The Dark Visitor

In the book, Geography of Thought,  author Richard Nisbett puts forward that “those brought up in Western and East Asian cultures think differently from one another in scientifically measurable ways.”

His work looks at cultural psychology through the lens of Aristotle vs. Confucius and linear vs. comprehensive thought.  Dr. Nisbett performs several cultural experiments to test his hypothesis which shows markedly different results between East Asian and Western thought.  A question occurred to me, which mindset is better suited to the application of cyber warfare?

Linear thinking will look at a problem and begin dissecting it block by block to understand the whole of a thing.  Comprehensive thought will examine it a holistic manner ignoring the individual blocks.  Is cyber terrain best understood through a sum of the blocks or does the sum of the blocks change its nature?

Jumping around a bit, let’s also look at Kevin Kelly’s predictions on the Next 5,000 Days of the Internet.  His lecture was fascinating in many aspects but one point struck me as particularly insightful; all of our electronic devices are simply windows into the “Machine.”  Interaction with the Machine is forcing us to share more and more of our personal information and develop different patterns of thinking in socialization.  Do these patterns favor Aristotle or Confucius; individualism or collectivism?

Other random thoughts:

1. Was Ender’s Game ahead of its time?
2. Is there a Geography of Cyber Thought?
3. Do the younger Western and Eastern generations present a hybrid of thought?
4. Should I drink beer and post articles?

I’ll just leave you with the questions, discuss among yourselves.

I haven’t actually had a chance to read the whole article (long) but did a quick scan and it looks worthwhile.  Opens with background on the PLA’s current capabilities and then gets into the cyber warfare section.

Just returned from a conference on the “Future Operational Environment,” with representatives from 13 different nations briefing the challenges facing their countries out to 2020. Cyber warfare/crime was listed as one of the top 10 issues facing world security from just about every speaker who took the podium. Among the other issues cited, in no particular order, were:

1.  Globilization
2. Non-state militaries
3. NGOs
4. Resources (Energy and Water)
5. Demographics
6. Terrorism
7. Urbanization
8. Migration
9. Cyber conflict
10. Transnational Crime

Really wish I could link to the article but the file keeps getting hammered.  At the risk of going to open-source prison by posting the whole darn thing…The Cyber Corps:

A Proposal for a Different Military Service
John R. Surdu and Gregory J. Conti

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science United States Military Academy, West Point, NY

Joint Vision 2020 consists of dedicated individuals and innovative organizations transforming the joint force for the 21st Century to achieve full spectrum dominance: persuasive in peace, decisive in war and preeminent in any form of conflict1

The time has come for the United States to create a new service, distinct from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. This Cyber Corps would form a new branch of the Department of Defense with its own distinct, and appropriate, culture and possess the capability to fight and win our nation’s information wars while working in concert with the other branches of the armed forces. A close look at the missions of each military service illustrates the lack of a consolidated, national level, information warfare program:
Army – fight and win our nations wars.
Navy – project the power and influence of the nation across the seas to foreign
waters and shores in both peace and war.
Air Force – defend the United States and protect its interests through aerospace power.
Marines – serve as the premier expeditionary force.
Coast Guard- serve as a military, multi-mission, maritime service including regulatory, law-enforcement, humanitarian and emergency-response duties.6
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