Colin Stewart
Darpa announced it’s new project BOLT, Broad Operational Language Translation. Given that the US fights a lot of wars in places where people do not speak English and we do not speak theirs this project will not only translate language but visual and tactile inputs. BOLT also will have the ability to understand the consequences of different actions it takes so that it can execute complex commands. It will also be able to interact between humans and machines so that it can use things like e- mail.
I do not believe this case would cause any big ethical concerns, if anything it would fix many problems in the field caused by the language barrier. The stakeholders are Darpa and I think the world. I think everyone would want to see this project as a success. I think making a C-3P0 like robot is the perfect solution to this problem. I also think that this solution is something the whole world can use, not just our military.
While having robots on the battlefield might not be considered “natural” by most in this day and age I do not think that it would cause any problems or be out of the ordinary. I also think that this is a very efficient method to solve the language problem. The only thing I think would be better would be to get everyone a babel fish. All and all I think it would help everyone equally and I would choose to use it if I had the choice. I would say Realist affect that decision the most.
1.1 Contribute to society and human well-being. 1.2 Avoid harm to others. 1.3 Be honest and trustworthy. 1.4 Be fair and take action not to discriminate. 1.5 Honor property rights including copyrights and patent. 1.6 Give proper credit for intellectual property. 1.7 Respect the privacy of others. 1.8 Honor confidentiality. I think the project really speaks for itself on most of these issues. It most definitely contributes to society and even helps to avoid harm to others. A robot is going to give honest translations and not discriminate. As for the others they don’t really apply to this case.
This article was from the Danger Room by Adam Rawnsley. /militarys-newest-recruit-c-3p0/