Hyperobject traces and indications: a subtle cognitive ecosystem?

Reimagining Guernica to Engage the Antitheses of a Cancel Culture (Part #6)

The very question as to what a hyperobject "is" is necessarily problematic. For example, it could be said to be a Gestalt whose nature and existence eludes conventional comprehension. References to some such Gestalt from other perspectives are evident in

physics, as noted above, and in the arguments of Alexander Wendt (Quantum Mind and Social Science: unifying physical and social ontology. 2015)
religion, with respect to avoiding of assertions regarding deity in apophatic discourse (Michael A. Sells, Mystical Languages of Unsaying,? 1994; Ewa Rychter, Unsaying the Other: allegory and irony in Emmanuel Levinas's Ethical Language, 2004)
Taoism in the light of its assertion with respect to the namelessness of fundamental reality
concern with misuse of the verb "to be", called the "is of identity" and the "is of predication", were faulty in structure, as articulated by Alfred Korzybski (Science and Sanity: an introduction to non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics, 1933).

The challenge of what cannot be fully comprehended is naturally an invitation to speculation, especially when framed by reference to "hyper", as with the following by this author:

The matter can be explored otherwise through approaches to the comprehension and appreciation of ignorance (Nicholas Rescher, Ignorance: on the wider implications of deficient knowledge, 2009).

Constrained comprehension of hyperobjects: As suggested above, most notably in the clarifications variously offered by Timothy Morton, a hyperobject is usefully understood as "something" which exceeds and overwhelms human capacity to engage with it by conventional means. In that sense, paradoxically, it cannot be readily indicated as to what it "is" -- truthfully -- without evoking alternative assertions in that regard. These may well take the form of condemnation of the truthfulness of the proponents of each.

In the light of the arguments of Magoroh Maruyama, any individual assertion of what a hyperobject "is" can be usefully recognized as an instance of "subunderstanding" (Polyocular vision or Subunderstanding? Organization Studies, 2004) -- as discussed separately (Patterns of questions indicative of the subunderstanding of now, 2014).

Especially relevant with regard to the proactive nature of a hyperobject is the insight of management cybernetician (on Le Chatelier's Principle as applied to social systems):

Reformers, critics of institutions, consultants in innovation, people in short who "want to get something done", often fail to see this point. They cannot understand why their strictures, advice or demands do not result in effective change. They expect either to achieve a measure of success in their own terms or to be flung off the premises. But an ultra-stable system (like a social institution)... has no need to react in either of these ways. It specializes in equilibrial readjustment, which is to the observer a secret form of change requiring no actual alteration in the macro-systemic characteristics that he is trying to do something about. (The cybernetic cytoblast - management itself, Chairman's Address to the International Cybernetic Congress, September 1969)

Problems as hyperobjects? The case for understanding climate change as a hyperobject was indicated above. It is then appropriate to ask whether there is a particular set of problems which are best recognized as hyperobjects -- climate change being one of them, as with the Anthropocene extinction. For such problems, these point to a sense in which it is questionable whether one can "get one's head around them" -- whether they can be "grasped" (Sanjay Sarma, Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn, 2020) as can be speculatively explored (Beyond Harassment of Reality and Grasping Future Possibilities: learnings from sexual harassment as a metaphor, 1996).

Are hyperobjects effectively experienced as puzzles or riddles (Global Governance as a Riddle: but is a solution the answer to the question? 2018). Is a pandemic then to be usefully understood as a hyperobject, as has been suggested (The Crisis as Hyperobject Rapt Studio. 17 September 2020)?

Of potential relevance to any understanding of a hyperobject is the widespread interest in convergence on a "singularity" of some kind -- especially a technological singularity (Emerging Memetic Singularity in the Global Knowledge Society, 2009). Of interest from that perspective is "Jerusalem" as a hyperobject, given its symbolic complexity and what that engenders (Jerusalem as a Symbolic Singularity: comprehending the dynamics of hyperreality as a challenge to conventional two-state reality, 2017).

Evil aspect of hyperobjects? The complexity of the problems labelled by the policy sciences as "wicked problems" suggests they they may be usefully indicated as hyperobjects. In that context they are held to be those that are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often a challenge to recognition. Reference to "wicked" then associates hyperobjects with the highly controversial understanding of "evil" and the claims to its existence as variously embodied (Existence of evil as authoritatively claimed to be an overriding strategic concern, 2016; Needing Evil Elsewhere, 2001).

