Samuel Nunn article

Tell Us What’s Going to Happen: Information Feeds to the War on Terror

Military Simulations

“We want to know things before they occur: anticipate, react, prevent. This idea is embedded not only in counter-terrorism policy, but in the cultural narratives from television and cinema.”

Ex. CSI show and Minority Report movie

“Doing so would require real-time synthesis and analysis of volumes of date equal to something like the number of stars in the universe” (231)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

“The us war on terror places stock in this belief: if we know who the terrorists are, we can capture and contain them, prevent them from putting their schemes in play” (232) “Information feeds to the war on terror can be conceived as representative components of a surveillant assemblage, a combination of surveillance tools used for various forms of social control.” (232)

“You are under arrest for the crime you almost committed” (232)

Is this a fair method? To be convicted before the final cirminal act? Is the intent/motivation behind an act enough for persecution? What is the impact of technology on our justice system?

“Shortly after 9/11, a brigadier general chaired meetings of Hollywood writers, producers , and directors to develop terrorism scenarios…Hollywood’s imagination would supply the fuel for actual anti-terrorism tactics…held at UCS…whose operating venues come largely from military contracts.” (233) “Shows were alter or postpones after 9/11 because of government concerns that they would spark creative criminal imitation and intensify public fears of future attacks. Causality is always bit mixed up in the blend of make believe and reality” (233) Should

Hollywood have to change their plans to protect the public? Are we that fragile as a public?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_quK9SEGYE (start at 30 secs to 1:05)

“Policing becomes risk management: show us the valuable targets, and they will be defended. Minority Report reflects a state of phantom existentialism” (237) “Despite these dreams of invincibility, terrorists attacks do occur. And when they do, the U.S. policy response is usually retaliatory.” (242) “We are perhaps being conditioned to accept torture and warrantless wiretapping as a means to anti-terrorism”

Is warrantless wiretapping (Patriot Act) justifiable?

“Surveillance methods in movies and tv create a fear of an all-encompassing 24/7 observation by unspecified others” (233)

“filmed renditions and police policies are drawn from dominant cultural beliefs about criminal and terrorist behavior” (233)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_r4nCn9N1o (NCIS clip)

Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Simulations exist in many different forms, with varying degrees of realism. In recent times, the scope of simulations has widened to include not only military but also political and social factors, which are seen as inextricably entwined in a realistic warfare model.

   http://www.goarmy.com/downloads/games.html6 diff games: shooting practice in Iraq-esque environment, helicopter control flying,

Final Thoughts

In terms of Military Simulation

What are the function of the games? What message are they trying to send by incorporating them on a main website?

What other kind of military simulations can we imagine in the future that will be designed for recruitment purposes? Other purposes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SLEtVlU15Q