Ben Bragin

Matt Schultz

November 19th, 2019

Is All Fair in Love and Star Wars?

The similarities in warfare technology between the Star Wars universe and our own current and emergent warfare technology provide a bleak foreshadow of what is to come in the near future if left unchecked. Ethics in warfare is tricky, each tactical decision comes at a price, and gray areas and blurred lines are endless and unavoidable. All major factions in the Star Wars universe wage war at great ethical cost, from the CIS, Empire, and First Order, to the Republic and the Rebellion. Many of the tactics and technologies employed by these factions mirror the tactics and technologies employed in our world today, and rising technology in our world is closing the gap between the two.

Using an army of droids to wage war is an example of how money is power even without the support of others, and is an increasing reality as private militaries profit off of warfare, and unmanned drones become increasingly autonomous through artificial intelligence. The Death Star and Starkiller base show what the future could hold for nuclear weapons, examples of weapons so powerful that in the wrong hands could end all life as we know it. A clone army is also not far from being non-fictional, considering the frequent successful advancements in cloning and genetic engineering. Breeding living things for the sole purpose of war, deliberately engineered to be the perfect killing machines, at the cost of halved lifespans, free will, and more, is a dangerously close reality. Star Wars esque war technology is right around the corner, and needs to be stopped before it’s too late.

The droid army of the CIS is a perfect example of military technology that appears to beneficial, but in reality is quite problematic. “Droids” use in real life warfare has already arrived, with unmanned drones already undergoing heavy use in combat zones. The use of droids completely eliminates loss of life for their own combatants, an amazing and ethical feat, but comes at a grave price. Droids have no humanity, ethical code, or free will, they simply do as they were programmed to do. The only thing required to produce droids is money, meaning that money can quite literally buy power. The CIS were funded by 5 mega corperations, and their reasoning for succession was excessive taxation from the Republic. This means that the Clone Wars, the war that started the chain of events that led to multiple counts of planetary annihilation, the Great Jedi Purge, the Empire taking control of the galaxy, and many other atrocities, started because mega corporations wanted to maximize profits, and had enough money to build a droid army to help them do so. A democratic republic was able to have their own forces outnumbered 100 to 1 by a metallic army that was bought and paid for, which is obviously problematic for any fair and just society. Wealth should never be the determiner for ultimate power, it should ultimately rest with the people and their democratically elected officials, who will vouch for them as opposed to vouching for whatever makes them the most money.

The ability to buy perfectly loyal armies gives power to enforce whatever morals, ethics, or goals the customer has regardless of negative affect on others. In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace the CIS uses their droid army to blockade Naboo, out of anger from the Republic’s taxation. The CIS blockade starved an entire planet of food and supplies. The droid army then slaughters the Gungans who want the blockade to be lifted. A few corporations were able to slaughter and starve a planet’s inhabitants simply because they had enough money to afford a mindless army capable of doing so. The taxes that caused the CIS to rebel were also obviously not overburdening, considering they were able to afford a massive droid army. 

The attrocities commited by the CIS using their battle droid army go far beyond the prequel trilogy as well. In the canon novel Dark Disciple, the CIS orders the enslavement of Mon Calamari prisoners and civilians, and commited genocide against the Mahran species.  The use of droids clearly shifts power into the wrong hands, meaning something needs to be done to prevent further development of “droids” (AI weaponry) or we may share a similar fate. These examples also provide warning of private military companies, because like the CIS, they use war for profit. Profiting off of war incentivises starting or maintaining it, which is harmful to everyone except the profiteer.

