In the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US military has been deploying unmanned Predator drones to bomb various targets. The targeting technology of these drones were developed from studying the bio-mechanics of the vision of fruit flies. It was pionereed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which boasts more than 30 Nobel laureates, among them the late physicist, Richard Feynman.
The use of technology in killing innocent people have made generals and politicians less reluctant to go to war, as they perceive that the human cost, and only that on their side, would be lower. They are now more willing to satisfy their bloodlust, and they smirk to themselves thinking that they have killed their enemies without sending a single soldier.
Roger Cohen wrote in the New York Times Op-Ed pages (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13iht-edcohen.html?_r=1): "The Obama administration should not be targeting people for killing without some public debate about how such targets are selected, what the grounds are in the laws of war, and what agencies are involved. Right now there’s an accountability void.There are also broader questions. When robots are tomorrow’s veterans, does war become more likely and more endless? Do drones cow enemies with America’s technological prowess or embolden them to think America is not man enough to fight? What is the psychological toll on video-screen warriors?"
The thing is, killing is killing. If there is to be a "public debate" it should be about how to end the war, and all future wars. Merely pontificating on the morality of using machines to kill people will not change the cruel, inhumane, murderous face of war.
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