THIS PRESENTATION LAYS OUT SOME OF THE BASIC ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING INSTITUTE PROGRAMS AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Where Does a Simulation Take Place? Not in 1-D Not in 2-D Not even in 3-D, 4-D or n-D. It takes place In the minds of the participants.
This is going to go fast, and (hopefully?) its going to be up on youtube. So lets save the questions till the end. I can also always be reached for questions later. I would love to talk to you about all of this. I’m going to [go down the line reading the slide.] While I still have your attention before I get into the conclusion, I’ll want to acknowledge many of the wonderful people who have made this project a reality.
A complex world requires complex tools. You have already heard from Sheldon and the other presenters some very good reasons for using simulations in training. I’d like to just add a few more comments for emphases. Point 1 (complex and demanding) We live in a complex world. Things that were once considered normal and even valiant are longer even considered the best move. On the left is a representation of the flag raising at IWO Jima, on the right an actual picture of soldiers raising the flag over Saddam Hussein. All of the soldiers in these pictures are brave, but we are asking much more of the ones on the right. America plays a more multilateralist role, and accomplishing our goals is difficult. Point 1a (demanding) Our bar is high – D-Day 10,000 Americans died in a morning. We would never allow for such a thing again. In fact the bar is SO High today, that we really have to stop the problems before they begin – long before they manifest themselves. Now I don’t have time for a great ‘Chinese doctor’ story. Look for that soon on our blog, but the point of that story is that true experts stop problems long before they are visible. Consider a group of people who go into a village with only the best of intentions. They are going to build a well to help the people there. They do so, but don’t realize that they just undercut the local tribal leader who was making money off of the previous water distribution system. They have antagonized him, and hostilities increase. Things begin escalating and finally some people get killed. And all of this could have been avoided if they had just realized that they should have been more cautious, obtained more information and respectful before they dug that well in the wrong place. If they had done that none of the ensuing problems would have occurred. Point 2 (everyone needs the message) One small act that gets captured on film can set our missions back. Excellent training has to get rolled out and down to all levels. Point 3 (sobriety and urgency) I also like to use this slide to remind us that while here in Washington we are fairly well insulated from the real world, what we are talking about here profoundly impacts real lives. These tools really need to help people survive and improve their lives. That is the light that guides us.
An ancient Chinese Proverb reads – What I hear I forget What I see I remember What I do I know The goal for future training should be to find more opportunities to practice – more opportunities to “do”. The new enemy that I discussed earlier demands that we be agile, that we work together jointly – with all of our various international partners, it demands we have better cultural and regional understandings, that we focus on capabilities associated less with warfighting but on the social, political and economic areas needed for stabilization and reconstruction. In addition, there needs to be more opportunities for continuous, lifelong learning. Let’s look now at the costs associated with these different forms of training.
Stairsteps to the Holodeck Everyone should have a holodeck in their backroom. This technology should be come, to use a term that Ivan Marovich once explained to us, 'invisible.' A word processor is an invisible technology. No one says "Wow you have a Word Processor!" They only notice it if it is not there. To be able to create
Consultants form practice around this, Teachers Use this, Researchers Use for your experiments.