The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
No Mercy / No Malice: Asymmetry
Oct 10, 2026 · 16 min · 9 segments
As read by George Hahn. https://www.profgmedia.com/p/asymmetry
- Speakers
Sue BirdHost
Ina GartenHost
Megan RapinoeHost
Scott GallowayHost
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Oct 10, 2026 · 16 min · 9 segments
As read by George Hahn. https://www.profgmedia.com/p/asymmetry
Sue BirdHostIna GartenHostMegan RapinoeHostScott GallowayHostHalf a million years ago in southern Africa, a human ancestor affixed a sharpened stone to a wooden shaft, creating the world's first weapons system, the composite spear.
Warfare and technology have been siblings ever since, but technological superiority doesn't guarantee victory.
See the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets or the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against the U.S.
Throughout history, weaker forces have defeated stronger ones by eschewing conventional combat in favor of asymmetrical warfare.
One famous term for this was coined by the Spanish irregulars who harassed Napoleon's occupying army, guerrilla, or little war.
Put another way, don't fight on your enemy's terms.
According to David Dunn, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, the unprecedented withdrawal reveals the vulnerability of American military installations abroad and represents a setback for the U.S. in its war with Iran.
Rather than relying on bombers or other conventional means, Iran forced the withdrawal with a drone threat.
Furthermore, Iranian operators aren't even military, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has become adept at deploying violence as a service, an asymmetrical tactic that involves hiring untrained, on-demand combatants who, like gig workers, are cheap and disposable.
Meanwhile, closer to the front, the asymmetrical drone war has depleted the high-tech U.S. interceptor arsenal, catalyzed a $95 billion multi-year munitions replenishment request from the Trump administration, and rendered an American victory a mathematical impossibility.
The interceptor math doesn't even touch the strategic heart of the Iran war, Iran's control over the global economic artery that is the Strait of Hormuz, wrote national security journalist Spencer Ackerman.
The math merely shows how overwhelmingly far the U.S. is from being able to force the Strait of Hormuz open and keep it that way.
Math is a modern warrior's most important skill, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Half a million years ago in southern Africa, a human ancestor affixed a sharpened stone to a wooden shaft, creating the world's first weapons system, the composite spear.
Warfare and technology have been siblings ever since, but technological superiority doesn't guarantee victory.
See the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets or the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against the U.S.
Throughout history, weaker forces have defeated stronger ones by eschewing conventional combat in favor of asymmetrical warfare.
One famous term for this was coined by the Spanish irregulars who harassed Napoleon's occupying army, guerrilla, or little war.
Put another way, don't fight on your enemy's terms.
According to David Dunn, a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, the unprecedented withdrawal reveals the vulnerability of American military installations abroad and represents a setback for the U.S. in its war with Iran.
Rather than relying on bombers or other conventional means, Iran forced the withdrawal with a drone threat.
Furthermore, Iranian operators aren't even military, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has become adept at deploying violence as a service, an asymmetrical tactic that involves hiring untrained, on-demand combatants who, like gig workers, are cheap and disposable.
Meanwhile, closer to the front, the asymmetrical drone war has depleted the high-tech U.S. interceptor arsenal, catalyzed a $95 billion multi-year munitions replenishment request from the Trump administration, and rendered an American victory a mathematical impossibility.
The interceptor math doesn't even touch the strategic heart of the Iran war, Iran's control over the global economic artery that is the Strait of Hormuz, wrote national security journalist Spencer Ackerman.
The math merely shows how overwhelmingly far the U.S. is from being able to force the Strait of Hormuz open and keep it that way.
Math is a modern warrior's most important skill, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
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