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6th INESPE Lecture: "Why don't I take military funding?" by Benjamin Kuipers

I don't take funding from military agencies. Why not?
Mostly it's a testimony that it's possible to have a successful career
in computer science without taking military funding. My position has its
roots in the Vietnam War, when I was a conscientious objector, did
alternative service instead of submitting to the draft, and joined the
Society of Friends (Quakers). During the 1980s and 90s, the position
seemed to lose some of its urgency, so it became more of a testimony
about career paths.
Since September 11, 2001, all the urgency is back. The defense of our
country is at stake, so this testimony becomes critical. In short, I
believe that non-violent methods of conflict resolution provide the only
methods for protecting our country against the deadly threats we face in
the long run. Military action, with its inevitable consequences to
civilian populations, creates and fuels deadly threats, and therefore
increases the danger that our country faces.
I will discuss the origin and evolution of my beliefs and my attitudes
toward the role of the military in our society, and towards
military-funded research.

Benjamin Kuipers holds an endowed Professorship in Computer Sciences at
the University of Texas at Austin. He investigates the representation of
commonsense and expert knowledge, with particular emphasis on the
effective use of incomplete knowledge. He received his B.A. from
Swarthmore College, and his Ph.D. from MIT. He has held research or
faculty appointments at MIT, Tufts University, and the University of
Texas. His research accomplishments include developing the TOUR model of
spatial knowledge in the cognitive map, the QSIM algorithm for
qualitative simulation, the Algernon system for knowledge
representation, and the Spatial Semantic Hierarchy model of knowledge
for robot exploration and mapping. He has served as Department Chairman,
and is a Fellow of AAAI and IEEE.