Robots are animals, not humans

In the early 2000s, a Russian man named Boris Zhurid struck a deal to sell the Iranians a large collection of weaponry. An old sonar manufacturer brochure describes what Zhurid was peddling as, “self-propelled marine vehicle, or platform; with a built-in sonar sensor system suitable for detecting and classifying targets; and carrying an on-board computer… capable of being programmed for complex performance.” The cargo of Zhurid’s chartered plane? Dolphins attacking enemy divers with strap-on harpoons sounds like something from a James Bond movie, but both the United States and the Soviet navies started secret marine mammal training programs in the 1960s. Despite an unsuccessful attempt by the British during World War I, whose trained sea lions turned out to be better at following fish than German submarines, militaries worldwide began experimenting with aquatic animals. Zhurid didn’t disclose what purpose he sold the animals for, saying: “I am prepared to go to Allah, or even to the devil, as long as my animals will be OK there.” It’s easy to assume that the need for military sea mammals decreased as our sonar technology got better.