Unnatural Selection by Mark Roeder

Author:Mark Roeder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

The price of push-button warfare

The bigger questions are, however: what are the implications of this new form of warfare? How will it affect us as a society? Or to put it more bluntly, should we really be handing over so much military power to a bunch of geeks?

The reality is that we have no choice. Remote warfare is here to stay. But like any power transition, safeguards must be put in place. Currently, the most important safeguard on the use of drone technology—particularly in the US and UK—is the character of the military hierarchy, many of whom have seen active service in battle, and who are steeped in age-old traditions of courage, sacrifice and honor. War is not theoretical for these people. Their hard-won experiential knowledge shapes their perspective on matters of war, and makes them wiser. They are less susceptible to jingoism or bravado, and more tempered in their responses to provocation—even the more hawkish of them—because they know the cost. They are part of a brotherhood (and sisterhood) forged in real-life combat situations. As a group they exert a powerful influence on the culture of the military, including the employment of new technologies such as drones. But as warfare becomes more remote and automated, our military will inevitably evolve to a point where few, if any, senior people have seen active experience service at the front line. They will all have risen through the ranks of remote warfare systems. These joystick warriors will have a fundamentally different outlook on war—culturally, psychologically and technologically—from the generations of military personnel who preceded them. The smartest of these tech-savvy warriors will rise to the top, just like they have in other professions, such as financial services. These geeks will then call the shots and begin to reshape the military culture in their own image. Indeed, as bizarre as it seems today, we should not be surprised to eventually see four star generals roaming the Pentagon in sneakers and jeans. Everything we know about warfare is about to change.

According to Peter Singer, this transformation is now well under way. He has suggested that the first thing to change is our perception of the “costs” of going to war, for drone technology is so seductive that it creates the illusion that there are no moral or ethical consequences to conducting warfare this way. He says the victims tend to be faceless, and the damage caused by the bombings remains unseen by the general public, because video footage of the attacks is kept under wraps. This creates a fundamental disconnect.

In democracies like ours, there have always been deep bonds between the public and its wars. Citizens have historically participated in decisions to take military action, through their elected representatives, helping to ensure broad support for wars and a willingness to share the costs, both human and economic, of enduring them. In America, our Constitution explicitly divided the president’s role as commander in chief in war from Congress’s role in declaring war. Yet these links

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