November 25, 2019
Warmaking by Remote Control Is a False Choice
So it seems remote war is easy to wage, hard to win, and carries hidden moral hazards. Beware the allure of the latest gadgetry. It cannot exorcise the ghosts of wars past—or present.
by James Holmes
Over at MIT Technology Review, U.S. Marine Corps infantry veteran and Jarhead author Anthony Swofford declares that that warmaking by remote control constitutes a bad way to make war.
Is this the most addicitve World War 3 strategy game? Is this the most addicitve World War 3 strategy game? Conflict of Nations
Seconded.
War is a deeply human undertaking. Trying to take human beings out of it is fraught with unintended consequences. I had a similar inkling about the future after Desert Storm, where Swofford and I both deployed. In March 1991, to herald the armistice, a Navy Times headline blared out that the “ghost of Vietnam†had faded in the desert as U.S. expeditionary forces displayed “unrivaled military might.†That was a bold claim. It was also a plaintive way to announce a victory. Why situate a freshly won triumph in the context of a past defeat?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/warmaking-remote-control-false-choice-99007
