In our

Minute Papillon

podcast 

!

, we explore the world of the future through research and technological innovations, with Laure Beaudonnet, journalist at

 20 Minutes

. What will the French soldier of the future look like? A human with super-armor, like Tony Stark dons to become the superhero Iron Man? Or will the choices of our leaders focus on humanoid machines, à la “Terminator”? Will the soldier of tomorrow be rather a mixture of human and machine, portrayed by “Robocop”? Or a human "augmented" by genetic manipulation, like the superhero "Spiderman"? Popular culture sketches figures, often terrifying, of the fighter of the future. In this episode, Laure Beaudonnet, journalist in the "Culture" department of

 20 Minutes

, sort it out.

What ethical choices?

On the French side, recalls Laure Beaudonnet, the Ministry of Defense would opt for a soldier with “Iron Man” sauce rather than “Spiderman”.

An ethical choice where the human body is not modified.

During the

“Digital Defense Innovation Forum”, on December 4, 2020, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly explained: “We will always seek alternatives to invasive transformations, that is to say increases that do not cross the physical barrier.

Rather than implanting a chip under the skin, we will seek to integrate it into a uniform.

In summary, we are saying "yes" to Iron Man's armor and no to Spiderman's genetic increase and mutation.

"

Will humans be encumbered with technologies?

Quentin Ladetto, program director at the Swiss Federal Office of Armaments and Anne-Caroline Paucot, prospectivist, looked into the question in the book

Soldat du futur

(available for download free of charge).

Their dictionary of neologisms describes techniques and situations that could become the everyday life of soldiers.

The combatants could thus be equipped with “cobrettes”, smart glasses making it possible to identify a person, to see if he is armed for example.

The soldiers of tomorrow could also have a “mosquito net” allowing them to protect themselves from mosquitoes.

The soldier will not be augmented, but “hybridor” ...

External or internal devices?

Ideas far from far-fetched. Large companies enter into contracts with the armed forces every year to develop “smart” devices. The giant Microsoft has signed a $ 480 million contract with the US military to develop a helmet doped with artificial intelligence, including night vision, hearing protection, and aims to measure the vital signs of soldiers.

What about autonomous machines? Will we see “Terminators” rise up on the battlefields, commanded by “Skynet” artificial intelligence? "It is clear that in the coming years, there will be robots in all armies that will go into combat", according to Emmanuel Chiva, director of the Defense Innovation Agency (AID). But probably not in humanoid form. “I don't think so because it has no operational interest. The fact of looking human is useless, ”he believes. Perhaps the future will belong to robot dogs, like those developed today by the American robotics company Boston Dynamics?

And you, how do you imagine the fighter of the future?

What ethical questions do you think it raises?

Are “augmented” soldiers compatible with respect for humans?

What is the limit of the search for maximum efficiency?

Tell us in the comments !

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, under" podcasts ".

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