Technology in War
Although I missed class this week, I still made sure to keep up with the course content. After last week’s assignment of creating a propaganda campaign, it was nice to take a break from assignments for this week. I did thoroughly enjoy making my anti-cookie scouts posters though, and seeing everyone’s presentation was hilarious in the best way. The propaganda campaign was such an interesting and engaging assignment.
Anyway, I found this week’s content interesting. For Tuesday, I enjoyed reading the “Does Technology Win Wars” article because not only did it bring up the history of technology during war, but it compared it to current events today, specifically the Ukraine and Russia war. I do not keep up with America’s military that much, but I always had the perception that we have had a consistently strong military, especially looking at how much is carved out into our country’s budget for them. However, this article brought up some great points about how America’s military is falling behind technologically and how it needs to invest in “cheaper autonomous sensors, communications relays, munitions, and decoys” to help slow conflict and low long-term costs for us. The videos also gave some interesting information. I enjoyed the video about the First Gulf Wars since it is not a war I’m familiar with. I also loved seeing how great of an example WWI with rapid technological advancements in war.
The Start of the Internet
I never really stopped to consider how the internet started on an internal level, so the videos and reading for Thursday were really eye-opening to how messages were communicated from computer to computer. I love how after circuit switching, ARPANET introduced packet switching. The idea of computer information being put into little packets is so adorable to me. I’m glad we still use little packets but use the Domain Name System rather than the confusing computer address networks. The “Brief History of the Internet” video was also great, I like how it expanded on first video by giving a timeline of significant internet developments after the switch to the Domain Name System. Getting a glimpse into what the internet was like in the 1990s and early 2000s was interesting to see. I also thought the video was funny, in the sense that it felt dated when the creator brought up Article 13, despite the fact the video was only 3-4 years old. Overall, this week’s content was very engaging and gave me a lot of new information.
Works Cited
Schneider, Jacquelyn. “Does Technology Win Wars? The U.S. Military Needs Low-Cost Innovation—Not Big-Ticket Boondoggles.” Foreign Affairs, March 3, 2023. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/does-technology-win-wars.
One reply on “Blog #8- 3/16/23”
Eliza I agree that the propaganda campaign was fun and allowed for us to engage with things we have not been exposed to before. Anyway, I agree that tech has only expanded in wars throughout the years. I liked that you used the War in Ukraine as an example. This is a prime example in modern day how tech is changing the course of the conflict.