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, Paul Buvarp contrasts disinformation as a human demand-side problem with the typical supply-side perspective. Additional discussion threads include thinking about online and real-world environments as differently as forests and tropical environments are different, how young people view TikTok and news consumption, bypassing traditional information filters, and Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety.

Recording Date: 1 Apr 2025

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #212 Libby Lange on Algorithmic Cognitive Warfare
• The spread of true and false news online by Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, Sinan Aral
• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion by Zac Gershberg and Sean Illing

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Bio: Paul M. H. Buvarp, Ph.D., is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (ffi.no/en), specialising in disinformation and foreign interference in digital media. His work explores the phenomenon through the lenses of media theory, sociology, and philosophy. He is also part of the research team monitoring and analysing attempts to interfere with Norwegian elections. Paul holds a doctorate degree in International Relations from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He has published numerous academic articles, reports, and essays, and regularly gives lectures and talks in Norway and internationally.

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, JD Maddox discusses new influence opportunities borne out of necessity. JD suggests that listeners consider radical-sounding concepts for, such as letters of marque, indemnification, task-based organization, public-private operations, and new authorities as viable influence pathways for today’s strategic landscape.

Recording Date: 31 Mar 2025

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned or Related
  • #110 Sean McFate on The New Rules of War
  • #220 Tom Kent on US International Broadcasting and Soft Power
• Lord’s Resistance Army (Central Africa)
• The Kherson Ruse: Ukraine and the Art of Military Deception
• Letters of Marque
• US Agency for Global Media

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: J.D. Maddox is an expert in political warfare, and an academic, writer and former political candidate. He has served as a Central Intelligence Agency branch chief, deputy coordinator of the U.S. Global Engagement Center, advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and as a U.S. Army Psychological Operations team leader. He is the founder of Inventive Insights LLC, and the Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Deft9 Solutions, and currently consults on Operations in the Information Environment to government organizations, and consults to commercial and political organizations on strategic communications. He's an adjunct professor of national security studies at George Mason University's Schar School, teaching Disinformation and Policy Responses, and he’s an adjunct professor at Tulane University, where he teaches Open Source Information Analysis. He also recently initiated "Tab D," a biweekly report highlighting U.S. adversaries' narrative vulnerabilities.

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, Carrick Longley discusses Large Language Models (LLM) and influence. Key topics include:

• LLM 101
• Usage and changes in prompt engineering
• Improving influence resonance and speed
• The recent DeepSeek model controversy
• Bias in foundational models and
• Software development

Recording Date: 26 Mar 2025

Research Question: Guest suggests an interested student or researcher examine:

Resources:

• ZenithFlow
• Company of One by Paul Jarvis
• Reddit: Local LLama

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Dr. Carrick Longley is the Founder and CEO of ZenithFlow, a company pioneering privacy-first AI solutions for strategic communications. A former Marine Corps SIGINT and Technical IO Officer with a Ph.D. in Information Sciences, he leads the development of StoryForge, an advanced platform that transforms raw data into compelling narratives. Through ZenithFlow's local-first AI approach, Dr. Longley is revolutionizing how organizations leverage artificial intelligence to create impactful messaging while maintaining complete data privacy and control.

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.