By chance, I recently participated in the “Evolved Irregular Threat Project”, a series of wargames led by David Kilcullen and sponsored by the Rapid Reaction Technology Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The process was interesting, bringing together experience from a multitude of areas: Department of Defense (DoD) scientists, military officers, physicists, […]
AI is the future, and the leviathan is the past. AI and modeling can be of enormous benefit to the state in issues that involve the complex interplay between states, interests, and human dynamics. Although the state works because of human dynamics and the negotiations that occur between those who feed it, the problem lies in that one beast can often misunderstand the other. AI offers a radical promise for situations involving state interests because it would allow for speed and efficiency in matters that can be lengthy, drudging, contentious, and lead to abhorrent waste and loss of life.
I know I don’t need to point out how hectic our lives can be. Teaching our kids how to be ruthless; beating the presidential cook after s/he prepared a lackluster chocolate soufflé for our dinner party with the President of FIFA; or getting our son into an overrated, elitist Western university and (cross our fingers) getting him to graduate – these are all things that can take up an inordinate amount of time in our schedules, which of course lead us to take shortcuts that often backfire on us.
The idea that American leadership is civilian and accountable is a fallacy. Why is this important? The US war effort in Afghanistan is lacking true civilian leadership, and the existing leadership (military) is avoiding accountability through obfuscation, self-aggrandizement, and attempts to overly intellectualize the conflict. We need to examine why this has been allowed to happen, as well as what we can do about it.
If we are able to recognize that US foreign policy in respect to instability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India is irrational due to the absence of a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ condition – bolstering of Pakistan’s strategic advantages over India – then the easy part is done. Crafting a foreign policy that addresses this contingent […]
Nicholas Kristof’s recent op-ed in the New York Times highlighted Richard Holbrooke’s concern for the declining relationship between the US and Pakistan and, essentially, pronounced the need for America not to forsake Pakistan, as tumultuous as relations may be. Pakistan, without question, is grappling with a litany of issues: rampant poverty and natural disasters; protection of minorities […]
Think small, think negative. America is bogged down in a seemingly purposeless war in Afghanistan while facing a fleeting enemy, the Taliban. Authoritarian regimes in the Arab world – Bahrain, Libya, Syria, etc. – refuse to allow for self-determination and continue to massacre civilians. Rohingya (a minority under grave threat in Burma) in Bangladesh are […]
The game theory modeling world can be academically exclusive, full of rivalry, and especially abstract, but I believe it can provide a very real, significant push in moving from war and instability to peace and hope. To put my argument up front, if America wishes to take a real step towards furthering peace, writ large, it […]
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