Maciej Zając: Autonomous Weapons – Ethical Issues, Ethical Non-issues and the Road towards Robotic Warfare

Organized by the Department of Analytic Philosophy and Department of Applied Philosophy and Ethics, Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences

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Invitation pdf

Maciej Zając (Polish Academy of Sciences):
Autonomous Weapons – Ethical Issues, Ethical Non-issues and the Road towards Robotic Warfare

Abstract
Autonomous Weapons are those drones and other military robots whose software enables them to select and attack targets without direct human control or supervision. Their use, while potentially extremely valuable from a purely military viewpoint, has been the object of the greatest controversy in ethics of military technology in recent decades. I will present the various ethical arguments for and against these weapons, showing which concerns are warranted, and which are either baseless or too feeble to dictate policy on the matter. I will also try to sketch some paths to sensible regulation of these weapons and their proliferation, portraying both the outcomes that such policy should aim for and the consequences of its failure.