How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bots, and How I Learned to Start Worrying About Democracy Instead
Catholic University Journal of Law & Technology, 27 Cath. U. J. L. & Tech 129 (2019).
CUA Columbus School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-3
17 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2019
Date Written: 2019
Abstract
This essay reviewing Striking Power, John Yoo and Jeremy Rabkin's new book on the legal and policy implications of autonomous weapons, takes issue with the book’s assumptions and; therefore its conclusions. The essay argues that, because of technological and ethical limitations, discriminate and effective use of autonomous weapons may not serve as an adequate substitute for traditional manpower-based military forces. It further argues that traditional conceptions of international law could prove more durable than Yoo and Rabkin suggest, and finally it concludes by suggesting that a grand strategy relying primarily on technological elites managing autonomous weapons actually threatens to undermine our common democracy and its reliance on mass citizen mobilization.
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