Pentagon developing humanoid Terminator robots

Word, I agree that it's worth discussing as a topic. Drones are pretty damn spooky. (I'm studying nanotechnology at the technician/fabrication level so I spend a lot of time talking about tech advances with classmates and teachers)

I do think the claim (in the NY times article, which is not bad) that "With the development of nanotechnology - the science of very small structures - they (assuming "they" means mr. robotos - luke) may become swarms of "smart dust."" is pretty over-the-top. We have "smart materials" now, but all that means is that they respond to their environment. It's neat, but not as eerie as it sounds. They are materials that may respond to hear, or to motion, or to pressure. Intelligence is not the word to describe them in any way. The "gray goo" scenario that people always get in their heads when they think of nanotech is pretty lolsy, mostly because like hoodie said, we are incredibly far away from being able to creative truly intelligent AIs, but this holds especially true at the sub-micron level. I think drone warfare is fascinating and raises a whole host of ethical considerations that the governments of the world probably won't mull over before utilizing the things completely wide-scale, but I also think that like apriorion said, we harm the seriousness of the topic by talking about terminator style sci-fi scenarios that are nowhere close to reality...

fuck all of you

cunting whores

Everything's gonna be fine, we just need more Ally Sheedy types to show them what it means to be human.

"I think drone warfare is fascinating and raises a whole host of ethical considerations that the governments of the world probably won't mull over before utilizing the things completely wide-scale, but I also think that like apriorion said, we harm the seriousness of the topic by talking about terminator style sci-fi scenarios that are nowhere close to reality..."

key words-close

at the current rate of tech/nano tech development it's not as far as you think

to me the drone is more of a deadly/frightening concept in that it's not even on the ground,and by nature/design less human like.

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:28 PM, yikes said:

"1. PETMAN is not designed to kill, it's designed to test hazmat suits. "

 

if you think they won't weaponize ANY of the tech and use it for war you are surely living with your head in the sand.

1. Where did I say that? 2. Boston Dynamics has plenty of robots being designed for that sort of thing, PETMAN is not one of them.

I'm just relaying the info about what that robot actually does.

ironic that DARPA funding petman seems to befuddle the masses.

where do you think they are headed with it?

disneyland?

Active projects

• ACTUV - A project to build an unmanned Anti-submarine warfarevessel.
• Adaptive Vehicle Make - Revolutionary approaches to the design, verification, and manufacturing of complex defense systems and vehicles.
• ArcLight (missile) - Ship based weapon system that is capable of striking targets nearly anywhere on the globe. It is based on theStandard Missile 3.
• Battlefield Illusion^[20]
• BigDog/Legged Squad Support System - legged robots.^[21]
• Boeing X-37
• Integrated Sensor is Structure
• Boomerang (mobile shooter detection system) - an acousticGunshot Location Detection System developed by BBN Technologies for detecting snipers on military combat vehicles.
• CALO or "Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes" - software
• Combat Zones That See - "track everything that moves" in a city by linking up a massive network of surveillance cameras
• DARPA XG - technology for Dynamic Spectrum Access for assured military communications
• EATR An autonomous tactical robotic system
• FALCON
• High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System
• High Productivity Computing Systems
• Human Universal Load Carrier battery-powered human exoskeleton
• MAHEM Molten penetrating munition
• MEMS Exchange MEMS^{[clarification needed]} Implementation Environment^{[citation needed]}
• MeshWorm, an earthworm-like robot.^[22]
• Mind's Eye - A visual intelligence system capable of detecting and analysing activity from video feeds.^[23]
• Persistent Close Air Support
• Phoenix - A Satelite project with the aim to recycle retired satelite parts into new on-orbit assets.Launches in 2016.^[24]
• Protein Design Processes
• Proto 2 - a thought-controlled prosthetic arm
• Remote-controlled insects^[25]
• DARPA Silent Talk - A planned program attempting to identify EEG patterns for words and transmit these for covert communications.^[26]
• Satellite Remote Listening System - a satellite mounted system that can eavesdrop on a targeted area on the surface of the planet in coordination with satellite cameras.^{[citation needed]} This project is in its infant stage.^[when?]
• SyNAPSE - Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics
• System F6 - Fractionated Spacecraft demonstrator
• XOS - powered military exoskeleton
• Transformer - flying armoured car^[27]
• UAVForge^[28]
• VTOL X-Plane^[29]
• Vulture
• WolfPack^[30]

