Moon — Dan, your book posits a world where the battlefield is no longer human territory alone. In your scenario, the speed of AI-driven engagement completely outpaces the human decision-making cycle. As a former Commander of Signal and Network-centric Soldiers, how do you define “Command” when the human is no longer in the loop, but merely on it?
Dan — Many of the terms that we use in the military, such as “command,” are very human-based concepts built on perception, judgment, and cognition. In War Without Humanity, there is still a chain of command. The question, though, is where the first human appears in this new formation. I have identified that in this new transhuman formation, the first humans and augmented humans appear in a platoon as the platoon leader and platoon sergeant.
Moon — We spent our careers ensuring “Commander’s Intent” was understood at the lowest level. When an autonomous system makes a lethal decision based on its own logic, is that a failure of programming, or is “intent” now secondary to machine efficiency?
Dan — Toward the end of the book, this question is addressed as one of the humanoid robots—a squad leader—acted outside of mission guidance and attacked a larger enemy formation. The question the human platoon leader asks is one for the ages: Has one of my squad leaders just started WWII?
“With the insertion of a BCI (Brain Computer Interface), a soldier becomes part of the Internet of Bodies. Anyone with a BCI would be, by definition, part of the network—and able to be hacked.” — Dan Gerstein
Moon — We viewed humans as the critical nodes. If these nodes become self-initiating, does the “Network” effectively become the primary commander, demoting the human officer to a secondary observer?
Dan — It certainly has the potential to do so; however, this is one of the reasons I wrote the book. We have the ability to incorporate new technologies in responsible ways that comport to the laws of armed conflict. Ensuring that key decisions remain in the purview of humans needs to be an important consideration in any future formations.
