The Convergence - The Army's Mad Scientist Podcast

“The PLA expected Russia to run the same playbook it did with Crimea on a larger scale.  And it didn’t work.” [ Editor’s Note:   Today’s post welcomes back proclaimed Mad Scientist  Dr. Howard Wang , who recently served as a subject matter expert on our  Ukraine, the Middle East, and Proxy Wars around the Globe:  Emergent Trends and Associated Implications for the Joint Force  panel discussion  du...

[Editor’s Note:   Regular readers of the  Mad Scientist Laboratory   blog site know that wargaming is a vital cognitive tool for understanding the complexities of the evolving  Operational Environment  (OE). Wargaming helps facilitate “cognitive warfighting proficiencies” among its practitioners.  Unlike passive classroom lectures, wargames provide an immersive environment where Soldiers and Leade...

[ Editor’s Note:   Army Mad Scientist and the  Georgetown University Wargaming Society  co-hosted our  Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment  Conference  at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, last November, exploring: Trends in hobbyist wargaming;  How wargames can address unconventional and neglected aspects of the Operational Environment;  How wargaming can provide experientia...

“I think there’s a moral question that one has to ask in general about whether it’s appropriate for a machine to make a decision as to whether or not a human ought to live or die” [ Editor’s Note:   As observed in  TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92, The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Operations : “The increase in the production, employment, and success of uncrewed systems means the Arm...

[ Editor’s Note:   As observed in  TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92, The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Operations : “LSCO will be marked by the democratization and proliferation of advanced technologies and hyperconnected global communications, creating an increasingly  transparent battlefield  that makes it difficult to hide from the enemy.” Today’s  The Convergence  podcast feature...

“ Agentic warfare is here, whether we welcome it or not. The era of military planners manually gathering limited data and compiling static crisis response options on briefing slides is over.  In the next few years, the defense community will see the emergence of AI agents representing military planners, logisticians, intelligence officers, and operators that harness centuries of stored experience...

[ Editor’s Note:   Regular readers of the  Mad Scientist Laboratory  understand the transformative potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have on the character of warfare — for a comprehensive list of previously published blog posts and podcasts exploring the potential application of these technologies across the Operational Environment, scroll to the bottom of...

Today’s  The Convergence  podcast welcomes back proclaimed Mad Scientist  Dr. Billy Barry , Professor of Emerging Technology at the U.S. Army War College, to discuss his latest innovation — an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled digital war game.  We tested this capability with two of the TRADOC G-2’s most experienced wargamers to get their thoughts on how it performed and its potential to democr...

  “The hope is that we can begin to profile what the capabilities of the jammer are that we’re seeing out in the field with enough measurements from enough devices” [ Editor’s Note:   In last week’s  post ,  Sherman L. Barto  posited a fictional intelligence (FICINT) scenario detailing China’s swift victory over Taiwan and the United States — achieved in part by the People’s Liberation Army’s use...

  [ Editor’s Note:   Today’s  The Convergence  podcast welcomes back  Ben Van Roo , recent author of our  Unlocking TRADOC’s Potential with GenAI: Opportunities and Challenges  blog post, to continue our exploration of the transformative potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) — specifically its ability to democratize access across the U.S. Army to the vast reservoirs of Operation...

“We have craft that defy physics as we know it and are moving at speeds that are at least a hundred times faster than anything a human or robot… can produce on the planet.” [ Editor’s Note:   Today’s  The Convergence  podcast welcomes back our very own  James Gang  — proclaimed Mad Scientists  Dr. James Giordano  and  Dr.   James Canton  — discussing a topic featured prominently in recent  news st...

Soldier Dominance and Battlefield Primacy “What we’ve got to think about is, how do we make our Soldiers more effective, how do we maintain that battlefield primacy for our commanders, for our Soldiers, and for our units.” [ Editor’s Note:   At the conclusion of  Ian Sullivan ‘s insightful  blog post  from almost four years ago, we were provided with a sage and cautionary admonition: “… I think it...

[Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our  Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment  Conference, co-hosted with the  Georgetown University Wargaming Society ,  on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the links to the conference agenda and registration site may be found at the end of this post (below)...

[Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our  Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment  Conference, co-hosted with the  Georgetown University Wargaming Society ,  on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the link to our registration site may be found at the end of this post (below). In today’s episode of...

[ Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist continues our series of blog posts and podcasts in the run up to our  Game On! Wargaming & The Operational Environment Conference, co-hosted with the  Georgetown University Wargaming Society ,  on 6-7 November 2024 — additional information on this event and the link to our registration site may be found at the end of this post (below). In today’s episode of...

[ Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist first introduced  Andrew Olson  to our community of action with his insightful submission to our  Calling All Wargamers   crowdsourcing effort entitled  Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) Considerations in Wargaming LSCO .  In today’s episode of  The Convergence  podcast, we sit down with Mr. Olson to learn more about CHMR — now a DoD priority with th...

“I don’t think America, or the West in general, is prepared in any sort of way to fight a static war like we’re seeing over there in Ukraine.” [ Editor’s Note:   One of the twelve key conditions driving the Operational Environment (OE) in the next ten years is its increased lethality.  According to the  TRADOC G-2 ‘s recently published  The Operational Environment 2024-2034: Large-Scale Combat Ope...

[ Editor’s Note:  The  Mad Scientist Laboratory  featured  LTC Kristine M. Hinds ‘ assessment of private sector involvement in future conflicts in  “Sixth Domain” – Private Sector Involvement in Future Conflicts  last June. While some Army purists have taken exception to the  Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security ‘s use of the term “ Sixth Domain ” to describe the private sec...

[ Editor’s Note:   Army Mad Scientist is pleased to publish its  500 th  post!  Since its inception on 09 November 2017, the  Mad Scientist Laboratory  has continuously sought to explore the Operational Environment (OE) and the changing character of warfare on behalf of the U.S. Army.  Given this enduring mission, it’s fitting that this milestone post features the highlights from our latest episod...

[ Editor’s Note:   Last week’s  Mad Scientist Laboratory   blog post  featured a timely “what if?” nightmare scenario by  COL John Antal (USA-Ret.) , set in a not-too-distant-future — imagining an Operational Environment where today’s National Defense Strategy threat members, colluding as a coalition of autocracies, launched simultaneous surprise strikes against United States’ Joint forces around...

[ Editor’s Note:   Last week’s  Mad Scientist Laboratory   post  featured an assessment by U.S. Army War College student  LtCol Erik Keim  (USMC) that “ militaries will blend with civilian transmissions instead of relying solely on the specific military electromagnetic spectrum by 2030 due to the availability of Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and the proven success of digital camouflage. ” In toda...

[ Editor’s Note:   The TRADOC G-2 appreciates the value of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) in informing us about emergent trends across the Operational Environment (OE). For almost two years, analysts within the G-2 ACE collated insights on Russia’s on-going “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine to learn about the contemporary Russian way of war, understand how they were adapting and innovating...

  [ Editor’s Note:   Humanity is entering an era of hyper-innovation as the potential of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Neurocognitive Sciences are harnessed to revolutionize human endeavors. As these exponential convergences of technologies spin ever faster cycles of adaptation and innovation, the quest for dominance and advantage will favor those who jettison outdated industrial age proc...

[ Editor’s Note:  Crowdsourcing remains an effective tool for harvesting ideas and concepts from a wide array of individuals, helping us to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (i.e., you — our community of action!) with two concurrent opportunities this Spring. In our latest episode of  The Convergence  podca...

“China sits in INDOPACOM, but the playground is Africa.” [ Editor’s Note:   Regular readers of the  Mad Scientist Laboratory  will  recall  that the  Office of the Director of National Intelligence  (ODNI) reported, “ Relatively poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will account for almost all global population growth during the next two decades… ” The  World Economic Forum supported...