

War by remote: What do you think? - cesare
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/blog/2009/10/new-video-fighting-from-afar.html

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a-priori
The disconnect is a very serious concern. I worry about war crimes being
committed using these weapons without any accountability or risk. But, I am
actually comforted by them saying that the soldiers experience disorders like
PTSD just like deployed soldiers.

Before you think I'm a heartless bastard, here's my reasoning: it tells me
that the soldiers become psychologically embedded in the situations they
experience just like if they were actually there. It tells me that they're not
treating it like a video game, so their moral sense should still be engaged.

It's not much, but it's some comfort. I still think we need to be very, very
careful about the psychological effects of remote weapons, and how it affects
the decisions soldiers and their commanders make.

~~~
protomyth
I actually think the exact opposite. I believe that the trained soldiers
controlling these weapons will better be able to make humane decisions since
their lives are not directly threatened by the enemy. They can take a second
and not panic. They can make better decisions since the split second emotional
trigger is not there. So they loose a couple of robots, big whoop. The stress
of the kill-or-be-killed situation ends.

~~~
a-priori
Sorry for not replying earlier. I just wanted to say that I hope things turn
out that way, because that would be the ideal situation: fewer human
casualties on both sides.

Maybe I've seen one too many war movies, but I worry that the command-and-
control mentality of the armed forces could override the soldier's moral
sense, at least immediately, by forcing them to detach themselves from the
situations.

Remember that while a soldier may think "big whoop" about a hundred-million
dollar aircraft going down, their commanding officer (who's butt is on the
line for that loss) may not think so, and so will do everything in their power
to prevent such losses. That may include some "collateral damage".

At least, if the soldiers later suffer from PTSD, hopefully in the end they
will speak their minds and the truth will come out. That's how we've heard
about a lot of the atrocities of past wars.

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protomyth
I have a cousin the Army and have visited one of his friends that was horribly
injured in Iraq. If we could build a remote robot to fight our wars, I would
support that.

~~~
noonespecial
Then it would be someone _else's_ cousin's friend that would be horribly
injured. With nothing but the press of a nintendo button. I'm not sure that
makes it better.

Hold the evil robots please. Do not want.

~~~
protomyth
War is hell and the last resort. I don't see a change in attitude for the
entire time we have had stand-off weapons. So if we are going to go to war,
then we might as well keep our deaths / injuries as low as possible. We give
our troops armor, should we stop that?

