Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Human Rights Watch: 'Ban Killer Robots'

'Killer robots' with the ability to attack people without human intervention should be pre-emptively banned, a major human rights group has warned.

Such weapons do not currently exist - at least in a form which is regularly employed on the battlefield by major governments.

In fact the term 'killer robots' still brings to mind science fiction rather than a military reality.

But Human Rights Watch said in a report ('Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots') that fully autonomous weapons are closer than ever to being used, and would represent a huge step beyond drones currently used in combat, which require human intervention before firing on targets.

The New York-based group said that statements by military officials insisting current drones are not autonomous "leave open the possibility that robots could one day have the ability to make such choices on their own power".

Within 20 to 30 years it is possible that automatic killer robots could be on the battlefield, HRW said:

    Fully autonomous weapons do not yet exist, and major powers, including the United States, have not made a decision to deploy them. But high-tech militaries are developing or have already deployed precursors that illustrate the push toward greater autonomy for machines on the battlefield. The United States is a leader in this technological development. Several other countries - including China, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom - have also been involved.

With this possibility on the horizon, automatic 'killer robots' should be banned now, the report argues.

"Such revolutionary weapons would not be consistent with international humanitarian law and would increase the risk of death or injury to civilians during armed conflict," the report said.

The report, produced with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic, adds that such weapons "would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians".

The result could be that nobody would be legally responsible for the killing of civilians during conflict.

"Giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield would take technology too far," said Steve Goose, Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. "Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimising civilian deaths and injuries."


Original Article
Source: huffington post
Author: Michael Rundle

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