Two things caught my I today, a TED talk on robots by Rodney Brooks, and an article (picked up in my ARG Google Alert) on augmented reality and the military. In the former, Brooks talks about the increasing use of robots my the military for remote surveillance (and you might include here unmanned aircraft), while Mark, a captain in the USAF, argues “the military would be wise to keep an eye on Augmented Reality. Imagine that in five years the virtual battlespace (…) actually exists.”
Well that is just what I have been imagining. First, could anyone (who could afford it) join in? “Your country needs your bots.” It becomes rather like a SETI project.
Then suppose your enemy does the same, the whole thing becomes more of a game rather than a war. No one gets killed, and it could even be made into an TV programme (again?).
Incidentally the pilot says his wife is “an educator with a heart for social justice and racial reconciliation. Together we feel called to the business of peacemaking.” That’s good to know.