商品簡介
A military expert reveals how science fiction is fast becoming reality on the battlefield, changing not just how wars are fought, but also the politics, economics, laws, and ethics that surround war itself
P. W. SingerA's previous two books foretold the rise of private military contractors and the advent of child soldiersA- predictions that proved all too accurate. Now, he explores the greatest revolution in military affairs since the atom bombA-the advent of robotic warfare.
We are just beginning to see a massive shift in military technology that threatens to make the stuff of I,Robot and the Terminator all too real. More than seven- thousand robotic systems are now in Iraq. Pilots in Nevada are remotely killing terrorists in Afghanistan. Scientists are debating just how smartA-and how lethalA-to make their current robotic prototypes. And many of the most renowned science fiction authors are secretly consulting for the Pentagon on the next generation.
Blending historic evidence with interviews from the field, Singer vividly shows that as these technologies multiply, they will have profound effects on the front lines as well as on the politics back home. Moving humans off the battlefield makes wars easier to start, but more complex to fight. Replacing men with machines may save some lives, but will lower the morale and psychological barriers to killing. The A"warrior ethos,A" which has long defined soldiersA' identity, will erode, as will the laws of war that have governed military conflict for generations.
Paradoxically, these new technologies will also bring war to our doorstep. As other nations and even terrorist organizations start to build or buy their own robotic weapons, the robot revolution could undermine AmericaA's military preeminence. While his analysis is unnerving, thereA's an irresistible gee-whiz quality to the innovations Singer uncovers. Wired for War travels from Iraq to see these robots in combat to the latter-day A"skunk worksA" in AmericaA's suburbia, where tomorrowA's technologies of war are quietly being designed. In SingerA's hands, the future of war is as fascinating as it is frightening.
作者簡介
P. W. Singer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the youngest person ever to hold that position. He?s consulted for the department of defense and State, the CIA, and Congress. He has also appeared on 60 Minutes and the Today Show, among other programs, and written for publications such as The New York Times and Foreign Affairs.
