Global brain as an organ: playable, playful or neither?

Envisaging a Comprehensible Global Brain as a Playful Organ (Part #10)

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Metaphorical images of a global brain? A much-cited framework by Gareth Morgan distinguishes 8 ways in which organization tends to be comprehended: machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, flux and transformation, and instruments of domination (Images of Organization, 1986). This was followed by a study of its implications (Imaginization: new mindsets for seeing, organizing and managing, 1993). Clearly whatever is implied as an integrative nexus by "global brain" draws to different degrees (and for different audiences) on several of these images. A key author emphasizes the biological metaphor of "organ" (Francis Heylighen, The Global Superorganism: an evolutionary-cybernetic model of the emerging network society Social Evolution and History, 6, 2007). Does the Gaia hypothesis reflect one insight into the nature of such a superorganism?

"Global brain" as a surrogate for global "unity"? It is typical for global instititutions to articulate desperate calls for "unity". Unfortunately the promoted understandings for such integrative coherence are typically naively simplistic -- and are notably unattractive to the populations of the world. This is not helped by the promotion of the evolution towards a form of singularity which is both obscure and fraught with unanswerable questions -- especially when variously conflated with emergence of a global brain as constituting some kind of more viable alternative.

Arguably the current plight of a NATO -- framed as "brain dead"-- is indicative of the institutional challenge (Are the UN and the International Community both Brain Dead? 2019). A case could be made for articulating and comprehending global institutions as forms of necessarily higher dimensionality (Envisaging NATO Otherwise -- in 3D and 4D? 2017). More specifically however, the singularity of any global brain could be challenged in musical terms -- notably the common expectation that "unity" requires that everyone should "sing from the same hymn sheet".

A musical framework is valuable as a reminder of the forms of emergent unity which are associated with polyphony and its harmronic orchestration. "Unity" is not a question of hitting all 64 notes on a keyboard simultaneously as might be held to be the essence of what is proposed. More intriguing is the sense in which unity is an emergent mode of organization associated with the process of playing music.

Is it through that metaphor that the emergence of a global brain -- and its essentially dynamic nature -- might be better understood?

Musical organ metaphor? With respect to any comprehension of the organization of the global brain, the association between "organization" and "organ" -- as a musical instrument -- has not been cultivated, except by inference in The Glass Bead Game of Hermann Hesse. It might be assumed that a global brain is the context par excellence for some form of infinite game as envisioned by James P. Carse (Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1987; Niki Harré, The Infinite Game: how to live well together, 2018). Greater insight is to be found in recognition of the pipe organ as a metaphor (Agnes Armstrong, Pipe Organs as Metaphors: voices of times and traditions, University at Albany). For Armstrong:

Pipe organs serve as metaphors on a number of levels. In a basic way, the instrument can be seen as a metaphor for the people who design and build it. The very structure of a pipe organ is a representation of a human being, with scores of moving parts and a wind-breathing system, all integrated into a complex machine. Producing sounds organized in several dimensions, it speaks a musical language which communicates with its auditors. The bellows are the lungs of the instrument. The pipes themselves are referred to in anatomical terms, their components being labeled as body, foot, mouth, and lip. As for the tonal aspect of the organ, just contemplate the plethora of pipes - pipes of every size and kind, of every shape and color - tall or small, slender or wide, from booming diapasons to lilting flutes to brilliant trumpets - "families" of pipes. Organ pipes are a metaphor for humanity. Pipes in a newly-constructed organ must "settle in" and "make their own community" - large organs in large cities, smaller organs in towns and villages. While great organs - as great cities - offer rich and extensive opportunities for both player and listener, less elaborate instruments suggest the limitations of small towns everywhere. More importantly, each pipe organ is a metaphor of the particular society and culture in which it is created.

