Swarm Intelligence or Net Centric Warfare in Military Strategy - Old Ideas

The original architect of some of the main non-technological concepts associated with swarm intelligence, net centric warfare, and asymmetrical warfare is none other than the ancient Chinese strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu. The strategies and tactics described by Sun Tzu in “The Art of War” are as applicable today as ever. Indeed, the tactics and strategies described by Sun Tzu remind one of the those used in modern history by many of the enemies that the United States has faced who appear smaller or weaker in size or strength, but achieve devastating results. Two examples of such enemies are the Viet Cong/ North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war and the Islamic terrorists of present day. Also, some of these ideas seem to sound like parts and pieces from the Asian martial arts, which may be where Sun Tzu got some of his ideas or vice versa. The main point of commonality amongst these principles is the concept of not presenting your enemy with a large solid target or fooling him into thinking part of your forces are more substantial than they really are. The idea is to keep your enemy guessing so that he must spread his forces thinly or concentrate them incorrectly. Furthermore, there is an associated concept of developing the strategic ability to rapidly focus massive force upon a single objective from previously dispersed positions or else attack multiple points simultaneously from within enemy positions after first infiltrating fluidly in a dispersed amorphous fashion. What is new now is the scale with which we can execute the aforementioned strategies and tactics due to our communications and information technology. See "Foundations of Swarm Intelligence: From Principles to Practice" by Mark Fleischer.