Dark Frontiers of War in the Future: Part III: Stealth Fires and Nano-weapons

Dark Frontiers of War in the Future

By Tim Krenz

April 5, 2018

For Hometown Gazette

Part III: Stealth Fires and Nano-weapons

In the first two installments of this series, we examined the Next Frontier of Warfare model, specifically the Informed Command and Smart Base functions, as trends coming in armed conflict. As the model and these articles suggest, the Next Frontier will significantly alter the human, and very social, phenomenon of warfare. In this third part, the study undertakes the function of Stealth Fires, and we will discuss how the evolution of weapons in the short- and long-term future endangers civilian populations.

Increasing scientific and engineering breakthroughs rapidly change the means of warfare. Stealth Fires in the forms adapted from nanotechnology will increase war's unpredictable destructiveness. The effects of “Nano-weapons,” as we term them, may even change the way humans live on earth, in war or in peace. As with all weaponry, opponents will also try to develop counter-measures to them or to deter their use. But, as with near-open-ended investments in nuclear weapons and their accessories, the cure to nano-weapons may become as deadly as the disease.

Understanding that the fundamentals and principles of war remain the same throughout most of history (e.g. “unity of command,” “concentration,” “surprise,” etc. or “war is a political act”), a brief survey of firepower, called Stealth Fires in the model, will assist the evaluation of the Dark Frontier of nano-weapons. We will use the same criteria here as in parts one and two: What does the Dark Frontier mean? How does it compare with the old? What counter-measures can stop these new weapons of today and tomorrow? And how does it affect non-combatants?

In the dawn of the world, animals including early hominids did not use weapons, but had to grab and grapple with opponents in brute physical survival. From primitive weapons like sticks and stones, to sharpened spears and flint knifes, humanity's understanding and exploitation of nature always increased the range and types of weapons used. From Neolithic Age to Bronze Age, and Iron Age to Nuclear Age, the secrets of the universe found by the human mind created more precise and more lethal weapons. Ways of killing people multiplied. No progress either, humanity's reasons for armed conflict kept apace with the growth of human fear and greed.

At the level of warfare known as tactics, the goal became victory when meeting the enemy in battle, whether killing him or disconnecting his will to resist force. Tactics came at the tip of the spear, like the Macedonian sarissa or the Roman short stabbing sword, the gladius. Killing or wounding the enemy, or deterring or demoralizing him into submission, meant the difference between winning or losing. Whether for conquest or plunder, the methods have remained consistent. Only the means have changed, from rough rocks to ballistic nuclear-tipped missiles.

To place Stealth Fires in Next Frontier context, the phrase means using a protected “weapon” for delivering a lethal “blow” to the enemy. This same definition applies to armored knights to a hardened missile silo or to a hidden foxhole, all which served their purposes in history. Whether done with layers of physical protection or through deception as protection, the method of using the tactics directly to kill an enemy has also always remained the same. “Hurt the other guy and don't get hurt yourself.”

The means have changed, even within the indirect means of what history calls “missile” weapons. Ancient people made composite materials into bows that shot arrows with such force as to penetrate armor. The Roman Legions used their ballistae, or catapult-type weapons, to great affect to weaken their enemy from a distance before closing in cohorts with the pilum (a type of javelin) and gladius to bloodily cut up their enemy. Impairing and attriting an enemy from a distance with missile weapons before a decisive, full attack remains the norm through history.

Science and engineering advanced. With gun powder came some truly devastating weapons, like cannons shooting cannonballs, also know as artillery (a ballistics, “missile” weapon). The master of war and politics, Napoleon of France, studied as an artillery officer before the Revolution and his ascent to power. He kept large reserves of artillery under his central command in his battles, employing them at decisive points to weaken his enemies, and then launching crushing assaults of infantry and cavalry at those vulnerable spots at precise moments. He called his 12-pounder cannon his “pretty girls,” and he understood cannon artillery in his age as the “god of the battlefield.” He conquered Europe with it, only to lose it for the political failure of not having reliable allies in the end, inside or outside France.

