Comment Blatant Issues (Score 1) 785
There are several issues that never seem to get addressed when it comes to robotic soldiers.
Firstly, when an autonomous unit makes a 'mistake', who is held accountable? The actual unit, the program running the unit, the programmer, the entity in control of the unit (state actor, military outfit, etc.)?
Second, what exactly constitutes ethical action? To really understand this we would have to start analyzing code and run simulations to see if that code actually responded to external environments in a manner we would truly deem ethical. And, in that scenario, who would deem the responses of a robotic killer ethical or appropriate? An ethics group? More likely a military outfit.
Lastly (for this venue), would an autonomous combatant every truly be autonomous? Pragmatism would necessitate override controls configured in each unit. It follows that entities in control of these units could override any action they saw fit to override. Ethical or non.
Current Perspectives
http://jacqueslaroche.blogspot.com/2008/04/from-mechanization-to-roboticization.html
-jacques laroche
Firstly, when an autonomous unit makes a 'mistake', who is held accountable? The actual unit, the program running the unit, the programmer, the entity in control of the unit (state actor, military outfit, etc.)?
Second, what exactly constitutes ethical action? To really understand this we would have to start analyzing code and run simulations to see if that code actually responded to external environments in a manner we would truly deem ethical. And, in that scenario, who would deem the responses of a robotic killer ethical or appropriate? An ethics group? More likely a military outfit.
Lastly (for this venue), would an autonomous combatant every truly be autonomous? Pragmatism would necessitate override controls configured in each unit. It follows that entities in control of these units could override any action they saw fit to override. Ethical or non.
Current Perspectives
http://jacqueslaroche.blogspot.com/2008/04/from-mechanization-to-roboticization.html
-jacques laroche
