increase in tempo and require much quicker information processing and responses, robots have a
distinct advantage over the limited and fallible cognitive capabilities that we Homo sapiens have.
Not only would robots expand the battlespace over difficult, larger areas of terrain, but they also
represent a significant force-multiplier—each effectively doing the work of many human soldiers,
while immune to sleep deprivation, fatigue, low morale, perceptual and communication challenges
in the ‘fog of war’, and other performance-hindering conditions. But the presumptive case for deploying robots on the battlefield is more than about saving human
lives or superior efficiency and effectiveness, though saving lives and clearheaded action during
frenetic conflicts are significant issues.
Robots, further, would be unaffected by the emotions,
adrenaline, and stress that cause soldiers to overreact or deliberately overstep the Rules of
Engagement and commit atrocities, that is to say, war crimes. We would no longer read (as many)
news reports about our own soldiers brutalizing enemy combatants or foreign civilians to avenge the
deaths of their brothers in arms—unlawful actions that carry a significant political cost. Indeed,
robots may act as objective, unblinking observers on the battlefield, reporting any unethical behavior
back to command; their mere presence as such would discourage all-too-human atrocities in the first
place."
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