DRONE TECHNICS DRONE WARFARE AND THE MEDIATION OF

DRONE TECHNICS DRONE WARFARE AND THE MEDIATION OF VIOLENCE DR. NOLEN GERTZ ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE N. GERTZ@UTWENTE. NL

WHAT IS “UNMANNED WARFARE”? Traditional Warfare: Unmanned Warfare: • “Boots on the ground” • “Bots in the sky” • “War is hell” • “War is clean” • “The fog of war” • “War is clear” • “Band of brothers” • “Cubicle warriors” • “The lost generation” • “Gamers with weapons” • Bronze Star • Distinguished Warfare Medal

3 VIEWS OF UNMANNED WARFARE Antiseptic View Terroristic View Dystopian View War is too easy War is too pervasive War is too inhuman War is becoming a first resort rather than a last resort War is using Big Brother to stop Bin Laden War is creating killer robots who will kill us all

3 VIEWS OF UNMANNED WARFARE Antiseptic View Terroristic View Dystopian View War is too easy War is too pervasive War is too inhuman War is becoming a first resort rather than a last resort War is using Big Brother to stop Bin Laden War is creating killer robots who will kill us all Means > Users

WHAT FOCUSING ON MEANS MISSES

WHAT FOCUSING ON MEANS MISSES

PUTTING MAN BACK INTO UNMANNED WARFARE “. . . a survey of air force drone crews found that, contrary to expectation that those fighting from a distance should find it easier, the remote crews actually had ‘significantly increased fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. ’ They were even found to be suffering from the stress and fatigue of combat at the same, if not higher, levels than many units physically in the war zone. ”—Singer (2009)

PUTTING MAN BACK INTO UNMANNED WARFARE “. . . a survey of air force drone crews found that, contrary to expectation that those fighting from a distance should find it easier, the remote crews actually had ‘significantly increased fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. ’ They were even found to be suffering from the stress and fatigue of combat at the same, if not higher, levels than many units physically in the war zone. ”—Singer (2009) Operating drones (Mind) will protect combatants from trauma of war (Body)

Traditional Ethics: “What should I do? ” Postphenomenology: Technology is not neutral Influences experience Influences ethics Mediational Ethics: “What should I–Technology do? ”

HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY RELATIONS • Embodiment Relations: (I–Glasses) World Quasi-Me • Hermeneutic Relations: I (Computer–World) Quasi-World • Alterity Relations: I i. Phone (–World) Quasi-Other

OPERATOR-DRONE RELATIONS “It’s about the datalink, stupid. The craft is essentially a conduit, an eye in the sky. Cut off from its back end, from its satellite links and its data processors, its intelligence analysts and its controller, the drone is as useless as an eyeball disconnected from the brain. . . [W]hat gives a drone its singular value is its ability to provide perpetual, relatively low-cost surveillance, watching a target continuously for hours, days, weeks, even months. . . With steady, real-time surveillance, a controller can strike with the target in his sights. He can, for instance, choose a moment when his victim is isolated, or traveling in a car, reducing the chance of harming anyone else. ”—Bowden, “The Killing Machines: How to Think About Drones” Embodiment Hermeneutic Alterity

DRONE TECHNICS • Flying a drone Embodiment “. . . when flying missions, he sometimes felt himself merging with the technology, imagining himself as a robot, a zombie, a drone itself. ” • Using a drone for surveillance Hermeneutic “He switched from the visible spectrum—the muted grays and browns of ‘day-TV’—to the sharp contrast of infrared, and the insurgents’ heat signatures stood out ghostly white against the cool black earth. . . It took him a long time to die. I just watched him. I watched him become the same color as the ground he was lying on. ” • Taking responsibility for the drone Alterity “. . . at first, he believed that the mission was vital, that drones were capable of limiting the suffering of war, of saving lives. When this notion conflicted with the things he witnessed in high resolution from two miles above, he tried to put it out of his mind. Over time he found that the job made him numb: a ‘zombie mode’ he slipped into as easily as his flight suit. ”

WHY TECHNICS MATTER Traditional Warfare Unmanned Warfare Embodiment Relations Hermeneutic Relations Alterity Relations Fascination Forgetfulness Projection Alienation Power Amorality Empathy toward victims Enmity toward drones Suffering Responsibility

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