Patterns of Conflict
| The works of |
| Works of John Boyd |
|---|
OODA WIKI Edition
Quantico Transcription
[40:00] Okay. So, what happens then, when you do that, you come up with a new conception. In a sense it isn’t new, it’s always been there. In a sense what you want to do, is you want to generate as rapid a change in the mind of your adversary. Quick, clear observations, orientation, decisions, fast tempo, fast transient maneuvers, quick kill, et cetera, et cetera.
In other words, for yourself, what are you trying to do? Compress the time over which you can do these things. You want to compress your time for doing it. Turning the argument around, inhibit his capacity to adapt to such an environment, cloud and distort his observations, orientation, decision, all the kinds of things you can do to him. In other words you want to stretch out his time, take him longer than you.
And that’s the key idea. Compress own time, stretch out his, so you gain a favorable—note that word again, favorable—mismatch in time and ability to shape and adapt to change. Not just adapt, but shape too. And if you can get a favorable mismatch, you’re going pull his socks down, rather than him pull your socks down.
You know, back in 1929, people started jumping out windows when the stock market crashed because they couldn’t keep up with events. And here’s your goal; and the goal, when you think of it that way, then there’s a natural consequence, it comes out as a natural consequence. Because if you can’t keep up, I’ll tell you one goddamn thing, you end up very confused, very disordered, and if it’s a life threatening situation, pretty soon doubt, uncertainty, et cetera.
Audience: Going on in my mind, sir, that has a connotation of it being offensive, when you go to the athletic field of endeavor, sometimes it can be defensive—
Boyd: You can do it on defense too. We’ll get to that later on—
Audience: Yes, sir. You’re not compressing your own time necessarily, you’re trying to get him in a situation that he isn’t, uncontrollable—
Boyd: Where you want to get him doing something where he thinks he knows what’s going on, he really doesn’t know, and he thinks he’s winning the thing, and then you pull his socks down. But he’s got an erroneous impression, he’s got a fast OODA loop and he’s really not reading events correctly because here’s what you’ve done to him, see what I’m saying?
See, what happens is, what happens is people become doubt, uncertain. Let’s say you put a group of people here, and when people have doubts and uncertainties, and then they start transmitting those doubts and uncertainties to one another, it begins to well up into what? Confusion, disorder, panic, and chaos. Groups start coming apart. Some very powerful notions.
Lightfoot Transcription
10:11 annuity in anything we stick to all that 10:20 together it's come up with a new 10:23 conceptions really it's been there all 10:24 the time to just somehow didn't see you 10:29 want to exploit your operations weapon 10:30 such at you remember the generator 10:32 rather changing plans with their 10:34 observations orientations decisions info 10:36 etc in other words you want to compress 10:39 the triangle which you can realize with 10:41 this likewise what you want to run 10:45 attendance register the fact is that 10:46 deciding how much cloud of the store 10:48 gives observation through a business 10:50 Asian descent warfare Camelot spoofing 10:58 deception other time ambiguity so you 11:03 want to compress your time stretch out 11:05 his time and that's the idea 11:07 simultaneously do both right home time 11:09 stretch out that is very time to 11:11 generate a favorable mismatch of time to 11:15 go through the applications you're 11:18 shaking you're trying to generate that 11:28 mismatch time ago today for they have to 11:30 change now if you can realize that that 11:34 idea almost a natural it was our 11:43 contention continued sort of him to all 11:46 remember react you crazy time thing 11:48 because you're not only experimenting be 11:50 if there's something of value there but 11:51 also in English Teen Titans leaving a 11:53 second 11:58 competition every relation this one 12:01 before Lori those are the fight that's 12:03 written here from one place that's what 12:05 we got screwed up and Vietnam where you 12:07 only fight them 12:09 so this is much more general definition 12:12 apply the war by the very soft eyes 12:14 things of being an intermediate any kind 12:16 of competitive v8 and you see it works 12:21 on somebody burning pork okay 12:36 this next chart I'll skip just means