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Kant's Deontology Analysis

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Conceding that in most situations, a lethal autonomous system can make a more ethical judgment than a human soldier, it would be inevitable that even the most sophisticated technology can make mistakes. A mistake in this case would usually result in the death of a civilian. Such mistakes leads to a key objection that the lethal autonomous system would be unable to shoulder any responsibility from its mistakes. While the inevitable killings of non-combatants are common in the modern insurgency warfare due to their close proximity, the proportionality of collateral damage is often accounted for under the JWT. However, the ultimate responsibility of the mistake falls upon the human soldier who pulls the trigger. Despite the advancement of technology, …show more content…

Unlike a human soldier who would have to live with his decisions of having taken a life, the lethal autonomous system would not be able to comprehend its mistakes and hence, unable to take responsibility for its action. Without any responsibility for its actions, the lethal autonomous system’s mistake would eventually be neglected along with the lives that it would have taken in the process, ultimately leading to a degradation in the intrinsic value of life. Using the moral imperative of Kant’s Deontology in this situation, the action of taking lives without responsibility cannot be viewed as ethical. The implementation of such system would eventually result in the degradation of life due to a lack of responsibility. Therefore, by use a lethal autonomous system without the ability shoulder any responsibility would be an immoral …show more content…

As mention by Arkin, the implementation of such systems carries with it immense benefits on both the tactical and strategic level. On the tactical level, an immediate observable benefit would be from the reduction of human activities on the battlefield, the military not only reduce the human cost of war such as death, injuries, and Post Traumatic Stress Damage (PTSD), but it also reduces the potential atrocities that may be committed on a battlefield. As stated in his work, Arkin quotes the studies by the Surgeon General’s Office in 2006 findings that soldiers often conduct unethical actions on the battlefield. With 17 percent of marines and soldiers reporting that all civilians should be treated as insurgents and less than half who would be willing to report a team member engaging in unethical behavior, the number shows the inherent failing of a human solider exposed to the horrors of war. By implementing the lethal autonomous system, it would help solve the issue by reducing the human soldier deployed and thus the number of potential unethical actions. Furthermore, by having the soldier’s action recorded, it would ensure that the human soldier maintains his professionalism during the course of his actions. On a strategic level, long terms benefits such as public trust can also be established by the use

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