Nothing has really changed about the tactical application of firepower, that means of killing or disabling an enemy and reducing his powers of resistance. Improvised explosives used by terrorist, carpet bombing of cities, or Viet Cong assassinations of school teachers, all use the Stealth Fires definition we describe. Only the extent of those people exposed to the gruesomeness of war has expanded, moving from soldiers to civilians. In the world, whether done legitimately or not, collateral destruction of enemy resistance remains the basis of tactics in warfare. The point remains, whether with limits or without, to put the spear to the enemy to end the war and end the killing. On the other hand, in the political act of war (the social phenomenon), the ends of the goal sought have to match the means used. Otherwise, as with any mass use of nuclear weapons if deterrence fails, no one will survive to claim a victory and everyone ends up exhausted, defeated or dead.

In the 21^st Century, science has developed a new form of technology, one just as easily converted into weapons with how the research has progressed. Nanotechnology (“nano” meaning small) uses atoms, molecules, and possibly cellular tissue, to create working machines. The principles, understood and adaptable to weapons, will introduce the new Dark Frontier of nano-weapons.

These weapons can take many forms. From select viruses that kill certain enemies with particular genetic codings, to small explosives that can lethally attack parts of the human body (arteries, etc.), to small surveillance devices that guide precision guided munitions from a safe and hidden distance on target, nanoweapons open possibilities as wide as science fiction describes. The real problem with nano-weapons comes in their use under command, whether directed or assisted by humans in remote or close positions, or by “independent intelligence,” as scientists develop the artificial intelligence systems striving to get born.

Nanoweapons can sound like the spear tips of the Theban Sacred Band in ancient Greece or take the expanse of ground zero in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. They can make killing or even deterring the enemy as selective or broadly undiscriminating as desired by political authorities and military commanders. Beyond the preemptive control of nano-weapons before deployment or full-scale manufacture, counter-measures will also get great attention at the same time. If civilization can find no personally moral or politically ethical means to restrain the development and use nano-weapons, it behooves human kind to explore ways to deter or defeat them. Such counter-measures might include electro-magnetic fields to disrupt them, lights and energy weapons within or outside the visible spectrum, or the use of aerosols and particles in the atmospheres (interiors or exteriors), or anti-nano-weapon-nano-weapons (the most likely)--all and anything that can disable or destroy nano-weapons. Whatever the counter-measures eventually developed, the weapons themselves and the means of stopping them will affect the human life and the world's environment in some way, depending on the scale or degree of use.

Taken as a whole, the Stealth Fires function and the nano-weapons division of the present and future must come with solutions to their use, in the scientific and political field. In the Second World War, the Allies developed the atomic bomb, and the world still does not know what to do with them or how to get rid of them. Wither will we go with nano-weapons? Unless the discussion and debate begins now on preventing their manufacture, their use, or humanity's tendency to kill for greed or fear by means of war, the dark frontiers of human history need the light of day to understand them. Let us talk about the future.

Cepiaclub Directory Report-March 21, 2018

Cepiaclub Directory Report

By Tim Krenz, Director

For Ubet Gazette

March 21, 2018

The Cepiaclub Directory, the managing committee, held a meeting of principal members on February 24^th, the first quarterly meeting of 2018. Four attended.

Our meeting began with a discussion of my director role as executive agent, and in my capacity as the single owner and manager of the legal entity, The Cepia Club LLC. The Directory, having served mainly as an advisory body until now, will continue to seek the near-unanimous consensus on substantive issues, with the director maintaining a firm veto power on any decisions. The director's veto ensures compliance with the legal requirements of the business and to prevent liability infractions for those acting on behalf of the legal entity or Cepiaclub in general. In addition to its advisory capacity, the full directory and others helping it, will gradually become more operative and representative agents in the management and activities of the entire Cepiaclub organization from here forward.

--Organizational Goals

We next looked at the modus vivendi of Cepiaclub, and we reexamined our end state analysis as presented last year, the arrangement that should unite us all in the common endeavor. In the analysis, we reaffirmed the ultimate goals of Cepiaclub's program, the reason why we deem “Connecting people. . . with community media” so important. Those ultimate goals we base on the “Four Freedoms,” famously delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt eleven months prior to America's entry in to the Second World War. Those freedoms, enshrined in the memory of that generation, stand the test of time and humanity. We read that all peoples of the earth should forever ought to have: “Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Worship; Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want.” Later, these freedoms found their incorporation into the Atlantic Charter and into the declaration of the United Nations Alliance that defeated the Nazis, fascist, and militarist in the Second World War.

