The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Bob Thibadeau returns to the Cognitive Crucible and discusses the fundamentals of computational cognitive neuroscience and privacy. He asserts that everyone should manage a million identities on an embodied chip, share these identities selectively, and change them frequently.

Recording Date: 29 Sep 2025

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #5 Robert Thibadeau on Lies
• The Internet Court of Truth
• Robotaxies: Blackmail Comes of Age and the Need for Identity MegaChips (YouTube)
• Fiat Lies are Genocide on the Human Race (YouTube)
• Fiat Lies are Genocide on the Human Race (Medium)
• Flashy Crypto Chipped: A Storage OEM View (YouTube)
• Robert Thibadeau's Medium Site
• Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (Wikipedia)
• Heider and Simmel (1944) animation (YouTube)

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Professor Bob Thibadeau has been affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science since 1979. His expertise is in Cognitive Science, AI, and Machine Learning. Prof Thibadeau is one of the founding Directors of the Robotics Institute. And, he is author of the book "How to Get Your Lies Back: The Internet Court of Lies." Watch his recent Liecourt.com or truthcourt.net trials at https://www.truthcourt.net/sponsor/thibadeau. "Fiat Lies are Genocide on the Human Race" is a brief summary of the book available on Medium.com. It is tried for its truthfulness off his TruthCourt.net sponsor page. or directly at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp-Q_Vqm7Eo. His "million identities to protect your privacy," also on Medium.com, is tried for its truthfulness at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyxTdFlmZY8.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard discusses rethinking strategic communication for U.S. military public affairs, exploring topics such as the PESO model and the balance between informing and influencing. The discussion centers around his recent article: "Communication Strategery: Rethinking Strategic Communication for U.S. Military Public Affairs."

Recording Date: 24 Sep 2025

Research Question: Orlandon Howard suggests an interested student or researcher examine: What cognitive (psychological and sociological) conditions typically exist among host nation populations that are associated with prevalent support for foreign military aims and operations?

Resources:

• "Communication Strategery: Rethinking Strategic Communication for U.S. Military Public Affairs" by Orlandon Howard
• PESO model
• Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1973) by Jacques Ellul

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard serves as the public affairs officer (or PAO) for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower & Reserve Affairs and the U.S. Army G-1 at the Pentagon. He has previously worked as a public affairs coach-trainer, public affairs operations officer, Army brigade combat team PAO, marketing operations officer, and as a Fellow with FleishmanHillard, a New York-based public relations and marketing agency.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Dr. John Pennell discusses his book and Ph.D. research: Assessing Russia's Actions in Ukraine and Syria, 2014–2022 Implications for the Changing Character of War.

Recording Date: 4 Sep 2025

Research Question: John Pennell suggests an interested student or researcher examine:

• How can we better inform the American public about the information space; focusing on informing the American public about threats from adversaries and discerning fact from fiction.
• How Russian information operations has evolved since 2022; studying the evolving Russian information operations since 2014, including the shift in approach in 2022, as well as the influence of non-state actors like criminal syndicates and drug cartels in the information space.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #151 Daniel Runde on Chinese Soft Power
  • #230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm
• Assessing Russia's Actions in Ukraine and Syria, 2014–2022 Implications for the Changing Character of War By John A. Pennell

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio:

Dr. Pennell is a highly accomplished, retired US senior foreign service officer (Minister-Counselor rank), with 20+ years of executive-level experience leading multidisciplinary, interagency, and joint teams to oversee US cooperation programs across Africa, Eurasia, the Indo-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East. He has deep expertise in irregular warfare, strategic competition, public diplomacy, strategic communications, and countering hybrid threats including in high-threat, gray-zone, and/or active combat environments.

He's currently a Senior Diplomacy Fellow with Narrative-Strategies, Senior Strategic Advisor with Pax Strategies LLC, and Senior Practitioner (pro bono) with the US Department of Defense's Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) in the intelligence, operations in the information environment, and emerging tech networks. He's also a subject matter expert reviewer (pro bono) for National Defense University's Joint Forces Quarterly (JFQ) and an International Advisory Board Member of Ukraine Foundation, a Swiss-based organization focused on peace processes and conflict resolution in Ukraine.

In addition to being a lifetime member of the Information Professionals Association (IPA), he's a member of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs (BCFA), Foreign Policy for America (FP4A), Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), and National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A).

He has a PhD in War & Defense Studies from King's College London and Masters degrees from the National War College and American University. His book on Russia's irregular warfare activities in Syria and Ukraine is available from Bloomsbury, Amazon, Waterstones, etc. You can also visit his website.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org.

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.