That is defensible only if one is certain that the baseline
level of possible robotic
error in civilian protection exceeds that baseline
level of human
error... I, for one, would not bet against the possibility that for some military applications, we will some day come to see mere human
judgment as guaranteeing an unacceptable
level of indiscriminate and disproportionate violence.
Unfortunately it shows,
in my
judgment, a current tendency by this group of scientists and their supporters to react by down grading some serious and basic statistical
errors and inabilities to place uncertainty measures on results to a
level of «minor» flaws and to characterize the criticisms as personal attacks.