Technology

Are ‘Mind-Reading Drones‘ Next in the Military’s Arsenal?

Are Mind Reading Drones Next in the Militarys Arsenal?

An unmanned U.S. Predator drone.

We regularly feature amazing weapons on this site. And they all have one thing in common: they’re not human. But a new futuristic weapon could soon blur the line between human and android.

According to Wired.com, the Air Force is developing a new “mind-reading.“ But ”mind-reading” might be a little too complimentary. Really, the drones have an advanced system that allows them to anticipate nearby pilots’ moves. The technology is part of a plan to avert accidents. Wired explains:

The answer: Design an algorithm that reads people’s minds. Or the next best thing — anticipates a pilot’s reaction to a drone flying too close.

Enter Soar Technologies, a Michigan company that proposes to create something it calls “Explanation, Schemas, and Prediction for Recognition of Intent in the Terminal Area of Operations,” or ESPRIT. It’ll create a “Schema Engine” that uses “memory management, pattern matching, and goal-based reasoning” to infer the intentions of nearby aircraft.

Not presuming that every flight will go according to plan, the Schema Engine’s “cognitive explanation mechanism” will help the drone figure out if a pilot is flying erratically or out of control. The Air Force signed a contract Dec. 23 with Soar, whose representatives were not reachable for comment.

In the spirit of capitalism, California-based Stottler Henke Associates is creating a rival system called the Intelligent Pilot Intent Analysis System. That system would “represent and execute expert pilot-reasoning processes to infer other pilots’ intents in the same way human pilots currently do.”

That system, the company hopes, could also be used to decipher friend from foe.

“Many of the pilot-intent-analysis techniques described are also applicable for determining illegal intent and are therefore directly applicable to finding terrorists and smugglers,” the company told the Air Force. It was apparently a convincing argument — the company signed a deal in January.

All this news worries Wired author Stephen Ackerman: “Scientifically speaking, it’s only a matter of time before drones become self-aware and kill us all. Now the Air Force is hastening that day of reckoning.”

Comments (47)

  • Charles Catalano
    Posted on April 21, 2011 at 10:07pm

    God already knows what is on our minds, so, at a glance I would conclude that this drone system is ungodly.

    Report Post » Charles Catalano  
  • mikee1
    Posted on April 21, 2011 at 12:00pm

    It does not matter. We do not use our air power or high tech in these pc wars. We have been in Afghanistan for more than a decade. They kill our soldiers with our weapons. We rebuild their places that they blow up. Until HEAVY AIR POWER IS USED TO CRUSH THE MUSLIMS, this will go on. Think again, American dummycraps and rinos. I hear jets on the tarmacs in the EU, Israel and Russia. They have wanted to take their oil for decades. Guess who has stopped them? Now, the US is weak enough to ignore. Israel will be standing when the smoke clears. Will the U.S.? LOL.

    Report Post » mikee1  
  • garclar
    Posted on April 21, 2011 at 12:17am

    Why don’t we get Gaddafi in the sites of one of these drones and blow him to kingdom come? What are you waiting for Obama?

    Report Post »  
    • christopher.duncan2388
      Posted on June 2, 2012 at 7:51pm

      Um, we already got Gaddafi, and his son muhammad muammar Gaddafi, isn’t really doing anything of interest…. So… What the hell are you talking about?

      Report Post » christopher.duncan2388  
  • unabashed
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 11:26pm

    ::sighs in disbelief::
    Ok. point number one. human beings have used advanced math to predict human behavior for a very long time, computers have allowed us to do it much faster. If you can calculate the position and velocity of a mass, you can estimate where its going. This isn’t rocket science people.
    point number two. human beings are creatures of habit. You don’t need a supercomputer to figure that one out.
    If you are freaking out about applied sciences, then by all means, wear a tin foil hat, I’ve got a magnet. My only concern is the power hungry with more than half a brain.

