Army 'Mad Scientists' Study Swarming Mines, Facebook Attacks

Forget the Oscars, the event I want an invitation to is the Army's annual mad scientists' ball. That's right, the Army actually holds an an annual conference – formally titled the "Mad Scientist Future Technology Seminar" – that brings together scientists, science fiction writers, futurists, academics and members of the government and the private sector to discuss the military implications of emerging science and technology. According to an unclassified summary obtained by Danger Room, the theme of this year's Mad Scientist confab, held January 20-23, was the "blending" of science and technology in ways that might threaten the United States. "While there is room for debate about which technologies can and will be blended, what is certain is that the nature of warfare is changing; shifting increasingly from large scale, kinetic soldier-on-soldier operations to decentralized non-kinetic operations reliant upon cyber networks, robotics, and/or electronic media to achieve their desired effects," the summary states. The effect was observed after high-altitude thermonuclear weapons tests during the Cold War, but the Mad Scientists worry that "advances in miniaturization could produce a hand held EMP gun before 2020."