Human, machine, and morality

After reading the article titled “Does an attack really begin when the weapon is first fired?…” by Colonel Alp Lüleci, published on 12punto on September 24, 2026, we exchanged messages. I responded to a question he asked in his piece, saying, “Did I understand your writing correctly?” and after his reply, I wanted to expand on our brief correspondence and share it here.

As Lüleci points out, why do we place more importance on and invest more in machines, software, and hardware compared to humans? I believe there are two reasons: they are cheaper and marketable, and they do not possess human characteristics.

You can produce millions of a product that performs the same function. You can sell a device, software, or any object you have produced to anyone you wish, unconditionally and at any price you desire. You do not need to persuade the relevant device or software to perform the task you have assigned to it. It does not need to reason or make decisions like right/wrong regarding the task you have given it. Whoever owns the object will use it absolutely in the direction they want.

Let me try to explain this through the issue of security, which I referenced in the article. An officer who can write this piece by specializing in security goes through a training and experience process that lasts at least 35-40 years. Great expense is incurred for their training. In addition to acquiring technical skills, they are raised within a set of values—loyalty, sacrifice, cooperation, and the like—which I believe are at least as important as knowledge and skills. Furthermore, there is also an indispensable ideological dedication.

While they gain a certain level of training and experience and reach perfection, their service period is limited. The moment life ends, there is nothing left behind. Moreover, you cannot force a human to do a job they find immoral. A human is not an object. Therefore, it is impossible for a human to be marketed and sold as a product.

However, you can sell security software, hardware, a weapon, or a device to anyone you want. An off-road vehicle can serve as a vehicle on which warring parties in the Middle East or Africa mount anti-aircraft guns, or it can be used in Australia to tow a speedboat or carry fishing rods. As long as you pay the price, it serves whatever your purpose may be. It does not possess any values such as morality, belief, ideological or religious affiliation.

Let us consider the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the war industry.

As Fatih Yaşlı included in his article published on the Sol Haber website on September 16, we know that Israel has engaged in an operation to process all data belonging to more than 2 million people living in Gaza using AI and to eliminate those judged to be “terrorists” as a result of a scoring system. These AI applications, named “Lavender” and “Habsbora,” assist the commander in shortening the time taken to make a decision to kill a human. There is no human-specific value in the process of data collection, processing, and suggesting decisions.

In summary, capitalism wants to standardize and sell everything. It aims for every product to be identical to one another and part of a production process tracked by serial numbers. It does not value what it cannot sell, and it does not want to invest in something (a human) that has the potential to not produce the desired output. For this reason, it prefers objects over a mortal being that has chains such as morality, conscience, and honor.

Note: Dear Alp, hoping to meet at the “Veranda.”