The very first moment a nation with a different set of ethics decides to remove the human from the loop, game theory dictates that the rest shall do the same..
The only thing stopping it from happening right now is imperfect friend or foe detection and friendly fire risk.
This is distressing in few ways, but the flamethrower capability linked in the article really sent me down a rabbit hole. The marketing team for the flame thrower had some product attrsibutes I found notable:
All of our flamethrowers are made with pride right here in the USA.
(This seems to be on point branding for a consumer-targeted flame thrower )
Lifetime Warranty. Built to last! Enjoy a robust lifetime warranty.
(Is that warranty for the Lifetime of a user of a flamethrower that shoots 30 feet? If so, I am not a ‘flamethrower engineer’ but couldn’t there be defects where that could be circular /self limiting ? )
https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_suarez_the_kill_decision_sh...
Luckily it sounds like a human is still in the loop for this nightmare fuel, but I fear for the day this isn’t true.