Print

12 Outsourcing War to Machines though, there are many aspects of information processing that are far more effective using computers. It is harder to assess Kurzweil’s predic- tions, in large part because they have yet to occur, but they are unlikely to be hyper-accurate as well. By definition, predictions of the future are fickle (and if Greek mythology is correct, getting the right answer won’t guarantee anybody will listen). This book does not pretend to have the answers, but it does help to address the questions of how we got to where we are in terms of military robotics, where we are likely headed, and what might occur in the future. There is an old joke in the historical profession, which is an apt meta- phor for the majority of this book. Like most historians’ jokes, it follows a tried and true pattern: Q: “How many historians does it take to change a light bulb?” A: “When Thomas Edison invented the incandescent light bulb in 1879. . .” This book, like most works produced by historians, seeks to place the events it describes into historical context. In part, this is a function of the training of the discipline. In part, it is because too many other works exam- ining military robotics have utterly failed in this regard, leading the reader to assume that military robots simply appeared in the skies over Afghani- stan one day, raining down missiles upon terrorists’ heads. The truth, as usual, is quite a bit more nuanced and will require more examination. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE WAR ON TERROR When al Qaeda operatives hijacked four airliners and turned them into suicidal missiles, a large share of the U.S. population had never heard of the terror organization. The U.S. State Department had placed al Qaeda on its list of foreign terror organizations in 1999, and the CIA stepped up efforts to find and neutralize its reclusive leader.23 The Department of Defense had stepped up protective measures for troops operating in the Middle East due to recent overseas attacks. Average Americans, on the other hand, paid the group little or no mind, despite a series of ear- lier attacks on U.S. citizens and American interests. Ultimately, it was this conflict that created the conditions necessary to rush military robotics to the battlefield, with little consideration for the long-term consequences of such a decision. However, as is so often the case, there is a much more complicated backstory to the conflict with al Qaeda. In 1993, a truck bomb detonated in the underground garage of the World Trade Center complex and came disturbingly close to penetrating the “bathtub” of the structure. Such a penetration would have allowed the waters of the Hudson River to rush in, an event that could only end in catastrophe for the buildings and their inhabitants. Contemporary