Russian official says civilian satellites may be military target

Obvious, chilling .... The clear future of warfare

Russian official says civilian satellites may be “legitimate” military target

Russia wasn't happy about Starlink providing broadband in Ukraine after invasion.

JON BRODKIN - 9/16/2022   ArsTechnica

A Russian diplomat said civilian satellites could be legitimate military targets in a statement that seems to refer to Starlink providing broadband access in Ukraine. Civilian satellites "may become a legitimate target for retaliation," the Russian official said in a statement to the United Nations' open-ended working group on reducing space threats.

The quote is from an unofficial English translation of the statement on September 12 by Konstantin Vorontsov, head of the Russian delegation to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) working group. The translation is provided with other countries' statements from the session on the UNODA's meeting website.... '

Preserving Culture

 More from the world of war. What if this had been done in WWII, other wars?

Ukrainians Use 3D Technology to Preserve Cultural Artifacts  By CNN. June 13, 2022

Civilians in Ukraine are recording three-dimensional (3D) models of artifacts in a permanent digital archive far away from the war as part of Backup Ukraine, a project to save the country's cultural heritage.

Organizers said the scans' resolutions are fine enough to project them into physical spaces, and to use them to reconstruct destroyed artifacts.

The joint project of the VICE media group, cultural heritage preservation organization Blue Shield Denmark, and the Danish UNESCO National Commission marks the first time a country's artifacts are being archived in augmented reality during a war.

Backup Ukraine's Tao Thomsen said the initiative includes 150 volunteers who scan up to 10 artifacts daily with mobile devices, using the Polycam application to access the archive.

Project leaders are in communication with Ukraine's Heritage Emergency Rescue Initiative, and coordinate with 3D scanning professionals to digitize artifacts faster and at larger scale.

Full article.

Ethical Use of AI in Warefare

Brought to my attention.  Intriguing comment on what is right, ethical and fair in war,  now that we will soon have AI participating.  But I note that these are broad principles rather than specifics.  We have yet to well define such ethical specifics even for civilian use.   Well worth looking at.

Pentagon Advisory Board Releases Principles for Ethical Use of AI in Warfare  in The Washington Post  By Aaron Gregg

The U.S. Defense Innovation Board has published a set of ethical principles for how military agencis should design weapons enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and apply them on the battlefield. However, the board's recommendations are not legally binding, and it is now up to the Pentagon to determine how and whether to proceed with them. The recommendations pertained mostly to broadly defined goals such as "formalizing these principles" or "cultivating the field of AI engineering." Other recommendations included setting up a steering committee or a set of workforce training programs. The document specified that AI systems should be equitable, traceable, reliable, and governable.es Principles for Ethical Use of AI in Warfare

Referenced Document:
https://admin.govexec.com/media/dib_ai_principles_-_supporting_document_-_embargoed_copy_(oct_2019).pdf   (66 pages)