War by remote: What do you think?
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Before you think I'm a heartless bastard, here's my reasoning: it tells me that the soldiers become psychologically embedded in the situations they experience just like if they were actually there. It tells me that they're not treating it like a video game, so their moral sense should still be engaged.
It's not much, but it's some comfort. I still think we need to be very, very careful about the psychological effects of remote weapons, and how it affects the decisions soldiers and their commanders make.
Maybe I've seen one too many war movies, but I worry that the command-and-control mentality of the armed forces could override the soldier's moral sense, at least immediately, by forcing them to detach themselves from the situations.
Remember that while a soldier may think "big whoop" about a hundred-million dollar aircraft going down, their commanding officer (who's butt is on the line for that loss) may not think so, and so will do everything in their power to prevent such losses. That may include some "collateral damage".
At least, if the soldiers later suffer from PTSD, hopefully in the end they will speak their minds and the truth will come out. That's how we've heard about a lot of the atrocities of past wars.
Hold the evil robots please. Do not want.