Ethics of Autonomous Drones in the Military Free Essays

Jared May Professor Elfstrom February 25, 2013 Intro to Ethics A Soldier, Taking Orders From Its Ethical Judgment Center In this article the author Cornelia Dean has three major points that are supported by arguments made by others. The first major important point is the hopeful idea that autonomous robots can perform more ethically in combat situations than any soldier in the same scenario. She states that even the best and most trained soldiers that are in the midst of battle may not always be able to act accordingly with the battlefield rules of engagement that were stated by the Geneva Convention because of possible lashing out from normal human emotions such as anger, fear, resent, and vengefulness. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics of Autonomous Drones in the Military or any similar topic only for you Order Now The second major point Dean wants to show, by the views and studies of others, in her article is that with this possible step in our evolution of military technology we do not want to let this idea fade away. Another major point is if we do develop this technology how would we do so, and if not, would we regret not advancing in this field further many years from now. With all of this information Dean uses to present her ideas there are still major flaws such as, the majority of these ideas and beliefs are theoretical, they still have not been fully tested, there is error in all technologies, and where else would the technological advancements lead artificial intelligence. The first argument providing support for Dean’s major point comes from the research hypothesis and thoughts of a computer scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology named Ronald Arkin. Arkin is currently under contract by the United States Army to design software programs for possible battlefield and current battlefield robots. The research hypothesis of Arkin is that he believes that intelligent autonomous robots can perform much more ethically in the heat of the battlefield than humans currently can. Yet this is just a hypothesis and while there is much research done towards this hypothesis there are still no absolutely positive research information that states an autonomous robot drone can in fact perform better than any soldier on the ground or up in a plane could do. In Arkins hypothesis, he stated that these robots could be designed with no sense of self-preservation. This means that without one of the strongest fears for humans, the fear of death, these robots would be able to understand, compute, and react to situations with out outside extraneous emotions. Although the men and women designing these robot programs may be able to eliminate this psychological problem of scenario fulfillment, which will cause soldiers to retain information that is playing out easier with a bias to pre-existing ideas, it is not always the case that this happens to soldiers. You have to realize that from the second a soldier begins his training he is trained and taught to eliminate the sense of self-preservation. There are isolated incidents with soldier error, but they are and will be corrected by superior officers or their fellow soldiers. Another factor that affects Cornelia Dean’s arguments is that there are errors in all things including technology. Throughout history there have been new uses of technology in warfare but with these come problems and error flaws that have cause and can cause more casualties than needed. With the use of an Automated drone the belief by Dean is that it will be able to decide whether or not to launch an attack on a high priority target whether or not if the target is in a public are and will decide if the civilian casualties would be worth it. But what happens if that drone is only identifying the target and the number of civilians surrounding it? It will not be able to factor in what type of people would be around him such as men, women, or children and any variance of them. The error in this situation would be the drone saying the target is high enough priority and a missile is launched and the civilians were women and children around while a school bus was driving by. The casualties would then instantly out weigh the priority to eliminate a specific target and a human pilot would much easier abort a mission than a predetermined response of an autonomous robot. Although Ronald Arkin believes there are situations that could arise when there may not be time for a robotic device to relay back what is happening to a human operator and wait for how to respond in the situation that could complete a mission, it may be that second of time delay between the robot and human operator that the ethical judgment is made. Also the realization that many robots in which are operated by humans are widely used to detect mines, dispose of or collects bombs, and clear out buildings to help ensure extra safety of our soldiers is a way that robots are already used today as battlefield assistants supports Dean. But all of these machines in the field have moments of failure or error. When the machines do fail it takes a soldier who has trained for that experience to fix and then use it again. If an autonomous drone fails while on a mission it is completely by its self and no human operator to fix it. Then can arise the problem of enemies realizing they were even being monitored and they could gain access to our military technology and can eventually use it against us. Another major point that Cornelia Dean discusses upon is with this possible step in our evolution of military technology we do not want to let this idea fade away. A large part of that is if we do develop this technology how would we do so, and if not, how much would we regret or how much would it affect us for not advancing in this field further many years from now. The argument that if other countries advance upon this faster and better than the United States military we could become less of a world power and be more at risk of attack and war with greater human fatalities is not necessarily true. This situation is important in the sense of keeping up with the other world powers but I believe that the risk for reward is not worth the amount of damage and civilian casualties that could happen from any number of robotic drones and their possible errors. There is a possibility as the technology develops and robots become more and more aware to the point were, Arkin believes that, they can make decisions at a higher level of technological development. Yet if these autonomous robots truly can think for themselves and make decisions brings a whole new possibility of problems of what if the robot can decide something differently than what the developers originally had programmed. Also comes the actual use problem of can the government ethically accept that in early stages of use, even after extraneous testing, there may be accidental casualties. If a robot has any error of making decisions because of how new and un-tested they are any of the possibly terrible results would not be the responsibility of the robot but of the country and government that designed it. The supporting evidence of this article strongly shows that Cornelia Dean will hope that use of these ethically superior autonomous robots will be apart of our military in the near future before the United States fall behind to other super powers in the world. Yet with all of this information Dean uses to present her ideas there are still major flaws such as, the majority of these ideas and beliefs are theoretical, they still have not been fully tested, and that there is error in all technologies. With these major points being enforced with plenty of evidence throughout the article, and with all of the possible negative sides and errors of this argument, it is safe to say that this will be and is a controversial topic of discussion by many governments and all parties involved with this technological advancement. How to cite Ethics of Autonomous Drones in the Military, Papers

