Notes

As the technological prowess of the human-race continues to grow, so does the plausibility of possible issues arising from these newfound technological feats. Of course the majority of the robotic creations featured in this video are created with positive intentions, such as the DARPA program, but a chance of negative results occurring with the advancements that have taken place through robotic technology, continues to loom over critics minds. The United States Military is a major contributor and investor in robotics development, for example, Atlas, created by Boston Dynamics, is a human-like robot that can navigate extremely difficult environments. This is clearly of value to the United States Military, but it is of the utmost importance that these robotic developments are properly used, because at the end of the day, these robots will likely be able to make life and death based decisions. Can we genuinely trust robots and artificial intelligence to make one the most important and challenging decisions that anyone on earth can face? I'm not quite sure I do, yet. 

In the United States, many of us have grown up with at least having heard the concept of 'killer' robots taking over our planet one day. Whether we've viewed it in a conceptual context, or seen it acted out in our favorite films, the concept of these robots attacking humans is not brand new. The weaponization of robots has certainly been in preparation for quite some time, and has actually taken place in branches of the United States Military. Being that we know robots have been used to enhance certain actions in a war-like state, it should not come as a surprise that these technological techniques could, and likely are, being replicated to ultimately be used against us. The weaponization of drone technology has had a plethora of negative impacts on many war-torn locations. As the former drone operator in the video expresses the massively negative results from these drone strikes, I began to further understand why this is an issue. These drones can and have been used to kill hundreds of people, all without risk having to have been taken. This obviously brings up a significant moral dilemma: Is it okay to use such advanced technology, such as robots and drones, to take lives? It's challenging for me to weigh-in on this topic, as I've never been in a position similar to what these drone operators are in. Should these drone killings be classified as war crimes? I recognize both sides of this issue. It's a lot less risk-oriented for American soldiers, being that they aren't physically next to these drones, but it also forces many to choose a side when determining the morality of using robots to kill.