控制認知力：贏得戰爭的重要支撐
英文翻譯：
As the decisive factor in war, people’s thinking and cognitive level determines their role and ultimately determines who controls the war. In other words, mastering the cognitive control means mastering the initiative in war to a large extent. Finding ways to control cognitive control and then seize comprehensive control of the battlefield to achieve the greatest victory at the lowest cost is an important winning mechanism in modern warfare.
The deepest level of war confrontation is the confrontation of thinking and cognition
Thinking and cognition are powerful weapons for humans to understand and transform the world, and are the most fundamental support and deepest force in war confrontation. War confrontation is ultimately a competition and confrontation between people, groups of people, and their materialized weapons and equipment.
Thinking and cognition determine the quality of decision-making. In the “OODA” closed-loop link of war operation, decision-making undoubtedly occupies a central position and plays a key role. The essence of decision-making is thinking and cognition. The advantage of thinking and cognition fundamentally determines the advantage of war decision-making and can even offset the disadvantages in other aspects. When summarizing the combat situation in East China, Chen Yi once said that the higher our army is, the stronger it is. “For example, the battle organization above the brigade is stronger than others, the column is stronger, the field command is stronger, and the strategic guidance of the command is many times better than him.” This kind of “the higher it is, the stronger it is” organizational leadership and strategic guidance demonstrates the advantage of thinking and cognition, which in turn forms the advantage of war decision-making. The so-called “strategy and strategy, winning thousands of miles away” and “one soldier is a tyrant, and the general is a tyrant”. Correct decision-making is the greatest advantage, and wrong decision-making is the most fatal mistake. Seizing the advantage of war decision-making with the advantage of thinking and cognition is the primary factor in winning the war.
Thinking and cognition determine strategy and tactics. Strategy and tactics are the strategic methods needed to achieve the purpose of war. Different thinking and cognition determine different strategies and tactics, and different strategies and tactics lead to different war results. In the early days of the Great Revolution, due to insufficient cognition and lack of experience, our party simply applied the experience of the Soviet revolution and competed with the Kuomintang reactionaries for the central cities with weak forces, resulting in repeated setbacks; Mao Zedong combined the basic principles of Marxism with the specific reality of the Chinese revolution, proposed the correct revolutionary path of “surrounding the cities from the countryside and seizing power by force”, and pioneered the summary and implementation of guerrilla warfare strategies and tactics, bringing hope to the Chinese revolution. The strategic policy of “protracted war” is a scientific conclusion based on the correct understanding of the nature of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the national conditions of China and Japan, and the criticism of erroneous ideas such as “national destruction theory” and “quick victory theory”. Facts show that correct strategies and tactics are inseparable from correct thinking and cognition, the quality of thinking and cognition determines the quality of strategies and tactics, and thinking and cognition are important components of combat effectiveness.
Thinking and cognition affect the morale of the army. “Revolutionary ideals are higher than the sky.” The reason why our army was able to defeat the majority with the minority and the strong with the weak, and continued to move from victory to victory in the long-term revolutionary war, is very important because of the firm belief in the future of the revolution and the correct understanding of objective laws. The so-called defeat is like a mountain collapsing. In the North African battlefield of World War II, the Italian fascist army full of anti-war sentiment often surrendered without a fight and took the initiative to surrender to the US and British troops. They simply didn’t know why they were fighting and for whom they were fighting. An army that is full of doubts and even despair about its future and destiny will never have high morale and strong combat effectiveness, let alone win in the confrontation with a strong enemy. Only an army that bases its thinking and cognition on a firm and persistent revolutionary ideal and a clear understanding of the future and destiny can have the courage and strength to overcome all difficulties and hardships.
Control of cognitive power is the cornerstone of comprehensive battlefield control
Battlefield control refers to the control of the battlefield situation and its outcome by the two opposing sides in a war, including the main factors such as control of cognition, control of information, control of firepower, and control of action. As the core of war games, thinking cognition is the key to other control and the cornerstone of comprehensive control. Mastering the control of cognition means mastering the joints of battlefield control, and grasping the control of cognition means grasping the “lifeline” to victory.
