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Showing posts from August, 2016

Mars has his way

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Almost every new technology,. especially transportation technologies, has done their share to occasionally increase the volume of human misery in the world. Its hard to  imagine the trenches of ww1, with the ceaseless supply of bullets and bodies, without the emerging efficiency of steam and rail. Or the civilian airliners of WW2 in their new role as bombers bringing ever larger numbers of civilians within the scope of total war. Frankly, what more autonomous vehicles enable? It is important to note that the bloodshed described above is as much about removing existing limits on man's ability to wage war as it is about creating new ways to kill. Trains removed many of the limitations that distance, and seasons, imposed on warring armies. Bombers alleviated the limits physics imposed on the travel of munitions beyond the front lines. The question then remains, are there serious limits to our ability to wage war that still remain? And if so, does the automation of transportation