Ethics of military robotics
Description
Robots play an important role in recent military conflicts, but little attention has been paid to the ethical issues this raises. This lecture highlights some of the ethical questions raised by the use of military robots - especially drones - and shows how ethicists can conceptually deal with them. What do so-called 'drones' do and how are they deployed? What is the role of humans in relation to these automated weapons? Should a human always be directly involved? Who controls such devices? Is there a problem if the pilots are thousands of kilometres away? What if these aircraft become more autonomous and more intelligent? Who or what makes the decisions? Who is responsible for killing people? And this way of waging war may be risk-free for the 'own' people, but how are these rigs perceived by the (potential) targets? Who is responsible for civilian casualties? Can robots distinguish between soldiers and civilians? Can and should we make machines that behave 'ethically', or should we better ban these kinds of rigs altogether? How is the nature of modern warfare affected? For example, won't starting a war become easier with these robots? Do military doctrines change as a result? How should existing philosophical and legal frameworks be applied to this, such as just-war theory and international law? Should we perhaps adapt these frameworks?
Speaker(s)
Mark Coeckelbergh teaches philosophy of technology at the University of Twente. He is also a member of the management team of the 3TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology. He studied political science (KU Leuven) and philosophy (M.A., University of East Anglia) and obtained his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2003 with a thesis on autonomy. He is the author of Liberation and Passion (2002, Denkmal Verlag), The Metaphysics of Autonomy (2004, Palgrave Macmillan) and Imagination and Principles (2007, Palgrave Macmillan), and has also published numerous contributions in journals in the fields of (among others) techno-ethics and engineering ethics. His current research focuses mainly on ethical issues surrounding information technology and new media, healthcare and the environment
Location
Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 42505844 or via the e-mail address below