Rhetorical Analysis Of Stopping Killer Robots

Joshua Twigg A Jenkins English 102 March 28, 2017 “Stopping Killer Robots” Autonomous machines and robots are no longer the ideas of the future, but are the reality of today. Robotics and A.I. algorithms are a hotbed for the brightest minds and latest cutting edge technology of the world today. Like any technology that has ever been developed, this technology is being militarized for use in fully autonomous war machines. The article “Stopping Killer Robots, why now is the time to ban autonomous weapon systems, by Frank Sauer, goes into detail on the reasoning why this technology should be put to rest immediately. Frank Sauer uses rhetorical strategies Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to explain the reason for banning autonomous war machines. Frank

They will repeatedly perform these preprogrammed tasks within tightly set parameters. The introduction of this information helps lay a compare and contrast foundation for all readers who may not know the difference between an automatic system and the autonomous systems the he details in the article. This helps the reader to gain perspective on why there are major ethical concerns with a fully functioning and thinking weapon of war. The article starts the discussion by stating a fact that uses Pathos, or an emotional appeal. The statement is, “Autonomous weapons systems have drawn widespread media attention, particularly since last year's open letter signed by more than 3,000 artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics researchers warning against an impending "military AI arms race." (1)”. This will draw the reader in to want to read more about this article. Its intent is also to elicit an emotional response. Most people are familiar with the Terminator movies, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, where the A.I. war machines became self aware with the Skynet

With the development of the major ethical implications that these machines impose we should ban these machines before they are even put into mass production. Frank Sauer’s makes use of the rhetorical strategies of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos throughout the article. He uses strong emotional statements that cause the reader to stop and think about the implications. These statements led me to think about a possible Terminator type scenario. He also uses logical and ethical persuasive statements to back up why these machines should be banned. Before he gets into the depth of the article he uses information from the opposing side to give a larger picture of the topic to the reader. He avoids using any kind of logical fallacies that would take credibility away from the article. Works Cited Sauer, Frank. "Stopping 'killer robots': why now is the time to ban autonomous weapons systems." Arms Control Today, Oct. 2016, p. 8+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=mcc_main&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469754900&it=r&asid=dec98a6de55d1f2bfc317f601fdb3f04. Accessed 25