Conversation understood through a variety of metaphors

Transforming the Art of Conversation (Part #9)

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Use is made above of "universe" as a guiding metaphor for exploring "conversation". This suggests the possibility of other metaphors through which conversation might be explored (cf. Guidelines towards Dialogue through Metaphor, 1993; Dialogue: metaphors of transformation in conferences, 1995).

Ball sports: Reference was made above to "technomimicry" as providing guidelines to reflection on the nature of conversation. This suggests that such an approach to the acquisition of insights could be extended to "ludomimicry" -- following the critical arguments of Roger Caillois (The Definition of Play and the Classification of Games, 2006) regarding those of Johan Huizinga (Homo Ludens: a study of the play-element in culture, 1950), as discussed by Andrew Brown (Agon, Alea, Mimicry and Ilinx, Embodied Knowers).

As might be expected, a degree of mathematical insight has been brought to bear on team building and the effective operation of teams. This is most evident in the analysis of passing patterns in ball games -- effectively a metaphor for the missing analysis of how the "point" is "passed" in conversation, even though "point scoring" is a process common to both domains (Athalie Redwood-Brown, Passing patterns before and after goal scoring in FA Premier League Soccer, International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 2008; Association for Soccer Education and Teaching, Passing Patterns and Small Sided Games, 2008; Alan Reifman, Network Analysis of Basketball Passing Patterns II, 2006; Patrick Riley, Coaching: Learning and Using Environment and Agent Models for Advice, 2005).

From a perspective of ludomimicry, the question is then whether ball games can be "re-cognized" as constituting an implicit understanding of contrasting forms and styles of conversation between participants -- and the spectators they inspire as followers. Can tennis, soccer, rugby, water polo, croquet, volleyball, ice hockey, golf, snooker, and the like, be interpreted (systemically) as conversations of various kinds -- possibly of greater complexity than conventional conversation? Are games to be understood as conversations unable to happen conventionally?

Is there a sense in which society elicits such game-playing to rehearse the styles of conversation to which it cannot otherwise give direct and explicit expression? Do such games embody insights of greater meaningful import than "sustainable development"? Might this explain their evident function as "strange attractors"?

Is it their capacity to embody understanding of complex dynamics in movement which calls for recognition -- in the light of recent explorations (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought, 1999; Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, The Primacy of Movement, 1999; Mark Johnson, The Body in the Mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason, 1987; Lawrence Shapiro, Embodied Cognition, 2010).

Could it be argued that at some level people "know" of subtler forms of conversation, but displace their insights into more tangible models? Does this offer new global significance to the Olympic Games and various world championships? How does such game-playing relate to the possibility outlined by James P. Carse (Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1997)?

Electronic games: Especially interesting is the manner in which these games now endeavour to embody the dynamics of face-to-face games, as well as extending the possibilities of games beyond the restrictions of physical and other constraints. Through also incorporating the dynamics of war games and shoot-em-ups, games offer abstract recognition of movement of the "point" of conversation and "point scoring". Also of interest is the very extensive incorporation of mythical characters and magical behaviours transcending the conventional dimensions of physical reality, as in multiplayer real-time virtual worlds (MUDs) . Many ongoing online games now embody considerable conversational opportunities between participants in a global context, most notably the massively multiplayer online games (MMOG). Many issues of governance emerge and are variously addressed

These many features suggest that online gaming is reframing many aspects of conversation, or providing the infrastructure to do so beyond the capacity of academic simulations. The question is how its transformational potential is to be recognized and developed (cf. Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion: climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005).

Dance: Of great relevance to any exploration of "transformative conversation" is the manner in which it can be understood as variously embodied in patterns of dance, or encoded by them. It is now remarkable the extent to which the range of these patterns has been embodied in libraries of animations readily accessible over the web (or under development). Of particular interest is the schematic approach (with music) used by Dance Animations, as illustrated by the following *****

These suggest the pertinent questions as to whether:

• formal dances typical of receptions at global conferences (waltz, foxtrot, etc) reflect a conventional mindset typical of conversation at those events,
• modern dances reflect aspirations to new patterns of conversation
• traditional folk dances hold insights into valuable patterns of conversation which tend to be neglected and marginalized -- irrespective of how they are valued where they are employed.

