- Email: [email protected]
The world of robot warcraft
For more reviews go to www.NewScientist.com/topic/books-art
Full metal warriors
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
The new world of remote warfare is eerily fascinating, and more than a little chilling
Wired for War: The robotics revolution and conflict in the 21st century by P. W. Singer, Penguin Press, $27.95 Reviewed by Jeff Hecht
ANYONE who thinks robot warfare is science fiction should talk to my plumber. His cousin got into the US Air Force Academy, but isn’t aiming to be a top gun. Instead, the cadet is training to fly remotely controlled robotic aircraft from the safety of a chair, far from enemy fire. The plumber considers that a smart move; fighter pilots can get killed. If you want the whole story of remote warfare, pick up a copy of Wired for War, in which Peter Singer, a fellow of the non-profit Brookings Institution in Washington DC, exhaustively documents the Pentagon’s penchant for robotics. Think of it as the next step in the
mechanisation of war: swords and arrows, guns, artillery, rockets, bombers, robots. In fact, robotics is not a new passion. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan talked of building a fleet of robotic battle satellites that could automatically destroy Soviet nuclear missiles before they reached US targets. Now, robotic systems are being used for real. Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the aptly named Predator fly reconnaissance missions in the Middle East. If they spot “bad guys”, they can mark them with laser bullseyes that “smart” bombs can target. On the ground, wheeled robots go places too dangerous for soldiers, checking for hidden insurgents and defusing the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which have taken a heavy toll in Iraq. Field troops are enthusiastic, too, reporting that robots save lives. And the US navy sports autonomous undersea vehicles that can be programmed to spend hours searching underwater.
So what’s not to like about turning war over to the robots? For starters, people are sure to get in the way, and robots sometimes pick the wrong targets. Singer cites a chilling example from 1988, when the high-tech radar on the USS Vincennes mistook an Iranian airliner for an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet coming in for an attack. The ship’s crew shot it down, killing 290 civilians. Even soldiers can have a hard time sorting the insurgents from the civilians; spread autonomous robots around and deadly encounters on a smaller scale could become daily tragedies. But the greatest danger is that turning battles over to the robots could give the illusion that wars can be won with little human cost, encouraging high-tech powers to launch wars on whims. Singer’s book examines robotic warfare, its origins and consequences. Its 436 pages are rich with food for thought, such as a section on the role of sci-fi in inspiring military planners, but it is also overflowing with details – a few of them questionable – which blunt Singer’s points and make the book drag. Military robotics are important, but bloat hurts an otherwise good book. Jeff Hecht is a consultant for New Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts
Life as we know it Every Living Thing: Man’s obsessive quest to catalog life, from nanobacteria to new monkeys by Rob Dunn, HarperCollins, £15.99/$26.99 Reviewed by John Whitfield
IF YOU think that cataloguing life is largely a matter of butterfly nets and flower presses, you might be surprised by the range of science covered in Every Living Thing. The usual suspects are here, such as Linnaeus and those who have devoted their lives to ferreting
out an inordinate variety of beetles from tropical forests. But the life we can see is just the start: microscopes and DNA sequencing have revealed whole new realms living in extreme environments such as undersea hot springs. Rob Dunn even looks at the search for life elsewhere in the universe, weaving scientists’ stories cleverly with those of their science. While species-counting is important, cataloguing life is about more than accountancy. It is about understanding what life is, where it came from, and what it is capable of. The harder we look, he shows, the stranger and more spectacular the answers become.
