The army recently held a "Mad Scientist" conference (no, really) - they are looking at all of the possible things that individuals or small groups might be able to do in the next few decades:

"The U.S. must accept the reality that it can no longer assume technological superiority over the rest of the world. Ready access to scientific information and technological know-how has and will continue to level the playing field," the Mad Scientist summary notes. "In the operational environment of 2030 and beyond, the destructive/disruptive capability of the individual and small group will be more effective, more lethal, more easily developed/acquired, more efficiently delivered, and more easily concealed and transported... Individuals with access to the global information grid can easily acquire the knowledge needed to develop lethal bio agents, literally in their kitchen sink. Nanotechnology and robotics will offer opportunities to introduce and spread bio and chemical agents into targeted populations."

The transition here reminds me somewhat of the French Revolutionary era. Before then, armed forces were seen (at least in the West) as largely composed of professionals, and war was something professionals did. The common man often suffered, but was rarely a direct participant - the elites saw war as "too important" for the peasants. Then the "Levee en Masse" came into the picture, and war was a mass social movement right through the end of WWII.

The changes being looked at aren't similar, other than in their scope for disruption. The change from small elite armies to mass conscription was a big social change; this one looks like a huge disruption as well.