Drone Soldiers: Can A.I. Cherish Human Life and Foster Peace?

Published in

The Curious Leader

6 min readSep 12, 2023

People will tell you that A.I. robots can “protect” human lives by “heroically” taking the place of soldiers. Let me put a pin in that BS.

A.I. cannot be heroic. Heroism is the realm of humans. If we want to evolve as humans alongside AI, we must develop our Emotional Tech©.

This article aims to shed some light on what responsible AI means. We will debunk some war statistics and question the increased use of attack drones. We will explain why AI can’t be heroic and why we must marry EQ with AI for a peaceful future.

WARNING

Please note that the content of this article is a call to reality. Therefore, it might upset some people. Consider this a fair warning before you read any further.

Programmed to Chase, Fight, and Shoot

Let me tell you about a video that went viral.

The modern king arrived at an airport with a giant ominous robot bodyguard walking behind him. The AI robot is over seven feet tall and wears a hero cape. It speaks six languages and comes armed with one taser and three machine guns with enough power to fight 1,050 men. Programmed to chase, fight, and shoot. With over 3 million views, that video caused chaos despite being proven to be fake.

Why?

Clearly, there’s a lot of fear about AI and where it’s going.

You and I know people who think ‘Roboguards’ and drone soldiers are a good thing. But what’s in it for those people to have artificial intelligence destroy human life?

The Flesh-and-Blood Truth About Heroism

I think we are all aware that PTSD is at epidemic levels.

I am not going to sugarcoat it. PTSD happens when we see something so terrifying that we cannot cope at that moment. Horrified by what we see, we want to flee but cannot. So, we shut down emotionally instead.

To simplify a complex subject, when a person has PTSD, their body tries to let go of the traumatic event, but their mind holds onto the fear attached to the trauma. It can be a vicious cycle.

Let me ask you.

Would you want to deal with the feelings you pushed far, far away because you were scared? Most likely not. But those feelings must be processed to heal the trauma.

I get it. It can be scary to relive a trauma to let it go. That is why no one should try to handle their PTSD alone.

People with PTSD deserve empathy, compassion, and much more. They need a helping hand. They need to know we are here for them. Otherwise, they might sink into a pit of despair.

Statistics that Don’t Go Viral

According to USO, “Military suicide rates are four times higher than deaths that occurred during military operations.”

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused:

(stats source: Military.com)

7,000 U.S. military deaths
8,000 U.S. contractor deaths
109,200 national military and police deaths
1,500 Allied troop deaths
267,000 civilian deaths
115,000 opposition fighters and more

The total number of people who fought for their lives in these two war zones and died is 507,000.

Considering that military suicide rates (deaths resulting from war PTSD) are 4x higher than the 507,000 deaths mentioned above, it appears over 2,000,000 people have committed suicide because of war PTSD. (507,000 x 4) = 507,000 + 2,000,000 = 2,500,000 deaths.

But you will not see the Department of Defence acknowledge all those deaths as war statistics. Why not? Is it afraid to get so traumatized that it ends up with PTSD from telling the flesh-and-blood truth about heroism?

The Root Cause of PTSD

PTSD exists because we are not robots. We are flesh-and-blood beings. We can think, feel, and act. We can show empathy and compassion. We know trauma because we have experienced it.

A robot soldier can’t have PTSD.

But before you say it’s great that robots can’t have PTSD, understand that a robot soldier cannot show you empathy or compassion. It has no feelings.

“The day you witness armed robots walking near you or armed drones flying over your city, remember that AI cannot feel for you or show true heroism. It’s not human.”

The True Face of Courage

To protect means to make someone feel safe.

Do you feel safe knowing a giant robot with no empathy can walk near you with machine guns that can chase, fight, and shoot? Or that an attack drone can fly over your city?

Being a hero requires us to show courage in the face of fear as we do something brave for others. We admire this bravery. We applaud that courage.

Think about the many whistle-blowers who put their lives at risk to protect us from harm. It can be heroic to speak the truth when the consequences are dire.

Being heroic in the true sense of the word means fighting for something more meaningful than ourselves. That’s the true face of courage.

Let me be bold.

A.I. cannot be heroic.
Heroism is the realm of humans.

Marrying EQ with AI

Did you know that the market for one-way attack drones is growing dramatically? These drones are often called “suicide drones” or “kamikaze drones.” They are made to carry out a one-time mission to hit a target and cause severe damage.

Let me ask you two Yes or No questions.

Would you order a drone to strike a camp where you have intel that a terrorist is there? If you said yes, define terrorist. Keep your answer in mind.
Would you order a drone to strike a camp where you have intel a terrorist is there, but your relatives (mother, sister, children) are also there? If you said no, what changed?

What changes is the value (a feeling) we assign to human life.

AI cannot feel.
No matter what you are told, AI cannot value human life.
Humans can feel.

What value did you place on human life in the two questions above?

Without emotional intelligence, we risk devaluing life and harming people for a feeling that keeps changing based on alliances, moods, and circumstances. There’s a psychological name for that: cognitive bias.

We cannot ignore our EQ when we work with AI.

I propose we marry EQ with AI.

At first glance, EQ and AI may not look like a perfect match. But they can work well together and bring out the best in each other.

If we want to evolve as humans alongside AI, we must develop our Emotional Tech©. That means applying EQ to technology, so we can become more peaceful and use AI as an agent of peace. It’s the ethical thing to do.

Thank you for listening.

Hi! I’m Anne Beaulieu.

I would love to get your feedback. Leave a comment below. And please subscribe to The Curious Leader channel.

Anne Beaulieu

Mega-Prompt Engineering | Generative AI | Responsible AI

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