User:Thepigdog/War

Modern war is at it's core a battle for ideas. The failure of modern warfare, as waged by powerful nations, is primarily because of the difficulty of destroying an idea with weapons.

Since the World War II only the Korean War has had a partially successful result. A successful result might be described as the establishment of a free and democratic state. The success of the war is partial because North Korea is still enslaved by a dictatorship.

War of ideas

Wars are fought over,

Land and access to resources (wars of expansion).
Systems of government (communism versus capitalism and democracy).
National identity.

In each case the war is essentially about an idea,

Ownership of land and resources
Freedom
Identity

The goal of war

The goal of war is the acceptance of an idea. The acceptance may be achieved by,

Killing the people who hold the counter idea.
Removal of the people who hold the counter idea.
Ongoing force, coercion and violence.
Agreement by the majority of the people.

It can be seen that only the last option is available for use in a democratic and free society. Warfare seems particularly badly equipped to achieve this goal.

Origins of modern conflict

The middle eastern conflict

After World war 2 two factors led to ongoing conflict,

The nation state of Israel was formed as a homeland for Jews.
The allies sought to secure access to the materials needed for war (oil).

As a result of this the nation of Palestine was split up, and Palestinians were denied access to their land.

The boundaries of nations were arbitrarily determined by the allies. Political interference was used to insure, that the allies maintained access to oil.

The result was a great injustice committed against the Arab peoples.

Myth of Moslem violence

The vast majority of Moslems are peace loving and caring people. They hold a natural desire to practice there religion in freedom. The Moslem religion attempts to balance,

The security of women.
Reduction in the objectification of women as sex objects.
The maintenance of the family unit.
The rights of women.

The Moslem religion is certainly not what I would choose. But there certainly is a point there. I can not tell you with any certainty that Moslem culture is worse than Christian culture.

The Jihad is also seen as violent feature of the Moslem religion. But historically this may have arisen as a means of getting young men to fight in protection of Moslem nations.

Non fatal warfare

We can imagine a time where miniature intelligent machines provide,

Complete battlefield awareness.
The delivery of weapons accurately to the target.

The nature of the battlefield requires quick decisions on targeting. It is a natural step in the evolution of these machines that they make intelligent decisions on targeting.

The use of these machines for the autonomous killing of people is dangerous for all mankind. These types of machine may at some point in time be more dangerous to human existence than the nuclear bomb.

The killing of a human, with clear technology superiority has no honour, and is close to murder. The shared risk is what makes it acceptable. If one side has clear superiority, the act is just slaughter.

In terms of destroying the counter idea, killing only removes one individual person holding the counter idea, while at the same time potentially creating more adherents of the counter idea.

Two ideas come together,

Killing soldiers does not remove the counter idea.
Intelligent machines that can hunt and kill humans may be dangerous to all humans.

Rethinking the objectives of war, the process of engaging a combatant soldier should be,

Capture the soldier alive.
Remove the soldiers weapons.
Bring the soldier to a facility where they can be controlled and looked after.
Check their medical status.
Place an electronic chip in the soldier (for future identification).
Gather all bio-med information identifying the soldier.
Provide the soldier with a comfortable environment.
- Good food.
- Freedom to move around in a nice but controlled environment.
Discuss with the soldier his reason for engaging in war.
Set in place a just and impartial method of resolution of the soldiers grievances.
Obtain agreement that the soldier will not return to the war.
Take the soldier safely back to his family.
Discuss the grievance with the family, and explain the process for a just impartial resolution.
On going monitoring of the soldier, to insure there is no return to the theater of battle.

There is a mode of thought issue here. A soldier may face death more easily than their mothers criticism. When on the battlefield a soldier may do his job more easily than face his families disapproval. Then bring the soldier home to his family; is this what you wanted, and why? Talking to the family is a key step in seeking long term resolution.

There is honour in bringing a son back to there family alive, in order to discuss the families, and the families nations grievances. There is no honour in an unfair fight. Soldiers, in the midst of war are not responsible for this. They labour for their friends and comrades, and kill by whatever means necessary. Nobody denies them this right, because there bodies are in the conflict.

