Are Drone Strikes less Moral?

[The Reality Salesman01]

But as it was pointed out, they may create more separation between us and the button making it easier to do, even when it may not be necessary.

You think the button in an aircraft is more personal? I don't think so. Even the Hiroshima pilots didn't lose any sleep. Drone or aircraft, both operators don't see the the carnage left behind.

That was my point. The button separates us from feeling more closely involved. The remoteness of UAVs is more detached than a pilot flying overhead. We're in agreement. It's bad.

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Both good points. I think that the initial question of "Should we employ deadly force" to be considered all the more carefully. Everything I said presupposes that the conclusion of using deadly force was ethical in the first place. From then on, the means doesn't really change the ends.

OK, for the purpose of discussion, I'll presuppose that deadly force is reasonable and ethical.

In one well-defined context, that being the difference between instantly killing an enemy combatant with say, a rifle, ordnance from a piloted aircraft, ordnance from a remotely piloted aircraft, or from an autonomous drone, the difference for me is one of "I think we ought not conduct warfare in a way that makes it easier to conduct warfare".

I wouldn't say that all uses of deadly force are equal and that the end justifies the means.

There's also the question of collateral casualties - and my gut tells me it's going to be a lot easier to inflict same when the human is far removed from the direct consequences of the act (much in the same way that it's probably easier to get someone to use a drone to kill someone, than it is to get them to stab someone in the neck). Deadly force may be lawful, ethical, and reasonable at the time - but (to use an absurd example) that does not mean that it would be OK to throw some poor sap in a wood chipper.

Good point. I guess I was sayng the means wouldn't change the end while assuming the collateral damage and the degree of suffering is the same in all means.