(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The Institute for Peace Research (PRIO) has the new book of the month The Good Drone gave us one extraordinarily informative and intelligent consideration of the new unmanned "aircraft". As part of PRIO's series «Emerging technologies, ethics and international affairs» The Good Drone take hold of the social and mental changes that follow new technology.
The drones are known from Obama's death lists, where he each week signed executions of suspected dangerous people around the world. Thousands have been killed using drones, as you can see in the movie Drone (2014). These cynical executions occur without trial, and the rockets often strike civilians as well.
But what are drones? according to The Good Drone they fly high and low, short and long, fast and slow. They are large, small or micro- and nano-sized. They act alone or in swarms, powered by gasoline, battery, solar or wind power. The drones may be equipped with rockets and bombs or less lethal weapons such as gas, rubber bullets and laser weapons. The miniaturization also makes them useful in intelligence.
The drones came into being at the beginning of the 1900 century. Those who have read the author Ernst Jünger will also remember how he described them in the book glass bees (1957). Military work was initiated during the Vietnam War, and followed up with commercial success in Israel, where drones were deployed as early as the 1980 century. In 2001, the drones mounted rockets, and today the industry is in full swing, including in Norway. Preparing for the reality that has now come at full strength should have started long ago, whether we are talking about buzzing little "glass bees" among us, remote-controlled aircraft with large wingspan or small plastic helicopters toss.
This successor to the satellites, for example, through the new monitoring system ARGUS can actually record 6 petabyte with video from a drone in one day – equivalent to 80 years (!) with high-resolution quality footage. According to the book's authors, ARGUS can also find certain objects, people and vehicles over an area of ten square kilometers. The drone must also be able to interpret what it sees itself, so that "enemy activity" can be found. Here, the book's co-author Mareile Kaufmann writes about what happens when the drone becomes more "intelligent", and interprets situations and decides when it wants to take human life. Its "hyperphysical characteristics" must be discussed.
The drone can attack, but it can also protect, and here it comes good into. For example, the UN has used drones in Congo and Mali in peacekeeping operations to secure populations. There, in fact, the forces were granted expanded powers to use weapons power as a result of better surveillance. You dare more, and you also save soldiers on the ground. The question that should be raised is whether the military can easily lower the threshold to attack, since the loss of their own soldiers is limited.
The so-called good drone must be able to protect. This also means being able to transport medicines, blood and other necessary equipment to vulnerable areas. Drones should also be able to detect refugees in the Mediterranean and save lives. Drones should be able to measure radioactivity, smell dangerous chemicals and capture special sounds. There is a revolution in agriculture (Japan was out early) – where drones both spray and disperse seed in large areas. In addition, in deferred construction work, drones are now allowed to replace people who previously worked with life as an effort. The economics behind these drone purchases are clear: A severely injured human being estimated in the United States to be able to cost as much as 9 million dollars (!), According to the book.
Good drones will locate and rescue victims in disaster areas as well as guide rescue work through surveillance. Drones can also act as a deterrent as warning systems. It becomes more risky when journalists or private individuals use cheap drones, play around in civilian airspace and monitor the privacy of others or even military areas. Should one be able to circle over a French nuclear power plant, as the book mentions? Who should have access to civilian airspace? In the future, we will possibly get databases with driver's licenses and insurance for those who can drive on these new "airways". In addition, a kind of "geofence" is being built, with "drone shields" as jammer, or automatically take out, too close-knit drones.
Most important is the book's overall perspective: the new world situation arises in the mental paradigm created by the "war on terror" and our new risk society. What promotes war and conflict is not necessarily as true about reality as it is suggested. Drones and surveillance are legitimized by myths that we are in the everywhere war and the forever war. This new form of global "government", or governmentality, to borrow a concept from philosophy, is considered by many – us in the New Age included – to be a dangerous security hysteria that can have major consequences.
In war-torn countries, where the buzzing or humming of the air can suddenly turn into a deadly attack – generations can take mental damage from these ever-present "insects." No wonder the long-term victims of this threat want to fight back: Such a burgeoning Western totalitarianism without trust in the others, only creates evil spirals – well helped by evil drones.
For anyone interested in going deeper into contemporary militarization – read the book!