• Project AGILE
• ARPANET, earliest predecessor of the Internet
• Aspen Movie Map
• ASTOVL, precursor of the Joint Strike Fighter Program^[31]
• Boeing X-45
• CPOF - the command post of the future - networked information system for Command control.
• DAML
• DARPA Grand Challenge - driverless car competition
• DARPA Network Challenge^[32]
• DEFENDER
• High Performance Knowledge Bases
• HISSS
• Hypersonic Research Program
• I3 (Intelligent Integration of Information),^[33] supported the Digital Library research effort through NSF
• Project MAC
• Luke Arm, a DEKA creation
• MOSIS
• MQ-1 Predator
• Multics
• NLS/Augment, the origin of the canonical contemporary computer user interface
• Northrop Grumman Switchblade - an unmanned oblique-wing flying aircraft for high speed, long range and long endurance flight
• Onion routing
• Passive radar
• Policy Analysis Market
• POSSE
• Rapid Knowledge Formation
• Sea Shadow
• DARPA Shredder Challenge 2011^[34] - Reconstruction of shredded documents
• Strategic Computing Program
• Synthetic Aperture Ladar for Tactical Applications (SALTI)
• SURAN (1983–87)
• Project Vela (1963)

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:34 PM, yikes said:

"I think drone warfare is fascinating and raises a whole host of ethical considerations that the governments of the world probably won't mull over before utilizing the things completely wide-scale, but I also think that like apriorion said, we harm the seriousness of the topic by talking about terminator style sci-fi scenarios that are nowhere close to reality..."

 

 

key words-close

 

at the current rate of tech/nano tech development it's not as far as you think

to me the drone is more of a deadly/frightening concept in that it's not even on the ground,and by nature/design less human like.

Hmm, like I said, nanotechnology is my major. I'd be happy to know about any nanotech developments that are being put in complex military AIs, but none of the technology I use (I fabricate MEMs devices and characterize nanomaterials w/ SEMs, AFMs, and other tools in our lab...) has anything to do with the sorts of technologies involved in drones...

I try to stay up to date about crazy ethical-boundary-crossing tech in my field, because it certainly exists, I just don't know of anything that correlates to robotic warfare.

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:38 PM, luke viia said:

 

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:34 PM, yikes said:

"I think drone warfare is fascinating and raises a whole host of ethical considerations that the governments of the world probably won't mull over before utilizing the things completely wide-scale, but I also think that like apriorion said, we harm the seriousness of the topic by talking about terminator style sci-fi scenarios that are nowhere close to reality..."

 

 

key words-close

 

at the current rate of tech/nano tech development it's not as far as you think

to me the drone is more of a deadly/frightening concept in that it's not even on the ground,and by nature/design less human like.

 

Hmm, like I said, nanotechnology is my major. I'd be happy to know about any nanotech developments that are being put in complex military AIs, but none of the technology I use (I fabricate MEMs devices and characterize nanomaterials w/ SEMs, AFMs, and other tools in our lab...) has anything to do with the sorts of technologies involved in drones...

ck the above project list

I can copy and paste text without actually knowing what I'm talking about too, look

Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others, though not all such acts are considered insanity. In modern usage insanity is most commonly encountered as an informal unscientific term denoting mental instability, or in the narrow legal context of the insanity defense. In the medical profession the term is now avoided in favor of diagnoses of specific mental disorders; the presence of delusions orhallucinations is broadly referred to as psychosis.^[1] When discussing mental illness in general terms, "psychopathology" is considered a preferred descriptor.^[2]

In English, the word "sane" derives from the Latin adjective sanus meaning "healthy". The phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" is often translated to mean a "healthy mind in a healthy body". From this perspective, insanity can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily of the brain as an organ (although that can affect mental health), but rather refers to defective function of mental processes such as reasoning. Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is "compos mentis" (lit. "of composed mind"), and a euphemistic term for insanity is "non compos mentis". In law, mens rea means having had criminal intent, or a guilty mind, when the act (actus reus) was committed.

