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Sean Gourley

Co-Founder and CTO, Quid

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LIVE CHAT With Sean Gourley: What are some of the lessons from war we can apply to other human endeavors? June 17, 2PM EDT

Live TED Conversation: Join TED Fellow Sean Gourley

Sean is a physicist and military theorist who is using data, maths and visualizations to help us understand the nature of modern war. He asks," What are some of the lessons from war we can apply to other human endeavors?"

This conversation will open at 2:00PM EDT, June 17th, 2011

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Topics: Afghanistan Live Conversation innovation iraq war
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    Linda Hesthag Ellwein 50+

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    Jun 17 2011: Powerful, Sean! Have you drawn any conclusions or new thoughts based on the current conflicts in Libya and Egypt?
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      Sean Gourley 100+

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      Jun 17 2011: yes, we are looking at those conflicts now. Trying to find new ways to analyze the data as it is coming in. Because the conflicts like Egypt are relatively casualty light compared with Iraq/Afghanistan the attack signatures are not the best metrics to use. We are doing more analysis of the tweets, FB updates and news reports - semantic analysis to see if we can see a change in the way language is used. This might be a predictor of escalating violence.
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        Douglas LaVigne

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        Jun 17 2011: Vietnam brought us war on TV... now it is war viewed through the web. Fascinating.
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        Anna Cristiana Minoli 500+

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        Jun 17 2011: Is it possible that access to information with such differents tools give insurgents more power, compared to army where information probably comes always from official sources? I believe in many human areas, information is power.
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          Sean Gourley 100+

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          Jun 17 2011: I think it was best put like this

          "information is not power, information asymmetry is power"
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          Sean Gourley 100+

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          Jun 17 2011: what is also interesting about the conflicts in the middle east is the role that new technology had to play in the organizational of the uprisings (and crack down by the existing regimes). We saw the term 'twitter/facebook revolution' start to emerge.

          When we have the next revolution - will it be a 'foursquare revolution'. Will people use geolocation data, or gamefication techniques to co-ordinate millions of people in opposition? Will there be a "revolution" badge?

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