A critical look at how the US military is weaponizing technology
and data for new kinds of warfare—and why we must resist.
War Virtually is the story of how scientists, programmers, and
engineers are racing to develop data-driven technologies for fighting
virtual wars, both at home and abroad. In this landmark book, Roberto
J. González gives us a lucid and gripping account of what lies
behind the autonomous weapons, robotic systems, predictive modeling
software, advanced surveillance programs, and psyops techniques that
are transforming the nature of military conflict. González, a
cultural anthropologist, takes a critical approach to the
techno-utopian view of these advancements and their dubious promise
of a less deadly and more efficient warfare.
With clear, accessible prose, this book exposes the high-tech
underpinnings of contemporary military operations—and the cultural
assumptions they're built on. Chapters cover automated battlefield
robotics; social scientists' involvement in experimental defense
research; the blurred line between political consulting and
propaganda in the internet era; and the military's use of big data to
craft new counterinsurgency methods based on predicting conflict.
González also lays bare the processes by which the Pentagon and US
intelligence agencies have quietly joined forces with Big Tech,
raising an alarming prospect: that someday Google, Amazon, and other
Silicon Valley firms might merge with some of the world's biggest
defense contractors. War Virtually takes an unflinching look
at an algorithmic future—where new military technologies threaten
democratic governance and human survival.