A Thought on 3,4, and 5GW warfare

There is a lot of speculation and breathless eagerness to explore new forms of warfare. But, as we know,  everything old is new again. I have been looking at sources that are exploring the potential lethality and chaos that can result from different forms of warfare. It is a bit over-analyzing and indulgent in its fantasies about what might happen.

3GW (Third Generation Warfare) is warfare between nation-states. 4GW is warfare from non-State actors against a State ( al Qaeda vs the US), and now 5 GW is warfare by a person against a State actor. Should I assume that when robots are deployed there will be a 6GW and later a 7GW when those robots are self-directed? 

The fact is that these forms of warfare are not new. (Except maybe for the robots.)

There have always been companies ( non-state actors) and religious organizations ( non-state actors) employing the available weapons and targets to destroy nation-states, or clans, or tribal leaders.  None of this is new.

There have always been companies determined to overthrow a government for their benefit. Good lord, the whole Capitalism vs Communism Cold War was about wealthy business owners stopping governments from usurping their property and wealth. The end result was a pliable form of government that protects businesses and the wealth they enjoy.

And people have always waged war against their oppressors. In the past we called them anarchists, freedom fighters, kooks,  and malcontents. Today, because we are oh-so-very-modern, we have no such labels. Today, we can objectify the conflicts by calling them a form of warfare.

(Snark: The “real truth” is that John Wilkes Booth did not assassinate President Lincoln. Mr. Booth was engaged in 5GW against the usurpation of slave wealth by an oppressive regime that suspended civil liberties for white people while granting freedom for blacks. Right?)

Let us not build ”new” defenses for emerging threats. Let’s do what we have always done: create a society in which people are free and control themselves rather than a society that controls people because of the threat they may bring. And let’s expand that society into the very homes of the malcontents and anarchists. 

 It is good for governments to respect people. It is not good for society if governments rule over the people.