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In quest of a compass imbued in myth?
System Dynamics, Hypercycles and Psychosocial Self-organization (Part #8)
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There is a certain irony to the fact that the I Ching itself has been used as a kind of map as with the geomantic compass (Feng Shui compass or luopan). Whilst these, and their western equivalents, are now deprecated as technologies of any value (except in construction work in Asia), they are indicative of a dimension missing from the kinds of mapping representation upheld as desirable for decision-making and govenance. Put succinctly, blockbuster movies and videos -- like Avatar (2009) -- have immensely greater capacity to engage the populations of the world (Relevance of Mythopoeic Insights to Global Challenges: cognitive integration implied by the Lord of the Rings, 2009).
Whether "map", "myth" or "compass", perhaps there is a need to shift to a preoccupation with these (and other possibilities) as richer metaphors offering enhanced coherence in governance (Guiding Metaphors and Configuring Choices, 1991; In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007).
The question is what can be learnt about framing the future from what in reality engages people? Ironically video games may provide important clues as noted by Steven Poole (Fun Inc: Why Games Are the 21st Century's Most Serious Business by Tom Chatfield, The Guardian, 13 March 2010) -- and as previously argued (Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005). Does the "gap" between interactive games and global modelling highlight a vital gap in the cultivation of human ingenuity on which it has been argued that future survival is so dependent (Thomas Homer-Dixon (The Ingenuity Gap, 2000)?
Further development of specific aspects of the above argument in Adaptive Hypercycle of Sustainable Psychosocial Self-organization: designing a mapping of a Chinese metaphorical pattern language (2010).
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