Escape and Evasion

Funny story here

DARPA Dweebs Spent 6 Days Training A Robot To Detect Humans, Then 8 Goofy Marines Trounced Their AI

A group of Marines managed to trounce a robot after scientists from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) spent almost a week training it to detect humans.

The story was told in a soon-to-be-released book titled “Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” by defense expert Paul Scharre. The volume explores “the struggle to control artificial intelligence.” (RELATED: Police Arrest Suspect After Video Showed Attempted Kidnapping Of Barista At Drive-Thru Window)

The DARPA team had the Marines walk around as they trained the robot to detect human beings. After six days, the Marines were told to try to outwit the AI system.

“They parked the robot in the middle of a traffic circle and the Marines had to approach it undetected starting from a long distance away,” Scharre writes in his book.

Tanks a lot

The same article tells the story of tanks, and the army’s response to their use in WWI. My father was in a horse-mounted cavalry National Guard unit (Squadron A) between the wars, and he recounted that many of his peers laughed at the idea of the horse being replaced by horses; he didn’t, and joined the Navy when the war broke out.

But two future generals saw the tanks’ potential after serving in WWI, and advocated for their adoption: Patton and Eisenhower. When the top brass rejected the idea, both men revealed their character, in my opinion. Patton refused to budge, Eisenhower conceded to his superior officers. Which is probably why Eisenhower succeeded in bringing the allied forces together, while Patton’s stubborness kept him in the field; the military probably needs both types, I suppose.

Anyway, here’s the story;