[FRIAM] Few of you ...

Tue Jan 15 12:29:17 EST 2019

*"any military must operate on algorithms" *(Nick)

Not really true. and there is a huge spectrum of "algorithm-ness" as a
function of military branch, activity, rank, etc.
A navy vessel is a machine and operates on algorithms. Humans within
that machine must be constrained to be as machine-like and algorithm
governed as possible else the underlying machine falters. Same this is
true of the quasi-military astronauts in the space station.
In the army, soldiers are trained in principles until they become second
nature and their subsequent behavior is, if successful, decidedly non-
algorithmic (instead it is complex / emergent). "Plans are always the
first casualty of war." Plans = algorithms. Read General McChrystal's
book, *Team of Teams*, to get what I am saying.
A fighter pilot 'practices algorithmically' but does not fight that way.
Commercial pilots fly algorithmically — is what makes the job so damn
boring — but Schulenberger (tenth anniversary today) did not land in the
Hudson according to some algorithm.
BTW, software developers are supposed to ply their trade rationally
(i.e. algorithmically) but David Parnas once wrote an excellent paper,
"The Rational Design Process: how and why to fake it," that put the lie
to the ideal.
davew

On Mon, Jan 14, 2019, at 11:48 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> Thanks for answering, Frank.

>  

> As the old song goes, “Then you’re much older than I-yai!”

>  

> Do you also remember when “They waltzed to a Souza Band”

>  

> My wasn’t that music grand! 

>  

> Oh, it was more than the pomp Wouk bristled at.  It was the removal of
> discretion, as well.  The American military is perhaps better than
> most in that regard, but any military has to operate on algorithms,
> and nobody likes to be a node in an algorithm.  So, I guess my thesis
> was that in the second world war we got a double and conflicting
> lesson:  how effective an algorithmic system can be AND how demeaning
> it can be to be part of one.  Two solutions present themselves: 1.
> Hire mercenaries and 2. Automate.  Of course we have done both.>  

> An officer of your dad’s rank, of course, was an exception and even
> within that giant system he made big decisions daily, decisions that
> affected the lives of thousands of people.  There is a scene in that
> same book where an officer is required to make one of those decisions
> between surely killing 50 strangers or threatening the life of 150 you
> know that utilitarians are fond of posing.  It’s a harrowing scene.>  

> I wonder what the relation is between a distaste for government and
> service as an enlisted soldier.  That’s not a rhetorical question.  I
> do wonder.  I am thinking there is a high correlation between states
> with high military participation  and states with anti-government
> politics.  When a conservative thinks of “government” is he more
> likely to think of the military?>  

> Nick

>  

> Nicholas S. Thompson

> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

> Clark University

> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

>  

> *From:* Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] *On Behalf Of *Frank
> Wimberly *Sent:* Monday, January 14, 2019 10:01 PM *To:* The Friday
> Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com> *Subject:*
> Re: [FRIAM] Few of you ...>  

> I read the book but I don't remember that paragraph.  As you know, dad
> was a Naval Officer who achieved respectable rank.  I was fascinated
> by it but he felt that all the pomp and ceremony was BS.  If computers
> are today's sailors, something is lost and something gained.>  

> Frank

> -----------------------------------
> Frank Wimberly
>
> My memoir: https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly
>
> My scientific publications:
> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2
>
> Phone (505) 670-9918>  

> On Mon, Jan 14, 2019, 9:53 PM Nick Thompson
> <nickthompson at earthlink.net wrote:>> , I imagine, are old enough to remember this:

>>  

>> **“The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by
>> idiots. If you are not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you
>> can only operate well by pretending to be one. All the shortcuts and
>> economies and common-sense changes that your native intelligence
>> suggests to you are mistakes. Learn to quash them. Constantly ask
>> yourself, "How would I do this if I were a fool?" Throttle down your
>> mind to a crawl. Then you will never go wrong.” ** ― Herman Wouk, The
>> Caine Mutiny[1]>> It seems right that the computer was invented by a democratic society
>> after the largest successful naval campaign in the history of the
>> universe. The navy was a giant algorithm.   Computers are the
>> conscripted sailors of our generation.>>  

>> Nick

>> Nicholas S. Thompson

>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

>> Clark University

>> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

>>  

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