Friday, January 4, 2013

Symposium: The Legal and Ethical Limits of Technological Warfare

On February 1, 2013, the Utah Law Review will host a symposium on "The Legal and Ethical Limits of Technological Warfare." The program is here. Here's the idea:
Unmanned drones, cruise missiles, automated weapons, even armed robot warriors on the battlefield— in a time of troop cutbacks, emerging technologies make it possible to conduct “clinical strikes” that limit civilian deaths, and even “remote warfare” that might lead to reductions in combatant casualties. What are the ethics of waging war from a safe distance? Who is responsible for decision-making? Do different rules of autonomy and accountability apply? If so, who is drafting these new rules of armed conflict and how will they be enforced? On February 1, 2013 the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law will examine these issues in a symposium titled, “The Legal and Ethical Limits of Technological Warfare.”