Cambridge apocalypse scenarios include H-bombs, asteroids and Terminator robots

by | Nov 26, 2012 | Science, Technology | 0 comments

A new Centre for the Study of Existential Risk has been opened at Cambridge University by the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees, who has previously written at length on threats posed to mankind and the rest of the world in his book Our Final Century which he wrote in 2003  The “usual suspects” include nuclear war, an asteroid hitting the Earth, and biological risks e.g. naturally occuring or man-made pandemic diseases.  There is one other to add to these three horsemen of hte apocolypse: artificial intelligence which can control war machines and robots.

Already, in this era of computer-controlled military hardware such as UAV drones and missile launches, the weapons for such a take-over exist.  Likewise, with networked facial recognition CCTV and GPS tracking systems, computers now have the means to track and hunt down their enemies.  All that is needed now is the conscious will.  However, with experiments into artificial intelligence coming on leaps and bounds, it is predicted that soon machines will have a conscious soul. While robots as portrayed in space science fiction films, can be happy and helpful types such as R2-D2, C3-PO, etc. others have famously had more malevolent plans for mankind e.g. the Terminator robot and his Skynet artificial intelligence controller. 

The tabloid press, have, of course, dubbed the new centre, the Centre for “Terminator Studies”.  Skynet is, by chance, also the name of the UK Ministry of Defence’s satellite communication system.

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochina25virgin galacticFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 5falcon 9ULARoscosmosevaDGAspacewalkaviation weekaressoyuzIGTInternational Space StationBeidouawardsspaceRocket LabStarlinkBlue OriginSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonISROAirbus DSCargo Return VehicleboeingmarsblogresearchOneWebspaceshiptwoorionjaxaimpacthyperboladelaymarsEutelsatdemocratrocketlunarhypertextobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegabarack obamaconstellationSEStourismnorthfiguresthales alenia spacespaceflightnode 2fundedRaymond LygoIntelsat2009Lockheed MartinExpress MD-2Elon MuskAtlas Vromess2dassault aviationaviationLucy2008wk2sstlukradiomissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationAriane 5 ECAVirgin OrbittestinternetChina Manned Space EngineeringAriane 5Northrop GrummanSLSLong March 2D/2sts-122Electron2010space tourismflightcotsnewspapermissile defensegalileospaceportExpress AMU 1Long March 4Cbuildspace stationaltairinternational astronautical congresssoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton MEuropean Space AgencyLauncherOneCosmosIntelsat 23scaled compositesrulesspace shuttlenew yorkhanleybudgetatvVietnamshenzhouAriane 6congressMojaveboldenLong March 2COrbital ATKnew shepardInmarsatGuiana Space Centeriaccneslunar landerksclawsSpace Systems/LoralUK Space AgencyLong March 4BILSUS Air ForceprotonTalulah RileyApollodarpaFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5Kuaizhou 1AVega CSkylonAstriumeupicturebaseusaastronautdragonlanderfiveeventTelesatNorth KoreaSSLElectron KSAprilSNC50thinterviewfalconSea LaunchLong MarchWednesdaycustomerlinkatlantissuccessor