“You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”
— “Blood Meridian” Cormac McCarthy
As someone who has barely made it into the 20th Century, much less the 21st, I have decidedly mixed feelings about the advent of the RoboRifle.
TrackingPoint Solutions of Austin, Texas, has created a precision-guided rifle using jet-fighter lock-and-launch technology. It’s a remarkable rifle (actually, it’s all about the scope) — you can’t help being impressed with the technology and what it can do. The problem is just that though: It’s what the technology can do, not what the rifleman can do. They claim to have “democratized accuracy.” I don’t think I like that.
I’m a pretty good shot. That’s because I’ve made a lifelong study of it and practice a lot. I don’t much care for the idea that a novice can twiddle some knobs and manipulate a computer and shoot better than I can. Reminds me of what a Sierra old-timer told Chuck Yeager: “Four-wheel drive makes things easy that ought to be hard.”
Grump. Grumble.
Now, I can certainly see the military application. War is not a sport, and attempting to eliminate human error from the sniper equation makes sense. As long as it works. If the technology fails, does the tech-dependent rifleman have the old-school capability to compensate?
But then, I’m a tech curmudgeon. I prefer iron sights to a scope whenever possible. And I’m pretty sure that The Terminator is actually a historical narrative that hasn’t happened yet. So you can take anything I say on the subject with a stout grain of salt to hand.
Don’t much like the “ethical kills on animals at long-range” business. Where is the “Fair Chase” ethic in a 500-1k-yard computer-assisted shot? Speaking as an unsuccessful flintlock muzzleloader elk hunter, of course… Three trips and nary a shot taken. Grain of salt again. Maybe I’m missing something. I mean, somebody could have — and probably did — make the same argument about “unsporting” technology when scopes started becoming a generally available thing after World War II. Now you can scarcely buy a stock American sporting rifle with irons. (Though there does seem to be a welcome countervailing trend lately).
(Editor’s note: Friend Brett Miller, who operates Warfighter Outfitters, which gets injured and disabled veterans out on the water and into the field points out that long-range technology like this can be used by veterans whose injuries preclude hiking and stalking on the hunt. Legit point and well-taken).
Maybe I’m just turning into a grumpy old man. “These damn kids are talking about Call of Duty and HALO — back in my day we played REAL games, like Centipede!” Grumble, grumble…. “Get your newfangled contraption off my lawn!” Am I really that guy?
Ah, hell, there’s no point in bitching. Technology is advancing at a frantic rate and will continue to do so (until the machines become self-aware and destroy the planet).
As one of the commentators in this video says, “We are committed to the Promethean Fire.”
Lena Headey — my favorite Sarah Connor. Even Sarah cannot save us now.
lane batot says
Sarah cannot save you from Terminator technology, but I can! I am a confirmed MACHINE JINX. Git me around just about any kind of machine, and it is GUARANTEED to quit functioning! And I don’t even have to TOUCH the machine, just be in the general vicinity. Although if I touch it, it will fall apart that much more quickly. High tech, science-based machines absolutely cannot deal with old fashioned joo-joo!
JimC says
Somehow I just knew you were the savior of mankind…
deuce says
Now you’re at the same point I’ve always been at as far as “sword vs gun”. Tech taking one more quantum (or far more than that) of the human quotient out of “personal” combat. At least this applies just to long distance shooting/sniping. Can’t see how it would be that handy in a chaotic firefight.
In Cameron’s ALIENS, Drake and Vasquez both shouldered “smart” guns that chose their own targets. In the extended cut, you see the “robo guns” in the tunnel that mowed down xenomorphs like Welsh Royal Engineers mowing down charging Zulus at Rorke’s Drift (I personally believe Cameron had Endfield’s ZULU in mind for many of the scenes).
Cameron brings us back to Skynet and the fact that human volition and ability is being taken out of the act of killing other humans.
JimC says
Hadn’t thought about it in those terms. You’re right, this matter goes back to the advent of gunpowder — or maybe the crossbow.
Craig Rullman says
You may recall The Wind and the Lion, and the Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, explaining to Mrs. Pedicarus his preferences: “I prefer to fight the European armies, but they do not fight as men – they fight as dogs! Men prefer to fight with swords, so they can see each other’s eyes! Sometimes, this is not possible. Then, they fight with rifles. The Europeans have guns that fire many times promiscuously and rend the Earth. There is no honor in this – nothing is decided from this. Therefore, I take women and children when it pleases me!”
The modern world makes instant experts by the dozen, and I suppose for me that is the most disturbing trend. Will the shooter with that piece of gear–which certainly has its applications–be able to function when it inevitably breaks, he is taking fire, and he is wearing his best friend’s brains on his blouse? Maybe, maybe not. I’m of an older school…I was a navigator for small-boat raids–we were taught to navigate those over-the-horizon missions with whizz wheels and stop watches in terrible sea states and at night. We HAD gps, but the Royal Marines Color Sergeant in charge of our schooling was quite adamant that method was NOT going to be how we learned to do it. I think that mindset matters, if we are talking about building competency instead of simply a fantasy life of prowess.
