Technological Fundamentalism? The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the Conduct of War

Abstract

There is an on-going battle in the Department of Defense between reason and the faith in technology. Those ascribing to technological fundamentalism are blind to the empirical evidence that their faith in technology is obscuring the technological limitations that are evident. The desire for information dominance to reach the state of total transparency of the opponent in order to win the war is untenable. The reasoning voiced by skeptics should be heeded but the technological fundamentalists are deaf to their views. The use of UAVs have provided for limited visibility of the opponent and not the perfect Panopticon as envisioned.