    Report Post »  
  • Junter
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 9:53pm

    Already seen it on Terminator II, it’s called skynet. Now if they were smart they would make an Artificial Intelligence that hates and kills other computers before computers take over… Unless the anti A.I. decides to take over after killing all those computers.. We’re screwed..

    Report Post »  
    • Earendil
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 10:07pm

      “Now if they were smart they would make an Artificial Intelligence that hates and kills other computers before computers take over”
      ———————————–

      Isn’t that called a “computer virus?” ;)

      Report Post » Earendil  
  • Bennie Franklin
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 8:50pm

    Another solution to the human problem.

    Report Post »  
  • MUDFLAPS
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 8:36pm

    Man that thing would be great as a contestant on Whats My Line?

    Report Post »  
  • Outlaw_Josey_Wales
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:36pm

    I wound like to see that drone fly over Missouri.

    Report Post » Outlaw_Josey_Wales  
  • TelepromoterNChief
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:24pm

    This isn’t anything new.
    I am sure the military has tried to do this for thousands of years.

    Report Post »  
  • TheCountOfLiberty
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:06pm

    No more of a mind reader than a chess program.

    Just applies simple logic, if airplane is flying straight, airplane will a) continue flying straight, b) turn left, c) turn right, d) go up, e) go down. If airplane does e), and airport != nearby, airplane = being bad. Or something like that.

    Report Post »  
    • wth_happenedtomycountry
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:16pm

      “Just applies simple logic, if airplane is flying straight, airplane will a) continue flying straight, b) turn left, c) turn right, d) go up, e) go down. If airplane does e), and airport != nearby, airplane = being bad. Or something like that.”

      So, it’s based on multi user dungeon technology? nice

      Report Post » wth_happenedtomycountry  
    • harumph
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:37pm

      Lol

      Report Post » harumph  
    • TheCountOfLiberty
      Posted on April 21, 2011 at 10:40am

      Not too far off. The most complex part would just be figuring out what action the plane is actually taking.

      After that, you could implement neural network style (20 questions) A.I and after a few levels in, make a prediction.

      Report Post »  
  • harumph
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:03pm

    All’s well and good, until we lose communication with birds like these. Then it resorts to fallback programming. Problem is knowing and pre-loading every scenario. Bottom line: can’t beat real eyes in the seat.

    Report Post » harumph  
  • RLTW
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 2:52pm

    Why not just wakeup all the air traffic controllers!

    Report Post »  
  • In-God-I-trust
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 2:15pm

    Now all who are considered those with tin foil hats on, might be the ones that are now protecting the freedom of thought.

    Report Post »  
  • pwatkins
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:50pm

    They can save their money to read American minds, we tell them what we think. Now we know why Obama had brain surgery, to place a shield to block drone mind detection so true Americans wouldn’t know what he is thinking. They would have otherwise picked up this signal: “I am muslim, I mean Christian, I have no birth certificate from Kenya, but had one produced in Hawaii, I and my wife love America bc for the first time in our lives we have enough dumb@$$es on the left to destroy what the Patriots have put their trust in, One Nation under God.
    Waste of money, bc we know the enemies already and we can also see that evil is leading us everytime he blares those evil eyes or spews hatred from those evil purple lips or points that let me be clear finger at half of America, telling them they are the enemy of what he perceives as the future NWO under his master’s plan.

    Report Post »  
  • Sam Brown
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:44pm

    Common sense says this will never work. Imagine this high dollar machine flying over a group of women. It would crash.

    Sammy

    Report Post »  
  • pork eating crusader
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:12pm

    good luck with that

    Report Post » pork eating crusader  
  • pork eating crusader
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:11pm

    Tell Big Sis to Kiss My A#*

    Report Post » pork eating crusader  
  • nelan72
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:11pm

    Did you know that this drone flew over the White House? It read Obama’s mind it came back with an insufficient experience error code then it blaimed Bush.

    Report Post »  
  • Its Gonna Getcha
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:04pm

    Combing technology with organic beings (including people) has been around. Chips in brains to enhance intelligence or mood? Yes, that too.

