Mankind is a bloodthirsty species. According to Steven Pinker, the academic, for much of history being murdered by a fellow human was the leading cause of death. Civilisation is largely a tale of man’s violent instincts being progressively muffled. A part of this is the steady withdrawal of actual human flesh from the battle zone, with front lines gradually pulled apart by the advent of long-range artillery and air power, and the decline in the public’s tolerance for casualties.
Arguably, America’s principal offensive weapon is the drone, firing on targets thousands of miles from where its controller safely sits. Given the pace of advance, it takes no imaginative leap to foresee machines displacing human agency altogether from the act of killing. Artificial brains already perform well in tasks hitherto regarded as the province of humans. Computers will be trusted with driving a car or diagnosing an illness. Algorithmic intelligence could therefore surpass the human sort for making the decision to kill.
This prospect has prompted more than 1,000 artificial intelligence experts to write calling for the development of “lethal, autonomous weapons systems” to cease forthwith. Act now, they urge, or what they inevitably dub “killer robots” will be as widespread, and as deadly, as the Kalashnikov rifle.