Transcript
PETER SINGER: In history, some of the most remarkable changes have been those that have been driven by technology like gunpowder, like the steam engine, like the airplane; technologies that force us to ask questions about not only what is possible that we didn't have to think about before, but more importantly, the human side of it, questions of what is proper, the right and wrong of everything from doctrine to questions around the laws of war. These moments, these technologies, are very rare in history; in fact, they're often oversold, but we may be living through one of these moments right now.
Today a young teenager is being invited to join the Navy through TV commercials that extol how the Navy is "Working every day to unman the front lines." That same type of TV recruiting ad is also being played out for anyone who's interested in joining the Army and the Air Force -- that is, you have the three services that are emphasizing unmanned systems in their recruiting efforts today.
Once they join the force, that young sailor will receive the latest in virtual training on everything from how to operate weapons system to how to deal with PTSD. Then once they enter into the force itself, if they're deployed into Iraq or Afghanistan, they may well us a PackBot or a Talon in doing route security and EOD work. If they end up in the surface force they may well end up for example on an Aegis class or an LCS that serves as a hub for everything from Fire Scout unmanned helicopters to Protector robotic sentry motorboats. If they career takes them into submarines, they may well end up using UUVs that help do everything from detect mines to surveil coastlines. Or if they end up in aviation, they may well end up in anything from the BAMS program Global Hawk to monitor sea lanes, to UCAS that explores the use of unmanned systems in carrier strike aviation. The point here is that young sailor not only will be engaging with technologies that as TV commercial, as that recruiting ad says, "Seems like science fiction but are in the Navy today."
But more importantly, that young officer will be begin to wrestle with questions that no one had to wrestle with before, everything from Naval doctrine to the laws of the sea. It's an amazing and challenging time and it's made all the more notable by the fact that it's happening in the midst of two ongoing wars and emerging global threats.
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