Tuesday classes were cancelled for all cadets on March 8th as the Corps filed into Cameron Hall to listen to Dr. Peter Singer discuss the large impact that technology will have on current and future warfare. During his speech he talked specifically about the morality of using these new technologies and the ethical limitations of unmanned land and aircraft. After a speech full of Star Wars and Star Trek references, the two VMI battalions split up as 1st Battalion moved to Crozet Hall to discuss mock scenarios and 2nd Battalion stayed in Cameron Hall to hear a panel further discuss the morality of robotic warfare.
In Crozet Hall, around seven cadets were assigned to each table along with at least one faculty member or officer to help guide and correct, if needed, the conversation. The cadets and proctors at the tables watched the first 5 minutes of a short film clearly illustrating all of the ethical decisions and moral dilemmas that officers and our nation’s leaders face when dealing with terrorism, drone strikes, and possible collateral damage. While the idea of capturing a terrorist and a major threat to this country and our allies does not seem to pose a major ethical problem, the issue arose when a girl with a hula hoop was playing within the kill radius of an armed drone targeting two individuals ranked #4 and #5 on the International Most Wanted list. The obvious question that cadets were forced to answer, and for you to consider as well, was: Would you order the drone controller to take the shot?
Upon completion of the scenario in Crozet Hall, the conference broke for lunch as 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion switched venues. In Cameron Hall, 1st Battalion listened to a, at times very intense, conversation about the good and the bad effects of social media on today’s youth and young adults. Dr. Mark Bauerlein, long time professor at Emory University and author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, argued the case against the use of social media while, primarily, Caitlin Dewey, a digital culture critic with the Washington Post and Dr. Vera Heuer, an International Studies and Political Science professor at VMI, argued the case for social media in the lives of the middle and high school generation.
At times both sides brought up controversial arguments and referenced sources that the other side attempted to discredit or cross examine. The panel discussion turned debate brought the crowd into the argument during the question and answer period. Cadets, reporters and teachers alike were challenging the views of both parties but leaned heavily in favor of social media and relentlessly questioning the, arguably, outdated views of Dr. Bauerlein. While loud at times, in the end, both sides were able to express their opinions to the best of their ability and each member of the audience were able to walk out of the discussion with their own opinion as to whether social media is good or bad or whether it is, as so many other things, somewhere in between.