It is from such a perspective that a pandemic is clearly associated with evil in contrast to insights embodied in religion as the traditional response. If evil is however to be recognized in some way as characteristic of a hyperobject, the engagement with religion then raises a complementary possibility (William Thomas, Is God a Hyperobject?). Their complexity would then suggest that this is especially the case with respect to any pantheon with deities and demons variously appealing to some, or requiring appeasement by others: Hyperobjects as "meta-patterns"? (Meta-pattern via Engendering and Navigating "Pantheons" of Belief? 2021).

There is little difficulty in understanding how those resistant to conventional responses to the perceived evil of a pandemic are then readily framed as evil in their own right. This is increasingly highlighted in the case of the response to "anti-vaxxers" -- with the latter tending to frame the efforts at universal vaccination as evil in their own right. By implication, universal vaccination is then framed by some to be unquestionably a universal good. Such dynamics are characteristic of any engagement with a hyperobject.

Values as hyperobjects?The argument can be similarly developed in relation to what are deemed the most fundamental human values -- variously defying comprehension or evoking controversy (Human Values as Strange Attractors, 1993). To what extent do peace and justice merit exploration as hyperobjects -- especially when understood dynamically (Freedom, Democracy, Justice: Isolated Nouns or Interwoven Verbs? Illusory quest for qualities and principles dynamically disguised , 2011)

Hyperobject emergence as "mass formation"? Widespread controversy has recently been evoked by Mattias Desmet in expressing concerns about some pandemic data that might be causing the lack of empathy and segregation recently evident in the western world. Mattias identified four psychological conditions that may have resulted in crowd madness (or "mass formation psychosis") during the pandemic. These are: lack of social bond and isolation, experiencing life as meaningless, free-floating anxiety, and free-floating frustration and aggression.

When these conditions are all fulfilled, any narrative cultivated through the mass media identifying an "object" of the anxiety and providing a strategy to deal with that "object" engenders mass formation. The process provides the masses a sudden connection to a heroic struggle allowing them to meet their needs and provides them with a release -- giving them a new social bond and meaning that has been lacking (Dina Osman, What is Mass Formation? And why it's important to understand it, Medium, 28 December 2021).

Mass formation is described as a form of collective hypnosis, but is challenged as a controversial theory on how the public is being coerced into getting vaccinated (Ryan Basen, Just What Is Mass Formation Psychosis? Medpage Today, 22 January 2022; Bruce Y. Lee, What Is Mass Formation Psychosis? Robert Malone Makes Unfounded Covid-19 Vaccine Claims On Joe Rogan Show, Forbes, 2 January 2022; Angelo Fichera and Josh Kelety, Unfounded theory used to dismiss COVID measures, AP News, 9 January 2022). Such responses may well result in its suppression as misinformation.

As is potentially characteristic of the dynamics associated with a hyperobject, such uncritical defensive reactions are to be expected. Mass formation may indeed be associated with processes evident in the well-studied fields of crowd psychology and cult formation (William Sims Bainbridge and Rodney Stark, Cult Formation: three compatible models, Sociological Analysis, 40, 1979, 4; Robert J. Lifton, Cult Formation, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, 7, 1981). More controversially, they may be associated with the manufacture of consent, dumbing down and groupthink (Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: the political economy of the mass media, 1988). Groupthink featured notably in the assessment of the response to 9/11 (Learning from the 9/11 response: groupthink and failure of imagination, 2005).

Avoidance of hyperobject recognition: Processes of denial are notably evident in relation to a hyperobject, especially given challenges to comprehension of its existence -- what ever that may be deemed to mean. For the religious, the issue is only too evident in the denial of deity in a secular society

The case of climate change is the most cited example. Far less obvious is that of overpopulation -- irrespective of the extent to which it may underlie or aggravate climate change and resource-related issues (United Nations Overpopulation Denial Conference: exploring the underside of climate change, 2009; Are Environmentalists and Climate Scientists in Denial? Climate change recognized as primarily a psychological challenge, 2019; Lipoproblems: Developing a Strategy Omitting a Key Problem the systemic challenge of climate change and resource issues, 2009). The latter implies a particular relation between a hyperobject and speculation regarding a "lipoproblem".

The issue of avoidance is central to the apocalyptic film Don't Look Up (2021). It tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization. The impact event is an allegory for climate change, and the film is a satire of government, political, and media indifference to the climate crisis.

The matter can be considered more generally, suggesting a relation between a hyperobject and a cognitive trap (Question Avoidance, Evasion, Aversion and Phobia: why we are unable to escape from traps, 2006). Response to the pandemic offers a particular example (Social Distancing under Conditions of Overcrowding? Weaponising mass distraction from overpopulation denial? 2020; Local Reality of Overcrowding -- Global Unreality of Overpopulation, 2019).