[NetBehaviour] Can "Terminators" Actually be our Salvation?

marc garrett marc.garrett at furtherfield.org
Thu May 21 15:49:32 CEST 2009


Can "Terminators" Actually be our Salvation?

A Conversation with Peter Asaro.

Written By: R.U. Sirius and Surfdaddy Orca.

In a fascinating paper entitled “How Just Could a Robot War Be?”,
philosopher Peter Asaro of Rutgers University explores a number of robot
war scenarios.

Asaro imagines a situation in which a nation is taken over by robots --
a sort of revolution or civil war. Would a third party nation have a
just cause for interceding to prevent this?

Asaro concludes that the use of autonomous technologies such as robot
soldiers is neither “completely morally acceptable nor completely
morally unacceptable” according to the just war theory formulated by
Michael Walzer.

Just war theory defines the principles underlying most of the
international laws regulating warfare, including the Geneva and Hague
Conventions. Walzer's classic book Just and Unjust Wars was a standard
text at the West Point Military Academy for many years, although it was
recently removed from the required reading list.

Asaro asserts that robotic technology, like all military force, could be
just or unjust, depending on the situation.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/oe4u88



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