Wired By PW Singer Analytical Review Each with 250 words 1st Response to: I recently finished reading the book Wired for War by PW Singer which discusses

Wired By PW Singer Analytical Review Each with 250 words

1st Response to:

I recently finished reading the book Wired for War by PW Singer which discusses the use of robotics and AI in the military, something touched upon by our Ethics of AI reading. One of the interesting points in the book was interviews with soldiers who work with autonomous vehicles or specialized robots. On one hand I can definitely see the appeal, especially for machines build to de-active IED’s or deliver medical supplies, having a non-human to do the dirty dull or dangerous work is a godsend. The issue I have with the integration of AI in the military, however, is when we blur the lines into reconnaissance and outright offense. For example, robots that have been designed to send real-time footage to soldiers from inside residential homes suspect of terrorist activities were used in anti-American propaganda, claiming that US soldiers were using robots to spy on women without burkas in their homes. And who can blame this interpretation? Is the information gathered from this kind of mission worth the distrust sown with civilians who our military claims to be ‘protecting’? Or what about drones that are flown by pilots in Nevada, mistakenly bombing a villager who they suspected to be Osama Bin Laden just because he was tall? In the article Ethics of AI the author urges us to probe the technological trajectory of these innovations. But I would argue that there is more than enough material to work with as it is. Are we likely to create armies of autonomous soldiers in the near future? No. But since 9/11 our military budget has increased 76% and this does not even account for the black box R&D of the pentagon, much of which goes to CS and robotics research.

I do believe there is middle ground here. Obviously military de-escalation would be ideal but let’s be real that’s not going to happen. However there are, I think, ethical uses for robotics and AI that many could agree on, and using guiding principles of defensive and de-escalation when utilizing new innovation is a good first step.

Second Response to:

I ran across an article that critiques the way Utilitarian reasoning is being used in the debate about re-opening the economy, and thought it might be of interest to some of you:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/us/reopening-country-coronavirus-utilitarianism/index.html

I haven’t yet seen a good treatment of the protests against stay-at-home orders from the standpoint of civil disobedience. Though these comparisons are being made, it seems to me that several things about the protests would have to be changed–or managed much more carefully–for them to meet any of the definitions we’ve studied (with the possible exception of Thoreau’s rather free-wheeling endorsement of the primacy of conscience).

I have to admit, though, that it’s difficult and somewhat demoralizing to keep up with the news at the moment!