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

words, in order to gain a richer image of science, engineering, and technology, the followingquestions need to be addressed. What do science, engineering and technology produce? Howis this accomplished? What is the driving mechanism that keeps the process alive andongoing, or put another way, what phenomena sustains or nourishes the whole enterprise?Finally, how does this enterprise of science, engineering, and technology affect us personallyas individuals, as groups, or as societies?’ 89In typical Boydian fashion, the answer he offers to the first question – what doscience, engineering and technology produce – comes from a conceptual comparison of thethree. The similarity lies not in anything tangible but in an intangible common element. AsBoyd states, ‘if we examine the contributions from the practice of science and engineeringand generalize from these individual contributions what do we see? We see new ideas, newsystems, new processes, new materials, new etc. In other words, science, engineering, andtechnology produce change via novelty’ 90 .The second question – how is novelty produced - also brings a familiar argument,but instead of arriving at it from the avenue of uncertainty, now he arrives at it from theavenue of novelty. To examine novelty, Boyd explains, ‘we speak of it in terms of thosefeatures that seem to be part of that novelty. In other words, we reduce a novel patterndown to some features that make up that pattern. Different people in examining such apattern may see differing features that make it up. In other words, there are different ways bywhich a pattern can be reduced hence the possibility for differing features or parts.Regardless of how it comes out, we call this process of reduction: analysis.Pushing this process even further we can reduce many different patterns (analyses)to parts that make up each pattern and use these parts, or variations thereof, to make a newpattern. This is done by finding some common features that interconnect some or many ofthese parts so that a new pattern – whether it be a new concept, new system, new process,new etc. – can be created. We call this process of connection: synthesis. Now if we test theresult of this process with the world we’re dealing with, we have an analytical/syntheticfeedback loop for comprehending, shaping, and adapting to that world 91 . And pulling all thistogether we can say that 92 :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.This leads to the third question: ‘what is the driving mechanism that keeps the process aliveand ongoing 93 . What phenomena sustain or nourish the whole enterprise? One thing is clear,Boyd tells his audience, ‘if our ideas and thoughts matched perfectly with what goes on inthe world; and if the systems or processes we designed performed perfectly and matchedwith whatever we wanted them to do, what would be the basis for evolving or creating newideas, new systems, new processes, new etc.? The answer: There wouldn’t be any! In otherwords:89 Ibid, p.19.90 Ibid, p.20.91 Ibid, p.21.92 Ibid, p.22.93 Ibid, p.23.264