Post by @pbloem@mathstodon.xyz

2026-10-26 21:32 UTC

Autonomous drones following running people through the woods, without GPS. Developed, with military funds, at a public university. This is not dual use anymore, this is single use. There is only one use here. Sometimes I worry that I'm becoming a negative Nancy with all my ethics talk, and then I see colleagues proudly post this kind of thing without a single acknowledgment of the implications.

Replies (4)

@pbloem@mathstodon.xyz 2026-10-26 21:37

Social impact statement: This technology allows population-level massacre at a cost of a hundred dollars per person. Produced at scale it could cause more suffering and death per dollar than nuclear weapons. However, there are also positive uses: it could be used to help runners improve their form.

Open ##5418949
@robert_cassidy@urbanists.social 2026-10-26 23:30

@pbloem@mathstodon.xyz It’s dual use if you also give them to ICE. Nobody said the other use had to be better.

Open ##5418955
@iron_bug@friendica.ironbug.org 2026-10-26 23:40

@pbloem@mathstodon.xyz >This work involves many open-source software tools, and I believe we should imply a new free software license clause: no military, no surveillance. because free software cannot trace and murder people..as a programmer I never worked for anything like that and I don't want any line of code I ever wrote was ever used for such dishonorary purposes.

Open ##5418956
@enigmatico@mk.absturztau.be 2026-10-27 06:55

@pbloem@mathstodon.xyz I hope they get murdered by their own creations

Open ##5418958