Reflection Blog 3

           In week these last four weeks, we have covered a wide range of topics.  From the digital divide in week 9, to identity and experience online in week 10.  In week 11, we touched on robotics and the new Sixth Sense technology, and we are finishing up with cross/intercultural ethics.  I believe that week 11 interested me the most, with regards to robotics and artificial intelligence, culminating with P.W. Singer's presentation on Military robots and the future of war.   (http://tinyurl.com/coaemf)

            I think that as a society, and world, as artificial intelligence continues to grow in our lives, we will need to develop new rules for ethics and morals.  In contrast to early readings, where we were introduced to the idea that there are no new ethical issues, I believe that with the advent of advanced robotics in combat and everyday life, we will be faced with heretofore unforeseen issues. (Tavani p. 11)  For example, in his presentation, P.W. Singer notes how the use of drones changes the face of war, and how it affects the soldiers fighting it.  To break this down further, it takes away (some, not all) the harsh gravity of some situations, and replaces them with what can almost be looked at as a video game.  Now we all know about the advent of violent video games, and how in some, players are able to rape and kill people.  This has been deemed acceptable by our society, because its "just a game."  But, I think we must consider the implications of those that are now being exposed to this as children and young adults, and think how it might affect them as they fight our wars in the future. 

            Now, I am not trying to take sides on the whole debate about whether video game violence is good or bad, and how it might make young people not understand what is acceptable or not, or how it might warp their young, malleable minds.  What I am considering though, is that someone who has played violent video games their entire life, may not take the same thoughtfulness into an armed conflict as someone who has been on an actual battlefield, and is now fighting it through the computer screen.  If you have personally experienced something, or even if you have never played a game where you killed another person, your reaction may very well differ from someone who has. 

            These considerations are why I feel that we will face new issues in morality and ethics.  Both for the unmanned, but human controlled drone, and the future autonomous killing machine.  New laws may need to be written to address who is responsible for war crimes, and how they are prosecuted.  If a semi-autonomous robot is supposed to have protocols programmed into it, to not kill civilians, and yet it allows the human operator to target civilians and kill them, who is at fault?  The operator, or the programmer?