IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017 - 30

commentary

R.E. Burnett

eather M. Roff and
Peter W. Singer [1]
strikingly identify a
problem for the next
American president
in the form of a decision on policy
for autonomous (a form of robotic) weapon systems. In an important passage about the difference
between semi-autonomous versus
fully-autonomous weapon systems,1
Roff and Singer note the difference
between a system where there is
a human in the loop versus a system where there is no human in the
loop. They explain with examples,
some of the problems that currently

Brain Implants
and Memory

If humans evolve into a more
advanced type of cybernetic
form, decision-making and signal
processing may also evolve
for kinetic weapon events in
combat operations.
exist with regard to how lethal force
could be applied in both kinds
of systems and what the implications are for humanity over time
with regard to not only morality,
but to outcomes for, perhaps, the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2017.2654284
Date of publication: 6 March 2017

species. Important in this logic is
an assumption by the authors that
there remains a distinction between
humans and machines.
Permit me to make this distinction fuzzy, and therefore part of their
analysis even more problematic based upon some
of my recent research [3],
where cybernetics evolve
in such a system. Here, the
distinction between humans
and machines is difficult to
parse in both design and
very importantly, in effect.
If implant technology
evolves apace to where
humans evolve into a
more advanced type of
cybernetic form, certain
permutations in decisionmaking and signal processing may also evolve for kinetic
weapon events in combat types
of operations. In such events, the

human operator may utilize what
is currently referred to as artificial
intelligence - digital (AI) and intelligence augmentation - analog (IA)
types of technologies2 to process
information and to make decisions
about lethal force. But also a possibility is the ability to perceive such a
cyborg soldier as a form of platform
in which both AI and IA technologies are utilized in signals processing by independent entities. In such
a scenario, it is entirely possible and
plausible that all decisions about
lethal force and other decisions
involving a particular combat event
are made independent of the immediate human operator, or individual
person at remote locations via the
cloud. The decision-makers in this
kind of event would be merely utilizing what we refer to as the human
information appliance (HIA) [3],
which also happens to be a human
soldier/individual. This view is based
entirely upon capability prior to any

See [2]. The authors refer to three stages of
autonomy: 1) machines that wait for human
input or "human in the loop," 2) machines that
are monitored by a human or "human on the
loop," and 3) machines that function without
the ability of humans to intervene or "human
out of the loop."

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

2
See Moreno [2], where he discusses philosopher Peter Skagestad's article in Semiotica [5]
on Turing(digital/AI) versus Bush (analog/IA)
science and technology - suggesting the latter
may be on the rise as a better expression system of the workings of the human mind.

∕

march 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017