What an incredibly odd and weak episode of “Streitkräfte und Strategien” on autonomous weapons. Germany has internationally renowned experts on this topic - @drfranksauer@adahlma to just name two - and @cschmiester presents this topic as if no one had ever heard of it.
I know not everyone follows this topic closely but over the last years it has been discussed in quite some detail in the German media. So going “oh wow, this Stuart Russell in this FT article warns of these systems” is just… weak sauce.
Just a few examples of recent media reports on this:
You may think ’why does she care so much and isn’t this just self promotion’?
But after getting the #drone debate so wrong, I really want us to get the #AI in warfare/autonomous weapons debate right. Let’s do better.
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Overall, I find my theory vindicated. The unwillingness/ inability to see that the world has really changed (despite saying otherwise), the hope that somehow the world will go “back to normal” (despite saying otherwise).
What is interesting to me though, is that this seems to be *even more* the case for the older generations. Those who actively unlearned geopolitics.
Yes and yes
“if it is true that peace in Europe is essentially due to nuclear weapons and the Americans, then that would mean that the whole cozy pacifist lifestyle was only possible because hawks were watching over it all the time.” spiegel.de/politik/deutsc…
Spending the morning rewatching last night’s first post-chancellery interview with Angela Merkel.
If you don’t have time to watch the whole interview, by far the most interesting bit is 1:02:30 to 1:11:00 (roughly). On the Bundeswehr and Germany’s defence policy.
Before that point in the interview, I was really annoyed because re Putin/Russia she kept repeating that she “didn’t reproach herself for trying diplomacy”, that she didn’t feel “like she tried diplomacy too little”* - as if talks were *the only thing*.
28 German artists & intellectuals have published an open letter, asking German chancellor Scholz not to agree to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. emma.de/artikel/offene…
They have two main arguments: heavy weapons delivery might make Germany a participant in the war (#Kriegsteilnehmer) and it might prolong the war and thus increase suffering.
Many have discussed these points so I won’t do that again.
Something that really irks me in the letter is this phrasing: “the delivery (…) COULD turn Germany in a war participant”.
I’m sorry, either you think it does, or it doesn’t*. “Could” is a cop-out.
Here I was, thinking that the German drone debate showed how little the German commentariat and political realm understood defence policy and technology. And then came the German debate over missile defence 😳🤯
Actual quote from this commentary: “the German-French-Spanish integrated air defense* system FCAS will not be ready until 2040 (...). Iron dome has the advantage that the system is available today.”
🤪