6 Forum / The Intellectual Edge JFQ 96, 1
st
Quarter 2020
The Intellectual Edge
A Competitive Advantage for Future War and
Strategic Competition
By Mick Ryan
In the early twenty-first century, the train of progress is again pulling out of the station—and this will
probably be the last train ever to leave the station called Homo Sapiens. Those who miss this train will never
get a second chance. In order to get a seat on it you need to understand twenty-first century technology, and in
particular the powers of biotechnology and computer algorithms. . . . [T]hose left behind will face extinction.
—Yuval noah haRaRi
Y
uval Harari’s warning about the
future of human development
in Homo Deus provides a clarion
call for those who lead the intellectual
development of future military leaders.
1
Harari and others such as Heidi and
Alvin Toffler, Nick Bostrum, Andrew
Krepinevich, T.X. Hammes, and Ian
Morris have speculated about the
potential future impacts of technology
on humans and war.
2
While these
visions of the future contain a wide
array of predictions, they pose useful
questions to inform future intellec-
tual development within military
institutions.
The world is potentially now at the
start of a new industrial revolution. This
revolution is underpinned by connec-
tivity, biotechnology, and silicon-based
Major General Mick Ryan, AM, is Commander of
the Australian Defence College.
Ensign observes Israeli INS Lahav, left, INS Sufa,
center, and USNS Leroy Grumman from USS Carney
during exercise Reliant Mermaid 2018, Mediterranean
Sea, August 7, 2018 (U.S. Navy/Ryan U. Kledzik)
