This is a good book, but not that well written. However, it's message about the use of unmanned weapons of war is fascinating and sobering. Unmanned bomber drones are just the beginning. Those sci-fi video games are closer to reality than we think. ( )

Any book on existing technologies is going to date with alacrity, and this is no different. Having been published in 2009, it seems overly opportunistic that this was turned into a book. This should be a quarter its existing length, and even with that it would have required some very free-handed wielding of the editor's red pen. Essentially an over-extension of a magazine article, it is heavy on the cheer-leading descriptions and quotations, and all-too-scant on actual incisive analysis. The most enjoyable passages are when the lessons and ideas of other tacticians, strategists, and other miscellaneous thinkers of war are brought to bear.

The only way this could have been justified at its present length, and in the book form would be if Singer brought something new to the discussion, or if he had acted as some sort of referee in the debate whipping back and forth between the military and technology/research communities. Unfortunately, the need to gain and safe-guard access to military sources which a project such as this thrives on forbade the latter, which in turn prevented this transcending its decidedly ho-hum-brow nature to present some sort of intelligent and original argument.

If you are interested in technology and its military applications, I would advise you to steer clear of this. Far better to track down some magazine articles online, and subscribe to some sites such as http://singularitarian.tumblr.com/ ( )

It's like reading wikipedia. In fact the book is paraphrasing wikipedia articles. If a wikipedia page contains some trivia, be sure it will be included in the book when discussing the topic. This is not bad in itself but it does mean it's a very high level view, without going into detail on many of the subjects. There's probably a market for computer generated books based on wikipedia. Maybe this is the first? Would explain the really dire attempts at humour.
What convinced me of human authorship in the end was the outrageous statement that for something to be secure it needs to be closed source as if security through obscurity hasn't been debunked repeatedly over the past half century, again and again... you need braincells to say something like that. ( )

A very detailed read on what life could be like with more robots. This read covers the technical, tactical, and emotional aspects of technology and robots. A very good read for Defense and S&T specialists.

Too long, tired to cover too much and goes off on tangents unrelated to technology. Frist time I've seen the word ' gynormous ' in serious print. Parts very helpful ( )