Special teens Teenagers: A natural history by David Bainbridge, Portobello Books, £14.99 Reviewed by Kate Douglas
AT A time when youth culture is feared and demonised, here is a welcome antidote. As well as providing a highly readable account of the physical, emotional and mental changes that occur in the second decade of life, David Bainbridge argues that teenagers are the most impressive creatures on the planet. The evolution of adolescence, he contends, is what allowed the human brain to make its “great leap forward”. Bainbridge’s thesis is thoughtprovoking, if not entirely convincing. Recent research leaves no doubt that the teenage years are special, but was the emergence of adolescence, between 800,000 and 300,000 years ago, necessary for us to become fully human? Surely the adult brain could be rewired without all that teenage angst? Perhaps, instead, the evolution of rebellious, creative teenagers who see the world afresh each generation is what allows our species to be so adaptable to whatever life should throw at us. 24 January 2009 | NewScientist | 57
Full metal warriors
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
The new world of remote warfare is eerily fascinating, and more than a little chilling
Wired for War: The robotics revolution and conflict in the 21st century by P. W. Singer, Penguin Press, $27.95 Reviewed by Jeff Hecht
ANYONE who thinks robot warfare is science fiction should talk to my plumber. His cousin got into the US Air Force Academy, but isn’t aiming to be a top gun. Instead, the cadet is training to fly remotely controlled robotic aircraft from the safety of a chair, far from enemy fire. The plumber considers that a smart move; fighter pilots can get killed. If you want the whole story of remote warfare, pick up a copy of Wired for War, in which Peter Singer, a fellow of the non-profit Brookings Institution in Washington DC, exhaustively documents the Pentagon’s penchant for robotics. Think of it as the next step in the
mechanisation of war: swords and arrows, guns, artillery, rockets, bombers, robots. In fact, robotics is not a new passion. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan talked of building a fleet of robotic battle satellites that could automatically destroy Soviet nuclear missiles before they reached US targets. Now, robotic systems are being used for real. Unmanned aerial vehicles such as the aptly named Predator fly reconnaissance missions in the Middle East. If they spot “bad guys”, they can mark them with laser bullseyes that “smart” bombs can target. On the ground, wheeled robots go places too dangerous for soldiers, checking for hidden insurgents and defusing the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which have taken a heavy toll in Iraq. Field troops are enthusiastic, too, reporting that robots save lives. And the US navy sports autonomous undersea vehicles that can be programmed to spend hours searching underwater.
So what’s not to like about turning war over to the robots? For starters, people are sure to get in the way, and robots sometimes pick the wrong targets. Singer cites a chilling example from 1988, when the high-tech radar on the USS Vincennes mistook an Iranian airliner for an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet coming in for an attack. The ship’s crew shot it down, killing 290 civilians. Even soldiers can have a hard time sorting the insurgents from the civilians; spread autonomous robots around and deadly encounters on a smaller scale could become daily tragedies. But the greatest danger is that turning battles over to the robots could give the illusion that wars can be won with little human cost, encouraging high-tech powers to launch wars on whims. Singer’s book examines robotic warfare, its origins and consequences. Its 436 pages are rich with food for thought, such as a section on the role of sci-fi in inspiring military planners, but it is also overflowing with details – a few of them questionable – which blunt Singer’s points and make the book drag. Military robotics are important, but bloat hurts an otherwise good book. Jeff Hecht is a consultant for New Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts
Life as we know it Every Living Thing: Man’s obsessive quest to catalog life, from nanobacteria to new monkeys by Rob Dunn, HarperCollins, £15.99/$26.99 Reviewed by John Whitfield
IF YOU think that cataloguing life is largely a matter of butterfly nets and flower presses, you might be surprised by the range of science covered in Every Living Thing. The usual suspects are here, such as Linnaeus and those who have devoted their lives to ferreting
out an inordinate variety of beetles from tropical forests. But the life we can see is just the start: microscopes and DNA sequencing have revealed whole new realms living in extreme environments such as undersea hot springs. Rob Dunn even looks at the search for life elsewhere in the universe, weaving scientists’ stories cleverly with those of their science. While species-counting is important, cataloguing life is about more than accountancy. It is about understanding what life is, where it came from, and what it is capable of. The harder we look, he shows, the stranger and more spectacular the answers become.
Special teens Teenagers: A natural history by David Bainbridge, Portobello Books, £14.99 Reviewed by Kate Douglas
AT A time when youth culture is feared and demonised, here is a welcome antidote. As well as providing a highly readable account of the physical, emotional and mental changes that occur in the second decade of life, David Bainbridge argues that teenagers are the most impressive creatures on the planet. The evolution of adolescence, he contends, is what allowed the human brain to make its “great leap forward”. Bainbridge’s thesis is thoughtprovoking, if not entirely convincing. Recent research leaves no doubt that the teenage years are special, but was the emergence of adolescence, between 800,000 and 300,000 years ago, necessary for us to become fully human? Surely the adult brain could be rewired without all that teenage angst? Perhaps, instead, the evolution of rebellious, creative teenagers who see the world afresh each generation is what allows our species to be so adaptable to whatever life should throw at us. 24 January 2009 | NewScientist | 57