Drones: Morals vs Security?

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-Aarya-

@-Aarya-

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

Drones, a device which needs to be told exactly where to go and what to do at all times. They are effective, but their methods are coarse: an explosive device meant to target one person could also harm others. Regardless, it's state-of-the-art precision target will help eliminate many enemy targets, thereby improving national security.

And such drones strikes can not tell us whether or when targeted killings are morally defensible but they do tell us that our moral judgments can be affected by factors that arguably shouldn't be relevant to our actual decisions. Does it matter whether you push a button or a person if the outcome is the same?

How different is a drone strike vs human assassin?

Edited by -Aarya- - 12 years ago

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boreddamsel

@boreddamsel

Rocker

+ 5

Posted: 12 years ago

One thought that came to mind is that in the near future drones might be more popular and much cheaper than human assassins.. hmm.

Will be back to reply later.

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McNinja

@McNinja

Inactive

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

Yeah sure, lets employ all sorts of robots for tactical purposes. It worked for the Galactic Empire, didn't it. 😆

A human assassin is still human even if a trained killer. When you send a SEAL team to kill the likes of Bin Laden, one hopes they avoid unnecessary killing of children, women, bystanders caught in the crossfire. There is a level of moral responsibility thats involved in their training that they shoulder, or so we're told.

Drones detach any such humanity factor, these people would just be collateral damage, that too on a larger scale many times...where killing one militant means killing 55 civilans. This is the biggest difference in my eyes...robots cant think, reflect and makes them hella worse when used as weapons of war.

Edited by McNinja - 12 years ago

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Forever-KA

@Forever-KA

Rocker

+ 4

Posted: 12 years ago

Drone story is complicated.

+ It has killed many important terrorists and can strike where human access is not possible in large numbers. Now if there is no drone but an army then there will be collateral damage anyway

- It has in situations killed lots of innocent people due to errors and wrong intelligence. One incident was where school was hit. Therefore you end up creating more extremists

Problem is that war in itself should not be happening. Problem is if we ourselves will not take care of extremists then others will send drones. Problem is there is issue of terrorism. All this is responsible for the mess and drones is just one manifestation of that.

I have mixed feelings about it. I am okay with it in situations where the intelligence is correct and where chance of error is zero. otherwise it is not worth it as its creating more extremists. some other solution is required in those instances.

Edited by King-Anu - 12 years ago

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-Aarya-

@-Aarya-

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: McNinja
Yeah sure, lets employ all sorts of robots for tactical purposes. It worked for the Galactic Empire, didn't it. 😆

A human assassin is still human even if a trained killer. When you send a SEAL team to kill the likes of Bin Laden, one hopes they avoid unnecessary killing of children, women, bystanders caught in the crossfire. There is a level of moral responsibility thats involved in their training that they shoulder, or so we're told.

Drones detach any such humanity factor, these people would just be collateral damage, that too on a larger scale many times...where killing one militant means killing 55 civilans. This is the biggest difference in my eyes...robots cant think, reflect and makes them hella worse when used as weapons of war.

I disagree with this factor because the person pushing the button behind the unmanned devise is again a human; it's easy to overlook that today's unmanned systems are not truly autonomous but rather require a lot of human guidance by remote control.

Edited by -Aarya- - 12 years ago

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_Angie_

@_Angie_

Rocker

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: -Aarya-

How different is a drone strike vs human assassin?

A drone would be more dependable than a human assassin who could develop cold feet or be bought over by the enemy. How far it would eventualy contribute to national security is debatable.

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McNinja

@McNinja

Inactive

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: -Aarya-

I disagree with this factor because the person pushing the button behind the unmanned devise is again a human; it's easy to overlook that today's unmanned systems are not truly autonomous but rather require a lot of human guidance by remote control.

Yes, you have those human operated UAVs that have a human factor, it's not something that's easily overlooked at all but I guess just considerd a given.

Is it really the same thing sitting in another vehicle or wherever controlling something like a toy airplane vs actually being present, in combat...I don't think so and I don't think it adds an element of humanity at all. What I see is that these drones are giving way to a form of unchecked aerial warfare, with detached soldiers executing missions. I see this very factor promoting apathy rather than humanity.

And the ethics and morals of using these devices is still evoving so these soldiers don't really have a sense of how much responsibility they should be shouldering.

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McNinja

@McNinja

Inactive

+ 3

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: _Angie_

A drone would be more dependable than a human assassin who could develop cold feet or be bought over by the enemy. How far it would eventualy contribute to national security is debatable.

They're more dependable to strike regardless of the situation at hand, not more dependable at executing missions smoothly. Human error will always be present, that's the lovely thing about humans.

National security is probably at risk in the long run, with greater likelihood of blowback.

Edited by McNinja - 12 years ago

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-Aarya-

@-Aarya-

Dazzler

Posted: 12 years ago

Originally posted by: _Angie_

A drone would be more dependable than a human assassin who could develop cold feet or be bought over by the enemy. How far it would eventualy contribute to national security is debatable.

True, because if you get close enough to scrutinize a target which often meant incurring the risk of becoming one.

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Believe

@-Believe-

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 12 years ago

#10

The drones have not helped the US win the war...they have had some success, but its no absolute solution...Most of the attacks according to reports are based largely on assumption...,US should understand one thing that,for every innocent child, woman or man killed by a American Drone, America makes 10,000 new enemies...and the Obama and teams throw their point of "government has to protect its citizens to the best of means' into the dustbin ,If that case is to be applied then every country in this world will be at war !

Edited by Prometeus - 12 years ago

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Drones: Morals vs Security?

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