    Report Post » Its Gonna Getcha  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:59pm

    Add your comments

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • Professional Infidel
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:58pm

    Will info fire rocket??

    Report Post »  
  • ISLAMICO
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:57pm

    American chicken army afraid to fight face to face so they run to the skyes. CHICKENS.

    Report Post » ISLAMICO  
    • banjarmon
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:30pm

      I can tell from your comments on this and other post, that your head is fill with things a dog would not eat and a cat would want to cover up. Some where in your past life some one filled your head with buzzard vomit and PIG SQUIRT! May your 72 virgins be male pigs and goats…

      Report Post » banjarmon  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:30pm

      Yea Islamico, U.S. troops are not brave Islamic fighters hiding behind women and children. I’m sure Mohamed would be proud (but, he’s dead and rots in hell), he was a chicken sh*t, pedophile just like the rest of you brave Islamic jihadists.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • alienguns
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:34pm

      huh….don’t you have ….flying carpets

      Report Post » alienguns  
    • SgtBarrett
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 2:28pm

      “American Chicken Army” ??? We dont hide in our churches behind a priest or little children when we fight. We stand up and shoot the enemy. ISLAMICO, you speak such small words from such a small mind.

      Report Post » SgtBarrett  
    • upstateny
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 3:26pm

      Your lord is a dog.

      Report Post »  
  • Sinista MACE
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:53pm

    If you think they can’t extrapolate infrared data emitted from your brain and/or monitor and analyze your brain waves and make some sense out of them, you are sadly mistaken.

    Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
  • BetterDays
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:45pm

    Ok,drones what am I thinking?
    Your good, Obama is a fraud!

    Report Post »  
  • texasfarmer
    Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:45pm

    Get the tin foil hats out.

    Report Post » texasfarmer  
    • unsalvageable.org
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:47pm

      ^^^^^^^^
      Once they master it for the military, they came customize it to create the new “Thought police” and harass anyone that disagrees with the government.

      Report Post »  
    • ozchambers
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:48pm

      Hyperbole. This is about expected reaction patterns of pilots in a near-collision incident with a drone. If this were really a mind-reading drone, they wouldnt be telling us………

      Report Post » ozchambers  
    • theonefromabove
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:49pm

      I have to say this is hogwash.

      http://politicalbowl.com – Political Videos

      Report Post »  
    • UlyssesP
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:55pm

      I agree. This is not mind reading. No more than your spell checker is.

      Report Post » UlyssesP  
    • Professional Infidel
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:58pm

      I got a plate in my head, if that doesn‘t work I guess I’m going down!! Yea, I don’t agree!!!

      Report Post »  
    • TheBeezKnow
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 12:59pm

      Bingo!
      Texans get your Don’t Tread on Me plates here:
      http://www.myplates.com/

      Report Post » TheBeezKnow  
    • Obama Snake Oil Co
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:05pm

      Islamico, stay right there and I will be there for you in a minute. I will help you get your 70 virgins…well, I know you wouldn’t be proud of them riding on the back of your moped, however, at least you wouldn’t have a 6 pack of beer in your basket….gals a packin a lot of junk in their trunks…

      Report Post » Obama Snake Oil Co  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:19pm

      They don’t need a mind reading drone to get my opinion of government, my middle finger shows up quite well on cameras I’m certain.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
    • stifroc
      Posted on April 20, 2011 at 2:38pm

      Sounds a little more like ‘decision anticipating“ then ”Mind reading” to me.

      Report Post » stifroc  
    • thepatriotdave
      Posted on April 21, 2011 at 1:17am

      I will be OK with these if they have one flying over Obama 24/7 and post his thoughts every day. He would be destroyed within a week!

      Note to Blaze: STOP CENSORING ME!

      Need volunteers for Col. Allen West.
      Contact – editor@americasteapartynews.com
      Or http://www.AmericasTeaPartyNews.com

      Report Post » thepatriotdave  

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