book chapter
The Architecture of Narrative Dominance: Confronting Data Terror and the Rise of Cognitive Warfare
Abstract
This chapter examines the convergence of data-driven systems and cognitive warfare as hallmarks of 21st-century power. It introduces data terror, a subtle algorithmic domination that reduces human complexity to probabilities, erodes agency, and enforces anticipatory compliance through opaque scoring and predictive gover-nance. The analysis traces warfare's shift from territorial and economic domains to cognitive warfare, with the human mind as the primary battlespace, targeted via personalized narratives, psychographic profiling, neuromarketing, and Al-driven influence operations. Narratives serve as the core strategic tool. It's a weapon for manipulation and a defense for resilience. The chapter argues that narrative dom-inance, shaping meaning, perception, and interpretation, will define geopolitical and societal power. Absent proactive narrative literacy, cognitive immunity, ethical Al governance, and grassroots storytelling, societies risk algorithmic determinism and pluralistic collapse. Reclaiming agency requires moving from data absolutism to human-centered meaning frameworks. © 2026 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved.
Author keywords
economic and social effects; military applications; algorithmics; battlespace; data driven; driven system; human complexity; human mind; neuromarketing; power; strategic tool; cognitive systems