Drones, warfare, science fiction and cybercrime. A conversation with P.W. Singer

P. W. Singer was a consultant on the popular videogame, Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Defense contractors are now trying to make the “Charlene” drone concept a reality. Image courtesy Activision.

PW Singer studies the future of warfare. A political scientist specializing in international relations, he’s the author of the bestselling Wired for War, which explores the evolution of robotics in armed conflict; Children at War, about the spreading use of child soldiers; and the forthcoming Cyber Security and Cyber War: What Everyone Needs to Know. He is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he directs the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. In 2009, Singer gave a TED Talk, Military robots and the future of war, in which he predicted that the growing use of robots in war would change the realities of combat. Four years, and thousands of US drone strikes…