
The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler Incident - ZeljkoS
https://www.globalo.com/history-wwii-charlie-brown-franz-stigler-incident/
======
ZeljkoS
Video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp9-cN_Oog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp9-cN_Oog)

~~~
PavlovsCat
"If I wouldn't have seen a person at all, I would have shot."

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp9-cN_Oog&t=4m23s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp9-cN_Oog&t=4m23s)

> These men were able to give the counsel they gave because they were
> operating at an enormous psychological distance from the people who would be
> maimed and killed by the weapons systems that would result from the ideas
> they communicated to their sponsors. The lesson, therefore, is that the
> scientist and technologist must, by acts of will and of the imagination,
> actively strive to reduce such psychological distances, to counter the
> forces that tend to remove him from the consequences of his actions.

\-- Joseph Weizenbaum

But what happens instead is often enough that this "warm, fuzzy" feeling we
get from that (awesome) story, is also evoked for the "awesome technology that
can make a real impact to save human lives" or "make wars less bloody" etc.

Bottom line is, it cannot think. Even _humans_ too often don't really think
about what they are doing, but our machines _cannot_ , even in their brightest
moments. Not on the level we're talking about here, anyway. If they could, we
would make damn sure it could not "refuse orders".

That is not a bug, but _the_ feature. And one doesn't build a cannon to then
not shoot a cannon ball.

~~~
skookumchuck
> one doesn't build a cannon to then not shoot a cannon ball.

"Dark Star" comes to mind:

[http://www.cinemah.com/altri/war/carpent.htm](http://www.cinemah.com/altri/war/carpent.htm)

~~~
PavlovsCat
_Trillian led him for a short walk through the light before she said anything
more. He stumbled uncertainly after her. The encircling flashlight beams were
drooping slightly now as if they were abdicating to this strange, quiet girl
who alone in this Universe of dark confusion seemed to know what she was
doing._

 _She turned and faced him, and lightly held both his arms. He was a picture
of bewildered misery._

 _" Tell me," she said._

 _He said nothing for a moment, while his gaze darted from one of her eyes to
the other._

 _" We ..." he said, "we have to be alone ... I think." He screwed up his face
and then dropped his head forward, shaking it like someone trying to shake a
coin out of a money box. He looked up again. "We have this bomb now, you see,"
he said, "it's just a little one."_

 _" I know," she said._

 _He goggled at her as if she 'd said something very strange about beetroots._

 _" Honestly," he said, "it's very, very little."_

 _" I know," she said again._

 _" But they say," his voice trailed on, "they say it can destroy everything
that exists. And we have to do that, you see, I think. Will that make us
alone? I don't know. It seems to be our function, though," he said, and
dropped his head again._

 _" Whatever that means," said a hollow voice from the crowd._

 _Trillian slowly put her arms around the poor bewildered young Krikkiter and
patted his trembling head on her shoulder._

 _" It's all right," she said quietly, but clearly enough for all the shadowy
crowd to hear, "you don't have to do it."_

\-- Douglas Adams

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HocusLocus
The Red Baron spared Snoopy, also

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WsbOLin8qc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WsbOLin8qc)

The part about being able to hear Xmas bells from a roaring airplane is dodgy
though

------
davidkuhta
You're a Good Man, Franz Stigler.

------
mcguire
" _Brown flew more missions before the war ended._ "

There is a deeply cynical part of me that has questions about this story...

~~~
YeGoblynQueenne
Yeah, well- so did Stigler. He kept flying and probably downed a few allied
planes along the way.

What I find strange is that a man who would make such a noble gesture as
taking care of a wounded enemy, would not simply refuse to take part in such a
senseless, destructive war as WWII, in the first place.

But, people are complex animals with contradicting motives. And we can't see
into the future.

~~~
jwigg
We don't always get to choose the wars we fight in, but we always have a
choice in the way we fight the battles.

