At The Doorstep…WMD

With a new threat again of a chemical weapons attack in Syria…

The U.S. is sending clear warnings to the Assad regime–Don’t do it!

Generally, the threat of using weapons of mass destruction–chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear–have become all too blase!

– Syria uses chemical weapons on its own people. 

– Iraq used chemical weapons on Iran and the Kurds. 

– Terrorists used chemical weapons in Japan and have threatened similar in UK. 

– Russia threatens use of nukes over Crimea or in a conflict with NATO.

– North Korea threatens preemptive nuclear strike on the U.S. 

– Iran has threatened attacks on Israel over nukes.

– Biological weapons such as Anthrax have been used against the U.S. and bioterror has been threatened in India. 

This list is far from comprehensive–and how very commonplace this is becoming is exactly the problem!

It is one thing (already scary bad) to have weapons that can do the unthinkable, and it is quite another to actually use or threaten to use them in such blase fashion like taking out the garbage or something!

If we don’t ensure that cooler and more stable heads prevail at the notorious red buttons around the world, then the risk of someone eventually doing something very stupid and dangerous to millions–or even billions–of lives is no longer just in the realm of science fiction anymore, but becomes so very ominous and real a disastrous possibility. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The iFirefighter

This the the first fire fighting robot and is built by Howe and Howe called the Thermite. Key features:– Moves steadily on treads instead of wheels– 1 ton of fire fighting power

– Fits through most doorways

– Douses fires with 600 gallons per minutes

– Doesn’t tire like a human firefighter 

– Costs about $96,000 per unit

– Useful in chemical, radiological and other hazardous incidents

While I generally like these fire fighting robots, there are a number of  thoughts that come to mind about these:

– If someone is caught in a burning building or otherwise needs to be rescued, I believe that for now we are still going to be on the lookout  for the real human hero to come through the door and save the day. 

– The next advance will be autonomous firefighting robots (firefighting drones that can identify the fire, encircle it, and put the right suppressants to work to put it out quickly and safely.

– Soon it will be drones, drones everywhere–fighting everything from fires to the enemy and we will no longer be just people, performing alone, but surrounded by our little assistants–perhaps pulling the majority of the weight, leaving higher value activities to us humans.