Robot Wars - Science Fiction or Coming Reality

Robot wars - science fiction or coming reality

Introduction

History has proved that science fiction does not remain so for very long. Wireless communication, the internet, air travel and even the telephone were, at a time, considered to be science fiction and a figment of one's imagination. Similarly, machinery and robotics, for the purpose of military warfare, were also considered to be only for comic books and fiction novels. Today, however, such is not the case. Robotics plays a great part in modern warfare and has massively increased the life expectancy of our soldiers. Scholars predict that in the future, machines will entirely take over warfare responsibilities entirely. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the likelihood of robot wars turning into a reality, as compared to the current science fiction status

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Discussion

In the early 90's, a movie titled “The Terminator” amazed audiences all over the world. The theme of the movie revolved around a robotic assassin, sent through time to eliminate a target and in doing so; alter the future in favor of the assassin's creators. Though time travel is not currently possible, work on creating a humanoid has started and has met quite a bit of success. Today, robots that mimic a human being's physical movements have become a reality. Similar humanoids have found their way into the field of safety and precaution testing allowing scientists to better understand the limits of the human body and keep that in mind when designing machinery used in production of commercial and military products such as cars and weapons alike.

Speaking of war, acclaimed thinkers have gone to the extent of saying that robots, in the near future, might take the place of human soldiers. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this specific scenario causing a more ethical dilemma than economic or in terms of military strategy. Yes, replacing human soldiers with robots means that our brave men and women will no longer get injured or die protecting our nation. Human life will be preserved and dominance will be in favor of the nation with the better technology. The United States has taken considerable steps towards this. The war in Iraq has seen the introduction of numerous robots aiding American soldiers in the war on terror. Machines have taken on the responsibility of aiding bomb disposal squads, providing reconnaissance and even modernized forms of ammunition. The number of lives lost, as compared to times when technology was not as common as today, has greatly reduced.

Comparably, introducing complete replacement of human soldiers is potentially an ethical hazard. Machines do not have emotion. The fact that a man it might end up killing, might be the sole provider for his children, does not weigh in on its decision to eliminate a target (Adams, 2011). A machine simply knows what it is told and completes only what it is asked of. It will not worry about wrong or right, and definitely not worry ...