Strategy, Evolution, and War: From Apes to Artificial Intelligence - Softcover

Kenneth Payne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1626165807 ISBN 13: 9781626165809

Publisher: Georgetown University Press, 2018

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

Arguing his case clearly and with few qualifications, Kenneth Payne takes forward his existing studies on the psychology of conflict in order to consider the consequences of the spread of systems employing Artifical Intelligence (AI). This is an important topic, and Payne is right to draw attention to its significance.

--Military History Monthly Magazine

About the Author:

Kenneth Payne is a senior lecturer in the School of Security Studies at King's College, London. He is also a senior member of St Antony's College, Oxford University, having earlier been a visiting fellow in the Department of International Relations there. Payne's research is broadly in the field of political psychology and strategic studies. He is the author of two previous books, The Psychology of Strategy: Exploring Rationality in the Vietnam War and The Psychology of Modern Conflict.

About this edition

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1626165807
• ISBN 13: 9781626165809
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 270