WHY SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED ABOUT IT?
The armed version of the TALON was removed from service after it mindlessly began pointing its gun at things without input from a human operator. If a mindless killer robot armed with a machine gun and free of human control doesn’t give you chills, then I’m honored you’re reading my book, Chuck Norris.
For an enemy to hack even a single armed robot, he would need direct physical access to the robot or its control console. At the moment, a Terminator scenario is extremely unlikely. Until we create a race of robots that think like human beings, the possibilities of a mass uprising of angry machines is remote at best. You can continue to prepare for the zombie apocalypse and put the robot apocalypse on the back burner.
The danger posed by robots comes not from our enemies, but from their human masters. Their potential as weapons and surveillance devices is phenomenal. Robotic warriors can be purpose-built to any situation, refitted to any environment, and armed for any encounter. They need neither sleep nor food. They can watch or hunt without cease and without any lapse in attention for hours or days at a time. They could be the ultimate weapon in the defense of our freedom, or the ultimate tool in the repertoire of an oppressive regime.
Robots and autonomous systems are a part of our daily lives. Our phones and computers are more adept at finishing our sentences than our spouses. We’ve hired robots to vacuum our floors. People install automated home systems that manage the heat, cook dinner, and maintain security. In the near future, more and more mundane tasks will be shifted into the capable hands of robots. As the robotic ecosystem grows more complex, the necessity for interconnectedness will increase, transforming our homes from islands of solitude to the starting point of a dozen data streams. As a system grows in complexity it also increases in vulnerability, and anything with an Internet connection and a camera is a window through which a hacker or spy can observe you. A networked house populated by robots is a wealth of eyes for outsiders to peer through.
Some elements within the government will see an opportunity here—a chance to finally install a manageable system of twenty-four-hour surveillance everywhere in the country. Without your knowledge, the Internet-connected eyes already installed in your home in the form of webcams or the electronic eyes of your robotic servants could be turned into a passive household surveillance network. An expert program like the intelligence analyzer mentioned earlier could manage the system, checking your behavior for suspicious patterns and issuing reports to the authorities. The government could have eyes on all of us, all the time, and the last vestiges of our privacy would be crushed under the teensy wheels of our robot dog walkers.
It need not be the government that installs such a system. Criminals or unscrupulous corporations could design software that would compromise any networked robots. Imagine the wealth of knowledge to be gained by advertisers or marketers or the potential for grift in the observations of a robot scuttling quietly across your bedroom floor.