I lean more toward the Huxley/Bradbury visions of the present/future. At least I did until recent events. It's astounding how visionary they were, particularly Bradbury who pretty much describes the internet and social media in Farenheit 451.

We are more at risk from internet crime than from a real army. with the way the "internet of things" is spreading you only need someone to take control and you can wipe our entire cities within a short period of time.

Robots could be a good thing if we work out a minimum income society which would mean a move away from the current capitalist/shareholder wealth structure. It's the psychological effects on the purpose of life which would be destructive.

But as the siege Aleppo has shown, you do not lose the need for a ground army and as WWII demonstrated, Britain is not so geographically impenetrable as once it was.

I think this EU army is just a knee jerk reaction to Trump. Germany was not allowed to have an army after 2 world wars. It's only recently they seem to be moving away from that. Russia is a real threat, particularly as Europe squabbles and the US disintegrates into chaos. There are probably Russian professional internet watchers reading this wonderful thread!

The EU Army was mooted back in 2013 way before the Donald learned how to tweet.