There is no honour in torture or inflicting pain. There is no honour in the mutililation of the defeated enemy, no honour in any harm to women and families. Death is too good a reward for such as would do that.

But the killing of a soldier, from 1000 kilometer away, or with clear technical superiority, without risk, and without legal justification, is simply the murder of some mothers son.

Capturing a soldier is difficult. However with total battlefield awareness through the use of many miniature electronic mechanical devices it may become possible.

Miniature darts injecting drugs.
Gas.
Tasar.
Identification for later capture.

There are some advantages in that because the action is non fatal the cost of collateral damage is not so high. The strategy should be to identify combatants, and then capture them when they are not actively involved in the battle.

The technological challenges to achieving this are immense, but may become achievable over time.

UAVs

Large UAVs fly high and cannot give a detailed overview of the battlefield. Small UAVs are noisy, and operate close to the operator giving away the position of the operator.

They alert the enemy to danger and allow escape, or even attack.

Unmanned ground vehicles

Unmanned ground vehicles usually are limited by surface conditions and proximity to the operator. The smaller the vehicle the more subject to uneven ground conditions.

Low observable ground mover (snake)

A low observable ground mover is a design for a small machine used to gain detailed information about the battlefield, without being observed. The machine would be designed to run off the main tracks in fields or bush, so that it cannot be easily observed.

The basis for the idea is the stalking approach used by snipers. By keeping low and wiggling on there side the snipers are able to penetrate enemy territory, sometimes coming with in meters of the enemy without being observed.

The mover design is intended to be able to travel through thick bush, or travel along ditches. A key design objective is that a fairly small machine may travel over almost any ground. It is hoped that the flexible shape, and the tracks on all 4 sides will achieve this.

The machine would be designed out of replaceable segments, which click together, in sequential pieces from head to tail. The head segment would have a camera pointing ahead, wifi communications, and a cpu. Wifi is used to communicate images back to the command centre, through a network. Beam forming would be used to transmit the signal only to other friendly elements in the battlefield network.

Cross section of body segment

Each body segment is 4 way symmetrical, in cross section. Each of the four sides is a track for a rubber belt running up the side of the mover and back up the middle of each segment of the mover. An electric motor in each side of the segment drives the belt.

The electric motors will be used to drive the belt backwards, moving the mover forward, with the outside of the belt moving backwards on 4 sides. Areas between the belts would be recessed to stop them dragging on the ground.

There is a flexible joint between each segment. The electric motors may also be used to bend the shape of the ground mover, under control of the CPU. Motors running at different speeds create a force between segments on one side. By combining this with an opposite configuration of speeds on the opposite side, a bending moment is produced. Unlike a snake the bending would not be used as the driving force of locomotion. It would be used to give steering and flexibility to the mover, and to move the head and camera to a good observation position.

The outside of the mover would appear as 4 belts moving down the side of the mover with a smooth gap between each belt that is recessed. The mover may bend its shape by a small angle at each segment, in any direction.

The mover is round in cross section with no particular preferred direction for up, except for when the solar panels are deployed.

Maintenance and disassembly

Each segment consist of a frame into which the track roller mechanism runs, with the belt running on the outside of the track roller mechanism, and then back up the middle. The track roller mechanism clips into the segment frame.

To disassemble, each belt may be removed by unclipping each track roller mechanism, to take the whole belt off the mover.

Dis-assembly allows faulty or worn out parts to be replaced.

Segment frame

The segment frame has a flexible joint and a port which plugs, and clips into the next segment. Control signals from the head arrive from the port. Rechargeable batteries also fit into segment frame.

The segment frame has 4 ports for the track roller mechanisms to clip into. There are contacts for each track roller mechanism to deliver power to the electric motors.

The segment frame also includes a single solar panel. A small electric motor furls and unfurls the panel, so that it may receive sunlight, or be safely and cleanly stored while moving.

Track roller mechanism

The track roller mechanism consists of,

The frame
A guide lip that fits into a grove on the edge of the belt.
A toothed power wheel.
An electric motor driving the power wheel.

To stop the belt coming away from the edge of the mover, when segments are bent towards the roller the belt has groove on each side that fits a lip in the track roller mechanism.

Two clips would release the track roller mechanism from the segment, for maintenance.

