Considering the fetish value of EOD robots
How robots save lives and sell war
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7097095 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ian Roderick (0000-0002-8040-9329, Wilfrid Laurier University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 235-253 |
| Publication date | 2010-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1367-8779 • E-ISSN: 1460-356X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1367877909359732 |
| OpenAlex | W2170823824 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 6 |
This article explores how the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robot is represented to the mass media by the US military as a ‘life-saving device’. Such descriptions of the EOD robot discursively organize it in relation to other objects and actors, endow them with values and capacities, and ultimately situate them in social action. Drawing from US newspaper articles and Department of Defense press releases, the article highlights how the robot descriptions create a sense of automation and agency on the part of the remote-controlled devices that is actually beyond the technology. It is then argued that the IED-combating robot functions as a kind of fetish. Following Baudrillard, the fetish value of the robot stems not from a misunderstanding of its actual or ‘real’ capacities but rather its positive valuation according to a code of functionality that rests upon the risk-transfer labour of the robot
Agency (philosophy · Business · Computer security · Media studies · Mobile robot · Newspaper · Robot · Robot control · Social robot · Social science · Sociology · Valuation (finance · Value (mathematics · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2019 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |