On Friday September 26, the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values hosted Just Future Wars and the Ethics of Emerging Technology, a conference honoring the contributions of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Robert Latiff to the Reilly Center, and in particular his development of the perennially popular Ethics of Emerging Weapons Technology course.
After retiring from the Air Force in 2006, Maj. Gen. Latiff - who also received his PhD in material science from Notre Dame - returned to the Reilly Center to develop the course in order to provide students with the resources to think carefully about the moral choices that armed conflict makes so difficult, but so necessary. Since its inception, it has been a cornerstone of the Reilly Center's course offerings, serving students, for example, in the Science, Technology, and Values program, the Notre Dame International Security Center, exploring how contemporary technologies should be viewed through the lens of Just War Theory. At the time, it was one of the only such courses in the country, and Dr. Latiff's work was noted by national media, which ultimately led to the publication of his first book, Future War: Preparing for the New Global Battlefield (Knopf, 2017); a later fellowship at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study led to a second, Future Peace: Technology, Aggression, and the Rush to War (University of Notre Dame, 2022).
The conference featured keynote speeches from John R. Emery (University of Oklahoma), Claire Finkelstein (Penn Carey Law School), Christian Enemark (University of Southampton), covering issues from the continuing transformation of drone warfare in the Russia-Ukraine conflict to thorny issues around the assignment of responsibility for autonomous weapons. With closing reflections on a lifetime of service both military and academic from Maj. Gen. Latiff ending the event on a high note, the conference was not only a successful celebration,but a showcase of cutting edge research around contemporary challenges to Just War Theory and the Laws of Armed Conflict, and a lively occasion to develop and refine work in progress.
Just Future Wars was supported by the College of Arts & Letters, the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good, the Notre Dame International Security Center, the Department of Physics, and the Department of Philosophy.