Speaking at the Rotary Club of Athens last week, Mr Dendias said that the Defense Ministry intends to train children on the autism spectrum in skills suitable for military defense, such as image recognition required in artificial intelligence systems and drones. Furthermore, he mentioned the example of Israel which, as he said, “has special units for this”.
The Minister's full statement is the following:
“We want his (the Greek military officer) family to have the best protection. Which means a kindergarten for his child, a special school for children with special needs. Let me give you an example, autism. Autism a few years ago was not in our vocabulary, it gives children who have some problems, but they also have special skills. So we will create a school where the children of military personnel who have autism will be supported. And their own potential, what is it? It is to be able to see photos and distinguish their special features. In AI, you need what is called BIG DATA. Our AI systems need hundreds of thousands of target photos, which they will need to memorize and our drone will need to see the target and shoot at. The best ones who can see the small differences, and teach the Drone with AI, are children with autism, and Israel has special units for this. So we will take the children of our officers, train them and find them jobs.”
Consequently and rightfully, Dendias' statement triggered reactions and outrage both on social media, as well as among Associations dealing with children with special needs. In a statement, the Disability Action Coordination Committee (SEAAN), the Unified Association of Parents and Guardians of the Disabled of Attica and the islands, as well as the Union of Employees in Units – Institutions – Special Education Schools (SEMISEA) strongly condemned the Minister's unacceptable proposal.
“Aren’t they ashamed!”, the Associations said in a joint statement about the minister’s and the government’s who “had the audacity to tell the officers, parents of children with disabilities, to accept our involvement in the war, that their state will take care of their children with autism by training them to kill other children. By training them in drones modeled after, as he said without any hesitation, the army of the murderous state of Israel, who have integrated children with autism into the drone units”, killing thousands of children.
The association pointed out that “they have the perversion to think that the vision of a parent of an autistic child is to train their child to kill other children.”
rizospastis.gr & keeptalkinggreece.com