A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. A notable example has been the use of the phrase 'insanely great' in the launch of the Apple Macintosh, subsequently also used to describe one of its developers.^[3][4] The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticise particular ideas, beliefs, principals, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion.

• 1 Historical views and treatment
  • 1.1 In Ancient Israel
  • 1.2 Ancient Greece
  • 1.3 Ancient Rome
  • 1.4 From the Middle Ages forward
• 2 In medicine
• 3 Legal use of the term
• 4 Feigned insanity
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Madness, the non-legal word for insanity, has been recognized throughout history in every known society. Primitive cultures turned to witch doctors or shamans to apply magic, herbal mixtures, or folk medicine to rid deranged persons of evil spirits or bizarre behavior, for example.^[5] Archaeologists have unearthed skulls (at least 7000 years old) that have small round holes bored in them using flint tools. It has been conjectured that the subject may have been thought to have been possessed by devils which the holes would allow to escape.^[6] However, more recent research on the historical practice of trepanation supports the hypothesis that this procedure was medical in nature and intended as means of treating cranial trauma.^[7]

In ancient Israel it was held that disturbances of the mind or emotions were caused by "supernatural forces" or an angry God, as a punishment for sin or failure to follow the commandments. The Old Testament is replete with references to kings and commoners that go insane, and the Jewish prophets were thought to be psychologically abnormal because they acted in strange ways, departed markedly from the norm in appearance, and foretold of future events that few understood.^[8]

The Greeks replaced concepts of the supernatural with a secular view, believing that afflictions of the mind did not differ from diseases of the body. They saw mental and physical illness as a result of natural causes and an imbalance in bodily humors. Hippocrates frequently wrote that an excess of black bile resulted in irrational thinking and behavior.^[8]

Goya's Madhouse, 1812-1819

Romans made further contributions to psychiatry, in particular the precursor to contemporary practice. They put forth the idea that strong emotions could lead to bodily ailments, the basis of today’s theory ofpsychosomatic illness. The Romans also supported humane treatment of the mentally ill, and to support such codified into law the principle of insanity as a mitigation of responsibility for criminal acts,^[9] although the criterion for insanity was sharply set as the defendant had to be found "non compos mentis", a term meaning with "no power of mind".^[10]

The Middle Ages, however, witnessed the end of the progressive ideas of the Greeks and Romans.^{[clarification needed]}

During the 18th century, the French and the British introduced humane treatment of the clinically insane,^[11] though the criteria for diagnosis and placement in an asylum were considerably looser than today, often including such conditions as Speech disorder, speech impediments, epilepsy anddepression.

Europe's oldest asylum is the Bethlem Royal Hospital of London, also known as Bedlam, which began admitting the mentally ill in 1403. The firstAmerican asylum was built in Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1773. Before the 19th century these hospitals were used to isolate the mentally ill or the socially ostracized from society rather than cure them or maintain their health. Pictures from this era portrayed patients bound with rope or chains, often to beds or walls, or restrained in straitjackets.

Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in common law.^[12] The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of mental disorders now diagnosed as organic brain syndromes, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychotic disorders.^[1]

In United States criminal law, insanity may serve as an affirmative defense to criminal acts and thus does not need to negate an element of the prosecution's case such as general or specific intent.^[13] The States differ somewhat in their definition of insanity but most follow the guidelines of theModel Penal Code. All jurisdictions require a sanity evaluation to address the question first of whether or not the defendant has a mental illness.

Most courts accept a major mental illness such as psychosis but will not accept the diagnosis of a personality disorder for the purposes of an insanity defense. The second question is whether the mental illness interfered with the defendant's ability to distinguish right from wrong. That is, did the defendant know that the alleged behavior was against the law at the time the offense was committed.

