Soldier enhancement: ethical risks and opportunities

Over the past decade, interest in human enhancement has waxed and waned. The initial surge of interest and funding, driven by the US Army’s desire for a ‘Future Force Warrior’ has partly given way to the challenges of meeting operational demands abroad. However the ethical opportunities provided by soldier enhancement demand that investigation of its possibilities continue. Benefits include enhanced decision-making, improved force capability, reduced force size and lower casualty rates. These benefits — and enhancement itself — carry concomitant risks, including morale issues due to tension between enhanced and unenhanced soldiers, the issues of enhanced veterans and ownership of enhanced bodies, challenges to the army’s core values and personal identity issues. A range of measures should be designed to highlight the opportunities offered by enhancement while also minimising the potential risks. This includes providing advice on which areas the army ought to demonstrate restraint in research for ethical reasons

Super Soldiers: The Ethical, Legal and Operational Implications (Part 2)

This is the second chapter of two on military human enhancement. In the first chapter, the authors outlined past and present efforts aimed at enhancing the minds and bodies of our warfighters with the broader goal of creating the “super soldiers” of tomorrow, all before exploring a number of distinctions—natural vs. artificial, external vs. internal, enhancement vs. therapy, enhancement vs. disenhancement, and enhancement vs. engineering—that are critical to the definition of military human enhancement and understanding the problems it poses. The chapter then advanced a working definition of enhancement as efforts that aim to “improve performance, appearance, or capability besides what is necessary to achieve, sustain, or restore health.” It then discussed a number of variables that must be taken into consideration when applying this definition in a military context. In this second chapter, drawing on that definition and some of the controversies already mentioned, the authors set out the relevant ethical, legal, and operational challenges posed by military enhancement. They begin by considering some of the implications for international humanitarian law and then shift to US domestic law. Following that, the authors examine military human enhancement from a virtue ethics approach, and finally outline some potential consequences for military operations more generally

The soldier’s tolerance for autonomous systems

Autonomous robots are here and military leaders have typically sought to understand the human-machine relationship as a matter of trust - a human-machine engineering problem with a largely technical solution. This paper argues that engineering is merely one part of the challenge and that trust in robotics and automation ought to be understood in a much broader socio-psychological context, defined by a power process, the capacity of soldiers to endure subjection to technology and the extent to which automation impinges upon one’s autonomy or otherwise impacts the soldier’s wellbeing

Death's just a click away

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Uninhabited aerial vehicles and the asymmetry objection : a response to strawser

The debate about the ethics of uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) is failing to keep pace with the rise of the technology. Therefore, all the key players, including ethicists, lawyers, and roboticists, are keen to offer their views on the use of these drone aircraft. Some are opposed to their use, citing a range of ethical, legal and operational issues, while others argue for their ethically mandated use. B.J. Strawser fits into this latter category. He develops a principle of 'unnecessary risk', from which he argues that we have an ethical obligation to employ UAVs if we can do so without incurring a loss of capability. Strawser defends his argument against a number of potential objections, most questionably, the argument that the use of distance weaponry such as drones, against another state without distance weaponry, crosses some moral threshold that makes the combat immoral. Utilising Jeff McMahan's work on the inequality of combatants, Strawser essentially argues that there are no grounds for a 'fair fight'. However, this paper will argue that it is not so easy to overturn the doctrine of the moral equality of combatants, nor dismiss the problem with asymmetry. It will demonstrate that if the asymmetry reaches a certain level, the justification for resorting to war may be removed and some sort of policing action may remain the only option.9 page(s

Military robots: mapping the moral landscape

Thesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 221-246.1. Introduction -- 2. The rise of unmanned systems -- 3. Justifications for the employment of unmanned systems -- 4. Just unmanned warfare: old rules for new wars? -- 5. Unmanned warfare: technological and operational dimensions -- 6. Unmanned warfare: the moral costs of changing mindsets -- 7. The asymmetry objection -- 8. Unmanned systems and war's end: prospects for lasting peace -- 9. The responsibility gap -- 10. Conclusion.Military robots known as 'unmanned systems' now form a critical part of military force structures around the globe and have become the weapon of choice for the United States military. Their use and effect is now the subject of a wide-ranging international conversation. Drawing predominately on a contractual account of just war theory, this book examines the ethics and politics of unmanned warfare. It starts by examining the historical context of unmanned systems use and their increasingly autonomous nature and design. It then explores the practical and moral justifications thereof, which are underpinned by a military-state contract that governs the relationship between citizen, state and military force. Following this is a defence of the principles that inform the analysis of the many problems associated with drone usage, from technical limitations and psychological effects, through to matters of fairness and responsibility. In each case, as the West turns toward robotics in order to enhance its defensive measures, we see the systematic transfer of risk between combatants and, more concerningly, to noncombatants. Military Robots: Mapping the Moral Landscape postulates that focusing attention on the human element in these risk transfers and understanding that robotic systems may need to play a much more limited combat role than often thought, will be critical to ensuring that our moral and strategic objectives are honoured as we progress into the twenty-first century and a technology saturated battlespace -- abstract.1 online resource (viii, 246 pages

Closing with completeness : the asymmetric drone warfare debate

4 page(s

Autonomous Systems and Moral De-Skilling: Beyond Good and Evil in the Emergent Battlespaces of the Twenty-First Century

This article investigates the question concerning moral deskilling in the context of autonomous weapon systems. To this end, it interrogates the appropriateness of deskilling as an analytical tool, the consequences of the conflation of the terms “the warrior” and “the soldier,” and the impact of the dominant, but commonplace, understanding of autonomous weapons that underwrites the concerns that have been expressed thus far. While affirming the critical importance of the question regarding moral deskilling in the context of advanced weapons and technologies, this article argues (a) that the notion of deskilling may not be an adequate or even appropriate analytical tool to investigate the matter on hand; (b) that the conflation of the terms “the warrior” and “the soldier” only serves to obfuscate the critical issues at stake; and (c) that the understanding of autonomous weapons that underwrites the concern is highly speculative. To this extent, the concern regarding moral deskilling in the context of autonomous weapon systems is ill-served. By way of a conclusion, the article calls for a more careful and nuanced approach and makes some preliminary suggestions as to how the question regarding moral deskilling in the context of autonomous weapon systems may be addressed

Super soldiers : the ethical, legal and social implications

The Spartan City State produced what is probably one of the most iconic and ruthless military forces in recorded history. They believed that military training and education began at birth. Post-World War II saw a shift to army tanks, fighter jets and missiles that would go on to fight the next huge battle in Northern Europe. Today, with the advent of unmanned systems, our hopes are attached to the idea that we can fight our battles with soldiers pressing buttons in distant command centres. However, soldiers must now be highly trained, super strong and have the intelligence and mental capacity to handle the highly complex and dynamic military operating environment. It is only now as we progress into the twenty-first century that we are getting closer to realising the Spartan ideal and creating a soldier that can endure more than ever before. This book provides the first comprehensive and unifying analysis of the moral, legal and social questions concerning military human enhancement, with a view toward developing guidance and policy that may influence real-world decision making.184 page(s