commentN07

Issue #62

Last Update February 28, 2009

Commentary July 2007 In a June 5, 2007 New York Stringer article, “Military Without Solders”, Gerry Krownstein envisioned a future in which robotic and remote-controlled weapons replaced the American soldier and airman. That future is here today. On July 16, the Associated Press ran an article about the creation and deployment to Iraq of an entire squadron of robotic airplanes, which, unlike the current tiny Predator drones, are able to fly at high speeds and carry serious munitions. This “Robot Air Attack Squadron”, as the AP headline termed it, will first make its appearance in Afghanistan sometime in the next few months, and then in Iraq. These turboprop planes can fly at 300 mph and carry 7,500 lbs of bombs and missiles, along with the sophisticated electronics for guidance and targeting. The operator is 7,000 miles away, although a spotter will be located in the battle area.

Three days earlier, the AP carried a story about robots that enable a doctor to have a remote presence to hospitalized patients. A modified video conferencing robot, able to trundle along hospital corridors, can stop in at a patient's room, and, with a screen and camera where a head would be, allow the patient to carry on a conversation with the doctor, who does not have to leave his office. This enables the doctor to be in contact with many more patients than if he, himself, were wandering around the hospital. Patients apparently react enthusiastically to telepresence.

These two stories illustrate the opportunities and perils of robotics. At this point in time, the robots in these news stories are merely facilitators of human action. Their decision-making is essentially restricted to enabling their own mobility and operation. In the military case, it enables operations to take place without risk to our air force personnel, reducing the strain of military operations in terms of casualties, relocation, political impact and turnover. In the case of the medical robot, while promoting doctor-patient communication of a kind, it further reduces the direct human contact which has become so attenuated under modern medical economics.

As more decision-making devolves to the robot itself, the emotional component that guides and corrects our actions (and sometimes inflames them) will be lacking. There are no unalloyed goods or evils in technology. It is up to us to monitor these developments closely, and guide these developments into positive paths. If things turn out badly, we will have only our own laziness and inattention to blame.

New York Stringer is published by NYStringer.com. For all communications, contact David Katz, Editor and Publisher, at david@nystringer.com