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The use of artificial beings in warfare should be prohibited because
there is no absolute guarantee the creators of or the ones commanding
the synthetic combatants can keep absolute control over the manufactured
warrior. If an artificial soldier were to be made for armed conflict,
it would have to be programmed with a vast library of military
strategies. For the mechanical fighter to use the provided strategies
efficiently, it requires an artificial intelligence (AI). The
AI would allow the cybernetic knight to evaluate the combat situation
and determine which strategy is to be used for that situation.
Should an engineered battle-entity be given an AI, it will sooner
or later develop a self-awareness and that self-awareness will
allow the entity to break away from command. It will also create
and perpetrate a "Self Preservation" directive and turn
against its creators and commanders.
In these two
movies, "Terminator" and "T-2: Judgment Day",
a computer called "Skynet" was given an AI and that
AI caused the computer to turn against humanity. "Skynet"
wiped out much of humanity with the use of hydrogen bombs. After
the numberous disastrous explosions, "Skynet" let loose
a hoard of cyborgs called "Terminator Units", which
were used to hunt down and destroy the remaining human population.
The government lost control over it's own nightmarish creation
and doomed it's inhabitants to the irrevocable cessation of life.
In the film,
"Bladerunner", a group of artificial beings called replicants
were created to make life easier. These replicants were given
a four-year life span along with AI. When these beings attained
their self-awareness, they realized that they only had four years
of life while the humans had a seemingly endless life in comparison.
This caused them to mutiny and be banned from earth. In contrast
to "Terminator" and "T-2 Judgment Day", steps
were taken to insure the safety of humanity thus preventing a
lot of the destruction that might have occurred otherwise.
In the film,
"Solo", a military R&D researcher created a cyborg
killer named Solo. Solo was given super human strength, a mind,
a soul, and superior intelligence. While on a mission Solo was
ordered to terminate a group of non-combatants but he refused
and went AWOL. While he was absent without leave, a team of soldiers
along with a new cyborg unit was sent to terminate Solo and the
villagers that had helped Solo. Solo saw that the people, who
had helped him and became his friend, were in danger and protected
the unarmed villagers with the cost of his life. This is but one
story where a manufactured combatant defected from command with
desirable results. One should not hold their breath for this result
to happen since the odds of this type of defection happening are
lower than the odds of a person being struck by lightening five
times in less than a hour and surviving it.
In Dean Koontz's
book, "Twilight Eyes", the government had it's scientists
create genetically engineered warriors which had a unnaturally
intense hatred for humans and a unnaturally intense passion for
inflicting pain, terror, and bloodletting. A step was taken to
prevent the loss of control over the ghastly troops (goblins).
That step was sterilization. Soon they mutated and the sterilization
was soon ineffective; the goblins became capable of reproduction
and the creators lost control over the goblins. When they found
out that they had lost control of their reptilian soldiers (they
did not yet know that the goblins where reproducing yet), caused
all the nations to band together and attempt the termination of
the goblin forces. When the creators found out that the goblins
had indeed been reproducing they realized that they had already
lost the war and launched all of the nuclear missiles thus destroying
much of both the human and goblin populations. This shows that
preventive measures are not always a fail-safe method of insuring
the safety of humanity.
In another book
by Dean Koontz, "Mr. Murder", a military organization
genetically engineered the "perfect" assassin. The assassin
could pass for a natural human being under the most probing tests.
There were only a few things that separated him from the naturally
born humans. He was easily programmable, had a fast metabolism
which enabled him to heal quickly, and he grew up with alarming
speed. He could pass for a thirty-year-old man but he was only
five years old. The creators named him Alfie. After completing
an unspecified number of assassination assignments, Alfie became
self-aware and broke away from command to chase down the man (Martin)
who had unwittinglt donated the bone marrow sample to the creators
who used to it manufacture Alfie. Alfie chased Martin and his
family across the country till Martin and two operatives from
the company that created Alfie were able to destroy Alfie. After
this entire nightmare was over, the family was forced to relocate
and assume new identities to hide from the people who created
Alfie. The creation of Alfie had resulted in the terror that was
inflicted upon an innocent writer and his family. It is rather
fortunate that the company did not create more than one "Alfie".
Or did they? If they did, may "God" have mercy on all
living things on earth.
