Might Soldiers Soon Control Military Planes With Only Their Minds?

The US military has been allegedly working for years now on a generation of warplanes that will be able to be controlled by soldiers with only their minds. Specifically, it's a brain-computer interface that they have been working on that could ideally allow a solider to control multiple planes at one time.

Over the years, the military has increasingly pushed to try and imagine new and creative ways that soldiers might be able to distance themselves from the conflict, but not even those who have been carrying out the orders overseas will always agree that distancing soldiers from the fight is a good thing. Perhaps if you are going to launch a war against someone there should be a price to pay and consequences felt, otherwise you might just continue with the violence indefinitely. Although, we know that the credit circus that funds this irrationality cannot continue forever—or can it?

According to the director of DARPA, which is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the military, he claims that as of today they have the technology for soldiers to control and command multiple types of aircraft with only signals from the brain. Because their research has been rather limited in this area though, with the participants that they have been using, they are now reportedly looking to find ways to make their technology more accessible so that surgical placement isn't required.

Ideally, they hope that they can develop a sort of EEG cap that the pilot might be able to wear to conduct their mission and then easily remove once they are done.

Whether it's controlling multiple planes or drones, it's clear that they are working on something that has the potential to drastically change the landscape of military conflict.

DARPA has funneled millions of dollars toward researching this sort of telepathic communication technology. Eventually, could we see AI systems replace soldiers entirely? After all, if we have robots doing the work, that will mean that more men are out of harms way right? Although, it likely won't mean a lessened loss of life for the opposite side who is being invaded.

The debate over using AI to control military weapons is complex and it's one that has prompted a number of scientists and other professionals to call for a ban on the use of any lethal weapons that are controlled by AI. From concerns over lack of accountability to worries about losing control over those systems as they become more intelligent, there are a variety of reasons that those in the field have raised concerns over the continued effort to push forward in this space.

While the US government might be satisfied in continuing to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars on their multiple conflicts overseas, it's an initiative that cannot be financed forever. As it continues, it does so to the detriment of the American people. The foreign intervention and occupation from the US overseas fosters instability and it fuels terrorism, among other problems. Peace seems to be the furthest thing from their minds as they continue to march forward with the same self-perpetuating foreign policy. Whether we like it or not, it's expected that advancement in AI research is going to fundamentally change the nature of warfare in a way that's been unseen in human history.

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