Popularization of Science

Popularization of Science

Evaluating of Human Impacts of Technological Advancement in Tools, Means and Methods of Warfare

Document Type : Review Paper

Author
nasrin mosaffa
Associate Professor Tehran University
Abstract
In recent decades, emergence and rise of new technologies constantly affected the warfare, both its nature and outcome. The rapid progress also posed legal, moral, humane, political and strategic questions leading to extended debates. Any decision to develop, produce, purchase or utilise such technologies for military purposes causes a burden because of their consequences. This article examines the impacts of new technologies of tools, means and methods of war by discussing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (i.e. Drones), lethal weapons and automatic weapons. For many, increased reliance on automatic weapons and sophisticated technologies in war might be exciting, but certainly for many the nightmare is a war without human brain and emotions.
Keywords
Drone
International humanitarian law
Technological advancement
War
Human impact of war
Altman, Juergen, Peter Asaro, Noel Sharkey, and Rob Sparrow. “Mission
Statement.” ICRAC (2009). Web. <http://icrac.net/statements/>
Amoroso, Edward G. Cyber Attacks. Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann,
2011. Print.
BBC. ”Gas ‘killed Moscow hostages’.” BBC News. BBC, 27 Oct. 2002. Web.
12 June 2014.
Bernard, Vincent. “Science cannot be placed above its consequences.” Inter-
national Review of the Red Cross 94.886 (2012): 457-467.
Boot, Max. War made new: technology, warfare, and the course of history,
1500 to today. New York: Gotham Books, 2006. Print.
Boyle, M. J. “The costs and consequences of drone warfare”. International
Affairs, 89 (2013): 1–29. doi: 10.1111/1468-2346.12002.
Brunstetter, Daniel, and Megan Braun. “The Implications of Drones on the just
War Tradition.” Ethics & International Affairs 25.3 (2011): 337,358,247.
Carpenter, Charli and Lina Shaikhouni. “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Foreign
Policy (2011). Web. <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/07/
dont_fear_the_reaper?page=0,2>.
Clarke, Ben and Christian Rouffaer and François Sénéchaud. “Beyond the
Call of Duty: why shouldn’t video game players face the same dilemmas as
real soldiers?” International Review of the Red Cross 94.886 (2012): 711-
739.
Clarke, Richard A. Cyber War. New York, Ecco, 2012.
Cohen, Eliot A. “A Revolution in Warfare.” Foreign Affairs 75.2 (1996): 37.
Dando, Malcolm. “Non-lethal Weapons.” Brassey’s Defence Yearbook. Lon-
don: Brassey’s UK ltd, 1996.
Economist. “Robots Go to War: March of the Robots.” The Economist (July
2012). Web. <http://www.economist.com/node/21556103>.
Gurr, T. R. (2000). Ethnic warfare on the wane. Foreign Affairs, 79.3 (2000):
52-64.
Kaldor, Mary. New and Old Wars. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Policy Press, 2012.
Lindqvist, Sven. A history of bombing. Trans. Linda Haverty Rugg. London:
Granta Books, 2012. Print.
Singer, Peter W. and Allan Friedman. Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Ev-
eryone Needs to Know. New York: OUP USA, 2013. Kindle.
Singer, Peter W. Wired for war: the robotics revolution and conflict in the
twenty-first century. New York: Penguin Books, 2009.
Van Creveld, Martin. The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to
Iraq. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.
Williams, Brian Glyn. “The CIA’s Covert Predator Drone War in Pakistan,
2004–2010: The History of an Assassination Campaign”. Studies in conflict
and terrorism 33.10 (2010): 871. doi: 10.1080/1057610X.2010.508483