Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body
Speaker:
Thomas Hunt
Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education
November 4, 2026 | 12:15 – 1:30 pm | SRH 3.122, The LBJ School of Public Affairs
On November 4, 2026, the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law will host “Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body,” with Thomas Hunt, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Paul Edgar, Clements Center Executive Director, will moderate the discussion. Join us at 12:15 – 1:30 pm in Sid Richardson Hall (SRH), Room 3.122, The LBJ School of Public Affairs.
As AI, robotics, and digital gaming reshape the battlefield, what does it mean to be “fighting fit” in the modern military? “Fight Like a Machine” draws on military history, kinesiology, and defense studies to argue that the traditional model of the soldier—defined by strength, speed, and endurance—is giving way to a new paradigm of human-machine integration. Looking to Ukraine and its technically skilled, largely middle-aged fighting force, Hunt will explore why cognitive agility and technological fluency now matter alongside physical power, and what that shift means for military recruitment, training, strategy, and the inclusion of women in combat roles. At stake, he contends, is nothing less than the future of the American military.
Lunch will be provided.
Garage parking is available for a fee at the Manor Garage and the San Jacinto Garage. Parking will not be validated.
Speaker Biography
Thomas M. Hunt, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin. His scholarship explores how physical culture intersects with global political affairs. A previous book of his entitled Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the Politics of Doping, 1960-2008 offered a critical analysis on how the history of performance-enhancement in sport was impacted by Cold War and post-Cold War politics. In his forthcoming (University of Oklahoma Press) Fight Like a Machine: The Combat Future of the Human Body, Hunt expands this focus to the defense and national security arena, arguing that emerging technologies are redefining the role of the human body in warfare.