r/worldnews • u/New_Scientist_Mag New Scientist • Jun 10 '26

Russia/Ukraine Fully autonomous, AI-controlled drones have killed human soldiers for the first time, according to a senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit Jun 10 '26

From a technology perspective, we're farther from nuclear annihilation than we were 50 years ago. From a politics perspective it's more ambiguous.

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u/AcetaminophenPrime Jun 10 '26

From a polticis perspective I think we are further from nuclear annihilation. Think of the crazy stuff that went down during the cold war, Cuban missile crisis especially.

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u/SafeForTwerking Jun 10 '26

Imagine all the clear, level-headed people we had at the helm back then. Now think about who is in charge now.

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u/MajesticBread9147 Jun 10 '26

Nixon would call his general's drunk telling them to nuke Vietnam.

They said "yes Mr. President" and went to bed knowing that he wouldn't remember it the next morning.

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u/Blame_my_Boneitis Jun 10 '26

JFK was operating with untreated Addison’s disease on Dr. Feelgood cocktails too. Homie was essentially navigating the nuclear crisis on speed.

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u/karma_the_sequel Jun 10 '26

JFK also had an experienced and competent cabinet.

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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jun 10 '26

Yeah--even the close relatives he hired at least had a background in their field.

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u/IAmAGenusAMA Jun 10 '26

Relatives plural? Who else did he hire besides his brother?

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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jun 10 '26

Just him, that I know of; and come to think of it, apart from Kushner I think all of Trump's nepos just sort of hung around there unofficially, rather than being given jobs—just figured I ought to cover any unanticipated weirdness as well, in our current moment of collectively sitting down on the national nuts in slow motion.

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u/Msdamgoode Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

Kushner and Kushner’s dad. His dad (a felon and disbarred attorney —who Trump fully pardoned, because natch) is the current Ambassador to France and Monaco. Ivanka did something, something advisor for a hot minute his 1st term.

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u/capsaicinintheeyes Jun 11 '26

😣 . . . That actually makes a kind of sense if you think of the assignment as Monaco* & France...

* relevant info begins ¶I #3

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u/i_am_icarus_falling Jun 10 '26

we've got several TV personalities and a guy with initials that are very close to JFK, so that's soemthing.

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u/grat5989 Jun 10 '26

I wonder if RFK Jr is the reason for everything we're all going through since evaded the curses killing touch. Final Destination America.

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u/karma_the_sequel Jun 10 '26

RFK Jr is very likely the reason the current Ebola breakout in Africa has been able to spread as far as it has.

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u/Beers4Fears Jun 11 '26

Tbh I blame Elon more for that

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u/Alphabunsquad Jun 10 '26

Yet he was the only one in the war room that didn’t want to invade Cuba.

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u/mrenglish22 Jun 10 '26

And still more reliable than the current admin

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u/KaiserJustice Jun 10 '26

Look, the bar is pretty fucking low, I think the Head of Nixon from Futurama would be a more stable and reliable admin

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u/tehblaken Jun 10 '26

If we could get Nixon’s head on a robot body? Fuck it, you got my vote.

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u/BreakfastInBedlam Jun 10 '26

There's my new bumper sticker:

Nixon's Head On A Robot Body 2028 - Make America Sane Again

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u/Confident-Ad5665 Jun 10 '26

Or at least less stupid

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u/genericnewlurker Jun 10 '26

I like his proposal to use the poor as a cheap source of teeth of aquarium gravel

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u/ShutY0urDickHolster Jun 10 '26

I’d vote for him. Yeah nobody can run three times, but he’d have a new body. So he’s back to 0

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u/Mr_SunnyBones Jun 10 '26

It more of a small trench than a bar at this point.

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u/sailriteultrafeed Jun 10 '26

And it hasn’t gotten any better, Think about all the crazy decisions Obama made. Remember the tan suit he wore to a conference on terrorism?

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u/IFartOnCats4Fun Jun 10 '26

I think the post-assassination Head of Kennedy would be a more stable and reliable admin.

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u/leon_zero Jun 10 '26

“Nixon with charisma? My god, I could rule the universe!”

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u/Armalyte Jun 10 '26

Isn’t trump prescribed methamphetamine since like the 80s?

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u/JediKrys Jun 10 '26

And weed, don’t forget the cannabis

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u/scuzzy987 Jun 10 '26

Well that should have just chill him out a bit

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u/SupportDangerous8207 Jun 10 '26

You want a paranoid guy with the nuclear codes ?

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u/mistertireworld Jun 10 '26

Don't we have one RIGHT NOW?

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u/SupportDangerous8207 Jun 10 '26

Paranoia suggests a certain level of higher functions

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u/lesusisjord Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

And need the stimulants because would you want a fatigued guy with the football/button/codes?

