Lately, news reports have constantly circled the globe concerning past, present and future cyber wars. The Pentagon is still reeling over the malware virus, that occurred three years ago, and is considered one of the most significant breaches in the history of U.S. military networks. While the malware, known as agent btz, infiltrated computer systems belonging to U.S. Central Command, causing foreign intelligence agencies to possibly steal data, other military powers are expanding their efforts to safeguard their computers and information systems from hackers. Some nations, specifically the U.S. and Pentagon, have become so concerned over computer virus's and attacks from hackers that they declared them to be "acts of war."
But while computer viruses and worms and hackers are always evolving and threatening greater attacks against military information and weapons data systems, or merely just trying to make governments more transparent, another, maybe even more dangerous, threat has gone unnoticed. This threat, this peril, this mixed blessing or curse (?), is cybernetic technologies. Simply put, cybernetics is the science of replicating biological control systems with the use of technology. This was realized on June 22, 1999, when scientists developed the first bionic limbs and other body parts. The "guinea pig" was a rat with its brain wired in such a way that instead of controlling its paws, electronic signals were redirected so as to control a machine.
The ramifications of this "primitive cyborg" (a combination of a biological-mechanical-electronic-living being consisting of artificial and natural systems) were enormous. It essentially opened the door to the development of human prosthetics that can now be controlled by the mind. Jesse Sullivan was one of the first individuals to benefit from such animal experiments. After suffering a horrific electrical accident which caused both of his arms to be amputated, doctors attached mechanical arms to his stumps. These myoelectric prosthetic limbs were wired in such a way, with the use of electrodes, that Sullivan could send electrical instructions by using brain signals. When Sullivan thought about moving his hands, this artificial hands moved.(1)
But another door was opened too, as both governments and privatized industries raced to bridge the gap between the biological and the non-biological. Enormous amounts of funds and energies were employed to develop cybernetic beings and nano-neurological technologies. Whereas some governments and corporations are in the process of developing bionic eyes or limbs, others are pursuing a total bionic being that would include the mind and strength. There is also evidence that military governments and weapons industries, including the United States, want to ultimately create biological-mechanical-electronic super soldiers. One can only imagine the destruction and devastation such a force would cause.
This mixed blessing or curse (?), has opened yet another door that delves into the realms of values and ethics. Few would argue the benefits of such technological and neurological advances, especially in bettering the quality of human life. History is filled with humankind eradicating plagues and epidemics, preventing infectious diseases, transplanting life-sustaining organs, and even screening for genetic variations. But as always, and in the realm of science, problems might be solved or at least alleviated, but at the expense of a new set of difficulties, many of them unforeseen. In many instances, the knowledge and ethics base has not kept pace with new and powerful scientific innovations. Cybernetics is just one area that mirrors biological, chemical, nuclear, and computer weaponry.
But Cybernetics also reflects humankinds current condition, its character and nature. Highly advanced technological nations are often seduced by the notion that you can fix something after the fact. But from an ethical perspective, it wrongly absolves one from responsibility or accountability. It also points to how the power of technologies, like cybernetics and developing cyberborg armies, limits humankind to the tyranny of the moment. In other words, vision, including the transverse and future, becomes obscured. This is true especially with military governments or private corporate conglomerates that want to rule the world, which some do! Some will even sacrifice personnel, valuable resources and monies, and the environment to achieve their superstitious dreams.
Still, and at the heart of the issue of cybernetic wars and future battles, is the possibility that some are not pleased with, or have accepted, their own realities or their own humanness. In other words, there are some governments and corporations that dream of changing and modifying the entire biological and genetic nature and makeup of the human race. Such sophisticated enhanced techno-neurobiology and genetic sciences will allow powerful interest groups to not only create living creatures and human beings for the purpose of war and killing, but for the purpose of breeding. Biotechnologies can produce thousands of "Dollys" for food, but they also have the potential of developing thousands of "Sullivans" for war and then procreating future and ever superior combat soldiers.
As more biotechnologies and genetically engineered products merge with commercial and military enterprises, expect more secret operations and innovations. Already, and in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Diamon v. Chakrabarty, human-made organisms are entitled to full patent protection. (One must wonder what the clandestine Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing and plans to use.) Unless safety committees, transparent research and development, and a United Nations initiative to prevent the proliferation of cybernetics is implemented, the world will not only experience economic and political disparity, but future disparities between natural versus computerized-cybernetic minds, limbs, genetics, militaries, wars, and even humanness.
In "Straw Dogs, Thoughts On Humans And Other Animals," John Gray warns: "If anything about the present century is certain, it is that the power conferred on 'humanity' by new technologies will be used to commit atrocious crimes against it. If it becomes possible to clone human beings, soldiers will be bred in whom normal human emotions are stunted or absent. Genetic engineering may enable age-old diseases to be eradicated. At the same time, it is likely to be the technology of choice in future genocides." In the past, superstitious beliefs ruled. Today, some governments, militaries and corporations have the naive belief that science and cybernetics has all the answers and technology always offers the best solutions for what troubles individuals and societies.
But remember that without compassion, empathy and mercy, even the best intentions, like messianic cybernetics, can create nightmares. It might even lead to the complete extinction of the human race.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
(1) Cheshire, Gerard and John Farndon. Best Of Times, Worst Of Times. Toronto, Canada: Penguin Books, 2008., p. 175.
Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2011/06/21/Dont_Forget_Cybernetic_Wars/
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