Additive Manufacturing and its Implications for Military Ethics

Abstract

Recent advances in so-called ‘additive manufacturing’ pose significant, new challenges, in scope if not in kind, for military ethicists. While the problem of dual-use technologies (i.e. technologies that can be used for both good and malevolent purposes) is not new, the possibility of the rapid, uncontrolled replication of highly sophisticated tools of violent action – tools that heretofore have been largely inaccessible to laymen – could vastly expand the number of persons able to commit violent acts, or even wage war, far beyond traditional boundaries. This article explains the nature of additive manufacturing and identifies the challenges it poses for militaries and governments with the de facto responsibility to keep war-making tools out of the wrong hands. In light of the industrial revolution occasioned by the advent of additive manufacturing and the revolution in military affairs that it portends, it proposes a research agenda for military ethicists. In particular, it argues that military ethicists must now expand their scope of inquiry in a way that accords due prominence to the nexus between these technologies and jus ante bellum issues of conflict avoidance.