#232 John Pennell on Russia's Actions in Ukraine and Syria
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. John Pennell discusses his book and Ph.D. research: . Recording Date: 4 Sep 2025 Research Question: John Pennell suggests an interested student or researcher examine: How can we better inform the American public about the information space; focusing on informing the...
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231 Tod Rathbone
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Tod Rathbone discusses trends related to digital marketing and why it matters including: the evolution of live media, digital ad tracking, AI's impact on marketplaces and media, identity mapping and platform challenges, AI and online safety, challenges of digital information...
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#230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to support his assertion that warfare is informational and the US Department of Defense needs an entirely new information paradigm. Recording Date: 28 Aug 2025 Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned by Norbert...
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#229 David Cook on Digital Discipline
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, David Cook discusses his recent article: . In addition to digital discipline in a national security context, David discusses cyber and AI threats and practical mitigation practices that private sector companies and citizens should be aware of. Recording Date: 19 Aug 2025...
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#228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Torvald Ask discusses his 2023 co-authored paper: The UnCODE System: A Neurocentric Systems Approach for Classifying the Goals and Methods of Cognitive Warfare. The UnCODE System is an accessible and a practical tool for understanding and addressing cognitive warfare goals....
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#227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Matthew Canham discusses agentic AI's potential to boost productivity by automating tasks and its anticipated influence on user interfaces, potentially creating new security vulnerabilities and opportunities for user manipulation. Matthew emphasized the importance of robust security...
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#226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. James Giordano discusses a broad range of topics related to national security from biopsychology to complexity to neurotechnology to enactivism. Recording Date: 25 Jun 2025 Research Question: James Giordano suggests an interested student or researcher examine: “How might the...
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#225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller discuss cognitive warfare, the gray zone, and intensifying great power competition. The ultimate goal is to compete by gaining and maintaining information advantage without kinetic fighting. Recording Date: 28 Apr 2025 Research...
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#224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Jake Bebber discusses his work related to the concept, challenges, and potential responses to cognitive warfare. Jake explains how cognitive warfare uses technology to manipulate cognition and behavior, emphasizing its distinction from traditional information warfare and its...
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#223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation
The Cognitive Crucible
The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Paul Buvarp contrasts disinformation as a human demand-side problem with the typical supply-side perspective. Additional discussion threads include thinking about online and real-world environments as differently as forests and tropical environments are different, how young people...
info_outlineLink to full show notes and resources
https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-68
Guest Bio: Andy Norman is the author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind’s immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. He is also Founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.
Andy Norman, PhD, is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, The BBC’s Naked Scientist, and The Young Turks. His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind’s immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. He likes to help people develop immunity to bad ideas.
Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative.
About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.
For more information, please contact us at [email protected].
Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.