Robots and War Crimes
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, January 17, 2008 | 05:13 PM
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, January 17, 2008 | 05:13 PM
At a conference this month, a panel of technologists will work through the ethical and legal implications of whether a robot can be held responsible for war crimes. The discussion, titled "When Robots Commit War Crimes: Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibility," is part of the Technology in Wartime conference at the Stanford Law School.
The io9 blog, edited by Annalee Newitz, today pointed out that this question isn’t some academic exercise for eggheads; robot weapons have already been involved in friendly fire incidents, including one in South Africa.
Comments
why do I have the feeling that my tax dollars are sponsoring this??
dan ketter | Friday, January 18, 2008 | 11:24 AMFrom the printed facts, this weapon (does not appear robotic) was not tested
for the jamming problem that appeared to occur.
A design flaw in this weapon, that cost 9 lives and 15 injuries, needs to be taken off the field and tested again until it works without killing on it's own.
This does not appear to be robotic, no
brain that functions on it's own.
Human error, I repeat human error of insuffient testing. Human design flaw, talk to the humans that developed/designed/tested it.
It is most sad the weapon took the lives and cost many human problems for life.
Those robots are commanded by a human at some point. If the robots commit crimes it is at the behest of a human. If you want to try someone, try the human who gave the order, misdirected the robot or otherwise caused the problem. Possibly one could make a case for holding the leaders of a war responsible for the war crimes. Had they not had a war, the crime would not have been committed, by a robot or human. Most humans, if given the chance, will opt out of the slaughter of a war. However, most of us seldom have that choice. If the people who cause the war, the people who enable a war and those who keep a war going found themselves in a criminal docket, we might have fewer wars. Win or lose, the leaders go down. What a concept!
Concerned citizen | Friday, January 18, 2008 | 07:50 AMHumans have issues of what is a target and what is not, how are computers going to be any smarter - soldier escorting children to school; robot sees rifle, assumes enemy and kills everyone. We need a human making the "Kill" decision. TV camera and satellite links are cheap and small. Autonomous weapons should used only when absolutely necessary if at all.
Roger | Friday, January 18, 2008 | 07:37 AMsomeone has been playing far too many video games.
Alm | Friday, January 18, 2008 | 07:28 AMABOUT THIS BLOG
Allan Holmes on what's happening and what's being discussed in the world of federal information technology.
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