[caseysoftware]

This is a rough explanation of the "generations of warfare" where our tactics are defined by the tools and weapons we have available. Unfortunately, we (humans, not just the US) tend to then treat those as the "right" tactics even as the underlying tools and weapons change so we're always fighting the last war.

Cheap, autonomous, easily-deployed tools - weapons drones, sensors, etc - are a huge change that some are adapting to leverage but few have adapted to respond to.

Which is scary considering the "generations of warfare" model where in fourth generation warfare, the boundary between civilian and combatant is blurred..

[marcus_holmes]

Exactly. Machine guns invalidated cavalry charges, but we ended up in a trench war just trying to create a break in the trenches long enough to get the cavalry through. Tanks invalidated trench warfare, but the French built an impregnable defensive line along the border that would make them invincible in the next trench war.

And it's fascinating seeing the comments here saying "nah, this won't change anything" when it already is changing things.

And yes, the blurring of the lines is a problem. As others have pointed out, hiding drones in civilian populations is easy.

[caseysoftware]

I was at an SMS aggregator before joining Twilio back in the day.

At the SMS aggregator, it took $10k to get started, $1k/month for a short code, and $0.1/message.

When I discovered Twilio and found it took $0 to get started, $1/month for a long code, and $0.01/message, the world changed.

It became easy enough to build yourself, fast enough to experiment with, and cheap enough to fail. I see the same thing happening here but with lives on the line.