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In Killer Apps Jeremy Packer and Joshua Reeves provide a detailed account of the rise of automation in warfare, showing how media systems are central to building weapons systems with artificial intelligence in order to more efficiently select and eliminate military targets. Drawing on the insights of a wide range of political and media theorists, Packer and Reeves develop a new theory for understanding how the intersection of media and military strategy drives today's AI arms race. They address the use of media to search for enemies in their analyses of the history of automated radar systems, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the development of military climate science, which treats the changing earth as an enemy. As the authors demonstrate, contemporary military strategy demands perfect communication in an evolving battlespace that is increasingly inhospitable to human frailties, necessitating humans' replacement by advanced robotics, machine intelligence, and media systems.
List of contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface to an Inauthentic Document ix
Introduction. Event Matrix (DoD) 1
1. Identification Friend or Foe (DoD) 29
2. Centralized Control/Decentralized Execution (DoD) 48
3. Hostile Environment (DoD) 61
4. In Extremis (DoD) 89
5. Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (DoD) 109
6. Autonomous Operation (DoD) 124
7. Vital Ground (DoD) 139
8. Escalation (DoD) 159
9. Unidentified Flying Objects (USAF) 175
Conclusion. Armistice (DoD) 198
Notes 217
References 235
Index 261
About the author
Jeremy Packer and Joshua Reeves
Summary
Jeremy Packer and Joshua Reeves provide a critical account of the history and future of automation in warfare by highlighting the threats posed by the latest advances in media technology and artificial intelligence.
