The War That Didn't Matter
"And be sure to look out over the expressway this morning, as drones from the northern alliance fly in for what seems to be a larger assault," the voice in his ear said.
"Come on Matty, stop listening to the news and come into the water," begged his nephew.
Matt smiled and put his earbud back in its case. He had to admit he was a bit of a news junkie. Perhaps that was why his sister invited him to the beach today.
As he got up from his seat, he heard something whirring overhead. He looked up to see several large drones. They were all branded with the Southern Alliance.
"Interesting," he murmured.
He reached down for his phone to send out a quick tweet. He was excited to see army movements in person and wanted to get the scoop.
But then he looked over at his nephew having fun. It was people that mattered, not robots. Following the war was a fun hobby, but it didn't truly matter.
Autonomous warfare had gotten good, too good. Drones were cheaper than soldiers, and more driven too. After the first shots were fired, every member of every alliance sent waves of robots against other waves of robots.
It was expensive, but the economy was good and taxes were sufficient. Lucrative military contracts led to state-of-the-art factories where excess capacity created cheaper products for everyone.
What was the war about, and when would all sides reach a settled peace? Only a few like Matt knew.
The rest didn't care. Autonomous soldiers meant nobody died. Property was rarely affected and only at the front. For everyone else, the world kept spinning.
"Coming!" he called back.
Today Matt would have fun.
Drones and automated warfare will be the future. However, this really raises more questions about the point. Soldiers die in war. If you want your soldiers to stop dying, you either try to win faster or surrender.
But if the stakes don’t matter, what’s to stop a war from going indefinitely? A low-stakes endless war might become an invisible part of the future. Why not give a billion or two to defense contractors to send automated soldiers to a faraway land? If none of us have to fight, then when will we decide we’ve had enough?