm concerned about where this technology will end up. Given that iRobot last year struck a deal with Taser International to mount stun weapons on its military robots, how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Or could the packs even be lethally armed? Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University is an expert on police and military technologies, and last year correctly predicted this pack-hunting mode of operation would happen. "The giveaway here is the phrase 'a non-cooperative human subject',":

"What we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs. Once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed. We can also expect such systems to be equipped with human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat. These are technologies already developed."

Another commentator often in the news for his views on military robot autonomy is Noel Sharkey, an AI and robotics engineer at the University of Sheffield. He says he can understand why the military want such technology, but also worries it will be used irresponsibly.

"This is a clear step towards one of the main goals of the US Army's Future Combat Systems project, which aims to make a single soldier the nexus for a large scale robot attack. Independently, ground and aerial robots have been tested together and once the bits are joined, there will be a robot force under command of a single soldier with potentially dire consequences for innocents around the corner."

What do you make of this? Are we letting our militaries run technologically amok with our tax dollars? Or can robot soldiers be programmed to be even more ethical than human ones?

Atheists Advertise on UK Buses

A novel advertising campaign underway in the United Kingdom reads "There's probably no God. Now, stop worrying and enjoy your life." Residents will see it on the sides of buses, and perhaps, on posters, and elsewhere. In addition to the slogan, the adverts will feature the URLs of secular, humanist and atheist websites, so that readers can find out more about atheism as a positive and liberating alternative to religion. There is also an interactive campaign website and Facebook group, so that questions raised by the adverts can be publicly debated. The group British Humanist Association is sponsoring the campaign and is seeking donations. Apparently multimillionaire Richard Dawkins has been matching donations – but only up to a total of £5,500. £11,000 is needed to keep two sets of 30 buses carrying the slogan across Westminster for four weeks. By last night, individuals and organisations had pledged more than £47,900.

Writer Ariane Sherine, who suggested the idea in a Guardian Comment is Free blog last June, said she was surprised by the level of support but was pleased with the extra money, which would finance a more ambitious campaign. "We could go national, we could have tube posters, different slogans, more buses, advertising inside buses. The sky's the limit - except, of course, there's nothing up there."

To donate to the atheist bus campaign, please visit JustGiving.

Hologram Driving Assistant

The first hologram co-driver for your car gives you directions, wakes you if you fall asleep, helps you park and prevents theft. FAQ's: How much does it cost? The price of DAConnect will be announced at its official launch on Oct. 13, 2008 How many types of holograms can be projected? One female and two male figures are available (including the standard security hologram). Holograms reproduce themselves highly accurately. Actually, DAConnect uses "holofims", ie video recordings. Do the projected holograms also speak other languages? Currently the holograms communicate in English. In case of accidents with foreign drivers you can use a pre-recorded phrase in one of five languages (Italian, Spanish, French, German and English). Does DAConnect work even if there is a passenger sitting on the seat on which the hologram is projected? No. Any object between the light beams interrupting the projection of the holographic figure prevents the proper functioning of the system. Can it be used in a convertible? No. The projected hologram is visible only under certain lighting conditions inside a passenger compartment. [DAConnect]

