Abstract
Currently, we find ourselves in a paradigm in which we believe that accepting climate change data will lead to a kind of automatic action toward the preservation of our environment. I have argued elsewhere (Fried 2020) that this lack of civic action on climate data is significant when placed in the historical, military context of the technologies that collect this data––Earth remote sensing technologies. However, I have not yet discussed the phenomenological or moral implications of this context, which are deeply interconnected. In this paper, I assert that Earth remote sensing technologies can, if we are not careful, lead us to a kind of environmental deskilling. This assertion comes in four parts. First, the military context of Earth remote sensing technologies––which collect important data on climate change––acts as a kind of stability, as defined by Don Ihde and others. Second, I invoke Sir Patrick Heelan to argue that the theoretical underpinnings of Earth systems science do not translate from military to environmental praxes as we imagine they do. Third, Hannah Arendt makes the case that a state’s trust in simplifying narratives like that of climate data, meant to create “islands” of certainty in an uncertain world, can be self-defeating. That is to say, they can silence public action. I extend these arguments through Vallor’s analysis of moral deskilling, in which she points out that an overemphasis on autonomous data collection––and trust in a kind of automated decision-making on that data––can deskill us from important questions relevant to our collective flourishing. In all of these examples, the lines between environmental and military research are blurry.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
I would like to thank my colleague, Sam Weiss Evans, for lending me this example in conversations about my work.
References
Arendt H (1958) The human condition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Barad K (2007) Meeting the universe halfway. Duke University Press, Durham
Bazell RJ (1971) Michigan war research charged. Sci Mag 171(3972):656
Chudwin D (1971) Research panel member hits ‘U’ military work. Michigan Daily 110:1–8
Crease RP (2019) The workshop and the world: what ten thinkers can teach us about science and authority. WW Norton & Company, New York City
Dosemagen S (2020) Exploring the Roots: the evolution of civic and community science. Medium. https://medium.com/@sdosemagen/exploring-the-roots-the-evolution-of-civic-and-community-science-80dd899335cb. Accessed July 17 2020
Fried SJ (2019) Landsat in contexts: deconstructing and reconstructing the data-to-action paradigm in earth remote sensing (Doctoral dissertation). Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
Fried SJ (2020) How Climate Science Could Lead to Action. Am Sci 1:34–49
Goward SN, Williams DL, Arvidson T, Rocchio LE, Irons JR, Russell CA, Johnston SS (2017) Landsat's enduring legacy: pioneering global land observations from space. American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda
Heelan PA (1999) Nietzsche’s perspectivalism: A Hermeneutic philosophy of science Nietzsche, epistemology, and philosophy of science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 203–220
Hickman LA (2008) Postphenomenology and pragmatism: closer than you might think? Tech Res Philos Technol 12(2):99–104. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne20081226
Ihde D (1986) Experimental phenomenology: an introduction. SUNY Press, Albany
Ihde D (1998) Expanding hermeneutics: visualism in science. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Latour B (1999) The politics of nature: how to bring the sciences into democracy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Latour B, Woolgar S (1979) Laboratory life: the construction of scientific facts. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills
Levine P (2015) We are the ones we have been waiting for: the promise of civic renewal in America. Oxford University Press, Oxford
n.a. (2019) Report on Effects of a Changing Climate to the Department of Defense. Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. Arlington. https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jan/29/2002084200/-1/-1/1/CLIMATE-CHANGE-REPORT-2019.PDF
Rosenberger R (2013) Mediating mars: perceptual experience and scientific imaging technologies. Found Sci 18(1):75–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-012-9286-7
Rosenberger R (2017) Callous objects: designs against the homeless. U of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Rosenberger R (2020a) Backing up into advocacy: the case of smartphone driver distraction. J Sociotech Crit 1(1):3. https://doi.org/10.25779/n5s9-8t53
Rosenberger R (2020b) But, that’s not phenomenology!: a phenomenology of discriminatory technologies. Tech Res Philos Technol 24(1/2):83–113. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2020210117
Rosenberger R (2020c) On hostile design: theoretical and empirical prospects. Urban Stud 57(4):883–893. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019853778
Shiva V (1993) Monoculture of the mind: perspectives on biodiversity and biotechnology. Palgrave Macmillan, London
Vallor S (2013) The future of military virtue: Autonomous systems and the moral deskilling of the military. In: 2013 5th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CYCON 2013) Tallinn, pp 1–15
Vallor S (2015) Moral deskilling and upskilling in a new machine age: reflections on the ambiguous future of character. Philos Technol 28(1):107–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-014-0156-9
Vallor S (2016) Technology and the virtues: a philosophical guide to a future worth wanting. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Verbeek PP (2008) Obstetric ultrasound and the technological mediation of morality: a postphenomenological analysis. Hum Stud 31(1):11–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-007-9079-0
Williams DP (2019) Consciousness and conscious machines: what's at stake? Papers of the 2019 Towards Conscious AI Systems Symposium co-located with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2019 Spring Symposium Series. Stanford. https://dblp.org/rec/conf/aaaiss/Williams19
Wittkower DE (2016) Principles of anti-discriminatory design. In: 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science and Technology (ETHICS) Vancouver, pp 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1109/ETHICS.2016.7560055
Wittkower DE, Selinger E, Rush L (2013) Public philosophy of technology: Motivations, barriers, and reforms. Tech Res Philos Technol 17(2):179–200. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne201311141
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fried, S.J. Satellites, war, climate change, and the environment: are we at risk for environmental deskilling?. AI & Soc 38, 2305–2313 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-01047-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-01047-2