Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

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A slightly more complex model from a 1970s study also illustrates this school of thought:(Reflex)ENVIRONMENTPerceptualAnalysisCognitiveComparatorCognitiveProcessesBehaviorMemoryFigure 3. Cognitive Behavior Model.Source: Adapted from Peter H. Lindsay and Donald A. Norman, Human Information Processing (NY: Academic Press, 1977),689. Adopted from Plehn.The cognitive revolutionBoyd delved deeply into the literature mapping this cognitive revolution that started at theend of the 1950s and took off fully in the 1960s en 1970s, showing the influence andrelevance of cybernetics for understanding human thought processes 143 . Indeed, Boyd’smodel may in part be retraced to cyberneticists such as Gregory Bateson. Bateson washeavily influenced by Wiener. Bateson developed a model of mind based upon systemstheoreticalprinciples. His list of the criteria of mind includes the following 144 :1. A mind is an aggregate of interacting parts or components2. The interaction between parts of mind is triggered by difference (or change), which isrelated to negentopy and entropy rather than to energy (or in other words, informationconsists of differences that make a difference);3. Mental process requires circular (or more complex) chains of determination (andBateson includes cybernetic drawing of a steam engine regulated by a governor);4. In mental process, the effects of difference are to be regarded as transforms (i.e. codedversion) of events which preceded them.143 One very readable account Boyd studied was for instance Howard Gardner, The Mind’s New Science,A History of the Cognitive Revolution (Basic Books, New York, 1985). Other works he read that areconsidered part of the cognitive revolution include John von Neumann, The Computer and the Brain(1958), Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings,Cybernetics and Society (1967) and Gilbert Ryle,The Concept of Mind (1966) .144 Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature, A Necessary Unity (Hampton Press, Cresskill, New Jersey, 2002),pp. 85-86.108
Interestingly, Boyd resembles Bateson in arguing for a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach.Like Boyd, Bateson’s interest was in addressing the very way we think about issues. He wasafter the very principles of organization that informed the thinking not only of organisms butof our culture as a whole 145 . And like Boyd, Bateson made the connection between evolutiontheory and mental processes, asserting that ‘if you want to understand mental process, lookat biological evolution and conversely if you want to understand biological evolution, go lookat mental process’ 146 .In similar vein, and very relevant for understanding Boyd’s comprehensive OODAloop graphic, from Monod Boyd learned that the prime functions of the nervous systemcould be defined in the following way 147 :1. To control and coordinate neuromotor activity, notably in accord with sensory inputs.2. To contain, in the form of genetically determined elements of circuitry, more or less complexprograms of action, and to set them in motion in response to particular stimuli.3. To analyze, sift, and integrate sensory inputs so as to obtain a representation of the outsideworld geared to specific performances [of an organism].4. To register events which are significant in light of those specific performances.5. To group them into classes according to their analogies.6. To enrich, refine, and diversify the innate programs by incorporating these experiences intothem.7. To imagine – represent and simulate – external events and programs of action for theorganism itself.Monod asserts that we observe and respond through a genetically determined programwhich is the result of ‘experience accumulated by the entire ancestry of the species over thecourse of its evolution’ (what Boyd would term culture), which in turn shapes action andcurrent experience after analysis of the effect of the action 148 . Here one can recognize theelements of genetics, culture, experience and new information Boyd includes in his graphicof the OODA loop.Boyd’s model, in line with Monod’s description, also reflects the criticism againstpurely cybernetic models. Research from the 1970s onwards in cognitive sciences have madeit clear that human intelligence is utterly different from a machine. Gardner told Boyd thatthe cognitive revolution deliberately de-emphasized culture, emotions, context and history 149 .As Grush observed, the cognitive revolution that occurred during the sixties and seventies inessence was the realization that any adequate theory of human and animal mentality wouldneed to posit representational states between sensory stimulus and behavioral response - atleast for a great many domains of behavior. The cognitive revolution brought about arenewed legitimacy of talk and theorizing about some types of mental or cognitive states,specifically, content-bearing states such as beliefs, desires, or more generally states whichwere about things, or carried information about things, and over which operations such asinference could be performed so as to solve problems and plan. Functionalism too receivedcriticism for the same reason. Genuine understanding is not just a matter of our mental145 Alfonso Montuori, 'Editors Introduction', in Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature, A Necessary Unity(Hampton Press, Cresskill, New Jersey, 2002), p.xvii..146 Sergio Manghi, 'Foreword', op cit., p.xi.147 Monod, p.149.148 Ibid, p.154.149 Gardner (1985), p.41.109
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Science, Strategy and WarThe Strate
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We are survival machines.Richard Da
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CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION............
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Introduction.......................
