Bugs, Bits and Engineering Bioforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (2010 Quadrennial Defense Review)

[reggie]

Comprehensive presentation overview showing the extent and breath of the systems of control being developed globablly ......

Warring Futures: A Future Tense Event
How Biotech and Robotics are Transforming Today's Military -- and How That Will Change the Rest of Us
New America Foundation

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Robotsa

12:30 Lunch Keynote: "Bugs, Bits and Engineering Bioforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (Video)
George Poste, Chief Scientist, Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative, Arizona State University

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibr...rand=100823334


New technologies are changing warfare as profoundly as did gunpowder. How are everything from flying robots as small as birds to “peak warrior performance” biology altering the nature of the military as an institution, as well as the ethics and strategy of combat? How will the adoption of emerging technologies by our forces or others affect our understanding of asymmetrical conflict?

New technologies are always embraced wherever there is the greatest competition for advantage, but quickly move out to the rest of us not engaged in sport or warfare. At this May 24 Future Tense event -- sponsored jointly by Arizona State University, New America Foudnation, and Slate magazine -- a wide range of experts from the military, private sector and academia explored how these technologies will inevitably migrate to consumer markets and the broader culture, and what their impact will be.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Bugs, Bits and Engineering Bioforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (2010 Quadrennial Defense Review)

Comprehensive presentation overview showing the extent and breath of the systems of control being developed globablly ......

Warring Futures: A Future Tense Event
How Biotech and Robotics are Transforming Today's Military -- and How That Will Change the Rest of Us
New America Foundation

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Robotsa

12:30 Lunch Keynote: "Bugs, Bits and Engineering Bioforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (Video)
George Poste, Chief Scientist, Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative, Arizona State University

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibr...rand=100823334


New technologies are changing warfare as profoundly as did gunpowder. How are everything from flying robots as small as birds to “peak warrior performance” biology altering the nature of the military as an institution, as well as the ethics and strategy of combat? How will the adoption of emerging technologies by our forces or others affect our understanding of asymmetrical conflict?

New technologies are always embraced wherever there is the greatest competition for advantage, but quickly move out to the rest of us not engaged in sport or warfare. At this May 24 Future Tense event -- sponsored jointly by Arizona State University, New America Foudnation, and Slate magazine -- a wide range of experts from the military, private sector and academia explored how these technologies will inevitably migrate to consumer markets and the broader culture, and what their impact will be.

I know one way it's transforming the military........not just in the US but across the West they have become exceptionally top heavy.

The ratio of senior officers to enlisted personnel I don't think has ever reached this level......getting pretty top heavy....since they aren't leading soldiers they must be leading projects.

There's a lot of interesting developments out there in the pipeline as well as lots of stuff that's made it into the field that's not open source yet.

Soldiers often joke about where you'd prefer to be in the event of a conflict........generally fighting in close country/bush/jungle is probably the "safest" place for a soldier to "hide" under thick canopy....and it still remains largely true.

The 1970's saw the introduction of 1st generation anti tank guided missiles in combat......in the 1980's 2nd+ generation ATGMs started to make being a tankie a far more dangerous work environment.

It used to be expensive to target an individual tank with something other than another tank...then it got cheap, and then even cheaper.

it used to be(and still sort of is) expensive to target an individual soldier with something other than another soldier......but it's getting cheaper.

What the UK did in Northern Ireland is now starting to come out into the open source in terms of the use of IT to fight terrorism/asymmetric warfare......you just need to look through that lens and apply more recent IT capabilities to ponder the realistic opportunities.

Anyone remember seeing this back in the day?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud:_T...sable_Assassin

Low cost, mass produced, mass customization/personalization...what used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars(in 1980's dollars) now costs a fraction.

[reggie]

Re: Bugs, Bits and Engineering Bioforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (2010 Quadrennial Defense Review)

Anyone remember seeing this back in the day? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud:_T...sable_Assassin Low cost, mass produced, mass customization/personalization...what used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars(in 1980's dollars) now costs a fraction.

As Gerald Poste stated in his talk, the "new" montra is: "Hard to find, Easy [cheap] to Kill". However, as bio genetic signature sensing becomes ubiquitous, "hard to find" will go away as well.

By the way, comedy is commonly employed as propaganda to orient the public toward a specific future, so the SCUD narrative doesn't surprise me at all. Everything Poste presents is designed and intended for release into the public domain.

Finally, did you notice this comment by Poste @ 1:02:45 during Q&A, where he says:

"I am deeply sadened by what I am going to say. I believe catastrophe is the only way in which an overly complacent comfortable society begins to understand the need to change, and whether it be the rise of tyrants, whether it be atrocity on a more limited scale, such a 9-11, it doesn't matter what the disaster is."