Music of the spheres? The link between an institutional understanding any musical organization (despite the etymological origins), seems to have been lost in the mists of time with early references to music of the spheres and singing the organum. As noted by Nicolas Reeves, From the Harmony of the Spheres to Spherical Harmonics: the potential of wave-based morphogenetic processes for musical and architectural composition, Plymouth University) :

Putting things into order, even those that are non-measurable: this project describes the long, global evolution of knowledge during the Middle Age, over the background of a cosmos that was already perfectly ordered by Ptolemy's circular harmonics. The underlying hope was the order of the cosmos would pervade all the cosmology of the time, and that the world would become progressively more explicitable through the power of reason, within the limits defined by the religious establishment for which the cosmos rested axiomatically on a mystery that escapes human understanding. Along with this hope, the idea of the reverse process began to emerge: in art disciplines that implied a form of composition, such as music or architecture, complex object could be constructed through the ordered and hierarchized combinations of simple elements. These objects would be entirely understandable, or in other words, transparent to the mind: every stage of their construction would be mastered and understood. The structure of the whole object, as complex as it may be, would reveal by itself the nature, status and role of each of its components: such complex assemblages would translate the hope of a world that could be completely deciphered. This underlying notion has been described as the origin of the considerable changes that occurred in the two arts, which finally led to the emergence of Gothic structures on one hand, and of polyphonic singing – the organum – on the other. (The Gradual Landing of the Heavenly Spheres, Ch. 6, pp. 159-160)

Of particular relevance to the above argument are chapters on Morphogenesis by Spherical Waves and Mathematical Considerations and Computer Transposition. The first recalls the magnum opus by Peter Sloterdijk (Bubbles, Spheres, Foams, 2011-2016).

Organizing as choreography? Missing from current common use of "organize" (as a verb) is the sense explored only in metaphor of ordering according to some understanding of musical principles and harmony -- choreography. Understood in this way, social organization is a process of imagining, designing and building an organ which can then be played in some way -- engaging others in the patterns engendered. Organizations can indeed be described metaphorically as symphony orchestras, although this understanding does not appear to inform those involved in any way however much they listen ritually to orchestral music on their ceremonial occasions. The situation is epitomized by the use of symphonic music and choirs as emblematic of major international institutions, as with the Anthem of Europe. The possibility of such "organization" is totally ignored (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006; Participative Development Process for Singable Declarations: applying the Wikipedia-Wikimedia-WikiMusic concept to constitutions, 2006). Despite early insight into Musica Universalis, the global brain has yet to be fruitfully rendered into music or song.

Playing games with a global brain? Given the fantasies currently cultivated by science fiction and techno-optimists, it is to be expected that some form of dialogue with a global brain will be soon enabled by artificial intelligence. Search engines are a precursor of this, as with virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri and the like (Forthcoming Major Revolution in Global Dialogue: challenging new world order of interactive communication, 2013).

A playful dimension is already evident through online gaming and the exploits of AI in playing for mastery in chess, go and poker. It can be readily imagined that this will extend to music and song. Clearly there are emerging possibilities whereby for "playing with" a global brain.

A poignant comparison might however be made with the widely cited playing of Dueling Banjos, featured as an unforeseen improvisation in the acclaimed movie Deliverance (1972). The "duel" therein of a city adult with a mentally challenged, inbred country boy frames the question as to whether humanity is to be compared with the former or the latter -- in any future "duel" with global AI. However a further twist to the question is offered by the subtext of the movie presentation. Much was contrived in depicting the banjo playing by the boy. The duel was prescripted and appropriated without permission from the original composer, who succesfully claimed copyright and damages in a subsequent lawsuit.

Humour and the global brain? With respect to any quest for the nature of "global brainwaves" a valuable criterion may well prove to be whether the playfullness this is in any way associated with humour. Despite optimistic speculation with regard to the future creativity of AI (even of an aesthetic nature), there remains the question of how a global brain may engender and appreciate humour. As with literature on the capacity of deity to engage in such processes, is there the possibility that a global brain might frame its engagement with humanity through humour -- even "crazy wisdom"?

