The US hasn’t been attacked militarily on its own soil in the modern era.
The US military monopoly hasn’t prevented horrific attacks such as 9/11 executed by groups claiming to be motivated by our foreign military campaigns.
I think there is a valid question about the moral culpability of working in this area.
As for the ethics of working on weapons, I think there is a lot of grey when it comes to software. It tends to centralize wealth, since once you get it right it works for everyone. It tends to be dual use, because a hardened OS can be used for both banks and tanks. Even developments in AI are worrying because they're so clearly applicable to the military.
Would I work on a nuclear bomb? No. Would I work on software that does a better job of, say, facial recognition to lessen the likelihood of a predator drone killing an innocent civilian? Maybe. It's not an all or nothing thing.
> Would I work on software that does a better job of, say, facial recognition to lessen the likelihood of a predator drone killing an innocent civilian?
The logical extreme of this is Death Note: the person who has the power simply chooses who should die, and that person dies, immediately and with no opportunity for resistance and no evidence of who killed them. Is that your ideal world? Who do you want to have that power — to define who plays the role of an “innocent civilian” in your sketch — and what do you do if they lose control of it? What do you do if the person or bureaucracy to which you have given such omnipotence turns out not to be incorruptible and perfectly loving?
I suggest watching Slaughterbots: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO6M2HsoIA
Clearly not. Would you please not post an extreme straw-man and turn this into polarizing ideological judgement? The post you’re responding to very clearly agreed that war is morally questionable, and very clearly argued for middle ground or better, not going to some extreme.
You don’t have to agree with war or endorse any kind of killing in any way to see that some of the activities involved by some of the people are trying to prevent damage rather than cause it.
Intentionally choosing not to acknowledge the nuance in someone’s point of view is ironic in this discussion, because that’s one of the ways that wars start.
The Slaughterbots video is absolutely awful. First of all quadrocopters have an incredibly small payload capacity and limited flight time. A quadrocopter lifting a shaped charge would be as big as your head and have 5 minutes of flight. Simply locking your door and hiding under your bed would be enough to stop them. The AI aspect doesn't make them more dangerous than a "smart rifle" that shoots once the barrel points at a target.
Do you know what I am scared of? I am more scared of riot police using 40mm grenade launchers with "non-lethal" projectiles who are knowingly aiming them at my face even though their training clearly taught that these weapons should never be used to aim at someone's head. The end result is lost eyeballs and sometimes even deaths and the people who were targeted aren't just limited to those who are protesting violently in a large crowd. Peaceful bystanders and journalists who were not involved also became victims of this type of police violence. [0]
[0] https://www.thelocal.fr/20190129/france-in-numbers-police-vi...
> The logical extreme of this is Death Note
I don't really deal with logical extremes. It leads to weird philosophies like Objectivism or Stalinism. In international relations terms, I'm a liberal with a dash of realism and constructivism. I don't live in my ideal world. My ideal world doesn't have torture or murder or war of any kind. It doesn't have extreme wealth inequality or poverty. Unless this is all merely a simulation, I live in the real world. Who has the power to kill people? Lots of people. Everyone driving a car or carrying a gun. Billions of people. It's a matter of degree and targeting and justification and blow-back and economics and ethics and so many other things that it's not really sensible to talk about it.
I'm familiar with the arguments against AI being used on the battlefield, but even though I abhor war, I'm not convinced that there should be a ban.
There’s a vast chasm in between right and wrong though. There can be understanding of others’ perspectives, regardless of my personal judgement. And there is also a valid question and tightly related question here about the morals of mitigating damage during a military conflict, especially if the mitigation prevents innocent deaths. If there’s a hard moral line between doctors and cooks and drivers and snipers and drone programmers, I don’t know exactly where it lies. Doctors are generally considered morally good, even war doctors, but if we are at war, it’s certainly better to prevent an injury than to treat one.
The best goal in my opinion is no war.
I will leave the WTC attack on the table, as I’m not interested in a nitpicking tangent about what constitutes an attack in asymmetric warfare vs. “terrorism.”
“The modern era” is usefully vague enough to be unfalsifiable.
Due to the Monroe Doctrine, this is a rational stance for Costa Rica to take. If the US were to adopt this policy, Costa Rica might have to take a hard look at repealing it.
