Just say “no!” to lethal autonomous robotic weapons
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society
ISSN: 1477-996X
Article publication date: 10 August 2015
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the question of equipping fully autonomous robotic weapons with the capacity to kill. Current ideas concerning the feasibility and advisability of developing and deploying such weapons, including the proposal that they be equipped with a so-called “ethical governor”, are reviewed and critiqued. The perspective adopted for this study includes software engineering practice as well as ethical and legal aspects of the use of lethal autonomous robotic weapons.
Design/methodology/approach
In the paper, the author survey and critique the applicable literature.
Findings
In the current paper, the author argue that fully autonomous robotic weapons with the capacity to kill should neither be developed nor deployed, that research directed toward equipping such weapons with a so-called “ethical governor” is immoral and serves as an “ethical smoke-screen” to legitimize research and development of these weapons and that, as an ethical duty, engineers and scientists should condemn and refuse to participate in their development.
Originality/value
This is a new approach to the argument for banning autonomous lethal robotic weapons based on classical work of Joseph Weizenbaum, Helen Nissenbaum and others.
Keywords
Citation
Fleischman, W.M. (2015), "Just say “no!” to lethal autonomous robotic weapons", Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 13 No. 3/4, pp. 299-313. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-12-2014-0065
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited