What's So Bad About Killer Robots?
Abstract: Robotic warfare has now become a real prospect. One issue that has generated heated debate concerns the development of ‘Killer Robots’. These are weapons that, once programmed, are capable of finding and engaging a target without supervision by a human operator. From a conceptual perspecti...
| Published in: | Journal of Applied Philosophy Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 341 - 359 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
May2018
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=129410118&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 129410118 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02643758 BQ0 jtl: Journal of Applied Philosophy issn: 02643758 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2018 vid: 35 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 129410118 10.1111/japp.12200 ppf: 341 ppct: 18 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 122KB tig: atl: What's So Bad About Killer Robots? aug: au: Leveringhaus, Alex affil: Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, Elmfield Building, Sheffield, S10 2TU, UK su: Autonomous robots Artificial intelligence Drone aircraft War & society Technological innovations sug: subj: Autonomous robots Artificial intelligence Drone aircraft War & society Technological innovations ab: Abstract: Robotic warfare has now become a real prospect. One issue that has generated heated debate concerns the development of ‘Killer Robots’. These are weapons that, once programmed, are capable of finding and engaging a target without supervision by a human operator. From a conceptual perspective, the debate on Killer Robots has been rather confused, not least because it is unclear how central elements of these weapons can be defined. Offering a precise take on the relevant conceptual issues, the article contends that Killer Robots are best seen as executors of targeting decisions made by their human programmers. However, from a normative perspective, the execution of targeting decisions by Killer Robots should worry us. The article argues that what is morally bad about Killer Robots is that they replace human agency in warfare with artificial agency, a development which should be resisted. Finally, the article contends that the issue of agency points to a wider problem in just war theory, namely the role of moral rights in our normative reasoning on armed conflict. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Applied Philosophy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Applied Philosophy holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2018 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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