Editor’s note: Anthony LoBaido has long-tracked the development of “super soldiers” – augmented humans featuring superhuman abilities. In this three-article series, he delves into their background, capabilities, the current research going on in China, how super soldiers might be used and countered, as well as desirable traits for super soldiers that might be found in top athletes and within the animal kingdom.
This series is an abbreviated version of a 16,000-word original white paper. Contact LoBaido to read the entire work: [email protected].
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
– Plato
“When he’s best, he’s little worse than a man. And when he’s worst, he’s little better than a beast.”
– William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice
“You and me. We’re not gonna change the world. We’re not gonna win the war. And nobody’s gonna care when we die. ‘Which mainly signified that you should snarl, and bite and play the dog.’ … Not me.”
– “Becker” (actor Roy Dupis) from the film “Screamers
“We’re gonna die. You know that, don’t you?”
– “Jessica Hanson” (actress Jennifer Rubin) in the film “Screamers”
“I see things in men that they themselves have lost. I give it breath until it ignites.”
– Spartacus in “Blood and Sand”
Foreword
Science is a modern quasi-religion whose daily miracles are commonplace. The fruits of worshiping at the altar of science may yield elite “super soldiers,” fulfilling dystopian Hollywood fiction. MIT Technology Review comments on super soldiers here.The Ivy League University of Pennsylvania delves into ethics and legalities of super soldiers here. The BBC comments here. NBC News reports onChina’s super soldiershere. Think tank Jamestown published a definitive piece here. You can also find a list of related topics here and here.
Super soldiers are part of a broader trend. The next 50 years may see Western governments led by AI as a highly-integrated predictive algorithmic bureaucracy. Data Centers could become a part of the physical architecture of state power. Machine Learning or “ML” can oversee urban infrastructure, legal discovery, economic forecasting and the meting out of resources. Politicians could devolve into mere PR managers.
“Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance” (ISR) and stand-off hypersonic glide vehicles may see standing armies replaced by drones, robots and autonomous loitering munitions. These are items of war produced en masse with stellar reaction times and less friction politically due to fewer (or no) casualties.
Yet robots are vulnerable to electronic warfare, EMPs and cyber subversion. If fragile digital networks are rendered inoperable, state actors will still require physically and cognitively resilient human beings able to successfully operate in an information vacuum.
In this plausible postmodern scenario, super soldiers could be further developed to serve as the ultimate enforcers for both national and transnational elites. Super soldiers, as the highest-tiered assets, would be loyal and likely not subject to bribery. They could retrieve information, recover nuclear / biological / chemical materials, handle counter-proliferation and carry out strikes deep behind enemy lines. This is all a matter of speculation. Yet certain sci-fi elements are now increasingly becoming real, and postmodern technological leaps have happened before. Take a look at Jules Verne’s visions from the 1800s right here.
Apex biotech is in vogue. Read the National Security Commission Report on Emerging Biotechnology here. The commission’s webpage states, “The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology is a time-limited, high-impact legislative branch advisory entity whose purpose is to advance and secure biotechnology, bio-manufacturing and associated technologies for U.S. national security and to prepare the United States for the bio-revolution.”
Advances in biotechnology are accelerating. The U.S. is perfecting Smart Red Blood Cells, or Smart-RBC to sense biomarkers and then release specifically targeted metabolic payloads. This is to assist soldiers operating at high altitudes and also offer resistance to radiation. Read about China’s research here.
Pivot to the Saichen Glacier, meaning “Place of the Roses.” Known as “The Third Pole,” it ranks as one of the most hostile regions on Earth, with temperatures reaching minus 60 degrees Celsius. It is located in the disputed region of Kashmir. From that position, India can keep a watchful eye on the military movements of both China and Pakistan. As both a battlefield and a testing ground for geopolitics at the “Roof of the World,” Saichen provides an example of why Smart-RBC may be seen as invaluable to national security.
Saichen exemplifies a major architectural driver for the creation of super soldiers, vis-Ã -vis the “Duty to Enhance.” They will exist and be equipped for a) U.S. national security, b) to complete their missions, and c) to render the best force protection. Is this a positive, or are there multiple caveats to deconstruct?
A moral vacuum emerges via the loss of human vulnerability, removing historical human limits on strength vs. weakness, fear, fatigue and the impact of moral agency. Super soldiers may no longer be seen as fully human or human at all – but rather as defense assets and biological machines. Recall Clive Owen’s haunting, cryptic, prophetic lamentation near the end of “The Bourne Identity”: “Look at what they make you give …”
This moral vacuum points society back to antiquity to examine timeless, classical Latin terms: First, Jus ad Bellum, which means “Resort to War.” Super soldiers might lower the political risks in pure Machiavellian terms.
A geopolitical divide will likely emerge between 1) nations with de facto super soldiers, 2) the wannabe pretenders, 3) those who cannot create, train and afford them, and 4) nations that simply eschew them.
Second, Jus in Bello, meaning “Conduct in War.” Super soldiers might lose their human empathy. This could lead to hyper-aggression and a lack of a proportional response – the plot of the film “Onslaught,”, which opened Sept. 4.
