National Security Needs Both Futurists and Traditionalists
Zachary Kallenborn
April 1, 2021
Since the stone, bronze, and iron ages, humans have found new means to protect themselves and kill one another. Weapons like iron swords, tanks, and nuclear weapons transformed the globe, while others only merit mention on a Gizmodo listicle. At the same time, peaceful technologies like the printing press, the power loom, and computers disrupted economies, societies, and even governments. Today, a whole host of technologies from fifth-generation wireless communication to artificial intelligence and quantum computing all have broad implications for society, economies, and warfare.
Technological change is not new. Nor does a focus on technology at this particular moment make one a blinkered “futurist.†Technology is an instrument of national power that feeds and in turn is fed by other elements of national power. With so many technologies with potentially transformative applications emerging at once, focusing on understanding, developing, and leveraging these technologies is well justified, even if it seems myopic at times.
https://warontherocks.com/2021/04/national-security-needs-both-futurists-and-traditionalists/