Emerging Waterborne Pathogens Essay Example For Students

Emerging Waterborne Pathogens Essay In todays food preparation world waterborne pathogens are becominga real threat. Why? Simply because in todays culture people are quick toblame the food industry for most cases of disintary or other ill effects causedby bacteria. In this paper several things will be discussed. To understand what Im trying to say, you must understand a few keyterms. First lets define waterborne pathogen. A waterborne pathogen is amicro-organism whose ability to cause disease has recently been identified. Now that you know what a waterborne pathogen is lets name a few. 1. Bacteria in the form of,Arcobacter ButzleriHelicobacter PyloriAnd E. Coli2. VirusesRotavirusesand Adenoviruses Type 40 and 413. ProtozoaAcanthamoeba. Each of these possible pathogens has been identified but according tothe WRcs Final Report to the Department of the Environment onWaterborne Pathogens, it is still possible that several unidentified pathogensmay be at large and dangerous. In order to understand how these pathogens work, and how to destroythem we must understand several of the parts that make them up. Some ofthese parts are:MorphologyBiochemical CharacteristicsDetection MethodsCultural characteristicsHealth EffectsRoutes of TransmissionOccurrence in Water SourcesSources of Exposureand Susceptibility to removal or inactivation by conventional watertreatment processes. Each of these parts is used in todays world to identify and destroyexisting, and new pathogens. What happens if someone ingests a pathogen before it is identified?Well that is one reason that the Department of the Environment is soconcerned. Due to current environmental status new pathogens are appearingsemi-daily, and consequently overwhelming those who are working to stopthem. One major example of this is Legionella. Legionella is unique in thefact that 42 strains have been identified, and yet only one is within our abilityto control. So obviously there is a major shortage of knowledge on pathogens,and how to control them. According to the WRCs report to the Department of the EnviromentThe threat which is posed by an organism to contaminate water supplies andcause outbreaks always exists, and furthermore they state that The threatwhich is posed by an organism, in terms of its occurrence and distribution inwater sources and the ability to remove it is often poorly understood and orcompletely unknown.Does this alarm anyone else? Just the thought that our governmentadmits that there are diseases out there that we have no ability to control isalarming. Let alone the fact that the food industry is blamed for most of theproblems that occur due to waterborne pathogens. Lets examine the logic the government uses to explain thisphenomenon, According to data provided by the Environmental ControlAgency, 65% of waterborne pathogens appear in highly populated areas, soaccording to this data most of these pathogens arrive via the water supply tocity areas. This might explain why most new diseases surface in the foodservice industry, due to the fact that most restaurants and other foodproduction facilities are centered in cities. Now that we know there is a problem what can the food industry do tokeep from spreading the ill feelings, and actual medical problems surroundingwaterborne pathogens? Well first of all we all need to recognize the source ofthe problem, and take the appropriate steps to stop it. Supplies of cleansedwater should be on hand. Also if a pathogen has been linked to your place ofbusiness take the recommended steps to identify where the problem is comingfrom and stop it. Furthermore educate your workers about the problem. .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .postImageUrl , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:hover , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:visited , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:active { border:0!important; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:active , .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u5ed1a6e5d167af1e0d53d45c9246b73c:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Hermaphroditism EssayEducation never hurt anyone. In conclusion the food industry is greatly wronged by the generalpublic when it comes to identifying the causes of certain diseases. The onlyway that this problem will ever be resolved is by grater education of theproblem. Works CitedThe main source for this paper was Http://www.awwarf.comand the Department of Environmental Conservation final report to the Department of the Environment

