Programming Coup D'Oeil: The Impact of Decision Making Technology in Operational Warfare
Abstract
Effective military leaders are able to make decisions under extreme pressure and in the face of imperfect information. They are also forced to make assumptions and predictions regarding their opponent's potential actions. The lack of perfect information and uncertainty creates the fog and friction of war, and commanders use either the analytical or intuitive decision making methodologies during the planning process to see through the ambiguity of warfare. Given that both processes have shortcomings, this paper addresses the potential positives and negatives of using computer-based decision making technologies (DMT) to cut through the fog of war. It explores several of the common human cognitive biases that erode the effectiveness of the analytical and intuitive decision making processes, and it discusses how a DMT can overcome those shortcomings. It also examines the impact of the DMT upon the operational factors of time, space, and force. Finally, it addresses several problems that a DMT may introduce into the planning process.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 03, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA525275
Entities
People
- John Gaines
Organizations
- Naval War College