| Popis: |
The chapter explores some of the ethical and operational issues related to military human enhancement. It presents the larger historical context of present-day human enhancement in the military and proposes concrete examples and scenarios to envisage how enhancement could affect traditional military values, such as courage, merit and sacrifice. More specifically, the author discusses how fundamental values of the military community could be disrupted if psychostimulants, neurostimulation with electricity or implantable technology could enhance not only physical abilities but also courage or risk-taking abilities – values that have traditionally shaped the soldier. Related to this, the chapter also inquires how recognition and rewards could be rightfully granted to enhanced soldiers. The ethical dilemmas brought about by enhancement technologies are rendered more complex, however, because while military values may be affected, enhanced soldiers could be more ‘ethical’ soldiers on the battlefield, more focused and better able to respect humanitarian law. A key conclusion is that the military will be obliged to find ways to implement enhancements in a way that renders them legitimate in the eye of warfighters: the absence of legitimacy will weaken the sense of community in the army and finally affect the conduct of operations. |
