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

The last mentioned feature implies that novelty is not only endemic property of ourenvironment, it is also a fundamental characteristic of social systems and activities. Our ownschemata and the interaction among schemata of people produce mismatches. The OODAloop is both the way we make sense of the world as well as the source of further uncertainty:Novelty is produced by a mental/physical feedback process of analysis and synthesis thatpermits us to interact with the world so that we can comprehend, cope with, and shape thatworld as well as be shaped by it 85 .Boyd further highlights how novelty is the one feature that social systems need to take intoaccount:The presence and production of mismatches are what sustain and nourish the enterprise ofscience, engineering, and technology, hence keep it alive and ongoing - otherwise therewould be not basis for it to continue 86 .The practice of science/engineering and the pursuit of technology not only change thephysical world we interact with - via new systems, new processes, new etc.- but they alsochange the mental/physical ways by which we think about and act upon that world.In this senseThe practice of science/engineering and the pursuit of technology permit us to continuallyrematch our mental/physical orientation with that changing world so that we can continue tothrive and grow in it.Put simplyThe practice of science/engineering and the pursuit of technology affects us personally asindividuals, as groups, or as societies by changing our orientation to match with a changingworld that we, in fact, help change 87 .In a lengthy section he explains how this relates to his investigation on winning and losing.In a passage which seems to marry ideas ranging from Polanyi to those of Gell-Mann, Boydstates thatNovelty is produced continuously, if somewhat erratically or haphazardly. In order to thriveand grow in such a world we must match our thinking and doing, hence our orientation, withthat emerging novelty. Yet, any orientation constrained by experiences before that noveltyemerges introduce mismatches that confuse or disorient us. However, theanalytical/synthetic process permits us to address these mismatches so that we can rematchthereby reorient our thinking and action with that novelty. Over and over this continuingwhirl of re-orientation, mismatches, analysis/synthesis enables us to comprehend, copewith, and shape as well as be shaped by novelty that literally flows around and over us 88 .85 Ibid, p.22.86 Ibid, p.23.87 Ibid, p.24.88 Ibid, p.28.144