Target Audience Acquired

This book is remarkably comprehensive, yet manages to stay fresh and compelling. The author makes every attempt to capture realistic snapshots of today's modern military and then speculates a bit into the future. The author makes a rather impressive effort to sort out all the issues that you and I don???t have any time to sort out yet ourselves. You will be impressed by what is already out there. You'll be captivated by the new frontiers for tech . You'll realize how much you didn't know. The author shares all that he found in his epic project. The only drawback to the book is that it???s difficult to walk away from it having any sense of finality about it. Perhaps the book suffers only from the same paradox it uncovers???.that the jury is still out???.that all this great technological power has yet to be made into a coherent part of our civilization.

6 people found this helpful

Techno-Sprawl: A Dissenting Opinion

I might have given this work four stars, if others hadn't. The author has done an enormous amount of valuable reporting and brought together a big picture of many critical technical issues affecting the future of war, focusing mainly but not exclusively on robotics. I share his pessimism about the trends, and appreciate his willingness to examine the moral issues from many different sides. His description of the "cubicle warriors" who now operated our growing drone fleets is very eye-opening. However, the book sprawls. Many sections might have been better at half the length. Some begin to sound like a laundry list of projects, machines, and acronyms. Themes repeat or overlap. No merciless editor sat at his elbow. For example, his analysis of how information technology allows generals to micromanage tactics at a distance is very interesting. But we get it. The section goes on, largely repeating the same idea and the word "micromanage" in various ways, while adding little. More seriously, I felt there was a missing level of analysis, though knowing little about the topic, I'm not sure what it is. There is, for example, little or nothing about the early use of computers and cybernetics, which become necessary for antiaircraft tracking. And little about the revolutionary effects of cell phones and laptops on guerilla war. Or on cyberwar, though that is perhaps a separate topic. The author is a war historian and journalist, and does not seem to be developing his ideas out of any underlying theory of technology or science. (American historians and journalists are largely trained to eschew "big theory.") I am not sure that he even clearly defines information theory, AI, and robotics as subsets of technology. One of the interesting scientific asides that never really goes anywhere is the battery as weak link, something every laptop user knows. He mentions it in the context of the Iraq War, but then does not really develop the implications. His coverage of media and "interface" technologies is weak. You can't do everything. But if human beings have a role in our new data-driven world, it really ought to be to reduce bins of information through critical abstraction, we need a few less colorful factoids and a little more theory.

6 people found this helpful

Very Comprehensive

Comprehensive enlightenment of the robotic, unmanned age of military weaponry. What is especially interesting is after this book I read Skunkworks, a book composed by Lockheed Martin executives in the 1990s & the end of this book they made projections about the future of the military from their 1990 eyes; you guessed it, unmanned vehicles, unmanned jets, etc.
The danger however of an overweighted robotics military are 1 radio frequency bomb could render an entire fleet of robotic weaponry useless & these robotics also are at risk of becoming hacked & used against friendlys. Very necessary, but a strong military should have many contingencies in place for the worst case scenarios.

1 person found this helpful

More and better than I bargained for

Working for a robotic-oriented firm, and with peers moving into other robotic fields, I wanted to get at least a sense of the military aspect of robotics. Singer, however, gave me exactly what I wanted and so much more. The book is a history of robotics, technology in warfare, and military robotics. But it also delves into the legal, moral, and cultural issues around robotics and robotic warfare, and reveals the very real ties between the military and modern science fiction. The book is a view into our modern world, and into our future, in a surprising and compelling way. I was surprised by how avidly I wanted to listen to this book. I know I will listen again.

1 person found this helpful

Little dates but still good

Some of the technological terms brought up in the book are dated but otherwise a good thorough look at the ethics and implementations of new technologies

interesting

wired for war is a week rounded book that sells be only to chronicle the advent if robot warfare but to ascertain the morals of their use.

Exceeded expectations

In addition to the expected discussion of AI weapon systems, this book delved a lot deeper into things I had not even considered. For example, there were discussions of ethics, human reactions to AI systems, implications for society, humanity, and cultures, legal quagmires, doctrinal impacts, sociopolitical impacts and so on. Quite insightful and the author clearly has spent a lot of time thinking these issues through.

More applicable than you may think

Loved the topic, liked the approach in writing, accepted the delivery. While this book may be a little behind the current status for a few technologies, the overall ethical and psychological concepts still apply and hold up. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to know a little more about the evolving face of war and those who want to peer behind the curtain of military operations in the digital age.

interesting points but dated

Good discussion of a bunch of issues and history of war and robots, read this in 2018, book was written in 2009 so it is date and some of the information is not longer current.

weird pronunciations

What did you love best about Wired for War?

The theme of the book. How autonomous systems are changing the entire landscape of warfare

What other book might you compare Wired for War to and why?

"How Everything became War and the Military became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon." The overarching reach of the military into all sorts of dimensions of our lives. Also think it reminds me of "Life 3.0" or "SuperIntellilgence" which are both about artificial intelligence and its impact on our societies and lives

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Some really strange pronunciation of the terms: "SIPRnet," "c-RAM," and "OODA "

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sort of. I don't think I've ever done that. This was a good book on my commute... so 30-45 minute intervals :)

Any additional comments?

N/A