Army of none : autonomous weapons and the future of war / Paul Scharre.
Material type:
TextPublication details: �2018 Publisher: New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First editionDescription: ix, 436 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780393608984
- 0393608980
- Autonomous weapons and the future of war
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 623.4 S311 | Available | 33111009186400 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
What happens when a Predator drone has as much autonomy as a Google car? Or when a weapon that can hunt its own targets is hacked? Although it sounds like science fiction, the technology already exists to create weapons that can attack targets without human input. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in emerging weapons technologies, draws on deep research and firsthand experience to explore how these next-generation weapons are changing warfare.
Scharre's far-ranging investigation examines the emergence of autonomous weapons, the movement to ban them, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. He spotlights artificial intelligence in military technology, spanning decades of innovation from German noise-seeking Wren torpedoes in World War II--antecedents of today's homing missiles--to autonomous cyber weapons, submarine-hunting robot ships, and robot tank armies. Through interviews with defense experts, ethicists, psychologists, and activists, Scharre surveys what challenges might face "centaur warfighters" on future battlefields, which will combine human and machine cognition. We've made tremendous technological progress in the past few decades, but we have also glimpsed the terrifying mishaps that can result from complex automated systems--such as when advanced F-22 fighter jets experienced a computer meltdown the first time they flew over the International Date Line.
At least thirty countries already have defensive autonomous weapons that operate under human supervision. Around the globe, militaries are racing to build robotic weapons with increasing autonomy. The ethical questions within this book grow more pressing each day. To what extent should such technologies be advanced? And if responsible democracies ban them, would that stop rogue regimes from taking advantage? At the forefront of a game-changing debate, Army of None engages military history, global policy, and cutting-edge science to argue that we must embrace technology where it can make war more precise and humane, but without surrendering human judgment. When the choice is life or death, there is no replacement for the human heart.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
"What happens when a Predator drone has as much autonomy as a Google car? Although it sounds like science fiction, the technology to create weapons that could hunt and destroy targets on their own already exists. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in emerging weapons technologies, draws on incisive research and firsthand experience to explore how increasingly autonomous weapons are changing warfare. This far-ranging investigation examines the emergence of fully autonomous weapons, the movement to ban them, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. Scharre spotlights the role of artificial intelligence in military technology, spanning decades of innovation from German noise-seeking Wren torpedoes in World War II--antecedents of today's armed drones--to autonomous cyber weapons. At the forefront of a game-changing debate, Army of None engages military history, global policy, and bleeding-edge science to explore what it would mean to give machines authority over the ultimate decision: life or death."--Provided by publisher.
Introduction: the power over life and death -- Robopocalypse now. The coming swarm: the military robotics revolution ; The terminator and the roomba: what is autonomy? ; Machines that kill: what is an autonomous weapon? -- Building the terminator. The future of being built today: autonomous missiles, drones, and robot swarms ; Inside the puzzle palace: is the Pentagon building autonomous weapons? ; Crossing the threshold: approving autonomous weapons ; World war R: robotic weapons around the world ; Garage bots: DIY killer robots -- Runaway gun. Robots run amok: failure in autonomous systems ; Command and decision: can autonomous weapons be used safely? ; Black box: the weird, alien world of deep neural networks ; Failing deadly: the risk of autonomous weapons -- Flash war. Bot vs. bot: an arms race in speed ; The invisible war: autonomy in cyberspace ; "Summoning the demon": the rise of intelligent machines -- The fight to ban autonomous weapons. Robots on trial: autonomous weapons and the laws of war ; Soulless killers: the morality of autonomous weapons ; Playing with fire: autonomous weapons and stability -- Averting armageddon: the weapon of policy. Centaur warfighters: humans + machines ; The pope and the crossbow: the mixed history of arms control ; Are autonomous weapons inevitable?: the search for lethal laws of robotics -- Conclusion: no fate but what we make.