We Can't Handle Autonomous Weapons

When discussing the possibilities of expanding the United States military operations to autonomous warfare, one must understand that this means the end of man on man combat. This, in my opinion is a very dangerous thing. Without the risk of any human casualties, it will be easy for the government to be more forceful with its military actions. This could be potentially disastrous. The United States Defense Department seemingly disregarded the Human Rights Watch’s “preemptive call” to ban the development and deployment of autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons by claiming that their main motives in these systems’ usage would be to “allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force.” What does this mean? Taking a human out of the man-made concept of war leaves a lot up for speculation. If these machines are designed to exercise a strike on a target not determined by a human, there could be a great deal of trouble that comes along with it. The article does mention that the Defense Department says that these weapons will not be lethal. Additionally, it also says that measures will be put in place in case of system error. Still, I don’t believe these to be good enough reasons why autonomous weaponry can be justified. I look at this type of warfare and wonder how it could be beneficial. Once we have the technology, does that mean that the government won’t change its mind about how we use it? What about other countries? Once this technology is developed, it is basically free to copy. Anyone in the world can build similar weapons, and they may not be as humanitarian in their nature. Drones are a good example of this. Other countries currently have that technology and could very well use it for more sinister plans against humans. Overall, I don’t trust humanity enough to develop a weapon that is virtually free-thinking. Programming and safety nets aside, this type of technology causes a slippery slope to develop. I’m not sure we’re ready to see what’s next.