(2012-01-19) Carson Gupta Dissonance Vs Big World

Kevin Carson and Vinay Gupta hope that Cognitive Dissonance will bring down BigWorld.

This is important, even though it seems simple, because it’s a moral asymmetry in warfare – it’s a reason to believe the good guys do win. In a conflict, the side which can bear to define it’s goals clearly can then plot a strategy to attain them. It can win. You can’t win a war who’s purpose you cannot bear to define: the Americans in Iraq defined fighting with their eyes closed: empire narrative... Ceteris paribus, all evil causes are weakened by Cognitive Dissonance... This is the critical opportunity to modernize the defensive military (Militia) of democratic States: put strategists on the front line, networked... Because, actually, Brain Wash-ing the initiative out of soldiers then trying to breed it back into SpecialForces is Medieval, literally... We know from W Edwards Deming that Understanding & Equality = Quality. If you look at a modern military through Deming’s eyes, the entire thing is a machine for producing cockups... To have effective swarm response, fast, fluid tactics, you need a general consensus on strategy, which comes from political clarity. What I am suggesting, in short, is that it cost $80 million to kill each Iraqi fighter because Dick Cheney was a lying cunt. (Grand Strategy)

Same thing goes for the battlefields at Oakland, UC Davis, NYC (Occupy Wall Street). For the first time, the public is forced to confront what that “thin blue line” really does. Moral unity between the public and those sainted “FirstResponder-s” is disrupted.

In high Flux environments, the better trained side will lose because they’re better at doing what they’re told.

The military was constructed to magnify the will of a Sovereign, and when that breaks down, boom. Because a sufficiently transparent society, or battlespace, highlights the conflicts of interest between Sovereigns and Soldiers... That’s essentially the argument Ursula K Le Guin made, speaking through the character Shevek in The Dispossessed. Hierarchies and chains-of-command exist to coordinate organizations whose members have no interests in common with the leadership (Core Group) and no rational interest in meeting the objective. (BigCo)

In short, for exactly the same reason Communism was out-competed by Capitalism, Networked societies (Network Economy) will out-compete Capitalist ones... (actually...) Networks vs. Hierarchies is a red herring. It’s people who Understand the Situation vs. those who Just Follow Orders. That’s all. It’s not about structures, it’s about Freedom vs. Obedience. It’s about Transparent vs. Opaque governance in the battlespace. (Agency)