Information Professionals Association

The Cognitive Crucible

Government EN ↓ 249 episodes

The Cognitive Crucible explores all aspects of our generational challenge: Cognitive Security. It is the only podcast dedicated to increasing interdisciplinary collaboration between information operations practitioners, scholars, and policy makers. Join the discussion forum each week with the Cognitive Crucible host, John Bicknell. Have a question or would like to suggest a topic go to: https://information-professionals.org/podcasts/cognitive-crucible.

Author

Information Professionals Association

Episodes

#246 IPA APEX Conference 23.06.2026 30:53

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dave Acosta and Austin Branch discuss IPA's APEX conference which will be September...

#245 Pat Roberson and Andrew Hallman on Arms and Influence: How information and influence operations are evolving in the modern security environment – and how the United States can regain the advantage 31.03.2026 52:38

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Andrew Hallman and Pat Roberson from Leidos discuss information operations (IO) and...

#244 Sean Guillory on Betting Intelligence and National Security 03.03.2026 43:52

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Sean Guillory discusses the rapid ascent of prediction markets like Polymarket and...

#243 Doug Abdiel on the New Fog of War–Navigating Through GPS-Denied and Degraded Environments 03.03.2026 1:04:30

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Doug Abdiel discusses the vivid operational problem of GPS-denied or GPS-degraded e...

#242 Doug Wilbur on Propaganda 03.03.2026 48:26

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Doug Wilbur discussed propaganda, information warfare, and strategic optimism–empha...

#241 Andy Whiskeyman on Cognitive Intelligence 03.03.2026 1:26:17

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Andrew Whiskeyman discusses his co-authored article: The Emergence of Cognitive Int...

#240 Anthony Vinci on the Fourth Intelligence Revolution 13.01.2026 44:32

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Anthony Vinci, author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution , discusses how the bat...

#239 Ian Brown on Snowmobiles and Grand Ideals 06.01.2026 54:07

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. John Boyd is well known to have formally written down very little of his own theories on war and conflic...

#238 Bill Wall on AI in Information Operations 30.12.2025 40:38

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Bill Wall discusses Accrete AI 's comprehensive AI platform. The conversation explo...

#237 Josh "Bugsy" Segal on Ukraine, Electronic Warfare, and Fast Battlefield Innovation 23.12.2025 51:32

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. Josh "Bugsy" Segal recaps his recent observations from the Ukraine battlefield...

#236 Michael Lissack on Anticipatory Agents 16.12.2025 59:35

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Michael Lissack discusses Anticipatory Agents in Causal Bubbles –a unified theoreti...

#235 Rob Thelen on the US Army IWAR Initiative 11.12.2025 53:41

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, COL Rob Thelan discusses the US Army's Information Warfare (IWAR) Branch. IWAR aims...

#234 Robert Thibadeau on a Million Identities and Computational Cognitive Neuroscience 07.10.2025 1:11:15

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Bob Thibadeau returns to the Cognitive Crucible and discusses the fundamentals of c...

#233 Orlandon Howard on Rethinking Strategic Communication 30.09.2025 47:04

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard discusses rethinking strategic communication for U.S. mili...

#232 John Pennell on Russia's Actions in Ukraine and Syria 16.09.2025 50:14

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. John Pennell discusses his book and Ph. D. research: Assessing Russia's Actions...

231 Tod Rathbone 09.09.2025 57:01

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Tod Rathbone discusses trends related to digital marketing and why it matters inclu...

#230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm 02.09.2025 1:12:41

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to support his assertion that warfare...

#229 David Cook on Digital Discipline 26.08.2025 35:54

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, David Cook discusses his recent article: When Cell Phones Kill: Digital Discipline...

#228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System 05.08.2025 48:00

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Torvald Ask discusses his 2023 co-authored paper: The UnCODE System: A Neurocentric...

#227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute 29.07.2025 45:38

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Matthew Canham discusses agentic AI's potential to boost productivity by automating...

#226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare 01.07.2025 50:20

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. James Giordano discusses a broad range of topics related to national security f...

#225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone 27.05.2025 57:12

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller discuss cognitive warfare, the gray zone,...

#224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare 20.05.2025 46:35

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Jake Bebber discusses his work related to the concept, challenges, and potential re...

#223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation 22.04.2025 53:41

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Paul Buvarp contrasts disinformation as a human demand-side problem with the typica...

#222 JD Maddox on Emerging IO Opportunities 15.04.2025 46:01

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, JD Maddox discusses new influence opportunities borne out of necessity. JD suggests...