Cannon Fodder

As citizens, we want peace – world peace. And by that I DO NOT mean the false peace that is offered to us by the phrase: ‘If you want peace then prepare for war’. I mean a world with no war and no weapons of any kind. Of course, I recognise this is radically idealistic. But I can say that at the very least our politicians should be speaking of genuine peace from time to time and they should always be mindful that this is surely one of the ultimate goals of our shared humanity. It might take a change in human cultures across the globe. It might even take a change to human nature. But despite the almost insurmountable hurdles, we should not abandon this vision for the sake of some ‘pragmatism’ or ‘realism’ – which is really just expediency. Meanwhile, the UK government’s intention to proliferate our stockpile of nuclear weapons is noted. Let’s be honest here again and use the same language that the government uses for other nations – proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – not ‘strengthening our nuclear deterrent’. And let’s also be honest about what this means. It means that it’s not just those who volunteer for military service who become cannon fodder – it means the entire population is cannon fodder for the government’s military aggression. When did anyone ever ask us if this is okay? And it seems that governments are happy to see the development of AI for the purposes of conflict. No doubt they will assure us that there will always be the opportunity for human intervention and that the AI will not choose targets and deploy weapons by itself. But should we really accept such reassurances? AI already seems capable of making choices entirely unpredicted by its creators. All this is what our governments describe as ‘keeping us safe’. In this context, democracy is a sham. The population is being used as a human shield for the power games of the elite – those who wield political and economic power. Should things turn really bad – and the world burns through AI-generated holocaust, climate change or global civil unrest – then the elite will shelter in their bunkers and on their space stations. That’s the true ‘deal’ that’s on offer. We’re all cannon fodder now.

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