Speculative Fact #197: Pigeon Missile Guidance

In the 1940s American psychologist B.F. Skinner used behavioral conditioning to train pigeons to guide missiles to enemy targets. The system consisted of projected images of the target, which the pigeons would then peck at repeatedly. Although Skinner had success with the project, he felt that no one took him seriously and that humans had mixed feelings about trusting animals with weapons. In the late forties missile guidance technology improved, but can humans ever completely trust unpiloted or unsupervised drones?   

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