Third is Jus Post Bellum, which means “Post-War.” How to reintegrate de-enhanced super soldiers into society, what happens to their minds and bodies, what are the post-conflict obligations of / to society, and what are the risks? (Is there long-term data or studies about any of this?) Domestic stratification could emerge as super soldiers will have a permanent baseline of humanity that’s different from the general population.
If we create super soldiers, what is to be done in terms of ethics when they are de-enhanced? And if they are not de-enhanced, then what of their super strength, intellect and other super human traits when they return to society? What happens to a soldier who is controlled or led, at least in part, by automated drug / antidote delivery systems, and then one day those systems are turned off? Read a brilliant analysis here.
In regard to the premise of “Onslaught,” if a soldier’s physical actions are mind-controlled, then stopping a rogue super soldier might mean overriding the connection between their mind’s interface with a weapons (or other type of) system. Biological safeguards are lacking for this scenario. Read about it here. And biotechnology needs strict institutional controls, including management of supply chains. Read about it here and here.
The Law of Armed Conflict is relevant. Is creating super soldiers ethical? Is this even the duty of a doctor?
The Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps comments here. The Red Cross weighs in here. The Baker Institute asks here if the average American citizen can understand the nuances of postmodern medicine.
Fourth, Imago Dei means “Image of God” in terms of God’s creation and inherent dignity of the person. Super soldiers may elevate mankind as a “co-creator” or a “usurper,” forever altering what it means to be human. Is this pure hubris? The transhumanist movement is central to this erstwhile “utopia.” We know from antiquity that utopias always end badly. Christianity speaks of suffering, mortality and redemption on the cross of Jesus Christ. Technological utopianism opposes and circumvents the old civilizational narrative.
Also, the concept of sin comes under assault, as neurological implants and pharmacology influence and erase moral accountability on the battlefield. Killing as a result of bio-cognitive augmentations that impact the intuition of morality, empathy, remorse and fear have not, until now, existed in the arc of human history.
The echoes of antiquity gave a global audience Russell Crowe, fighting as a general and mercenary in the epic Ridley Scott film “Gladiator.” He is a husband, father and farmer who enjoyed the feel of the rich soil between his hands. He is branded with the mark of the Roman Legion. He bleeds. He leads. He fights for his land, his family, for Rome, for his own freedom, for his fellow soldiers and the newfound gladiators.
His story resonates with or without the Roman Empire’s flag patch (via the mark of the Legion) on his shoulder, without any computer-brain interface or pharmacology. Will the soldiering experience, handed down from ancient times to the present day finally come to an end – as the archetype amoral super soldiers are finally released and begin marching across the sands of future time?
This white paper will touch upon a comprehensive defense strategy relating to super soldiers, human-machine convergence and great-power competition. The author will propose an alternative route to machines, iron mixing with clay and pharmacology, in which top athletes and God’s creatures from the animal kingdom have their excellent abilities utilized (somehow) by U.S. Special Operation Forces and / or super soldiers.
When we speak of incredible outside-the-box traits, we might include the indigenous peoples around the world. Consider the Aborigines of the Australian Outback, the American Indians, the Hmong of Laos, the Bushmen of Namibia, the Zulus, the Karen, the Kurds and many others. Ultimately, there may be two paths for building super soldiers – one based on postmodern human augmentation and another taking a natural route.
In the future, super soldiers will be deployed in the field, perhaps against drug cartels or other non-state actors. Consider private development of super soldiers by billionaires, trillionaires, or a global company featuring both limitless financial resources and elite scientists.
During my time a journalist working at Saudi Aramco in Arabia, I worked closely with the brilliant scientists in Research and Development. They opened the clandestine and secretive world of their research and pending patents to me. We held detailed discussions in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Yemen about quantum chemistry and quantum physics. In addition is their keen interest in time travel – including “time traveler” John Titor, who allegedly warned of a looming nuclear war over Ukraine – long before hostilities began in 2022.
In a parallel to the film “Onslaught,” while in Saudi Arabia, we were told ISIS was stalking our compound. I was voted as a militia leader for home defense in case of attack. The Department of Energy fortified our entrance to Al-Raka with cement barriers. I was told our commuter bus, due to it carrying so many elite scientists, was a target. There was an attempt to set fire to the bus in a terrorist attack. It didn’t succeed.
We also were told that ISIS sneaked in a terrorist cook to poison our food. I had kidney stones, pneumonia and a 103.9 F fever. I was told I’d die quickly at 105 F. I lost 19 pounds in 19 days. Yet since I did not eat, I was not poisoned. Before we went to Saudi Arabia, I got in really great shape. I had a personal weight-lifting coach. I think attending and graduating from Arizona State helped me to survive the great heat in Arabia. My blood got thinner while living in Tempe. Adapting to extreme environments is often quite difficult.
Tomorrow: In Part 2, LoBaido addresses the outsized impact of Artificial Intelligence in the development of super soldiers and how America’s enemies likely are working on raising such an enhanced military force.
