In our podcast Wait a minute !, we explore the world of the future through research and technological innovations, with Laure Beaudonnet, journalist at 20 minutes. What will the French soldier of the future look like? A human with super-armor, like Tony Stark dons to become the superhero Iron man ? Or will the choices of our leaders be rather on the humanoid machines, at the Terminator ? Will the soldier of tomorrow be rather a mixture of human and machine, portrayed by Robocop ? Or a human “augmented” by genetic manipulation, like the superhero Spiderman ? Popular culture sketches figures, often terrifying, of the fighter of the future. In this episode, Laure Beaudonnet, journalist in the Culture department of 20 minutes, sort it out.
What ethical choices?
On the French side, recalls Laure Beaudonnet, the Ministry of Defense would opt for a soldier with sauce Iron man rather than Spiderman. An ethical choice where the human body is not modified. During the “Digital Defense Innovation Forum”, on December 4, 2020, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly explained: “We will always seek alternatives to invasive transformations, that is to say increases that do not cross the physical barrier. Rather than implanting a chip under the skin, we will seek to integrate it into a uniform. In summary, we say “yes” to the armor ofIron man and not to the increase and genetic mutation of Spiderman. “
Will humans be encumbered with technologies? Quentin Ladetto, program director at the Swiss Federal Armaments Office and Anne-Caroline Paucot, prospectivist, looked into the question in the book Soldier of the future (
available for free download). Their dictionary of neologisms describes techniques and situations that could become the everyday life of soldiers. The combatants could thus be equipped with “cobrettes”, smart glasses allowing to identify a person, to see if he is armed for example. The soldiers of tomorrow could also have a “mosquito net” allowing them to protect themselves from mosquitoes. The soldier will not be augmented, but “hybridor” …
External or internal devices?
Ideas far from far-fetched. Large companies enter into contracts with the armed forces every year to develop “smart” devices. The giant Microsoft has signed a $ 480 million contract with the US military to develop a helmet doped with artificial intelligence, including night vision, hearing protection, and aims to measure the vital signs of soldiers.
What about autonomous machines? Will we see Terminator stand up on the battlefields, commanded by artificial intelligence Skynet? “It is clear that in the coming years, there will be robots in all armies that will go into combat”, according to Emmanuel Chiva, director of the Defense Innovation Agency (AID). But probably not in humanoid form. “I don’t think so because it has no operational interest. The fact of looking human is useless, ”he believes. Perhaps the future will belong to robot dogs, like those developed today by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics?
And you, how do you imagine the fighter of the future? What ethical questions do you think it raises? Are “augmented” soldiers compatible with respect for humans? What is the limit of the search for maximum efficiency? Tell us in the comments !
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