Mosaic Warfare and Human–Machine Symbiosis | Bullaki Science Podcast with Timothy Grayson

As the director of the Strategic Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (or DARPA), Timothy leads the office in development of breakthrough technologies to enable war fighters to field, operate, and adapt distributed, joint, multi-domain combat capabilities at continuous speed. He is also founder and president of Fortitude Mission Research LLC and spent several years as a senior intelligence officer with the CIA. Here he illustrates the concept of Mosaic Warfare, in which individual warfighting platforms, just like ceramic tiles in a mosaic, are placed together to make a larger picture. This philosophy can be applied to tackle a variety of human challenges including natural disasters, disruption of supply chains, etc. He also discusses why super AI won’t represent an existential threat in the foreseeable future, but rather an opportunity for an effective division of labour between humans and machines (or human-machine symbiosis).

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by David Hambling:

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, has been dubbed the Pentagon’s ‘department of mad science.’ Set up response the Soviet Union’s surprise launch of Sputnik, the first satellite, in 1958, DARPA carries out research and development beyond the cutting edge. The agency has driven world-changing innovations as the internet, self-driving vehicles and stealth technology. DARPA is shrouded in secrecy and manages a mass of classified programs, and few outsiders appreciate how it really works. A rare insider's view reveals how the agency transforms far-out ideas into practical technology.

Dr. Timothy P. Grayson is the Director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA, and in a new interview with Cambridge-based filmmaker Dr. Samuele Lilliu published in the peer-reviewed video journal Scientific Video Protocols, Grayson sheds light on what drives this engine of extreme technology. You can see the full interview (one hour and 44 minutes) here.

There are many surprises. For one thing, as Grayson says, “we don’t do requirements.” He does not see DARPA’s role as solving the problems identified by the armed forces, but looking at the bigger picture.

“We’re often contrarians,” says Grayson. “And stealth is a great example. The Air Force at the time was all about making planes go faster, supersonics, and just go faster. DARPA out there pushing prototypes for stealth was really trying to open up not just new technology but a new way of thinking about what the mission was and how we conducted that mission. ‘Oh, maybe you don’t have to go so fast if it’s really hard for a radar to see you.’”

The result was a transformation in air power. Instead of the Mach-3 B-70 Valkyrie which would have been an easy target for Russian air missiles despite its speed and altitude, the U.S. Air Force ended up with the stealthy B-2 Spirit, a bomber able to slip past defenses and hit targets without being seen. DARPA had solved the real problem, not the one the Air Force thought it had. In the process, DARPA developed technology for stealth fighters like the F-35 whose radar invisibility means opponents literally will not see them coming.

[BULLAKI]

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