Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body
On Wednesday, November 4th, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Clements Center for National Security will host Thomas Hunt, Professor of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin, as he discusses his book, Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body. As AI, robotics, and digital gaming reshape the battlefield, what does it mean to be “fighting fit” in the modern military? Fight Like a Machine draws on military history, kinesiology, and defense studies to argue that the traditional model of the soldier, defined by strength, speed, and endurance, is giving way to a new paradigm of human-machine integration. Looking to Ukraine and its technically skilled, largely middle-aged fighting force, Hunt will explore why cognitive agility and technological fluency now matter alongside physical power, and what that shift means for military recruitment, training, strategy, and the inclusion of women in combat roles. At stake, he contends, is nothing less than the future of the American military.
Paul Edgar, Executive Director of the Clements Center, will moderate the discussion. Lunch will be provided.
Garage parking is available for a fee at the Manor Garage, the Brazos Garage, and the San Jacinto Garage. Parking will not be validated. Registration is not required.
Biography
Thomas M. Hunt, J.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin. His scholarship explores how physical culture intersects with global political affairs. A previous book, Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the Politics of Doping, 1960-2008, offered a critical analysis of how the history of performance enhancement in sport was shaped by Cold War and post-Cold War politics. In his forthcoming book from the University of Oklahoma Press, Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body, Hunt expands this focus to the defense and national security arena, arguing that emerging technologies are redefining the role of the human body in warfare.