Autonomous drone navigates independently through the forest at 40 km/h
There&#x27;s so-called &quot;nuclear breakout time&quot; for how quickly a non-nuclear nation could create nuclear weapons.[1]<p>Time for a similar &quot;slaughterbot breakout time.&quot;[2] However unlike with nuclear weapons, this is something a small team or even individual could soon achieve and then hold as a deterrent or use for sociopolitical aims.[3]<p>It&#x27;s easy to imagine an arms race between drones and the tiny point defense turrets (likely lasers, maybe kinetics or even EMPs) trying to disable them, both systems operating far faster than humans can react. In a strange way, wars fought like this may involve less loss of life, with soldiers surrendering to a cloud of slaughterbots that destroyed the automated defenses in seconds.<p>This forthcoming ability to intimidate and harm precisely, anonymously, robotically, and <i>at scale</i> makes autocracy more likely and more durable.<p><pre><code>  [1]: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Nuclear_proliferation#Breakout_capability
  [2]: &quot;Slaughterbots TED talk.&quot; https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;9CO6M2HsoIA
  [3]: &quot;Hated in the Nation&quot; Black Mirror Season 3 Episode 6 (Netflix)</code></pre>