 AP This photo released by The Penguin Press shows the cover of "Wired For War", by P.W. Singer. |
By Carl Hartman
In the 1921 play that invented the word "robot" — Czech writer Karel Capek's "Rossum's Universal Robots" — mechanical, highly intelligent slaves mount a revolt and kill all humans but one.
Ever since, science fiction has explored the idea of robots outsmarting, dominating and destroying the human race. Author P. W. Singer, at 33 a Senior Fellow at the highly serious Brookings Institution, can't resist the fascination of the topic, but he isn't writing fiction. He treats the possibility with appropriate seriousness in "Wired for War," a meticulous account of the latest military robots.
Two earlier books by him have explored two of the hottest issues in 21st century military developments. One was "Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry," the reinvigorated ancient profession of mercenaries. The other deals with something relatively new: "Children at War" — the recruitment and enslavement of boys and girls in their teens and even younger.