When Someone Hugs You Never Be The First To Let Go Essays

When Someone Hugs You Never Be The First To Let Go About this time last year, my best friend was diagnosed with a serious kidney disease; one that if not treated could be fatal. She had been perfectly healthy until about a week before. Her disease was one that she had been born with, but was inactive ntil it was triggered. No one is sure what triggered it. I remember the day I found out as if it were yesterday. I was sitting on my couch waiting for a phone call to tell me everything was OK. I was kind of dozing off when I heard a knock at my front door. I opened my door to reveal my grief-strickened friend. She stood on my front porch quivering, half from the cold and half from fright. Her eyes were bloodshot and her glitter eye-makeup was mixed with tears to form tiny, glittery rivers that ran down her cheeks. Instantly I was paralyzed by fear. I began to ask a million questions, half of which were probably not understandable because I was trembling. She managed to stammer out something about a disease and how she could die. As I stood there watching my friend crumble into nothing, cold, salty tears began to roll down my cheeks. I knelt beside her and threw my arms around her. We sat on my porch hugging each other for what seemed like hours. Finally she let go and we began to talk. My friend has been in many horrible situations that I couldn't make all right. The only way I can help is to open my arms and offer a shoulder to cry on and a hug. I make sure that I am never the first one to let go when I hug a friend. I feel that en my friend feels better she will let go and I will have done my job as a friend. Never be the first one to let go. By holding on, you're telling your friend that you're there. Hug your friends as much as you can. Show them you truly love them and en a hard time comes they will be there with open arms for you. Creative Writing

Pond Weed essays

Pond Weed essays What are the factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis? The amount of light, carbons dioxide, the temperature and water are all limiting factors of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis increases when light gets brighter but only up too a point. The more carbon dioxide you give plants the more photosynthesis it will carries out. An increase on the temperature usually increases the rate of photosynthesis. If there is no water/ or moisture this can affect the growth of the plant and the plat will not have any think to feed on, which stops the plants growth. To investigate how the rate of photosynthesis in light intensity. Hypothesis: What I predict before the experiment. The light intensity affects photosynthesis as plants needs this for growth, evidence that this works is that when its in the summer plants seems to grow better in the light (sunshine) due to high light intensity. Therefore, every time I bring the light source closer, this will increase the light intensity on the pondweed, so I think that closer the light is to the plant the more photosynthesis will take place. How will the light intensity be adjusted? I will adjust the light intensity by adjusting the distance of the light from the plant, I will start it off 50cm away and then 45cm, 40cm, 35cm, 30cm, 25cm, 20cm, 15cm, 10cm, and then 0.5cm, I will record the results and then produce a graph and add a line of best fit, I think that closer the light intensity then the photosynthesis will increase. Method: Step by step on how to start and complete this experience ...