The belt

The belt would be of a tough rubber material, reinforced by fibers running length wise in the belt. The rubber material would be designed to have good grip, on what ever surface it is contact with. It is desirable that the belt not leave any tread pattern or trail, as this would allow the path of the mover to be tracked by the enemy.

The outside of the belt slightly overlaps the edge of the roller assembly. Inside this is a groove which fits a raised lip on the track roller assembly. The belt is about 8 millimeters thick at the edge with a 4 millimeter grove for the lip, and inner and outer tracks of 2 millimeters. The belt must have resistance to bending outwards so that the belt remains on the lip of the track roller assembly.

Friction between the lip and the belt is a design obstacle. A teflon strip on the underside of the lip, matching a Teflon strip on the bottom of the grove may suffice. If not an alternate mechanism would need to be considered.

To achieve this the center of the inside of the belt is thicker. A tooth pattern is made in a harder material on the inside of the belt. The power, or driving wheel fits into this tooth pattern.

The belt must have sufficient flexibility so that it wraps around the track roller assembly of the segments at each end. The outside of the belt is made of more flexible rubber material, while the tooth pattern is made in a thin layer of a harder less compressible material.

Solar panel

The mover may be deployed for long trips into enemy territory. A mechanism for recharging the batteries is required. The solar panel is unfurled and furled by a small electric motor that moves the solar panel out of it's housing.

Water proofing

As the mover will be required to follow low terrain there will often be water. Water proofing of the electronics is essential. Particular attention is required on the electric motors, and the ports connecting segments.

The electric motors must generate torque in the power wheel. The power (driving) wheel cannot be completely protected from water. The electric motor must be connected to the power wheel by a waterproof bearing, or be a waterproof motor.

The joints between segments must be flexible. A tough flexible water proof material must cover the joint, ensuring no leakage.

Camouflage

The mover should be earth colored. The belts should have have a mottled appearance. From the observers perspective, the belts do not appear to move. So the mottled appearance should reinforce the illusion of being part of the background.

The rest of the mover appears to move, and should therefore be a smooth dull non reflective earth cover, in order to hide the movement.

Particular attention to the camouflage of the head, and in particular the camera lens, should be given. The camera lens may glint giving a reflection of the sun. Non reflective glass should be used along with a hood to stop light directly reflecting off the glass.

Silent operation

For close operation to the enemy, the mover should be as silent as possible. This may achieved using sound muffling materials around the electric motor. Also the mountings for the electric motor should be insulated against vibration.

Materials

It is hoped that the most structural elements will be made of plastic. This is to reduce the cost and the radar signature. Metal components may also be subject to rust in the harsh ground environment of the mover.

International justice

A key step in winning the war of ideas is providing a forum where grievances may be heard, and impartial justice delivered. Impartial justice must be free from pre-conceived ideas, political agenda and interference.

The genuine long term resolutions to grievances lie with multi-cultural societies where people accept differences in culture and belief. For most people, acts of violence and hatred are usually made without genuine understanding of the other person. It is much easier to kill "the enemy" from 1 kilometer away, than it is to talk to the enemy face to face, and understand their humanity, before committing violence.

Then sit down with your enemy; share a beer, since beer is an ancient drink. Can you really kill your enemy after talking to him, and sharing a beer; can you talk about his sisters wedding, his love for a girl, and the aspirations for his children, and still shoot him, can you do that?

National boundaries may be regarded as fences between groups of people, that encourage violence and injustice, by classifying people as "us" and "them". A just and free world society, should allow people freedom to live where they want to.

However there are problems with over-population. Allowing people to move freely between countries has problems. The long term goal should be that all countries provide good opportunities for freedom, justice, and a good standard of living.

Caveats

Naive use of these ideas would lead to disaster. Warfare is an uncontrolled and chaotic process. Great progress in technology is required before capturing combatant soldiers is possible.

In addition without proper control, small intelligent machines may be more dangerous than any enemy. Building intelligent machines that hunt and kill people could threaten the survival of the human race.

Intelligent machines should have a built in system of ethics that prevents them from harming people. Asimov was right.

Building intelligent machines to kill people autonomously should be made illegal, in the interests of the future of humanity.