Will the next World War be fought online?

Sample this, all the super powers of the world including the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and the emerging super powers like Brasil, South Africa and India, all agree to ratify the treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear weapons (NPT) and stop the nuclear arms race; slash their defense budget and instead focus their efforts towards developing robust cyber technology, automated systems and artificial intelligence. As i write this article, many countries of the world have completely (or in the process) of moving their erstwhile analogue systems to a more dynamic and interactive digital platform. The days of snail mail are over in some countries having been overtaken by a free, dynamic and personal email systems. Countries in Africa are now talking of digital services including the pay-Tv trend and e-government. In Kenya, banks are no longer the physical structures they used to be but are now mobile in all the sense of the word. Transactions are no longer limited by time or place. One only needs to press a few buttons and voila! you get sorted out.
Who would have thought that at some point in the evolution of man and technology for that matter, education would be offered online within a virtual classroom with a virtual tutor, and a virtual whiteboard. Doctors can perform major surgical procedures remotely using robots programmed with a very high computer language.
American marines on the ground would soon find themselves without a job-well, at least they'll face less dangers- as drones or pilot-less planes fly to areas considered dangerous or restricted air spaces targeting the enemy forces.
Cyberterrorism and other computer-related crimes like hacking are now a reality in modern times. Computers, networks and databases face constant threats every day as hackers try exploiting loopholes in order to access restricted information or stage a sabotage to an organization.
With the development of cloud computing, all user information and data will now be hosted in some remote server. This means a government whose secrets and classified information are stored up somewhere in the cloud, is susceptible to attacks once its security is compromised.
The war will pit the techno savvy vs the less savvy individuals, governments and institutions. Customers will no longer have to walk to a business premise to transact business with the development of e-business platforms and online shopping.
Government budgets will therefore be channeled towards information technology and the only people who will be spared in the war as it were are people whose lives aren't online. In other words, these are invisible people whose details are still undocumented and/or shared online such that even Google can't find them using the advanced search.
Defense buffers will no longer be soldiers placed strategically at border points as firewalls take over. A country's virtual borders and its security will be as good as the security systems in place and the IT personnel manning them. Faster machines would therefore render humanity redundant as computer technology, artificial intelligence and robotics continue to advance. Neighborhoods will comprise of LANs, WANs & MANs all networked with very high speed internet connections. Everything will be virtual.
That day isn't that far and neither is it romantic... 

What is In a Seat: Kenya's Parliamentarians Can Now Sit On a $3,000 Seat.

So what’s in a seat, you may ask. Well, if you are seated on an average seat as it were, then it’s not a big deal; but if your seat costs taxpayers money in the region of $3,000 (Ksh.249,000) then we begin to raise eyebrows. Ideally there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Who would want to be associated with a national assembly fitted with benches where members of parliament fidget uneasily apparently because their rear behinds can’t take the heat from the uncomfortable benches or squeeze each like passengers in a matatu for lack of space? The Kenyan parliament has acquired a new look or swag as the youth may put. It now boasts of a $12m (Ksh.0.996billion) state-of-the-art facilities including a 50kg fireproof seats, touch screens for electronic voting with buttons therefore there’ll be no…”Order! Order!” from the house speaker as members of parliament jostle to use the only microphone while heckling each other down. Each seat is fitted with a microphone and flat screens have been fitted strategically to help members follow proceedings of the house without strain. While I consider myself a techie and a proponent of any endeavor that boosts development, this must not be done at the expense of other priority areas like education, health, unemployment among the youth and the biting poverty.

Speaking of health, there’s an ongoing campaign dubbed “Bring Zack Back Home” spearheaded by the Kenya Paraplegic Association which has set a target to raise 25milllion Kenya shillings to build a modern rehabilitation center for people with spinal injury. This is in light of the fact that the nearest spinal rehabilitation center is located thousands of miles away in South Africa where Zackary Kimotho or Zack as he is popularly known, is travelling using nothing but his wheel chair. As if that is not enough, there is another dragon called cancer which has already overtaken HIV/AIDS as the number one killer disease in Kenyans forcing hundreds to fly abroad to countries like India, Europe and the United States of America to seek treatment because as this stands, the country lacks modern cancer treatment equipment capable of serving the myriad of patients lining up the only referral hospital with a semblance of such facilities for chemotherapy.

On the education sector, we still have a long way to go. Enrollment rates are still not that impressive with hundreds of students who fail to make the cut to join secondary schools forced to look for other alternatives as their dreams are cut short suddenly. This is linked to poverty which many families are still shackled under and are not getting any assistance to extricate them from this demeaning condition. Those who make it to secondary schools are not lucky either. If one doesn’t score enough marks to join the few public universities we have, they end up doing menial jobs at best or loiter around jobless at worst.

The construction of the modern national assembly therefore raises many questions regarding our priorities as a country. 2015 Is just around the corner yet we haven’t achieved much of the millennium development goals (MDGs) we set out to. Some of the questions that need answers include:

   1. Do we need that expensive state-of-the-art parliament in the first place?

   2. Will the new house enhance the members (Mps) efficiency and performance?

   3.  Are we-as tax payers- going to get value for our hard-earned cash?

   4.   Were there other viable alternatives to explore?

These are key questions that ought to be answered by the powers that be and key decision makers in government.