I would like to return to discussion of the robot I pictured in an earlier blog posting, "Big Dog." Big Dog is a combat robot being developed by the US military and Boston Dynamics.
Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
On a similar note, check out another military ground robot here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjpH7ig0rKo&feature=PlayList&p=863B26044AEDC565&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=50 (This one may be a bit older and is more tank-like.)
This got me thinking, though – just what are the implications of having robot soldiers in the military? It hasn't happened yet, but it seems almost inevitable that at some point we will begin to use fully or near-fully automated robot troops rather than human ones in high-risk combat situations.
What are the ethical implications of sending a cold but intelligent killing machine into the field against live humans? A robot cannot feel mercy; it can only be programmed, and while it is certainly good to save American lives I think it's also important to ensure that mechanized violence does not get out of hand as a result of the removal of the human conscience from combat. Is it possible to program a robot to behave as if it knows kindness while retaining its military effectiveness? Would our military even consider implementing such programming when a more efficient killing machine is that's necessary to win battles? These are important questions that we may have to face in the near future, as I don't think Asimov's law of "A robot shall not harm a human being" will be a very workable combat strategy.
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