More than 2,500 years ago, the Chinese war strategist, Sun Tzu wrote in his book, “The Art of War” that all warfare is based on deception. Ambush, pretended retreat and the deception of strength to surprise enemies, these were the key strategies in his times. However, in contemporary times, the modern world has seen the dramatic shift of deception as it is shifting on digital frontiers rather than in the physical battlefields. The strategy of deception that used to be represented in the form of military maneuvers, now are represented in the form of disinformation campaigns, propaganda networks and psychological operations that do not only affect the behavior of wars but literally transform the patterns of whole societies.
From Battlefields to Minds
Sun Tzu says that the ability to seize victory over an opponent without fighting is the greatest form of warfare. The principle reflected in this ancient principle is given a new manifestation as the modern states and non-state players consider the information warfare to be their weapon of choice. These new combatants do not use the conventional tools of war, such as tanks and missiles, but instead thrive on controlling the narratives, instilling fear and distorting societal perception to dominate. The battlefield no longer belongs within any geographical border, nowadays it is stretched into our digital worlds seeping into our news feeds, driving our every-day conversations and even tapping into our very emotional reactions.
Disinformation: A Strategic Weapon
The ancient advice to be weak when strong, strong when weak, was one of the pillars of the Sun Tzu strategic thought. This eternal idea is being replicated today in the form of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. With the deepfakes, fake news and networked bots, even reality is subject to manipulation, turning true strength or weakness into the questions of perception instead of apparent truth. For instance, the propaganda Russia has conducted during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict through disinformation campaigns, China’s disinformation in Taiwan or ISIS’s digital propaganda, are the best example of how utilization of manipulated information in a structured manner to hide the facts, confuse the masses and demoralize their military forces, reaching strategic goals without military participation.
Emotional Manipulation as a propaganda
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him, this maxim of Sun Tzu expresses the knowledge of psychological warfare that finds an appalling success in our digital era. This emotional manipulation has been amplified to unprecedented levels by contemporary propaganda networks. Fear serves as an instrument of control, anger becomes a political currency and nationalism becomes fuel of societal division. Its influence is much broader than conventional warfare, as observed in the past when Cambridge Analytica intervened in the 2016 US Presidential elections in support of campaigns of Trump, Ted Cruz and all Republicans by transforming surveys and Facebook data into a political messaging weapon. This is how propaganda has become embedded in the very fabric of human life. These processes systematically steer the mass opinion in a hidden direction, they act not at the time of proclaimed wars, but as an undertide in the contemporary flow of life.
Psychological Operations in the Digital Age
What used to be secretive military psychological missions have been brought into the public realm and is being practiced overtly in the modern globalized world. Calculated use of fabricated stories, falsified video messages and planned information leakages not only demoralize the enemy but also create internal disunity among the opposing forces. This strategy is a re-creation of the final strategic vision of Sun Tzu, the conquest of the enemies without fighting. This strategy becomes highly relevant when the opposing forces are demoralized and divided enough by an internal split can be subdued without the necessity to engage in a more traditional war effort.
The Ethical Dilemma
Using the wisdom of Sun Tzu in the context of our hyper interconnected world, we see frightening implications that go beyond the short-term strategic benefits. Any immediate success gained with the help of a lie comes at a great cost: the weakening of trust and the uncertainty of social principles. Democracy institutions, which fundamentally rely on transparency and accountability to the people, are threatened when the truth becomes a battleground of competing discourses. The ultimate question that arises out of these developments is the point at which strategic deception historically confined within the confines of military operation turns into massive manipulation of the entire society, with its disastrous results?
Conclusion
The timeless nature of the teachings of Sun Tzu is based on the fact that they reflect the nature of conflict throughout all times. Although deception always has been the perpetual ally of warfare over the course of history, its modern manifestation has penetrated all spheres of contemporary life. The old saying that the highest triumphs do not involve conflict might remain true, but truth itself will become the ultimate victim. In the contemporary context of widespread propaganda and systematic falsehoods, the skill of uncovering fraudulent tactics goes beyond being strategically advantageous, it has become a pre-requisite of being a citizen of elevated mind.
