What does the Catholic Church have to say about war? How does the concept of a “just war” – which has roots in St. Augustine’s writings – relate to modern warfare? And what does a discussion of the ethics of war look like with modern weaponry, including weapons made with artificial intelligence?
Charles Camosy recently discussed these questions with Dr. Jeffrey P. Bishop, a professor of philosophy and theological studies at St. Louis University and a medical doctor who holds the university’s Tenet Endowed Chair in Bioethics.
Camosy: What makes you interested in questions related to ethics, theology, technology and war?
Bishop: I always had a strong sense that our Christian moral vision was intricately linked to the kind of unique animal we are. So from our traditions in law to just war to a consistent life ethic, all of it is informed by the fact that we are made in the image and likeness of God and that our greatest happiness is in communion with God through our communion with one another.
Justice in war-making
Camosy: What about war in particular?
Bishop: Peace is the condition for the possibility of blessedness. War is dangerous because it creates chaos and, when in war, it is too easy to give license to our worst tendencies.
Camosy: What’s your general sense of the current standoff between the AI company Anthropic and the Department of War?
Bishop: People have been calling for the use of artificial intelligence to create autonomous weapon systems. Proponents of these systems say we might be able to be more surgical in our actions, promoting “jus in bello” (humanitarian) principles. We can minimize noncombatant deaths and even possibly minimize combatant deaths. We can certainly minimize the numbers of our own soldiers that are put at risk, and possibly bring a war to a quicker end in order to achieve peace. Proponents of the use of autonomous weapons suggest that it takes out the possibility of human error and human frailty. They believe it might prevent a My Lai incident.
The human factor
But the Christian tradition has always understood that humans standing in the moment of judgment are essential to executing a war for the establishment of peace. Will an autonomous weapon, programmed to execute its mission within the limits of legal warfare, ever make the moment-to-moment judgments needed in warfare – judgments that a seasoned, virtuous soldier can make?
A virtuous battlefield leader, taking into consideration the facts on the ground, might find ways around killing combatants and find solutions to reduce death and destruction unavoidable to the linear and statistical models that govern AI devices’ activities.
While humans are capable of passions that run amok in war-making, humans are also capable of passions like mercy and forgiveness and compassion and empathy that are absolutely necessary in just war-making.
Finally, there is also the problem that people in power tend to overestimate their own justice when they are in power. We see this in the fact that every president, no matter which party, has attempted to keep exceptional powers granted to them by Congress.
We humans are frail, and because of the chaos that war inevitably brings about, we have to realize that even those who swear that they will only use the power in a limited way often overstep the bounds.
I cannot say with certainty that Anthropic will stand by their decision not to participate in the development of these intelligent war-making tools, but I will say they seem to have the same impulse that the Church has had when it is at its best.
The church’s role
Camosy: The Catholic Church has consistently and strongly spoken out against autonomous weapons, at least since 2013, and more recently the Holy See has called for a global ban. Do you think Catholics should support Anthropic on this particular issue? If so, what should that support look like?
Bishop: Well, I certainly think a consistent life ethic suggests that the Church needs to be leading the way in calling for a global ban on the development and use of autonomous weapon systems.
In fact, I think there may come a time when it will be the Church that helps these companies to stand firm, because these companies have many, many other reasons to develop these kinds of weapons, not least the profit motive.
So, the Church must also muster its social teaching in relation to industry to convince these multibillion-dollar companies to stand firm.
The problem is that once we have autonomous systems for things like driverless cars or pilotless planes, it is just a short leap to autonomous systems. Our doctrine of human frailty is a great descriptive tool about how we are driven by our desires, but it takes a serious spiritual discipline for us to root out those desires once the tools are built.
No matter what tools come along to stir our desires, we must help companies and the governments of the world to see that war-making is a terrible tool and that it can only be used as a last resort because it is so antithetical to true peace, where true peace is not just the absence of war, but a state of being at home in blessedness that is only possible in the New Jerusalem in that heavenly kingdom.
Charles Camosy teaches moral theology and bioethics at The Catholic University of America in Washington.