Conclusion

Risk-enhancing Cognitive Implications of the Basic Mathematical Operations (Part #7)

---

[Parts: First | Prev | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

---

The argument emphasizes the use of the four basic operations as providing a suggestive mnemonic framework for dynamics exacerbating the vulnerabilities of a civilization in quest of sustainability. Their use as metaphors may however be far more fundamental, as implied by the cognitive psychological considerations of George Lakoff and Rafael Nuãâ?±ez (Where Mathematics Comes From: how the embodied mind brings mathematics into being, 2001). They suggest that mathematical reasoning is fundamentally metaphorical. They describe mathematics as based on four "grounding metaphors" that define basic arithmetic, together with a collection of "linking metaphors" that generate more abstract areas of mathematics from arithmetic. Lakoff is however also well known for his consideration of metaphorical framing of political strategy -- notably his argument that "metaphors can kill". How the cognitive and political concerns combine in the light of the mathematical argument is a matter of continuing debate.

Of particular relevance is the increasing empirical support for Lakoff's argument that mathematical reasoning is "embodied" through being implemented, at least in part, by areas of the parietal cortex also involved in the representation of bodily position, orientation and movement, as further elaborated by Chris Fields (Metaphorical Motion in Mathematical Reasoning: further evidence for pre-motor implementation of structure mapping in abstract domains, Cognitive Processing, 2013). The question is the nature of the further implication of such arguments for the collective.

Curiously the "solution" to the problems of the current global civilization would seem to be, as might be expected, inherent in the processes of ADD, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE and SUBTRACT. Unconstrained as they are individually, and unbalanced as they are together, as cognitive processes they are in effect "designed" to engender instability and collapse.

It is in this sense that the exacerbation of their dysfunctional interplay, as assiduously and unthinkingly reinforced by the Abrahamic religions, does indeed offer a royal road to the early emergence of a new modality -- potentially emergent from the ashes of the old. If that is the only foreseeable possibility, irrespective of the predictable pain (joyously anticipated within those worldviews), there is a case for exploring how best to accelerate the processes.

The argument is well-made by a movement of conservative evangelical Christians (The Quiverfull: the evangelical Christians opposed to contraception, BBC News, 17 May 2013), reinforced by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney (and father-of-five) in a recent speech to graduates: Get married. Have a quiver full of kids if you can. It was a conscious echo of Psalm 127, where children are compared to arrows for war. The psalm is the inspiration for the Quiverfull movement:

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

The unthinking socio-economic focus on growth at all costs is consistent with further reinforcement of the ADD modality. Much could be done to MULTIPLY the rate of population  increase -- with dramatic increase in family size -- understood as inherently beneficial within those worldviews and their appreciation of "family values". The interaction in practice between those worldviews -- so evident from daily media reporting of bloody sectarian violence -- helpfully frames the advantages of reinforcing the DIVIDE modality in a variety of domains. The capacity to ignore the implications of problematic news of systemic neglect -- in desperate tokenistic quest for the "positive" -- is an indication of how the SUBTRACT modality could be further developed more assiduously. The tendency of governance to rely on concealing the problematic, through "spin" and lack of transparency, is an indication of the possibility of enabling early civilizational collapse as being the "final solution" to the dilemmas of governance, as variously discussed separately (Ungovernability of Sustainable Global Democracy ? 2011; Beware of Legality, Accountability, Marketability, Security! Be where the Four Hoarsemen of the Apocalypse are not? 2012).

---

[Parts: First | Prev | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]