Aerial warfare was deemed so inhumane, and so inherently indiscriminate, that there were attempts early in the twentieth century to ban bombardment from the air, efforts which obviously failed.īy Vietnam, most US bombs had a 50/50 chance of landing inside an 800-foot diameter circle, a big improvement over 1.25 miles.

The result was the widespread devastation of cities as nations blanketed each other with bombs, killing tens of thousands of civilians in the process. This level of saturation was needed because the bombs themselves were wildly inaccurate, with only a 50/50 chance of landing inside a circle 1.25 miles in diameter. In World War II, in order to have a 90 percent probability of hitting an average-sized target, the United States had to drop over 9,000 bombs, using over 3,000 bombers to conduct the attack. One of the most significant developments in the twentieth century toward making warfare more humane and reducing civilian casualties came not in the form of a weapon that was banned, but a new weapon that was created: the precision-guided munition. Precision-guided munitions lie at the heart of efforts to make the use of force safer for civilians and more effective at quickly achieving its objectives. Are they “killer robots”?Īs technology advances, it’s important that we recognize the difference between “killer robots” and merely “smart weapons.” It’s a line that some activists have blurred-pushing to ban not just the sci-fi robot warriors of the future, but also the precision-guided munitions that have dramatically reduced civilian casualties in wars over the past 6 decades. Today, nearly every modern military uses them.

Fearing such a result, a coalition of NGOs is advocating that the international community ban lethal autonomous weapons systems, which these groups call “killer robots.” It’s a striking phrase, but what exactly is a killer robot? Homing munitions, like torpedoes, incorporate some autonomy and have been in existence since World War II. Whether the setting is Earth or Caprica, letting robots think and giving them weapons is a precursor to human destruction. When the robots start thinking for themselves in the movies or on TV, it’s never a good sign for the humans.

War robot in real life