Boston Dynamics robot dog enforces lockdown in Singapore

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/11/boston-dynamics-robot-dog-enfo.html

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robot_slip

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People will be sorry when robots take over the world. And it is inevitable that they will.

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Who watches the watchdogs?

Is there a theft security system installed?

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Good luck stealing anything that size and with that high profile in Singapore, mate…

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Seems to be remote controlled and not autonomous yet.

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Just dress up as service staff and pretend there is something wrong with it. Self confidence and the right clothes can take you far, especially in countries that respect authority. By the time anyone figure out what’s happened you have equipped it with laser eyes and razor tipped legs and released it again on an unsuspecting public.

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The Menschenjägers are with us.

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You are talkin’ Singapore here. You know. Singapore. I’d rather not even spit out a chewing gum in that park, even before the first SARS epidemic. And much less try theft, criminal breach of trust, and aggrevated cheating. IANAL, but I think I would qualify for all three if I tried to put a leash on that yellow doggy-fellow.

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This isn’t nearly as creepy as the Boston area hospital that’s experimenting with using these for patient intake. If I have to be seen by a “virtual” doctor, I’d much rather it be one of those iPad on wheels telepresence robots.

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I’d rather have one of these dogs…

…as long as they aren’t trained to point and/or followed around by trucks full of guards wearing hazmat suits. :thinking:

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“With Folded Hands”; keeping us safe from ourselves.

from the Cliffs Notes from Fahrenheit 451:

A reincarnation of the vengeful Furies from Greek mythology and the epitome of modern perverted science, the Mechanical Hound is a slick electronic hit man formed of copper wire and storage batteries and smelling of blue electricity. He is an omnipresent menace capable of storing “so many amino acids, so much sulphur, so much butterfat and alkaline” that he can inexorably trail the odor index of ten thousand victims to their doom. From his snout projects a “four-inch hollow steel needle,” which can inject enough morphine or procaine to quell a rat, cat, or chicken within three seconds. Sniffing its quarry with “sensitive capillary hairs in the Nylon-brushed nostrils,” the Hound growls and then scuttles silently toward its prey on eight rubber-padded feet. Sighting through the “green-blue neon light” of its multifaceted eyes, the Hound is masterminded by a central command for rapid deployment and near perfect accuracy.

The Hound represents government control and manipulation of technology. Originally, dogs served as the rescuers for firemen. They were given the job of sniffing out the injured or weak. However, in this dystopia, the Hound has been made into a watchdog of society. Like the Furies, the Mechanical Hound has been programmed (by the government) to avenge and punish citizens who break society’s rules. The ones who are not loyal to the rules must especially be punished, and the Hound serves as the enforcer of these rules.

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I think that’s a Jägermeister-based cocktail.

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Actually for a virtual Doctor I prefer this.

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I’ll take this one:

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Say Robot Dog - turn him, mother fucker, say turn him off!

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egads “great minds…” i was considering making this exact Fahrenheit_451 reference, if the comment section lacked a proper concentration of “disturbing robot dog polices society”. Well done Sir!

Boston Dynamics should consider if they really want their products ‘advertised’ in this dystopian fashion. (“meh. who cares? as long as we’re diving into piles of money”)

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In other fake news:
Boston Dynamics has just announced a merger with Cyberdyne Systems and the start of their first joint development project, the T-1000, which is scheduled to be controlled entirely by Skynet in 2023, before the end of His Highness’ the Great President’s third term.

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