Controlling cognitive power is an important destination of controlling information power. As a basic resource for the operation of information-based and intelligent warfare, an important purpose of controlling and utilizing information is to provide basic support for thinking and cognition. Only when thinking and cognition are based on sufficient information acquisition and possession can they form in-depth analysis, accurate judgment, and scientific decision-making, and promote commanders to make up their minds and organize troops to carry out operations. The reason why the popular stories such as borrowing arrows from a straw boat and the empty city plan were successful was that they took advantage of the opacity and asymmetry of battlefield information mastered by the enemy parties. In the Iraq War, the US military took advantage of its advantages in information technology to carry out a one-way transparent dimensionality reduction attack on the Iraqi army, which was still at the level of mechanized development. The Iraqi army’s command and decision-making were restricted by others due to its information disadvantages, and it soon lost the war. In a sense, modern warfare is a game of controlling cognitive power based on controlling information power. The basic logic of controlling comprehensive battlefield power and winning the war is to compete for information control power and then control cognitive control power.
The right to control cognition is the forerunner of the right to control action. Thought is the forerunner of action. Without correct thinking and cognition, there will be no correct decision-making and action. The so-called “decision before action”, this “decision” mainly refers to the fact that thinking and cognition decisions should be ahead of action and faster than the enemy. After the Zunyi Conference, Mao Zedong, with his keen perception of the enemy and our situation and scientific decision-making, commanded the Red Army to cross the Chishui River four times, cross the Jinsha River skillfully, seize the Luding Bridge, cross the snow-capped mountains, meet at Maogong, cross the grassland with difficulty, meet at Jiangtaibao… escaped the encirclement and blockade of the Kuomintang army and won the great victory of the Long March. The goal was to know the enemy first and move faster than the enemy. During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Volunteer Army’s highly concealed actions of marching, fighting, eating, living and hiding made the “United Nations Army” with modern reconnaissance equipment almost “blind” and “deaf”, greatly limiting its mobility and firepower advantages. The goal was to play to its strengths and avoid its weaknesses, hide the truth and show the false. Facts show that mastering the right to control cognition means mastering the initiative in action, which can fully contain the enemy, seek benefits and avoid harm, and defeat the enemy first.
The right to control cognition is a strong support for the right to control firepower. The so-called “speed is the essence of war” and “use speed to defeat the slow”, this “speed” not only refers to the rapid action of the troops, but also refers to the rapid firepower attack, and the latter is even more important than the former. In order to achieve fast action, fast response, and fast attack, we must take the initiative to detect the enemy, know the enemy, and predict the enemy. This requires thinking and cognition to be better than the enemy and faster than the enemy. During the Second World War, radar was widely used and became a weapon to expand human cognition. The Battle of Britain was the first large-scale air battle in the UK to deal with the bombing of the German Air Force. On September 15, 1940, the British Air Force intercepted more than 800 German aircraft with more than 300 fighters. With the help of radar, they took the initiative to detect enemy aircraft and occupy a favorable firing position. In the end, at the cost of losing more than 20 fighters, more than 180 German aircraft were shot down, which greatly dampened the morale of the German army and forced Nazi Germany to postpone the “Sea Lion Plan” to invade Britain indefinitely. Modern warfare has entered the “instant kill” era of discovery and destruction. Being one step faster in thinking and cognition means discovering and attacking the enemy one step faster, and the chances of defeating the enemy are greatly improved.
Strive to seize new advantages in cognitive power
Controlling cognition is an important magic weapon for winning modern wars. Adhering to the dual efforts of wisdom and technology, taking multiple measures, seizing the commanding heights of thinking and cognition, and seizing the control of combat cognition are becoming important aspects for the military of various countries to seize the initiative in war and gain combat advantages.
