{"id":10849,"date":"2009-05-23T14:04:51","date_gmt":"2009-05-23T19:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=10849"},"modified":"2009-05-23T15:04:15","modified_gmt":"2009-05-23T20:04:15","slug":"ive-lost-artoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=10849","title":{"rendered":"I’ve lost Artoo!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Terminator movie premiered Friday. <\/span>Yeah…I sort of figured that whole thing had played out around the time Linda Hamilton turned into Mickey Rourke with breasts. <\/span>But apparently, in keeping with Hollywood’s penchant for recycling old plots by hiring the cast of Hannah Montana and throwing an Obama-load of money into CGI, killer robots are back, sans Governor Arnold Taxandspender.<\/p>\n

\"9v<\/a>
9v battery and 5.56mm link belt not included<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I ran across an article this morning<\/a> discussing the real life robots currently in use with US armed forces in the Middle East. <\/span>Packbots and Talon robotic units are apparently working alongside troops in-theater, taking out IED’s and helping grunts carry all their crap…like TSO’s autographed copy of Abba’s Greatest Hits…shit like that. <\/span>So when the Brookings Institute did a study on the effects of these pre-Terminator helpers on their human counterparts, it came as a surprise that doggies have an affinity for the clankers. <\/span>Cast your optical receptors on this chunk of data:<\/p>\n

One EOD soldier brought in a robot for repairs with tears in his eyes and asked the repair shop if it could put “Scooby-Doo” back together. Despite being assured that he would get a new robot, the soldier remained inconsolable. He only wanted Scooby-Doo.<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The article cited some expert who says that soldiers develop an emotional attachment to the machines that they’ve dragged with them into battle. <\/span>There are accounts of soldiers risking their lives to retrieve these robots which have been incapacitated during combat. <\/span>One account had an EOD soldier running 164 feet under heavy small arms fire to save his robot that had been knocked out by enemy fire. <\/span>There’s also accounts of units awarding “Purple Hearts” to these machines and one of them being given a military funeral. <\/span>Hmm.<\/p>\n

At first blush, I was sort of taken aback, but the more I considered it, the more it struck home. <\/span>We’ve grown up with automatons like R2-D2, Commander Data and Algore, embracing their near human emotions, and responding to them when they’re hurt or confused or can’t identify our Founding Fathers<\/a>. <\/span>We find them alluring, intriguing and in some cases, frightening. <\/span>I mean seriously, if we can love our cars, I guess it’s only natural that a remote controlled engine of death armed with 40mm grenade launchers or a SWORDS package can give you a stiffy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Far be it from me to criticize any of this…I mean, I can’t seem to let go of my 1991 Honda Civic with 200k miles on it…but I guess I’m concerned about the humanization of these robots to the point that flesh and blood soldiers are willing to run into enemy fire to save them. <\/span>Isn’t the purpose of these beasties to reduce casualties? Can’t speak to the mind of a soldier in the field who has attached himself to one of these robots, but I imagine it’s not exactly healthy. <\/span>Especially when you know that given the opportunity, these mechanical helpers are just a couple virus updates away from creating their own society where humans are slaughtered or enslaved as a power source ala The Matrix…not that I’m buying that Keanu Reeves’ brain has enough electricity to power a <\/span>vibrating sex toy, much less an entire Erector set (no pun intended) world…but I digress.<\/p>\n

On a weekend where we honor the men and women who’ve shed their life’s blood in defense of Liberty and everything that’s good about our nation, I suppose one day, we may have to add C3PO to the list of the honored dead. <\/span>Rust in peace, soldier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new Terminator movie premiered Friday. Yeah…I sort of figured that whole thing had played out … I’ve lost Artoo!<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":438,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[67,77,76],"class_list":["post-10849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-claymore","tag-cool-ass-robots","tag-r2d2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/438"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}