I think that there is are new generations of the military - brought up on and in, the information age - who know perfectly well that the age of big metal, and baroque weaponry, is over.

Perhaps one of the most perceptive and radical thinkers in the UK military/MOD flew up and spent most of a day with solveig and I in connection with the future of a networked society, and its implications for military strategy.

It was a fascinating discussion (for us, anyway!) which arose out of a bout of concern (post Lehman) of the potential effects of economic collapse on a modern economy. Our friend said that the real wake-up call for the Powers-That-Be was the UK fuel protests, when refineries etc were shut in by lorry drivers, and the fragility of 'just in time' infrastructure became clear.

Also, at a conference I attended in Lausanne a few years ago re '"Economic Terrorism" (sponsored and convened by the US Dept of homeland security) there was recognition, for instance, that a few malicious people/economic terrorists seeding the US Mid West with foot and mouth virus constituted a colossal economic threat. Potential losses running to multiple billions, achievable, like 9/11, at minimal cost.

When I spoke re energy markets, there was no disagreement with my thesis in relation to the vulnerability of clearing houses etc as 'single points of failure' and my observation that the only difference between hedge funds and 'economic terrorists' is motive.

I believe that there is a window of opportunity to redeploy the military industrial complex to a different campaign - ie the survival of the planet - and that the enabling factor is pervasive direct instantaneous communication.


"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson