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, George Pullen discusses the space economy through a national security lens. Along the way, he answers some basic economic questions like: what is an economy, and what is GDP and why does it matter? Research Question: George Pullen believes the following questions should be studies...
info_outlineThe 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. Tom Ferris discusses his fascinating research related to cognitive ergonomics. Research Questions: Tom thinks the following questions need additional study: Human sensing and cognitive insights obtrusive physiology; making inferences during human studies; finding ways of...
info_outlineThe 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. Austin Branch and Andy Whiskeyman, both professors of the practice at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), discuss the recent Phoenix Challenge Conference which was held in London from Feb 27th to Mar 3rd 2023. The Conference was meant to bring together: Academia,...
info_outlineThe 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. Matthew Canham discusses the importance of cognitive security, and his neurosecurity framework. Research Question: Are there a finite and discoverable set of Principles of Influence for AI analogous to the Principles of Influence in humans? (Reference: Dr. Robert Cialdini’s...
info_outlineThe 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, Vic Garcia and Mike Berger of give a deep dive into IO-related challenges facing the United States and allied nations, plus dynamics between the intelligence and the operations communities, and the importance and current state of IO assessments. Research Question: Vic Garcia...
info_outlineThe 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 Vicki Nash discusses the Oxford Internet Institute, Internet governance, and regulation related to children. Research Question: What are the benefits of technology use in children or young people; for example: benefits related to forming one’s own identity, one’s own sense...
info_outlineThe 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, Dave Maxwell discusses the importance of human rights upfront, influence campaigns, the pursuit of a free and unified Korea, resting on a foundation of deterrence and defense in the context of countering North Korea. Research Questions: Dave suggests technologies be developed...
info_outlineThe 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, US Air Force LtCol Dan “Plato” Morabito discusses his . Plato takes what may be considered a first principles approach by defining objectively information, knowledge, and problems with knowing. Then, he assembles a novel taxonomy of information warfare which combines trust,...
info_outlineThe 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, US Army MAJ Joe Littell discusses his recent article: –including emergent technologies, disinformation, and implications for democracy. Joe also presents some of the things we can do to protect ourselves. Research Question: How did China use social media to control the COVID...
info_outlineThe 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, Brian Russell returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss what he calls: “OIE Truths.” Based on his extensive information operations experience, these truths represent the best advice he can give to commanders and service members on how to embrace and exploit emerging OIE...
info_outlineThe 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. Heather Gregg of the US Army War College explores how collective identity building and myths--stories designed to tell a group of people who they are, where they came from and how they should behave--shape violent conflict. Heather contrasts the way identity is used by insurgencies and counterinsurgency efforts and sketches lessons learned from recent operations against Al Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq, as well as the role that identity is playing in the Ukrainian war. Our wide-ranging conversation also covers implications of horizontal and vertical cultural transmission of information, myths as a form of storytelling, and mixing up myth and history.
Resources:
- Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
- Dr. Heather Gregg’s Personal Website
- Identity wars: collective identity building in insurgency and counterinsurgency by Heather S. Gregg
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
- Building the Nation: Missed Opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan Hardcover by Heather Gregg
- The Path to Salvation: From the Crusades to Jihad by Heather Gregg
- The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
- A Short History of Myth Paperback by Karen Armstrong
- Scott Atran, "Address to UN Security Council on Youth and Extremism." (2015)
- Vamik Volker, "The Need to Have Enemies and Allies," Political Psychology 6, no. 2 (1985): 219-247
Link to full show notes and resources
https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-101
Guest Bio:
Dr. Gregg’s opinions are her own & do not represent the opinions of the US Army War College or the Department of Defense
Heather S. Gregg is a professor at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). From 2006-2019, she was an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Department of Defense Analysis, where she worked primarily with Special Operations Forces. Prior to joining NPS, she was an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation. In addition to her academic experience, she has spent time in several regions of conflict including Palestine/West Bank and the former Yugoslavia.
Dr. Gregg earned her Ph.D. in Political Science in 2003 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation work was on historic and contemporary causes of religiously motivated violence. Dr. Gregg also holds a Master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, where she studied Islam, and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Dr. Gregg is the author of The Path to Salvation: Religious Violence from the Crusades to Jihad (Potomac, 2014) and Building the Nation: Missed Opportunities in Iraq & Afghanistan (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). She also has published articles and book chapters on Al Qaeda, including “Fighting the Jihad of the Pen: Countering Al Qaeda’s Ideology” (Terrorism and Political Violence, 2010) and “Crafting a Better Grand Strategy to Fight the Global War on Terror: Lessons from the Early Years of the Cold War” (Foreign Policy Analysis, 2010), in addition to co-editing and contributing to The Three Circles of War: Understanding the Dynamics of Modern War in Iraq (Potomac, 2010).
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.
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