Additionally, some jurisdictions add the question of whether or not the defendant was in control of their behavior at the time of the offense. For example, if the defendant was compelled by some aspect of their mental illness to commit the illegal act, the defendant could be evaluated as not in control of their behavior at the time of the offense.

The forensic mental health specialists submit their evaluations to the court. Since the question of sanity or insanity is a legal question and not a medical one, the judge and or jury will make the final decision regarding the defendant's status regarding an insanity defense.^[14][15]

In most jurisdictions within the United States, if the insanity plea is accepted, the defendant is committed to a psychiatric institution for at least 60 days for further evaluation, and then reevaluated at least yearly after that.

Insanity is generally no defense in a civil lawsuit. However, in civil cases, the insanity of the plaintiff can toll the statute of limitations for filing a suit until the plaintiff has recovered from this condition, or until a statute of repose has run.

Feigned insanity is the simulation of mental illness in order to avoid or lessen the consequences of a confrontation or conviction for an alleged crime. A number of treatises on medical jurisprudence were written during the nineteenth century, the most famous of which was Isaac Ray in 1838 (fifth edition 1871); others include Ryan (1832), Taylor (1845), Wharton and Stille (1855), Ordronaux (1869), Meymott (1882). The typical techniques as outlined in these works are the background for Dr. Neil S. Kaye's widely recognized guidelines that indicate an attempt to feign insanity.^[16]

One particularly famous example of someone feigning insanity was the case of Mafia boss Vincent Gigante, who pretended for years to be suffering from dementia, and was often seen wandering aimlessly around his neighborhood in his pajamas muttering to himself. However, testimony from informants and surveillance showed that Gigante was in full control of his faculties the whole time, and ruled over his Mafia family with an iron fist.^[17]

Today feigned insanity is considered malingering. In a 2005 court case, United States v. Binion, the defendant was prosecuted and convicted forobstruction of justice (adding to his original sentence) because he feigned insanity in a Competency to Stand Trial evaluation.

Bullshit (also bullcrap) is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism BS. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive, although bullshit is commonly used in British English. It is a slang profanity term meaning either (literally) bovine excrement or, more commonly, "nonsense", especially in a rebuking response to communication or actions viewed asdeceiving, misleading, disingenuous or false. As with many expletives, the term can be used as an interjection or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings.

It can be used either as a noun or as a verb. While the word is generally used in a deprecating sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills, or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, among others, analyzed the concept of bullshit as related to but distinct from lying.

Outside of the philosophical and discursive studies, the everyday phrase bullshit conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but does not generally describe any role of truth in the matter.

• 1 Etymology
• 2 In the philosophy of truth & rhetoric
  • 2.1 Assertions of fact
    • 2.1.1 Distinguished from lying
  • 2.2 Harry Frankfurt's concept
• 3 In everyday language
• 4 See also
• 5 References
  • 5.1 Notes
  • 5.2 Bibliography

"Bull", meaning nonsense, dates from the 17th century,^[1] while the term "bullshit" has been used as early as 1915 in American slang,^[2] and came into popular usage only during World War II. The word "bull" itself may have derived from the Old French boul meaning "fraud, deceit" (Oxford English Dictionary).^[2] The term "horseshit" is a near synonym. Worthy of note is the South African English equivalent "bull dust". Few corresponding terms exist in other languages, with the significant exception of German Bockmist, literally "billy-goat shit".

The earliest attestation mentioned by the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is in fact T. S. Eliot, who between 1910 and 1916 wrote an early poem to which he gave the title "The Triumph of Bullshit", written in the form of a ballade. The word bullshit does not appear in the text of the poem. Eliot did not publish this poem during his lifetime.^[3]

As to earlier etymology the OED cites bull with the meaning "trivial, insincere, untruthful talk or writing, nonsense". It describes this usage as being of unknown origin, but notes the following: "OF boul, boule, bole fraud, deceit, trickery; mod. Icel bull ‘nonsense’; also ME bull BUL ‘falsehood’, and BULL verb, to befool, mock, cheat." ^[4]

Although as the above makes clear there is no confirmed etymological connection, it might be noted that these older meanings are synonymous with the modern expression "bull" otherwise generally considered, and intentionally used as, a contraction of "bullshit".

Another theory, according to the lexicographer Eric Partridge, is that the term was popularised by the Australian and New Zealand troops from about 1916 arriving at the front during World War I. They were astonished at the British commanding officers' emphasis on bull. Bull was the term for attention to appearances - spit and polish, making everything just so, even when it was a hindrance to waging war. The Diggers ridiculed the British by calling it not bull but bullshit.^[5]

Bullshit is commonly used to describe statements made by people more concerned with the response of the audience than in truth and accuracy, such as goal-oriented statements made in the field of politics or advertising. On one prominent occasion, the word itself was part of a controversial advertisement. During the 1980 U.S. presidential campaign, the Citizens Party candidate Barry Commoner ran a radio advertisement that began with an actor exclaiming: "Bullshit! Carter, Reagan and Anderson, it's all bullshit!" NBC refused to run the advertisement because of its use of the expletive, but Commoner's campaign successfully appealed to the Federal Communications Commission to allow the advertisement to run unedited.^[6]

"Bullshit" does not necessarily have to be a complete fabrication; with only basic knowledge about a topic, bullshit is often used to make the audience believe that one knows far more about the topic by feigning total certainty or making probable predictions. It may also merely be "filler" or nonsense that, by virtue of its style or wording, gives the impression that it actually means something.

In his essay on the subject, William G. Perry called bull[shit] "relevancies, however relevant, without data" and gave a definition of the verb "to bull[shit]" as follows:

 

To discourse upon the contexts, frames of reference and points of observation which would determine the origin, nature, and meaning of data if one had any. To present evidence of an understanding of form in the hope that the reader may be deceived into supposing a familiarity with content.^[7]

The bullshitter generally either knows the statements are likely false, exaggerated, and in other ways misleading or has no interest in their factual accuracy one way or the other. "Talking bullshit" is thus a lesser form of lying, and is likely to elicit a correspondingly weaker emotional response: whereas an obvious liar may be greeted with derision, outrage, or anger, an exponent of bullshit tends to be dismissed with an indifferent sneer.

In his essay On Bullshit (originally written in 1986, and published as a monograph in 2005), philosopher Harry Frankfurt of Princeton Universitycharacterizes bullshit as a form of falsehood distinct from lying. The liar, Frankfurt holds, knows and cares about the truth, but deliberately sets out to mislead instead of telling the truth. The "bullshitter", on the other hand, does not care about the truth and is only seeking to impress:^[8][9]

Frankfurt connects this analysis of bullshit with Ludwig Wittgenstein's disdain of "non-sense" talk, and with the popular concept of a "bull session" in which speakers may try out unusual views without commitment. He fixes the blame for the prevalence of "bullshit" in modern society upon anti-realismand upon the growing frequency of situations in which people are expected to speak or have opinions without appropriate knowledge of the subject matter.

Gerald Cohen, in "Deeper into Bullshit", contrasted the kind of "bullshit" Frankfurt describes with a different sort: nonsense discourse presented as sense. Cohen points out that this sort of bullshit can be produced either accidentally or deliberately. While some writers do deliberately produce bullshit, a person can also aim at sense and produce nonsense by mistake; or a person deceived by a piece of bullshit can repeat it innocently, without intent to deceive others.^[10]

Cohen gives the example of Alan Sokal's "Transgressing the Boundaries" as a piece of deliberate bullshit. Sokal's aim in creating it, however, was to point out that the "postmodernist" editors who accepted his paper for publication could not distinguish nonsense from sense, and thereby by implication that their field was "bullshit".