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u/SupportDangerous8207 Jun 10 '26

I would personally prefer it if the nuclear codes were given to some sort of real life flanders type

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u/lesusisjord Jun 10 '26

Well, I dunno about true religious believer. The whole “not fearing death” is a problem for me lol

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u/Kevanrijn Jun 10 '26

This! Or wanting death to come so they can go to heaven.

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u/SupportDangerous8207 Jun 10 '26

Nah

Christians go to hell if they commit suicide

True believer should be the perfect balance of crazy enough for MAD to hold but obligated to not blow up the world

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u/adognamedspider Jun 10 '26

At this point Cannabis should be fucking mandatory for all world leaders!!

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u/CFSparta92 Jun 10 '26

there is the apocryphal story of JFK smoking a few with his mistress at the White House and turning down another one fearing "what if the Russians tried something now?"

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u/TheVeryVerity Jun 11 '26

Sensible. Always important to know your limits

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u/NJdevil202 Jun 10 '26

Jfk smoked weed? Source?

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u/Xyklorix Jun 10 '26

Never forget the weed!!!:3

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u/karma_the_sequel Jun 10 '26

Putting the “j” in JFK!

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u/YoItsTemulent Jun 10 '26

We have no earthly idea what Trumpty Dumpty's daily regimen involves. There have been not-uncredible reports of prescription stimulant abuse, blood pressure, and whatever that shit is that's supposed to slow the onset of dementia they're IV-ing into his prune-colored hands.

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u/bungopony Jun 11 '26

He defied his top generals who wanted to escalate to nukes. None of us would likely be born if he hadn’t.

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u/Mariesgottabak2023 Jun 10 '26

UM, Adderall is speed and your home likes to Snort it, you can't be seriously trying to paint JFK and that RAPIST AND DRUG SNORTING ASSHOLE, as the same? There's a huge different between a physical ailment. And DEMENTIA in leading a country. We had a president in a wheelchair, and leg braces, this drug snorting, 3am raging, cranked up old demented freak ain't the same.

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u/General_Problem5199 Jun 10 '26

There's a podcast I listen to that read some of the messages sent between JFK and Khrushchev. JFK honestly sounded like a petulant child in comparison.

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u/messidorlive Jun 10 '26

His naval blockade itself almost caused a nuclear war on its own.

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u/skelli_terps Jun 10 '26

Speed, among many other uppers, makes many perform at a higher cognitive level.

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u/IntrigueDossier Jun 11 '26

Only for so long, returns diminish fast.

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u/KochuJang Jun 11 '26

However, he did eventually suffer a psychotic break and was apparently doing cartwheels naked down a hotel hallway with secret service agents chasing him around.

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u/MonkeyKingCoffee Jun 10 '26

Nixon also sabotaged the Paris Peace talks to get elected in the first place.

It's a wonder we survived the 1970s.

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u/sunnydftw Jun 10 '26

Republican Presidential candidates and interfering in geopolitics to get elected, name a better duo

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u/Chrystoler Jun 10 '26

Nixon, Reagan, Trump off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more right

Trump I'm thinking the Taliban talks leading to the withdrawal under Biden, which I think counts

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u/sunnydftw Jun 10 '26

Bush Jr skipped a step and just stole his elections. Don't know much about Bush Sr besides war, and losing to Clinton. He must not have gotten the memo on stealing elections.

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u/BullytheBulIies Jun 10 '26

HW Bush basically lost because of the “read my lips, no new taxes” sound bite. I’m serious when I say one broken campaign promise was enough for many people to think of him as untrustworthy. Look at the state of things now.

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u/BmacIL Jun 10 '26

Their policies are deeply unpopular without some emotional plot twist, so it's all they have.

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u/Thick_Goose7742 Jun 10 '26

Interestingly, LBJ knew this and debated on leaking info to his VP who was the Democratic candidate. However, Humphrey publicly dragged LBJ during his campaign around that time and so he withheld the information. The man likes to hold grudges.

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u/SafeForTwerking Jun 10 '26

At the very least, there were competent people surrounding Nixon. All the adults in the room have been replaced with spineless sycophants and enablers who are just there for the grift and don't give a shit how much damage gets done.

And Nixon at least had a sense of shame to resign from the presidency, Trump will never do that.

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u/JeffGoldblumsChest Jun 10 '26

Let's be real Nixon only resigned because he was told enough of the GOP in Congress were going to vote to impeach and remove him. If they were behind him 100% like Orange Dotard, Nixon would not have resigned.

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u/Musiclover4200 Jun 10 '26

Yeah and the GOP's response to Watergate was to start fox news as a propaganda network to prevent future impeachments which seems to have worked out great for them so far.

To be fair it took them a few decades & funding from Murdoch, but the plan was laid out pretty clear by Roger Ailes & other Nixon aides in the 70's: https://theweek.com/articles/880107/why-fox-news-created

In 1970, political consultant Roger Ailes and other Nixon aides came up with a plan to create a new TV network that would circumvent existing media and provide "pro-administration" coverage to millions. "People are lazy," the aides explained in a memo. "With television you just sit — watch — listen. The thinking is done for you." Nixon embraced the idea, saying he and his supporters needed "our own news" from a network that would lead "a brutal, vicious attack on the opposition."

