Proto-Algorithmic War: How the Iraq War became a laboratory for algorithmic logics (Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI)

During the Iraq War, American soldiers were sent to both fight an enemy and to recover a “failed state” in pixelated camouflage uniforms, accompanied by robots, and armed with satellite maps and biometric hand-held scanners. The Iraq War, however, was no digital game: massive-scale physical death and destruction counter the vision of a clean replayable war. The military policy of the United States, and not the actual experience of war, has been rooted in the logic of digital, and nascent algorithmic technology. This logic attempted to reduce culture, society, as well as the physical body and environment into visual data that lacks cultural and historical context. This book details the emergence of a nascent algorithmic war culture in the context of the Iraq War (2003-2010) in relation to the data-driven early 20th century British Mandate for Iraq. Through a series of five inquiries into the ways in which the Iraq War attempted to and often failed to see population and territory as digital and further proto-algorithmic entities, it offers an insight into the digitization and further unmanned automaton of war. It does so through a comparative historical framework reaching back to the quantification techniques harnessed during the British Mandate for Iraq (1918-1932) in order to explicate the parallels and complicated the diversions between the numerical logics that have driven both military state-building enterprises. Stefka Hristova’s research examines algorithmic and digital media cultures. She studies the intersection of technology and culture in relation the context of photography, surveillance, and social movements. Preface Chapter Overview Contents List of Figures Chapter 1: Algorithmic Logics and War Algorithmic Logics Algorithmic War Artifacts Have Politics From Weapons of Mass Destruction to Weapons of Math Destruction Theoretical Grounding The British Mandate for Iraq Conclusion References Chapter 2: Data Lands/Data Subjects Algorithmic Logic One: Big Data Algorithmic Logic One Core Principle: Aggregation Territory as Data Areas of Security Points of Security Population as Data Total Data Aggregation and the Case of Fallujah Stratified Data Aggregation in the Case of the “Sons of Iraq” Program Distributive Data Aggregation Anthropometrics in Iraq Data Storage Image-Data Disruptors: Women Collecting Data About Women Conclusion References Chapter 3: Taxonomies of Enmity Algorithmic Logic Two: Taxonomies Algorithmic Logic Two Core Principle: Abstraction Algorithmic Logic Two: Territory and Population Taxonomies of Territory Abstracted Cities Abstracted Deserts Taxonomies of Emptiness The Evocation of the Empty Land and the Iraq War Empty Land and Algorithmic Design Taxonomies of Populations Taxonomies of Enmity Categorizing the Enemy Is this a Person? A View from above Facial Data Maps Face a Person, Face a Terrorist Replaceable, Sacrificial Subjects Disruptor: The Non-sacrificial Conclusion References Chapter 4: Data Replay Algorithmic Logic Three: Simulation Algorithmic Logic Three Core Principle: Prediction Simulated Terrain Lego City Desert Homes War Games Simulated People Instant Replay Shock and Awe: Repetition as Relive Simulated Procedure Disruptor: Humans Have Memory and Trauma While AI Is Trauma-Free Conclusion References Chapter 5: Veridiction Training Algorithmic Logic Four: Veridiction Algorithmic Logic Four Core Principle: Matching Territory and Terrain as a Site of Veridiction Veridiction of Population Algorithmic Warfare Imaginary—Who Are you? Nonhuman Truth Regimes Disruptors Disruptor: Yunis Abbas, Abu Ghraib Detainee #151186 Abu Ghraib Prison Past and Present The Road to Abu Ghraib Torture at Abu Ghraib Up Close and Personal Disruptor: Gladiator Games in Iraq outside of Fallujah Conclusion References Chapter 6: Automation, Trust, Responsibility Algorithmic Logic Five: Automation and Autonomous Operation Algorithmic Logic Five Core Principle: Trust Algorithmic War Imagined as Automated and Autonomous War Automation of Action Pixelated Soldiers—Soldiers as Digital Technology Robots in the Iraq War: TALON and SWORDS Trust: Human–Nonhuman–Human Autonomy and Plausible Deniability Automation and War: Airplanes and Drones “Plausible Deniability” and Drone Technology Meet ARTUμ: Your New co-Pilot Used to Fly Gaming Airplanes Conclusion References Chapter 7: Conclusion: Beyond War Algorithmic Logic One Today Algorithmic Logic Two Today Algorithmic Logic Three Today Algorithmic Logic Four Today Algorithmic Logic Five Today References Index During the Iraq War, American soldiers were sent to both fight an enemy and to recover a failed state in pixelated camouflage uniforms, accompanied by robots, and armed with satellite maps and biometric hand-held scanners. The Iraq War, however, was no digital massive-scale physical death and destruction counter the vision of a clean replayable war. The military policy of the United States, and not the actual experience of war, has been rooted in the logic of digital, and nascent algorithmic technology. This logic attempted to reduce culture, society, as well as the physical body and environment into visual data that lacks cultural and historical context. This book details the emergence of a nascent algorithmic war culture in the context of the Iraq War (2003-2010) in relation to the data-driven early 20 th century British Mandate for Iraq. Through a series of five inquiries into the ways in which the Iraq War attempted to and often failed to see population and territory as digital and further proto-algorithmic entities, it offers an insight into the digitization and further unmanned automaton of war. It does so through a comparative historical framework reaching back to the quantification techniques harnessed during the British Mandate for Iraq (1918-1932) in order to explicate the parallels and complicated the diversions between the numerical logics that have driven both military state-building enterprises.