Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future.
Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons.
The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's
proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing
by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" - groups
rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.
This is the world in 30 years' time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence
team responsible for painting a picture of the "future strategic
context" likely to face Britain's armed forces. It includes an "analysis
of the key risks and shocks". Rear Admiral Chris Parry, head of the
MoD's Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre which drew up the report,
describes the assessments as "probability-based, rather than predictive".
The 90-page report comments on widely discussed issues such as the
growing economic importance of India and China, the militarisation of
space, and even what it calls "declining news quality" with the rise of
"internet-enabled, citizen-journalists" and pressure to release stories
"at the expense of facts". It includes other, some frightening, some
reassuring, potential developments that are not so often discussed.
New weapons
An electromagnetic pulse will probably become operational by 2035 able
to destroy all communications systems in a selected area or be used
against a "world city" such as an international business service hub.
The development of neutron weapons which destroy living organs but not
buildings "might make a weapon of choice for extreme ethnic cleansing in
an increasingly populated world". The use of unmanned weapons platforms
would enable the "application of lethal force without human
intervention, raising consequential legal and ethical issues". The
"explicit use" of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear
weapons and devices delivered by unmanned vehicles or missiles.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2053020,00.html
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