Dear readers—
While the US is the preeminent military power, its rivals are now more likely to win a war against it than anytime in recent decades. And scientists believe that the current combination of nuclear weapons infrastructure and information technology have the world closer to apocalypse than any time during the Cold War.
The future of war is the topic of our new deep-dive report this week by Quartz reporters Tim Fernholz, Justin Rohrlich, and Daniel Wolfe. You can today read Tim’s state of play overview of how there’s a new era of “gray-zone aggression,” with states launching conflicts in a nebulous area between war and peace to avoid the escalation into nuclear apocalypse. We explore five potential battlefields of future conflicts through maps, satellite imagery, and data. One of our stories looks closely at how climate change is affecting the US military. And we examine the battle against killer robots.
This coverage is exclusively for Quartz members. You can sign up here for a seven-day free trial of membership to access it.
A few things that stood out for me in their reporting:
- The US spends more on its military than the next seven nations combined, and some analysts don’t think that’s enough.
- Climate change is not only being driven by the US military—whose carbon footprint exceeds many nations—but is also creating new challenges like resource scarcity and the new geography of the Arctic.
- Weapons researchers are racing to build artificial intelligence that will win battles—but should they?
If you sign up for a Quartz membership, you’ll also have access to our in-depth guides on areas of business disruption from the coming 5g revolution to the future of banking, and free invitations to members-only events. This week we’re hosting three videoconference calls for members to discuss the news with our journalists. You’ll get full access to our library of PowerPoint presentations, on topics such as the future of airlines and jobs of the future. And you’ll be able to watch all of our video shows for members, including season two of Because China, which looks at how China is changing the rest of the world.
I hope you’ll take advantage of the free trial of Quartz membership and support all of this unique, in-depth reporting.
Best,
Kevin J. Delaney
Editor in chief, cofounder
kevind@qz.com