Microsoft has recently acquired a contract from the U.S Army to develop augmented reality (AR) systems for use in combat and training missions.
The $480 million contract has created backlash among the company’s workforce.
This is not the first incident where big tech companies have faced internal recoil.
This type of thinking fails to see the bigger picture when it comes to technological advancement. It's also extremely important for national security that our military collaborates with the best companies from our tech industry.
Having the most advanced technology allows a country’s military to maintain an edge over other foreign powers. To this end, the U.S. military has invested heavily in research and development of new technology giving U.S forces an advantage over other military powers.
Numerous companies have worked with the government over the years to facilitate the design and development of these systems. However, it's become a trend among tech company employees to boycott government contracts for the military and law enforcement.
The most recent example of this is Microsoft and its development of AR systems for the military. Employees voiced their objections to the project by making a letter addressed to Microsoft’s top executives voicing their dissatisfaction with the contract. The letter demands the cancelation of that contract, stopping the development of new weapons technology and establishing policies to stop the development of such technology.
Google also bowed out of military contracts due to protests from its workforce.
One of those contracts, codenamed Project Maven, involved developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to analyse drone footage. Google also dropped out of a bid for the development of a cloud computing system for the Pentagon.
The issue here is that employees in tech companies are often liberal.
Many instances of liberal bias at giants like Facebook and Google have been reported in the past. However, their line of thinking is often fueled by emotion rather than logic, which is most often disturbing emotions like those computer users get when they are bombarded by annoying adware pop-ups while surfing the Internet.
Helping our armed forces develop cutting-edge technology, such as Microsoft’s AR system, not only helps keep our soldiers safe, but could also minimize civilian casualties on the field.
The U.S Army stated that the augmented reality systems developed by Microsoft could "increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide, and engage before the enemy." In the letter directed to Microsoft’s top executives, employees are concerned that they are providing the government tools to increase the "lethality" of the U.S. military.
However, they overlook the benefits of "enhancing the ability to detect, decide, and engage before the enemy."
This can help improve service members' ability to clearly identify their targets by reducing the fog of war and minimizing collateral damage and civilian casualties. It can also increase the survivability of our service members by allowing them to engage the enemy — before the enemy engages them.
More importantly, the U.S. needs to stay ahead of other countries when it comes to military technology. Other countries that are competing with the U.S. for global influence do not have the same ethical reserves we do when it comes to developing military hardware.
China has already taken a number of initiatives to foster the development of AI weapon systems. The country is also ramping up its cyber warfare capabilities and has already directed numerous campaigns at the U.S.
Advancements in military technology translates to advancement in the civilian world.
During World War II, the government worked with engineers from Motorola to develop the walkie-talkie. The development of jet engines for combat aircraft allowed the creation of commercial airliners.
Lastly, the technology that revolutionized how the world interacts and does business, known today as the Internet, was originally developed for military purposes.
Julio Rivera is a small business consultant, political activist, writer and Editorial Director for Reactionary Times. He has been a regular contributor to Newsmax TV and columnist for Newsmax.com since 2016. His writing, which is concentrated on politics, cybersecurity and sports, has also been published by websites including The Hill, The Washington Times, LifeZette, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Toronto Sun and PJ Media and many others. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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