Given the acknowledged tendency for many in the computer-related world to be on the Asperger spectrum -- and professionally appreciated for the focus that this brings -- of relevance is a particular implication for any promotion by them of the global brain metaphor. The characteristically constrained ability of those on the spectrum to appreciate humour raises questions as to how the dimension of humour is imagined by them in relation to the global brain. (Jason McCormick, Asperger's Syndrome and Humor, Asperger-Autism Network; Damon Rose, Do autistic people 'get' jokes? BBC News, 15 December 2018; Susan Teresa Ruggeri, The Experience of Humour in Asperger's syndrome, University of Wolverhampton).

Missing is seemingly any insight into the implications in terms of "organization", namely the more fruitfully comprehensible ordering of the global brain.

Playing ball with a global brain? A contrasting image is offered by the organization of the global brain as a "ball" of some kind -- with "global" as remotely reminiscent of the geometrical implications of the music of the spheres (Metaphorical Geometry in Quest of Globality -- in response to global governance challenges, 2009). In this sense it is strange to note the evolution of the logical preoccupations of Leibniz into spherically symmetrical configurations of the preoccupations and organization of oppositional geometry (Oppositional Logic as Comprehensible Key to Sustainable Democracy: configuring patterns of anti-otherness, 2018; Neglected recognition of logical patterns -- especially of opposition, 2017). Of particular value to such explorations is the rhombic dodecahedron (Lorenz Demey and Hans Smessaert, Geometric and cognitive differences between logical diagrams for the Boolean algebra B4, Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, 83, 2018, 2).

The irony is all the greater at this time given the worldwide focus on the association football with a stitching pattern based on the truncated icosahedron. In the strangest of senses, the elusive cognitive dilemmas of the global brain are projected into the manner in which a ball is kicked around in patterns of play -- skillfully cultivated and studied as passing patterns in the quest for competitive advantage.

Envisaging global brain representation in 3D through use of animation (tentative)
The pattern of hexagram relationships derived above fom the original Shao Yung circle offers a useful template to explore animation in 3D. As a template it can be reframed as a form of instrument for visual effects to which sound effects could be added -- then a form of musical instrument, if not an organ or a harp. The pattern recalls the two hemispheres of the human brain. The division into 8 groups (yellow) of 8 circles (red), is potentially clustered into 4 groups of large circles (blue). Each such 2D circle can be represented as a sphere -- evident through rotation of the whole. That approach could have been extended to render the circle as a whole into a global form. Each sphere is rendered relatively visible or transparent in the dynamic of the animation. This effect could have been articulated further to distinguish the 64 red spheres individually, for example. The result is aesthetically crude and merely intended as an indication of how the animation could be "composed" or "played" -- a proof of concept. Understood in cognitive terms, the 4 blue spheres are indicative of the common 4-fold distinction of modalities. Similarly the 8 yellow spheres recalls the 8-fold distinction of modalities -- a variant of the 8-fold way. The 64 red spheres recall the decision-making distinctions made in the pattern of the I Ching. The spheres can be understood as cognitive "worlds" within which people may primarily function, whether the red-level only, extending to the yellow level, or the blue level -- each such level bridging a greater range of modalities. A pattern of "worlds within worlds" consistent with intuitive reference to the "music of the spheres" Understood in mechnical terms, the animation recalls the function of a combustion engine -- whether 4-cylinder, 8-cylinder, or more. The dynamics are then suggestive of the pattern in which the cyinders "fire" -- especially if greater attention was given to the rhythm. If the circles were rotated, rather than represented as spheres, this would give the effect of fans rendering the pattern "flight enabled" as with the operation of some drones. As an alternative, each circle could be transformed into a torus rather than a sphere suggesting pathways through which the distinctive "cognitive worlds" travel (Imagining Toroidal Life as a Sustainable Alternative: from globalization to toroidization or back to flatland? 2019).
The animation has been constructed using X3D Edit, allowing parameters to be variously modified using a text editor

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