Enabling comprehension of "the great game"

Envisaging the AI-enhanced Future of the Conferencing Process (Part #9)

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The relevance of recognition of a "great game" has long been a feature of geopolitics. Although primarily cited from a historical perspective, arguably the term continues to be of relevance with respect to the interplay of global spheres of influence, as separately discussed (Playing the Great Game with Intelligence, 2013). The latter included sections on:

Clearly there is the possibility of a confluence of interest in AI-enhanced online gaming and eliciting the dynamics of a greater game -- however that might be understood. Notable in this respect is the extent to which online gaming may incorporate cultural content, as exemplified by the explicit appeal of mythological adaptations in Dungeons and Dragons. The elusive appeal of a greater game features in the classic by Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse (The Glass Bead Game, 1943) -- the focus of a number of later efforts to emulate it in a web context (Evoking Castalia as Envisaged, Entoned and Embodied: the great game informed by the bertsolaritza cultural process? 2016).

These associations offer curious echoes to the elaboration of a "game of spheres" by Nicholas de Cusa (De Ludo Globi, 1463), written as a contribution to both a literature and a practice of moral game-playing. This formed part of the tradition of the forgotten chess-like game Rithmomachia ("The Battle of Numbers" or Rythmomachy), which combined the pleasures of gaming with mathematical study and moral education. Intellectuals of the medieval and Renaissance periods who played this game were not only seeking to master the principles of Boethian mathematics but were striving to improve their own understanding of the secrets of the cosmos (Ann E. Moyer, The Philosophers' Game, 2001). A requisite characteristic of a greater game is the focus of the argument of James Carse (Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1986) -- an inspiration for Niki Harré (The Infinite Game: how to live well together, 2018).

Speculation can be taken further by confronting (below) seemingly disparate images of complex dynamics, namely that of the dynamics fundamental to life and that of unresolved strategic challenges. The images are discussed and presented in enlarged form separately (In quest of metabolic pathways of global governance? 2020).  Both could be seen as indicative of the complexity of the dynamics in which guilds engage in online gaming. The earlier commentary includes discussion of the manner in which comprehension of that on the left is facilitated by an extensive set of songs (Sonification as a mnemonic aid to global sensemaking, 2020). Might the identity and dynamics of a guild be embodied in a song -- "our song"?

Indicative images of complex dynamics with which engagement is vital
Metabolic pathways	Adaptation to climate change of counter-insurgency operations

There is little difficulty in recognizing that any greater game is a game of patterns, exemplified by the application of AI to competitive chess and go. Curiously there is an intimate relationship between the amino acids which feature in the map of metabolic pathways and the pattern of codons characteristic of DNA -- inviting a quest for psychosocial analogues of relevance to any strategic preoccupation (Memetic Analogue to the 20 Amino Acids as vital to Psychosocial Life? 2015).

As a complex articulation of the pattern of psychosocial transformations, speculative efforts to relate the traditional Chinese appreciation of the I Ching to the genetic pattern continue. Given the coherence of the dynamic it articulates, there is a case for exploring its patterns as one understanding of how the greater game might be represented, as previously discussed (2013):

That discussion features the following experimental animation (below left) indicative of a gaming dynamic potentially relevant to global dialogue. The image on the right is reproduced from Interrelationships between 64 Complementary Approaches to Dialogue (2007) -- where clicking on any hexagram there offers a pop-up explanation of its distinctive relevance to dialogue.

Both configurations highlight the 8-fold organization into so-called "houses" inviting comparison with guilds (Numbers in play in psychosocial organization, 2014; Possible applications relevant to psycho-social organization, 2008; Mnemonic aids to the challenge of global governance, 2008). As yet to be clarified is how the interaction between particular numbers of traditional guilds have proven vital to economic and social development (The Development of Craft Guilds , FermiLab Education Office, 1997; Gary Richardson, Medieval Guilds, EH.Net Encyclopedia, 2008). How many guilds make for a viable game -- potentially in the light of viable system theory?

Contrasting experimental indications of how the greater game of dialogue might be explored
Animation of gaming dynamic relevant to dialogue	Configuration of 64 complementary approaches to dialogue

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