As with most every other aspect of modern society, computerization, augmentation and automation have hyper-accelerated the pace at which wars are prosecuted -- and who better to help reshape the US military into a 21st century fighting force than an entire industry centered on moving fast and breaking things? In his latest book, War Virtually: The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future, professor and chair of the Anthropology Department at San José State University, Roberto J González examines the military's increasing reliance on remote weaponry and robotic systems are changing the way wars are waged. In the excerpt below, González investigates Big Tech's role in the Pentagon's high-tech transformations. Excerpted from War Virtually: The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future by Roberto J. González, published by the University of California Press. Ash Carter's plan was simple but ambitious: to harness the best and brightest ideas from the tech industry for Pentagon use.

Amazon wants Donald Trump to submit to questioning over the tech company's losing bid for a $10bn military contract. The Pentagon awarded the cloud computing project to Microsoft in October. Amazon later sued, arguing that Trump's interference and bias against the company harmed Amazon's chances. Amazon was considered an early frontrunner for a project that Pentagon officials have described as critical to advancing the US military's technological advantage over adversaries. The project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or Jedi, will store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the US military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield and use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.

Apple's digital assistant left a leading member of the U.K. government red-faced on Tuesday, July 3, after it unexpectedly piped up during a speech he was giving to lawmakers in the British Parliament. Perhaps a little too keen to offer help, Siri interrupted a statement that defense secretary Gavin Williamson was giving to the House of Commons about the situation in Syria. Evidently keeping his phone in always-listening mode, Apple's digital assistant should really only have responded upon hearing "Hey, Siri." But, with his iPhone in his pocket, it seems the word "Syria" prompted the assistant to spring into action. As Williamson addressed lawmakers, Siri got back to the defense secretary with its findings, with the response picked up by the Commons' microphones: "I found something on the web for Syria, Syrian Democratic Forces supported by coalition … " Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson'heckled' by Siri at the despatch box https://t.co/CQlxXm5KAa

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (R) greets an airman as he boards a U.S. Air Force C-17 for a day trip to a U.S. military base in Djibouti from Doha, Qatar April 23, 2017. DJIBOUTI -- U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday visited Djibouti to bolster ties with the tiny and impoverished African country that is home to an important base for U.S. counterterrorism forces, including drones. Mattis, the first Trump administration official to visit Djibouti, planned to meet with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and greet U.S. and French troops. He was accompanied by Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command. The U.S. operates drone aircraft from Djibouti for surveillance and combat missions against al-Qaida-affiliated extremists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.

The Defense Department of the United States is reportedly seeking entrepreneurial Silicon Valley bigwigs to build out the future of defense with the help of artificial intelligence technology. Can artificial intelligence (AI) be used as a defense armor? Well, the Defense Department of the United States is reportedly seeking entrepreneurial Silicon Valley bigwigs to build out the future of defense with the help of AI technology. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, Washington has sought the expertise of Silicon Valley's technology leaders. In fact, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter visited the Valley for the fourth time to talk about the importance of incorporating artificial intelligence in America's warfare weapons, New York Times notes.

Over the past several decades, the United States has been an aggressive first mover in a war-fighting regime centered on guided munitions and integrated battle networks. These innovations have allowed U.S. forces to operate relatively uncontested in space, in the air, and on and under the sea, and to dominate conventional force-on-force land combat. For a variety of reasons – the geopolitics of rising powers, the global diffusion of technology and counter-reactions by its adversaries chief among them – the preeminence enjoyed by the United States in this regime is starting to erode. It's an amazing document for which this first sentence barely does justice for what is revealed throughout. So, once again we are given a DARPA press release of sorts that covers a program supposedly in development.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is just out of frame on the right side of the screen. As soon as it was airborne, the drone flying inside West Point crashed to the ground at the feet of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. The soldier responsible for the drone's demise gently lowered the weapon, no smoke wafting from its barrel, not even a sound made with the shot. Built by the Army Cyber Institute at West Point, the rifle was demonstrated last fall at the Association of the United States Army exposition in Washington, DC. Unlike pretty much every other variety of gun, this rifle doesn't shoot any projectiles.