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

The list exceeds 20 pages. Indeed, science played an increasing role in Boyd’s thinking onconflict and strategy. His interest in science preceded his interest in history. Andinterestingly, while his study of military history went from the contemporary to the past, atravel back in time, his study of science progressed in reverse order.His background in engineering provided the foundations for his progressive study.It was a natural step to delve into mathematics, quantum mechanics, information theory, andrelated fields such as cybernetics and systems theory in general. Indeed, his knowledgegained as a pilot and aircraft designer about control mechanisms and feedback likewise madea study of cybernetics an easy step. From there he developed a taste for evolution theory andneuro-physiology. These fields grew in prominence from 1930-1970. Cybernetics andSystems Theory where hotly debated areas in the 1960s, the period Boyd was at GeorgiaTech and designing fighters. Subsequently, but more often in parallel, he ventured intoEvolution Theory, Chaos and Complexity theory, which were popularized in a growingnumber of very accessible books. In particular during the last decade of his life he read aboutChaos Theory and Complexity Theory, areas that were explored in an explosively risingnumber of books from 1984 onwards. At the time of his death Boyd’s reading list onlymentions popular scientific works (see table below), including one’s he had read longbefore 6 .John Barrow The Artful Universe,John Barrow Pi in the SkyJohn Barrow Theories of EverythingRichard Brodie Virus of the MindFritjof Capra The Web of LifeJack Cohen & Ian Stewart The Collapse of ChaosPeter Coveney & Roger Highfield Frontiers of ComplexityPeter Coveney & Roger Highfield The Arrow of TimeRichard Dawking, The Blind WatchmakerRichard Dawkins, The Selfish GeneStephen Gellert, In the Wake of ChaosMurray Gell-Mann, The Quark and the JaguarJohn Horgan, The End of ScienceKonrad Lorenz, Behind the MirrorMarvin Minsky, Society of the MindRobert Ornstein,The Evolution of ConsciousnessRoger Penrose, Shadows of the MindRoger Penrose, The Emperor's New MindIlya Prigogine & Isabelle Stenger, Order out of ChaosStephen Rose, The Making of MemoryDavid Ruelle, Chance and ChaosMitchell Waldrop, ComplexityA common theme of these works is evolution and adaptation, and these ideas mattered to Boyd.As one noted expert recalled:Boyd introduced the language of the New Physics, Chaos Theory, and Complexity Theory 7 .Boyd introduced concepts from the scientific Zeitgeist into the military Zeitgeist. Relying inlarge part on books Boyd read, the following detailed description of the scientific Zeitgeist, orrather, the sweeping changing taking place in and coloring this Zeitgeist, will provide themes,theories, concepts, and models that Boyd employed in his own work, either directly andexplicitly, or implicitly.A new sensibilityShifting foundationsBoyd’s intellectual education occurred in the period of roughly the three decades of 1960-90.This has been an important period for science, philosophy and culture, for in this period a“paradigm shift” occurred in the natural sciences, and by extension, also in the social6 This list was provided by Hammond.7 Faber, in John Olson (2002), p.58.80