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

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perfect information, so Chapter 9 reads, but does not have a penetrating understanding of itsmeaning, if one does not see the patterns, it is of no value. Information must be coupled tojudgment, and here we can see the parallels with Boyd’s emphasis on the element ofOrientation in the OODA loop. Orientation contains the element of experience, intuition,judgment, schemata, etc. Judgment is key, as in Boyd’s view. Without judgment, data meannothing. So it is not necessarily the one with more information who will come out victorious,it is the one with better judgment, the one who is better at discerning patterns.Moreover, it is a judgment of highly dynamic situation. Sun Tzu only claims thatone who excels at warfare can tell when a situation will offer chances for victory or defeat,realizing that this particular impression of shih is a snapshot from a distance on a particulartime. The closer war and battle approach in time and space, the finer becomes the detail ofSun Tzu’s investigations, all the way down to indicators of the actions of an army setting upcamp and the order of flags in tactical formations.Sun Tzu’s Strategems. In chapters 1 and 3 Sun Tzu reveals his ideas of how to conduct acampaign once the estimate of shih has indicated that it is both necessary and feasible toembark on war. These ideas would become very much Boyd’s own:Warfare is the Tao of deception. Thus although you are capable, display incapability to them.When committed to employing your forces, feign inactivity. When your objective is nearby,make it appear as if distant; when far away, create the illusion of being nearby. Display profitsto entice him. Create disorder (in their forces) and take them 67 . If they are substantial,prepare for them; if they are strong, avoid them. If they are angry, perturb them; bedeferential to foster their arrogance. If they are rested, force them to exert themselves. If theyare united, cause them to be separated. Attack where they are unprepared. Go forth wherethey will not expect it. These are the ways military strategists are victorious. They cannot bespoken of in advance 68 .Several related concepts are later further developed. These derive from the idea that strategyis about getting the enemy off balance, about creating disharmony and chaos. Sun Tzu focuses uponmanipulating, shaping the enemy, thereby creating an opportunity for an easy (as in lesscostly than in a direct set peace battle) victory by applying maximum power at theappropriate time and place(s). Through confusion about one’s own position, through thesubsequent dislocation of his forces and their state of disorder will the enemy be weakened.Sun Tzu offers a meriad of strategic and tactical factors, which span the mental, themoral and the physical dimensions, that together with the grand strategic factors such as thequality of the alliances of the opponent, combine to get the enemy off balance 69 . The aim isto get the opponent in a position or situation against which the all the potential energy ofnine changes, even though he is familiar with the topography, he will not be able to realize theadvantages of terrain…even though he is familiar with the five advantages, he will not be able tocontrol men.67 The idea that order and disorder are important notion in The Art of War is further substantiated atch.7, p.198-199, ‘in order await the disordered’, and ‘do not intercept well ordere flags, do not attackwell regulated formations; do not attack animated troops’.68 This comes from Sawyer, ch.1, p.168.69 Although it may seem that confusion is all that matters to Sun Tzu, numbers and physical aspectsfrequently appear in his deliberations. In ch. 3 he brings the relative strength of opponents in relationsto possible actions such as ‘if your strength is ten times theirs, surround them; if five then attack him,if double, then divide your force…if outmatched, you can avoid him’. Thus a small enemy that actsinflexible will become the captives of a large enemy.58
one’s army can be released with the maximum effect, that is, against a disorganized andlocally inferior force. The basic idea is to go forth where they do not expect it and attackwhere they are not prepared 70 . Battle must be avoided until one is certain that a favorablebalance of power (and that means not just in number) has been created 71 . This is what isreally behind the familiar statements:One who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot fight, will be victorious 72 ,One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be endangered in a hundredengagements 73 .Subjugating the enemy’s army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence 74These must be understood within a logical context of the aim for preservation andthe aim of fighting an enemy who is completely off balance and about to collapse. Thechances of getting the enemy off balance are magnified by adhering to the followingconcepts, which can be considered as modes of behavior, or effects one wants toaccomplish. All these elements surface in Boyd’s work:According with the enemyForeknowledgeCohesionSurpriseDeception & DeceitFormlessness & being UnfathomableHigh TempoVariety & FlexibilityOrthodox & UnorthodoxVacuous & SubstantialHis mechanism starts with the assumption that one can shape an opponent through theprinciple of 'according with the enemy', or adaptability. This concept underlies the idea of gettingthe enemy off balance. It requires (battlefield level-)foreknowledge and cohesion. Together thesethree concepts gird the scheme of getting the opponent off balance by the use of surprisethrough deception and deceit, and the methods Sun Tzu proposes to achieve surprise: the idea offormlessness and being unfathomable, maintaining a high tempo, ensuring variety and flexibility in actions,the idea of using the unorthodox and orthodox, and finally of knowing how to discern the vacuous andsubstantial.70 Sawyer, ch. 6, p.191.71 Several statements relate to this mechanism: ‘Those that excelled in warfare first made themselvesunconquerable in order to await (the moment) the enemy could be conquered. Being unconquerablelies with yourself; being conquerable lies with the enemy. Those …referred to as excelling at warfareconquered those who were easy to defeat… Their victories were free of errors. One who is free fromerror directs his measures towards certain victory, conquering those who are already conquered. Thusthe one who excels at warfare first establishes himself in a position where he cannot be defeated whilenot losing any opportunity to defeat the enemy. For this reason the victorious army first realizes theconditions for victory and then seeks to engage in battle’ 71 . ‘The one who excels at moving the enemydeploys in a configuration to which the enemy must respond. He offers something the enemy mustseize. With profit he moves them, with the foundation he awaits them. Thus one who excels atwarfare seeks victory through the strategic configurations of power, not from reliance on men’.72 Ibid, ch. 3, p.178.73 Ibid, ch. 1, p.179.74 Ibid, ch. 3, p.177.59
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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
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 48 and 49: friction, which is infused with the
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 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
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A slightly more complex model from
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implementation of the right program
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The model below shows this process
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The process of learning, and the pr
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Positive indicatorsNegative indicat
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In Patterns of Conflict he also emp
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progressed and developed a new lang
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advances in knowledge, adaptation,
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TraditionalReductionismLinear causa
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exist only because they are open. T
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Concentration of chemical ANew stab
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It preserves the web-like pattern o
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Orientation shapes the character of
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either. The edge of chaos is where
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The final region is the boundary be
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Levels of adaptationThis naturally
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Operate inside adversary’s OODA l
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Organisms which are internally cons
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The last mentioned feature implies
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mathematics, in short chaos and com
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Such efforts have lead to suggestio
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processes are maintained simultaneo
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Boyd’s views on command and contr
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Several of these ideas surface in B
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problems they seek to comprehend or
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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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