Complementarity of university and conversity?

Transforming the Art of Conversation (Part #12)

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It is in the light of such interwoven metaphors of transformation that the sense of "conversing" can be further developed in relation to any sense of conformity within a "universe" of discourse exposed to catastrophes -- currently best encompassed by the understandings from drama. These offer a means of considering the questions raised by such catastrophes more systematically, as discussed separately (Conformality of 7 WH-questions to 7 Elementary Catastrophes: an exploration of potential psychosocial implications, 2006)

Context for changing paradigms: Given the manner in which "universities" have metaphorically appropriated "universe" as an indication of the all-encompassing scope of their preoccupations, it might be assumed that the possibilities and varieties of "conversation" would be a significant concern in that context. This would follow from the admiration traditionally accorded to the Platonic symposium and the assumption that this has continued to develop in academic discourse.

Since academic discourse has proven to be as inadequate to the times as any other, could a case be made for a "conversity" to complement the normatively restrictive functions of a "university"? It could then be recognized that "university" is associated with the dominant extant paradigms, whereas "conversity" provides the appropriate "con-tainer" for the transformation between paradigms and their emergence -- for "con-ceptual" revolutions, as debated following the work of Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962).

A related concern is the case for a "university of disaster" that would provide a context for a mea culpa of the science that have failed to address their own ethical and philosophical deficits, as argued by Paul Virilio (The University of Disaster, 2010). This would include a kind "hospital" of science and technology that would face up to the accident in knowledge resulting not so much from the failures of the sciences as from their spectacular successes. Virilio argues this would ensure, as for the life of our bodies, that the climate of our minds could be treated like a patient suffering from the fatal consequences of a long-term illness.

Dark matter, ignorance and the unsaid: Especially provocative to this implication is recent recognition by cosmologists of the preponderance in the universe of dark matter and dark energy -- about which very little is known or understood. It might be asked whether corresponding acknowledgement is warranted in the case of conversation and the extent of the "unsaid", as mentioned above (Varieties of the "Unsaid" in sustaining psycho-social community, 2003). A mathematical approach to such "darkness" could be said to have been extensively researched by Ron Atkin with regard to communication within universities (Combinatorial Connectivities in Social Systems; an application of simplicial complex structures to the study of large organizations, 1977; see summary).

From an aesthetic perspective there is an additional charm to the "dark sound" of duende (noted above) as the transformative moment in the Spanish performing arts through which "soul" is engendered as a heightened state of collective emotion, expression and authenticity -- that mysterious power that everyone feels but no philosopher can explain.

A case has been developed separately for appropriate integration of the otherwise neglected (Designing Global Self-governance for the Future: patterns of dynamic integration of the netherworld, 2010) This uses the Fibonacci spiral to relate arenas which are variously explicit, denied, or of extreme existential subtlety in order to clarify the archetypal associations of any "positive" initiative with an "upperworld" and its condemnation of opposing initiatives to a "netherworld" (cf. Cognitive embodiment of an "underworld" into governance, 2010).

Conversity? Such a provocative possibility would then imply that a conversity could encompass the "dark arts" to which individuals and society have been rendered so vulnerable through the manner in which they are neglected (Engaging with the Inexplicable, the Incomprehensible and the Unexpected, 2010; Unthought as Cognitive Foundation of Global Civilization, 2012). These would include the strategic arts of persuasion and psychological manipulation, so notably characteristic of the confidence trickery of current political discourse and marketing -- and only too evident in the complicities which have engendered the current global financial crisis. Wikipedia offers an indicative List of confidence tricks.

Developing the facility for the deployment of these skills would seem to have been a particular function of university business schools. A conversity would however encompass development of the critical complementary skills to survive and reframe a miss-selling conversation (cf. Web resources: Critical thinking vs. Specious arguments, 2001). Metaphorically it could well be a place where "cognitive bullfighting" skills are developed (cf. Viable Global Governance through Bullfighting: challenge of transcendence, 2009).

A distinct use of the term, responsive to development of the web and duly registered as a trademark, was introduced as the basis of a business model by Erik Wallin (European Conversity: towards a community of practice for collaborative deep eLearning in eBusiness. Lund University, 2003). The "conversity model" has since been variously employed with respect to the business potential of social media -- but without indication of any trademark.

