"Man or machine? Hagerott brilliantly examines the enduring tension between the Ernest King system--a Navy of generalist officers capable of integrated judgment in matters of operations and strategy--and Hyman Rickover's countervailing ideology of technocracy. This choice--essential in the context of the 4th industrial revolution and the rise of AI and autonomous systems--is central to how new human-based control regimes must emerge to command machine-based use regimes. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the centuries-old debate over how the Navy sees itself and why the outcome is profoundly important." --CDR Paul S. Giarra, USN (Ret.), President of Global Strategies & Transformation "This is the right book to read, at the right time in history to read it, and by the right author. Captain Hagerott is a brilliant polymath with a storied career as an administrator, teacher, warship commander, and a nuclear engineer. His magnum opus is a magisterial discussion of the past, present, and future of naval technology and its ever-evolving interrelationships with naval leadership, education, and organization.
The perfect introduction for anyone pursuing a career in the era of AI, robotics, and machine learning. His analysis of the Navy's technicians, generalists, and integrators is destined to be a naval classic." --Peter M. Swartz, Captain, USN (Ret.), Principal Research Scientist, Center for Naval Analyses " Commanding Minds and Machines arrives at a critical moment, urging the U.S. Navy to rethink its leadership paradigm amid rapid technological change and emerging peer threats. Through extensive original research, Mark Hagerott shows how expanding nuclear technology, technocratic vision, and Cold War imperatives displaced a professional culture characterized by unified purpose and integrative command.
The result was a fragmented, specialist-dominated officer corps. Centered on the enduring tensions between specialists and integrators, Hagerott offers a sharp critique--and a compelling case for developing naval leaders who can think across systems, not just within them." --Capt. Scott Mobley, USN (Ret.), PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison; author of Progressives in Navy Blue "Mark Hagerott's book is an extraordinary study of a critical issue in 20th- and 21st-century U.S. naval history. Deeply researched by a superb scholar and participant in the process, this is an elegantly written study of the century-long challenge to organize and choose how best to educate, select, and promote navy officers.
His treatment of Admiral Hyman Rickover's impact on naval education is path-breaking and persuasive, and his command of emerging technology challenges, particularly artificial intelligence, make this book required reading by not just historians but by the U.S. Navy's senior uniformed and civilian leaders as well." -- David Rosenberg, former professor of naval history and strategy at the Naval War College, National War College, and U.S. Naval Academy, and Captain, USN (Ret.).