Technology/Data/War Series

21st-century war is fought on a battlefield where digital technologies, data surveillance, and algorithmic decision-making shape everyday experience. Tech giants and systems developers are scripting the future of combat and redefining the role of the officer even as soldiers go into battle with the weapons they have, not the AI platforms they’re promised. Across the world, civilians are caught in the churn of information warfare, where military force and participative media have all but erased the lines between military and non-combatant. Social media platforms amplify and weaponise the public sphere, spread propaganda, manipulate perception, and accelerate violence. Meanwhile, facial recognition, predictive analytics, and remote sensing affect how people move, communicate, and survive, in ways that intersect with race, class, and gender. Life on the algorithmic battlefield involves a constant negotiation with invisible systems that monitor, nudge, and endanger individuals, often without their full awareness or consent. This is reshaping state power, eroding civil liberties and challenging the laws of armed conflict. As series editor for Technology/Data/War, Matthew Ford welcomes submissions from authors who explore the conduct of contemporary war. He is particularly interested in the digital architectures that shape how battles are fought and the technological, organisational and socio-political challenges this creates.

Series Editor: Matthew Ford