The Illusion of Control

[MikeF]

I can only quote a good friend of mine who I met at the Infantry School at Brecon, where he was the Senior Division Sgt Major, who says

"Work with the chaos, not against it."

This is, to my mind exactly correct. Most concepts of C2 look to impose order on the chaos, where as the ones that actually work, function within the chaos because they are not dependant on the precision, and procedures that operational conditions will make impossible.

The Monterey Aquarium has an amazing exhibit demonstrating the 3 tiers of life sustained inside a wave.

1. Top layer- most hostile. Plants and sea creatures simply rock to and fro within the cycle of the wave.

2. Middle layer- adaptation and specialization. Plants/sea creatures constantly adapt to the ever changing conditions.

3. Bottom layer- stability. mostly unaffected by the chaos.

I suppose that's the Darwin thing. Funny, most never look below the surface to see what's going on. Some only see a wave. That's Samuel Coyne's meta-game. For COIN, that's how we determine why some Shias side with al Qaeda and some non-religious women blow themselves up.

v/r

Mike