Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World

by Bruce Schneier

In 2017, the US National Intelligence Council—part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence—published a comprehensive document looking at long-term security trends. It talked about resilience: The most resilient societies will likely be those that unleash and embrace the full potential of all individuals—whether women and minorities or those battered by recent economic and technological trends. They will be moving with, rather than against, historical currents, making use of the ever-expanding scope of human skill to shape the future. In all societies, even in the bleakest circumstances, there will be those who choose to improve the welfare, happiness, and security of others—employing transformative technologies to do so at scale. While the opposite will be true as well—destructive forces will be empowered as never before—the central puzzle before governments and societies is how to blend individual, collective, and national endowments in a way that yields sustainable security, prosperity, and hope.