Is the Execution of War Becoming Dehumanized?

Abstract

In the iconic Star Trek Episode, Captain Kirk and his crew find themselves on a planet at war with each other but they find no signs of destruction. They discover that the occupants of the planet simulate war. When computers detect which areas are "hit", they direct affected citizens to termination centers for execution (Hamner, Coon, & Pevney, 1967). Since the terrorist attacks in 2001, the proliferation of the use of armed remotely piloted vehicles (RPA) grew exponentially as well as the debate of their use to prosecute targets. This literary review looked at available literature to study the compliance of these weapons with current Laws of War and the morality of utilizing unmanned weapons. The review concluded that through the use of armed RPAs, the act of war could become dehumanized unless measures are put into place by engineers and policy makers.

Keywords: war, RPA, UAV, laws of war, ethic, moral

Literature Review

Introduction

This paper reviews literature pertinent the dehumanization of the act of war through the use of armed remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). This review begins with the definitions of dehumanize, RPAs, and Laws of Armed Conflict. Studies into the consequences of the Laws of Armed Conflict with RPA use is examined followed by a discussion of the morality of using armed RPAs. A discussion of the effects of RPA usage on the operators and civilian populations is also provided. Recommendations for future studies are presented as well.

Definitions

Dehumanization

In the iconic Star Trek episode, Captain Kirk and his crew find themselves on a planet at war with each other but they find no signs of destruction. They discover that the occupants of the planet simulate war. When computers detect which areas are "hit", they direct affected citizens to termination centers for execution (Hamner, Coon, & Pevney, 1967). This portrayal of the future completely dehumanizes the act of war by allowing computers and machines to develop and execute the actions with the humans being completely unaware until they are told to die. Today's world has not reached the level of autonomy depicted in science fiction, but technology is progressing to that point.

The current use of drone is part of the evolution to autonomous weapon. Galliott (2012) hypothesized that current technology utilized leads to complete autonomous weapons capable of making lethal decisions without any human involvement. To accomplish this feat, the ethical design of unmanned systems would require paying attention to the way these machines may facilitate unethical behavior by separating operators from the consequences of their actions and working to overcome other moral buffers that may arise with operations (Sparrow, 2009). In other words, if the human conscience is not available to keep check and balances in place, then human morals and ethics needs to be designed into the machines.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft

The most prevalent robotic weapon in use by today's military is the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). According to the Department of Defense, a RPA is defined as "powered, aerial vehicles that do not carry a human operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload" (Bone & Bolkcom, 2003, p. 2). All services of the U.S. military utilize RPAs in some manner. There are five different classes of RPAs based on size ranging from five pounds to over 33,000 pounds (Bone & Bolkcom, 2003; Office of Secretary, 2005). Figure 1 is the MQ-9 Predator being utilized by the U.S. Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Figure 1. An MQ-9 Reaper, armed with GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided munitions and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles (MQ-9, 2012).

Laws of Armed Conflict

Laws governing the conflict of war, or armed conflict, have been in existence since biblical times. Current laws of war have evolved from the various Geneva Conventions, originally adopted in 1864 (Dunlap, 2012). Of note, the Geneva Convention only applies to signatories and distinguished from domestic laws of a particular belligerent to a conflict in that they provide international humanitarian laws on the conduct and justification of war (Dunlap, 2012; Parks, 2011). In literature concerning armed RPAs, the specific laws of armed conflict that are discussed include: principle of proportionality and acceptable conduct of war.

Principle of Proportionality

The principle of proportionality has been used in many contexts but the most applicable one is the use of force should not exceed the force needed to meet the objectives. Parks (2011) mentions two ideas behind the principle of proportionality. First, is that measures must be taken to limit the harm that efforts to attain goals will cause to civilian populations. Additionally, the attacking powers needs to consider any methodology available to achieve the objective with minimal or no damage to civilian population.

Acceptable Conduct of War

International humanitarian law regulates the conduct of war, also referred to jus in Bello. These laws define the conduct and responsibilities of all participants in a conflict and how to treat each other and protected persons, or civilians (Dunlap, 2012; Jenks, 2009). Violations of these laws are considered war crimes and belligerents face consequences deemed worthy by world courts. Besides the protection of civilians, these laws also govern the treatment of captured combatants (Parks, 20110).

To fully understand the implications of using autonomous weapons, an understanding of the laws of armed conflict is needed to determine legality and ethical use of RPAs. How operators, designers, engineers, political leaders, and military commanders engage the use of RPAs has a direct impact on the laws of armed conflict.

Legality of Robotics in War

Prior to the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, the use of RPAs were primarily used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance by the military and only utilized in areas where the U.S. maintained unfettered access to the areas being monitored. The use of RPAs since then has grown exponentially and the missions they are used for has grown as well. Not only as observation platforms, RPAs are used to monitor potential targets