jpt4/gist:9aa932873d8e7a3a2196719af859f745

## gistfile1.txt
Epistemic status: extemporaneous speculation, inspired by a Twitter post.

https://twitter.com/BellacosaVagner/status/1522202918480396289
"Saint Javelin Prey [sic] for Azovstal"

Because the man-portable missile launcher is generally a single use weapon, any given piece of equipment cannot be integrated into a soldier's sense of extended self as fully as a persistent weapon like a rifle or knife. From one perspective, this dissociation of the soldier from his tool reduces combat effectiveness, because it truncates the development of nuanced, fine-grained attention to the weapon and its performance. Viewed differently, by reducing the metonymical validity of an object for the man wielding it ("ten ATGMs" introduces more cognitive overhead, rather than less, compared to "ten spears"), it re-centers the human as the fundamental, apparatus-agnostic component of any weapons system.

When a weapon can do nothing without a human, the mental attitude which allows for impartial calculation of degradation, attrition, and loss of those weapons is invariably incentivized to propagate and encompass the human himself. When a human is the initiator of the operation of a thereafter substantial autonomous weapon, then man and machine can be conceived of with greater modularity.

This contributes to the sense of unnaturality in the portrayals of saints carrying Skifs [0], moreso than other weapons, because the eternal personage stands in contrast with expendable equipage.

This phenomenon will be assayed more thoroughly (and consequently, I predict, revealed more clearly) once drone pilots are controlling massively multi-unit swarms whose churn rate is an essential parameter in any mission plan.

It is already the case that, above a certain level of organization, planning must be conducted with an awareness of the interchangeable nature of subordinates: that they are resources to be allocated, potentially destructively, so as to maximize ROI in the form of achieving mission objectives. Attaching multiple semi or fully disposable machine assets to small units or individual soldiers will in effect add another, more peripheral layer to the table of organization (viewing higher echelons as internal, lower as external). Switching from a categorical to a probabilistic attitude with respect to weapons use and loss at the small unit and individual level marks another example of "pushing decision to the edge", in the form of "the commander's perspective" on resource flow.

One complicating factor in this trajectory of detachment is if the swarm is controlled via a bidirectional brain-computer interface of sufficient bandwidth (a la Neuralink) so as to induce the sensation of extended self. A test for this degree of embodiment could be whether swarm captains experience phantom limb esque syndromes for lost swarm members.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skif_(anti-tank_guided_missile)
	Epistemic status: extemporaneous speculation, inspired by a Twitter post.

	https://twitter.com/BellacosaVagner/status/1522202918480396289
	"Saint Javelin Prey [sic] for Azovstal"

	Because the man-portable missile launcher is generally a single use weapon, any given piece of equipment cannot be integrated into a soldier's sense of extended self as fully as a persistent weapon like a rifle or knife. From one perspective, this dissociation of the soldier from his tool reduces combat effectiveness, because it truncates the development of nuanced, fine-grained attention to the weapon and its performance. Viewed differently, by reducing the metonymical validity of an object for the man wielding it ("ten ATGMs" introduces more cognitive overhead, rather than less, compared to "ten spears"), it re-centers the human as the fundamental, apparatus-agnostic component of any weapons system.

	When a weapon can do nothing without a human, the mental attitude which allows for impartial calculation of degradation, attrition, and loss of those weapons is invariably incentivized to propagate and encompass the human himself. When a human is the initiator of the operation of a thereafter substantial autonomous weapon, then man and machine can be conceived of with greater modularity.

	This contributes to the sense of unnaturality in the portrayals of saints carrying Skifs [0], moreso than other weapons, because the eternal personage stands in contrast with expendable equipage.

	This phenomenon will be assayed more thoroughly (and consequently, I predict, revealed more clearly) once drone pilots are controlling massively multi-unit swarms whose churn rate is an essential parameter in any mission plan.

	It is already the case that, above a certain level of organization, planning must be conducted with an awareness of the interchangeable nature of subordinates: that they are resources to be allocated, potentially destructively, so as to maximize ROI in the form of achieving mission objectives. Attaching multiple semi or fully disposable machine assets to small units or individual soldiers will in effect add another, more peripheral layer to the table of organization (viewing higher echelons as internal, lower as external). Switching from a categorical to a probabilistic attitude with respect to weapons use and loss at the small unit and individual level marks another example of "pushing decision to the edge", in the form of "the commander's perspective" on resource flow.

	One complicating factor in this trajectory of detachment is if the swarm is controlled via a bidirectional brain-computer interface of sufficient bandwidth (a la Neuralink) so as to induce the sensation of extended self. A test for this degree of embodiment could be whether swarm captains experience phantom limb esque syndromes for lost swarm members.

	[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skif_(anti-tank_guided_missile)