Page 82 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

and detonation.

Renewable energy: This enables power to be generated locally,

revolutionizing supply chains and enhancing the capacity to print parts on
demand in even remote locations.

Nanotechnology: Nano is progressively leading to metamaterials, smart
materials which possess properties that do not occur naturally. It will make
weaponry better, lighter, more mobile, smarter and more precise, and will

ultimately result in systems that can self-replicate and assemble.

Biological weapons: The history of biological warfare is nearly as old as
the history of warfare itself, but rapid advances in biotechnology, genetics
and genomics are the harbinger of new highly lethal weapons. Airborne
designer viruses, engineered superbugs, genetically modified plagues and so

on: all these form the basis of potential doomsday scenarios.

Biochemical weapons: As with biological weapons, technological
innovation is making the assembly of these weapons almost as easy as a do-
it-yourself task. Drones could be employed to deliver them.

Social Media: While digital channels provide opportunities for spreading
information and organizing action for good causes, they can also be used to

spread malicious content and propaganda and, as with ISIS, employed by
extremist groups to recruit and mobilize followers. Young adults are
particularly vulnerable, especially if they lack a stable social support
network.

Many of the technologies described in Box F: Emerging Technologies

Transforming International Security already exist. As an example,
Samsung’s SGR-A1 robots, equipped with two machine guns and a gun with
rubber bullets, now man border posts in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
They are, for the moment, controlled by human operators but could, once
programmed, identify and engage human targets independently.

Last year, the UK Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems announced the
successful test of the Taranis stealth plane, known also as Raptor, which can

take off, fly to a given destination and find a set target with little
intervention from its operator unless required. There are many such
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examples. They will multiply, and in the process, raise critical questions
at the intersection of geopolitics, military strategy and tactics, regulation and

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