Social OODA Loop
[This is primarily a “remember me” post I’m using to collect some old OODA work-ups (from posts that might no longer be available), for future thought/blogging; additionally, a simplification of previous posts.]
First, a thank-you to Joseph Fouche of The Committee of Public Safety for recently spotlighting my previous post on the Revised OODA Loop .
Second, Joseph Fouche probably doesn’t know (and how could he, since I had not mentioned it) that a diagram he used in another recent post along with a consideration of Boyd’s OODA Loop, in Tilting At Windmills and Puncturing That Lousy Giant, motivated me to revisit the subject. Primarily, I was reminded of a previous consideration of “the Social OODA Loop” by this charming diagram:
— trying to fit the entire universe into the human brain seems….painful.
Third, a few notes before I steam ahead:
Next, I substituted simple Concrete OODA representations for the individuals:
Incidentally, this is one example of a very basic problem I had with Boyd’s original OODA Loop. He did not include a representation of the World — all lines led back to Observation — and therefore 1) we could not show how individual OODA processes might connect in a social setting, and 2) we could not show how individual actions led back to the World affecting a potentially commonly observed change in the World due to individual action.
Then I wanted to distinguish the obvious: that each individual will have a different, individual, observation niche. I.e., although we are connected by a common world on the whole, our observation of it will not be equal due to limited observational capabilities:
Very soon after, I realized the mistake and revised this diagram to included “shared gaps” in observation, i.e., parts/aspects of the World that no one observes:
Having disposed of this consideration of the Concrete OODA Loops of multiple individuals connected by a shared world, I wanted to begin an examination of the abstract processes, i.e., how multiple individuals process their observations (however limited) of that World. Once again I began with a simpler representation, eliminating the other parts of the Concrete OODA after the Abstract OODA (which is the Orient of the Concrete OODA),
First, a thank-you to Joseph Fouche of The Committee of Public Safety for recently spotlighting my previous post on the Revised OODA Loop .
Second, Joseph Fouche probably doesn’t know (and how could he, since I had not mentioned it) that a diagram he used in another recent post along with a consideration of Boyd’s OODA Loop, in Tilting At Windmills and Puncturing That Lousy Giant, motivated me to revisit the subject. Primarily, I was reminded of a previous consideration of “the Social OODA Loop” by this charming diagram:
— trying to fit the entire universe into the human brain seems….painful.
Third, a few notes before I steam ahead:
- Wherever I diagram “World” in the OODA Loop, it should be understood that we ourselves are part of that World; separating the “concrete” from the “abstract” OODA Loops is merely a simplification for understanding the processes of cognition and interaction. (In other words, the abstract processes in fact occur within the World as a part of the concrete processes and we are not standing separate from the World looking at It.)
- These Social OODA Loop diagrams make use of the original Revised OODA Loop diagram which is, in any case, more specific in outlining the various parts of the Loop.
- These are older diagrams collected from a previous post which no longer exists, posted here again as a reminder of them for later use — the work is unfinished; better revision may be required — and are presented in the original order as a reminder of the development of them. They are presented with very brief explanations which might be expanded at a later date in a new post.
- Most diagrams link to larger pop-up versions. [UPDATE: posted full-size images, except for the last “Aligned Abstracts” image, which is a thumbnail with a larger pop-up image linked.]
The Social OODA
First I began with a consideration of multiple people connected by the same World:Next, I substituted simple Concrete OODA representations for the individuals:
Incidentally, this is one example of a very basic problem I had with Boyd’s original OODA Loop. He did not include a representation of the World — all lines led back to Observation — and therefore 1) we could not show how individual OODA processes might connect in a social setting, and 2) we could not show how individual actions led back to the World affecting a potentially commonly observed change in the World due to individual action.
Then I wanted to distinguish the obvious: that each individual will have a different, individual, observation niche. I.e., although we are connected by a common world on the whole, our observation of it will not be equal due to limited observational capabilities:
Very soon after, I realized the mistake and revised this diagram to included “shared gaps” in observation, i.e., parts/aspects of the World that no one observes:
Having disposed of this consideration of the Concrete OODA Loops of multiple individuals connected by a shared world, I wanted to begin an examination of the abstract processes, i.e., how multiple individuals process their observations (however limited) of that World. Once again I began with a simpler representation, eliminating the other parts of the Concrete OODA after the Abstract OODA (which is the Orient of the Concrete OODA),
This is fine enough if we are considering individuals singly, but I was trying to consider them together in a social setting. Although observational niches differ, there is overlap, and this overlap will affect what I call “Mental Constructs”, perhaps in common ways:
You can see how much murkier the consideration becomes. Having used different colors to represent the different observational niches, I then used the new colors created by overlap in observational niches to color in the Mental Constructs. (Incidentally, I am not particularly proficient at photoshopping, etc., and I suppose there would be even more “blur” in the Mental Constructs, or they would more accurately be represented as more similar in color although not identical.)
