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Ethics and Armed Forces

Controversies in Peace Ethics & Security Policy

  2. Full Issues
  3. 2014/1 - Drones

Anonymous Killing by new Technologies? The Soldier between Conscience and Machine

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Robots on the trigger – while that sounds like science fiction, the fact is that around sixty countries and armies are currently working on such lethal autonomous systems. They evaluate the available data in fractions of a second, enabling them to decide accurately when and where to fire.
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Special: Drone Pilots and PTSD

There are more and more overseas deployments. The risk of soldiers developing a mental disorder later on in life – such as a depressive disorder – is greatly increased.
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Robotics technology can reduce the number of civilian casualties to avoid a lot of suffering and misery. 
Summary   Full article

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Governments and human rights organizations are calling for a prohibition on fully autonomous weapons systems.
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Armed drones are part of the asymmetrical war controversy.
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U.S. practices raise moral concerns, with increasing worries over inflationary use. 
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New technologies could represent ethical progress in the history of warfare.
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Robotic systems can support but not replace soldiers.
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Special: New Insights about Drone Pilots and PTSD – how vulnerable are they?

Drone pilots do a difficult job, the impacts of which it has not been possible to assess until now. Click-to-kill? What do we expect from drone pilots? How high is the risk that they will no longer be able to stand the pressure?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects many soldiers around the world. According to research by the U.S. Department of Defense, PTSD appears with similar frequency among drone operators as among other soldiers. A current simulation experiment on this subject is attracting attention.
Read the Special editorial