SPECTRUM WARFIGHTER 2: HUMAN, ROBOT, ALGORITHM OR AVATAR?

Spectrum Warfighter 2 Oil on linen 61 x 66 cm 2021

Spectrum warfighters and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
I've got this thing in my head - a picture of a spectrum warfighter. Is it human, is it an enhanced human or is it a robot? The term 'warfighter' can be applied to a living and non-living entity, even an algorithm. The term 'warfighter' is actually a loaded term!

I have painted a few spectrum warfighters recently* - for me, they are entities that use the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] as a means of fighting wars, in the broadest sense. This could mean as a fixed or moving enabling node in a networked system of interoperable systems and hardware. It could also mean something more, for example, as a disseminator of information or disinformation. It could mean jamming or interrupting an adversary's signals. The spectrum warfighter, whether human or not, is an integral part of contemporary war, in all its iterative and often concurrent manifestations - grey zone, hybrid, cyber. information and kinetic warfare. 

Spectrum Warfighter 2
In my new painting Spectrum Warfighter 2 I have painted VR [virtual reality] goggles that wrap around the warfighter's head. This reflects upon military interest in augmented and integrated visual aides for things like improved situational awareness. Integrated means that the goggles can be, for example, wifi connected to other sensors carried by the warfighter, and also connected to other close or remote warfighters/hardware. Goggles can also be connected to firearms...

 My spectrum warfighter hovers, as if suspended in the sky or space, or maybe its an image on a computer screen? The warfighter's body is not complete. Maybe its torso is a visual metaphor for a system of warfighting, like a logo? Maybe my warfighter is injured, a real or metaphoric casualty? Maybe the warfighter is simply appearing out of a mist? I'll let you wonder on about the possibilities!

Spectrum Warfighting and the Metaverse
My warfighter also has no face or facial features that can help us work out whether it is human, robotic or an avatar. Facial features are obscured by the augmenting goggles, and what might be a balaclava-like hood. Who knows! Your guess is as good as mine!

If my spectrum warfighter is a 'portrait' of an avatar, maybe it is ready for wars in the Metaverse?  

*More Spectrum Warfighters:

Biped and Quadruped Warfighters
Theatre of War: Spectrum Access
Spectrum Warfighting: Invisibility

Cheers,

Kathryn

BIPED AND QUADRUPED: WARFIGHTERS

Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters Oil on linen 60 x 110 cm 2021

 

Recent news of a weaponised quadruped robot caught my interest - and dismay.

But, was I surprised?  No. 

Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters 
My new painting Biped and Quadruped Warfighters places two figures in circles against a violent red background 'landscape'. The human-like torso is equipped with multiple sensors and antennae. Here, I have also 'played' with Microsoft's recently touted networkable military grade goggles that use an 'Integrated Visual Augmentation System' to enhance soldier situational awareness. The other figure is a robotic weaponised quadruped - I refuse to call it a dog!

Is the human-like torso actually a human being, or is it also a robot, or an anthropomorphised representation of a system? You decide!

I placed each figure in a circle to denote their compliance with a network, with a 'cloud'. This refers to a few other recent paintings. Two examples are Theatre of War: Infrared and Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud 

The quadruped warfighter seems to lead the other warfighter - they both face the same direction. The quadruped leads as a lethal scout.

Recurring Question
I have lots more to say! - but a recurring question I have is - How do we memorialise when the warfighter was never alive?

And, just in case you missed it!

THE DEAD PRUSSIAN PODCAST

My interview with Mick Cook from The Dead Prussian Podcast is live! We discuss my work, research, creative practice and the future of war. I am thrilled to be given opportunities like this! 

The term 'Dead Prussian' refers to nineteenth century General Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote the famous tome On War. Regular readers will know that I reference Clausewitz in my Theatre of War series of paintings. Clausewitz uses the term 'theatre of war' variously and often in On War.

Cheers,
Kathryn

THEATRE OF WAR: SPECTRUM

Theatre of War: Spectrum Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

 

Theatre of War: Spectrum is my fifth Theatre of War painting. It seems I am developing a series. 

My earlier Theatre of War paintings are:

Theatre of War

Theatre of War: Terrain Visualisation

Theatre of War: Smart Team 

Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition

Theatre of War

'Theatre of war' is a term used often by General Carl von Clausewitz in his early nineteenth century book On War. He describes theatre of war as a "portion of space over which war prevails as has its boundaries protected, and thus possesses a kind of independence." 

Clearly the contemporary theatre of war is very different to Clausewitz's explanation. Contemporary war now extends beyond geographic boundaries, reaching into - and using - multiple aspects of the digital and cyber world. Of particular interest to me is the increasing interest, by militaries around the world, in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] as a domain to be harnessed and controlled. 

