there are those that now say that we are on the cusp of something similar. it is a fast track to — i think �*dystopia' is the right word for it. the nation is still recovering from the incident, which officials are saying is some kind of automated attack, which killed 11 us senators at the capitol building. autonomous weapons combine a confluence of different technologies — drones, facial recognition, artificial intelligence and big data to create a sort of superweapon that not only detects and destroys, but can make that decision itself, and can be owned not just by states, but potentially by organisations, terrorist groups, anyone. this is the kind of dystopian reality that has been painted by critics — assassinations, private armies of bots, computers deciding whether humans live or die. these types of weapons that could easily be deployed and moved throughout different environments, like a swarm,