The Remote Revolution

A Surprising Theory About the Future of War

Plain English with Derek Thompson, 30 June 2026. The book comes up at 4 min 30 sec in.

Author Eric Lynn Greenberg discusses his central argument: cheap drones create simultaneous but divergent effects—more militarised interactions (moral hazard) and yet less escalation (escalation control), because uninhabited assets can be shot down without the same obligation to retaliate as killing soldiers. He uses examples including the 2019 U.S.–Iran RQ-4 Global Hawk incident. Host Derek Thompson found the argument persuasive but worried about long-tail risks as drone technology proliferates widely.

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