5GW Theory Timeline

A follow-up to an earlier post which extends consideration of the “deeper” aspects of fifth generation warfare as it relates to John Boyd’s OODA Loop.

A reiteration of earlier points argued —

• “5th Generation of War would focus on [the enemy’s] intellectual strength.”
• “a brilliantly executed 5GW might involve one side being completely ignorant that there ever was a war”

— and an exploration of them in multiple parts:

The Uncaring War: contemplates fingerspitzengefuhl, or “fingertip feeling”, or a greater emphasis on the implicit (but perhaps unconscious/subconscious) than on the explicit (feelings, rational thought, morality.)

Lessons from Software Development: secrecy will require advance and precise planning; software development may provide a key for 5GW methodology: The waterfall development vs. prototyping. Conclusion: “5th Generation Wars will be created with Waterfall Development” which enables great secrecy.

5th Generation Networks: envisions a non-hierarchical teamwork approach to conducting 5GW; each member is equally valued by the group and equally committed to the project.

A Boydian Approach to 5GW: on co-opting the enemy (but not phrased as such) by manipulating the enemy’s OODA process so that he becomes “entangled” without being aware of what entangles him.

A Dream of 5GW: An example of a theoretical fifth generation war is given, through the lens of a particular “Border War” involving “a highly-able team of Nativists [that] wishes to militarize the Southwest border of the United States against Mexican migrants.” Two proxy groups are created by the Nativists, here called “Islamaphobes” and “Islamophiles”, which honestly believe in, and fight for, their individual causes; but the tension they create is merely a prelude to another major Islamic terrorist attack on the U.S., which causes the U.S. to clamp down on all immigration. The purpose of creating the -phobes and the -philes is merely to ratchet up debate before all debate is summarily closed in a manner that also helps out the anti-Mexican-immigrants goal of the Nativist 5GW organization; and said organization is the only organization that knows exactly what has occurred.

This blog post also contains an early mention of Peter Wiggin, the brother of Ender Wiggin from science fiction author Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and Shadow of the Hegemon.

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