Strategy, evolution, and war : from apes to artificial intelligence / Kenneth Payne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Payne, Kenneth, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Artificial intelligence--Military applications.

Artificial intelligence.

Strategy--Psychological aspects.

Strategy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, 2018.

Summary:

This book is about the psychological and biological bases of strategy making in war as they have evolved in humans over our history as a species. The book is also a cautionary preview of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize strategy more than any development in the last three thousand years of military history. Machines will make important decisions about war on both sides, and they may do so without input from humans. Kenneth Payne describes strategy as an evolved package of conscious and unconscious behaviors with roots in our primate ancestry. Human-made strategy is influenced by emotion as well as reason, with both positive and negative results. The strategic implications of AI are profound because they depart radically from the biological basis of human intelligence. Rather than being just another tool of war, AI will exponentially speed up decisionmaking, make choices humans might not make, and force faster actions and reactions. This book is a fascinating examination of the psychology of strategy-making from prehistoric times, through the ancient world, and into the modern age. It also offers a concerning preview of a future when humans cede at least some control over their destiny.

Contents:

The evolution of strategists

Defining strategy as psychology

Evolutionary strategy

Strategic heuristics and biases

Culture meets evolved strategy

The pen and the sword in ancient Greece

Clausewitz explores the psychology of strategy

Nuclear weapons are not psychologically revolutionary

AI and strategy

Tactical artificial intelligence arrives

Artificial general intelligence does strategy

Conclusion: strategy evolves beyond AI.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781626165816

1626165815

OCLC:

1028611336