A human life lost in combat is usually grieved, memorialized and recognized – as it should be, for service provided to a country and its people. However, what if what is lost in battle is not a sentient being, rather, an entity composed of things like sensors, hardware, solenoids, actuators, wiring, webcams, synthetic brains, hexapods, motors and mechanical joints? Is such a subject missed and grieved when it loses the fight and ends up as scrap? According to researcher Julie Carpenter, the answer appears to be “yes”. According to Carpenter, soldiers admit to feelings of attachment toward their robot comrades and often view the bots as being extensions of themselves. Read about soldiers’ attachment to their fellow wing-men here.
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