NWC 2025 INS Lecture - Dr. Tim Schultz: Humans at the Frontier of Technology

This Issues in National Security Lecture took place on January 14, 2025. The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:
Naval War College graduates must think, lead, and fight at the frontier. This goes beyond the frontiers of sea and air to include the frontier of techno-scientific change where humans and machines cooperate and collide. This presentation provides some perspective on the evolving relationship between humans and machines. It uses historical and modern concepts to examine how human-machine fusion advances our creativity. It includes the fears associated with robotic overlords and Orwellian consequences, along with what it means to be human--and how we can lead--in the age of technology.

Speaker bio:
Tim Schultz is the U.S. Naval War College Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Prior to joining the Newport faculty in 2012 he served as the Dean of the U.S. Air Force’s School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Tim earned his Ph.D. in the History of Technology from Duke University, and his research interests include the interaction between technology and strategy and the transformative role of automation in warfare. He is the author of The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) and co-editor of Air Power in the Age of Primacy: Air Warfare since the Cold War (Cambridge University Press, 2021). He is a graduate of the USAF Academy, Colorado State University, Air Command and Staff College, and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Formerly a USAF colonel, he spent much of his aviation career as a U-2 pilot enjoying a high-altitude view of interesting places.

INS Certificate:
Certificates of Participation can be provided to viewers who have seen 70 percent (%) of the lectures offered this season. For eligibility, lectures could have been attended in person, watched via Zoom, or watched when the lectures are posted to YouTube. You can certify that you have viewed at least 70% (7 of the 10) INS lectures by filling out the following form: https://forms.office.com/r/GPBBg0cN9L