Outside of the academic world, among natural speakers of North American English, as an interjection or adjective, bullshit conveys general displeasure, an objection to, or points to unfairness within, some state of affairs. In this 20th century colloquial usage, "bullshit" does not give a truth score to another's discourse. It simply labels something that the speaker does not like and feels he is unable to change.

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:43 PM, oscillik said:

 

I can copy and paste text without actually knowing what I'm talking about too, look

 

 

Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others, though not all such acts are considered insanity. In modern usage insanity is most commonly encountered as an informal unscientific term denoting mental instability, or in the narrow legal context of the insanity defense. In the medical profession the term is now avoided in favor of diagnoses of specific mental disorders; the presence of delusions orhallucinations is broadly referred to as psychosis.^[1] When discussing mental illness in general terms, "psychopathology" is considered a preferred descriptor.^[2]

In English, the word "sane" derives from the Latin adjective sanus meaning "healthy". The phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" is often translated to mean a "healthy mind in a healthy body". From this perspective, insanity can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily of the brain as an organ (although that can affect mental health), but rather refers to defective function of mental processes such as reasoning. Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is "compos mentis" (lit. "of composed mind"), and a euphemistic term for insanity is "non compos mentis". In law, mens rea means having had criminal intent, or a guilty mind, when the act (actus reus) was committed.

A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. A notable example has been the use of the phrase 'insanely great' in the launch of the Apple Macintosh, subsequently also used to describe one of its developers.^[3][4] The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticise particular ideas, beliefs, principals, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion.

 

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Historical views and treatment
  • 1.1 In Ancient Israel
  • 1.2 Ancient Greece
  • 1.3 Ancient Rome
  • 1.4 From the Middle Ages forward

• 2 In medicine
• 3 Legal use of the term
• 4 Feigned insanity
• 5 References
• 6 External links

 

Historical views and treatment

Madness, the non-legal word for insanity, has been recognized throughout history in every known society. Primitive cultures turned to witch doctors or shamans to apply magic, herbal mixtures, or folk medicine to rid deranged persons of evil spirits or bizarre behavior, for example.^[5] Archaeologists have unearthed skulls (at least 7000 years old) that have small round holes bored in them using flint tools. It has been conjectured that the subject may have been thought to have been possessed by devils which the holes would allow to escape.^[6] However, more recent research on the historical practice of trepanation supports the hypothesis that this procedure was medical in nature and intended as means of treating cranial trauma.^[7]

In Ancient Israel

In ancient Israel it was held that disturbances of the mind or emotions were caused by "supernatural forces" or an angry God, as a punishment for sin or failure to follow the commandments. The Old Testament is replete with references to kings and commoners that go insane, and the Jewish prophets were thought to be psychologically abnormal because they acted in strange ways, departed markedly from the norm in appearance, and foretold of future events that few understood.^[8]

Ancient Greece

The Greeks replaced concepts of the supernatural with a secular view, believing that afflictions of the mind did not differ from diseases of the body. They saw mental and physical illness as a result of natural causes and an imbalance in bodily humors. Hippocrates frequently wrote that an excess of black bile resulted in irrational thinking and behavior.^[8]

Goya's Madhouse, 1812-1819

Ancient Rome

Romans made further contributions to psychiatry, in particular the precursor to contemporary practice. They put forth the idea that strong emotions could lead to bodily ailments, the basis of today’s theory ofpsychosomatic illness. The Romans also supported humane treatment of the mentally ill, and to support such codified into law the principle of insanity as a mitigation of responsibility for criminal acts,^[9] although the criterion for insanity was sharply set as the defendant had to be found "non compos mentis", a term meaning with "no power of mind".^[10]

From the Middle Ages forward

The Middle Ages, however, witnessed the end of the progressive ideas of the Greeks and Romans.^{[clarification needed]}

During the 18th century, the French and the British introduced humane treatment of the clinically insane,^[11] though the criteria for diagnosis and placement in an asylum were considerably looser than today, often including such conditions as Speech disorder, speech impediments, epilepsy anddepression.

