As most people are probably aware, there are increasing numbers of robots being deployed by the United States' military and security agencies in their various "confilcts" around the world. Yeah, give a robot a gun...what could possibly go wrong?

Jane Meyer of The New Yorker magazine conducts an interview with Terry Gross over the issues and moral "grey areas" of employing infernal machines in warfare. The military seeks to save the lives of soldiers by limiting the risk to ground troops, which is great, it's just everybody else on earth that needs to be scared witless.

While we think she takes a rather conservative tack here, in our informed Evil Robot News opinion, as you might expect in an NPR interview. She's got the gist, it's worth a listen (the links redirect to the podcast).

Note, especially, where the target list is being "quietly expanded" beyond top "Al Qaeda" operatives.

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"A staff writer for The New Yorker, Jane Mayer joins Fresh Air host Terry Gross to talk about what she discovered while researching her upcoming article "The Predator War." The story explores the ethics and controversies surrounding the CIA's covert drone program, in which remote-controlled airplanes target and kill terror suspects within Pakistan — a country that's a U.S. ally, not an adversary."

Wave that red flag girl!

Full Story at NPR.ORG