Drones, information technology, and distance: Mapping the moral epistemology of remote fighting

Date
2013-06
Authors
Coeckelbergh, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Ethical reflection on drone fighting suggests that this practice does not only create physical distance, but also moral distance: far removed from one’s opponent, it becomes easier to kill. This paper discusses this thesis, frames it as a moral-epistemological problem, and explores the role of information technology in bridging and creating distance. Inspired by a broad range of conceptual and empirical resources including ethics of robotics, psychology, phenomenology, and media reports, it is first argued that drone fighting, like other long-range fighting, creates epistemic and moral distance in so far as ‘screenfighting’ implies the disappearance of the vulnerable face and body of the opponent and thus removes moral-psychological barriers to killing. However, the paper also shows that this influence is at least weakened by current surveillance technologies, which make possible a kind of ‘empathic bridging’ by which the fighter’s opponent on the ground is re-humanized, re-faced, and re-embodied. This ‘mutation’ or unintended ‘hacking’ of the practice is a problem for drone pilots and for those who order them to kill, but revealing its moral-epistemic possibilities opens up new avenues for imagining morally better ways of technology-mediated fighting.
Description
Keywords
Military Robotics, Drones, Ethics, Distance, Information Technology, Phenomenology
Citation
Coeckelbergh, M. (2013) Drones, information technology, and distance: mapping the moral epistemology of remote fighting. Ethics and Information Technology, 15 (2), pp. 87-98
Research Institute
Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR)