Tuesday, January 26, 2016

[273] Prospect of drones arms race discussed on ‘MTSU On the Record’


MURFREESBORO — An MTSU alumnus will take on a scientific think tank on the subject of autonomous weapons on the next “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Sam Wallace will air from 5:30-6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, and from 8-8:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org).

Wallace, who works for Archer Advanced Rubber Components in Winston-Salem, N.C., holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Military Institute and a master’s degree in business administration from MTSU.

He served as a U.S. Army officer from 2006 to 2012, was the battery executive officer and a battle captain for a counter-rocket, artillery and mortar intercept mission based at Camp Victory near Baghdad, Iraq, in 2008-2009.

In 2010-2011, Wallace commanded a mission to support the NATO security forces training mission in Afghanistan during the U.S. surge operation. His unit oversaw the training of more than 8,000 Afghan security force personnel at nine different basic training locations in eastern Afghanistan.

In an Aug. 5, 2015, post to the KurzweilAI/Accelerating Intelligence blog, Wallace rebutted the Future of Life Institute’s call for a worldwide ban on offensive autonomous weapons, commonly called “drones.”

“It would be impossible to completely stop nations from secretly working on these technologies out of fear that other nations and non-state entities are doing the same,” Wallace wrote.

On the radio program, Wallace said, “You have to continually develop defensive capabilities against any threat that could be existential. You can’t just say, ‘It could be bad. Let’s just not make it.’”

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, go to http://bit.ly/mtsu-otr.

For more information, contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.


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