Art Against the Kill Vehicle - Poetry about Drone Warfare : Artistic Engagement with Autonomous Weapons

Abstract

This paper considers the work of a small subset of contemporary poets who deal explicitly with the theme of autonomous weapons systems and their impact on the societies in which these weapons are used. It cites work by poets (and video poets) such as Kazim Ali, Kim Garcia, Clint Smith and the author, and examines the ways these poems depict the impersonal nature of these weapons, and argues that the nightmare scenarios of dystopian science fiction about « killbots » and lethal AI are already in the first stages of fruition. The paper argues that critics, poetry prize juries and literary scholars would do well to reflect on these technological changes, and that we need both art and criticism about militarized artificial intelligence.

Presenters

Finn Harvor
Associate Professor, English Interpretation and Translation, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul Teugbyeolsi [Seoul-T'ukpyolshi], South Korea

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

New Media, Technology and the Arts

KEYWORDS

Technology, AI, Drones, Warfare