8 Technologies That We Should Never, Ever Build

6. Automated War Drones

The thing about putting humans in war zones, is that they can make complex judgement calls. The other thing about war is that, although you want to keep your troops as safe as possible, the risk to human life can act as a temper and prevent all-out chaos.

Lethal drones, operated remotely with a real human pushing buttons are one thing, but they're resource heavy. A robot than can select a target, aim its gun and fire without human intervention certainly frees up some manpower, but who is held responsible for its actions?

Then consider the arms race. One side sends in automatons, the other side has no choice but to follow suit or be decimated, human soldiers gradually withdraw from the battlefield, leaving robots to fight robots and any civilians that will be caught in the crossfire.

The real kicker is, without the caution that comes with sending human troops into battle, you can take more and greater risks, you can apply more deadly force and you can do it all safe in the knowledge that you won't lose a single man.