Clone armies such as the one used in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith are equally problematic if not worse than droid armies. Clone armies share many of the same negatives that droid armies do, with the addition of putting lives at risk. Like droids, clones are purchasable, giving immense power to anyone with deep pockets. Another similarity is their total obedience, both doing whatever their masters tell them to, with the clones even having a brain chip in order to guarantee they carry out order 66. The clear ethical difference between using clones and using droids is that clones are alive, and can therefore be harmed. Creating life for the sole purpose of war, and genetically modifying them as perfect killing machines, is clearly less ethical than the use of non-sentient droids. Not only does the human cost of battles return, but the genetic modifications given to them provide a worse quality of life than if they were natural humans. Clones were given an accelerated aging process, such that they age in twice the speed. This meant that clones were fighting and dying before even reaching their teenage years, and if they were even lucky enough to survive the Clone Wars, would die in half the time that a human normally would. Their genetic programming also made them more violent, as well as fiercely obedient. The clone army was practically an army of slaves, and if in the wrong hands, could be devastating. This devastating power is proven by order 66, the order given by Chancellor Palpatine for clones to eradicate the Jedi. The clones had no ethics and were not fighting for good, they simply had allegiance to their genetic programming. Anyone who had enough money to create a clone army could’ve used one for whatever their heart desired, a power which as previously discussed is incredibly dangerous and immoral. In our own universe, cloning has already been successfully practiced in mammals, and gene editing has been successfully practiced in humans. Clone armies are entirely possible in the near future, and like droid armies, need to be stopped.

Nuclear bombs are another example of real world technology that mirrors technology from Star Wars. Nukes, the Death Stars, and Starkiller Base all have the potential to wipe out all life as we know it. The scariest part of this comparison is that Nuclear bombs are already a reality, and can only get worse. The one comforting difference between reality and Star Wars is mutually assured destruction (MAD) providing strong incentive against the use of nuclear weapons. MAD is the idea that each nuclear capable country has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the others, which deters any actual nuclear conflict because any attempt at a first strike will be retaliated, thus mutually destroying each side. 

In Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens we witness the terrifying destructive powers of the Death Star and Starkiller base, an example of how devastating weapons of mass destruction can be when in the wrong hands, and without the threat of MAD. A similar scenario is still possible in our world, because of the neverending worldwide arms race that could eliminate MAD as a nuclear deterrent. MAD is only a reality because contemporary nuclear tech can’t destroy nations before they have a chance to respond. Nuclear weapons take time to reach their target, time in which the victim has the opportunity to detect the attack and retaliate. With weapons like the Death Star or Starkiller Base, a laser is fired that destroys its target nearly instantaneously. Even if the Rebel Alliance were to have their own Death Star or Starkiller Base, MAD would not exist as a deterrent, because whoever fired first could eliminate their enemy’s super-weapon before it could retaliate due to the seemingly instantaneous nature of the weapons. 

With the rate that technology is developing and expanding, a weapon of mass destruction similar to the Death Star or Starkiller base that could annihilate entire countries before they have any hope to retaliate is entirely possible, and the world would be at the mercy of whoever creates it first. Whichever country would create this technology first would be forced to use it as leverage to deter others from creating it, otherwise a dangerous prisoner’s dilemma would arise. A prisoner’s dilemma is a scenario in which two parties always have incentive to act in a way that is harmful to themselves as a collective. If two countries both had the ability to annihilate the other before they could retaliate, they would have every incentive to do it. If country A uses the weapon, there will be zero chance that country B can retaliate. If they don’t use the weapon, there will be the looming possibility that country B will use the weapon until either they do, or humanity is wiped out some other way. Obviously both countries have the ability to cooperate and both survive, but the incentive to use the weapon is greater considering it would be the only way to guarantee survival. Nuclear weapons are a terrifying technology that must be stopped from progressing to the horrific levels observed in Star Wars, or the world will be in serious trouble. 

Technology is increasing at a rate faster than we’ve ever seen before, and reality has already begun surpassing science fiction. The similarities in warfare technology between the Star Wars universe and our own current and rising warfare technology provides a bleak foreshadow of what is to come in the near future. The droid army of the CIS and the clone army of the Republic outline the dangers of purchasable endlessly-loyal fighting forces. They give power to the highest bidder, who can use them for whatever personal agenda they have, regardless of morals or cost to humanity. While both armies are immoral, the clone army is ethically worse, because of its direct effect on human lives. Breeding life to be sent to fight and die in war is considerably worse when droid armies are so readily available. The genetic programming in clones to optimize them as soldiers also harms them as individuals. Weapons of mass destruction are another similarity in warfare technology, and through Star Wars we can see a potential near-future advancement in nuclear or similar technology that will eliminate MAD as a deterrent and ignite a second and more dangerous Cold War. Progress is almost always a good thing, but contemporary and nascent technologies have the potential to significantly change the world for the worse. War technology left unchecked will continue to develop regardless of the human cost, so there must be a time when it’s stopped. A closer look at the war technology of the Star Wars universe tells us that that time is now, as this horrific tech is right around the corner.

