This is not a good time, as there have been some serious terrible things going on with shootings. I mean that Orlando Massacre happened a month ago, and in the midst of all that, there has been some serious bad action going down with two African American men shot by police in Louisiana and Minnesota. Now, a peaceful protest in Dallas resulted in a shooting, with 5 officers dead.

This just feels like a tragedy wrapped up in a towel and then unraveled and snapped in our faces. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, there was something historic that happened which has created something that changes the intersection of technology and humanity.

You see, that sniper attack the killed those police officers? That sniper, Micah X. Johnson, was taken out by a robot. Dallas Police Chief David Brown stated that “we saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was. Other options would have exposed our officers to great danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.”

This is apparently the first time such a solution has been implemented. Peter Singer, an author and strategist who is an expert in technology, says that only in Iraq are robots used in such capacity. Apparently, this bomb-sniffing robot was “jury-rigged” with a weapon to take out a sniper in Dallas.

At this point, I have to say: “and so it begins”. The issue is that it already begun. People start carrying guns and kill people, then we make robots, and the robots start carrying guns. I don’t really have much faith in the goodness of the human race, but man, this has given me a lot to think about.

Source