When death and destruction become all too easy
Autonomous weapons, which use artificial intelligence to select targets without human intervention, have been described as "the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms", about 1,000 scientists, academics and entrepreneurs wrote in an open letter.
"The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI [artificial intelligence] arms race or to prevent it from starting," they wrote on Tuesday.
"If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable."
The idea of an automated killing machine - made famous by films such as The Terminator - is moving swiftly from science fiction to reality, according to the scientists.
"The deployment of such systems is - practically if not legally - feasible within years, not decades," the letter said.
Second only to nuclear war this is the greatest threat the military can possess, combine the two, then you have a very dark nightmare indeed.
When the only cost of declaring war is merely a monetary one for the most developed of nations. When your own don't die, then all restraints can be lifted.
Imagine our warmongers with this option, what can the rest of the world do but follow if they can possibly afford it.
Disarmament will not be the time to start negotiating, the time to negotiate before is this armaments industry gains even more traction. It often too late once the arms race is fully underway, now is the time to ban these weapons, drones included.
There is no mutually assured destruction to stop this mindset, it comes down to industrial power and technology, god help the weak.
Stop this insanity now.