Title :
Creating moral buffers in weapon control interface design
Author_Institution :
Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
We examine the ethical and social issues surrounding the design of human-computer interfaces that are designed for control of highly autonomous weapons systems. With the improvements of global positioning satellite communications and control algorithms, it is currently possible to launch weapons. These systems are highly autonomous in that they do not need constant human supervision and manual control for operation and indeed, only require human intervention when a change in a goal state is required. In the swarm concept, human decision makers are removed even further from the decision-making loop.
Keywords :
decision making; ethical aspects; human computer interaction; satellite navigation; user interfaces; weapons; autonomous weapons systems; control algorithms; decision-making loop; ethical issues; global positioning satellite communication; human decision makers; human-computer interfaces; moral buffer creation; social issues; swarm concept; weapon control interface design; Buildings; Communication system control; Computer interfaces; Control systems; Decision making; Ethics; Human factors; Pervasive computing; Safety; Weapons;
Journal_Title :
Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MTAS.2004.1337888
