This story freaks me out.

A military expert predicts that by the next decade, robots will outnumber U.S. Army personnel 10 to one.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/us-army-robots-will-outnumber-human-soldiers-10-to-1-by-1465669535/@jesusdiaz

The idea is to have robots on either side of human soldiers scanning for mines, enemy personnel, movement “out there” that could put our soldiers at risk.

Welcome to the future of warfare.

My own desire would be a world with no war. The odds of that occurring are, well, worse than zero. Since the beginning of time, human beings have been at war with each other. I see nothing on the horizon — or beyond the horizon if I get way up on my tippy toes — to suggest that trend will cease to exist.

Scott Hartley, co-founder of 5-D Robotics, took part in a live-fire exercise at Fort Benning, Ga., recently. He talked of how the Army is advancing so rapidly that it will have more machines on the battlefield than human beings.

The story is freaky on at least one key level.

As the writer of the blog attached to this post notes, machines lack human emotion. Therefore, the idea of inflicting death and pain on others may require less emotional investment, which can help preclude the decision to go to war in the first place.

Jesus Diaz, who wrote the blog, notes: “It’s true that military robots — both weaponized or support units — will protect soldiers. But they will also make war even more horrible by taking away the human life loss component. If we can send platoons made of robots to war, people will not fear death in wars. There will be no dead bodies getting home in flag-covered coffins. Like aerial drones, this will inevitably trivialize wars.”

War is not a trivial exercise. At least not yet.