The war in Iran has exposed two blind spots in the conflict, one diplomatic and one technological, but both share a common root. The regime's ideology is rooted in Shiite Islam, where willing suffering for a righteous cause has cosmic significance, and the hardliners will frame the deaths of civilians as blood spilled to galvanize resistance. The conflict highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the soul of the enemy, and the importance of not outsourcing decisions about who lives and who dies to machines that cannot tell the difference between a military base and a classroom. [... more]