Video credit: HighGreat drone show, via YouTube
Human history can be told as a series of advances in warfare, from chariots to crossbows to nuclear-tipped missiles, and we are living through what may be the fastest advancement in weaponry ever. Ask any five veteran national security experts and you will hear about five different emerging technologies with the potential to change the world of combat. Swarms of robotic aircraft that work in unison to find and kill targets without any human oversight. Advanced cyberweapons that can immobilize armed forces and shut down electrical grids across the country. A.I.-designed bioweapons engineered to kill only those with certain genetic characteristics. (...)
The Biden administration imposed multiple safety controls on A.I. development and use, including by the military. Mr. Trump reversed some of those steps and replaced them with his own directive to revoke “barriers” to innovation. The Pentagon intends to expand its use of A.I. in intelligence analysis and combat in the coming months, a top official told a defense conference earlier this month. “The A.I. future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety,” said Vice President JD Vance at a summit in Paris in February.
The world is unprepared for what’s coming and what’s already here. As the wars of the 20th century showed, deterrence alone is often not enough to prevent the catastrophic use of new weapons. ~ Editors, NY Times (12/9/2025)
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[ed. We're on a trajectory for things to get much, much worse, and not just in war. Imagine police and ICE agents using swarms of these things the size of birds and bumble bees (as depicted in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer).
