InsaneJournal

Because 4GW is so 2007...
The fine old conspiracy/deep history/psychotronoc/magical blog Skilluminati is back in strength. It's looking closely at 5th Generational Warfare.

But Cat, you ask - what the hell is that?

Well, if you've been reading John Robb - and frankly, you really should be - he's put you straight on the ethos behind 4th Generational war... the kind fought by small loosely-connected non-government groups against nation-states. The kind of war the new US doctrines about 'counterinsurgency' are devised to oppose. Which they're not doing so well at.

5GW (as Robb has occasionally mentioned) shifts the focus once again, from small but well-equipped and networked cells to 'superempowered individuals'. People with enough kit, nous and inclination to fight a nation-state or other large actor alone. And the best defence against those guys is either very resilient local systems and networks... or to become one yourself.

The 'Warfare' part of 5GW is perhaps a little tricky to fully deal with. It's a lot more Sun Tzu than mere combat, as these quotes from Skilluminati creator Justin Borland show:

' We've seen a nearly infinite array of permutations of "kill the enemy" -- 5GW is something new. Harmonize with the enemy, control the enemy, use the enemy. '

' I am unlike most 5GW bloggers in that I'm not worried about the future of the US as a global superpower. I'm writing for an audience very much like myself: post-nationalism, post-racism, post-religion human beings with no respect for authority, national borders or even the laws of physics. '

' Peter J. Carroll, who is himself a 5GW veteran, operating under a pseudonym and re-wiring tens of thousands of brains around the world, posed this question in terms of religion. On a planet with over 10,000 actively worshipped Gods -- none of which are currently visible, none of which can be proven to exist -- how can you be sure which Divinity to bet upon? Doesn't it make more sense to invest that faith in yourself?

With Skilluminati Research, I'm making the same argument on a political level. Why make appeals to power when you could build your own? You could be learning to weld, working out or reading a book with that valuable time. Why worry about your leaders when they can't actually control you, and don't care what you personally think, want or feel?

5GW is power.

Specifically, 5GW is dedicated individuals exercising their power to achieve their own goals at the expense of everyone who gets in their way. I think this kind of clarity is missing from the discussion because the occult dimension of power has no place in a respectable debate, from military theory to politics to history. For thousands of years, small groups of humans using ritual magick have been controlling nations, waging wars and engaging in economic and psychological warfare. One occult warfare master who does get mentioned in military circles is Hassan i Sabbah, long a muse of William S. Burroughs and Robert Anton Wilson.

I'm open to the argument that I'm only engouraging a plague of lone psychopaths declaring war on the world, but my own 5GW practice is informed and indebted to D.J. Kilcullen, author of the 28 Articles, which you should probably read right now if you haven't already. Article 26 states: "Build your own solution -- only attack the enemy when he gets in the way."

As I said at the outset of this project, "my interest in 5GW (5th Generation Warfare) is rooted in it's potential for positive social and cultural change." I am investigating warfare for the same reasons I investigated psychology and marketing -- because the tools of social control will be less damaging when they're widely distributed. Executives who have power over millions of other humans are inherently dangerous -- millions of humans with executive control over themselves is where we're headed this century.

The dinosaurs of governments and corporations and media conglomerates and think tanks and universities -- the old legitimate White Control System -- will not let go quietly and politely. So I think every future mutunt has a common-sense obligation to learn how to disable and disarm them as effectively as possible. This is going to be a very bumpy ride and we can all help minimize the bloodshed. '

A good interview with Justin is here.