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U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

(www.reuters.com)
350 points tepidandroid | 1 comments | 19 Sep 19 16:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.219s | source
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torstenvl ◴[19 Sep 19 22:31 UTC] No.21021411[source]▶
This is deeply tragic. I wish the story gave more details. Based on the provincial governor's statement, it sounds like U.S. forces were relying on the Afghan government's intelligence assessment.

I also wish news sources would be more careful about suggesting that there are autonomous killer robots in the sky. The drone didn't target anything. A remote pilot did, based on information he/she was provided.

replies(2): >>21023753 #>>21024546 #
1. hyperdunc ◴[20 Sep 19 08:53 UTC] No.21024546[source]▶
It's both typical and disingenuous to name an attack after the instrument rather than the agent that wields it.

Truck attacks, drone attacks, knife attacks - one might be forgiven for thinking these objects have developed minds of their own.

Or perhaps the insinuation is that most humans themselves are mere instruments of the cultures and institutions they're embedded in.