Drone technology severs visual discrimination from physical proximity to targets.

Evidence

In other words, the argument here is that, so far as the capacity for discrimination goes, the drone technology destroys the traditionally established link between visual acuteness and physical proximity. The proximity of the operator is no longer necessarily a pertinent factor in the identification of targets. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 1016

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s theme of how drones transformed the physical space of war — killing at a distance through technical mediation. — connects to: Drones are less precise than rifles and grenades at discriminating targets.; Drone technology produces a combined morale-buffering effect on operators; Drone targeting hinged on remote visual guesses about sex and combatant status (+15 more)

Related

• Drone technology produces a strong moral buffering effect that offsets visual proximity to victims. (similarity 0.92)
• Drone technology produces a combined morale-buffering effect on operators (similarity 0.91)
• Drone design produces a strong moral buffering effect on operators (similarity 0.90)
• Drones are less precise than rifles and grenades at discriminating targets. (similarity 0.89)
• Drone surveillance transforms the panopticon from a punishing to an annihilating gaze. (similarity 0.89)
• Drone targeting hinged on remote visual guesses about sex and combatant status (similarity 0.88)
• Faceless blurry drone imagery reduces moral resistance to killing (similarity 0.87)
• Drone killing is reduced to clicking on tiny on-screen figures (similarity 0.86)
• Drone surveillance cannot reliably distinguish combatants from civilians (similarity 0.86)
• Drone operators see strikes in vivid detail, overturning the distancing logic (similarity 0.85)
• Drones add the remote control’s range to the weapon’s range. (similarity 0.85)
• Drone strikes depend on a network of remote invisible human observers (similarity 0.85)
• Drone imagery functions as targeting rather than representation (similarity 0.85)
• Drone targeting decisions rest on probabilistic inference from behavior rather than observed facts. (similarity 0.85)
• Eliminating reciprocal exposure to violence makes drones look like cowardly weapons. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Drone design produces a strong moral buffering effect on operators #expands (0.85) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 407
• Diffused agency in drone networks fabricates irresponsibility by diluting intentionality into accident #expands (0.70) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 665