The Matrix Has You...

And this ain't no movie, but the Pentagon's futuristic version of boots n' utes which (they say) should be field ready by 2010. Peronally, I see elements of William Gibson's and Robert Heinlein's (to name just two) sci-fi envisioning in the descriptions. Check out the full article. It describes the wired "Scorpion" battle suit of the future and its incorporation into an overgrown uber-network of drone planes, robot tanks, satellites, and of course the command center. A few choice passages:

"That system envisions lighter tanks, powerful computer networks and larger fleets of remote-controlled airplanes and robotic ground vehicles. The first battalion could field the system by late 2010 -- about when the Scorpion ensemble would be ready to plug human soldiers into the network...[emphasis added]

Concepts on the drawing board include chameleon-like camouflage that mimics surroundings to make a soldier almost invisible...

At Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a government-sponsored lab that opened on May 22, research could lead to external skeletons carrying artificial muscles that would make soldiers faster and stronger, said Paula Hammond, a research team leader...

Another project at MIT envisions thin films that would monitor a soldier's breath for exposure to toxins, then signal the system to release the appropriate medicine, according to Hammond."

I'm feeling conflicted about this. The adolescent, gaming, anime-niac in me is in awe of the flat out coolness of this application of technology -- I mean, chameleon suits and strength enhancing exoskeletons?? SWEET!!

But I'm also pretty skeptical. I mean, "plug soldiers into the network" has a technocreepy sound to it, although I'm generally a fan of technology.

And the last sentence I quoted mentions a project to add medicine-administering capabilities to the suit, which gets into dangerous territory, i.e. allowing a suit wired into all kinds of remote networks and AI drones to release performance enhancing drugs into a soldier's system. I wonder how the Pentagon tests something like that....

-tn

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