Why all the things must be code

Description

Like most things that get pop-ified, the details are glossed over and essential elements of the original work are lost. Ideas are worthless without execution; relying on the pop version of an idea will handicap any attempt at its execution. The talk is partly an exposition, distillation, and application of Boyd’s original ideas (particularly as described in Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War) – and partly an exhortation to get as close as possible to original sources, because the lessons there are rich.

Key ideas:

• OODA recasts the cognition<—>action cycle central to any organism’s effort to stay alive, in a particular context
• Moving faster through the cycle is the shallowest reading of the idea
• All parts of the loop are not made equal
• OODA is tied to the risks and benefits of dealing with models
• As are black swans
• And antifragility
• The best action is worth more than the first action
• The optimal time is better than the fastest time