Weird News

The Nebraska legislature's new "safe haven" law for unwanted babies, like other states' laws, allows them to be dropped off anonymously at hospitals to discourage abortions (and neglect by unfit parents). However, unlike other states' laws, Nebraska's applies not just to infants, but "minors," because, said Sen. Tom White, "All children deserve our protection." In September, the first two non-infants were abandoned, as exasperated parents gave up on rebellious sons aged 11 and 15, and critics say the law could apply to those up to age 19. [Lincoln Journal Star, 9-15-08] In July, Abbie Hawkins, 19, a hotel receptionist in Norwich, England, said she found a baby bat nestled inside the padded bra she had been wearing for several hours. "When I was driving to work, I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket," she told the Daily Telegraph. Hawkins had fetched the bra off of a clothesline that morning, where it had been hanging overnight. First reaction: "I thought how mean I was for disturbing it." [Daily Telegraph, 7-8-08] Joey Bergamine, 19, who is preparing for a re-trial in Fayetteville, N.C., on a DUI charge stemming from a July 2007 incident, will argue that he should have been advised of his right to have a lawyer present when his father kicked open his bedroom door hours after the incident to help police officers who had come to question him. Joey's father is the police chief of Fayetteville, and Joey's lawyer said entering a locked room, as well as the subsequent interrogation, constituted "police" action and not "parental" action, and since his dad failed to "Mirandize" him, the charge should be dismissed. [Fayetteville Observer, 8-16-08] Michael Mahoney, 25, is the most recent rapist (according to police in Somerville, Mass.) to believe he is such hot stuff that he gave his phone number to the victim, certain that he had charmed her into wanting to keep seeing him. Police quickly arrested him in July at home, where he lives with his parents. [Boston Herald, 7-9-08]

In July, convicted sexual molester Donald Fox, 62, of Frederick, Md., became the most recent convict to challenge the unfairness of his sentence (40 years in prison) and then have the appeals court agree it was unfair, except because it was too short (he's now serving 80 years). [Frederick News-Post, 7-23-08]

Source: News of the Weird

Homeland Security Gets Closer To Minority Report-Style Crime Predictor

TechDirt reports:

Ever since the film Minority Report came out, we've seen a series of stories about efforts to predict future crimes before they happen. Most of these are more about data mining to predict high crime areas and times -- but some are going much further. Slashdot points us to a story about Homeland Security apparently making progress on a "pre-crime detector." It was originally called "Project Hostile Intent," but after some folks figured that the name was a bit... ominous, it seems to have been renamed as "Future Attribute Screening Technologies" (FAST). Basically the system is designed to spot "shifty" people who may be getting ready to commit a crime of some sort. The researchers behind it say that the early tests are incredibly effective: "We are running at about 78% accuracy on mal-intent detection, and 80% on deception." Of course, there are tons of questions about privacy violations and how long it will take criminals to figure out ways to "beat the system."

PETA proposes that Ben & Jerry's use breast milk in its ice cream

How's this for a disturbing thought - if PETA has it way, your next scoop of ice cream could be made with human breast milk. PETA is asking the Ben & Jerry's to begin using breast milk in its products instead of cow's milk, saying it would reduce the suffering of cows and calves and give ice cream lovers a healthier product. PETA wrote a letter to company founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield on Tuesday, telling them cow's milk is hazardous and that milking them is cruel.

"If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers — and cows — would reap the benefits," wrote Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of the animal rights advocacy group. "We're aware this idea is somewhat absurd, and that putting it into practice is a stretch. At the same time, it's pretty absurd for us to be drinking the milk of cows," she said.

It takes about 12 pounds — or 1 1/2 gallons of milk — to make a gallon of ice cream. As a standardized product under federal regulations, ice cream must be made with milk from healthy cows. Ice cream made from goat's milk, for example, would have to be labeled as such. Presumably, so would mother's milk ice cream. Ben & Jerry's responded to the open letter:

"We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child," spokesman Sean Greenwood said in an e-mail. He didn't respond to requests for an interview.

After I thought about this for a bit, I can kinda see PETA's point. It's true that we are taking milk from an animal and consuming it on a daily basis, yet we get grossed at the thought of using human milk. Personally, I can't get over the grossness of using human milk. Secondly, you would need a lot women just to produce one gallon of ice cream. How much milk can a nursing mother make in one day? Aside from that is the cost. How much do you pay a woman for her milk? Does she need to stay in the factory/milking facility all day? Can she pump it from home? And finally, cow's milk and mother's milk aren't interchangeable, according to La Leche spokeswoman Jane Crouse, who says breast milk is a dynamic substance that's different with each woman and each child and might have difficulty being processed into ice cream. I don't think we'll be seeing this come to pass anytime soon, thankfully. At the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, consumers gave a collective "Eww" to the idea:

"It's kind of creepy," said Jeff Waugh, 42, of Dayton, Ohio.

