Warrior Geeks: How 21st Century Technology is Changing the Way We Fight and Think about War

摘要

In this book, Professor Coker, head of the Department for International Relations at the London School of Economics, explores the human dimension of war and warfare and the changes that may occur in the future if technological advances separate man from the West's morals and ethics. He examines war's changes from possible technological and medical advances that alter the human warrior, or by using surrogate warriors such as autonomous systems (SKYNET), or some combination of both in the post-human environment. Describing his own intent, the author says- What I have tried to do in this book is to examine the likely impact of early 21st century technologies-digital, cybernetic, and bio-medical-upon our understanding of how war and our humanity will continue to co-evolve. Coker begins with a discussion of warfare as understood by the ancient Greek philosophers as the "human thing." As contrast, he blends in a view of the digital world that produces impersonal relations and interaction. He then effectively incorporates expert opinion from a vast array of multiple disciplines, from the time of the ancient Greeks until today, in examining the subject as he predicts the future. These disciplines are not limited to social scientists and moral philosophers; they also include science fiction writers, bio- and neuroscientists, genetic engineers, post humanists, cyberneticists, and many others.