I recently listened to a fascinating episode of NY Times’ “The Daily” podcast – “The Era of Killer Robots is Here,” and I think you should too…and ponder.
The story was about Ukraine’s development of autonomous drones to take out Russian targets. Acquire, click a button, and the drone works on its own from there. The kicker is that once you’ve hit the button, a radio signal is no longer required, so jamming is ineffective. The drone takes over from there.
And Ukraine is moving forward with it. Why? “Because we’re at war and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to defend ourselves.”
This is what I’ve been trying to tell people for the longest time – “rules” don’t always apply in a war. Each participant, bottom line, is going to do what it takes to win (see Hiroshima and Nagasaki for examples of this). This isn’t some kind of “gentlemen’s game” where they shake hands in the end. The enemy needs you devastated, humiliated, and out of the picture; and there are plenty of actors in the world today that won’t play fair by a long shot. Remember, as recently 14 years ago, North Korea torpedoed a South Korean patrol boat, killing 46 sailors. Out of the blue.
So now, a nation can let loose a thousand cheap autonomous drones to take out an aircraft carrier. Worse still, terrorists can do the same to attack soft targets across America. Will they follow the rules? They will not.
Even with controls written into the software – things that could prevent drones from killing children for example – we can’t rely on people to be “fair” in their warfare. The reporter of the story noted the obvious. He’s seen human history, and that’s not how it works. Not by a long shot. It’s called “human nature,” and I’ve often referred to it here. At heart we are corrupted by our selfishness and greed, and when pressed, we will default to whatever it takes. To think otherwise is terribly naïve, although I still get the vibe from too many people that that’s exactly what they’re thinking.
Things like this just strengthen my faith in God. While many people wring their hands and say “How could your God be good if he lets these things happen?” I just remember the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, which starts with its author doing somewhat the same thing.
“2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
Habakkuk 1: 2-4
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.”
And God says this:
Look among the nations, and see;
Habakkuk 1:5
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
In other words, “Watch me. You won’t believe it even if I tell you outright.”
And while we’re not the Old Testament nation of Israel, God is still God, eternally the same. He does as he does, and all we can do is listen to him. We must remember that even after all of the crazy garbage we humans pull in the Old Testament, the story has a good ending. But it’s an ending that relies not one whit on the works of any one of us. Remember – we’re the ones making such a mess of it all. It relies solely on the works of Jesus Christ, who cleaned up that mess on the cross.
Turn to him and don’t worry about the rest. God’s got it.