System Dynamics, Hypercycles and Psychosocial Self-organization

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Produced on the occasion of the enhanced activation of the circular Large Hadron Collider

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Introduction

This document develops commentary in

The question is raised there as to why self-reflexivity is resisted in relation to mapping psychosocial dynamics (Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives: Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations, 2007). Factors for an "eightfold way" which might merit discussion could therefore include:

• uptake/consensus:
  • uptake: namely the consideration given to any mapping initiative from other perspectives, as suggested by the "bifurcations"
  • consensus: as with the challenge highlighted in relation to climate change science and appropriate strategy, notably as dramatically articulated in a widely syndicated editorial (Fourteen days to seal history's judgment on this generation, The Guardian, 7 December 2009).
• criticism/animosity:
  • criticism: namely the technical criticism advanced, as with reactions to any modelling initiative, specifically as documented by Graham Turner (A Comparison of the Limits to Growth with Thirty Years of Reality, CSIRO 2007)
  • animosity: as a significant factor in the interrelationship between mapping initiatives, as recognized with respect to business in The Economist (Look Forward in Anger: personal animosity is a mighty force in business, for good as well as ill, 20 March 2010).
• complexity/time required:
  • complexity: given that the more complex the map, the less likely it is to be widely comprehended and used, and the greater the potential for unremarked errors (Dion Nissenbaum, Graphic Shows Complexity Of US Counterinsurgency In Afghanistan, The Huffington Post, 22 December 2009; Dion Nissenbaum, The great Afghan spaghetti monster, Checkpoint Kabul, 20 December 2009).
  • time required: in a context of increasing information overload, any mapping tool requiring significant learning time is liable to be ignored as irrelevant
• attention span/forgettability:
  • attention span: in what has been recognized as an emergent "blip culture", the attention span available for absorption of information on a map may be inadequate in comparison with what is required to make effective use of it
  • forgettability: the 40-year span review of initiatives associated with the Club of Rome highlights much that has been readily forgotten in a context where the erosion of collective memory is a factor (Societal Learning and the Erosion of Collective Memory: a critique of the Club of Rome Report: No Limits to Learning, 1980).

Essentially these points raise the question of whether designing a map of value for global governance should build in factors regarding the process of how it is designed, used and comprehended -- notably with respect to what may be ignored, as previously discussed (Mapping the Global Underground, 2010; Recognizing the Psychosocial Boundaries of Remedial Action: constraints on ensuring a safe operating space for humanity, 2009). Basically the question is how self-reflexive is the map?

Viable governance for the future would seem to need to incorporate such disparate dimensions rather than seeking to marginalize some of them -- for in seeking to do so it increasingly alienates itself from voters, rendering the possibility of strategic traction problematic. The challenge may be one of reframing all strategic initiatives through new metaphors that can be readily communicated (In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007).

The focus here is on traditional insights from Chinese culture and various efforts to highlight their relevance to the understanding of complex systems, especially in the manner in which they offer an explicit -- and much needed -- bridge between systematic formalization and its understanding through metaphor. The relevance of such exploration is enhanced by recognition that the increasing significance of Chinese foreign policy may be informed by insights that are outside conventional western patterns of understanding.

The following argument also serves as an introduction to further development of specific aspects in a separate document (Adaptive Hypercycle of Sustainable Psychosocial Self-organization: designing a mapping of a Chinese metaphorical pattern language, 2010).

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