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

General SurveyIn this section his interest in science becomes readily apparent. According to Boyd theanswer about the nature of the question marks (i.e. the essence of strategy) comes fromexamining seven different disciplines or activities 42 :Mathematical LogicPhysicsThermodynamicsBiologyPsychologyAnthropologyConflictFor starters, Boyd very briefly restates the point of departure he began Patterns of Conflictwith 43 :Human NatureGoal Survive, survive on own terms, or improve our capacity for independent action.The competition for limitedresources to satisfy thesedesires may force one toDiminish adversary’s capacity for independent action, or deny him the opportunity tosurvive on his terms, or make it impossible for him to survive at all.A selection from newspaper articles, sections from books, his own presentations, a speechand a number of quotations follows to address the question Boyd posits: ‘in a mostfundamental way, how do we realize this goal or make it difficult for others to realize thisgoal’ 44 ? Despite the fact that these quotations concern different types of organisms -animal,human, social, bio-chemical - they are all related, as Boyd, reveals 13 pages later: all deal withthe key issue Boyd addressed also in Organic Design: interaction. But at first the audience musthave been puzzled, for the first three quotations are clips from newspaper articles on recentbrain research while the fourth article deals with the loss of muscle tissue in rats during spaceflight, not quite familiar territory for most strategists or military practitioners:“Nerve Cells Redo Wiring…” by Boyce Rensberger (from the Washington Post)“Dale Purvis and Robert D. Hadley….have discovered that a neuron’s fibers can changesignificantly in a few days or weeks, presumably in response to changing demands on thenervous system. …research has shown neurons continually rewire their own circuitry,sprouting new fibers that reach out to make contact with new groups of other neurons and42 Ibid, p. 12. Note that most of these fields are generally not in the curriculum of military highereduction programs.43 Ibid, p.14.44 Ibid, p.15.246