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Comment by omegant | Hacker News Reader

The ultimate "learn faster than your foe or die" is in my opinion counter-insurgency. There is the army manual on counter insurgency by Gen. Petraeus(free download http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf), heavy on army procedures, but the general guidelines are very interesting. There are also David Kilcullen´s books, very well written with great insights on the mistakes made on Afghanistan and Irak.

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Coram's Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War provides an utterly fascinating glimpse into this type of competitive thinking. Boyd's theories are regularly cited by today's Lean Startup personalities. Here's an excerpt from his magnum opus:

"To comprehend and cope with our environment we develop mental patterns or concepts of meaning. The purpose of this paper is to sketch out how we destroy and create these patterns to permit us to both shape and be shaped by a changing environment. In this sense, the discussion also literally shows why we cannot avoid this kind of activity if we intend to survive on our own terms."

I never managed to finish the one Kilcullen book I bought.

Funny, I was just going to chime in with a Boyd reference.

The Osinga book is excellent if you have the determination to read it. It isn't a light read.

The OODA loop, always relevant. People that don't understand the concept are doomed to die upon it. Exceptionally relevant in the high-tech business world.

Thanks, I'll put it on the reading list.

The "learn faster" thing only really applies when you have an actual arms race of any kind.

Which asks the question: did they repeat this, and did future students anticipate it, and did they deploy countermeasures?

Incorrect. Whoever learns faster is more fit to survive and thrive on their own terms. They have greater freedom of action.

That... doesn't even make sense. Did the professors have less freedom of action? Do the students have more?

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