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1. INTRODUCTIONTo flourish and grow
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testing of the decision selected by
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momentum and tempo, which in combin
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tracing the history of war Boyd saw
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in general. Referring to Karl Poppe
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constitute an argument about strate
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2. ON STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC THEORY
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its internal make up and the dynami
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strategist’s task is not to creat
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must be holistic, paying due respec
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Such a division can also be discern
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sensibility that would be capable o
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Why strategic theorizing is difficu
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truth is independent of human belie
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policy, is policy’ 107 . Subseque
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of systems of thought which will gu
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Science and Strategic TheoryDominan
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the major intellectual currents tha
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friction, which is infused with the
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3. THE SEEDS OF A THEORY AND THE FE
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Slowly his writings matured. In 196
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This situation also reflected the d
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at the cost of airspeed depletion)
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and air power theorists are notably
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Lawrence wrote Liddell Hart that fo
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The Indirect ApproachThe foregoing
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in weakening the opponent’s will
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standing in a direct theoretical li
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Page 82 and 83: campaign with which it was most com
Page 84 and 85: The debates resulted via the improv
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Page 88 and 89: 4. SCIENCE: BOYD’S FOUNTAINKnowle
Page 90 and 91: The list exceeds 20 pages. Indeed,
Page 92 and 93: counter-culture. He had read severa
Page 94 and 95: Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemolog
Page 96 and 97: species. Finally, theories, unlike
Page 98 and 99: discovery’ 39 . ‘We have here t
Page 100 and 101: for failure and an encouragement fo
Page 102 and 103: investigated and a change of the ru
Page 104 and 105: Paradigm shiftBeyond NewtonIn the p
Page 106 and 107: philosophical aspects, Prigogine an
Page 108 and 109: uncertainty in another “conjugate
Page 110 and 111: The link between thermodynamics and
Page 112 and 113: As Ludwig Bertalanffy noted, the gr
Page 114 and 115: assessing deviation from coursecoun
Page 116 and 117: the system by the environment or ot
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Page 122 and 123: The model below shows this process
Page 124 and 125: The process of learning, and the pr
Page 126 and 127: Positive indicatorsNegative indicat
Page 128 and 129: In Patterns of Conflict he also emp
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Page 132 and 133: advances in knowledge, adaptation,
Page 134 and 135: TraditionalReductionismLinear causa
Page 136 and 137: exist only because they are open. T
Page 138 and 139: Concentration of chemical ANew stab
Page 140 and 141: It preserves the web-like pattern o
Page 142 and 143: Orientation shapes the character of
Page 144 and 145: either. The edge of chaos is where
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Page 148 and 149: Levels of adaptationThis naturally
Page 150 and 151: Operate inside adversary’s OODA l
Page 152 and 153: Organisms which are internally cons
Page 154 and 155: The last mentioned feature implies
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Page 158 and 159: Such efforts have lead to suggestio
Page 160 and 161: processes are maintained simultaneo
Page 162 and 163: Boyd’s views on command and contr
Page 164 and 165: Several of these ideas surface in B
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ehavior in reaction to what the oth
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sciences, which he termed a new int
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egulations, orders, and other means
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as focus for military planning on t
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A Discourse and the scientific Zeit
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Sharpening our mental capabilities
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perceive it’ 184 . By trying to c
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Ensure a large variety of conceptua
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The main intent of the effort is to
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e true. Thus tested and refined, it
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particulars or we can start with th
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inconsistencies may emerge to stifl
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although not exact1y -- since the u
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eality 29 . As indicated earlier, t
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He then incorporates a section of t
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Attack enemy’s plans as best poli
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planning process which included var
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Boyd does not find fault with these
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oth methods the same processes seem
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strategic planning in light of the
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gauged all the conditions indicated
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Blitzkrieg disrupts the connections
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- a medium to realize superior inte
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Only the fourth condition relates t
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Shape and exploit crises environmen
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penetrate an adversary to subvert,
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Maneuver Conflict - as practices by
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In light of his previous observatio
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difficult) subordinates that accept
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This then leads to the second wrap-
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mask one’s own system against any
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dimension on the behavior of a stra
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Theme for Disintegration and Collap
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Strategic AimDiminish adversary’s
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ApplicationRevisiting Sun Tzu, rein
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The general underlying idea of Coun
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to victory by connecting them to th
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destruction and creation to his inv
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Boyd’s inspiration also came in p
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The Big O: Orientation.The ensuing
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implicit cross-referencing process
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Magnify adversary’s friction and
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This differs from traditional views
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patterns that produced success in m
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General SurveyIn this section his i
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city, however, the situation is qui
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“Destruction and Creation”, by
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So Boyd discerns within the adversa
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On isolation and interactionPhysica
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The Art of Success:Shape or influen
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The meaning of strategy and the art
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however is not much different, but
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Examples from EngineeringSome Outst
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words, in order to gain a richer im
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what applies to science and enginee
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technology, is connected to the gam
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The real OODA loop270
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This relates the OODA loop clearly
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for a process of learning, of evolv
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thing any system is constantly faci
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communication and explicit directio
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8. CONCLUSIONThe history of science
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found himself in. To Sun Tzu Boyd a
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strategy. He elaborates on several
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ehavior, demonstrating the value of
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film, sociology, geography, literar
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That social scientific knowledge, o
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undertakes to improve its own perfo
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The reflexive nature of modern soci
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the context within which the situat
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“road maps for action”, but rat
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all point at the changes the techno
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central sign of post-modernity. In
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a revolution in military affairs oc
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This will affect war and warfare:
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Athena’s Camp. They see swarming
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commanders to improve their decisio
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Military War Beyond Military War No
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schemas. Gell-Mann developed the id
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extent in the novel approach for th
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ANNEX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PATTERNS O
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LeBoeuf, Michael, “GMP, The Great
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Wolf, Eric R., “Peasant Wars of t
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Bartolomasi, Paolo: ‘The Realitie
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Cohen, William S.: Report of the Qu
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Fukuyama, Francis: The Great Disrup
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Hughes, Daniel: ‘Abuses of German
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Lewin, Roger, and Birute Regine:
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Murdock, Paul, ‘Principles of War
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Rosenau, James, N.: ‘Many Damn Th
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Walt, Stephen M.: ‘Rigor or Rigor
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