Blue Group

1
Blue Group

• The MotionThe involvement of the Military is
  good for computing
• We are against this motion

2
The Blue Team

• Team LeaderEoghan Cunneen
• Serena Cameirano
• Sarah Fortune (Helper)
• Brian Cullen
• John Curtis (Helper)

• Ekaterina Aksenova
• Andrew Collins (Helper
• Ivan Byrne
• Diarmuid Delaney
• Other Tasks
• PowerPoint - J Curtis

3
Our Argument

• Speaker 1 Serena Cameirano
• Just how is the military bad for computing from
  an ethical viewpoint?
• Speaker 2 Brian Cullen
• How much better could research money be spent?
• Technological Determinism
• Speaker 3 Ekaterina Aksenova
• An example, United States of America vs. Japan
• Difference in emphasis of research (the military
  vs. the consumer)
• Both from an ethical practical point of view
  the involvement of the military is ultimately bad
  for computing

4
Definitions

• The military is not important to computing, in
  that the inventions derived from military
  research could and ultimately would have been
  developed in the private sector possibly cheaper
  in a more open environment

5
Speaker 1

• Serena Cameirano

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Ethic

• Progress is the gradual betterment of mankind
  and the development of society
• It increases the availability of knowledge

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Ethic

• Who is to say if these inventions cant be
  invented otherwise?
• How can military research help the improvement of
  society? It cant!
• Imagine how many ways the budget for military
  research could be spent? To help people, not hurt
  people!

8
Before
9
Then
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and After
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U.S FY'03 DISCRETIONARY BUDGET REQUEST in
Billions

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.And what the US Government doesnt consider as
primary needing

• Health
• "25 of the people of Texas had no health
  insurance in the year 2000.
• Health care is a basic human need that is not
  being subsidised by the U.S. government
• www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Military_Budget/
  Military_Budget_watch.html - 9k

OR
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GLOBAL PRIORITIES

• In 1996, the World Game Institute conducted a
  study entitled What the World Wants. Analysts
  estimated that for approximately 30 of the 1996
  world military expenditures (810 billion), all
  of the following could have been accomplished
• Eliminate Starvation and Malnutrition (19
  billion) Provide Shelter (21 billion) Remove
  Landmines (4 billion) Build Democracy (3
  billion) Eliminate Nuclear Weapons (7
  billion) Refugee Relief (5 billion)
  Eliminate Illiteracy (5 billion) Provide
  Clean, Safe Water (10 billion) Provide Health
  Care and AIDS Control (21 billion) Stop
  Deforestation (7 billion) Prevent Global
  Warming (8 billion) Stabilize Population
  (10.5 billion) Prevent Acid Rain (8
  billion) Provide Clean, Safe Energy Energy
  Efficiency (33 billion), Renewable Energy (17
  billion) Stop Ozone Depletion (5 billion)
  Prevent Soil Erosion (24 billion) Retire
  Developing Nations Debt (30 billion)

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In the meantime the rest of the world

• The UN Development Programme's Human Development
  Report 2001 provides a snapshot of these
  conditions around the world
• More than 854 million adults are illiterate,
  including 543 million women Over 960 million
  people lack access to improved water resources
  325 million children do not attend school,
  including 183 million girls 11 million
  children under five die each year from
  preventable diseases 1.2 billion people live
  on less than 1 a day, and 2.8 billion live on
  less than 2 a day and Employment and
  economic growth in Arab countries has lagged well
  behind all but the poorest countries in Africa
  over the past decade.
• http//www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Military_Budget/
  Wasteful_Military_Bud_2003.html

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In Conclusion

• All the inventions that the military gave us
  could be obtained in other ways
• All this money could be spent in more beneficial
  research that aims to help improve the Society
  not to kill people or destroy

16
Speaker 2

• Brian Cullen

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DARPA Summary Report
http//www.darpa.mil/body/pdf/R-1ExhibitFY0105Pres
BudJan00.pdf
18
DARPA Accomplishments
http//www.darpa.mil/darpatech2002/presentations/d
iro_pdf/slides/tetherdt021.pdf
19
GPS

