Author: Mario Ramon Duarte – 27/07/2025
COGNITIVE WARS: IS THE MIND A NEW BATTLEGROUND IN THE 4.0 ERA?
The fourth industrial revolution, or era of digilization, marks a new epochal change, a time in which we human beings find ourselves immersed, not only through the convergence of new physical, biological and digital technologies, but also as a result of a unique and unprecedented exceptionalism in the history of the planet, because never before had the world stopped simultaneously, the product of a global event, of which humanity has no precedent and it is as a result of what happened in 2020 (pandemic), that the world we live in changed forever in a disruptive way, but also in a more dizzying way thant it had been manifesting.
New global events have emerged in this context, undoubtedly a world where geopolitical positions are shifting the one side or the other; a world with tangible and intangible walls dividing societies; a world without consensus and with multilateral organizations clearly weakened and in the process of resetting. But above all, there is a marked tendency toward Techno-Polarization, which is growing in a very strong and significant way. On the one hand, digitalization is global, it is a shrinking and narrowing of time and space, but at the same time it entails global risks, such as climate change, ciberterrorism, pandemics, and cognitive decline, to name a few of the most notable scourges.
Base don the above, we can affirm that digitalization exposes us to the fragility of global systems at the colletive level, and unprecedentedly defenseless at the individual level. Among the scourges we have alluded to that profoundly affect the individual are strategies that seek to influence or manipulate human cognition, in a world experiencing a highly digitalized culture, which are nothing more and nothing less thant the socalled cognitive wars.
It´s easy to understand that digitalization powerfully affects the notion of the time and space, the perception of oneself, others, and the world, the way we learn, obtain information, and interac with others. This prevents us from developing critical thinking, favoring other cosmetic issues that undoubtedly work to the detriment of human beings. Because of this, it´s neither good nor healthy to confuse communication with mere virtual contact. Although, as we mentioned above, the digital realm is often a place were we spend long periods of time, this virtual realm is also a territory of loneliness, manipulation, exploitation, and violence. Many of these cases occur on the Dark web, which results in nothing but dependence, isolation, and loss of contact with reality.
But then, what is cognitive warfare? What are its characteristics? And what are we dealing with when we refer to this concept, which we hear with increasing frequency in our daily lives?
Cognitive warfare is a new type of war that humanity suffers, although we affirm that these are the strategies that are applied to human cognition to manipulate and influence the mind, when defining cognitive wafare, we can also outline that they are the set of actions aimed at manipulating the perception of an individual or in the collective of a group, with the aim of influencing their decisions, attitudes and behaviors, thus favoring the interests of those who practice them, but the most delicate thing about all this is that the main battlefield of this new ware is unleashed in the mind of the human being, in our mind, where without a doubt, in addition to being the main objective, is where through multiple strategies, it seeks to alter how one thinks, what one thinks and even the way of acting, thus modifying reality, fully impacting decision-making, tacitly influencing our environment at every moment.
Cognitive wafare is a silent war, but one that increasingly penetrates our being, indiscriminately undermining our perception and, above all, our critical sense. While war, as any type of war, has its roots in the military, this time several red lines have been crossed, the likes of which we have never seen before. Hence, we alluded to the fact that we are living in a unique and unprecedented time in human history; this war has spread to every área in which we operate daily, whether political, social, economic, cultural, educational, etc.
Some cases of cognitive wars that we can refer to, just by stating them in an ilustrative sense: Desinformation campaigns on social networks, psychological operations in military conflicts, fake news and political elections, manipulation of the media, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, rumor campaings in critical situations, use of bots and trolls on the internet, subliminal advertising techniques, fear and disinformation campaigns in public health, use of Al for psychographic profiling, among others. The war and humanitarian scenarios in the Middle East are perhaps one of the most outstanding examples of what truly occurs at both the political and military levels of cognitive warfare, and this is passed on to the rest of the world´s population who consume it, demonizing one side and sacralizing the other, knowing that in a war no one wins, on the contrary we lose everything, and here we not only lose as humanity at the military level but we also lose perception, we lose the truth and this can only be fought with Social Friendship, with greater Social Love, with more Fratelli Tutti, with more humanity, with a more critical sense of the surrounding reality.
Cognitive warfare takes familiar and novel approaches in information, cyber, and psychological wafare to a new level, attempting to alter not only the way people think, but also how individuals or groups of people react. As a result, states are called upon not only to safeguard the security and defense of their borders, but also to effectively monitor the ongoing and ongoing battles within the cognitive domain of their citizens from the virtual realm.
There is no doubt that speaking of fifth-generation wafare is closely linked to Cognitive Wafare, and through the various instruments that facilitate and emerge in this era of humanity, such as the convergence of the internet, information, technological devices, social networks, which is the most illustrative of an infernal war machine, are those who make this new scenario propitious, which humanity suffers to this day, but while this tends to increase, due to great evils that our planet suffers, which are neither more nor less than a lack of global regulation of cyberspace, and among others, a lack of ethical regulation of artificial intelligence; we will have to wait for the world, in the concert of nations, to be capable of generating a Digital New Deal.
One of the greats of our time, His Holiness Pope Francis, expressed that science and technology are a beautiful product of human creativity gifted by God. I understand that well-directed technoscience can produce valuable things for the quality of life of human beings, but we cannot ignore that in technology, those who win are those who have the knowledge and, above all, the economic power to use it on the whole of humanity and also with an impressive dominion over the entire world. Humanity has never had so much power over itself, and there´s no guarantee that it will use it well, specially considering the way it´s doing so. While technological progress isn´t a condemnation, it does leave us with a grave warning if we continue to advance without adequate regulation. Today, we find ourselves facing a soulles technology, and this undoubtedly has a profound impacto n our lives, which are currently tied to this new time, this new era humanity is experiencing.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that this new type of war, this new phenomenon that humanity is suffering from, is undoubtedly a constant threat to peace and mental health, from the individual to the entire democratic society, which seeks to fully realize its essence. In the face of these global crises, the only path left is knowledge, solidarity, and clear rules that lead to a society with means, but above all, with ends, facilitating science with conscience, ethics, social and environmental values, and not a technoscience devoid of values; combating the throwaway culture that offers only one path: every man for himself.
DR. MARIO RAMON DUARTE
LAWYER (UCASAL)
SPECIALIST IN CYBERSECURITY AND CYBERDEFENSE (GEOPOLITICAL DOSSIER-ARG)
SPECIALIST IN THE PUBLIC LAW (UCSF)
SPECIALIST IN CITY SECURITY AND CRIME PREVENTION (IFDSyS)
ARGENTINE ACADEMIES AICTEH (VALENCIA-ESP)
SEMINARIST AND BIOLAW AND BIOETIC (U.C.GEORGETOWN-EEUU)
VISION AND GLOBAL TRENDS COLUMNIST (ROME/LAZIO-ITA)
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CUARTA REVOLUCION INDUSTRIAL: ANALISIS ESTRATEGICOS. AUTOR: MARIO R. DUARTE EDIT: PHILLOS ACADEMY (2021)
CHRISTUS VVIVIT. Exhoratcion Apostolica Post-sinodal. AUTOR: PAPA FRANCISCO. EDIT: PAULINAS (2019)
AVANCES TECNOLOGICOS Y HUMANISMO. AUTOR: GUSTAVO BELIZ. CANAL: USI (2020).
GEOPOLITICA, SOBERANIA Y ORDEN INTERNACIONAL EN LA NUEVA NORAMLIDAD. AUTOR: MIGUEL A. BARRIOS – ENRIQUE REFOJJO ACEDO. EDIT: BIBLOS (2020)