War by Subscription: How the Gamification of Combat Became the Dream Factory's Newest Product

For a long time, the worst thing imaginable about war was that it could become routine. It turns out the worse thing is that it can become content.
Look at what is happening right now, this very year. The market for military technology is growing faster than any other sector of the global economy. Anduril, Palantir, Helsing, Shield AI - companies nobody had heard of five years ago - are now valued in the tens of billions of dollars. Venture capital, which once held the defense industry at arm's length, is now pouring into autonomous weapons with enthusiasm and precision. The smart money has figured out something straightforward: civilian AI is a lottery ticket with an unknowable payoff horizon, while military AI comes with a guaranteed customer in the form of a state that pays without negotiating. The Pentagon does not ask about unit economics. It asks when delivery will arrive.
read more..