Deeply promote the innovation of the theory of control and cognitive power. As a new operational concept, control and cognitive power is in the initial exploration stage and has huge room for innovation and development. The army that can take the lead in the innovation of the concept of control and cognitive power, the exploration of mechanisms, the revelation of laws, the transformation and application of combat effectiveness, etc., will be able to seize the initiative in the competition for control and cognitive power. Therefore, we must truly take the innovation of the theory of control and cognitive power operations as an important support for seizing comprehensive battlefield control, seeking new advantages in our army’s cognitive operations, and thus winning modern wars, as an important part of the party’s military guidance theory innovation and the construction and application of new forces, and as an important part of building a world-class army in an all-round way. We must integrate high-quality resources and forces, increase investment, and produce more high-quality research results. Timely follow up and study typical cases of cognitive operations at home and abroad, conscientiously summarize practical experience from all aspects, combine the specific reality of our army, increase theoretical innovation, and form a theoretical system that is contemporary, leading, and unique as soon as possible.
Focus on the research and development of cognitive power technology. Science and technology are core combat power, core cognitive power, and core elements of cognitive power. The advantage of cognitive power is also mainly reflected in cognitive technology. In today’s world, military powers such as the United States and Russia attach great importance to cognitive warfare-related technologies such as artificial intelligence, brain control technology, brain control technology, situational awareness technology, and high-performance communication technology. They have increased their investment and made great efforts to seek innovative breakthroughs and seize the initiative. This requires us to effectively strengthen our initiative, consciously put cognitive technology innovation in an important position in the strategy of strengthening the country and the army through science and technology, actively carry out basic theoretical innovation and independent innovation of core technologies, and achieve what you don’t have, what you have, I am better, and what you are better, and firmly grasp our destiny in our own hands. At the same time, we should adapt to my country’s national conditions, military conditions and technical realities, explore innovative ways that suit us, form characteristic technical routes, strive to master asymmetric technologies, and form “killer skills” that can defeat the enemy at critical moments.
