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

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friction, which is infused with the notion of unpredictability and uncertainty stemming fromthe interactive nature of strategy and battle, and from the limits of human cognition, shouldbe at the heart of it 146 . In fact, enhancing friction in the opponent’s system is considered aprime stratagem 147 . He bolsters his argument with referring to Albert Einstein, WernerHeisenberg, Kurt Gödel and Claude Shannon who laid the physical and mathematicalfoundation for the philosophical insight that human knowledge is limited by definition 148 . Allinformation is imperfect. There is no absolute knowledge, he quotes Jacob Bronowski, anauthor whose work Boyd too had studied 149 .With an eye on contemporary scientific developments, and with direct reference tothe work of John Boyd, Pellegrini expects that the shift from the Newtonian framework ofcause and effect determinism to the new science concept of probabilities and trends (asembedded in chaos and complexity theory), as well as the shift from the force of heavymechanics to the new particle wave theories of force, will change man’s concept of thebattlefield, emphasizing the capability for rapid observation and action 150 . While theNewton’s metaphor of the “Majestic Clockwork” may have influenced military theory duringlarge parts of the past 200 years, this model was seriously undermined by the discovery ofquantum mechanics and the Special and General Laws of Physics that show that man’sunderstanding of the universe will always be incomplete and tenuous. Work in biology(especially DNA and the workings of the human brain), artificial intelligence and Chaos andComplexity Theory now suggest, according to Pellegrini, that the world is composed ofcomplex systems which interact with, and adapt to, each other making it even more difficultto obtain knowledge about how the universe functions 151 . In that, Pellegrini nicely capturedthe essence of the scientific Zeitgeist during which Boyd developed his ideas.The formative factors of Boyd’s A DiscourseThus, science and philosophy provide frameworks for investigation and systems ofknowledge for the military theorist, consciously as well as unconsciously, alongside factorssuch as experience and organizational context of a strategist. This leads to the subject andstructure of the next three chapters in which the following four categories of influences thatcan be discerned in Boyd’s work will be addressed:• Boyd’s professional background;• The strategic and defense-political context of the US in the period in which Boyd developedhis ideas;• Boyd’s study of military theory and history;• Boyd’s keen and evolving interest in scientific developments and the scientific Zeitgeist duringwhich he developed his ideas on military strategy.All four will be explored in some detail, for a premise of this study is that understandingBoyd requires awareness about his formative factors, in particular in light of the fact that one146 ibid. p.119, 121.147 Ibid, p.120.148 This is not incidentally similar to Boyd's use of these scientists. Watts was thoroughly familiar withBoyd's work and actually cites Boyd and the OODA cylce in his endnotes, see pp. 127. In fact heextend his appreciation to Boyd for assisting him in completing the book.149 Ibid, p.109.150 Ibid, p.iii.151 Ibid, p.8.38
has to rely on only his presentations. Understanding the formative factors will provide aconceptual lens to read and interpret Boyd’s work with, in particular the awareness of theintellectual and cultural climate of the period. This factor – the scientific Zeitgeist or Boyd’sintellectual environment and background - is addressed in Chapters 4 and 5, while the nextchapter deals with the more traditional and self-explanatory formative factors; Boyd’sprofessional experience, military history, including existing strategic theory, and the strategicand defense-political context of the US in the seventies and eighties, which may beconsidered as the seeds from which his strategic theory sprang and as the soil in which theseeds were growing.39
Page 3 and 4: Science, Strategy and WarThe Strate
Page 5 and 6: We are survival machines.Richard Da
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION............
Page 9 and 10: Introduction.......................
Page 11 and 12: 1. INTRODUCTIONTo flourish and grow
Page 13 and 14: testing of the decision selected by
Page 15 and 16: momentum and tempo, which in combin
Page 17 and 18: tracing the history of war Boyd saw
Page 19 and 20: in general. Referring to Karl Poppe
Page 21 and 22: constitute an argument about strate
Page 23: 2. ON STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC THEORY
Page 26 and 27: its internal make up and the dynami
Page 28 and 29: strategist’s task is not to creat
Page 30 and 31: must be holistic, paying due respec
Page 32 and 33: Such a division can also be discern
Page 34 and 35: sensibility that would be capable o
Page 36 and 37: Why strategic theorizing is difficu
Page 38 and 39: truth is independent of human belie
Page 40 and 41: policy, is policy’ 107 . Subseque
Page 42 and 43: of systems of thought which will gu
Page 44 and 45: Science and Strategic TheoryDominan
Page 46 and 47: the major intellectual currents tha
Page 50 and 51: 3. THE SEEDS OF A THEORY AND THE FE
Page 52 and 53: Slowly his writings matured. In 196
Page 54 and 55: This situation also reflected the d
Page 56 and 57: at the cost of airspeed depletion)
Page 58 and 59: and air power theorists are notably
Page 60 and 61: Lawrence wrote Liddell Hart that fo
Page 62 and 63: The Indirect ApproachThe foregoing
Page 64 and 65: in weakening the opponent’s will
Page 66 and 67: standing in a direct theoretical li
Page 68 and 69: perfect information, so Chapter 9 r
Page 70 and 71: According with the enemy is the ass
