Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 240 pages
- Published by: Routledge
- Edition: 1st Edition December 29, 2004
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0415928869
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0415928861
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Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
- Weighs: 14.1 ounces
Product Review
'Chris Hables Gray takes us to the edge, looks into the abyss, and where others wish us only to see fear, hatred, and a permanent state of war, he finds hope. Going beyond pure critique, Gray brilliantly dissects the morbidity of the TerrorWars and concisely maps out a netcentric course of action for a viable peace.'
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–James Der Derian, author of Virtuous War and producer of After 9/11
Product Description
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.
Reader ReviewsA critique of current US military and political activities. Specifically of the "war on terror". Computers and how they are networked together, especially into the Internet, give new twists to this war, as compared to earlier conflicts. Specifically, a non-statist opponent, like al Qaeda, can now more easily communicate with its members and spread its propaganda globally. Perhaps, as Gray says, this might be Cold War 2? The strongest statement he makes is that war, by governments and their armies, is terror. Sure to prove controversial to some readers. The book makes for bleak reading, whether you agree with the author or not.
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