Stuxnet: the *real* modern warfare

So this isn't actually about government conspiracies or video-games or anything. Sorry, I just wrote that to get your attention; looks like it worked! But to whet your appetite for top-secret operations, here's a video explaining what stuxnet is. I don't know about all the facts he quotes, but stuxnet is real, and pretty darn interesting!

Again, I don't want to start a debate on politics, especially since I don't know it well enough to pass off being knowledgeable about it. Rather, I'd like to point out why this is important, because it's exactly what I was talking about with my thesis.

The German emperor Wilhelm II is quoted as saying "“I believe in horses….The automobile is a transient phenomenon”. Some European nations held onto the horse all the way into WWII, but I'm sure we've all heard plenty about disruptive technology. As soon as a new technology comes along, it replaces the old and everybody makes the switch over. But what if the switch changes the entire fabric of society? When tanks and trains replaced horses and wagons, it restructured entire populations. People could live in higher concentrations than ever before, and this changed everything from the way spread to people's health. What stuxnet represents is the next stage in disruptive innovation. Thanks to the digital revolution, everything is connected to the internet, from the phone in your hand to New York city's power grid. Now when a military wants to take down an enemy nuclear power plant, instead of sending in a squad of troops or unmanned drones, they can write a virus. When everything is connected digitally, physical troops and legal boundaries cease to be a factor in waging war. Guns and planes are still important for obvious reasons, just as horses continued to play an important role in communications and transportation after the advent of tanks. Since the new tank of digital age has been released, the civilian counterpart isn't far behind. As everything becomes more connected, physical boundaries will mean less and less. When preparing a presentation with the information group, we started a google+ hangout. Because of this, we were able to get input from Professor Burton, members of the group that weren't there, and someone in Korea (a bit unexpected, but he was nice!) Someone posted a while ago about how people in Korea can do their shopping while waiting for the train. I don't expect Ralphs to go out of business anytime soon, but I do expect more stores to make their goods available outside of the store. Who knows? maybe soon, you'll even get doctor check-ups online instead of in person.