“The days of uniformed armies, navies and air forces may be numbered and in their place a world where disputes are settled by assassins, robotic or otherwise, cris-crossing the continents looking for a man with a problem.”

If this truly does become widespread, then we are back to Italy under the Medici’s, rewrit on a global stage. Democracies generally don’t survive long in such a world.

“What happens when I can build a predator drone the equal of those now built by the US? What happens when my small network can gather data equal to the NSA?”

Vernor Vinge has written a couple of novels based on that concept. Interesting thought. Of course, the real question is “what happens when my neighbor who I don’t like can build a predator drone?” How do we prevent the return of the ages old “war of all against all”???