INFORMATION WARFARE OR INFORMATION IN WARFARE

摘要

1. In 1981, the then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, decided to designate the following year, 1982, as "information technology year"; she was fascinated by the technology and by the implications for business and society in general. In her memoires she relates how she believed that, with the right framework of laws and an appropriately educated workforce, IT could widen choice, generate wealth and jobs and improve the quality of people's lives. In the succeeding 14 years there has been no let up in the development of the technologies, the increasing minaturisation of equipment, the vast increase in data capacity and new and novel ways of utilising the technology. It was in that year of 1982, the UK's "information technology year" that Alvin and Heidi Toffler recall meeting a US Army General who wished to apply the Tofflers' Third Wave to military doctrine. The military are not always renowned for their ability to adapt to new ideas (remember the difficulties experienced in the development of the submarine or the tank).