Configuration of modes as a resonance hybrid

Comprehension of Appropriateness (Part #9)

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See also (13) 

Although David Bohm's perspective on the nature of implicate order (Annex 2) clarifies the challenge further, it does not say anything about the relationship between the different modes of perception and organization which can emerge, other than in the sense that they can be re-enfolded into an implicate order. Since the challenge is to deal with co-existent, and very different, frames of reference another perspective is also fruitful. 

The set of alternative structures, between which alternation takes place in any learning cycle, may be more clearly understood in the light of the theory of resonance. Johan Galtung first explored the possibility of using the organization of chemical molecules to clarify the description of social organization (14). He dealt with fixed structures and not with the transition between alternatives. The theory of resonance in chemistry is concerned with the representation of the actual normal state of molecules by a combination of several alternative 'resonable' structures, rather than by a single valence-bond structure. The molecule is then conceived as resonating among the several valence-bond structures, or rather to have a structure that is a resonance hybrid of these structures. 

The classic example of a resonance hybrid is the benzene molecule of 6 carbon atoms for which F A Kekulé introduced the idea of oscillation between two alternative structures. The pattern of oscillation was later extended by Linus Pauling to include three more distinct alternates. The actual configuration is a resonance hybrid of the five forms, which through quantum mechanics has been shown to have an energy less than any of the alternate structures (see Figure 1). This is potentially of great significance for any social structure analogue, in view of the call for a low-energy society. Given the fundamental role of the benzene molecular configuration as the basis for most living structures, it is worth asking (in the light of the sixfold restraint discussed in earlier entries) why it is composed of six atoms. The answer is that it is this configuration which ensures minimal strain on the distribution of the four valency bonds of each carbon atom, thus resulting in a minimal energy configuration. It is worth reflecting on this model in the light of the research showing that the upper limit for effective committee or task force organization, the basis for social organization, is seven, plus or minus one. 

Such structures recall the context of Bohm's arguments concerning unfoldment of explicate forms. The wave function representing a stationary state of a resonance hybrid in quantum mechanics can be expressed as the sum of the wave functions that correspond to several hypothetical alternates. The proper combination is that sum which leads to a minimal energy for the system. Of significance in any social structure analogue is that the higher energy of each alternate is associated with some degree of 'distortion' (different in kind in each case), which effectively renders the alternate meta-stable. (Also worth exploring is the contrasting concept of a 'resonance particle'. This is any exceedingly unstable high energy particle, which may be considered as a composite of several relatively stable low energy particles into which it may decay.) 

Figure 1: Resonance hybrid: illustrated by the benzene molecule (reproduced from the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential)

Some chemical molecules cannot be satisfactorily described by a single configuration of atoms. The theory of resonance is concerned with the representation of such molecules by a dynamic combination of several alternative structures, rather than by any one of them. The molecule is then conceived as 'resonating' among the several structures and is said to be a 'resonance hybrid' of them. The classic example is the benzene molecule (represented on the left) with 6 carbon atoms. This is one of the basic components of many larger molecules essential to life. Its cyclic form only became credible when Kekule showed that it oscillated between structures A and B. Linus Pauling later showed that it in fact it is between all five alternative forms (and as such requires less energy than for any one of them alone). The concept could be used in designing, describing or operating organizations, especially fragile coalitions or volatile meetings. It may provide a key to the 'marriage' between hierarchies and networks. It could also be used to interrelate alternative definitions (theories, problems, policies, etc.), especially where none of them is completely satisfactory in isolation. The underlying significance then emerges through resonance between the set of alternatives

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Implications of alternation between various conditions (Reproduced from Alternation between Variable Geometries: a brokership style for the United Nations as a guarantee of its requisite variety, 1985, which has larger images)
Figure 2	Figure 3
Relation between distinctions established with a Cartesian coordinate (x,y) system and a BaGua trigram system, namely between a Western linear coding system and a classical Eastern holistic system. Dashed lines in the figure indicate transformation pathways between different conditions involving minimal change (ie one trigram line only). Convention: (a) y = dependent variable = superior line; x = independent variable=inferior line (b) full line = positive value; broken line = negative value (c) when superior line and inferior line are of different value, middle line neutralizes value of the line of opposite value (d) when superior line and inferior line are of the same value, different from middle line, the value of the middle line takes precedence over the value of the inferior line Applications:(a) Cybernetic system: x = work function; y = control function. (b) Ecosystem: x = subordinate species; y = dominant species. (c) Cognitive consonance/dissonance: x = communicant; y = communicator

Resonance hybrids could well provide a key to the conception, design and operation of coalitions of people or groups using forms of information or modes of information processing so different that the coalitions could not cohere for any length of time in one single form but could be stable if the coalition alternated between distinct forms. Underlying this possibility, hybrids are also of interest in integrating incompatible perspectives, paradigms and policies without eroding their distinctiveness in some simplistic compromise (see Figures 2 and 3). Whilst the value of using such resonance models may be contested, they do have the advantage of shifting the debate, currently somewhat sterile, to a level at which the merits of particular answers are no longer the sole issue. The need is for investigation of 'resonable' structures, however 'unreasonable' they may appear from any particular perspective. They open the way to more fruitful discussions both about how alternation between the contradictory information characteristic of a complex society can be improved and about the kinds of social structures that could be based upon such patterns of alternation. 

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