
A giant art installation targets predator drone operators - Mz
http://notabugsplat.com/
======
chm
From the Wikipedia article [1] on the Pakistan drone attacks:

    
    
        The Peshawar High Court has ruled that the attacks are illegal,
        inhumane, violate the UN charter on human rights and constitute
        a war crime. The Obama administration disagrees, contending
        that the attacks do not violate international law and that the
        method of attack is precise and effective.
    
    

How preposterous.

[1]:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_attacks_in_Pakistan)

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FD3SA
I am very interested in the future consequences of robotics in warfare.

Throughout history, the wealthy have always needed mercenaries and laborers,
and often used the former to enforce the obedience of the latter. What
happens, when technology becomes so advanced that the wealthy can not only
afford all the necessities and luxuries of life without laborers, but also the
ability to purchase robotic mercenary forces, with no humans involved?

Now, the transition period will be interesting, as there will always be human
operators required prior to AGI. But as automation progresses, fewer and fewer
highly skilled individuals will be able to directly operate larger and larger
automated facilities. Transportation, sanitation, agriculture, shelter, energy
production and even military forces could be controlled by a very small number
of individuals.

The only restraint is how much capital the owner has at their disposal.

This scenario of Neo-Feudalism is far more disquieting than classical
Feudalism. Back then, even peasants had some use. In this new system, most
people are worthless.

Sci-fi for now, but for how much longer?

~~~
IvyMike
This is pretty simplistic, but I still think it's true: plenty of times in
history, when the ruling class got too powerful, there was a revolt.

But when the ruling class has a unsympathetic perfectly controlled drone army,
I think revolt might be near impossible. Orwell's boot stomping on a human
face forever is actually BigDog.

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Mz
Excerpt:

 _In military slang, Predator drone operators often refer to kills as ‘bug
splats’, since viewing the body through a grainy video image gives the sense
of an insect being crushed.

To challenge this insensitivity as well as raise awareness of civilian
casualties, an artist collective installed a massive portrait facing up in the
heavily bombed Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa region of Pakistan, where drone attacks
regularly occur._

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rdtsc
On a side not due to these drone attacks taking place for year s now. The
phenomenon has become part of the local culture and folklore. Mothers tell
their children that if they don't eat their breakfast the drone is going to
get them and so on.

It is a very scary idea that one day unknowingly the wrath of "gods" from
above could fall on you if you just happen to be at the wrong wedding or
funeral or your goat looks like an IED or something.

If that doesn't constitute terrorism I don't know what is.

Also on a higher level, it is interesting that actually making mistakes and
using surgical strikes to kill civilians is in the interests of _everyone_ in
the chain of command, almost all the way to the President.

Imagine a world where one day we just get so lucky and conduct one last drone
mission and wipe out the last terrorist cell (let's suspend disbelief here for
a second). Imagine what would happen on the US side. Billions of dollars sunk
into drone programs, hardware, factories, training, thousands of men trained
to repair, build, operate, support drones. Careers and promotions tied to the
success of the drone programs. What would happen to them.

There is a feedback loop that actually would reward everyone if these drone
attacks are brutal and end up creating more terrorist cells more hate and more
fear.

I don't think higher up will ever issue a direct order to kill civilians but I
think over time they would stop questioning too much or investigating enough
up until they have just enough official plausible deniability, after that who
knows what is going on their heart.

~~~
gus_massa
> _Mothers tell their children that if they don 't eat their breakfast the
> drone is going to get them and so on._

It’s a very sad story. Do you have a link to a more detailed report?

~~~
rdtsc
See this article:

[http://www.npr.org/2013/05/05/181403067/the-hidden-cost-
of-t...](http://www.npr.org/2013/05/05/181403067/the-hidden-cost-of-the-drone-
program)

I believe it was part of a testimony before Congress of an Yemeni urging US to
stop using drones there. He made a statement to that effect -- threats of
being bombed by drones are part of the culture and folklore.

We have become the scary boogeyman in the night, very disturbing if you ask
me.

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callmeed
Slightly off-topic but this got me thinking: if satellite imagery becomes more
frequent, will we start seeing ads/messaging of this format on buildings and
property?

My backyard is 1/3 of an acre–what's the CPM on that?

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Gracana
On a related note...

"This is the story of every known drone strike in Pakistan."

[http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/](http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/)

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saulrh
They missed an important datum - drone operators suffer from PTSD and burnout
just as much as pilots of manned combat aircraft and almost as much as
infantrymen. They don't _need_ giant pictures on lawns; that know full well
what they're doing, and it breaks them just as badly as if they were right
there. [http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/distance-from-
carn...](http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/distance-from-carnage-
doesnt-prevent-ptsd-for-drone-)

~~~
dublinben
If they really felt so bad, maybe they would stop what they're doing.

~~~
khrbrt
Sometimes they do. And then they get replaced by another E-3 straight from
tech school.

[http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-
uav-...](http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-uav-pilot-
assassination)

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ethana
Good idea, they might want to have this all the Middle East.

~~~
cup
Drones are nearly exclusively limited to Afghanistan / Pakistan.

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belorn
It should be easy enough to install filters to hide such images on the
operators screen.

