FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Drones Over Ethics

There's no downside or moral dilemma when it comes to drone strikes, says philosopher employed by the U.S. military.

When it comes to war, are drones the most ethical option? Philosopher Bradley Strawser might say so: he argues that there’s no downside, or moral dilemmas, when it comes to drone strikes. Strawser is employed by the United States military, having recently obtained a position at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

“I don’t see the ethical problem,” says Carroll. “What matters to me is whether the cause itself is justified. Because if the operation is justified and is the right thing to do – and by the way I’m not claiming all US military strikes are – then asymmetry doesn’t matter."

Of course Carroll’s defense of drones comes equipped with a barrage of caveats: he is not saying every American strike is justified and he is not saying they are all legal, he is just saying, were this all to be true, drones are morally superior alternative. Furthermore, he is worried that some of his arguments may be implemented in the wrong way, which is to say, they would be taken seriously in the real world; a place where the President of the United States has a kill-list and the Attorney General who perceives Due Process as a putty-like suggestion that can be readily bent at will.

Read the rest over at Motherboard.