Why would you use soldiers for ground combat instead of robots if you're a spacefaring civilization?
>>44216813
Robots never got any less garbage at walking around without falling over all the time.
>>44216813
The Human rulers of Human nations consider using people in combat unethical, and their military consists of robots. Conversely, the AI rulers of robot nations only have meatbag soldiers, as they think using robots in combat to be unethical.
>>44217136
this would make a pretty good twist for an episode of outer limits or twilight zone. Just start with the human and robot soldiers fighting each-other.
>>44216813
Because wars are more than just dudes shooting dudes?
>>44216813
Why the LEXX hate? I loved that show.
>>44216813
>Firefly higher then Lexx
>trash.jpg
>>44216813
Robots are stupid and can only perform an action in a situation that has been pre accounted for?
>>44216813
>Galactica
>High tier
Hah.
To answer your question, OP, it presents a few problems based on several scenarios.
You could go the Blade Runner route and create advanced, individual artificial intelligences to be used as soldiers. But then that presents major ethical issues considering you're, you know, essentially breeding people for warfare. Plus then they might escape and try to kill the people who own them. I feel like just normal human recruits would be a better option.
An army of simple, mass produced robot footsloggers hooked up to a central mainframe could prevent this problem. But an army built this way feels like two steps forwards and three steps back. It's applying cutting edge technology to a style of warfare made obsolete by that very technology's existence. It would be like if we stripped aircraft carriers of all their planes and stuck big guns on them so they could shoot other ships themselves.
If you're going to automate, you should use tanks and air/spacecraft, not man-sized battledroids.
But then you also have the question of who runs this network of killer robots. An AI? I don't wanna get Skynetted, OP. Do you?inb4 OP is Skynet
>>44216813
Why indeed.
>>44220888
>I read that in his voice
>>44221032
Found the skinjob.
>>44216813
>Outlaw Star
>Low-Mid
>>44221056
OH SHIT WE'VE BEEN MADE
>>44221083
I've always wondered if the Voight-Kampff device ever accidentally pings on autistic people or sociopaths.
Humans are cheaper
Humans are more adaptable
Humans can better comprehend and judge complex situations
Humans can travel over difficult terrain better
Humans don't break down as often and are easier to fix or replace
>>44221110
Funnily enough, in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that actually comes up and it's a constant question Deckard tries to reconcile.Deckard is performing the test on Rachel, and she pings as an android when she asks her a bunch of empathy questions about animals. Her uncle tells Deckard she's just got some kind of social autism from spending her whole life aboard a space ship which is why the empathy questions he asked didn't register for her.Deckard almost walks out, vexed that his whole line of work is now in question. Then he has an epiphany and tests her with a different kind of empathy question involving humans, which causes her to ping as an android. Her "uncle" then admits she's a robot with false memories, which causes a few problems for her because she didn't know.
>>44216813
>firefly that high
>outlaw star that low
I don't understand this person's taste.
Anyway, the reason would be economics. Which is a bit weird since robots, not needing life support, tend to be easier to transport by a degree that offsets cost of their construction. But it really comes down to what kind of technology and infrastructure the nations in the setting have access to.
Or if you go the Dune route of modern allegory, it can be because religion says so.
>>44216813
I'd rate Dark Matter in Low-Mid Tier, Lexx in Low Tier, Babylon 5 in God Tier, and the unmentioned Killjoys in High-Mid or Mid Tier. Killjoys is basically Firefly with a smaller cast and less charm, but it does worldbuilding pretty well and the first season is great at tying everything together. Otherwise I agree with your image completely OP.
As for your question, OP, I can think of a few good reasons.
1. A.I. are dangerous as fuck, and if they're the only reliable kind of robots you can get working then it's a non-option. Never hand weapons to a force you can't adequately control, or that might turn on you.
2. If you can get non-A.I. robots working, you'd probably need them all to be remote controlled. Thus, anyone who can hack into the method of control can take control of your army. That's a really bad idea.
3. Even if your robot army's controls can't be hacked, if your control station needs to be in range then all it takes is an attack on the control station to incapacitate your army.
4. If the lag between the actions of your robots and the commands of their handlers is great enough, they won't be able to react properly on the battlefield and might as well be free scrap and ammo for your enemies.
5. If your enemies have anti-robotic weapons available, and they're much more powerful or effective than their anti-biological weapons, then biological troops might be the best solution.
6. Even if none of the above is a problem, it just might be that soldiers are way more effective when they're there in person, and that acting through robotic proxies doesn't lead to the same kinds of skill that doing so in person fosters. Basically, playing a video game versus doing it in real life.
And, besides, only fools wage ground war. A better question might be why spacefaring civilizations don't just blast enemy fortifications from orbit with (insert appropriate space-to-surface weapon here).
>>44216813
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/scienceandtech/13869-Lethal-Autonomous-Weapons-Are-Killer-Robots-Should-We-Ban-LAWs
tl:dr
To elaborate, the article isn't necessarily talking about full blown sentient AI's, more like military roombas.
TL;DR
>Pros:
>Probably not capable of actual malice; incapable of deliberately committing war crimes.
>No training cost/time.
>Minimal maintainence requirements compared to humans
>Operating time only limited by power supplies.
>Next to instantaneous reflexes barring Ubisoft-tier programming.
>Cons
>Glitches can be catastrophic.
>Susceptible to hacking.
>Lack of population loss may reduce qualms about starting wars.
>>44216813
Because science fiction are stories and it's hard to tell engaging stories about robots.
>>44221363
>it's hard to tell engaging stories about robots
>>44216813
overpopulation?
>>44221416
Overpopulation doesn't make you throw away technological advances in favor of a meat grinder, as those being put through it tend to be unhappy about it.
>>44221665
To be fair though there are plenty of stories in sci fi where the people being thrown in the meat grinder aren't in a position to do anything about it anyways.
>>44221830
Those are usually pretty dystopian though, much less 'We could field legions of robots so you don't have to die, we just can't be bothered.'
>>44221279
Saying that Killjoys is "basically" firefly is like saying firefly is "basically" blake's 7.
I found Killjoys to be more than enough its own thing.
>>44216813
>Firefly not God tier.
>Cowboy Bebop only hi-mid
>Outlaw Star lo-mid
Shit tier taste confirmed.
>>44216813
Whoever made that image must have nostalgia goggles welded to their face to put Star Trek TNG on God Tier. High Tier sure, but not higher.
>>44222207
Nigga what
TNG is absolutely the best show on that image, by a large margin.
>>44222346
Go back to bed Rick Berman
>>44216813
>Cowboy Bebop below anything
>No Star Wars
>No Dune
>Star Trek, at all
Nice try 3/10 got me to reply
>>44217827
Lexx is a perfect example of something being absolute garbage, and fucking awesome.
It's like, it surpasses the tier system because it's so awful that it's amazing.
>>44222458
It's obviously TV only.
>>44221110
>implying autists and sociopaths are people
>>44216813
stargate atlantis, star trek enterprise and andromeda each need to move up one tier. (I'd move farscape and possibly BSG up a tier too but I'm aware I'm a minority opinion on that).
And in answer to your question, you wouldn't. The only reason sci-fi writers have human soldiers is because it makes for a more compelling narrative. Or they just lack imagination
>>44223164
I'll accept your edits as long as TNG moves up a tier too.
>>44222346
The first two seasons were drek. Three through six were decent. Seven was where they ran out of ideas.
>>44216813
i havent seen most of those but i would at the very least move cowboy bebop up to god tier and and voyager down to low tier.
no wait scratch that im thinking of space dandy not cowboy bebop never seen bebop.
>>44216813
A fully capable, autonomous robot would be Insanely more expensive then just using people unless there's some space magic involved.
Even if said robot would fare better than 5 whole soldiers.
>>44216813
Because robots will inevitabily try to wipe out the human race.
![1316191974385[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Frfo5Cp.jpg "1316191974385[1].jpg")
>>44223471
honestly, I think TNG is kind of overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's a classic, but some people go overboard with it. When you look back on it there were a LOT of filler episodes and when you get right down to it most of the main cast was pretty dull and there were only a handful of supporting characters worth mentioning. Picard > Data > Worf, and after that who cares? TNG fully deserves a spot near the top, but I wouldn't put it above DS9 (wouldn't put DS9 above TNG either).
Also, Wesley Crusher.
>>44216813
Because my soldiers are highly expendable and irreversibly brainwashed clones and slave races, what's the point to using robots?
Next.
>>44224040
>set a course, for intercourse.
>>44226273
>>44226273
>>44216813
Because your robots aren't advanced enough, obviously. Next question?
>>44216813
>Nadesico
>Low tier
>>44226381
>Just hook the rape capacitor up to my junk.
>>44221110
>>44222891
This got me thinking of a Blade Runner parody where someone hunts down and retires Internet eccentrics.With CWC as the Roy Batty stand-in
>>44226789
It's not great, has no proper ending, and the movie is garbage.
>>44216813
>lexx
>garbage
Absolutely shit taste
>>44221293
>Lack of population loss may reduce qualms about starting wars.
It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.
