Implications of Emerging Applications of Information and Computational Power

<p>During the coming decades the U.S. armed forces will likely be expected to conduct a wide range of non-conventional irregular warfare and humanitarian assistance missions. It is also anticipated that these operations will be conducted in extremely unfamiliar unstable and complex social environments. These operations will rely heavily on civil-military interactions and as such the need to coordinate planning and operations with other U.S. government agencies and members of the host nation will be at a premium. In the Information Age information is abundant. Unfortunately the enormous volume of social and network information related to an operational environment is practically impossible for humans to retain and process quantitatively. In an effort to assist the Combatant Commander with the difficult task of managing the enormous amount of information available computer-based decision support tools are currently being developed and evaluated. These tools are promoted as having the ability to assimilate individual and social attitudes and to forecast to various degrees of accuracy the stimulus-response of targeted individuals and social groups. This paper will ascertain if agent-based modeling and simulation can provide platforms for planners to develop more accurate assumptions of the social environment. In addition can synthetic environments be a reliable venue to game and vet joint operational level non-kinetic courses of action prior to implementation? Finally is social network modeling feasible on an operational level?</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>