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There Are Dangers That Come with Drones, Technology and AI

When the battlefield becomes more dangerous, so too do our communities.

One troubling aspect of our technology-focused, 21st-century future is all the bad things that technology can be used for.  For instance, no need for a suicide car bomber if the car is self-driving.

Then there will be all the military applications of warfare that are currently being developed. Self-guiding weapons, facial recognition aligned with weapons, and so on. See this New York Times video on the future of weapons and what is here already, A.I. Is Making it Easier to Kill (You). Here’s How.

As a former infantryman, I've thought about what type of battle would be worse? Being in a human mass of men trying to hack one another to death like Henry V of England, or the 20th-century battlefield of my era with artillery, war planes, bombs, minefields and weapons possible of killing and maiming from afar. Likely, the 20th century was much more lethal. 

Moving forward, the challenge will be how do you fight "morally?" For amoral countries like Russia and China, do they even care about moral warfare? Likely they will build robotic killing machines designed only to kill without thinking about morality. Here in the United States, at least the debate is occurring. 

International solutions to issues of morality always come after a war and the introduction of new ways to kill people. 

Then, to bring it all home. In our cities and towns criminals will look to exploit these new weapons and technology for their own purposes. For instance, the morality of Mexican drug cartels is not in question. They have none!

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.