Drone design produces a strong moral buffering effect on operators

Evidence

The filtered nature of perception, the figurative reduction of the enemy, the nonreciprocity of the fields of perception, and the dislocation of the phenomenological unity of the action are all factors that, when combined, produce a strong “moral buffering” effect. Thus, offsetting the visual proximity, the device presents its operators with powerful means of distancing. But this form of experience also presents a second important characteristic: the fact that the violence of warfare is being exercised from a peaceful zone. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 407

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Drones lower political, economic, and ethical costs of war; Drone psychopathology lies in produced compartmentalization, not operator trauma — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 427; Drone technology produces a combined morale-buffering effect on operators (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Faceless blurry drone imagery reduces moral resistance to killing #corroborates (0.80) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 404
• Risk-free drone operators morally resemble assassins, not soldiers #expands (0.75) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 509
• Diffused agency in drone networks fabricates irresponsibility by diluting intentionality into accident #expands (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 665
• Ethical-robot rhetoric is a Trojan horse that lowers moral barriers to killer robots #expands (0.55) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 669