The New Gunpowder

Noah Smith thinks that drones are the new gunpowder.

Guns and gunpowder revolutionized warfare. A barely trained peasant could take down a proud knight from a distance. Smith argues that the drone is about to replace the gunman.

That means an upheaval in warfare. The Age of the Gun, he argues, was also the “age of People Power.” Robots and remove-controlled drones are replacing people. People become obsolete, their guns useless, and the one who rules is the one who controls the bots.

And the upheaval will spread beyond warfare. Can rugged individualism survive the end of the age of the gun?