"I think it's a little nutty," said the Rev. Roger Wooton, 83, of Malden, Mass., finishing up a cup of Heath Bar Crunch.

"How would they get all that milk?" said his wife, Jane Wooton, 77.

Jen Wahlbrink, 34, of Phoenix, who breast-fed her 11-month-old son, Cameron, said she wouldn't touch ice cream made from mother's milk. She remembers her nursing days — and not that fondly.

"The (breast) pumps just weren't that much fun. You really do feel like a cow," she said, cradling her son in her hands.

Image courtesy of MSNBC.

On Fire In the Operating Room

MSNBC brings to our attention the latest under-reported operating room "accident" - surgical fires! I, for one, never thought that I might actually catch on fire while being operated on. It turns out, however, that surgical fires are at least five times as common as once thought, affecting between 550 and 650 patients a year, including 20 to 30 who suffer serious, disfiguring burns. Every year, one or two people die this way. In Pennsylvania, a state in which hospitals are required to report medical errors, fires occur in one in every 87,646 operations, according to the latest 2007 data. That amounts to 28 fires a year in Pennsylvania alone and allows researchers to estimate with greater certainty the incidents in the rest of the country. Surgical fires are still a tiny fraction of the 50 million surgeries performed each year. An excerpt of one patients horrifying tale (emphasis mine):

Rita Talbert's operation was supposed to be a simple thyroid surgery, three hours, in and out, in the spring of 2005. Instead, the Stafford, Va., woman woke up a week later in intensive care, in agonizing pain and horrified at the face she saw in the mirror. “I didn’t know it was me,” said Talbert, now 62. Her chin was gone; her nose was deformed. Her mouth was virtually melted, so damaged that after a dozen reconstructive operations, she still has trouble eating, drinking and breathing. There’d been an accident, the doctors explained. An electrosurgical tool had ignited oxygen inside a mask under surgery drapes during the operation, sparking flames that left second- and third-degree burns from Talbert’s chest to the top of her head. "It just caught fire," she said, still incredulous at the idea. "They didn't even know it had caught on fire."

The root problem seems to be one of communication between the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. In most incidents, the surgeon was not informed that oxygen (O2) was flowing under the surgical drapes. The problem is exacerbated when the surgeon does not inform the anesthesiologist he is going to power on a electrical device in the surgical area. Oxygen concentrations of 50 percent and higher will create a flash fire. About 65 percent of surgical fires occur on the upper body or inside a patient's airway, another quarter occur elsewhere on the body and less than 10 percent actually occur inside the body cavity. Whatever the source, the head and neck region is grimly suited to hosting fires, especially in a high-oxygen atmosphere. There’s the vellus, the peach fuzz on your face and head - each tiny hair burns like a tiny sparkler and propagates a ripple of flame across the face.

Apple Stifles Developer's Free Speech By Imposing NDA on Rejections

I've signed many NDA's (non-disclosure agreements) in my career as a software developer. It's a common practice for many companies, especially those dealing with new technology. However, I've never been asked to sign an NDA for being rejected for a job. If you're a developer and Apple rejects your iPhone application from its App Store, the company wants you to shut up and get over it.

Apple's serious about it: The company has extended the iPhone non-disclosure agreement, which prohibits application developers from discussing programming tips, to include rejection letters as well. Some developers in the past have shared their rejection letters on the web, but now, according to MacRumors, rejection letters include a clause that reads, "THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE."

Score one for Android.

