Ethics and the Advancement of Military Technology Essay -- Philosophy

I. Introduction: Technology in the light of military weaponry has been one of the growingly controversial issues that the world faces today. Among the top weapon types that have advanced greatly over the past recent years are nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry. Though the United States government and military has been enthusiastically involved in the evolution of these weapons, their enthusiasm dwindles when responsibility must be taken for the consequences that result. Consequences that are left unresolved or postponed only bring about more doubts and questions that all branch off of one basic issue: Is it ethical to continue the advancement of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare when the results cannot be controlled? II. Basic History of Military Weapons: "Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes."- Colonel William Prescott, Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775 Military weaponry has developed over the ages branching from three main keys of destruction: nuclear, chemical, and biological attack. In order to understand the capabilities each hold in the present day, basic understanding is needed of how each was initially developed. Nuclear power was first introduced into the world of weaponry on July 16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico when the United States tested out their first nuclear bomb named ‘Trinity’.7 Following Trinity’s blazing entrance came the testing of similar bombs by the governments of the Soviet Union, England, France, China, and India.7 In order to compete with these mirrored foreign bombs, on November 1, 1952, the United States entered into the Thermonuclear Age, as they exploded ‘Mike’, their first thermonuclear bomb, in the Pa... ...u. 5 Dec 1990. 562 words. <http://www.washtimes.com/> 7. Nuclear Weapons: The High Energy Weapons Archive. 6 July 2002. EnviroLink. 26 Feb 2003 <http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/> Image Bibliography: P1: http://www.darwinmag.com/read/110101/weapon_content.html P2: http://www.darwinmag.com/read/110101/weapon_content.html P3: http://www.batguano.com/nuclear/trinity.jpg P4: http://www.batguano.com/nuclear/trmap2.gif P5: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4239/chemweapons/history.html P6: http://www.aofiles.net/main/Images/planes.jpg P7: http://bifido.net/html-data/micro/Anthrax%20(IBacillus%20anthracis-I).htm P8: http://www.immed.org/ P9: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/aaav.htm P10: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/aaav.htm P11: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/aaav.htm