From warrior geek to prototype warrior: entrepreneurialism, future war, and the emergence of 21st century civil-military relations

TY - JOUR

T1 - From warrior geek to prototype warrior: entrepreneurialism, future war, and the emergence of 21st century civil-military relations

AU - Gould, Alex

AU - Ford, Matthew

PY - 2021/11/1

Y1 - 2021/11/1

N2 - Armed forces are now in a race to exploit the technologies associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Viewed as force multipliers, these technologies have the potential to speed up decision making and roboticise warfighting. At the same time, however, these systems disintermediate military roles and functions, creating shifts in the relationships of power in military organizations as different entities vie to shape and control how innovations are implemented. In this article we argue that new innovation processes are sites of emerging forms of public-private interaction and practices. On the one hand this is driving entrepreneurialism into government bureaucracy even as it forges new bonds between defence and industry. On the other, as technologies replace soldiers, a new martial culture is emerging, one that reframes the warrior geek as an elite innovation corps of prototype warrior. We seek to map these relationships and explore the implications for civil-military relations in the 21st century.

AB - Armed forces are now in a race to exploit the technologies associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Viewed as force multipliers, these technologies have the potential to speed up decision making and roboticise warfighting. At the same time, however, these systems disintermediate military roles and functions, creating shifts in the relationships of power in military organizations as different entities vie to shape and control how innovations are implemented. In this article we argue that new innovation processes are sites of emerging forms of public-private interaction and practices. On the one hand this is driving entrepreneurialism into government bureaucracy even as it forges new bonds between defence and industry. On the other, as technologies replace soldiers, a new martial culture is emerging, one that reframes the warrior geek as an elite innovation corps of prototype warrior. We seek to map these relationships and explore the implications for civil-military relations in the 21st century.

KW - Martial Culture

KW - Beta War

KW - Prototype War

M3 - Article

SN - 2662-1975

SP - 1

EP - 16

JO - Journal of Digital War

JF - Journal of Digital War

ER -