Peace, War and Computers

Computers are at the heart of war as we know it and this visionary overview of cyber war in the twenty-first century studies how electronics have changed the way we fight. Using informatics and chaos theory, this is a disarming, yet enthralling read.

Computers are at the heart of war today: the U.S. Navy relies on Palm Pilots as much as fighter pilots. American cybersaboteurs unleashed computer viruses against Slobodon Milosevic in Yugoslavia. Even Marxist guerrillas in Colombia reported that the computers they used to track kidnappings were Y2K compliant. A visionary and disarming overview of cyberwar in the 21st century, Peace, War, and Computers looks beyond the gadgets of techno-warfare and the early predictions of a purely "cyberspace" war to reveal how electronic culture has changed the way we wage war and peace.

Drawing on informatics and chaos theory, Chris Hables Gray shows that, despite our Star-Wars fantasies, postmodern war is a complex system that cannot be controlled or predicted from outside. Unmanned aircraft--soon to be followed by remote-control naval fleets--may appear to make warfare more sterile, less bloody. But as the fighting in Somalia showed, the highest technology can't win the simplest conflict.

Even the best missile defense system envisioned by the military would have been useless against box--cutters on September 11. Essential reading for anyone interested in computers, politics, and the cutting edge of military strategy and theory, Peace, War, and Computers unlocks the power and pitfalls of computers for war-and peace in a world where total war is unthinkable.

Chris Hables Gray is also author of Postmodern War and Cyborg Citizen and editor of The Cyborg Handbook. He is Professor of Cultural Studies of Science and Technology at Godard College and is Professor, Core Faculty, Graduate College, for The Union Institute and University. He is a former Eisenhower, NASA, and Smithsonian Fellow and is an active member of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.