Intent and purpose 2

A different lesson can be drawn from the same material in the last blog.

Even though the United States had a superior satellite spy system observing the USSR and China, the United States had completely inadequate intelligence about the military direction of the USSR and the nature of its economic output.

By the beginning of the '80s it was necessary to re-examine the Russian military intention and purpose because the satellite data and the human spy material were in conflict. After the Cold War was over it turned out that the fundamental premise of American policy, mutually assured destruction, was not in sync with USSR policy. We never understood communist intent and purpose.

Having good images is almost irrelevant when you need to know intent and purpose. The same was true of the fall of the USSR where the US did not understand the extent of the economic failure. We missed the collapse of communism in the USSR and didn't get it right in China either.

I compare the knowledge of images without intent and purpose to neurobiology which I consider to be mostly irrelevant. Knowing what parts of the brain light up is not important to knowing how the brain actually functions.  Lighting up is not the same thing as processing and says nothing about what is going on.

A map of a city bus route and time schedule tells you little or nothing about the quality or functioning of the bus service.