EMS
Signals carried by radio and microwave frequencies assist and operatively enable contemporary militarised and civilian technology - and the militarise-ability of the latter. Infrared frequencies facilitate surveillance, and imaging technology. New high energy laser technology can be used for communication, but also a weapon. Hacking, jamming, deliberate pulse attacks and activities such as spreading viruses are enabled by appropriating various wavelengths for nefarious deliveries. Arguably, the use of social media, phising, spreading misinformation are also fundamentally enabled by technologies reliant on signals carried by the EMS. 

Theatre of War: Spectrum
In this new painting I have tried to visualise the EMS as a theatre of war. I have placed this 'theatre' against a cosmic background to indicate a couple of things. Firstly, there are no boundaries - what are the ramifications of this? Secondly, that the EMS is woven into the fabric of the universe and its history. In the few seconds after the big bang, photons - quanta of energy - appeared. These photons are the foundation of the EMS, as all wavelengths are made up of photons that operate as both particles and waves. 

In our human sphere of influence, over time, we have harnessed aspects of the EMS for various things, including activities and technologies that benefit humanity and the planet. But, we have also harnessed it for activities and technologies that, as time goes by, could pose existential threats [regular readers know of my interest in existential risk posed by emerging technologies].   

Back to the painting - I wonder what my spectrum warfighter, in the red box carrying various equipment with obvious antennae, thinks? Is this warfighter human or robotic? Is the warfighter a simulation on a screen? Is the warfighter actually a bipedal node? Is the warfighter a posthuman reminder of human hubris?

Oh, but, there's a computer game called Full Spectrum Warrior It was first launched for X-Box in 2004. 

The contemporary theatre of war is no game, but some might say that it includes 'games' of all sorts....

Cheers,

Kathryn

WARFIGHTER - 01010111 01000001 01010010 01000110 01001001 01000111 01001000 01010100 01000101 01010010

 WARFIGHTER Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm 2019

_________________________________________________________

A few questions that keep me thinking are:

What happens when the warfighter is no longer human/alive?

Why has the word 'warfighter' replaced, in many instances, descriptors such as soldier, sailor, pilot? 

Is the increasing use of the word warfighter a sign that the replacement of the human being is already underway? I ask this because nonhuman devices can also be called warfighters eg: unmanned systems such as airborne, land-based and sea-based drones or robots. 

If or when the warfighter is no longer human/alive, does war become a battle between autonomous devices and systems? Will human beings still have control, or will they be held hostage to a type of war beyond our current comprehension?

If your nation's warfighters are no longer human/alive, are the enemy's warfighters also no longer human/alive? If not, is the human being's role relegated to that of victim only?

In a war fought between machines and systems what happens to sovereignty and territory? 

In a war fought between machines and systems what happens to notions such as bravery, courage, loss, victory, disgust, sacrifice and more?

How do we memorialise when the warfighter is no longer human/alive? Will memorial cease to exist as a form of human remembrance? If not, where does that place human history?

If autonomous nonhuman warfighters' initial programming is aimed at fighting, battle, deception and strategy, what happens to peace?

Are cyber systems and robots designed for civilian use, vulnerable to hijacking by the warfighting systems and robots? I assume so - then all systems are potentially militarised. Something to think about in an increasingly interconnected and networked world! 

The artificial intelligence, Alpha Go, plays the ancient game of Go with what is described as superhuman abilities, employing new manoeuvres that human beings have never thought of. This prompts the question, will self learning AI operated warfighters develop unheard of war strategies?  If so, what will war become? Will war become not superhuman, but 'other than' human?  Will human beings have any hope of understanding war once it becomes 'other than human'? Here, I protest against terms such as 'superhuman' and 'more than human', because they imply that that the human is already 'less than' the machine/system. However, if we see these systems as 'other than', rather than 'superhuman' or 'more than human', maybe critical spaces for deeper reflection on the future of war and humanity are revealed?

WARFIGHTER 

In WARFIGHTER [above] I have painted a string of binary code 'instructing' WARFIGHTER. The code seems to form a landscape element, a contour or horizon. The warfighter here is a digital system, a non-human, normally invisible combatant. Is the painting a depiction of a future warscape, one where human beings no longer exist, but the autonomous warfighting systems they developed still do? Maybe this could be a memorial to an algorithm! Is it Earth though? Maybe it is a cosmic landscape, or a virtual landscape - a simulation - Earth's remnant, an algorithm.

WARFIGHTER is similar to my earlier small painting Coded Landscape [below]. Here, the binary code 'instructs' the word LIFE. In my 2015 post, where I discuss Coded Landscape, I write about landscape. Landscape emerged out of the Big Bang and continues today on a universal scale. Here on Earth we have our physical landscape, but also our virtual landscapes. Both Coded Landscape and WARFIGHTER play with depictions of various landscapes - universal, cosmic, physical, virtual, simulated, future. Like WARFIGHTER, Coded Landscape could be a memorial too - to life.

And, there are a lot more questions....for another time.

                                     Coded Landscape Gouache on paper 15 x 21 cm 2015

Cheers,

Kathryn