The Ethics of Killer Robots !
As "Drones" are deployed more in warfare, is there a need for thics/moral guidance in using such things.
I believe so. As does a think tank in UK....
The growing use of unmanned aircraft in combat situations raises huge moral and legal issues, and threatens to make war more likely as armed robots take over from human beings, according to an internal study by the Ministry of Defence.
The report warns of the dangers of an "incremental and involuntary journey towards a Terminator-like reality", referring to James Cameron's 1984 movie, in which humans are hunted by robotic killing machines. It says the pace of technological development is accelerating at such a rate that Britain must quickly establish a policy on what will constitute "acceptable machine behaviour".
MoD officials have never before grappled so frankly with the ethics of the use of drones. The report was ordered by Britain's defence chiefs, and coincides with continuing controversy about drones' use in Afghanistan, and growing Pakistani anger at CIA drone attacks against suspected insurgents on the Afghan borders.
It states that "the recent extensive use of unmanned aircraft over Pakistan and Yemen may already herald a new era". Referring to descriptions of "killer drones" in Afghanistan, it notes that "feelings are likely to run high as armed systems acquire more autonomy".
The insurgents "gain every time a mistake is made", enabling them to cast themselves "in the role of underdog and the west as a cowardly bully that is unwilling to risk his own troops, but is happy to kill remotely", the report adds.
Full article:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/17/terminators-drone-strikes-mo...
You are right, but we still need to have control mechanism and guidelines in place.
Aside from the drones, I wonder about the use of longe range snipers to take out targets up to 1.5 miles away..
Ethics in warfare - dichotomy or paradox ...
Ethical considerations BEFORE going to war. Avoid war at almost any cost.
sadly these Robots (Drones) are covered with propaganda's news, that always change the worse of.
For example, one will always find news of same quality after a drone attack;
- Al Qaeda No.3 died in drone's attack
- Al Qaeda IT expert no. 2 died in drone's attack
- Al Qaeda Leading commander died in drone's attack
- Al Qaeda sponsor died in drone attack.
- Taliban's no. 2 leader died in drone's attack.
- and blah blah blah......
Just wonder why these stories publishers/creators can't see the number of innocents died with each drone's attack, and who has nothing to do with those (labelled) terrorists, or war on terrorism (as they say), but their only problem is that they belong to those territories that once was sponsored base camps for russian war.
PS: Al Qaeda no. 1 & 2 and Taliban No. 1 are those creatures of GOD on earth who can't be seen or visible to the superb technology holders, who can see a needle on earth with their latest technology, but its impossible for them to target Six Feet of Al Qaeda NO. 1, 5 Feet 10 inch of Al Qaeda No. 2 and 5 Feet 11 inch of Taliban's NO. 1 leader.
Yes...
If you read the article it says :
"Do we fully understand the psychological effects on remote operators of conducting war at a distance?"
"What is the role of the human from a moral and ethical standpoint in automatic systems? … To a robotic system, a school bus and a tank are the same – merely algorithms in a programme … the robot has no sense of ends, ways and means, no need to know why it is engaging a target."
isnt drone still controlled from the background?
They should worry about ethics before going to war. Once in combat, use whatever technology you have at your disposal.
I like the paint ball idea...its effective and no one dies!
Let them play Counter Strike. It doesn't hurt so much. And let the "Leaders" do the job. That's what they are there for.
I think and this is only a suggestion...we should allocate a certain PART of the planet to war. Think of it like going on vacation. When ever two or more countries want to war it out they go to this part of the world specifically designed for warfare and battle it out. This way there's no damage to the participating countries..in fact we could even bet on it like the World Cup's...they could broadcast it on the TV's too!
It will be called War Zone! ufff i'm so intelligent my brains hurt.
Ethics and moral guidance for killing people!!!!...I can only smile at the thinking of the think tank to come out with those polite words to justify their acts.
So Smoeky it will be your drones against mine and lets come up with a virtual battle ground so as to save our respective countries as well,....HHMM... I am actually seeing a point to this type of warfare now, hope UN makes it mandatory ASAP.
If Microsoft develops drones what would they call it...M.S Drone?
Look in my opinion you cant save BOTH lives, Using drones in war saves the soldiers, gone are the days where they went out to battle not knowing if they would come back alive. Then on the other hand innocent lives were always affected by war...whats the answer then? No wars?
LOL.... Jervis that a start,but a cowardly Drone user cannot be expected do that.
Jervis, i'm waiting for them to mutate first. The first batch of mutants are always ugly and i want to maintain my good looks.
The use of Drones is becoming commonplace. We definitely need to have ethical guidelines regarding their use. Perhaps even psychological evaluation of the controller at set intervals.
Polkadots gone are the days soldiers take on their opponents face to face using their simple weaponns.Now we hear 'let us carpet bomb them from up there can't we? that's a lot more convienient'.
I say we all need to turn into X-Men...or get supernatural powers!
True M,A cowardly and a careless way to attack humans,.... without human causalities on the attacker's side will the attacker think twice about starting and extending a war,.. look at who is asking to bring the troupes back home from Iraq and Afghanistan, in the US.With the use of Drones it would be "Send more troupes to the front"add campaign by the manufacturer.
Wow Brit! A Think Tank, is that like a tank you can control with your mind?
To some extent,the use of Drones in warfare is a cowardly way to fight.I know it's the age of advanced technology but too much use of it isn't good either.They mostly do not hit their targets precisely.
Britex,Don't you think it's a little late to worry about the ethics in a warfare,.... using Drones is just another step in a journey on Unethical Path.We have already covered more than half way.
ok...:(
Nice Robots...
Don't you dare hijack this thread :O)