Should We Create Gods of War? Assessing the Ethical and Legal Posture of Soldier Enhancements

The creation and deployment of super soldiers raises serious ethical, legal, and technological questions for military researchers, private contractors, and most of all the soldiers charged with using their newfound powers responsibly. These include: Is the creation of super soldiers in the best interest of U.S. strategic defense, or does it risk worsening a global arms race? To what extent is soldier enhancement technologically feasible, and how should researchers go about developing and testing prospective enhancements? How does the creation or deployment of super soldiers—for humanitarian missions or armed conflict—square with existing Department of Defense policies and international laws governing sentient weaponry and human experimentation?

Join Penn’s Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell for a panel discussion on the ethical and legal posture of soldier enhancements featuring experts in U.S. strategic defense and preparedness, the development and ethical evaluation of novel neural devices designed to augment human performance and behavior, and public policy surrounding emerging weapons technologies.

This keynote panel is open to the public and free of charge.

PANELISTS
General James Cartwright retired from active duty on 1 September 2011, after 40 years of service in the United States Marine Corps. General Cartwright served as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, before being nominated and appointed as the 8th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s second highest military officer. General Cartwright served his four-year tenure as Vice Chairman across two presidential administrations and constant military operations against diverse and evolving enemies. He became widely recognized for his technical acumen, vision of future national security concepts, and keen ability to integrate systems, organizations, and people in ways that encouraged creativity and sparked innovation in the areas of strategic deterrence, nuclear proliferation, missile defense, cyber security, and adaptive acquisition processes.

Dr. Laura Cabrera is the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neuroethics. She is an Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Philosophy at Penn State University. She is a Senior Research Associate at the Rock Ethics Institute, and affiliated with the Center for Neural Engineering. She is also Faculty Affiliate at Neuroethics Canada, University of British Columbia. She received a BEng in Electrical and Communication Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico City, an MA in Applied Ethics from Linköping University in Sweden, and a PhD in Applied Ethics from Charles Sturt University in Australia. Dr. Cabrera’s interests focus on the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnologies used for health and medicine, as well as for non-medical purposes.

Dr. Paul Scharre is the Vice President and Director of Studies at CNAS. He is the award-winning author of Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. His first book, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, won the 2019 Colby Award, was named one of Bill Gates’ top five books of 2018, and was named by The Economist one of the top five books to understand modern warfare. Scharre previously worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) where he played a leading role in establishing policies on unmanned and autonomous systems and emerging weapons technologies. He led the Department of Defense (DoD) working group that drafted DoD Directive 3000.09, establishing the department’s policies on autonomy in weapon systems. He also led DoD efforts to establish policies on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance programs and directed energy technologies.

MODERATOR
Dr. Nicholas Evans is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. A 2020-2023 Greenwall Foundation Faculty Scholar, he currently conducts research on the ethics of emerging technologies, with a focus on national security issues. He is best known for his research on “dual-use research” in the life sciences and has recently begun work examining research ethics concerns arising from the performance enhancement of active military personnel, funded by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Prior to his appointment at the University of Massachusetts, Evans completed postdoctoral research at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2015, he held an Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative Fellowship at the UPMC Center for Health Security, Baltimore. He also previously served as a policy officer with the Australian Department of Health and Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.