
Ender’s Game is Already a Reality for the U.S. Military - robabbott
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/enders-game-is-already-a-reality-for-the-us-military/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110713
======
hosh
Is it just me, or does this article (and the people it talks about) get
fixated on the technology?

"I almost think it’s passé at this point ... Ender’s Game is happening. It’s
already done."

The technology is not what I remembered Ender's Game for.

~~~
GeneralMayhem
Unfortunately, it's all the movie is memorable for.

------
alexeisadeski3
\-----SPOILER ALERT-----

Children are being tricked into unknowingly fighting wars for the US military?
Really?

~~~
mey
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_(film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_\(film\))

~~~
stcredzero
A Buzz Lightyear RTS would sell. If it was done well, it would even continue
to sell.

~~~
lazugod
Toys is a different film from Toy Story.

~~~
stcredzero
Whoops. I'm not so sure a Robin Williams based RTS would sell. (Though he's
been in enough movies, you could probably have 3 entire factions based on his
characters.)

------
laxatives
The title makes it sound amazing in a bunch of different and misleading ways,
but all the demos look like cheap toys and video games.

~~~
stcredzero
JWARS was an amazing simulation system that the US defense department had in
the 1990s. They could simulate entire theaters of war down to individual
soldiers at 10000x speed.

The problem with good, accurate simulations in the defense department, is that
higher-ups who do not like the results that come out of them will have them
killed politically. This is what happened to JWARS. (This is also what
happened to the war game where a 3rd rate power sank a US aircraft carrier.
[http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3793](http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/3793)
)

~~~
theorique
The troublesome thing is when unpredictable things happen far outside the
boundaries of the expected battlespace.

Who would have guessed that a small band of Islamic fundamentalists would

\- overstay their (legal) visas

\- do some flight training

\- hijack commercial aircraft to use as giant suicide bombs

In hindsight, it looks logical, but on Sept 10, 2001, who was thinking of
this?

~~~
scotty79
Tom Claney. In 1994.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_of_Honor)

~~~
theorique
Good point, and you're absolutely right.

I'm guessing, however, this was not part of mainstream military doctrine or
scenario planning.

------
altero
Cheap movie promotion?

------
D9u

         raise the heavy rifle in my hands... an exact replica of an M16
    

An M16 is far from being a "heavy rifle." What other bits of this "reality"
are unrealistic?

~~~
xauronx
I think the author was trying to convey that it was an actual rifle in his/her
hands, and not a plastic toy/digital.

~~~
D9u
My bad for conflating the meaning of reality in reference to the use of VR
with the reality of my own experience.

~~~
chc
I _think_ the point is more that "heavy" is relative. It feels heavy in his
hands, not that it's heavy compared to a bunch of stuff that he doesn't know
about.