 

Works Cited

“Ambush.” Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Lucasfilm. 2008. Streaming. 

I used this episode for a single fact, quoted from Count Dooku, where he states that the droid army outnumbers to clones 100 to 1. I think this quote is important because it highlights how much power the CIS was able to get through their wealth, as opposed to the goverment of the entire galaxy. Their wealth was able to get them an army 100x in size, which emphasizes my point about money being able to buy literal power.

“Cloning Fact Sheet.” Genome.gov, www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Cloning-Fact-Sheet.

 

This website was wonderful for research about cloning, and helped me understand where current cloning technology is at. It was important for me to include sources about the actual technologies I was comparing to Star Wars, because the main focus of my essay is about how close we are to the dangerous tech seen in the Star Wars Universe. I specifically used this source to mention how cloning has been successful in mammals already.

 

“Confederacy of Independent Systems.” Wookieepedia, starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Confederacy_of_Independent_Systems.

 

Wookieepedia knows all things Star Wars, and this specific page helped me solidify my knowledge of the CIS, so I could break down and discuss their reasoning without doing my best movie interpretation. 

 

Golden, C. (2015). Dark disciple. Del Rey.

 

This is a canon Star Wars novel, and is based off of the Clone Wars television series. The novel features CIS commiting genocide as well as enslaving at the behest of Count Dooku, which helped reinforce my point that anyone with enough money could buy droids to do whatever they pleased, including things like genocide or enslavement.

 

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. (1999). [film] Directed by G. Lucas. Hollywood: Lucasfilm.

 

This episode of the Star Wars saga I used to talk about the invasion of Naboo, and the battle droid army’s role. This was another example of the droid army being used for evil, and reinforces my argument that droid armies potentially give power to evil people.

 

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. (2002). [film] Directed by G. Lucas. Hollywood: Lucasfilm.

 

This film was used to find facts about the clone army, like their genetic modifications. 

 

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. (2005). [film] Directed by G. Lucas. Hollywood: Lucasfilm.

This film was more useful in my argument about the ethics of clones, because in this film we see the execution of order 66. Previously to order 66, clones were seen as the good guys, but this is only because they were bred to look like that. Post order 66, we see that clones aren’t good guys but merely slaves to their biological programing, highlighting how they are equally obedient and dangerous as droids, because anyone can control them if they have the means to obtain them, regardless of what evil things they plan to use them for.

 

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. (1977). [film] Directed by G. Lucas. Hollywood: Lucasfilm.

 

This film was used for its depiction and use of the Death Star, which was critical for my argument on weapons of mass destruction. I specifically wanted to focus on where the Death Star exceeds nuclear bombs (not in terms of firepower, because that’s irrelevant considering earth’s size and the current nuclear arsenal), so I could show the dangerous looming future of nuclear or similar technologies.

 

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. (2015). [film] Directed by J.J. Abrams. Hollywood: Lucasfilm.

 

This film was used exactly the same as the episode IV was, because except for scale the Death Star and Starkiller base are identical (Minus the amount of lasers fired at once). I thought it was important to include both considering they are such pivotal and crucial elements of their respective films.

 

Stein, Rob. “First U.S. Patients Treated With CRISPR As Human Gene-Editing Trials Get Underway.” NPR, NPR, 16 Apr. 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/16/712402435/first-u-s-patients-treated-with-crispr-as-gene-editing-human-trials-get-underway.

 

This article I used similarly to the one on cloning, I needed credibility and a deeper understanding before I could talk about the relevance of cloning and genetic editing, and this article helped me do that. It’s about the use of CRISPR, a gene editing process, and how it began human trial earlier in the year. This helps reinforce my idea that the clone army and the other Star Wars technologies are not far at all from becoming reality.