Author Archive

Patrick Lin

Patrick Lin
Patrick Lin, Ph.D., is the director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he is an associate philosophy professor.
Artificial Intelligence

Do Killer Robots Violate Human Rights?

When machines are anthropomorphized, we risk applying a human standard that should not apply to mere tools.

  • By Patrick Lin, The Atlantic
Digital Government

Pain Rays and Robot Swarms: The Radical New War Games DoD Plays

An insider's look at why ethics, policy, and law matter to current and future warfare.

  • By Patrick Lin, The Atlantic
Emerging Tech

Could human enhancement turn soldiers into weapons that violate international law?

New technologies reveal ambiguities and hidden assumptions in international humanitarian law.

  • By Patrick Lin, The Atlantic
Cybersecurity

Is it possible to wage a just cyberwar?

It's time to get serious about the moral questions resulting from our new class of weapons.

  • By Patrick Lin, Neil Rowe and Fritz Allhoff, The Atlantic
Cybersecurity

'Stand your cyberground' law: A novel proposal for digital security

Though problematic, authorizing industry victims to counterattack may prove a good stop-gap measure to remove the political risk of government intervention while still creating deterrence.

  • By Patrick Lin, The Atlantic