Mesh and the Net: Speculations on Armed Conflict in a Time of Free Silicon

by Martin C. Libicki, U.S. Government

CONTENTS: Terms The Rising Tidal Wave Military Competition Quiescent Information Technology Ascendent The Logic of Distributed Intelligence Coordination-and-convergence There Will Be Other Changes The Small and the Many Pop-up Warfare The Mesh Fire-Ant Warfare Platforms Against Fire-Ants Broader Implications Conclusions Toward an Information Corps Rationalizing a Corps Information Warfare Functions of a Corps Objections to a Corps Conclusions Wares of War: Hard and Soft Building Swords from Plowshares Fostering Open Systems Software Strategic Competition Unconventional Conflict Rural Conflict Urban Conflict Net States? The Net and its Discontents From Global Village To Global Villager Ghosts in the Net So What? Conclusions: Mesh Versus Net Epilogue: Detours from the Inevitable Future

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've reviewed this a few times since the mid 90s, and I think that a lot of Libicki's thinking still holds up, if only as a framework to examine ongoing technological change. Worth a look if you are in the national security field.