Modern Warfare: Not the Game

When we think of modern warfare we think of high rates of fire, big guns, night vision, laser sights, and all sorts of other stuff that’s now possible due to modern technology. This type of modern warfare may not be so modern after all. The first world is moving further and further away from using these inventions. Why? You ask, because we are moving on and perfecting the next step, internet/cyber attacks, unmanned aerial vehicles, and all sorts of other technologies we are perfecting overseas right now. With these new ways to wage war we need to redefine what is acceptable and lay new ground rules for a completely new way of battling.

Our pre digital age ethics are going to become obsolete and we need a new set of rules. We currently “try” to follow the just war doctrine which uses war as a last case option with no other choice. Some are debating the ethics of starting preemptive wars to prevent human bloodshed. Say before a war breaks out, one country will cripple another by disabling their technologies. This would reduce or eliminate bloodshed all together if the attack is well planned. This may save lifes but would actually be starting a war possibly before anything happens, this war might never even end.

The main concern is the moral issue, we are more and more reliant on technology as the days go on. If countries were fighting this type of war it would not be an all-out war with lots of bloodshed but instead would be an ongoing technology battle with each side crippling the other and jamming their systems at any chance they could. Because were all connected we are all vulnerable and there needs to be rules set up so we feel safe when were not in a war. No one should fear of all their info getting stolen online or their company shutting down because there were cyber attacks from another country during peace time. We also need to make sure because we are a superpower that we don’t unfairly use our technology against other nations during peacetime.

 In 2004 the U.S. had 150 robotic weapons in use, now the U.S. currently has over 12,000 and the number is constantly growing. If we continue to use these we are risking less American lives which is a good thing but we need to still consider that some of these robots are designed to kill. These robots will not be held accountable or have regret but take life with the push of a button. These devices should never be used outside of wartime to threaten or kill.

The digital divide is closing!....But it’s not all good news.

      It seems as if the digital divide is closing in this country.  In order to understand why and what implications are forming let’s start at the beginning. Personal computers were first in the homes of rich white families. Following them it was more wealthy white people, and then it was the middle class families who were primarily white. These individuals have had a jumpstart on the online world because they could afford the costly hardware.

      

     After a few years computers started to become more affordable, but they were still expensive so some families could afford them and some couldn’t. For the most part it was still African American families and Latino families that did not have computers.  Eventually this gap got smaller and closed so now today we see all groups within close ownership of laptops and smart phones with internet access. 

   According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle the problem now is not that enough people don’t have access to the internet, it is what they are doing online and what they aren’t doing online.Whites are primarily using the internet evenly across the board for news, entertainment, business, and so on while Latinos and African Americans seem to be trailing behind in what would be considered productive areas and surging ahead in what is considered pure entertainment. Why is this? Why is facebook, twitter, and other types of media so popular compared to reading news, checking stocks, job searches? Everyone thought the problem was that the poorer population didn’t have access and now they do they seem to still be struggling to get ahead. What went wrong and why are we still having issues if the playing field has had some leveling.

     The problem may no longer be that many don’t have access, it could be the hardware. African Americans and Latinos use cell phones heavily to access the internet, but a cell phone can’t fill out an application, a cell phone can’t design a website, it can’t do many things a real computer can and that is part of the problem. Focusing on the hardware could be the next step. Somehow we need to move away from the immediate entertainment and ease of use and look at a way to empower individuals who have been held back. Studies are showing vast differences in productiveness when you own your own home computer vs owning a smart phone, using a computer at work, or using a friends. We cant expect to fix the problem without the right product and the right product is a computer not a smart phone with internet access.