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Will Robots Fight Tomorrow's Wars?

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- InIraq andAfghanistan, U.S. soldiers are using pint-sized MARCBOTS and other "war-bots" to defuse roadside bombs and a dizzying array of remote-guided drones -- some as small as insects -- to search out and destroy enemies. The benefits of substituting unmanned machines for human soldiers are obvious but, as P.W. Singer argues in the latest (Winter 2009) Wilson Quarterly, there may be a price to pay when a society can wage war by remote control. In the future, the development of increasingly sophisticated "war-bots" may well make it more tempting to go to war.

Also in the Winter 2009 Wilson Quarterly:

    --  Barack Obama's admiration for Abraham Lincoln -- he'll take
        the oath of office on the same Bible used by the 16th President -- is
        well known. But what would Lincoln think of the new president? In this
        bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, Ronald C. White Jr., author of an
        acclaimed new Lincoln biography, imagines the counsel the Great
        Emancipator would offer the man who so often invokes him.

    --  America's new president is half Kenyan, has a taste for Tex-Mex,
        and an obsession with "ethnic" writers. He's not alone.
        But in Americanizing the foreign for domestic consumption, says writer
        Aviya Kushner, we leave out a lot of crucial ingredients and get false
        images of foreign cultures.

    --  A new spirit has come to Washington, but can it undo decades of
        declining trust in government? In "Must Government Be
        Incompetent?" four WQ authors answer No! William A. Galston says
        government must stop promising pipe dreams like "energy
        independence" and start delivering on realistic goals, John A. Nagl
        calls for a new "expeditionary culture" throughout government
        to meet challenges abroad, Amy Wilkinson tells how to attract young
        talent to government, and Donald R. Wolfensberger prescribes a solution
        for Washington gridlock.

The Winter 2009 issue goes on sale Monday, January 12. To request more information, a review copy, or digital previews of articles, contact managing editor James Carman at (202) 691-4023 or wq@wilsoncenter.org.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered inWashington, D.C. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue.


    Contact: Sharon McCarter
    Phone: (202) 691-4016
    sharon.mccarter@wilsoncenter.org

SOURCE Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

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Will Robots Fight Tomorrow's Wars?