Technology has a distancing effect on combat. The fist becomes a sword. The sword becomes an arrow. The arrow becomes a trebuchet. The trebuchet becomes a torpedo. The torpedo becomes a nuclear missile. The ICBM becomes, maybe, a clandestine social media campaign, designed to undermine and topple democracies. With each step change the attacker is removed yet farther from the material effects of his actions. At a distance it is harder to properly count the cost. It is, surely, our obligation to count the cost.
