Warrior geeks : how 21st century technology is changing the way we fight and think about war / Christopher Coker.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-315) and index.

Preface: from Greeks to geeks -- Hacking the future -- The human thing: how war and our humanity have co-evolved -- Cheerful robots -- Online war -- The rise of the machines -- Designer warriors -- Warrior geeks.

Warrior Geeks examines how technology is transforming the way we think about and fight war, taking three major changes that are driving this process: cybernetic technologies that are folding soldiers into a cybernetic system that will allow the military to read their thoughts and emotions and mould them accordingly; the coexistence of men and robots in the battle-spaces of tomorrow; and the extent to which we may be able to re-engineer warriors through pharmacological manipulation. By referring back to the Greeks who defined the contours of war for us, Coker shows how we are in danger of losing touch with our humanity {OCLCbr#E2}{OCLCbr#80}? the name we give not only to a species but the virtues we deem it to embody. The journey from Greeks to Geeks may be a painful one. War can only be rendered more humane if we stay in touch with the ancestors, yet unfortunately we are planning to subcontract our ethical choices to machines. In revaluing technology, are we devaluing our humanity, or the post-human condition, changing our subjectivity and thus the existential dimension of war by changing our relationship with technology both functionally and performatively?