[NetBehaviour] Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future.

marc marc.garrett at furtherfield.org
Sun Apr 29 12:57:38 CEST 2007


Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future.

Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. 
The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's 
proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing 
by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" - groups 
rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.

This is the world in 30 years' time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence 
team responsible for painting a picture of the "future strategic 
context" likely to face Britain's armed forces. It includes an "analysis 
of the key risks and shocks". Rear Admiral Chris Parry, head of the 
MoD's Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre which drew up the report, 
describes the assessments as "probability-based, rather than predictive".

The 90-page report comments on widely discussed issues such as the 
growing economic importance of India and China, the militarisation of 
space, and even what it calls "declining news quality" with the rise of 
"internet-enabled, citizen-journalists" and pressure to release stories 
"at the expense of facts". It includes other, some frightening, some 
reassuring, potential developments that are not so often discussed.

New weapons

An electromagnetic pulse will probably become operational by 2035 able 
to destroy all communications systems in a selected area or be used 
against a "world city" such as an international business service hub. 
The development of neutron weapons which destroy living organs but not 
buildings "might make a weapon of choice for extreme ethnic cleansing in 
an increasingly populated world". The use of unmanned weapons platforms 
would enable the "application of lethal force without human 
intervention, raising consequential legal and ethical issues". The 
"explicit use" of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear 
weapons and devices delivered by unmanned vehicles or missiles.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2053020,00.html



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