Future Warfare Scenario — Extrapolated Futures Archive

Description

New technologies or social structures transform the nature of armed conflict, testing whether existing laws of war and strategic doctrines remain viable.

Real-World Relevance

Informs military doctrine evolution, autonomous weapons policy, and international humanitarian law in the face of novel capabilities.

Classification

Domains: Warfare and Weapons Technology Governance and Political Systems Space Exploration and Colonization Existential Risk and Civilizational Collapse Economics and Resource Allocation First Contact and Alien Civilizations Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Communication and Information Technology Social Engineering and Psychology Energy and Physics Virtual Reality and Simulation

Scenario Types: Prediction / Extrapolation Warning / Self-preventing prophecy Satire / Social commentary Thought experiment / What-if Ethical dilemma

Outcomes: Cautionary Catastrophic Ambiguous / Mixed Transformative Aspirational

Tags: future-warfare military-technology strategy aerial-warfare-civilization-collapse aerial-warfare strategic-bombing civilizational-collapse asteroid-weapon-invasion asteroid-weapon planetary-bombardment alien-invasion kinetic-impact arms-race-theater arms-race military-industrial-complex security-theater technologically-superior-invasion invasion colonialism biological-warfare technological-supremacy autonomous-weapons-personhood autonomous-weapons ai-personhood military-ethics robot-rights lethal-autonomous-systems presumed-dead-strategic-advantage information-warfare deception military-strategy intelligence-failure soldier-to-diplomat-transition soldier-diplomat role-transition peace-seeking institutional-reform indoctrinated-soldier-awakening indoctrination deradicalization moral-awakening identity-crisis military-cultural-suppression military-culture identity-suppression diversity institutional-monoculture enemy-alliance-against-shared-threat enemy-alliance shared-threat temporary-cooperation forced-global-disarmament forced-disarmament unilateral-enforcement peace-through-force conspiracy-and-entropy conspiracy paranoia entropy military-industrial scientist-weapon-moral-crisis weapon-invention scientist-ethics proliferation dual-use covert-military-training gamification military-recruitment simulation-reality informed-consent survivor-to-commander slave-trade trauma-driven-leadership impenetrable-personal-shield personal-shield invulnerability asymmetric-power

Stories (59)

A matter of profit — Hilari Bell (2003)
A War of Gifts — Orson Scott Card (2006)
Ante la bandera (Face au drapeau) — Jules Verne (1897)
Armada — Ernest Cline (2015)
Ashes of Victory — David Weber (2000)
Babel-17 — Samuel R. Delany (1966)
Behemoth — Scott Westerfeld (2010)
Between Planets — Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
Bill the Galactic Hero — Harry Harrison (1965)
Blood Music — Greg Bear (1985)
Broken Angels — Richard K. Morgan (2003)
Death's End (The Three-Body Problem Series Book 3) — 刘慈欣 (2010)
Dorsai! — Gordon R. Dickson (1959)
Double Star — Robert A. Heinlein (1956)
Exultant — Stephen Baxter (2004)
Eyes of the Void — Adrian Tchaikovsky (2022)
Footfall — Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle (1985)
Forever Peace — Joe Haldeman (1998)
Gravity's Rainbow — Pynchon, Thomas (1973)
Hardfought — Greg Bear, Ray Chase, Timothy Zahn (1988)
Honor Among Enemies — David Weber (1996)
Market Forces — Richard K. Morgan (2004)
My Enemy, My Ally — Diane Duane (1984)
Obsidio — Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff (2018)
Old Man’s War — John Scalzi (2005)
On Basilisk Station — David Weber (1993)
Sassinak — Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon (1990)
Seven Surrenders — Ada Palmer (2017)
Shield — Poul Anderson (1965)
Sixth Column — Robert A. Heinlein (1949)
Soldier, Ask Not — Gordon R. Dickson (1967)
Some Desperate Glory — Emily Tesh (2022)
Star Guard — Andre Norton (1955)
Star Wars — Aaron Allston (1998)
Star Wars - Jedi Trial — David Sherman, Dan Cragg (2004)
Star Wars - Medstar I - Battle Surgeons — Michael Reaves, Steve Perry (2004)
Star Wars - Shatterpoint — Matthew Woodring Stover (2003)
Star Wars — Michael A. Stackpole (1996)
Starfist — David Sherman (2001)
Starship Troopers — Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
T2 — S. M. Stirling (2001)
The Brave Free Men — Jack Vance (1973)
The city who fought — Anne McCaffrey, S. M. Stirling (1993)
The Cole Protocol — Tobias S. Buckell, Eric Nylund (2008)
The Currents of Space — Isaac Asimov (1952)
The Forever War — Joe Haldeman (1974)
The Gaslight War — Adrian Tchaikovsky (2025)
The Ghost Brigades — John Scalzi (2006)
The Honor of the Queen — David Weber (1993)
The man who ended war — Hollis Godfrey (1908)
The Morcai Battalion — Diana Palmer (1980)
The Naked God — Peter F. Hamilton (1999)
The Neutronium Alchemist — Peter F. Hamilton (1997)
The Shape of Things to Come — H. G. Wells (1933)
The war in the air — H. G. Wells (1908)
The War of the Worlds — H. G. Wells (1898)
The Zap Gun — Philip K. Dick (1974)
War dogs — Greg Bear (2014)
World War Z — Max Brooks (2006)

Related Ideas

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