Forget tanks and bombs — the real war of our time is fought through screens, narratives, and neural pathways.
In this important episode of the Collapse Life podcast, Zahra Sethna talks with Dr. Armin Krishnan, a professor of security studies and author of Fifth Generation Warfare. The 50-minute discussion covers how modern conflict has shifted from the battlefield to the mind. The new enemy isn’t standing across a border — it’s inside your phone, your media, and sometimes even your own beliefs.
Krishnan explains how fifth generation warfare (5GW) manipulates perception rather than territory, using technology, ideology, and infiltration to reshape entire societies without a single shot fired. Unlike past wars, you may not even know it’s happening — or who’s waging it.
Key topics discussed
How fifth generation warfare uses psychological and information tactics instead of physical violence
The infiltration and manipulation of governments by non-state actors
The role of AI and digital systems in rewiring human cognition
The blurred lines between propaganda, “reality,” and free will
Directed energy weapons and the deeper meaning of Havana Syndrome
Krishnan traces the lineage of these tactics from Soviet psychological operations to modern AI-driven persuasion, arguing that we’ve entered an age where belief itself has become weaponized. Our attention spans, emotions, and even our sense of reality are targets.
The conversation also delves into sixth generation warfare, which is not a future concept, Krishnan says, but already unfolding in parallel with 5GW. These next-level conflicts target the systems that sustain civilization: infrastructure, energy grids, digital networks. When those collapse, so does everything we’ve come to know.
To be clear, this isn’t the kind of war that ends with peace treaties or surrenders. It ends with confusion and chaos — when no one knows what’s true, who’s lying, or whether there’s even a war at all. It’s the dystopia we’ve always feared and it’s coming for all of us.