Of further relevance is the manner in which skills inspired by (Eastern) martial arts are used in strategic thinking and marketing (Gao Yuan, Lure the Tiger Out of the Mountains: the 36 stratagems of ancient China, 1991). These are necessarily intimately related to skills with knowledge and information (see adaptation Table of Strategems and Table of Confidence Ploys). Might the "36 stratagems" be systemically and aesthetically related to the "36 dramatic plots" (as identified by Georges Polti) with which people develop unconscious familiarity through the media (cf. Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns: reframing the scope of the "martial arts" in response to strategic threats, 2006).

"Con-tested discourse" and global sensemaking : The concerns of a conversity suggest a reframing of ongoing research into "contested discourse", most notably in relation to "wicked problems", as mentioned above (Clara Mancini and Simon Buckingham Shum, Modelling Discourse in Contested Domains: a semiotic and cognitive framework, 2006; Anna De Liddo, AgnesSandorandSimon Buckingham Shum, Contested Collective Intelligence: rationale, technologies, and a human-machine annotation study.Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 2012). It could be argued that a far greater range of problems could now be considered as "wicked" in the light of the inability of reasonable people to reach consensus on remedial responses -- as evident from the conflictual nature of political discourse.

It could then be asked whether any discourse has been appropriately "con-tested" -- to ensure the possibility of transformative "con-versation". If the converse cannot be integrated into a conversation within a universe of discourse, then the conversation can be understood as inherently unable to embody the dynamics of transformation in all its variations.

The quest for global sensemaking -- making meaning -- would seem to need to be "informed" by the cognitive attraction of the transformations widely "re-cognized" and embodied in (ball) games, (extreme) sports, music and dance. Each of these variously involves "contest" and is readily understood as a constituting a test of "confidence". "Sensemaking" would then embody dimensions of what is valued in "music-making", "love-making" and "poetry-making" (as argued above) -- most significantly by those who are not engaged by academic conversation.

Necessary complementarity: The complementarity could be expressed as follows:

• university cultivates the knowledge of the universe -- or the research through which that knowledge will finally and definitively emerge, if only by successive approximations -- asymptotically
  
  
• conversity cultivates the dynamics of transforming articulated knowledge continually, notably challenging the adequacy of any definitive presentation favoured in the moment -- effectively "recycling" the accumulating (commodified) "cognitive waste" thereby produced.

Whereas university professes the emergent insights into This and That, conversity elicits and denies the complementarity of Not This, Not That -- as indicative of an underlying, atemporal cognitive dynamic, notably celebrated by the Sanskrit adage Neti Neti. The ambiguity of this complementarity, encompassing "con" in its devious sense (calling for heightened vigilance), would then engage with the uncertain experiential reality of the wider population (Living as an Imaginal Bridge between Worlds: global implications of "betwixt and between" and liminality, 2011; Living with Incomprehension and Uncertainty: re-cognizing the varieties of non-comprehension and misunderstanding, 2012; Towards the Dynamic Art of Partial Comprehension, 2012).

From a Taoist perspective, this complementarity is further enhanced by the sense in which both "contested discourse" and "conversity" have been elaborated to a degree (as illustrated by the examples cited) through their enclosure within the restrictive context of "university". The question is how "university" might then be enabled within the controversial context of "conversity" -- perhaps as a University of Earth? Expressed in this way, the complementarity then recalls the symbol of the Tao as representative of the cognitive processes in an ironically fundamental form of conversation (Snoring of The Other: a politically relevant psycho-spiritual metaphor? 2006).

Metaversity? Given implications (discussed above) that "universe" suggests a form of closure precluding any "converse", a case might well be made for recognition of a "metaverse" -- beyond the arguments made for a conversational "multiverse". Aspects of that argument have been developed separately (¿ Higher Education 8 Meta-education ? Transforming cognitive enabling processes increasingly unfit for purpose, 2011). Again, does "university" currently offer a metaphor of conversational failure? Is this effectively the reason for a Metaversity Project -- a "gathering place for transdisciplinary researchers"?

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