He was an adorable little ‘droid, to be sure — but George Lucas’ 1977 visions of man’s future adventures in space were limited in comparison to . . . Well, let me illustrate:

See what I mean? What a world of difference less than half a century can make! “R2” was a cute, lovable, squeaky-voiced little guy that every child in the world was soon begging to receive for Christmas. Whereas “MeShoot” (my made-up name for it, lacking an official one) . . . well, let’s just say that no kid of mine would ever have seen this under the tree.

It is, after all, a pretty scary character. A military “man” that doesn’t need to be fed, clothed, paid, or otherwise cared for — except perhaps for a little squirt of WD-40 in the seams every now and then. And if it gets blasted to smithereens in battle, there’s always the possibility of retrieving some spare parts. It’s far less traumatic than having to notify the next of kin.

“MeShoot” made its debut earlier this month during a joint China-Cambodia military training exercise. It is battery-operated, and is said to be able to function independently for two to four hours. It can move forward and backward, lie down, and jump (which is more than I can do these days, so I’m impressed). And it can also plan routes, approach targets, and avoid obstacles. One of the models was shown fitted with a rifle to shoot at targets — presumably of the human variety. [Mikhaila Friel, Business Insider, May 28, 2024.]

Welcome to the wonderful world of robotics and artificial intelligence. Combine them, and you get:

“. . . a highfalutin’, scootin’, shootin’, son-of-a-gun from . . . Beijing, China??!!! . . . MeShoot-You Die, Joe.” *

* [Parody of “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” Sony/ATV Music Publishing]

Now granted, this is still less terrifying than, say, the nukes we keep hearing about from the likes of Vladimir Putin and his sidekick Dmitry Medvedev. And it does have its upside, in that it might actually save a lot of lives . . . on China’s side, anyway. But it just gives me one more reason to hate AI technology, and the speed at which it seems to be advancing.

*. *. *

And while we’re on the subject of Xi Jinping . . .

“Hong Kong police have made their first arrests under a newly passed local national security law over social media posts deemed ‘seditious’ by authorities, just days ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.” [Nectar Gan and Chris Lau, CNN, May 28, 2024.]

Six people thus far have been charged with taking advantage of the forthcoming anniversary — formerly widely commemorated in Hong Kong — to “incite citizens’ hatred of the central authorities, the city government and the judiciary, and to incite netizens to organize or participate in illegal activities later on.”

Sounds vaguely Russian-style to me. But no, it’s the ruling Chinese government at work. Since control of Hong Kong reverted to China in 1997, this has been the obvious political direction in which the government has been headed. I’m just surprised it’s taken so long.

And now they want Taiwan as well . . .

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/29/24