# Recombinations of the Near Possible by Yochai Benkler > “We are already have unmanned planes that can shoot live targets. We are seeing land robots, for both military and space applications. We are seeing networked robots performing functions in collaboration. I fear that we will see a massive increase in the deployment and quality of military robotics, and that this will lead to a perception that war is cheaper, in human terms. This, in turn, will lead democracies in general, and the United States in particular, to imagine that there are cheap wars, and to overcome the newly-learned reticence over war that we learned so dearly in Iraq.” > **— Yochai Benkler**, *2009, Edge Annual Question, “What Will Change Everything?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [RECOMBINATIONS OF THE NEAR POSSIBLE](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10845) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2009 Annual Question collection, *WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2009 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2009 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Nolan's Odyssey]] - **Article:** [[articles/Cyber-Physical Lessons from Imperial Beekeeping|Cyber-Physical Beekeeping]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Artificial Intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Artificial Intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] - [[wiki/human-machine interaction|human-machine interaction]] - [[wiki/Cybernetic Control|Cybernetic Control]] - [[wiki/Technological Evolution|Technological Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “We are already have unmanned planes that can shoot live targets. We are seeing land robots, for both military and space applications. We are seeing networked robots performing functions in collaboration. I fear that we will see a massive increase in the deployment and quality of military robotics, and that this will lead to a perception that war is cheaper, in human terms. This, in turn, will lead democracies in general, and the United States in particular, to imagine that there are cheap wars, and to overcome the newly-learned reticence over war that we learned so dearly in Iraq.” — Yochai Benkler, 2009, Edge Annual Question, “What Will Change Everything?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-yochai-benkler-recombinations-near-possible ```