But this scope…and the next generations of it…will make everyone an expert and consolidate for many the specious belief that they are somehow commandos. So, pshaw.
JimC says
Map and compass! No batteries required.
The Wind & the Lion…. Remind me to tell you my John Milius story.
Lane Batot says
Hey, J. C.–just a reminder–the John Milius story!?! And I used PART of that “The Wind And The Lion” quote above recently over on Steve Bodio’s blog, trying to elicit a response from the blogmaster of “Frontier Partisans”, but it musta got overlooked! Anyway, I’ll still carry my knife and Zulu assegai, and just WAIT fer all the machines to rust out!
JimC says
How did I miss that?
Lane Batot says
Yeah, HOW DID you miss THAT one? I mean, a photo of Sam Elliot wielding a shotgun, under the title “A Little Place Marker”, December 8th post on Querencia–it’s in the “older posts” now, but not too far back. There’s still time….
JimC says
I am off like a prom dress…
Paul McNamee says
As a software release & tools engineer I joke – even on job interviews – that the essence of my job is to automate myself out of a job.
I am not necessarily as paranoid about the sentient machine revolution as some others, but when I read articles and pitches like this – yeah. Maybe we will automate ourselves out of existence one of these days.
Conversely, I was thinking about horsemen mention from your Siberian post. You’ve seen the Boston Dynamics pack dog robots, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
And then’s there’s iRobot, too.
(Both companies in my backyard .. iRobot literally in a bordering town – so I’ll let you know when the revolution begins 😉 )
Anyway – I half imagined/wondered if we might see cavalry again on robot horses. 😀 “Mechanized cavalry” indeed.
Good fodder for a military sci-fi story, anyway. I can imagine the cover art now.
I need to stop giving these ideas away 😉
JimC says
I was gonna say…
Keith West says
*scribbling frantically to outline my next wip*
deuce says
Once we got to “a child, with a gun, could kill the most bad-ass pre-gunpowder fighter”, it was simply a matter of time before “a machine could kill all humans on its own”. Yes, despite Homer’s “the blade itself” (which was more about enabling bloodlust), a human with a sword or spear is depending on his own muscles, reflexes and intelligence. Pre-gunpowder weapons (other than crossbows) were still using POWER DERIVED FROM THEIR USERS AT THAT MOMENT. Gunpowder (unlike crossbows) “stored” power that wasn’t related to human physicality at all.
Admittedly, you can’t outlaw laws of the universe (Prometheus and all that). Such things were and will be invented by humans to stay ahead. Of course, running faster may just pitch you into the chasm that much sooner.
On a guns/crossbows note… In Howard’s LORD OF SAMARKAND, [Spoiler!]
MacDeesa kills Timur with a pistol that hadn’t been invented yet. MacDeesa got close to the Great Khan because he was almost dead. Thus, he was (thought) too weak to harm his psychopathic liege. REH has taken flak for that inaccuracy. The Orient was the hotbed of crossbow innovation. I can’t see why Donanld couldn’t have smuggled in a small “horse crossbow” or somesuch. Any hypothetical “pistol” he could’ve had would’ve probably been the rough size of an Uzi. Plus, ignition would’ve been a problem in that particular case.
JimC says
Shamelessly stolen from Stephen Bodio’s Querencia…
Lane Batot says
There goes that sink-krin-naucity thang again! And talk about an appropriate addition for this post! And okay, the firestick is more of a rifle than a shotgun–but whaddya expect from an assegai-wielding savage?
Keith West says
This picture us going on my office door.
JimC says
Hah!
deuce says
No arguments. Believe me, I always take a gun to a gunfight (maybe some grenades, too).
Erik Dolson says
I’m a pretty good driver. Learned to double clutch a ten-ton dump truck with a balky transmission, to go fast by looking through the curve and far ahead, to heel-toe a wicked fast car balanced on the edge of traction.
The skill set that sets me apart as a driver and a racer is becoming obsolete. Cars that know when to brake, when to shift, how much power to put down — and when — are available if not yet common. Robot cars that are better than most drivers are here today.
It won’t be long before “transport ‘bots” are sold as the only safe option, to a society that would rather text, chat or surf than look out the window, let alone dance with a machine to rhythms played by physics. Soon, that dance will be regarded as irresponsible by a society that’s moved on to newer technology, as my beloved horseless carriage evolves into an egg built by Google, an iCar by Apple: silent, efficient, and without soul.
JimC says
Erik D! Good to see you here. We’ll man a bunker together when the shit hits the fan and we’re taking on the Machines. I’ll shoot; you scoot. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have driving the getaway car…