Deane Baker - Should We Ban Killer Robots?

1 Cover

2 Series Page Political Theory Today Janna Thompson, Should Current Generations Make Reparations for Slavery? Chris Bertram, Do States Have the Right to Exclude Immigrants? Diana Coole, Should We Control World Population? Christopher Finlay, Is Just War Possible? George Klosko, Why Should We Obey the Law? Emanuela Ceva & Michele Bocchiola, Is Whistleblowing a Duty? Elizabeth Frazer & Kimberly Hutchings, Can Political Violence Ever Be Justified? Margaret Moore, Who Should Own Natural Resources? David Miller, Is Self-Determination a Dangerous Illusion? Alasdair Cochrane, Should Animals Have Political Rights? Duncan Ivison, Can Liberal States Accommodate Indigenous Peoples? David Owen, What Do We Owe to Refugees? Patti Tamara Lenard, How Should Democracies Fight Terrorism? James Johnson & Susan Orr, Should Secret Voting Be Mandatory? Deane Baker, Should We Ban Killer Robots?

3 Title Page Should We Ban Killer Robots? Deane Baker polity

4 Copyright Copyright © Deane Baker 2022 The right of Deane Baker to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2022 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 101 Station Landing Suite 300 Medford, MA 02155, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-4852-1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Control Number: 2021942477 The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

5 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I am grateful to have had the opportunity to trial earlier versions of several of the arguments in this book in other forums. Parts of what follows first appeared in ‘Autonomous Weapons and the Epistemology of Targeting’, in the Defence-in-Depth blog (10 September 2018), ‘The Awkwardness of the Dignity Objection to Autonomous Weapons’, in the Strategy Bridge journal (6 December 2018) and ‘The Robot Dogs of War’, in Jai Galliott, Duncan MacIntosh and David Ohlin (eds), Lethal Autonomous Weapons: Re-examining the Law and Ethics of Robotic Warfare (Oxford University Press 2021). I have also drawn on arguments that appeared in my books Just Warriors, Inc.: The Ethics of Privatised Force (Continuum 2010) and Citizen Killings: Liberalism, State Policy and Moral Risk (Bloomsbury Academic 2016). Along the way I have received insightful inputs from friends, students and colleagues, including Liran Antebi, Ned Dobos, Erin Hahn, Mark Hilborne, David Kilcullen, Peter Lee, Rain Liivoja, Ian MacLeod, Rob McLaughlin, Valerie Morkevicius, David Pfotenhauer, Shashank Reddy, Julian Tattersall and Mathew Wann (among others). I am particularly grateful for comments on the final draft by the two anonymous readers and for the guidance of George Owers and the team at Polity. This book is dedicated to my daughters, the fabulous Baker girls: Jemimah, Kezi and Amelia.

6 Introduction A Definition

7 1 Of War Dogs, Bat Bombs, Mercenaries and Killer Robots The Dogs (and Horses, and Dolphins, and Pigeons, and Bats) of War The ‘Dogs of War’ The Robot Dogs of War

8 2 Trust, Trustworthiness and Reliability

9 3 Control and Accountability A Commonsense Conception of Control Control and Intervening Devices Control and LAWS

10 4 Motives and Dignity Dignity and ‘Ceding’ Motives The Awkwardness of the Dignity Objection The Dignity Argument and Strongly Held Intuitions Moral Risk and Autonomous Weapons

11 Conclusion: So Then, Should We Ban Killer Robots?

12 References

13 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Series Page

4 Title Page

5 Copyright

6 Acknowledgements

7 Introduction

8 Begin Reading

9 Conclusion: So Then, Should We Ban Killer Robots?

10 References

11 End User License Agreement

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Janna Thompson, Should Current Generations Make Reparations for Slavery?

Chris Bertram, Do States Have the Right to Exclude Immigrants?

Diana Coole, Should We Control World Population?

Christopher Finlay, Is Just War Possible?

George Klosko, Why Should We Obey the Law?

Emanuela Ceva & Michele Bocchiola, Is Whistleblowing a Duty?

Elizabeth Frazer & Kimberly Hutchings, Can Political Violence Ever Be Justified?

Margaret Moore, Who Should Own Natural Resources?

David Miller, Is Self-Determination a Dangerous Illusion?

Alasdair Cochrane, Should Animals Have Political Rights?

Duncan Ivison, Can Liberal States Accommodate Indigenous Peoples?

David Owen, What Do We Owe to Refugees?

Patti Tamara Lenard, How Should Democracies Fight Terrorism?

James Johnson & Susan Orr, Should Secret Voting Be Mandatory?

Deane Baker, Should We Ban Killer Robots?

Deane Baker

polity

Copyright © Deane Baker 2022

The right of Deane Baker to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2022 by Polity Press