Can a war that kills the innocent be just? U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have resulted in the direct (bombs and bullets) or indirect (displacement, disease, malnutrition) deaths of more than 1.1 million people, most of them civilians, according to the Costs of War project.
The U.S., which spends more on its arms and armies than the next seven biggest spenders combined, has been at war non-stop since 2001. Most of us don’t even question our nation’s militarism any more. We have come to accept war as inevitable, a kind of permanent background noise.
But in a heartening act of conscience, Google employees recently bucked this trend by protesting the tech giant’s pursuit of military contracts. The debate “has fractured Google’s work force, fueled heated staff meetings and internal exchanges, and prompted some employees to resign,” The New York Times reported last May.
The debate concerned a Pentagon program called Maven, which seeks to improve the capacity of drones and other systems to identify targets by means of artificial intelligence. After Google signed a contract to work on Maven, thousands of Google employees signed a petition of protest, which was made public in April. The petition states:
“We believe that Google should not be in the business of war. Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.”
The Pentagon has eagerly sought alliances with the tech industry, and Google is hardly the only big firm to respond. In addition to defense contractors like Lockheed-Martin, firms such as IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft have also sought contracts. Google executives defended its Maven program by pointing out that other tech companies are doing defense work, and by claiming that Google technology will not be used for lethal applications.
The employees’ petition rejected these excuses. It stated: “The argument that other firms, like Microsoft and Amazon, are also participating doesn’t make this any less risky for Google . . . Building this technology to assist the US Government in military surveillance — and potentially lethal outcomes — is not acceptable.”
A group called the Tech Workers Coalition released a similar petition, which called on other tech companies “to stay out of the business of war.” The petition, which 330 workers have signed, stated:
“We risk potentially catastrophic outcomes if we continue to deploy global technical systems without care, deliberation, and a clear understanding of our significant responsibility. In signing this petition, we represent a growing network of tech workers who commit to never ‘just follow orders’, but to hold ourselves, each other, and the industry accountable.”
I hope these antiwar sentiments spread from the tech industry to the rest of society. Although some companies will always seek to profit from it, war is bad for business and for our overall economic health. By the end of this year, the U.S. will have spent $5.6 trillion on its post-9/11 wars, money that could have been spent on education, health care, and transportation. U.S. wars have exacerbated Muslim militancy, the problem they were supposed to solve. Weapons research, rather than enhancing U.S. security, ultimately imperils it by triggering arms races.
Except for a few sociopaths who profit from war or take pleasure in it, everyone wants peace. As I argue in my book The End of War, ending war should be a moral imperative, akin to ending slavery and giving women equal rights. We should ask not, Can we stop war? but, How can we stop it?
I am not an absolute pacifist. People have the right to defend themselves. There are times when violence is justified to prevent or stop greater violence. But here’s my just-war rule: When we weigh a warlike action, we should consider whether it is absolutely necessary — and whether it will take us closer to a world without war. None of the current U.S. wars, I believe, meets this standard. Nor does inventing “smarter” ways to kill people.
In June, Google announced that it would not renew its contract for Project Maven when it expires in 2019. I hope Google’s act of moral leadership catalyzes a vigorous conversation about U.S. militarism — and about how humanity can move past militarism once and for all. Ending war won’t be easy, so the sooner we start the better.
John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings, which is part of the College of Arts & Letters. This column is adapted from one published on his Scientific American blog “Cross-Check.”
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