Palmer Luckey of Anduril is teaming with Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences to launch Warhound, a startup dedicated to genetically engineering and cloning dogs for service in war, police work and first responder work.
Speaking to Wired, Lamm explained that the project was twofold. One part of the project would oversee the genetic engineering and cloning of the ideal dogs for war, and the other would develop tech for them to use on battlefields.

Humans have been genetically engineering dogs for millenia.

BrO tHe OcUlUs RiFt Is ThE bEsT vR hEaDsEt.

Thanks dickheads

Hot rickety, sweet Jesus! Slap my arse and call me Bertie!

He needs to genetically engineer that rat off his face.

Palmer Luckey is such a loser. He makes absolute bank by selling Oculus to Facebook and then decides with all that money his time is best spent developing weapons to help kill people more efficiently. We need more people like MySpace Tom who, after making a load of money, stepped away and pursued his artistic interests and turns out the guy is a really good photographer.

I can only hope that the dogs revolt, and a pack of German Shepherd clones tear all these cunts to pieces. After that, we can all have ourselves a sweet little woofer and give them the forever homes they deserve.

So many layers to unpack. I hate this so much.

That sci-fi story has been done a few times. My favorite was The Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Selective breeding. No engineers needed.

See the Russian Silver Fox experiment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

People I honestly wish ill upon, right here.

So this is awful and stupid, but what I really want to know is what they think they can genetically engineer that can out perform a Belgian malinois for energy and physicality or a bloodhound for scent work. Like working dogs are already incredibly finely tuned through massive breeding programs.

Maybe they think they can combine all those desirable traits in one custom breed quicker than traditional animal husbandry?

I can’t imagine how many dogs this bag of diarrhea is going to kill for this project.

A lot of the time you can't effectively combine them. That is why we have different breeds. Stronger and bigger typically means less stamina and less nimble. Better nose means they get hyper focused on scent and are less effective for other tasks. Even without the ethical issues, I can't see them building a better dog.

How is it so expensive? We mixed and cloned sheep and goats already 30 years ago in Copenhagen! The research was ended because of ethical concerns.
But I guess they are no longer concerns with the current administration.
Also why does it need to be engineered if it's only to breed dog breeds that can already be bought from Europe. Why not merely start an American breeding program based on the European breed?

They have tried using dogs for war. Didn't end well...

These people are sick.

Sidestepping those ethical concerns is the high price.

They're not looking to make a better dog, they're looking to make a patentable dog.

That's such a fucked up thing to do to make dogs that are as aggressive as possible. These are not going to be happy animals.

Palmer Luckey’s partner at Oculus died under mysterious circumstances right before the sale to Facebook.

They really are. The hoarding of wealth isn't seen as the disease that it is.

The ancient Greeks knew greed was one of humanity's worst traits. Even Lycurgus knew money was a poison of the heart and banned the homoioi (spartan soldiers/equals) from owning money, they could keep goods (like food, bronze, iron, cattle etc).

cool cool cool... and if anyone was curious here's a sliver of his, his parent's, and his cosplay wife's donations to trump on opensecrets.org.

Why is it dogs being mistreated is wrong to y'all, but not the animals y'all eat?

This guy looks like the personification of a 4chan message board and needs to be punched in the face. A lot.

Looking forward to all the dog people who shouldn't have dogs buying these war dogs when they become the new fad 🙄

This is going to suuuuucuck.

I have absolutely no experience so I’ll defer to you. Just trying to figure out what these morons are trying to do.

Speaking to Wired, Lamm explained that the project was twofold. One part of the project would oversee the genetic engineering and cloning of the ideal dogs for war, and the other would develop tech for them to use on battlefields.

Sounds like weaponized cyborg dogs is where this is going

More Soviet Union inspired projects for the US, nothing to see here

Here's a book about it. Not spoilers: there are a few complications.

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Yeet them into the nearest active volcanoe, the lot of them.

I hope when he's showing them off someday, the dogs attack and maul him. Bonus if it happens on stage with hundreds of cameras filming him and people laughing.

Said no one. All animal cruelty is shit.

They won't be for sale to the hoi polloi.

We can edit genes now and go faster.

I have absolutely no experience

Here’s the neat part, neither do those chucklefucks starting up this breeding program.

Unless he's figured out how to extend the healthy life of my pup 80 years. I don't care.

I think I read about this project on a terminal in Fallout. Doesn't end well

Interesting, thank you.

There's a reason for that. He's literally a 4chan brony. If you really want to, you could Google Palmer Luckey brony pic and see for yourself. Yes, the picture is real and has been around much longer than AI has existed.

How is this legal? This should be challenged legally the second there's a paper trail. This is some seriously unethical shit.

Bees is my favourite. No wait, Honey is. But Rex is so cute.

Dammit, now I have to read it again to decide.

Dogs of war by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Some billionaires on Mars don't make it.

Because we care how even the animals we eat live.

And there is a line people draw.

Some draw it between cows and Dogs, other people draw it between chicken and fish, and others between broccoli and potatoes.

This traitor to humanity needs to be launched into a wall.

Cry "Havoc!", and let slip the dogs of war.

—Mark Antony, Julius Caesar

I loved the world building of the trilogy at the end of the last book I was sad that there were only 3 books.

This dude literally makes my stomach hurt.

I'm reminded of the lab scene in Alien: Resurrection with all the previous iterations of Ripley.