I've been a big fan of the band Muse ever since hearing their song Starlight on a local college radio station. The best thing about the band is that they are totally a nerd band (no surprise, as frontman Matt Bellamy is the son of George Bellamy, rhythm guitarist of the Tornados, whose Telstar is a glorious bit of 1960s rocket-pop), whether referencing astrophysics in their music or channeling a gloriously cheesy science-fantasy kung-fu space western (a fantastic spoof of a cheap European knockoff of a gloriously cheesy science-fantasy samurai space western). Besides the band's impeccable nerd-cred, they also have released political songs urging listeners to break out of the mass-media propaganda bubble.
In the runup to the release of the band's upcoming album, Drones, Mr Bellamy took on the topic of drone warfare and the societal implications of their expanded use:
Now, speaking to Mac, Bellamy elaborated that the album was "a modern metaphor for what it is to lose empathy." He continued: "I think that through modern technology, and obviously through drone warfare in particular, it’s possible to actually do quite horrific things by remote control, at a great distance, without actually feeling any of the consequences, or even feeling responsible in some way."
"The next step in drones is gonna be autonomous drones, which actually make ‘kill’ decisions themselves, where no humans are involved," Bellamy added.
Heady stuff, coming from a "rockstar". Personally, my take on the use of drones is that they remove the danger of human casualties on the battlefield, but that the very depersonalization of warfare further lowers the bar for violence. If an operator can kill an individual while sitting in an air-conditioned room two thousand miles away, the very act of killing can become no more emotional than playing a video game is. In the case of autonomous drones, even the slightest moral element is removed from the act.
Of course, the moralist is also a rockstar, so here is a video of a badass live performance of the new song Reapers:
As a final note, our society has hit a pretty bad low when rock songs are a better source of information that the news media.
The real concern about drones is that the technology is cheap and available to anyone. Forget the multi million dollar Predator and Reaper drones - oh, they're changing warfare, but it will be a thousand dollar autonomous 'kamakaze' drone with a five kilogram payload and a set of GPS coordinates that will change the world and the way we live in it. How can you protect a head of state (or any high profile individual) when somebody can launch a 'smart bomb' from fifty miles away?
ReplyDeleteOnce the killing and smuggling and extortion plots get rolling, the world will almost overnight become a very different place...
Your toddler nieces and nephews are better sources of information than our corporate media.
ReplyDelete~
The real concern about drones is that the technology is cheap and available to anyone. Forget the multi million dollar Predator and Reaper drones - oh, they're changing warfare, but it will be a thousand dollar autonomous 'kamakaze' drone with a five kilogram payload and a set of GPS coordinates that will change the world and the way we live in it. How can you protect a head of state (or any high profile individual) when somebody can launch a 'smart bomb' from fifty miles away?
ReplyDeleteMy brother in law, who is a rocket scientist, was freaked out by the Manhacks in Half-Life 2. Technology pretty much democratizes violence.
Your toddler nieces and nephews are better sources of information than our corporate media.
Ain't that the truth?
Whenever I think of drones I hear Roger Waters' "The Bravery of Being Out of Range". It was written about the first gulf war, but it just keeps being relevant.
ReplyDeleteMikey, I don't worry about drone assassins as much as drone saboteurs. A laser pointer powerful enough to start fires (about $200 online) either drone mounted or handheld, would be all that's needed to give a lot of people a bad day in any place prone to forest fires, like the entire state of CA.