Could Remote Controlled Insects Change Warfare and Surveillance?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of using remote-controlled insects for military and surveillance purposes, exploring the potential applications, ethical implications, and imaginative scenarios that could arise from such technology. The scope includes theoretical considerations, speculative applications, and humorous takes on the topic.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that remote-controlled insects could be used as weapons, suggesting scenarios where they could be deployed to attack enemies or deliver harmful substances.
  • Others humorously suggest using various insects for unconventional warfare tactics, such as deploying butterflies or ants for nefarious purposes.
  • A participant mentions DARPA's previous challenges with using insects for detection tasks due to their instinctive behaviors, raising questions about reliability.
  • Concerns are expressed about the potential dangers of releasing genetically modified insects into the wild, highlighting the risks of unintended consequences.
  • Some participants engage in light-hearted banter about the capabilities of different insects and the absurdity of the scenarios being discussed.
  • There are references to Google and humorous claims about using remote-controlled spiders for various tasks, although the accuracy of these claims is not established.
  • One participant emphasizes the ethical implications and dangers of using insects for assassination or spreading diseases, questioning the morality of such actions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present a range of competing views, with some engaging in serious speculation about the implications of remote-controlled insects while others take a more humorous or absurdist approach. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the feasibility and ethics of the proposed ideas.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the speculative nature of the ideas presented, dependence on hypothetical scenarios, and the lack of concrete evidence or consensus on the practicality of using insects in warfare or surveillance.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in military technology, bioengineering, ethical implications of scientific advancements, or speculative discussions about future technologies may find this thread engaging.

Ivan Seeking
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While thinking about DARPA's [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] latest effort to develop remote controlled insects

...The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later.

...Darpa's previous experiments to get bees and wasps to detect the smell of explosives foundered when their "instinctive behaviours for feeding and mating... prevented them from performing reliably", it said.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=114720

it struck me that remote controlled insects could make effective weapons in certain cicumstances. For example, imagine that a unit could "deploy" thousands of wasps, steer them over the the enemy, signal them to attack, and then call them back. Or, one wasp might be loaded with a nerve agent and then used to assasinate a particular person. And as stated in the original article, the idea that insects might be used as listening devices, for bomb detection, and I would imagine even for search and rescue, is a very provacative.

So, what else might we do with remote controlled insects? And, if we can do it with insects, might this work with larger animals as well; and what then?
 
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Put a bomb on them and send 5 butterflys up to a hostage taker (or 25 to 5 hostage takers) and BOOM! Who needs a SWAT team when you have butterflies!
 
Google beat DARPA to it by several years. They replaced all their employees with remote-controlled spiders. Very fast at typing.
 
that google...
 
I think you could use ants for anything. I would take over the world with ants. Modify them with my acme brainwashing fluid, and they will bite everyone in the world and they will all be under my power MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...deep breath... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Or, one wasp might be loaded with a nerve agent and then used to assasinate a particular person. And as stated in the original article, the idea that insects might be used as listening devices, for bomb detection, and I would imagine even for search and rescue, is a very provacative.
Ivan don't give these guys ideas. :rolleyes:

Actually the US military has thought of using insects to spread certain virulent and fatal diseases (stuff like ebola) in populated areas.

But then that might prompt the other side to do the same.
 
If I had my way with insects:

-Hippies will be fed to remote controlled driver ants
-Animal right protestors will have their houses invaded by bears attacked by remote controlled wasps, which in turn (the bear) will rip the protestor apart. Poetic justice at its best.
-Thousands of locusts will be controlled to feed on crops to force vegans and veggies to eat meat.
-Mosquitos will be given instruction to self destruct
 
Don't forget the power of 10 million butterfly sneezes!

Most at PF are probably too young to remember.
 
rachmaninoff said:
Google beat DARPA to it by several years. They replaced all their employees with remote-controlled spiders. Very fast at typing.
No, actually it was pigeons.

"By collecting flocks of pigeons in dense clusters, Google is able to process search queries at speeds superior to traditional search engines, which typically rely on birds of prey, brooding hens or slow-moving waterfowl to do their relevance rankings."

http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

"The technology behind Google's great results
As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank™, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.

Building upon the breakthrough work of B. F. Skinner, Page and Brin reasoned that low cost pigeon clusters (PCs) could be used to compute the relative value of web pages faster than human editors or machine-based algorithms. And while Google has dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of our service on a daily basis, PigeonRank continues to provide the basis for all of our web search tools."
 
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  • #10
This is all very informative. I never knew how much humans could imagine for something so trivial as an insect. Maybe I should spend more time here, it appears as if I am loosing touch with my human nature due to my travels...elsewhere.
 
  • #11
Maybe you could have a bug to take intellgence not a flying bug because there usaually make noise.Probally a small spider those can get in some places and they have 8 eyes.
Also assainations.Just think about having a leader being bitten by what he thought everday aveage mossiquto and days later and no one will no that was mosiqutio.
 
  • #12
scott1 said:
Maybe you could have a bug to take intellgence not a flying bug because there usaually make noise.Probally a small spider those can get in some places and they have 8 eyes.
Also assainations.Just think about having a leader being bitten by what he thought everday aveage mossiquto and days later and no one will no that was mosiqutio.
Need I point out how insanely dangerous this is? Apparently so. Releasing these fatal, mutant insects into the wild, even if they are programmed and supposedly controlled, it is a horrible idea. What if and owl eats the mosquito afterwards, what if anything goes wrong? Can you imagine the results of a completely fatal, engineered disease loosed onto the public? Probably not. Just take my word for it, it isn't a pretty sight.
 
  • #13
rachmaninoff said:
Google beat DARPA to it by several years. They replaced all their employees with remote-controlled spiders. Very fast at typing.
You are aware that spiders aren't insects, right? Especially those mutant slurping spiders...oh, wait, that's Yahoo.
 
  • #14
But arachnids are good cyborgs.

phryotrichusroseus8ut.jpg


nephilamaculata7zk.jpg
 
  • #15
BTW I have arachnaphobia
 
  • #16
scott1 said:
BTW I have arachnaphobia
Sorry. :frown:
 
  • #17
Then the insects will eventually evolve sooner and take over the human race lol. Then what will we do? equip humans with explosives like insects? Humans are not relyable especially in there mating seasons (Which are unpredictable when it will happen).
 
  • #18
scott1 said:
BTW I have arachnaphobia
I've been to both heaven and hell, and both have spiders guarding the gates. Get used to them, either way you're going to face them.
 
  • #19
franzbear! said:
I've been to both heaven and hell, and both have spiders guarding the gates. Get used to them, either way you're going to face them.
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
Ok...I don't think there are in spiders in heaven.There might be in hell(I hope I don't find out) but there probally none in heaven.
 

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