This week we are considering Distance, weapons technology and humanity in armed conflict from the Autonomous Weapons mini-series over on the Humanitarian Law & Policy blog from the International Committee of the Red Cross. In it, the author discusses how distance can affect moral accountability, with particular focus on drones and autonomous weapons. Please take a look yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
This blog offers interesting insight into concepts of ‘distance’ in warfare. In it, the author distinguishes between geographical distance and psychological distance, and also then brings in concepts of causal and temporal distance to show the complex inter-relations between the various categories.
One of the key questions raised in the article is: ‘how can one say that wars are fought as a contest between military powers if killing a large number of members of another State merely requires pushing a button?’ The implication here, to me at least (as I have also suggested in my comments in other blogs), is a need to reimagine or reconstruct the concept of ‘warfare’ in the public consciousness. We seem stuck currently in a position whereby memories of the two world wars linger, and the public conceive of war as being fought on designated battlefields with easily recognisable sides.
While I agree with much of what the author says, where this article falls down I think is in the conclusion that ‘the cosmopolitan ideal of a shared humanity is good starting point for a wider ethical debate on distance, technology, and the future of armed conflict.’ While I agree with the author’s stance in principle, his argument relies on both sides in any given conflict sharing the same ethical framework. As we have seen already with suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism, this is no longer an ‘even’ battlefield – nor indeed is it a battle fought between two clearly delineated sides. While such disparities exist, I find it hard to believe any sort of balance can be struck.
Mike Ryder, Lancaster University
I found this piece, and its discussion of different types of distance both interesting and illuminating. I’ve spoken with a number of students recently about distance, and how that affects their feelings regarding their own decision-making, and the consequences of it. I found it really interesting that a large proportion of students were quite accepting of the idea that moral distance makes one feel less responsible for something that happens. But, many of the same students also wanted people held responsible for their actions regardless of that moral distance. So this gives us a strange situation where people who feel no responsibility should be held responsible. I don’t think this position is unusual. In fact, I think most people around the world would agree with this position, despite it being rather paradoxical.
It is clear that from a moral perspective, an accountability gap could be created. But, as ethics and morals are flexible and subjective, one could also argue that there is no moral accountability gap. Fortunately, law is more concrete. We do have legal rules on responsibility. We’ve seen that a number of autonomous vehicle manufacturers are going to take responsibility for their vehicles in self-driving modes. However, it is yet to be seen if autonomous weapon system manufacturers will follow this lead.
Joshua Hughes, Lancaster University
Update added 25/02/2019, written earlier
This short article explores the impact of the introduction of autonomous weapon systems on the bases of distance, be that geographical, psychological, causal or temporal distance. Contemporary drone warfare is given as an example of a the way in which a new technology allows war to be conducted with an increased geographical distance, but that the incidence of PTSD amongst such pilots shows that the same is not true of the psychological distance. Leveringhaus focuses on the issues posed by the increase of causal distance in assigning blame for breaches of international humanitarian law. We are unlikely see drones in the dock at the Hague any time soon, but who will be brought before the courts in the event of an AWS-committed war crime? The programmer of the software? This poses a challenge to the entire ethical framework of respect for individual rights, part of which is the promise ‘to hold those who violate these rights responsible for their deeds.’
Ben Goldsworthy, Lancaster University
Let us know what you think