Time of Useful Consciousness – an OODA example

The Air Force periodically required crew-members to head to the ‘chamber’ for physiological training. If you fly, it’s helpful to learn and experience the dangers of hypoxia. A key metric we learned from Aerospace Medicine is Time of Useful Consciousness (TUC). It’s a clinical way to say you probably won’t survive past a certain time interval. I use TUC here to build a quick Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) model for survival that demonstrates how OODA hierarchies can be used to become an Apex Predator. BLUF: It’s simple, but it ain’t easy…

This pyramid is labeled by level with the resource name, the rough average interval that a human refreshes that resource, and the rough average TUC without it.

The bottom level in red, oxygen (O2), is such a critical resource, that we will not usually survive beyond a few minutes without it. Humans breathe roughly every 4 seconds. Our TUC is roughly 6 minutes or less. There are many more factors not included on this chart (heat, pressure, altitude, etc.).

Earth has such abundance of O2 that our conscious attention to this function can be on ‘autopilot’. We have evolved specific sensory mechanisms to detect a buildup of carbon dioxide, hormones that regulate breathing speed, etc. that are controlled by very basic portions of our brain. We also have manual override.  Learning to control it (take a deep breath in through your nose) is the beginning of mental discipline (and out through your mouth).  Being able to hold your breathe or bring your oxygen with you are huge competitive advantages. If you can’t breath, it will immediately command your full and complete attention.  It’s an OODA Loop on autopilot. It’s also a foundational component of human consciousness.

Any tactic learned here likely is useable on another hierarchical level. If you have an abundance of O2 you can move up the pyramid. If your ability to collect, store, transfer, and measure oxygen expand your survival time and territory, this is also probably true of the rest of the pyramid.

Put on your own oxygen mask first.

Water is the next level of the TUC pyramid. Also, typically an abundant resource, but drinking requires some low-level conscious attention. You will not survive beyond an average of about 3 days without it. Our sensory system intrudes ever more incessantly on our consciousness when we are thirsty. In modern society, we satisfy our need for water with little attention. We build our great cities near great sources of water. The OODA Loop teaches very obvious, simple lessons. In a case like this it insists: Healthy Air and Water are critical at the foundational level of consciousness.

Adapting well to changes in these resources frees our conscious attention to attend to the next resource I’ve included. So if you look up the pyramid, naturally, your survival time increases as you satisfy each resource. The OODA Loop treasures time as the most important conceptual resource. 

Sleep is, surprisingly, more critical than food. The time interval is shorter and sleep deficit is dangerous. Decision-making ability degrades and standards decline.  It was always good sport in a Joint Ops Center ribbing Air Force guys about crew rest because SEALs, SF, and Marines valued their ability to go a very long time without it. Now they are well aware of its ill effect on mental performance.

Respect sleep more than food.

Correcting my way of thinking about this has yielded enormous returns. Your body is the temple of your consciousness, therefore the maintenance functions of sleep are critical. The real lesson for me here was to realize that my model must recognize and correct mistakes within itself.

Our intake of Food garners a lot of conscious attention. The amount of food-related information offered to most humans every day exceeds our bandwidth (while others starve). Science provides more information every day, which becomes misleading noise when filtered through media funded by advertising. The OODA Loop leads me to believe it is well worth your time to be well educated, based on the best research you can find, on the effects of what and how you eat.

If your mental discipline was strong enough to eat only the healthiest possible food would you know what to eat? Or in my case, if you think you know what to eat, do you have to mental discipline to do so? I do not, but I keep working on it. Mom was right all along.

Eat your vegetables!

This hierarchy of OODA Loops; O2, H20, Sleep, Food, is interrelated in the tightest way possible. It is the ecosystem of you. Your personal TUC depends on how well you can satisfy each resource and for how long. For brevity’ sake I have omitted other resource requirements like sunlight, exercise, etc, but the message is the same. Beyond this survival comes in your ability to reproduce.

Reproduction does not mean only genetic offspring, but perhaps more importantly, ideas. At this level, I will only offer one concept because I believe it is so important.

Cooperation is key.

If you want to continue to move up the pyramid, remove parochialisms. Once someone becomes a member of a powerful group they often settle into an inability or unwillingness to rise higher or explore more. They compete at that group level instead of cooperating at the next. They no longer adapt or evolve. We are all mired in a local optimum until we recognize and move to a higher one. This requires a broader perspective.

Follow the DNA and ideas up the pyramid to the next levels; humanity, life, and beyond. If you look at the pyramid once more, consider how you shift your attention back and forth between the levels. How disciplined is the executive function that manages and controls your system? How can you maximize TUC?