Environment: As noted above, exploration of biomimicry is now recognized as offering a valuable means of acquiring insights of relevance to the development of technology. It might then be asked whether nature offers the possibility of valuable insights with respect to human conversation -- beyond the above-mentioned framing offered by intercourse ("Human Intercourse": "Intercourse with Nature" and "Intercourse with the Other", 2007).

One approach is via that developed by Edward Haskell with respect to the patterns of interaction between species -- predation, commensalism, symbiosis, etc -- as articulated in his Full Circle: the moral force of unified science (1972) and developed by Timothy Wilken (UnCommon Science, 2002). These insights have been reframed systemically as a set of "games" basic to human relationships (Cardioid Attractor Fundamental to Sustainability: 8 transactional games forming the heart of sustainable relationship, 2005). Such games could be understood as conversations -- especially since "symbiosis" is, for example, explicitly valued with respect to conversation, just as "predatory conversations" are deprecated, however widely practiced.

It is appropriate to note that types of ecosystem are used metaphorically to describe conversations, most evident being "jungle" in its dangerously problematic sense. It could then be asked whether "jungle" (as tropical forest) offers pointers to types of conversational context in which the greatest variety of perspectives is able to co-exist -- despite the challenge of comprehending the complexity of that dynamic. This then suggests the value of recognizing any conversational "wilderness" or "wetland". The latter is especially interesting in that it implies that some conversational arenas offer a safe space for perspectives which "migrate" between distant hemispheres distinguished by their global orientation. These cases are also suggestive of the problematic consequences of "developing" conversations for simplistic purposes.

Environmental metaphors could be explored further, especially in the light of climate change (cf. Climate Change as a Metaphor of Social Change: systemic implications of emissions, ozone, sunlight, greenhouse and overheating, 2008). There is a particular charm to the consequences of "emissions", given the volume of "hot air" emitted in national and global decision-making arenas (Sins of Hot Air Emission, Omission, Commission and Promission: the political challenge of responding to global crises, 2009). Other possibilities have been discussed separately (Existential Embodiment of Externalities: radical cognitive engagement with environmental categories and disciplines, 2009)

Material processes and transformation: Widespread understanding of certain transformative material technologies has resulted in their use as metaphors with regard to conversation. The question is whether further exploration of those technologies, as metaphors susceptible to cognitive internalization, would offer guidelines to more transformative conversation. Examples include:

• drill / bore: The former is now in common use in data mining, namely in the sense of "drilling down" to greater detail. In conversation it may be recognized in interrogative questioning. Whilst "bore" may be similarly used, it is more familiar as the process through which linear tedium is introduced into a conversation -- engendering "boredom".
• pump / drain: The former is commonly recognized when one participant in a conversation "pumps" the other for information. Use of "drain" may reflect the sense of being "drained" by such a "pumping" process.
• irrigate / dam: The former is rarely used as such with respect to conversation although the need to respond to the (potential) "aridity" of a conversation may engender an equivalent process. Some processes of "public relations" may respond to this concern. Recognition of "damming" may be evident where the "flow" of a conversation is felt to be blocked. Concerns may be expressed regarding breaking through what has been "dammed up".
• dump / excavate: The former is commonly recognized when one participant in a conversation indulges in "dumping" (unwanted) information and preoccupations on the other. This process may be termed a "mind dump". Use of "excavation" tends to be evident in the same context as "drilling down".
• distill: As a metaphor this chemical engineering process is one commonly used in eliciting the essence of a conversation. Many other such processes merit exploration from this perspective.
• plough / compact: The former is occasionally used in relation to "preparing the ground" for a conversation. Use of "compaction" is more evident in the process of "consolidation", but may be noted when one party or agenda is used (questionably) as a "steam roller" to smooth the conversational ground.

These examples all illustrate ways in which external processes hold insights into processes which may be internalized in conversations. The question is whether there is any understanding of how to use them more systematically to cultivate and develop more appropriate conversations.

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