Notes:
Once again, now that I had shown similarities in Mental Constructs, I started with a simplified diagram of those shared Mental Constructs. (One might call them shared narratives, or shared world views.) I.e.,
— a very gross simplification, to be sure. But I wanted to understand the final sections of the OODA Loop in conjunction with the earlier sections already considered, in a social setting. How are we commonly and uncommonly motivated to act upon the world? How are our actions in harmony or discord? The simplified diagram above helps to understand this harmony/discord, when supposing activity borne of these overlaps and distinctions:
In this diagram, the colors in the larger World stand for influences flowing from activities of individuals rather than observational niches per se; colors in the smaller World — Mental Constructs — are results of having observed the larger World. The simplification here is to allow a consideration of how common mental constructs, e.g. shared narratives, lead to similar decisions and similar activities which then work upon the World in similar ways, changing it in similar ways, even if for any given individual other activities of that individual may not hold to the common activity. Meanwhile, other forces such as nature and other individuals, etc., continue to act upon the world, changing it in other ways. Naturally, when considering the Social OODA in whole, all individuals would still be observing that World, and their activities might change accordingly.
Having just now revisited this topic, I have realized at least one further exploration not included here. I never explored that other smaller “world” included in the Revised OODA, i.e., “Ideas.” It is included in the Abstract OODA and is meant to represent Conditional Constructs, or those which have not been fully absorbed or converted into the Mental Constructs: not ideologized, not understood, not remembered (specifically, fit into memory in conjunction with other past understandings). These are generally new mental constructions which are either 1.) re-observed in conjunction with other new observations and old observations, and/or 2.) may lead to what I have called Impulsive Activities if we act from them.
When considering the final diagram above, and how shared ideologies, understandings, memories, etc., may lead to common activities changing the world in common ways, we should perhaps not ignore how shared Conditional Constructs may lead to common activities changing the World in common ways. Specifically, I’m thinking of Black Swans .
You can see how much murkier the consideration becomes. Having used different colors to represent the different observational niches, I then used the new colors created by overlap in observational niches to color in the Mental Constructs. (Incidentally, I am not particularly proficient at photoshopping, etc., and I suppose there would be even more “blur” in the Mental Constructs, or they would more accurately be represented as more similar in color although not identical.)
Notes:
- The interesting image at The Committee of Public Safety reminded me most of this diagram; i.e., trying to fit the Universe into the human brain; however,
- “Mental Constructs” is shown fully colored for each individual, without gaps. At this point in the diagram, those gaps should be considered as gaps between the observed World and the previously-built Mental Constructs for individuals. Generally, I suppose that a person’s “world view” is a complete whole in itself — we have a complete narrative even if it is smaller than the actual reality of the Universe. (This leads to all sorts of problems….)
- These Mental Constructs, just like the observational niches in the World, are dynamic rather than static. They are constantly changing. So one should not take the static diagram representation of the set “color swirls” for a literal reality of unchanging world views.
Once again, now that I had shown similarities in Mental Constructs, I started with a simplified diagram of those shared Mental Constructs. (One might call them shared narratives, or shared world views.) I.e.,
— a very gross simplification, to be sure. But I wanted to understand the final sections of the OODA Loop in conjunction with the earlier sections already considered, in a social setting. How are we commonly and uncommonly motivated to act upon the world? How are our actions in harmony or discord? The simplified diagram above helps to understand this harmony/discord, when supposing activity borne of these overlaps and distinctions:In this diagram, the colors in the larger World stand for influences flowing from activities of individuals rather than observational niches per se; colors in the smaller World — Mental Constructs — are results of having observed the larger World. The simplification here is to allow a consideration of how common mental constructs, e.g. shared narratives, lead to similar decisions and similar activities which then work upon the World in similar ways, changing it in similar ways, even if for any given individual other activities of that individual may not hold to the common activity. Meanwhile, other forces such as nature and other individuals, etc., continue to act upon the world, changing it in other ways. Naturally, when considering the Social OODA in whole, all individuals would still be observing that World, and their activities might change accordingly.
Postscript
Having just now revisited this topic, I have realized at least one further exploration not included here. I never explored that other smaller “world” included in the Revised OODA, i.e., “Ideas.” It is included in the Abstract OODA and is meant to represent Conditional Constructs, or those which have not been fully absorbed or converted into the Mental Constructs: not ideologized, not understood, not remembered (specifically, fit into memory in conjunction with other past understandings). These are generally new mental constructions which are either 1.) re-observed in conjunction with other new observations and old observations, and/or 2.) may lead to what I have called Impulsive Activities if we act from them.
When considering the final diagram above, and how shared ideologies, understandings, memories, etc., may lead to common activities changing the world in common ways, we should perhaps not ignore how shared Conditional Constructs may lead to common activities changing the World in common ways. Specifically, I’m thinking of Black Swans .
Filed in The Vault and tagged OODA
This is really good stuff. Really good. I've been kicking around a blog (not posting it, yet) for a few weeks concerning how the Navy calls the management of social OODA-loops 'Diversity'. Basically any diversity initiative is really just the management of social OODA-loops. What you've put here has filled in some of the gaps I've had in my thinking.
Is it alright if I pull some of your graphics for a post over at the US Naval Institute?
Sure, go ahead.
I'm not sure if you are aware of the modified OODA Loop I am using to create some of the above. The image for it can be found on Flickr @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreaming5gw/517144436/ .
Essentially, I'm running two OODA loops, one I call the Concrete OODA and one, the Abstract OODA. Within the C-OODA, the Orient phase is the internal, A-OODA. I think most of this was mentioned above, but I hadn't given the original modified OODA Loop.
This is useful for showing that individual people interact through observation of the concrete world but may have distinct internal processing, and pre-developed "Mental Constructs" that were in place before they even came into contact (whether foe or friend.)
Thanks for dropping by!
Bet. I'll link back to your page from my post!