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Lesson 10

The Future of Warfare

In his book “War Anti-War”, the futurologist Alvin Toffler theorized

about the future of warfare. War, he claims, would no longer be staged
on the traditional battlefields of land, air and sea but in cyberspace and

outer space. A model of this theory is the Star Wars project, a space-
based defense system installed in the Reagan years. It deploys Patriot

missiles that intercept enemy missiles launched from a rogue state,
and explodes them in space, hundreds of miles from is inhabited tar-

get. But it is not just defensive, but also offensive: ultra-sophisticated

satellites would monitor enemy activity, so before an aggressive camp can build up a strike
force, it sends an attack command that brings “fire from the sky”, eliminating the enemy before

it even makes the first move. Nipped in the bud. Civilian casualties would be reduced to a bare
minimum, while destruction of the enemy would be swift and delivered long distance. During the

Gulf War, we saw on TV these real time satellite pictures of Iraqi targets. One minute we saw
these targets as solid pixels on the screen. The next minute, we see them explode in a puff of

cloud. Target destroyed. The outcome War would be decided in a matter of days, not like the

prolonged war of attrition of the past. The machines of destruction as we know it, like ICBMS
and Nuclear Weapons would be obsolete in favor of smart weapons that end the war before it
even starts. Smart bullets that seek the target, electro magnetic pulses that deactivate bombs,

robot spiders that patrols the webs and erase information from enemy data bases, are no longer

Hollywood fictions but actual realties. Even at this moment, the machinery of war is grinding out
new technologies and new strategies. Will the wars of the future be the wars that end all wars?

Or will it just prolong it?

Comprehension

1. According to the 3rd paragraph, what is the ultimate weapon? Explain.
2. What did Alvin Toffler theorize about warfare?

Questions

1. What do you think about war?
2. How do we make peace?
3. What are the good outcomes of war?

Vocabulary & Expressions

theorize: to form a theory or theories about
sophisticated: complex or intricate
eliminating: to remove or get rid of, esp. as being in some way undesirable
attrition: a wearing down or weakening of resistance.
brute: a brutal, insensitive, or crude person
obsolete: of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date
grinding out: releasing

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