Page 72 and 73: preconceived battle plan depends up
Page 74 and 75: mental or moral, instead they aim t
Page 76 and 77: calculation, based on the assumptio
Page 78 and 79: Turbulent environmentThis convictio
Page 80 and 81: the introduction of the M1 Abrams t
Page 82 and 83: campaign with which it was most com
Page 84 and 85: The debates resulted via the improv
Page 86 and 87: emphasized being more responsive, a
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
Page 118 and 119:
A slightly more complex model from
Page 120 and 121:
implementation of the right program
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
Page 130 and 131:
progressed and developed a new lang
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
Page 146 and 147:
The final region is the boundary be
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
Page 156 and 157:
mathematics, in short chaos and com
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
Page 166 and 167:
problems they seek to comprehend or
Page 168 and 169:
ehavior in reaction to what the oth
Page 170 and 171:
sciences, which he termed a new int
Page 172 and 173:
egulations, orders, and other means
Page 174 and 175:
as focus for military planning on t
Page 176 and 177:
A Discourse and the scientific Zeit
Page 178 and 179:
Sharpening our mental capabilities
Page 180 and 181:
perceive it’ 184 . By trying to c
Page 182 and 183:
Ensure a large variety of conceptua
Page 184 and 185:
The main intent of the effort is to
Page 186 and 187:
e true. Thus tested and refined, it
Page 188 and 189:
particulars or we can start with th
Page 190 and 191:
inconsistencies may emerge to stifl
Page 192 and 193:
although not exact1y -- since the u
Page 194 and 195:
eality 29 . As indicated earlier, t
Page 196 and 197:
He then incorporates a section of t
Page 198 and 199:
Attack enemy’s plans as best poli
Page 200 and 201:
planning process which included var
Page 202 and 203:
Boyd does not find fault with these
Page 204 and 205:
oth methods the same processes seem
Page 206 and 207:
strategic planning in light of the
Page 208 and 209:
gauged all the conditions indicated
Page 210 and 211:
Blitzkrieg disrupts the connections
Page 212 and 213:
- a medium to realize superior inte
Page 214 and 215:
Only the fourth condition relates t
Page 216 and 217:
Shape and exploit crises environmen
Page 218 and 219:
penetrate an adversary to subvert,
Page 220 and 221:
Maneuver Conflict - as practices by
Page 222 and 223:
In light of his previous observatio
Page 224 and 225:
difficult) subordinates that accept
Page 226 and 227:
This then leads to the second wrap-
Page 228 and 229:
mask one’s own system against any
Page 230 and 231:
dimension on the behavior of a stra
Page 232 and 233:
Theme for Disintegration and Collap
Page 234 and 235:
Strategic AimDiminish adversary’s
Page 236 and 237:
ApplicationRevisiting Sun Tzu, rein
Page 238 and 239:
The general underlying idea of Coun
Page 240 and 241:
to victory by connecting them to th
Page 242 and 243:
destruction and creation to his inv
Page 244 and 245:
Boyd’s inspiration also came in p
Page 246 and 247:
The Big O: Orientation.The ensuing
Page 248 and 249:
implicit cross-referencing process
Page 250 and 251:
Magnify adversary’s friction and
Page 252 and 253:
This differs from traditional views
Page 254 and 255:
patterns that produced success in m
Page 256 and 257:
General SurveyIn this section his i
Page 258 and 259:
city, however, the situation is qui
Page 260 and 261:
“Destruction and Creation”, by
Page 262 and 263:
So Boyd discerns within the adversa
Page 264 and 265:
On isolation and interactionPhysica
Page 266 and 267:
The Art of Success:Shape or influen
Page 268 and 269:
The meaning of strategy and the art
Page 270 and 271:
however is not much different, but
Page 272 and 273:
Examples from EngineeringSome Outst
Page 274 and 275:
words, in order to gain a richer im
Page 276 and 277:
what applies to science and enginee
Page 278 and 279:
technology, is connected to the gam
Page 280 and 281:
The real OODA loop270
Page 282 and 283:
This relates the OODA loop clearly
Page 284 and 285:
for a process of learning, of evolv
Page 286 and 287:
thing any system is constantly faci
Page 288 and 289:
communication and explicit directio
Page 290 and 291:
8. CONCLUSIONThe history of science
Page 292 and 293:
found himself in. To Sun Tzu Boyd a
Page 294 and 295:
strategy. He elaborates on several
Page 296 and 297:
ehavior, demonstrating the value of
Page 298 and 299:
film, sociology, geography, literar
Page 300 and 301:
That social scientific knowledge, o
Page 302 and 303:
undertakes to improve its own perfo
Page 304 and 305:
The reflexive nature of modern soci
Page 306 and 307:
the context within which the situat
Page 308 and 309:
“road maps for action”, but rat
Page 310 and 311:
all point at the changes the techno
Page 312 and 313:
central sign of post-modernity. In
Page 314 and 315:
a revolution in military affairs oc
Page 316 and 317:
This will affect war and warfare:
Page 318 and 319:
Athena’s Camp. They see swarming
Page 320 and 321:
commanders to improve their decisio
Page 322 and 323:
Military War Beyond Military War No
Page 324 and 325:
schemas. Gell-Mann developed the id
Page 326 and 327:
extent in the novel approach for th
Page 328 and 329:
ANNEX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PATTERNS O
Page 330 and 331:
LeBoeuf, Michael, “GMP, The Great
Page 332 and 333:
Wolf, Eric R., “Peasant Wars of t
Page 334 and 335:
Bartolomasi, Paolo: ‘The Realitie
Page 336 and 337:
Cohen, William S.: Report of the Qu
Page 338 and 339:
Fukuyama, Francis: The Great Disrup
Page 340 and 341:
Hughes, Daniel: ‘Abuses of German
Page 342 and 343:
Lewin, Roger, and Birute Regine:
Page 344 and 345:
Murdock, Paul, ‘Principles of War
Page 346 and 347:
Rosenau, James, N.: ‘Many Damn Th
Page 348 and 349:
Walt, Stephen M.: ‘Rigor or Rigor
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