Know Thy Enemy, and the Future of Memorial Day

The individualization of warfare also raises some distinctly Orwellian possibilities. Andrew Hessel, Mark Goodman, and Steven Kotler noted in a 2012 Atlantic article that DNA-linked bioweapons may usher in a future in which “politicians, celebrities, leaders of industry — just about anyone, really — could be vulnerable to attack-by-disease. Even if fatal, many such attacks could go undetected, mistaken for death by natural causes; many others would be difficult to pin on a suspect, especially given the passage of time between exposure and the appearance of symptoms Moreover … these same scientific developments will pave the way, eventually, for an entirely new kind of personal warfare. Imagine inducing extreme paranoia in the CEO of a large corporation so as to gain a business advantage, for example; or — further out in the future — infecting shoppers with the urge to impulse-buy.”