Fighting for the Ethical Use of Technology

Presented by John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values

Enhanced soldiers. Autonomous weapons systems. Ever-present surveillance. Across the globe weapons technology advancements seem to be developed at an astonishing rate. While these technologies hold great potential, it is critical to pause and address the questions of when and how these new advancements should be used.

Notre Dame alumnus, retired Air Force Major General, and former weapons developer Robert Latiff, ’71, MS ’73, Ph.D. ’74, is an adjunct professor teaching weapons ethics at the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values. As a part of the center’s Emerging Technologies of National Security and Intelligence initiative, General Latiff is one of a group of interdisciplinary scholars bringing the moral and ethical implications of weapons technology to Notre Dame students in the classroom, and to the forefront of our national dialogue. Participants include military, intelligence, and academic experts with many specializations including ethics, international law, national security studies, and peace studies. The Reilly Center, as a recognized leader in promoting and examining the advancement of science and technology in the pursuit of the common good, trains scholars and students to be a force for good in the world. File footage courtesy of Naval Postgraduate School and DVIDS The University of Notre Dame asks you, “What would you fight for?”

Learn more about this work at http://fightingfor.nd.edu.

For more information on Professor Latiff’s books Future Peace: Technology, Aggression, and the Rush to War (winner of the Bronze Medal at the 2022 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards) and Future War: Preparing for the New Global Battlefield, please click here.

For more information on the Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, please visit their website.