“It is well that war is so terrible—otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” Robert E. Lee is about to be obsolesced by technology, according to this William Saletan article in Slate.
“It is well that war is so terrible—otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” Robert E. Lee is about to be obsolesced by technology, according to this William Saletan article in Slate.
Agreed, of course, that war should continue to be terrible. But is intentionally putting people (any people) in harm’s way when you don’t have to the only answer?
With something as terrible as war, there’s got to be another way to make it terrible, other than insisting that your own countrymen risk their lives to do it…
Absolutely agreed. At the same time, we have a knack for making our wars very painful for other people (i.e., civilians on the ground there, and our volunteer military), with minimal pain to ourselves. The only thing that really captures American attention is the loss of troops, and even then only glancingly. I’m concerned with how warlike we might become if we were going with machines rather than people, seeing as how there are usually people on the other end.
No argument here, but I don’t think the answer is to stop using the drones. The answer is to find ways not to be warlike…
One thought: the law of free markets suggests that eventually, there will be machines on the other side too. Then what?
I have tons of ideas on how not to be warlike, but I tend not to be listened to by the kinds of guys who like to buy drones.
When everyone has drones, it’s obvious — we’re going to start targeting civilian populations as the best way to inflict pain on the other side. If you can’t get to the human combatants easily, you aim for home. So arguably, this is not a great move for American security either.