​

Humans create war. It’s an unedifying truth of our time on planet Earth, and one that is destined to continue in the future.

 

Technological progress is largely funded for defence purposes, and it is this technology that is re-shaping how war will take place tomorrow onwards. On the front-line, this could mean machine robots, battling without a human-in-the-loop decision maker.

 

Advancements in weaponry mean that military combat in future will likely include missiles travelling at hypersonic speeds, fly-sized drones able to target individual opponents, and biowarfare - the weaponizing of diseases to be spread at scale across populations. This potential for enemies to hack bodies and trigger gene mutations risks civilian casualties without a shot being fired. And that’s to mention nothing of the nuclear option.

 

Through the soft power of cyber technology, individuals, organisations and states have the potential to hack societal systems for their own purposes, disrupting industries that underpin our daily lives. With urban populations set to keep expanding, cities will become super-intelligent hotspots with buildings and objects able to see, hear, think and communicate to aid intelligence-gathering and real-time conflict on the streets where we live and work.

 

Beyond Earth, space may become a new frontier for humans to create war in - with dominance in space having defence implications on earth. Should our species colonise other planets, humanity’s track record suggests war will follow.