John F. Sowa wrote: (01)
Peirce defined his "logic of pragmatism" as a cycle of induction, abduction,
deduction, and testing -- and repeat as necessary ad infinitum. That is
essentially the scientific method.
Following is a diagram I drew to illustrate Peirce's cycle: (02)
http://www.jfsowa.com/figs/soup5a.gif (03)
This cycle can be traversed very rapidly for quick decisions or very slowly and
carefully for scientific research. There is a variant called the OODA loop,
which John Boyd developed for training fighter pilots: (04)
http://www.jfsowa.com/figs/oodaloop.gif (05)
Observe corresponds to induction, orient to abduction, decide to deduction, and
act to testing. And the goal of the training is to analyze the problems in
advance and to distill a set of predefined patterns that can be recalled almost
instantly when the crisis arises. (06)
----------------- (07)
To which I reply: (08)
While Boyd originally devised the OODA loop for jet fighter tactics, he later
expanded it into a strategic doctrine. The OODA loop -
Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action - consists of four re-entrant four
phases, as John's diagram illustrates. (09)
OODA looping has been widely adopted in military doctrine, especially in the US
Marines. The idea is operate at a faster tempo than an opponent. This creates
rapidly changing conditions that presumable make that opponent miss a reaction,
thus losing the tempo. The resulting confusion causes a miss-reaction, which
can be exploited. (010)
These sorts of ideas have been around since Sun Tzu. Boyd coordinated them into
a single, integrated theme as a way of strategic thinking, presented as a
series of briefings from 1976 to 1996. Central to Boyd's OODA loop was an
appreciation of the mind-space operating environment, the ability to manipulate
the environment, employing tactics of quickness, coordination, and control of
change. (011)
The entirety is best understood inductively, even though, as John points out,
the individual steps can be assigned to induction, abduction, and deduction.
OODA looping is as much a theory of knowledge and action as it is a combat
philosophy, and is very much at home in pragmatism and semiotics. The OODA
sequence is applicable to strategies for information gathering, analysis, and
decision-making in the world at large. For example, a knowledge worker making
decisions based on complex information interactions from a variety of sources
is one of these domains. (012)
-- Jeff Schiffel (013)
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