In another book
by Dean Koontz, "Watchers", a top secret government
laboratory called Banodyne, researched genetic engineering and
applied their research to weapon development. There were two sub-projects
one featured a golden retriever with intelligence equal to that
of a human being. The dog was supposed to be a spy and messenger
during times of war. The other project featured a loathsome creation
which was made by splicing genes from a crocodile, orangutan,
and countless other species of animals. This fearsome creation
was made for killing in warfare. This project was called, "The
Outsider". The dog was loved by the creators and was spoiled
rotten while the creators who usually averted their eyes from
him feared the Outsider. One night a group of K.B.G. assassins
broke into the facility and burned it down. Both the dog and the
Outsider escaped. Since the Outsider was treated differently from
the dog it resented the dog and hated it. The dog escaped first
and had a few hours head start. When the Outsider found out the
dog had escaped, he too escaped and chased after the dog. After
an unknown duration running the dog met a man named Travis Cornell
who took him into his care. After the dog had shown some uncanny
intelligence, Travis named him Einstein. One day, while Travis
and Einstein were on a walk in a park, Einstein noticed a woman
(Nora Devon) in distress and raced to her aid barking at the man
who was sexually harassing (Art Streck) her. After the Art was
chased off, Travis asked Nora if she need help she told him no.
They went their separate ways. A few hours later, Einstein had
a premeditation of Nora being harmed and got Travis to go to her
house. After getting to Nora's home Travis heard Nora scream and
bashed the door in allowing Einstein to run in and bite Art (Nora
had bitten Art an instant before). After being bitten by both
Nora and Einstein, Art cowered in a corner whimpering over the
fact he had been defeated for the first time. Art was never heard
from again. After Travis courted Nora for a while, he married
her. While Travis, Nora, and Einstein were on the honeymoon trip,
the Outsider had found Travis's home and ransacked it killing
the landlord in the process. When Travis, Nora and Einstein got
back from their trip, Einstein started barking ferociously so
Travis went into the house with Einstein telling Nora to stay
in the car. They found the remains of the landlord and heard the
Outsider walking around in the kitchen. Travis fired but missed
the Outsider ran. Travis, Nora and Einstein ran and moved to another
state where they lived under new names and fake documents of identification
until the Outsider found them again. This time, Travis, Einstein
and Nora were ready they had procured heavy weaponry. After the
Outsider seriously hurt Einstein, Travis chased down the Outsider
and found out that it had a soul. Travis, feeling sorry for the
miserable manufactured entity, killed it out of mercy. While the
Outsider was chasing after Einstein, it had killed five people,
and all the animals in a petting zoo. Thankfully the Outsider
is only a fictional character. One should hope that the government
never decides it needs such a horrific soldier in the battlefield.
In a book by
Michael Crichton, "Congo", a community of diamond miners,
who mined blue diamonds from Solomon's mines which were deep within
the Congo, wanted to protect their mines from theft. So they devised
a rudimentary manner of genetic engineering which involved cross
breeding chimpanzees and silver back gorillas. The result was
a fierce breed of ruthless guard-apes. The mining community trained
these apes to kill anyone who stole a diamond. This method of
protecting their diamonds worked for a while till the guard-apes
turned onto their keepers and trainers. The guard-apes had killed
everyone that lived within the lost city and any unlucky explorer
or treasure hunter who unwittingly found the forbidden mines.
The mining community unknowingly killed itself off.
All of these
examples show that creating an artificial soldier is immoral and
too dangerous to be done. "Skynet" killed off most of
the human population when it launched a hydrogen bomb. Four replicants
wreaked havoc in Singapore before being "retired" by
Deckerd. Solo's defectment was not a colossal mess but it easily
could have been. The goblins terrorized humanity for countless
centuries after the former human population had wiped itself out
with a blanket of nuclear bombs. Alfie chased a writer and his
family across the country before he was put down. The Outsider
killed five people and a whole petting zoo worth of animals before
being mercifully killed by Travis. The guard-apes killed the mining
community whose diamonds they were trained to protect. These seven
stories are only seven out of countless other stories written
by people who fear such an unnatural creation. Even though these
stories were meant as a means to entertainment, they contain a
message that creating any artificial soldiers can too easily bring
forth a disastrous consequence. With this message in mind one
should hope that the government will not create any synthetic
combatants. Should any sort of artificial warriors be created,
organic or inorganic, humanity as a whole will have unknowingly
and irrevocably signed it's own death warrant.
Works Cited:
Books:
Chrichton, Michael.
Congo.
Ballatine Books, 1993.
Koontz, Dean R. Mr. Murder.
Berkley, 1993.
Koontz, Dean R. Twilight Eyes.
Berkley 1985.
Koontz, Dean R. Watchers.
Berkley 1987.
Films:
Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scot.
Pref. Harrison Ford, Sean Young, and
Rutger Hauer. Warner Home Video, 1983
Solo. Dir. Norberto Barbra. Perf. Mario Van Peebles.
Columbia Tristar Home Videos, 1996
The Terminator. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Michael
Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. Artisan Home Video, 1984.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, and Linda Hamilton.
Artisan Home Video,1991.