Weird News

According to police in Bethlehem, Pa., four kids (ages 9 to 14) grabbed a donation box in August at RiverPlace park (contributions to an organization that maintains the park's portable toilets) and ran for nearby woods, with several police officers in pursuit. Three boys were caught, but the other made it a little ways into the woods before falling into a manure pit built by homeless people at their encampment. [The Morning Call (Allentown), 8-5-08] Kevin Hansen filed a lawsuit in West Bend, Wis., in August, claiming that spotting a clump of hair in a steak he sliced into from a Texas Roadhouse restaurant caused "severe and permanent injuries," pain, suffering and "disability," requiring "extensive medical treatment." In fact, said his lawyer Ryan Hetzel to Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel, "It's bothered the heck out of him." (The employee who prepared the steak was fired and later pleaded guilty to a felony, explaining that he was trying to retaliate because Hansen complained about a previous order.) [Journal Sentinel, 8-3-08] After failing the West Virginia Bar Exam for the second time (during which he was given an extra day to complete it), Shannon Kelly filed a lawsuit in July demanding even more concessions based on his unspecified cognitive disability. The second failure was also on a special version of the exam in large type, and Kelly had been permitted to work in a room by himself. He now believes he can earn his license if he is allowed four days instead of the normal two, to make up for (according to his lawyer) "severe deficits in processing speed, cognitive fluency and rapid naming" (though it is not clear how many attorney jobs are available for someone with such a skills set). [West Virginia Record (Charleston), 7-25-08] The Texas criminal justice system continues to astonish. In August, federal judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio ordered a final-hours' stay of execution for Jeffrey Wood based on serious concerns about his sanity, that the Texas state courts had somehow summarily dismissed. Judge Garcia said substantial evidence supported at least holding a hearing on the issue but that state law seemed to require the inmate to prove his insanity first in order to obtain a hearing on whether he is insane. That, said Garcia, is "an insane system." [New York Times, 8-22-08] Adding to the list of stories that were formerly weird but which now occur with such frequency that they must be retired from circulation: (89) People who call the emergency-only 911 number for stupid reasons, such as Reginald Peterson, who called Jacksonville, Fla., police in August because Subway didn't make his sandwich correctly. Source: News of the Weird

Woman Threatens To Hold Broadband Repair Guy Hostage - Arrested

We all get frustrated by the cable and utility companies when they give us a scheduled time of "between 9am and 4pm", and then the repair person arrives at 5pm. Finally someone did something to get even (although she paid for it by getting arrested). Carol Sinclair had talked to about 20 different tech support people for her broadband provider, before the company finally sent a person to fix her problem. Carol admits she was a little rude to the repair person when he arrived, though she explained the frustration to the tech when he arrived. When the repair person said the problem wasn't the broadband provider's fault, she allegedly threatened to hold him hostage. (Slashdot) Mrs. Sinclair denies the charge, and says she merely stated, "I don't want to hold you hostage, but would you mind hanging around until the other technician arrives so that the two of you can sort it out." Except, the guy did take it literally and "escaped" (though, it doesn't sound like she made any real effort to stop him) by claiming he needed something from his van to fix her connection, and then driving off. He then contacted the police, who arrested Sinclair for her attempted hostage-taking.

Homeland Security Denies Asylum Based on Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a great source for information, especially when you understand that anyone can edit Wikipedia articles. Now comes the strange case of DHS (Department of Homeland Security) denying asylum to a woman based information found in a wikipedia article.

DHS decided to deport Badasa after consulting Wikipedia to decide whether a Ethiopian travel document known as a laissez-passer was adequate to prove her identity. Using the Wikipedia page as evidence, the government convinced an immigration judge that the document did not prove her identity, calling it a one-way travel document based on information provided by the applicant. While the Board of Immigration Appeals subsequently said it didn't "encourage the use of resources such as Wikipedia.com in reaching pivotal decisions in immigration proceedings," it allowed the decision to stand since it couldn't find any clear error.

The woman filed an appeal and won her case. The appeals court basically said Wikipedia is not an official source of information for approving/denying asylum.

The three-judge panel of the appeals court found that split decision disturbing. The court reiterated that anyone can edit Wikipedia and there's no guarantee that the information on the page at the time the government officials looked at it had any correct information at all. The site may have misled and tainted government officials' decisions in the case, the judges ruled. The appeals court sent the case back down to the Board of Immigration Appeals to have it explain why it believes Wikipedia didn't taint the entire decision-making process.