OPEN Echoes - EP007 - Dr. Lawrence Kuznar

OPEN Echoes

OPEN ECHOES Episode #7 An interview with Dr. Lawrence Kuznar OPEN Echoes reflects the original thoughts, analyses, and viewpoints shared by academics, thought leaders and non-military experts — spreading ideas, perspectives, and insights across the globe. It’s our hope that the insights shared in these episodes will help to impact and influence thinking and conversations long after you take off your headphones. OPEN Echoes alternates episodes between compelling interviews with non-NATO subject matter experts, and readings from OPEN's wide range of publications. In this episode, we interview Dr. Larry Kuznar. —Dr. Lawrence Kuznar is an Emeritus Professor and distinguished anthropologist whose academic journey spans over three decades. Adding a unique dimension to his research, he acquired a master's degree in applied mathematics, employing mathematical and computational models to enhance his studies. In his most recent venture, he explores the dynamic 21st-century information environment, providing invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities within its physical, cognitive, and virtual dimensions. This OPEN Echoes interview explores:- NATO's interests in the physical, virtual, and cognitive dimensions, as well as STEEP: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political impacts. - The history of transformative moments in human history, including the advent of stone tools, cognitive shifts, and more. - Challenges of predicting change beyond a certain point. - The theory of "adjacent possible:" that what can happen in the near future is contingent upon current developments. - Rapid changes currently happening, and the challenge of predicting the information environment of 2040. - The interplay between technologies, services, and needs as a continuous cycle of generating new things. - The need for military decision-makers to adapt and navigate the information environment. - The importance of managing the social, political, and environmental impacts of AI and information technologies. - The need for societies to educate and prepare their workforce for evolving roles, echo chambers and polarization. - Aristotle's principles of persuasion as relevant tools for navigating the modern information environment. Dr. Kuznar’s article “21ST CENTURY INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT TRENDS OUT TO 2040: THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE INTEGRATION OF ITSPHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, AND VIRTUAL DIMENSIONS” is available in full here. The audio recording of ““21ST CENTURY INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT TRENDS OUT TO 2040” was featured in episode 4 of OPEN Echoes, and can be listened to here. — Welcome to OPEN Echoes. OPEN stands for “Other Perspectives Exchange Network.” Our mission is to explore diverse, insightful and sometimes disruptive viewpoints on matters crucial to NATO. The lightly-edited transcript of this episode’s interview with Dr. Kuznar follows: --- Dave Summers: Larry. Welcome to Open Echoes. Dr. Lawrence Kuznar: Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be here. Dave: If you, if you don't mind before we get started, I think it's important for the audience to know a little bit about you. Can you give me the short version of who you are and how you got to where you are? Dr. Kuznar: Glad to. So I am an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology from Purdue University, Fort Wayne in Indiana. I was there for 30 years. I now work for a consulting firm and continue to do the kind of research that I did throughout my academic career. Now, my academic career was a varied one. I began back in the early 1980s as an archaeologist. But during that period of time, I transformed into a cultural anthropologist. I was working in the Highlands of the Andes in Southern Peru. looking at initially the domestication of llamas and alpacas. but also how conflict formed human societies and influenced them. And there's a lot of that conflict in the small-scale village, tribal societies that I was working in. And so I studied that in the field. Me