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🎖️ **Royal Marine Commando Ben Ford** (software engineer, Haskell/category theory) joins *No Way Out* to expose the **OODA loop myth** most AI devs still believe.
🔥 **Agentic AI runs John Boyd’s *real* OODA** — not the linear "observe-orient-decide-act" cartoon.
🔴 **LLMs are evolutionary dead-ends**: text-in, text-out, no destruction & creation, no real-time model updates.
🟢 **Active inference AI = fractal OODA**: destroys old models, creates new ones *every cycle* — at 1/1000th the energy.
---
🧠 **KEY BREAKDOWNS**
• **Orientation = the entire loop** (neuroscience + category theory proof)
• **Unfolding circumstances = affordances in 4D space-time** (Wardley Maps + spatial web)
• **Destruction & Creation = Active Inference** (FEP, Markov blankets, low-energy dominance)
• **Why Scrum fails, exploration wins** (knowledge *of* vs. knowledge *about*)
• **2026 AI forecast**: edge-device FEP agents, Verses AI, LLMs obsolete.
💬 **QUOTE**
> “LLMs are linear OODA. Active inference is *fractal* OODA. The difference? Real-time destruction and creation.” — **Ben Ford**
---
🚀 **No Way Out Podcast** – Where Marines, AI devs, and systems thinkers decode dominance.
#OODA #AgenticAI #JohnBoyd #ActiveInference #FreeEnergyPrinciple
💬 **QUOTE**
> “LLMs are linear OODA. Active inference is *fractal* OODA. The difference? Real-time destruction and creation.” — **Ben Ford**
Ben Ford (LinkedIn)
John R. Boyd's Conceptual Spiral was originally titled No Way Out. In his own words:
“There is no way out unless we can eliminate the features just cited. Since we don’t know how to do this, we must continue the whirl of reorientation…”
March 25, 2025
Flow Learning Lab
Find us on X. @NoWayOutcast
Substack: The Whirl of ReOrientation
Want to develop your organization’s capacity for free and independent action (Organic Success)? Learn more and follow us at:
https://www.aglx.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@AGLXConsulting
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aglx-consulting-llc/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandrivera
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjmcgrath1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemccrone
Stay in the Loop. Don't have time to listen to the podcast? Want to make some snowmobiles? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive deeper insights on current and past episodes.
Recent podcasts where you’ll also find Mark and Ponch:
The No Bell Podcast Episode 24
...
By Mark McGrath and Brian "Ponch" Rivera4.6
3939 ratings
Send us a text
🎖️ **Royal Marine Commando Ben Ford** (software engineer, Haskell/category theory) joins *No Way Out* to expose the **OODA loop myth** most AI devs still believe.
🔥 **Agentic AI runs John Boyd’s *real* OODA** — not the linear "observe-orient-decide-act" cartoon.
🔴 **LLMs are evolutionary dead-ends**: text-in, text-out, no destruction & creation, no real-time model updates.
🟢 **Active inference AI = fractal OODA**: destroys old models, creates new ones *every cycle* — at 1/1000th the energy.
---
🧠 **KEY BREAKDOWNS**
• **Orientation = the entire loop** (neuroscience + category theory proof)
• **Unfolding circumstances = affordances in 4D space-time** (Wardley Maps + spatial web)
• **Destruction & Creation = Active Inference** (FEP, Markov blankets, low-energy dominance)
• **Why Scrum fails, exploration wins** (knowledge *of* vs. knowledge *about*)
• **2026 AI forecast**: edge-device FEP agents, Verses AI, LLMs obsolete.
💬 **QUOTE**
> “LLMs are linear OODA. Active inference is *fractal* OODA. The difference? Real-time destruction and creation.” — **Ben Ford**
---
🚀 **No Way Out Podcast** – Where Marines, AI devs, and systems thinkers decode dominance.
#OODA #AgenticAI #JohnBoyd #ActiveInference #FreeEnergyPrinciple
💬 **QUOTE**
> “LLMs are linear OODA. Active inference is *fractal* OODA. The difference? Real-time destruction and creation.” — **Ben Ford**
Ben Ford (LinkedIn)
John R. Boyd's Conceptual Spiral was originally titled No Way Out. In his own words:
“There is no way out unless we can eliminate the features just cited. Since we don’t know how to do this, we must continue the whirl of reorientation…”
March 25, 2025
Flow Learning Lab
Find us on X. @NoWayOutcast
Substack: The Whirl of ReOrientation
Want to develop your organization’s capacity for free and independent action (Organic Success)? Learn more and follow us at:
https://www.aglx.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@AGLXConsulting
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aglx-consulting-llc/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandrivera
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjmcgrath1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemccrone
Stay in the Loop. Don't have time to listen to the podcast? Want to make some snowmobiles? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive deeper insights on current and past episodes.
Recent podcasts where you’ll also find Mark and Ponch:
The No Bell Podcast Episode 24
...

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