Meaningful Human Control of Autonomous Weapons Systems
Jordan Richard Schoenherr · 2024
Humanity has long held that conflicts can be vicious or virtuous depending on the weapons and tactics used by the combatants. Autonomous weapons systems (AWS) and cyberweapons have come to occupy an increasingly important role in intergroup and international conflicts. In many respects, these weapons are little more than extensions of existing methods of warfare. Like all innovations, they have novel design features (affordances) that distinguish them from other weapons. Using an ethical sensemaking design framework, this chapter identifies the ethical affordances of AWS and cyberweapons that are derived from psychological science. It assesses the extent to which humans can exert meaningful control over these systems once deployed. Case studies – technologies and conflicts – are used to illustrate ethical affordances including depersonalization, legitimacy, risk perception, moral injury, and the diffusion of responsibility.