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Ethics and Information Technology

Erschienen in:

01.09.2010

RoboWarfare: can robots be more ethical than humans on the battlefield?

verfasst von: John P. Sullins

Erschienen in: Ethics and Information Technology | Ausgabe 3/2010

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Abstract

Telerobotically operated and semiautonomous machines have become a major component in the arsenals of industrial nations around the world. By the year 2015 the United States military plans to have one-third of their combat aircraft and ground vehicles robotically controlled. Although there are many reasons for the use of robots on the battlefield, perhaps one of the most interesting assertions are that these machines, if properly designed and used, will result in a more just and ethical implementation of warfare. This paper will focus on these claims by looking at what has been discovered about the capability of humans to behave ethically on the battlefield, and then comparing those findings with the claims made by robotics researchers that their machines are able to behave more ethically on the battlefield than human soldiers. Throughout the paper we will explore the philosophical critique of this claim and also look at how the robots of today are impacting our ability to fight wars in a just manner.

Vorheriger Artikel Designing a machine to learn about the ethics of robotics: the N-reasons platform

Nächster Artikel Robot caregivers: harbingers of expanded freedom for all?

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See, for a complete overview of this technology Singer (2009).

Singer (2009, p. 125).

SPAWAR is the acronym for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center—Pacific, located in San Diego California, USA.

The Center for Ethics in Science and Technology. RoboWarfare. Is the world a better place when robots fight our wars for us? A public forum with some information archived at: http://www.ethicscenter.net/event/robowarfare-world-better-place-when-robots-fight-our-wars-us.

Arkin (2007) and Lin et al. (2008).

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Arkin (2007, p. 7).

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See, Hickman (1990) for a more detailed argument.

Idem, p. 111.

Sullins (2009a, p. 209).

Idem, p. 210.

Anderson and Anderson (2004), Arkin (2007, 2009), Floridi and Sanders (2004), and Wallach and Allen (2009).

Sullins (2009b & forthcoming).

Walzer (1977).

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Ibid.

Idem, p 35.

Ibid.

Idem, p. 36.

Ibid.

Idem, p. 37.

Idem, pp. 38–39.

MacFarquhar (2009).

See Singer (2009, p. 315) and Cox (2006), for a more detailed report on this phenomenon.

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Ibid.

For more detailed analysis see: Sullins (2009b) and Sullins, forthcoming.

See, Singer (2009), for more detailed case studies.

Sullins (2009b, p. 21 & forthcoming).

Sullins (2009b, p. 19).

Ditz (2009a, b).

Mir (2009).

Saber (2009).

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Ibid.

Silverstein ( 2009 ).

Some CIA drone operators have even expressed concern themselves that they are being asked to fly missions that may seem politically expedient but are actually hurting the U.S. effort to subdue the influence of Taliban forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan, see Porter (June 3, 2010).

For a more complete analysis please see, Sullins.

See Dyer (2009) and Singer (2009) for evidence of this practice.

Singer (2009) devotes an entire chapter to this subject (Ch 6).

Singer (2009, p. 125).

Ibid.

Shachtman (2007).

Wallach and Allen (2009, p. 71).

Ibid.

Idem, p. 42.

Lin et al. (2008, p. 53).

Arkin (2007, 2009, p. 19).

Arkin (2007, 2009, p. 20).

New York Times (November, 2008).

Arkin (2009).

Ibid.

Idem, p. 23.

Bar-Cohen and Hansen (2009, p. 153).

Storrs Hall (2007, p. 344).

Idem, p. 346.

Kurzweil (2006, p. 389).

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Arkin (2007).

Lin et al. (2008, p. 37).

This was quoted in: Simonite (2009).

Lin et al. (2008, pp. 37–38).

For a more complete analysis of this process see Sullins (2007).

Sparrow (2007).

Idem, p. 71.

Sullins (2006).

Supra, p. 73.

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Beavers (2009).

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Titel: RoboWarfare: can robots be more ethical than humans on the battlefield?
verfasst von: John P. Sullins
Publikationsdatum: 01.09.2010
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Ethics and Information Technology / Ausgabe 3/2010
Print ISSN: 1388-1957
Elektronische ISSN: 1572-8439
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-010-9241-7

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