Emerging technologies, military operations, and national security: Fundamental drivers for development and deployment of radical technologies

Throughout history, national security and power, military operations, and technological evolution have been linked to each other. Even when technological evolution is relatively quiescent, the relationship among these three domains, and the social and ethical issues that arise from that relationship, are quite complex. In an era of rapid and accelerating fundamental technological change, however, the challenges of managing the development and deployment of such technologies can be overwhelming, and the results of the evolutionary process counterintuitive and seemingly inexplicable. It is therefore worthwhile to understand some of the basic trends driving the evolution of these technologies.