We, as the Directory, believes that as all democracy struggles to maintain these freedoms universally, that those Four Freedoms succinctly represent that for which Cepiaclub fights peacefully in its grand effort—to preserve or implement them for all time. Without those goals, no society can claim a moral obligation over any matter of person or state of self-governance.

Cepiaclub adheres to its core commitment to protect the unending existence of true democratic systems of government, under any form of constitution, whereby citizens anywhere maintain the choices to determine, collectively or individually, how they shall govern themselves. Some may question the commitment to democracy, and its efficiency, as a core function of our organization. However, the Directory believes it can find and support no other means of institutional coherence that fulfills a practical way for people to live together, and voluntarily enjoy the fruits of peace and labor.

--Organizational Status of Cepiaglobal

The Cepiaglobal Associated Membership Program, the method by which we accept subscribers into our organization, came under extensive discussion. Currently at 34 of the premium subscribers, Cepiaglobal as a program has built a powerful and supportive base. With the various projects of the past 10 years since we initiated it, we have successfully tested its potential and the fellowship's capacity to function. While some projects had ad hoc work groups, other projects have continued with these individuals.

With Cepiaglobal, we aim at an activist core of associated members aiming toward the common goals, as expressed in our effort to preserve and advance the Four Freedoms. Keeping in mind the organization's need to keep the activist interested and productive, and give meaning for their own individual causes and our collective good, we approach this next step in the growth of Cepiaclub and the activity of Cepiaglobal from several directions.

First, we would like to ask Cepiaglobal subscribers, and others interested in becoming such associates, some questions: How do you want to participate in Cepiaclub? How can we assist the specific acts of participation? What volunteer opportunities on your own initiative, outside of Cepiaclub, would you like to do? What do you want to do, more specifically as an activist in an individual and independent mission in your community? What assistance would the Cepiaglobal subscribers need from other individual associates in our activist fellowship to accomplish their missions?

Second, with these simple questions in mind, Cepiaclub will host a Cepiaglobal meeting, or mini-conference, Friday, June 15^th, starting at 7 PM, at the historic Folsom House, in Taylors Falls, MN (directly across the river from St. Croix Falls, WI). At this “meet and greet” and informal occasion, we invite Cepiaglobal associates and invited guests to bring their ideas, copies of their business cards, resumes, outlines, or activist briefs, or other relevant material, to share at our rather social and relaxed function.

While we will have a limited program that evening, outlining how “connecting people. . .with community media,” works toward our end state goals, most of this occasion on June 15^th will simply focus on knowing and hearing, and understanding and listening—to each other. We will discuss, in depth, the questions from the previous paragraph, to discover how we can more effectively work as a group and individually—in our community that ends public ignorance and apathy. (Non-subscribers who wish attend should use the contact form for Cepiaclub at www.cepiaclub.com to reserve credentials, or directly contact me).

--Other Business

As the Directory moved forward, we reviewed the website and determined some improvements for easier and better use of the “hive site.” We also discussed the need for a social media facilitator, with action pending on this item. In looking at our publishing enterprise the past year, we felt very happy with the publication of five issues (4 issues alone in the first volume collection) of our NormalcyMag. It has received great enthusiasm from readers and critical commentators. Also, we felt okay with the two issues of Strategikon done so far. Finally, we hope the new updated versions of Ubet Gazette will improve over time.

We also hope that the current 34 associates in the Cepiaglobal subscription all renew dues in 2018, by either monetary payment or trade in-kind. We discussed using our ambition to renew audio-visual productions as a promotional means to attract more followers into the general CepiaclubNet and into the Cepiaglobal Associate Membership Program. In 2018, The Cepia Club LLC will move ahead on a coupon release. (See more on this coupon matter in future issues of Ubet Gazette). Finally, the Directory reviewed the need to expand, refine, and clean the broader CepiaclubNet information system, a data based names and organizations of those interested in our free publications and bulletins. Cepiaclub does not, I feel, serve exclusively the interest of only dues paying subscribers, but of the larger population. Therefore, the more widespread we can post our free things, like NormalcyMag, the more outreach we can accomplish toward our end state goals—The Four Freedoms.

The Cepia Club had a great year in 2017 and a great start in 2018. We will continue to work hard the rest of this year in the noble venture to empower people to remain free in their choices and conscience, and to live free in peace and prosperity.

Sincerely,

Tim Krenz

Director/Cepiaclub

Owner-Manager

The Cepia Club LLC