Shootings: Dallas response gives glimpse of future

Ethicists, pundits and various other soothsayers have been fretting over the incipient problems associated with new technologies. The emergence of things like drones, autonomous robots and artificial intelligence combined with lethal firepower create dilemmas that our moral framework seems ill-suited to resolve.

As of today, the problems are no longer hypothetical. The Dallas Police Department demonstrated a tactical innovation that, in hindsight, seems overdue. They attached a demolition charge to a remote-control vehicle and used it to “neutralize” an active shooter from a place of safety. Had criminals done this, we would rightly term the device an IED, but the more technically correct description is “battlefield robot.”

The militarization of America’s domestic police continues apace, and it seems likely that the meaning of “bomb squad” will soon be subtly redefined.

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Shootings: Dallas response gives glimpse of future."