NB: When writing a history, the hours spent in research tend to outweigh those spent shaping the narrative itself. Along the way, you collect all kinds of material — primary sources, theoretical reflections, marginalia — that never make it into the final cut. These “Chapter Notes” are for readers who want to know more about the people and events behind the story, and who don’t mind wandering down a few adjacent corridors.
(Free subscribers get a glimpse; paid subscribers ($5/year) get full access.)
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Notes for Chapter 10 include one piece of primary source material for each of the three Integrated Cognitive Operations systems mentioned in the chapter, as well as an intelligence report that — to me, and in hindsight — looks like cog-net planning for the launch of the nuclear missiles.
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A training manual excerpt for Neuro-Swarms:
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From Neuro-Swarm Infantry Integration Training Guide, Revision 3.2; issued June 12, 2031 by US Army Integrated Cognitive Operations Command (Declassified by North American Historical Archives, January 15, 2039):
“Neuro-Swarm deployment doctrine differs fundamentally from traditional infantry coordination. Commanders should expect reduced latency in unit response times and the emergence of reflex-level synchronization across both human and drone elements.
“The guiding principle is not direct control, but “resonance.” When properly calibrated, the swarm behaves less like a collection of soldiers and machines and more like a continuous system — a living circuit of action and reaction. Orders are still issued, but they function as catalytic signals rather than detailed instructions.