Psychological warfare was once an afterthought, it's now the primary battleground | Nayef Al-Rodhan " IAI TV

Psychological warfare has always been a central tool of statecraft, but we have crossed a threshold from which there may be no return. Today, your attention is being harvested, your biases are being weaponized, and your sense of reality is being systematically dismantled, not by armies, but by algorithms. Oxford philosopher, neuroscientist and geostrategist Nayef Al-Rodhan argues that unless we urgently rebuild our capacity for independent thought and move beyond traditional security tactics to protect the very integrity of human judgment—or risk losing the ability to think for ourselves. As technological advancement accelerates, the human mind is increasingly becoming a contested battleground. While psychological operations have long formed part of military strategy, modern tools now allow adversaries to target human cognition at an unprecedented scale and level of precision. Cognitive warfare has consequently emerged as both an academic and strategic concept that frames human cognition as a “sixth domain” of competition, alongside land, sea, air, cyber, and space. What happens when the battlefield shifts from territory to thought itself? And who, if anyone, can safeguard the integrity of human cognition in such an environment?___Cognitive warfare targets not only open debate but the cognitive faculties themselves, distorting how individuals perceive and interpret reality.___The objective has shifted: rather than destroying infrastructure or defeating armed forces, the goal is now to degrade rationality, shape perception, and influence decision-making at both individual and collective levels. More than persuasion alone, cognitive warfare seeks to destabilize and fragment societies by exploiting the vulnerabilities of open information systems, emerging technologies, and the neurobiological mechanisms that underpin belief formation.The effects of cognitive warfare extend across technological, political, social, cultural, neuropsychological, and ethical spheres, which is why no single discipline has the tools to address it alone. Effective responses, therefore, require collaboration across disciplines among researchers, policymakers, technologists, security professionals, civil society, and the private sector. Yet as cognitive warfare continues to evolve in sophistication and reach, an urgent question remains: are contemporary societies intellectually, institutionally, and ethically prepared to defend the integrity of human cognition itself?Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon famously observed that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Few insights better capture the environment in which cognitive warfare operates today. In the digital attention economy, human attention has become the primary scarce resource: extracted, commodified, and increasingly weaponized. Algorithmic platforms compete relentlessly for engagement, rewarding content that provokes strong emotional reactions and keeps users scrolling, clicking, and sharing. As a result, outrage, fear, and polarization are often amplified not only for political purposes but also because they are commercially valuable.These dynamics create fertile ground for cognitive warfare. Actors seeking to influence public opinion no longer need to control information outright; they can instead exploit existing digital systems designed to capture attention and shape behavior. Understanding how this process works is, therefore, essential to understanding cognitive warfare itself. What is cognitive warfare?Cognitive warfare extends far beyond information manipulation. It encompasses operations designed to shape how reality is interpreted and conflict is perceived by governments, militaries, and civilian populations. Françoise du Cluzel defines it as the deliberate manipulation of an adversary’s cognition to weaken, influence, delay, or incapacitate. NATO characterizes it as a struggle for cognitive superiority: securing advantage by shaping the information environment and, through it, the mental conditions that guide thought and action.Unlike classical propaganda, which relied on mass broadcasting, contemporary cognitive warfare exploits algorithmic personalization, behavioral data analytics, social media virality, deepfake technologies, and neuropsychological profiling. In practice, neuropsychological profiling involves analyzing large-scale behavioral and psychological data to identify cognitive vulnerabilities, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns within specific individuals or population segments. For example, digital footprints such as browsing habits, social media interactions, personality indicators, and biometric data can be used to infer traits (such as anxiety, impulsivity, or political predispositions), allowing tailored messaging designed to amplify fear, distrust, or compliance at moments of heightened uncertainty. Such...