Not least as an inveterate science-fiction reader, I was very pleased to be the lead analyst for a recent Wikistrat exercise exploring The Future of Drones, both in terms of how they will be used–everything from allowing humanitarian organizations to work in unsafe zones to fighting low-intensity naval wars–but also, and of even greater interest, how they will affect human society. Consolidating the various input from some 90 analysts, I posited four potential narratives, from the upbeat notion that they would simply allow us to do more of what we currently do, better and more cheaply, through increasingly darker and disruptive scenarios. The Executive Summary is available here (the full report is, I believe, available from Wikistrat to paying customers).

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