Analysing the traditional approach to quality management

Analysing the traditional approach to quality management Quality in its simple terms mean activities designed in a manner to improve organisation and its services. Quality also means to learn what you are doing and how to do it better. It also means to find out ways you need to change for improving services to the ultimate users. Consumer–Quality–Producer Quality : From the consumer’s point of view is price. From the producer’s point is cost. But remember always the Customer’s view must reign supreme. Dimensions of quality : Products. 1} Performance : Basic operating characteristics of D a product. Example; A car : how good are the brakes, body, mileage, etc of a car. 2} Features : Any special characteristics added to the product. e.g; special interiors added in the Car. 3} Reliability : The expected time limit for the product to deliver its best. E.g; approximate mileage of the car before it needs service. 4} Durability : Will the product last long enough up to expected time limit. 5} Conformance : Does the product meets pre established standards. 6} Serviceability : How easy is to get the service repairs, speed of repairs and the cost incurred in providing service. 7} Safety : Is the product safe enough to meet all the safety requirements as prescribed. 8} Perceptions : Perceptions based on branding, advertising etc; Does the product meets the quality standard set by a particular brand name. 9} Appearance : The human senses of sight, taste and smell is met to the well established standard. Other more Dimension of Quality : Quality of design : The design of the product must be such satisfying the needs of the customers. Quality of production process : The customers needs and wants must be met by the product. Quality of conformance : All the legal requirements and the specifications are met by the product or service. Quality of customer service : Company and customer relation must be met by with highest level of accuracy. Customers must be satisfied with the services provided and m ust feel are taken care of. Organisational quality culture : One of the most important attributes towards quality is that the seriousness of the whole organisation in achieving quality. Quality management can be considered to have three main components: quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not only on product quality, but also the means to achieve it. Quality management therefore uses quality assurance and control of processes as well as products to achieve more consistent quality. The Traditional approach to quality management : TRADITIONAL APPROACH As defined by Fetter, and quoted in Johnson, Kast and Rosenzweig [11] as the function of ensuring the attributes of the product conform to prescribed standards and that their relationships are maintained. The emphasis laid in traditional approach was on product inspection and rejection and the most crucial decision of time for when and what to inspect and what quantity to inspect. For this purpose, the features of the product and the cost involved needed to be considered. The process of inspecting the product might have been a random selection or a 100% check. The responsibility of assuring the product quality lied with the quality control department but generally the quality managers used to report directly to production managers or the plant manager. The managers on the contrary were in immense pressure to meet the production targets and therefore many times to meet the production targets used to let go the faulty goods. This resulted in increased customer complaints or even if the customer did not complain they never came resulting in rise in warranty cost. The managers were generally tolerant of high work scrap levels and rework inefficiencies.

Dq3-Terence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dq3-Terence - Essay Example This study aims at analyzing components, procedures, and challenges of phenomenology study and case study and provides the most appropriate method research design and method for researching n the 2010 shooting murder of a student at Northern Illinois University. Phenomenological study components include shared experience that entails knowing the experience that all the participants in the study went through at a certain time in their lives (Ho at al., June 01, 2011). Location of the universality of the experience is the second component that entails knowing the shard experience identified is of a universal nature (Englander, May 14, 2012). Elimination of assumption is one of the main requirements in conducting phenomenological study. The other component of the phenomenological study is attempting to identify shared experiences among the individuals identified as having shared the same experience (Miner-Romanof, 2012). Bracketing also forms the other concept that is mainly utilized in the conduct of phenomenological study. The last element is the accounting of the experience by the individuals detailing the facts of the experience and nature of the experience (Kogovsek & Petric, January 01, 2013). An example of phenomenological study can be the impact of changing a lecturer for a given class with the experience being that the students were taught by the new lecturer. The main challenge of phenomenological research is bracketing complication in data collection and analysis. Phenomenological research does not have a non-personalized discovery process for data collection and analysis. Bracketing is an important concept in phenomenological research to ensure data reliability allowing for outlining of research findings and analysis (DiÃŒ az, January 01, 2013). Another challenge with phenomenological study is that the phenomenological study deals with consciousness

Hw Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Hw - Assignment Example Project time management is another knowledge area and involves outlining and sequencing of involved processes and activities in a process, approximation of necessary time and resources for a project, and development and management of a schedule for implementation of involved activities in a project. Cost management involves estimation, planning, and management of involved costs while quality management involves planning, guarantee, and management of quality in a project’s processes and activities. Another knowledge area, project human resource management, entails outlining of a plan for human resources, and recruitment, development, and management of teams. Project communication management however determines necessary information in a project, mode of communicating the information, management of the information and mode of delivering the final report on a project. Project risk management however involves identification and management of risks while project procurement manageme nt entails processes for acquisition of commodities for implementation of a project (Pinto 24,