The Realities of Autonomous Weapons

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-5292-3718-4
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

The realities of autonomous weapons are a complex blend of both existing military technologies and visions of their future capabilities. The expected ramifications are profound and always point to the interplay between fact and fiction, actual developments and creative imagination.

This book explores how these realities shape and become themselves shaped by popular culture, regulatory and ethics debates, military doctrines, policies and research. It analyses phenomena ranging from film and artistic interpretations to warfare scenarios and weaponised artificial intelligence.

Intended for researchers (including the disciplines of political and social sciences, media, culture and technology), policy-makers, educators and journalists, this is a key resource that uncovers how autonomous weapons are constructed as both a technological reality and a futuristic possibility.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bareis, Jascha

Bächle, Thomas Christian

Bachle, Thomas Christian

Fachgebiete

• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik EDV & Informatik Allgemein Soziale und ethische Aspekte der EDV
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wissenssoziologie, Wissenschaftssoziologie, Techniksoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung Wissenschaftsethik, Technikethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

The realities of autonomous weapons: Hedging a hybrid space of fact and fiction - Jascha Bareis & Thomas Christian Bächle

I. Narratives and Theories

ARTWORK. 'The Unreachable Myth: Killing unknown victims with insensible means by unidentified perpetrators for unapparent reason' By Jinyu Wang, 2023

The AI-Lure of US Airpower: Imaginaries of disruption in the pursuit of technological superiority since the early 20th century - Jennifer Rooke

From Maschinenmensch to Robot Bubs: Female-presenting autonomous weapons systems in live-action films from 1927-2022 - Rebecca Jones

Autonomous weapons in fiction and the fiction of autonomous weapons - Teresa Heffernan

From the reel to the real: Narratives of weaponized artificial intelligence technologies in India - Ingvild Bode & Shimona Mohan

II. Technologies and Materialities

ARTWORK. 'Transformator'. By Peter Behrbohm, since 2013

Il/legal war: Expanding the frame of meaningful human control from military operations to democratic governance - Lucy Suchman

From network-centric warfare to autonomous warfighting networks: Recontextualising autonomous weapons systems imaginaries - Christoph Ernst

Governing autonomies: Imagining responsible AI in the European armament project 'Future Combat Air System' - Jens Hälterlein

New media, new enemies: The emergence of automated weapons in counterterrorism - Jeremy Packer and Joshua Reeves

III. Politics and Ethics

ARTWORK. 'XCI XCIX, (91 99)' By Johannes Weilandt, 2023

Engineering moral failure? The challenges of algorithmic ethics for lethal autonomous weapon systems - Elke Schwarz

Legitimizing and contesting Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems in Japan: A multi-layered analysis of public discourse - Bernhard Seidl

The reality of (past) Future Air Combat Systems: Climate wars, carbon costs and rare earth elements - Jutta Weber

Showcasing power, performing responsibility? Introducing military AI discourses in China - Thomas Christian Bächle and Xiran Liu

Über Autor(innen)

Bareis, Jascha
Jascha Bareis is Researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Associate Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.

Bächle, Thomas Christian
Thomas Christian Bächle is Head of the Digital Society Research Programme at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin and Researcher at the University of Bonn.

Thomas Christian Bächle is Head of the Digital Society Research Programme at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin and Researcher at the University of Bonn.

Jascha Bareis is Researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Associate Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.