(EDITOR'S NOTE: Douglas Rushkoff is one of our favorites. He believes that "conspiracy" as in 9-11, etc. and so on isn't "real." The clueless 20-something Pentagon Serial Killers -- Gamers -- who kill by "phoning it in" have proven to be as entertaining as the Dear Professor Rushkoff himself)

(Oct 22, 2009) It's the detached way to fight a war:

Use a PlayStation controller to bomb the Taliban in Afghanistan in the afternoon and then drive half-an-hour home to a suburban Nevada to enjoy dinner with your family that night.

But if Vice President Biden gets his way -- and it's becoming increasingly possible he will -- American combat will soon be looking less like Vietnam than a videogame.

Even more interesting -- and worrying -- it may begin to feel more like a videogame, too.

Shouldn't war be the one activity from which we'd like a little disconnection -- and for which "phoning it in" might no only be a good idea, but a more effective strategy?

Given the depth, breadth, and apparent irrevocability of our involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we should probably just shut up and celebrate the emergence of technologies that could make this largely a bloodless war -- at least as far as American troops are concerned.