Europe's oldest asylum is the Bethlem Royal Hospital of London, also known as Bedlam, which began admitting the mentally ill in 1403. The firstAmerican asylum was built in Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1773. Before the 19th century these hospitals were used to isolate the mentally ill or the socially ostracized from society rather than cure them or maintain their health. Pictures from this era portrayed patients bound with rope or chains, often to beds or walls, or restrained in straitjackets.

In medicine

 

 

Wikinews has related news: Dr. Joseph Merlino on sexuality, insanity, Freud, fetishes and apathy

Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in common law.^[12] The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of mental disorders now diagnosed as organic brain syndromes, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychotic disorders.^[1]

Legal use of the term

Main article: Insanity defense

In United States criminal law, insanity may serve as an affirmative defense to criminal acts and thus does not need to negate an element of the prosecution's case such as general or specific intent.^[13] The States differ somewhat in their definition of insanity but most follow the guidelines of theModel Penal Code. All jurisdictions require a sanity evaluation to address the question first of whether or not the defendant has a mental illness.

Most courts accept a major mental illness such as psychosis but will not accept the diagnosis of a personality disorder for the purposes of an insanity defense. The second question is whether the mental illness interfered with the defendant's ability to distinguish right from wrong. That is, did the defendant know that the alleged behavior was against the law at the time the offense was committed.

Additionally, some jurisdictions add the question of whether or not the defendant was in control of their behavior at the time of the offense. For example, if the defendant was compelled by some aspect of their mental illness to commit the illegal act, the defendant could be evaluated as not in control of their behavior at the time of the offense.

The forensic mental health specialists submit their evaluations to the court. Since the question of sanity or insanity is a legal question and not a medical one, the judge and or jury will make the final decision regarding the defendant's status regarding an insanity defense.^[14][15]

In most jurisdictions within the United States, if the insanity plea is accepted, the defendant is committed to a psychiatric institution for at least 60 days for further evaluation, and then reevaluated at least yearly after that.

Insanity is generally no defense in a civil lawsuit. However, in civil cases, the insanity of the plaintiff can toll the statute of limitations for filing a suit until the plaintiff has recovered from this condition, or until a statute of repose has run.

Feigned insanity

Feigned insanity is the simulation of mental illness in order to avoid or lessen the consequences of a confrontation or conviction for an alleged crime. A number of treatises on medical jurisprudence were written during the nineteenth century, the most famous of which was Isaac Ray in 1838 (fifth edition 1871); others include Ryan (1832), Taylor (1845), Wharton and Stille (1855), Ordronaux (1869), Meymott (1882). The typical techniques as outlined in these works are the background for Dr. Neil S. Kaye's widely recognized guidelines that indicate an attempt to feign insanity.^[16]

One particularly famous example of someone feigning insanity was the case of Mafia boss Vincent Gigante, who pretended for years to be suffering from dementia, and was often seen wandering aimlessly around his neighborhood in his pajamas muttering to himself. However, testimony from informants and surveillance showed that Gigante was in full control of his faculties the whole time, and ruled over his Mafia family with an iron fist.^[17]

Today feigned insanity is considered malingering. In a 2005 court case, United States v. Binion, the defendant was prosecuted and convicted forobstruction of justice (adding to his original sentence) because he feigned insanity in a Competency to Stand Trial evaluation.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} L M Tierney, S J McPhee, M A Papadakis (2002). Current medical Diagnosis & Treatment. International edition. New York: Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill. pp. 1078–1086. ISBN 0-07-137688-7.
3. ^ An interview with Dr. Joseph Merlino, David Shankbone, Wikinews, October 5, 2007.
5. ^ why-the-macintosh-was-insanely-great
7. ^ Insanely great: A balanced portrait of a complicated and compelling man The Economist October 29, 2011
9. ^ Weinstein, Raymond M. (2007) "madness" in George Ritzer (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Blackwell Publishing, 2007, pp. 2693-2695
11. ^ Porter, Roy (2002) Madness-A Brief History, Oxford University Press, 2002, p.10, ISBN 0-19-280266-6
13. ^ Andrushko, Valerie A.; Verano, John W. (1 September 2008). "Prehistoric trepanation in the Cuzco region of Peru: A view into an ancient Andean practice". American Journal of Physical Anthropology137 (1): 11–12. doi:10.1002/ajpa.20836.
15. ^ ^{a b} Weinstein 2007, p. 2693
17. ^ Craighead, W. Edward (2002). The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science. John Wiley and Sons. p. 941.ISBN 0-471-27082-2.
19. ^ Robinson, Daniel N. (1995). An intellectual history of psychology. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 305. ISBN 0-299-14844-0.
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you're in way over your head sonny

