Like a Little Kid Playing “War”

One of the defining qualities of Trump Regime v.2 is its obsession with coming across as Super Tough Alpha Male Bros who Kick Ass and Take No Prisoners. Even the few women in Trump’s orbit (looking at you, Noem) frantically try to project that killer vibe, like they just stepped out of an old Sergio Leone spaghetti Western.

Nobody exemplifies this better than Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense WAR!! As far as anyone can tell, all Hegseth is concerned about is killing people faster, better, and more macho-ly than anyone else. Never mind if they should be killed, or if there are ways to stop whoever they are without killing them, or even if killing (or being hair-trigger ready) to kill makes things more dangerous for us ... Pete is here to tell you that he can kill (or have killed) more bigly than anyone else, and anything that gets in the way of that and how he thinks it should be done is “woke” — and he isn’t having any of that.

Which makes his whole thing about AI in the Defense WAR!! Dept. all the more concerning.

Make ‘Star Trek’ real. Hegseth vows military AI without ‘woke’ constraints

Hegseth has been outspoken about ridding the military of so-called ‘woke’ policies, including diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/make-star-trek-real-hegseth-vows-military-ai-without-woke-constraints/ar-AA1U5Awi

“We will not employ AI models that won’t allow you to fight wars,” Hegseth added. He said the department would employ AI “without ideological constraints” that “will not be woke.”

Hegseth’s comments come amid growing concern about the threats posed by AI. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told the U.N. Security Council in September that AI needs “guardrails” and called for “a ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems operating without human control.”

Hegseth said the United States won’t be limited in its pursuit of new military capabilities. “We are done running a peacetime science fair while our potential adversaries are running a wartime arms race,” he said.

Or here:

Hegseth announces push to make US leader in AI, drones and space technology

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth unveiled an artificial intelligence strategy for the military, aiming to make the U.S. a global leader in AI and drones.

www.foxbusiness.com/technology/hegseth-announces-push-make-us-leader-ai-drones-space-technology

“This strategy will unleash experimentation, eliminate bureaucratic barriers, focus on investments and demonstrate the execution approach needed to ensure we lead in military AI and that it grows more dominant into the future,” he said. “In short, we will win this race by becoming an AI-first warfighting force across all domains, from the back offices of the Pentagon to the tactical edge on the front lines.”

I don’t think he’s talking about AI running the HR systems at the Pentagon to make sure that all those non-male types don’t get promotions and that all those gay and trans folk are identified for dishonorable discharge. As far as I can tell from all the above and other things he’s said, I believe Hegseth’s goal is, in fact, “lethal autonomous weapons systems operating without human control” (except, presumably, from his desk).

Because that, of course, always goes so well.

Note that this has very little to do with directly protecting the US.  This is about waving around a dick so big that everyone else will fall down and worship it. This is about instilling fear — not just in our potential or actual enemies, but amongst our friends and, for that matter, within our country.

This is, if not psychopathy, than a furious, frantic desire to be seen as the most powerful person(s) in existence, accountable to and restrained by nobody.  It exemplifies Trump’s attitude toward everyone and everything, and it’s little surprise that he’s gathered a coterie that has the same fundamental insecurities and the same fundamental way of dealing with it.

By focusing on AI (a useful but clearly very immature technology, no matter what Elon Musk suggests) to create autonomous killing platforms (i.e., from Pete’s perspective, robots that can be told to go someplace and kill the things we want killed), I would argue that he is actually weakening America’s warfighting / defensive capabilities, in two ways:

1. It won’t work. Or won’t work reliably enough that he’ll dare actually deploy it. Or, more likely, won’t work reliably enough, but he’ll deploy it anyway and shrug off, deny, or downplay any “collateral damage” that comes from it.

   This is assuming that it can be deployed within the timeframe of the current Regime — and I have no confidence that, even if not ready, it won’t be rushed into the field to prove how strong and macho Pete and Donald actually are. With all the tragic consequences that will follow. After all, how long have autonomous cars been being tested, and how many accidents are they still causing — or is Hegseth’s idea, egged on by Elon, that if you could just do away with all those safety settings, you could start mass production in a really short time?

   In any case, it’s going to be a huge money sink (little wonder Trump the “we must cut government spending” dude, has proposed a mindboggling increase to the defense war!! budget). And to the degree that it doesn’t work and can’t be used, that’s money that’s been, at best, flushed down the crapper.

   Note: I’m not worried about an actual Skynet super-intelligence-deciding-to-exterminate-humanity scenario — AI isn’t and won’t be that smart any time soon. I’m more worried of the opposite: stupid AI inadvertently exterminating humanity (or some chunk of it) because it thought they were a flock of geese, or because someone worded an order wrong, or because it took too many learning samples from DOOM.

2. If the US does it, every other nation that is worried about the US will have to do it (a number that continues to grow, by the Regime’s own design).  Which takes all the concerns above and multiplies them.

   Note that the answer to “Russia is definitely designing killbots” (something I have little doubt about) is not to say “Therefore we should be just as stupid.” The answer is “How do we neutralize that threat in a way that doesn’t echo all the existential threats of the nuclear stand-off that still exists today?”

Since broken (analog) clocks are right twice a day, credit to Hegseth for noting how the consolidation of the defense contracting industry has stifled innovation and driven up costs. Sure, the proposed solution sounds just like the “picking winners and losers” stuff that Trump campaigned against, but whatevs. Of course Hegseth instantly loses all that credit by leaning on Elon Musk (!) for advice on military matters.

Anyway, let’s just leave it with this reconfirms that Pete Hegseth is a menace and clearly too immature to be running the WAR!! Defense Department, regardless of who’s in the White House. That job requires someone who doesn’t need the job to make himself feel important and powerful and lethal and manly.