ON THE FRONT LINES OF FREEDOM 2011 – Works
ON THE FRONT LINES OF FREEDOM 2011
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ON THE FRONT LINES OF FREEDOM 2011
28 30cm x 30cm canvases
What once belonged in the realm of science fiction is becoming a reality in the current conflict zones of Iraq and Afghanistan; robots and unmanned weapons systems have been unleashed. American author P.W. Singer in Wired for War (2009), suggests, that the dawn of the robotic age is a revolution in military affairs akin to the development of gun powder or the atomic bomb. It is a game changer that will have moral and ethical implications, changing the very nature of war. The rise of the digital warriors alters not merely how wars are fought but the very identity of those who fight it. When toy makers and science fiction writers are consulting for the Pentagon on matters of weapons and war, the future of modern warfare is anything but predictable. As soldiers are removed from the battlefield and distanced from their weapons through remote weapon systems and game controllers, civilians are at risk of becoming merely two dimensional digital images on monitor screens and collateral damage.