Social Physics: A Tool for Operational Design

As the world becomes more interconnected digitally, even the most basic actions are producing data points that paint a picture of a society's activities and beliefs. The study of societal beliefs and actions using "big data" has been termed social physics -- the study of information and idea flow relative to human behavior. Research and experimentation is required to determine if social physics can provide insight into the operating environment in ways that can be informative and even predictive for a Geographic Combatant Commander. This paper defines social physics, it explains the importance to operational planners, it proposes a method to use social physics at the GCC-level, it recommends an experiment case, and it answers the shortfalls and challenges that are associated with using social physics to help understand the operating environment.