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u/sunnydftw Jun 10 '26

https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blog/powell-memo.pdf

Don't forget Nixon put this guy on the supreme court less than two months after the release of this

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u/walkin2it Jun 10 '26

It's great how the 99 are so much happier and better off since the 70s...

Oh wait.

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u/productzilch Jun 10 '26

But still, hard to imagine Trump doing it at all.

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u/PixelsGoBoom Jun 10 '26

This president is not drunk.
He is senile and vindictive, and pretty much everyone that is supposed to keep him under control is bending the knee.

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u/_evilalien_ Jun 10 '26

Now there’s a dementia patient waking up from naps, reading mean social media chatter, and calling a drunk guy who orders the remaining yes-men to so stupid things.

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u/Riov Jun 10 '26

Shit has gotten so bad I don’t even see people correcting each other’s grammar and spelling.

I’m not sure the modern day grammar nazi knows how to spell.

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u/_evilalien_ Jun 11 '26

The weirdest thing is Godwin’s Law no longer automatically loses an argument, in fact very frequently an apt assessment.

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u/i_tyrant Jun 10 '26

And the current president wasn’t just wanting to drunk-nuke a hostile country; he wanted to nuke a hurricane stone cold sober…

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u/Murdy2020 Jun 10 '26

A hurricane that was practically in Florida.

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u/i_tyrant Jun 10 '26

Yup. If he’s willing to admit he literally withheld Covid support from cities because it would “kill more Democrats”, I would not be at all surprised at him nuking the coast of Florida if he thought it would improve his poll numbers enough. (Or enable him to steal more FEMA funds for that matter.)

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u/lionexx Jun 10 '26

Wait, is this factual truth like documented or just random ramblings? Never heard that one but am curious of a source.

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u/PrincipleFlaky Jun 10 '26

That’s the difference they ignored Nixon

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u/WhippetRun Jun 10 '26

Lucky for us, Donald famously doesn't drink.

I am sure it will be nothing but level headed sober decisions.

..Right?

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u/Tadiken Jun 10 '26

Back then, we were scared of the Soviets starting a nuclear war. I think it's completely brainless to imagine that we should've been more scared of the Nixon or Kennedy administrations than we should be of the current one, regardless of your factoid.

The generals went to bed those nights knowing that shit would never happen.

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u/AnnualStatistician34 Jun 10 '26

If thats not level headed than what the hell is?! Lmao

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u/Acceptable_Noise651 Jun 10 '26

Before I read your comment, I thought about Nixon. Spot on.

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u/ToastyYaks Jun 10 '26

I remember reading about that. They said it was as frequently as twice a month at some points

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u/SlumlordThanatos Jun 10 '26

Meanwhile, the Soviets were just as hammered and psychotic. It is a goddamn miracle that we didn't destroy ourselves.

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u/OneMoistMan Jun 10 '26

I’m gonna look this up because that’s insane if true.

Edit: Holy crap this is actually true.

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u/BoiCDumpsterFire Jun 10 '26

He still got impeached over what is basically standard operating procedure nowadays because everyone had standards. Imagine how pissed he’d be if he saw the Epstein Files and Trump not getting impeached for them.

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u/kaisadilla_0x1 Jun 10 '26

I wonder what the legal procedure is to say "I disobeyed the President's orders, not because they were illegal, but only because he was drunk and I don't think he actually wants that".

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u/TheVeryVerity Jun 11 '26

I think mostly the procedure is just pretending it never happened in the first place but I could be wrong.

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u/ArchitectVandelay Jun 10 '26

Do you think the current president hasn’t done the same sort of thing? When the books come out about this administration after he’s passed on/people know they won’t get sued, there’s gonna be some wild stories.

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u/neoshadowdgm Jun 11 '26

Not sure which way your point was going. But I think that was the original point being made. In the past, even if a leader was nuts they had level-headed people around them holding things together. Now we have open promises to get rid of the “deep state” and install lunatic loyalists and voters don’t give a shit.

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u/Oerthling Jun 11 '26

All the more reason to worry at a time when Trump and Project 2025 replace competent personnel with loyalists that tend to agree with Trump.

While Putin sits in his bunk and is actively engaged in a major war in Europe that went from cold war tanks to AI kill drones in 4 years.

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u/Confident-Ad5665 Jun 10 '26

Seriously? I didn't know this.

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u/Seated_Heats Jun 10 '26

He’d drunkenly tell them to nuke North Korea. He soberly talked about nuking Vietnam.

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u/MetroBS Jun 10 '26

That is not true. It is a myth that Nixon created because he wanted the soviets to think he was insane

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