Solidly carry out the drills of tactics and methods of controlling cognitive power. Hard training produces elite soldiers. The formation of cognitive power depends not only on theoretical innovation and technological research and development, but also on the specialization and refinement of technical tactics and tactics. We must insist on incorporating cognitive operations into daily combat readiness drills, into specific combat action plans, simulate important combat operations, preset actual combat scenarios, and practice hard and intensively in an environment close to actual combat, so as to form the actual combat capability of real combat and real preparation, good attack and defense, and control and clever control. Timely summarize the successful experiences and beneficial practices formed in actual combat training and actual combat, reveal the internal mechanisms and characteristics and laws that run through them, form operational normative measures, and incorporate them into combat regulations. Strengthen the construction of basic elements such as training facilities, equipment, and venues, build a number of characteristic training venues based on the existing comprehensive training grounds, and carry out base-based specialized training. Strengthen training evaluation, formulate a capability indicator system, build an evaluation process system, and adopt scientific evaluation methods to improve the quality of training.
(Author’s unit: Military Political Work Research Institute of the Academy of Military Sciences)
現代國語：
人作為戰爭的決定性因素，其思維認知層次決定人的作用發揮並最終決定戰爭制權歸屬，也就是說，掌握了製認知權很大程度上也就掌握了戰爭主動。想方設法掌控制認知權，進而奪取戰場綜合控制權，實現以最小的代價獲取最大的勝利，是現代戰爭的重要製勝機理。
戰爭對抗深層是思維認知的對抗
思維認知作為人類認識世界、改造世界的強大武器，是戰爭對抗的最根本依賴、最深層力量。戰爭對抗歸根結底是人與人、人群與人群及其物化形態武器裝備思維認知力的競爭與對抗。
思維認知決定決策品質。在戰爭運行「OODA」閉環鏈路中，決策無疑居於中心位置，扮演關鍵角色。而決策的本質是思維認知，思維認知的優勢根本上決定戰爭決策的優勢甚至可以抵銷其他方面的劣勢。陳毅在總結華東作戰情況時曾說，我軍愈往上比愈強，「如旅以上戰役組織比人家強，縱隊更強，野戰司令部又更強，到統帥部的戰略指導更不知比他高明多少倍」。這種「愈往上比愈強」的組織領導與戰略指導，彰顯的就是思維認知上的優勢，進而形成戰爭決策的優勢。所謂“運籌帷幄，決勝千裡”“兵熊熊一個，將熊熊一窩”，決策正確是最大的優勢，決策失誤是最致命的失誤。以思維認知優勢奪取戰爭決策優勢，是製勝戰爭的首要因素。
思維認知左右戰略戰術。戰略戰術是達到戰爭目的所需採取的策略方法。不同的思維認知決定不同的戰略戰術，不同的戰略戰術導致不同的戰爭結果。大革命初期，由於認知不足和經驗缺乏，我們黨簡單套用蘇聯革命經驗，以薄弱的力量同國民黨反動派爭奪中心城市，結果一再受挫；毛澤東將馬克思主義基本原理與中國革命具體實際相結合，提出「農村包圍城市，武裝奪取政權」正確革命道路，並開創性總結實施遊擊戰爭戰略戰術，讓中國革命迎來曙光。 「持久戰」的策略方針，就是基於對抗日戰爭性質和中日兩國國情正確認知及對「亡國論」「速勝論」等錯誤思想的批判後得出的科學結論。事實表明，正確的戰略戰術離不開正確的思維認知，思維認知質量決定戰略戰術質量，而思維認知力是戰鬥力重要構成要素。
