Let us first discuss firepower. It is the ability to physically destroythe enemy on the battlefield. In the human body itself, it finds its originsin muscular strength implemented in the blow of the fist. Later, humansaugmented this ability with the spear, which allowed the delivery of violenceat a distance, and the bow, which uses stored human energy to propel arrows.In the artillery piece and the tank, firepower finds its expression inthe projection of a highly sophisticated missile through the use of chemicalpropellants, of which gunpowder was the earliest incarnation. Unlike theartillery piece, which destroys at a distance, the tank is designed todestroy up close, with the immediacy of space and time that direct sightprovides. Through the main gun tube of the tank, the soldier has the capabilityto deliver more of this destructive force far more quickly and accuratelythan human muscle power could ever provide. In this capacity, the cyborgof the tank does not augment human capabilities, but replaces them.

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