Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century

by P.W. Singer

Book Overview

" Singer's] enthusiasm becomes infectious . . . Wired for War is a book of its time: this is strategy for the Facebook generation." --Foreign Affairs

"An engrossing picture of a new class of weapon that may revolutionize future wars. . ." --Kirkus Reviews

P. W. Singer explores the great­est revolution in military affairs since the atom bomb: the dawn of robotic warfare

We are on the cusp of a massive...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143116843
• ISBN13: 9780143116844
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Read

This is an eye-opening book but the title understates the breadth of its coverage. Yes, it is about the use of robots and automated systems in war but it goes far beyond that, discussing the many ways that computers and robots have entered our daily lives and the ways they are likely to do so in the future. The book is not just about robots and technology but also about human beings and how they related to their creations. Consequently, when the author makes the link between advances in robot design and science fiction it makes perfect sense, although it is an angle I hadn't previously considered. This book's strength is that it walks that fine line -- on the one hand it is carefully researched and documented but on the other is written in a highly readable style so that the reader is both informed and entertained. You know much more when you are finished and had fun in the process. Who could ask for more? I was drawn to this book having heard an interview with the author and having read his two previous books, "Corporate Warriors" and "Children at War." All three have a characteristic I particularly like in a nonfiction book -- the author is not dogmatic, raises concerns but doesn't cry that the sky is falling, doesn't shout at the reader, and doesn't offer easy solutions to complex problems. Instead, the author undertakes a reasoned and fair analysis of the issue, illustrating the complexities of what on the surface might seem a simple issue. As a result the author makes a more powerful statement than could ever be made by a sensationalist approach.Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs); Children at War

It's Not About The Future

Wired For War is a fascinating exploration of the current, near term, and long term technological advances in war. Since many technological advances quickly shift from defense applications to civilian ones, it is really a sneak peak at future mainstream technologies. The book gives some technical information, but is really about the stories and societal questions surrounding this technology. What makes Wired for War so fascinating is not its discussion about the future, but its discussion of the world today. When Singer talks about robots, he is not talking about humanoid looking bionic beings that can overpower and overthink us (though those may be in the pipeline), but about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles currently flying over Afghanistan, remote controlled robots defusing IEDs, and computer programs already being used. These existing technologies, and their near term successors, raise lots of interesting questions that Singer discusses. For example, will we always keep a human in the loop? Do we start work on a mothership model or a network model (or a network of motherships)? How do we treat troops who never actually deploy, but fight wars by remote control? Do they get the same services as vets? Can they receive military decorations? What does increased technology do to our threshold for war? How do our enemies view this use of technology? Will the rise of asymmetric warfare demonstrate a misplaced faith in advanced technology? Do we need a military robotics doctrine? Do we start blacklisting certain robotics research the way we do certain nuclear weapons research? In the longer term, do we need to create legal rights for robotics? The impact of these technological advances will probably be felt in two ways. The first way is their expected effect. For example, a UAV is built for recon or weaponry, and it can carry out those tasks. The second way is the societal effect. For example, as discussed above what does the use of UAVs mean for those fighting the wars? The latter societal effects may not be as impactful as proponents of the "singularity" believe. From the first day back in elementary school I picked up a calculator, I have used a machine smarter than me. Does it matter that some day soon all the machines on earth will be smarter than all the people, or will that be as little noticed as the impact of the calculator? Singer's comparison of the current use of robotics with the network-centric approach pioneered by Admiral Cebrowski and championed in the early years of the Bush Administration was also fascinating. These two "Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMAs)" are probably closer related than Singer admits. But what is fascinating is his discussion of over-command arising out of them. Those in the field may now have access to big picture, whole battlespace intelligence. But that also means those in the rear have access to ground level information. The urge, and ability, for those in the rear to get too closel

A wide-ranging exploration of a subject of the utmost importance

I've been engaged in a reading project touching upon many aspects of robots and artificial people. After hearing Mr. Singer on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, I immediately ordered a copy of this book. Singer is more concerned to bring to light the many, many aspects of using robots and unmanned vehicles in war than in making final conclusions and policy recommendations, but given the relative unfamiliarity most people have with the way they are actually being employed NOW in conflict, this is just as well. It has to be stressed that this is not a book about how robots and unmanned weapons might possibly be used in war, though there is consideration of how it might develop further in the future. The book, rather, is concerned with how they are being used now, this very second, in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine and, through the use of the Global Hawk spy drones, all over the planet. Some of the individuals Singer interviewed speculate about how things might develop in the future, but for the most the book focuses on weapons systems actually in place and being used. The age of robotized war does not lie somewhere in the future, but has already started. I was vaguely aware that Predator drones were being used in combat, but I had no idea of precisely how many nor how many had been armed. There are thousands upon thousands of Predators, Global Hawks, Packbots, Ravens, CRAMs, Fire Scout helicopters, Swords, and Talons already in use in the Middle East, and the only reason there aren't more is because the companies -- like iRobot, which is perhaps better known for making the Roomba vacuum cleaner -- can't make them any faster. And this doesn't even include unmanned planes like the Boeing X-45, which performed better than the joint strike fighter currently under development as the military aircraft of the future, at a fraction of the past. Singer raises a host of issues in connection with these systems. Some of the book has a on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand as Singer continually shifts from the military and moral pros and cons of these systems and then impact they are having in transforming war. Do they lead to more moral warfare? Do they create more danger than they alleviate? What are the host of legal questions that surround robots in combat? If a CRAM -- an automated machine gun programmed to shoot down incoming missiles -- fails and starts shooting innocent people instead, is it a war crime? And if so, who is to be held to blame? The number of issues that Singer takes up is absolutely mind boggling. And frankly I wasn't quite sure what my own position on robots in war is after having read it. There are so many pros and cons that it is almost impossible to make a snap judgment. I think the book is absolutely essential reading for anyone wanting to stay up on what is happening in the world. There is absolutely no question that the use of robots and unmanned systems in combat is transforming war as we know it. One of Singer's m

