Gyroscopes for balance in higher dimensional navigation

Oppositional Logic as Comprehensible Key to Sustainable Democracy (Part #10)

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Governance frequently makes reference to the need for balance in navigating the ship of state. This is proving all the more challenging with respect to global governance, readily framed as rocked by the high seas (Geoffrey Vickers, Freedom in a Rocking Boat: changing values in an unstable society, 1972). Fundamental to such navigation is the compass stabilized within a gimbal framework by a gyroscope. This is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation is free to assume any orientation by itself as a means of measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. When rotating, the orientation of this axis is unaffected by tilting or rotation of the mounting, according to the conservation of angular momentum (Vittorio M. N. Passaro, et al, Gyroscope Technology and Applications: a review in the industrial perspective, Sensors, 17, 2017, 2284).

Gyroscope and gimbal	Gimbal stabilization of compass	Quadrantal spheres on each side of a compass
Reproduced from Wikipedia

The functions of the gyroscope and the centrifugal governor were used together in a separate speculative discussion of the challenges of global governance (Global Governance via a Double-breasted Strange Attractor: cognitive implication in a dynamic sexual metaphor, 2009). A centrifugal governor is a specific type of governor with a feedback system that controls the speed of an engine by regulating the amount of fuel admitted, so as to maintain a near-constant speed, irrespective of the load or fuel-supply conditions. Especially intriguing, given the problematic connotations of spin in communications processes, is the recognition of its essential role in such devices.

Of particular relevance to this argument has been the use of gyroscope as a metaphor for the "inner-directed man" by the sociologist David Riesman (who had worked for Sperry Gyroscope). This was held to be one of three main cultural types: tradition-directed, inner-directed, and other-directed (David Riesman, Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney, The Lonely Crowd, 1950). Riesman used the term "psychological gyroscope":

A new psychological mechanism is "invented": it is what I like to describe as a psychological gyroscope. This instrument, once it is set in motion by the parents and other authorities, keeps the inner-directed person, as we shall see, "on course" even when tradition, as responded to by his character, no longer dictates his moves

Riesman added:

This metaphor of the gyroscope, like any other, must not be taken literally. It would be a mistake to see the inner directed man as incapable of learning from experience or as insensitive to public opinion in matter of external conformity. He can receive and utilize certain signals from outside, provided that they can be reconciled with the limited maneuverability that his gyroscope permits him. His pilot is not quite automatic.'

The role of these devices for navigation (as conventionally understood) then frames the question as to their nature in any navigation in contexts of dimensionality greater than four (Sarah Laskow, Watch Astronauts from the 1970s geek out with Gyroscopes, Atlas Obscura, 9 October 2018). Given their importance to spacecraft, as illustrated there, what might be their implications for other modes of "navigation"? Could the "human values", upheld as fundamental for any collectivity, then be understood as "psychological gyroscopes" -- internalized values -- necessarily of higher dimensionality? Rightly or wrongly, the use of the metaphor has been subsequently called into question (David J. Ayers, The Rise and Fall of Inner-Directed Character: From Dictate to Gyroscope to Radar, Slideshare, 10 September 2018). However "psychological gyroscope" continues to be valued in contrast with the sensitivity of "radar" to the expectations of others (Vincent Barabba and Mark Paich, Impact of Context in Selecting Decision Tools for use in Both the Public and Private Sectors, System Dynamics, 2004).

What does "spin" mean in such contexts? How is a gyroscope in 5-dimensional space to be understood? Such questions are remarkably addressed by Sanjeev Seahra (The Dynamics of Test Particles and Pointlike Gyroscopes in the Brane World and Other 5D Models, Physical Review, 2002; Physics in Higher-Dimensional Manifolds, 2003)

The central issue is embodied by the question: "If extra dimensions exist, how would we know?" The goal is the elucidation of the observable consequences of a fairly wide class of 5-dimensional models; particularly in the context of test particle trajectories, pointlike gyroscope dynamics, and gravitational field equations.... We identify two main hypotheses that answer this question: either we are unaware of motion in the fifth dimension [the ignorance hypothesis], or we do not move in the fifth dimension at all [the confinement hypothesis].

If the current challenges of governance derive from the misleading assumption that that space is only of 4 dimensions. arguably there is indeed a case for exploring how balance is to be achieved in a space of higher dimensionality (5 or more), The role of "spin" beyond its simplistic exploitation as a communication metaphor then merits particular attention. How might appropriate gyroscopes function in the navigation of the adaptive cycle, for example? (Brian D. Fath, et al, Navigating the adaptive cycle: an approach to managing the resilience of social systems, Ecology and Society, 20, 2015, 2). References by physics to "brane worlds" invite speculative exploration of relevance to governance (Global Brane Comprehension Enabling a Higher Dimensional Big Tent? 2011).

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