Magnus, Robot Fighter

Magnus, Robot Fighter

Roko-on-Twitter's pessimistic view of the future got me started. I don't know that he's wrong, he's pronosticating after all, but I don't like the picture he paints. We may end up going to war against the machines, and in that case a man like Magnus would be good guy to have around. But just who is this Magnus guy anyway? TVtropes explains:

A Silver Age comic book hero created by writer and artist Russ Manning, originally published by Gold Key Comics in the 1960s. He was revived by Jim Shooter for Valiant Comics in the 1990s, and has appeared sporadically under other publishers' banners since then.

The original full title was Magnus Robot Fighter: 4000 A.D. In the far future, man has grown lazy and decadent, and is dependent on a huge labor force of robots for his wants and needs. The robots are programmed never to harm humans, but an increasing number of rogues are showing signs of rebellion. One robot, named 1A, still loyal to humanity but sufficiently "rogue" to be able to think outside the box, sees that a Robot War is coming and wants to prevent it. He adopts an orphaned child named Magnus and raises him in a secret undersea base, where he educates him and trains him to be the greatest martial artist the world has ever seen—good enough to defeat a standard metal robot with his bare hands, without resorting to any technology at all. 1A then sends Magnus out into the world—specifically, to the continent-spanning city of NorthAm—to both prevent a robot overthrow of humanity, and to encourage humans to stand on their own two feet again without depending on machines for everything.

A third side in the conflict is the "gophs" (contracted from "gopher") the humans who live in the squalid slums beneath the "milespires" where the upper classes of humanity live. The human/robot conflict is literally over their heads for the most part, but they will obviously suffer along with everyone else if a robot war comes.

With the way machines are being built now and the way technology is constantly changing, I no longer doubt that Magnus would be able to defeat robots with his bare hands. It won't be because he is stronger than steel, it will be because the machines will be optimized for low cost of production, i.e. the weakest and cheapest means of building them. This is going to result in weak points where a correctly placed blow of just moderate force will turn them into junkyard scrap. I mean, we already see this with cars and electronics. Apple's response to your smartphone charging cable breaking is to sell you a new phone. Denting the front bumper on a new car often results in the insurance company writing it off as a complete loss.

Roko link via Hand Waving Freak Outery

Previous appearance of Magnus.

What weapon would be best for fighting against robots?

First Human VS. Robot Fight in History (FULL LENGTH)
Frankie LaPenna Vlogs and REK

Found this over on ZeroHedge, wherein I also found this line:

The machine wasn't fighting on its own: a human handler was controlling it, according to Futurism.

Magnus Robot Fighter

This got me to thinking and I posted this over on reddit:

What weapon would be best for fighting against robots? 

This is speculative, but people are making ever more capable humanoid robots. I think some are even operating out in the public, giving people directions, stuff like that. But they are getting better everyday and it won't be too long before police departments all over are going to be wanting some robots for directing traffic or hostage negotiations or who knows what.

Anytime there is power there is potential for abuse, so what kind of weapon do you want to have when a humanoid robot is breaking down your front door?

Once upon a time there was a comic book called Magnus - Robot Fighter. Magnus had been trained up to disable robots by punching them with his deadly Magnus punch. At the time (many years ago) I thought that was pretty fanciful. Back then, any kind of machine was made of steel and was stout. Punch that sewing machine all you like, it ain't gonna break. But then we got Star Wars and the armies of marching humanoid robots and I thought, you know, Magnus could probably handle these guys because they were made by the cheapest bidder out of the lightest materials (weight matters when you are being transported by starship). One good punch and they would crumple. But weight won't matter so much for Earthbound robots. And you can bet that robots being sent into harm's way are going to be armored.

I suppose the first question we want to answer is just what kind of armor are attack robots going to be wearing? And if it's super tough, maybe we want to attack it electrically like with a beam of microwaves or possible ultrasound? Guess we would need to experiment to see just what would work. Or course, the old armored bulldozer trick would work, but you're liable to end up with more damage than just your front door. Though, in extreme circumstances, it might be well worth it.

Magnus has appeared here before.

Death to Our Digital Overlords

Magnus Robot Fighter

Why is it that when you have plenty of time all these fancy on-line systems work perfectly, but when you are in a time crunch they break down and spill their bits all over the floor? Murphy's law I suppose. Stupid robots.

I remember reading Magnus Robot Fighter comics when I was a kid. Even then I thought the premise was a bit shaky. No human, no matter how strong or well trained is going to be able to smash metal robots with his bare hands. It did make for a cool story though.

Where is Magnus now that we need him? I suspect our real robot fighters are hackers with 1337 skills.

Go Eagles!

Short Teaser Guard From Above HD | Birds of prey to intercept hostile drones
Reminds me of Magnus, Robot Fighter. Via IBT.