admit you are flummoxed or return to grazing the grass

Hey, see, that robo-mosquito article is damn interesting! *goes off to google it further*

All I can say is I hope they hurry up and start mass manufacturing these so they can stop sending real people to die so someone else can profit.

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:25 PM, Hoodie said:

i work in a lab that does human-robot interaction research for the government.

This instantly invalidates anything you say on the matter, YOU'RE ONE OF THEM

[youtubehd]tE_5Y9IKCk0[/youtubehd]

lol this thread...

i really think the majority of folks just aren't bright enough to understand where this is headed.

When I invoke reactions such as oscillik's and the other guys who are calling me names it just fortifies my belief that tech is moving so fast most people can hardly begin to comprehend what is really going on in the world of defense.

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:55 PM, yikes said:

i really think the majority of folks just aren't bright enough to understand where this is headed.

When I invoke reactions such as oscillik's and the other guys who are calling me names it just fortifies my belief that tech is moving so fast most people can hardly begin to comprehend what is really going on in the world of defense.

just tell us whats gonna happen then...

Is this a mosquito?
No. It's an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. It can fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you take it in your home.

thats pretty awesome

The parts I question are 1) "already in production" 2) that image looks like a prototype ad to get funding for the device, not like a finished product... I haven't been able to find anything about these little robo skeeters other than news articles, but I do keep bumping up against this recent Harvard research - they've made something called a Monolithic Bee, and it's 1/63rd the mass of a quarter. Pretty incredible stuff, nowhere near as small as that image of the "robo mosquito" though. I also noticed the article about that robomosquito says it can use its "super-micron sized" to tag you, lol. supermicron. I'm probably the only one here that finds that entertaining in any way. Fuck you buddy.

  On 4/8/2013 at 10:00 PM, compson said:

 

  On 4/8/2013 at 9:55 PM, yikes said:

i really think the majority of folks just aren't bright enough to understand where this is headed.

When I invoke reactions such as oscillik's and the other guys who are calling me names it just fortifies my belief that tech is moving so fast most people can hardly begin to comprehend what is really going on in the world of defense.

 

just tell us whats gonna happen then...

pretty simple

to spend billions of taxpayer dollars by the defense/aerospace cabal to develop weaponry that will insure the continuation of american world wide political and military dominance.

to stay ahead...far ahead of russia and china with regard to military might.

to suppress disent /resistance nationally and internationally to "their" program.

see-vietnam,iraq,Afghanistan,Guatemala,chile,indonesia,palestine,etc

So, what will this technology do when they start using electro magnetic pulses? They had this tech a long time ago and they thig are going its the logical counter of every guerilla group of the same future as these machines.

Not to mention, if drones are trying to survey people and some of the civilians have a bit of electrical know-how, what will the govt do when people start making guerilla drones of their own to blow up surveillance machines? It wouldn't be hard, I imagine people will get pretty modular with these sorts of projects - a microcontroller that can track movement, something combustible to propel it and make it go bang on impact, and you're pretty close to a simple single-use counterattack drone.. We're gonna have a booming metal recycling industry, I can tell you that much

*has been sucked into the amazing world of speculative robotics*

its only a matter of time before the blenderbots roll over the hillsides, scooping up humans to drop into their blades to produce the slurry that greases their gears...

heres a unfinished drawring i did of what i think it will look like-

but i'm sure they'll come in many forms

lol

lol