• Its easy to see how technologies like GPS have
  good applications to computing
• But was it the militaries intention to help
  hikers that get lost in the mountains
• NO
• Lets see what they really wanted to build with
  all that money

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Star Wars

• Part of the proposed Star Wars system
• Relies completely on computers, and therefore
  computer related spin offs are almost inevitable
• The current US missile defence plan is for a
  multilayered set of land, sea, air and space
  based systems that has been estimated to cost
  anywhere between 60 and 200 billion.
• Not only would US taxpayers' money be wasted, it
  would also cost the people of the world the
  hard-won progress already made on nuclear arms
  control and disarmament.
• "We're against having a cure that is worse than
  the disease." Russian President Vladimir Putin on
  NMD, June 4, 2000

http//www.stopstarwars.org/html/intro.html
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Why The US

• But spin-off technologies in most cases seem to
  come from the US military.
• So why does everything seem to come from the US

22
Military Budget Countries In Billions2003
23
Could Money Be Better Spent

• If we pump so much money into military research
  and development we are bound to get some good
  Spin-Off technologies.
• But what could we get instead if we gave the
  money to civilian research companies.

Spin-Off
Military Research
Tax Payers Money
GPS Internet Microwaves
Genome Project Laser Telegraphy Light bulb
Electricity  Radio Printing Press
Civilian Research
24
Genome

• The Human Genome Project, we, after 4 billion
  years of evolution, are a life-form that is
  reading its own set of instructions Sir John
  Sulston, leader of the British effort in the
  project
• Computers were fundamental in mapping the human
  genome
• "At the outset, the U.S. Congress was told the
  project would cost about 3 billion in FY 1991
  dollars and would be completed by the end of
  2005. In actuality, the Human Genome Project was
  finished two and a half years ahead of time and,
  at 2.7 billion in FY 1991 dollars, significantly
  under original spending projections." BETHESDA,
  Md., April 14, 2003
• Crucial for cancer treatment, genetic diseases
  etc.
• In 1990 scientists knew of only 100 human disease
  genes, now we know of over 1,400 of these genes
  U.S. Dept. of Energy Human Genome Program

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Speaker 3

• Ekaterina Aksenova

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America vs. Japan Militarism vs. Consumerism

• Japan mostly concentrates on the IT research
• USA mostly concentrates on the military research
• Japan is the leader in the electronic production
• All the things we cant imagine our life without
  now came from Japan (e.g. Sony walkman)

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Military vs. Civilian life

• I am a war President with war on my mind
• The Nation, February 10, 2004
• Although many inventions in the USA came from
  military (e.g. GPS, wireless technologies) at
  what cost were these inventions
• People under total control
• Japan concentrates research development in IT,
  medicine, safety, to promote the well being of
  society of a whole

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Infrastructure

• Japan gains military power without cut back in
  other areas
• Although Japan increase military expenditure by
  6 a year they still only spend 1 of their GNP
  on military
• This allows Japan to make rapid advancements in
  the area of RD which has numerous advantages to
  computing

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Internet

• Where internet came from?
• Number of internet users in the USA in October
  2000 was 84.076 millions people
• The number of internet users in Japan by 74 to
  47.08 millions in 2000
• 23.64 millions Japanese logging onto the net from
  there mobile
• Colossal potential of www

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Summary

• Summary of Groups Argument.
• Sure, the involvement of the military has had
  clear benefits for computers.
• Are their priorities in the right place?
• Ultimately, money should be funded into helping
  PEOPLE and SOCIETIES, not into destroying them.
• Would the likes of the internet or GPS have been
  developed eventually without the involvement of
  military? Yes (and likely at a lower cost with
  less secrecy, and hence more benefit to society)
• What would have happened if we had developed GPS
  or the Internet commercially? We have seen how
  they have flourished around the world with non
  military applications! If more RD was
  non-military based think of the possibilities!
• Military by its very nature is closed, and
  secretive and therefore not suited for
  technological development. The military research
  surrounding some of both British American
  research impeded the spread of new technology.
  Most academic research felt advances would come
  faster in an atmosphere of free exchange of ideas
  and resultswww.si.umich.edu/pne/PDF/cw.ch2.pdf
  - University of Michigan