And now, the war forecast

Can software really predict the outcome of an armed conflict, just as it can predict the course of the weather? A discussion with Tom Standage, Technology Editor of "The Economist" -- "We’re looking at systems which take historical data about known conflicts. You then build a model and tweak it until it correctly predicts the known outcomes of the these conflicts. Weather forecasters call this 'hind-casting'. Just as you can work out the rules of physics that govern the behaviour of the atmosphere, there are people that are trying to work out the laws that govern military conflicts."