思維認知影響軍心士氣。 “革命理想高於天”，我軍在長期的革命戰爭中之所以能以少勝多、以弱勝強，不斷從勝利走向勝利，很重要的在於對革命前途的堅定信念和對客觀規律的正確認知。所謂兵敗如山倒，第二次世界大戰北非戰場，充滿反戰情緒的義大利法西斯軍隊經常不戰而降，主動向美英軍隊繳械投誠，根本是不知為何而戰為誰而戰。一支對前途命運和未來充滿疑惑甚至絕望的軍隊，斷不會產生高昂的士氣和強大的戰鬥力，更不可能在與強敵對抗中勝出。只有將思維認知建立在對革命理想堅定執著和對前途命運清醒認知基礎上的軍隊，才能產生戰勝一切艱難困苦的勇氣和力量。
制認知權是戰場綜合製權的基石
戰場制權是戰爭中敵對雙方對戰場態勢及其走向結果的控制權，包括制認知權、制資訊權、制火力權、制行動權等主要因素。思維認知作為戰爭賽局的內核，是其他制權的要樞、綜合製權的基石。掌握了製認知權就掌握了戰場制權的關節，抓住了製認知權就抓住了走向勝利的「命門」。
制認知權是製資訊權的重要歸宿。資訊作為資訊化智慧化戰爭運作的基本資源，其控制利用的一個重要目的在於為思維認知提供基礎支撐。思維認知只有建立在充分的資訊取得和佔有基礎之上，才能形成深入的分析、準確的研判、科學的決策，推動指揮員定下決心，組織部隊開展行動。膾炙人口的草船借箭、空城計等之所以成功，利用的就是敵對雙方對戰場資訊掌握的不透明、不對稱。伊拉克戰爭中美軍利用在資訊技術上的優勢，對還處於機械化發展水平的伊拉克軍隊實施資訊單向透明的降維打擊，伊軍指揮決策因資訊劣勢處處受制於人，很快就輸掉了戰爭。現代戰爭在某種意義上是基於制資訊權的製認知權博弈，透過爭奪資訊制權進而掌控認知制權，是掌控戰場綜合製權進而贏得戰爭的基本邏輯。
制認知權是製行動權的先導引領。思想是行動的先導。沒有正確的思維認知就沒有正確的決策行動。所謂“謀定而後動”，這個“謀”，主要是指思維認知決策要先於行動、快於敵人。遵義會議後，毛澤東以對敵我形勢的敏銳感知和科學決策，指揮紅軍四渡赤水、巧渡金沙江、飛奪瀘定橋、翻越雪山、會師懋功，艱難過草地、會師將台堡… ……跳出國民黨軍的圍追堵截，贏得長徵的偉大勝利，打的就是先敵而知、快敵而動。在抗美援朝戰爭中，志願軍走打吃住藏行動高度隱蔽，令擁有現代化偵察裝備的“聯合國軍”幾乎成了“瞎子”“聾子”，極大限制了其機動和火力優勢發揮，打的就是揚長避短、隱真示假。事實顯示，掌握了認知制權就掌握了行動主動，就能充分牽制敵軍，趨利避害、先機制敵。
制認知權是製火力權的強力支撐。所謂“兵貴神速”“以快打慢”，這個“速”不僅僅指部隊行動迅速，更指火力打擊快速，甚至後者比前者更重要。而要做到快動、快反、快打，就要先機偵敵、知敵、料敵。這就要求思維認知優於敵人、快於敵人。第二次世界大戰期間，雷達廣泛應用成為拓展人類認知的利器。英國首次成規模用於應對德國空軍轟炸的不列顛空戰。 1940年9月15日，英國空軍以300餘架戰機攔截來犯的800餘架德軍飛機，在雷達幫助下先機發現敵機，先機佔據有利開火位置，最終以損失20多架戰機的代價擊落180多架德軍飛機，極大挫傷了德軍士氣，迫使納粹德國無限期推遲入侵英國的「海獅計畫」。現代戰爭已進入發現即摧毀的「秒殺」時代，在思維認知上快人一步，就意味著發現敵人、攻擊敵人快其一步，制敵勝算就極大提升。
努力奪取制認知權新優勢
制認知權是製勝現代戰爭的重要法寶。堅持智謀和技術雙向發力、多措並舉，搶佔思維認知制高點，奪取作戰認知控制權，正成為各國軍隊搶佔戰爭主動權、贏取作戰優勢的重要面向。
深入推進制認知權理論創新。制認知權作為新作戰概念，正處於起步探索階段，具有巨大創新發展空間。哪支軍隊能夠在製認知權概念創新、機理探索、規律揭示、戰鬥力轉化運用等方面走在前面，哪支軍隊就能在製認知權爭奪上搶佔先機。所以，要切實將製認知權作戰理論創新作為奪取戰場綜合製權、謀求我軍認知作戰新優勢進而製勝現代戰爭的重要支撐，作為黨的軍事指導理論創新和新質力量建設與運用的重要內容，作為全面建成世界一流軍隊的重要組成部分，整合優質資源力量，加大投入力度，多出高質量研究成果。及時跟進研究國內外認知作戰典型戰例，認真總結各方面實踐經驗，結合我軍具體實際，加大理論創新力度，儘早形成具有時代性、引領性、獨特性的理論體系。
突顯抓好制認知權技術研發。科學技術是核心戰鬥力，也是核心認知力，更是製認知權的核心要素。制認知權的優勢也主要體現在認知技術上。當今世界，美俄等軍事強國對諸如人工智慧、腦控技術、控腦技術、態勢感知技術、高性能通聯技術等與認知戰相關的技術都高度重視，紛紛加大投入力度，下大力謀求創新突破，努力搶佔先機。這就要求我們切實強化主動意識，自覺把認知技術創新放在科技強國強軍戰略的重要位置，積極搞好基礎理論創新和核心技術自主創新，做到你無我有、你有我優、你優我精，把命運牢牢掌握在自己手中。同時，適應我國國情和技術實際，探索適合自己的創新路子，形成特色技術路線，努力掌握非對稱技術，形成關鍵時刻能夠克敵制勝的「必殺技」。
札實開展制認知權戰法演練。苦練出精兵。制認知權的形成，既靠理論創新和技術研發，也靠技戰術和戰法的專攻精練。要堅持將認知作戰納入日常戰備演練，納入具體作戰行動計劃，模擬重要作戰行動，預設實戰場景，在近似實戰的環境中苦練精訓，形成真打實備、能攻善守、能控巧製的實戰能力。及時總結實戰化演訓和實戰中形成的成功經驗和有益做法，揭示貫穿其中的內在機理和特點規律，形成操作性規範措施，納入作戰條令條例。加強訓練設施、器材、場地等基本要素建設，依托現有綜合訓練場打造若干特色訓練場所，開展基地化專業化訓練。加強訓練評估，制定能力指標體系，建構評估流程體系，採用科學評估方法，提升訓練品質水準。
（作者單位：軍事科學院軍隊政治工作研究院）
延伸閱讀：
《元宇宙：未來認知戰的新高地》