Making war impersonal

This frightening and funny book helped me understand the future of war in all its technological splendor. What was once the stuff of science fiction, such as machines thinking for themselves, is now our military's reality. Unfortunately, as Isaac Asimov quotes in Wired for War: "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." The military began using robots primarily to fill the "Three D" roles people were poor at: jobs that were Dull, Dirty or Dangerous. Unmanned systems "don't need to sleep, don't need to eat, and find monitoring empty desert sands as exciting as partying at the Playboy mansion." The use of unmanned systems has exploded, especially since the attacks of September 11. As one U.S. Navy researcher puts it: "The robot is our answer to the suicide bomber." I heard an NPR interview with the author, and what struck me most was his description of how impersonal war has become. Almost like playing video games, people here in the states can launch missiles and cause all kinds of mayhem on battlefields overseas, untouched by all the messiness of being on site. Singer reveals the disdain combat troops sometimes have for these faraway operators, even though they are on the same side. All sorts of pop culture references are woven through the book, including The Iron Giant, The Matrix, Night of the Living Dead, Predator, Star Wars, The Terminator, Total Recall, Wall-E and the Nintendo Wii. There is also a glossy-page insert of 32 black and white photographs. The book poses provocative ethical questions about the new trend of one-step-removed killing. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. Here's the chapter list: Author's Note: Why a Book on Robots and War? Part One: The Change We Are Creating 1. Introduction: Scenes from a Robot War 2. Smart Bombs, Norma Jeane, and Defecating Ducks: A Short History of Robotics 3. Robotics for Dummies 4. To Infinity and Beyond: The Power of Exponential Trends 5. Coming Soon to a Battlefield Near You: The Next Wave of Warbots 6. Always in the Loop? The Arming and Autonomy of Robots 7. Robotic Gods: Our Machine Creators 8. What Inspires Them: Science Fiction's Impact on Science Reality 9. The Refuseniks: The Roboticists Who Just Say No Part Two: What Change is Creating For Us 10. The Big Cebrowski and the Real RMA: Thinking About Revolutionary Techniques 11. "Advanced" Warfare: How We Might Fight With Robots 12. Robots That Don't Like Apple Pi: How the U.S. Could Lose the Unmanned Revolution 13. Open-Source Warfare: College Kids, Terrorists, and Other New Users of Robots at War 14. Losers and Luddites: The Changing Battlefields Robots Will Fight On and the New Electronic Sparks of War 15. The Psychology of Warbots 16. YouTube War: The Public and Its Unmanned Wars 17. Changing the Experience of War and the Warrior 18. Command and Control... Alt-Delete: New Technologies and Their Effect on Leadership 19. Who Let You in the War? Technol

A truly eye-opening book, superbly researched and written

I first heard the author talking on NPR about this topic, and both that interview and the first chapter of this book show his excitement and deep interest and understanding of this subject. For such a weighty hardback, it's remarkably hard to put down, and each section evolves intelligently from the last. I particularly enjoyed the references to modern culture, given that robotics has largely been a subject of science fiction in the last few decades rather than yielding anything practical in reality. Well, at least so I thought - it turns out that over 12,000 robots are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan as we speak. The companies producing these machines were spurred by the very real necessities of dealing with guerrilla warfare, and avoiding the human toll associated with such difficult environments. Through a combination of human-controlled and artificially-intelligent hardware, these robots back up our soldiers and provide a super-human level of robustness and accuracy. The author raises the complex moral questions associated with having machines killing people on the frontline, and the issues that arise when mistakes occur. There's also a fascinating discussion of stress disorders that remote pilots are suffering from - these men and women sit in offices in the US, controlling machines on the battleground far away, and return home for dinner every day after "a day's fighting". It's also interesting to look at the design of some of the machines and their control interfaces, many of which look like Wall-E with a machine gun. Weapons companies have copied controllers from the Playstation and Xbox, taking advantage of a generation that is comfortable using these devices without extensive retraining. The distance between shooting people on Halo and making real life-or-death decisions in operating a military robot is almost absurdly non-existent. I don't want to steal the book's thunder at all since this is one of the most gripping reads I've found in a while, and would highly recommend to everyone. While not a robotics book or a war book, it falls somewhere in the middle, and the topic is enthusiastically presented. The most chilling part is clearly that the science fiction of movies such as The Terminator is really not too far away, and we're on a cusp of a robotics revolution that will be as profound as the domination of the PC.