Reality Check - David Pescovitz
War machines operated by telepresence
Operating vehicles by remote control seems like a simple way to reduce the number of deaths in a war. According to Alexander, unmanned vehicles may currently be in use, but "Congress has been reluctant to fund robots that detect, identify, and attack targets. There is a strong bias toward having a human in the decision loop." Garwin points out that during World War II, remotely steered German glide bombs were used against the Allies. De Landa thinks that virtual reality telepresence technology "is already in place.... Only motion sickness needs to be taken care of."
Genetically engineered biotechnological weapons
With the imminent completion of the Human Genome Project (see "Reality Check" issue 2.06), enemy soldiers' specific genes could theoretically be attacked chemically to impact both present and future generations. Accoding to Garwin, although Richard Nixon banned R & D on biological weapons in 1969 and an international treaty followed, enough work may have been done in other fields to develop the technology to create such weapons. Alexander thinks that these weapons present more ethical than technological problems and probably will not be used by the US.
Virtual war
What if they gave a war and nobody came? Could war be waged solely within computer networks? Garwin recalls that "a standoff or face-down like the Cuban Missile Crisis can be achieved by a shared view of outcomes." But he thinks it's unlikely that "societies will peacefully accept conquest or pay large tribute as a result of a chess game played by one computer against another." Alexander says, "We can play computer war-games now, but who's going to accept the outcomes?" Johnston predicts a virtual war "with the sole intent of destroying or protecting information, not property."
Nonlethal weaponry
Garwin and Alexander both point out that nonlethal weaponry has been in use for years (dummy mines, smoke bombs), but the new breed is much more high-tech. Alexander says that nonlethal weapons are in use or under development and will become more important because "we must be able to participate in humanitarian support, peacekeeping, and other efforts – yet apply force when necessary to protect our troops." Garwin comments that carbon fiber delivered by cruise missiles "reportedly played a role in the attack on Iraq" by temporarily interrupting the power distribution system.
Reality checkers
John Alexander, PhD.,retired US Army colonel, head of the nonlethal weaponry program at Los Alamos National Laboratory; Manuel De Landa, author of War in the Age of Intelligent Machines; Richard Garwin, chair of the FAS Fund, the research arm of the Federation of American Scientists, and consultant to the US Department of Defense and other government organizations involved in national and international security; Eric Johnston, manager and lead engineer of the Virtual Reality group at Spectrum HoloByte, formerly worked in the NASA-Ames Virtual Environment laboratories.
