Warrior Geeks examines how technology is transforming the way we think about and fight war, taking three major changes that are driving this process: cybernetic technologies that are folding soldiers into a cybernetic system that will allow the military to read their thoughts and emotions and mould them accordingly; the coexistence of men and robots in the battle-spaces of tomorrow; and the extent to which we may be able to re-engineer warriors through pharmacological manipulation. By referring back to the Greeks who defined the contours of war for us, Coker shows how we are in danger of losing touch with our humanity - the name we give not only to a species but the virtues we deem it to embody. The journey from Greeks to Geeks may be a painful one. War can only be rendered more humane if we stay in touch with the ancestors, yet unfortunately we are planning to subcontract our ethical choices to machines. In revaluing technology, are we devaluing our humanity, or the post-human condition, changing our subjectivity and thus the existential dimension of war by changing our relationship with technology both functionally and performatively?
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As their roles become more demanding, specialised and far removed from their own inborn predispositions, will the military require ever more years of 'programming'?
'A fascinating historical and philosophical tour of modern warfare. - The chief concern outlined by Coker is that the ingenuity driving military science is spiralling out of control. The 'geeks' are creating technologies - designer drugs, robotics and neural devices - that, ultimately, he feels, will dehumanize us.'
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781849042543
Publisert
2013-02-18
Utgiver
Vendor
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
136 mm
Aldersnivå
G, P, 01, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
384

Forfatter

Biographical note

Christopher Coker is Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics. He is the author of Barbarous Philosophers: Reflections on the Nature of War from Heraclitus to Heisenberg, also published by Hurst.