To Build and Maintain Those Robots

I promise my life is not, as some have insinuated, just one giant Simpsons reference. But this post is. Two in fact.

1. The Simpsons "Behind the Laughter" episode -- the parody of "Behind the Music" -- the narrator says, "The dream was over. Coming up: was the dream really over? Yes it was. Or was it?"

Part of ESPN's headline directly after Michael Phelps won his 8th medal: "The unimaginable was imagined. But was it possible? Only Michael Phelps knew. But now the world knows."

2. The Simpsons episode "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson." At graduation, the military school commandant tells them: "The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots."

2008: 30 percent of our soldiers will be robots within a dozen years.

I'm all for blowing up machines and not people, but doesn't this even further point out the pointlessness of war? I mean, whoever is most willing to die for something is kind of a stupid way to settle things, but who can build the better robots is an even stupider, if more merciful, way to do it.