The Sorcerer's Challenge: Fears and Hopes for the Weapons of the Next Millennium

Abstract

The high-technology weapons of the Gulf War, which amazed the world with the accuracy of their destructive capability, were only the beginning of a revolution in warfare. Despite Cold War assurances, money is being poured into the global race for ever-deadlier armaments. The author of this book ventures into the world's secret military laboratories, and discovers weapons of awesome, space fiction technology: cruise missiles that think, robot soldiers no bigger than ants, and bio-engineered bugs which can immobilize enemy soldiers without killing them - the ultimate peace-keeping weapon. Shukman meets the inventors of these weapons, outlines the extraordinary scientific advances that have made their creation posible, and examines the implications for the planet.