Visions of swarming robots: Artificial intelligence and stupidity in the military-industrial projection of the future of warfare

Crogan, Patrick

Abstract

My subject in this paper is the analysis, speculation and recommendations for the future development and deployment of lethal autonomous robotic systems such as they appear in reports, studies and presentations emanating from what is still aptly called the military-industrial complex. To develop this critical reflection I mobilize a critical perspective on the future of military technology informed by the work of French philosopher of technology Bernard Stiegler. I consider from this perspective the human intelligence that is marshalled and directed toward the future plans for a new kind of “war in the age of intelligent machines”. I show the pertinence of Stiegler’s comments on the human exercise of its potential for rational, reflective intelligence in order to critically evaluate the promotion in these plans of a strategy advocating the delegation of killing to a synthesized swarming intelligence.

Citation

Crogan, P. (2020). Visions of swarming robots: Artificial intelligence and stupidity in the military-industrial projection of the future of warfare. In T. Heffernan (Ed.), Cyborg Futures: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (89-112). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21836-2_5

• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 3, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 26, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 28, 2021
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 89-112
• Series Title: Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI
• Series ISSN: 2523-8523
• Book Title: Cyborg Futures: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• Chapter Number: 5
• ISBN: 978-3-030-21835-5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21836-2_5
• Keywords: Drones, AI, swarming, Stiegler
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/4748301
• Publisher URL: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030218355