In 2004, the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Task Force was struggling against Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) despite having more resources, better training, and advanced technology. AQI proved to be a resilient and adaptable foe, able to survive leadership losses and quickly regenerate. Led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, AQI engineered a campaign of brutal violence, bombing civilian targets and igniting a sectarian civil war in Iraq. The author, as commander of the Task Force, realized that AQI was a fundamentally different kind of enemy and the U.S. forces would have to adapt to have any hope of victory.

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

Author: Stanley McChrystal

In Iraq, the U.S. military confronted an environment that was not just complicated, but complex. A complicated environment, like the battlefields of the World Wars, still had a basic, underlying clockwork logic. But by 2004, the speed and interdependence enabled by new technologies had pushed things over the edge into complexity. Small events could spiral outward with disproportionate impacts. Insurgent tactics and civilian reactions seemed to shift constantly in unpredictable ways. Cause and effect were no longer straightforward. Precision plans quickly became irrelevant. The U.S. Task Force realized that rather than just doing complicated operations more efficiently, it would have to fundamentally transform to become an adaptable, complex system itself.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Stanley McChrystal

Writing was a key factor in enabling European societies to build the knowledge and organizational complexity needed to dominate the Americas:

• Writing allowed communication over long distances and time periods
• Literate societies can accumulate and transmit knowledge over generations
• Writing facilitated political administration and economic exchanges
• European literacy and record-keeping was vital for navigation and colonial rule The lesson is that preserving and transmitting information via writing provides a huge competitive advantage for societies.

Section: 4, Chapter: 18

Author: Jared Diamond

In 1532, a tiny Spanish force led by Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahuallpa in the city of Cajamarca. Atahuallpa had an army of 80,000 men, while Pizarro commanded just 168 Spaniards. And yet, in the ensuing battle, the Spaniards slaughtered the Inca forces and took Atahuallpa prisoner.

This stunning victory was a key turning point that allowed Pizarro to conquer the entire Inca Empire with just a few hundred men. It exemplifies the enormous impact of the differences in technology and political organization between Old World and New World societies.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Jared Diamond