Silent Machines and Loud Wars: The Quiet Revolution of Biotechnologies in Conflict Literature

Abstract

A quiet revolution unfolds in contemporary conflict literature, where war is no longer marked by the clang of steel but by the silent workings of biotechnologies. This paper critically examines Tochi Onyebuchi’s War Girls (2020), exploring how the fusion of flesh and technology transforms both the battlefield and human identity. The novel portrays soldiers augmented by biotechnological enhancements—artificial limbs, neural implants, and mechanized bodies—that silently reshape them into instruments of war. These “silent machines” offer power, survival, and efficiency, but at the cost of autonomy, humanity, and emotional integrity.

This analysis delves into the subtle moral dilemmas raised by biotechnology: while it saves and strengthens, it also alienates. Augmented soldiers are forced into an unsettling balance between their human selves and the cold mechanics of their artificial enhancements. War Girls critiques the dehumanizing effects of these technologies, which blend seamlessly into everyday life, silently challenging the very definition of being human.

The paper argues that the most profound consequences of biotechnological warfare are not the visible destruction it wreaks but the invisible erosion of identity and autonomy. Against the backdrop of human fragility and technological power, conflict literature like War Girls raises unsettling questions about progress and autonomy, as well as the cost of survival in a world increasingly dominated by silent, unseen forces.