Killing at a Distance

Can you say “drone warfare”? That’s really all you need to know to grasp where this is headed. The final goal seems clear: no more sending a single human into harm’s way. Any war will be conducted from the comfort of a La-Z-Boy lounge chair, complete with a beer holder and a little TV tray for the pizza.

All this hyper-advanced war technology reminds me of an old Star Trek episode from the late 1960s titled “A Taste of Armageddon.” In the episode, the crew of the Enterprise visits the planet Eminiar VII, which has been locked in a 500-year war with its neighbor Vendikar. Rather than engaging in messy, destructive battles that would ruin their civilizations, the two planets fight entirely through computer simulation. Attacks are calculated, casualties are tallied by algorithm, and then—according to a cold treaty—the “losing” side’s designated citizens must voluntarily report to disintegration chambers to be painlessly executed. The deaths are real, but the horror is sanitized and kept at arm’s length. No blood, no rubble, no screaming on the battlefield—just efficient numbers on a screen and quiet compliance.