For better or worse, the military is a major driver of technological, world-changing innovations, such as the Internet. At the same time, wars and armed conflicts are a key roadblock in the evolution of humanity. Therefore, to understand how emerging technologies will change our lives, we must look at their military origins as a harbinger of things to come for society at large. This presentation will focus on ethical and policy questions arising from two key areas making headlines today and in the future: human enhancement technologies and robotics. For instance, are there moral or practical issues with eliminating human emotions such as fear or anger, which have led to abuses and accidents in wartime? Must these enhancements (and others, such as super-strength) be temporary or reversible, considering that soldiers usually return to civilian life? Robots can discourage such abuses if equipped with cameras, becoming objective and unblinking observers on the battlefield, but would this erode cohesion and trust among soldiers – and in the civilian realm, would surveillance robots infringe on our privacy? Generally, would these new technologies make it easier to engage in war, since they would lower political costs by reducing the number of casualties on our side – if so, is it immoral, or otherwise counterproductive to humanity's progress, to develop these capabilities? Patrick Lin is the director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group , based at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Most recently, he has led research efforts that culminated in two major reports: Autonomous Military Robotics: Risk, Ethics, and Design (funded by the U.S. Dept. of Defense/Navy, 2008) and Ethics of Human Enhancement: 25 Questions & Answers (funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, 2009). He has published several books and papers in the field of technology ethics, including a new monograph What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?: From Science to Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) and a forthcoming anthology Robot Ethics: The Social and Ethical Implication of Robotics (MIT Press, in preparation). Dr. Lin earned his B.A. from University of California at Berkeley, M.A. and Ph.D. from University of California at Santa Barbara, and completed a three-year post-doctoral appointment at Dartmouth College. He is currently an assistant professor in Cal Poly’s philosophy department and an ethics fellow at the U.S. Naval Academy.

1. Military 2.0
Ethical issues in robotics
and human enhancement
H+ Summit 2010 Patrick Lin, Ph.D.
Harvard University Cal Poly State Univ., San Luis Obispo
June 12, 2010 Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group

2. [ Agenda ]
• Military and society
• Human enhancement
• Robotics
• Some issues
Civilian blowback
Culture of war
Others
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 2

3. [ Tangled fates ]
“To secure peace is to prepare for war.”
– Karl von Clausewitz
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4. [ Mystery and hype ]
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5. [ But an undeniable force ]
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
- Plato
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6. [ Commanding budgets ]
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7. [ Military technology roots ]
• Internet
• Computers
• GPS
• Communications tech
• Medicine, incl. prosthetics
• Nuclear power
• Microwave power
• Radar
• Pesticides
• Automobile
• Rockets
• Air and sea travel
• Gunpowder
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 7

8. [ Some military projects today ]
• Cyborg insects
• Robots that eat
• Energy weapons
• Telepathic communication
• Quantum computing
• Submersible aircraft
• Exoskeletons
• Enhanced warfighters
• Dynamic armor
• Invisible shields and cloaks
• Accelerated therapeutics
• Real-time language translations
• Programmable matter
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 8

9. [ Military H+ projects ]
• Accelerated Learning
• Crystalline Cellulose Conversion to Glucose
• Education Dominance
• Enabling Stress Resistance
• Exoskeleton
• Neovision2
• Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts
• Peak Soldier Performance (Metabolic Dominance)
• PowerSwim
• RealNose
• Synthetic Telepathy
• Wingsuit (Next-Gen Parachute System)
• Z-Man
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 9

10. [ Military robotics projects ]
• Ground robots
• Aerial robots
• Marine robots
• Space robots
• Immobile/fixed robots
• Sentry robots
• Humanoid robots
• Chemical robots or “blob-bots”
• Biological-machine integrations or “cyborgs”
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11. [ LittleDog ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
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12. [ Some issues ]
1. Civilian blowback
2. Culture of war
3. Other issues
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13. [ 1: Civilian blowback ]
Over 23 million veterans in the US today
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14. [ 2: Culture of war]
“It is well that war is so terrible, lest
we grow too fond of it.”
– Robert E. Lee
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15. [ 3: Other issues ]
• Risk
• Legal
• Ethical
• Philosophical
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16. [ Conclusion ]
Military is both a driver
and a potential roadblock
to humanity’s evolution
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 16

17. [ Acknowledgements ]
• This work is supported by:
– US National Science Foundation grant numbers 0620694 (Western
Michigan Univ.) and 0621021 (Dartmouth)
– US Office of Naval Research grant numbers N00014-08-1-1209 and
N00014-07-1-1152 (Cal Poly)
– US Naval Academy, 2009-2010 ethics fellowship
– Cal Poly, College of Liberal Arts and Philosophy Dept.
• All images and copyrights are properties of their respective owners
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 17

18. [ Thank you! ]
Dr. Patrick Lin
Director, Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group
California Polytechnic State Univ. (SLO)
Philosophy Department
palin@calpoly.edu
http://ethics.calpoly.edu
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19. [ ASIMO ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
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20. [ Blob-bot ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 20

21. [ BigDog ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 21

22. [ Cyborg insects ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 22

23. [ Robot mouth ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
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24. [ Geminoid-F ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNZPRs
rwumQ
Copyright 2010 © Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group @ Cal Poly 24