Fox News: Terrorists in League with Daleks

Posted 28 Feb 2008 at 20:52 UTC by steve

The Scholars & Rogues blog picked up on a Fox news story hyping the danger from Al Queda's crack scientists who are apparently seeking to destroy us with killer robots. Based on the photo in the article, Al Queda's new robot pals are those arch-enemies of Doctor Who, the Daleks. The somewhat fanciful Fox news story is based on a press release from The University of Sheffield that described a keynote address by Noel Sharkey. In his address to the Royal United Services Institute, Sharkey warned of the ethical issues raised by the increasing number of autonomous military robots. During the talk he noted, "Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy. How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act? With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn´t require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons."