Polysensorial focus: comprehending the nature of the elephant

Strategic Challenge of Polysensorial Knowledge: bringing the "elephant" into "focus" (Part #2)

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The strategic challenge (in the title) derives partly from the classic tale of the 7 blind men confronted by an elephant (that they are collectively seeking to comprehend) and partly from the argument that the "invisible" elephant in the living room of current strategic development is that of overpopulation (Climate Change and the Elephant in the Living Room, 2008). The question is how the metaphoric filters, based on different senses, effectively work dysfunctionally together. Metaphorically this is part of the challenge of sensory processing disorders for a knowledge society, as discussed elsewhere (Memetic and Information Diseases in a Knowledge Society: speculations towards the development of cures and preventive measures, 2008).

.	.	Seven "blind men" endeavouring to comprehend the "elephant in the living room"
Metaphorical vehicles	.	Vision Sight	Hearing Sound	Speech Dialogue	Taste Gustation	Odour Smell	Feel Touch	Cognition Thinking
Sensory processing disorders		Blindness, Presbyopia, Dyslexia Myopia, etc Dyslexia	Hearing impairment	Speech impediments or disorders	Taste disorders (Ageusia, Dysgeusia) Eating disorders	Smelling disorders (Anosmia)	Tactile disorders	Sensory integration dysfunction, (Delusional disorders)
Vision Sight	Hypo	Blindness Short/Long sight	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>
	Hyper	Hypersensitive See "too much"	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>
Hearing Sound	Hypo	<<	Deafness Tone deafness	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>
	Hyper	<<	Over-sensitive Hear "too much"	>>	>>	>>	>>	>>
Speech Dialogue	Hypo	<<	<<	Dumb Speak ill	>>	>>	>>	>>
	Hyper	<<	<<	Say "too much" Logorrhea	>>	>>	>>	>>
Taste Gustation	Hypo	<<	<<	<<	Taste? Pallet	>>	>>	>>
	Hyper	<<	<<	<<	Fussy Fastidious	>>	>>	>>
Odour Smell	Hypo	<<	<<	<<	<<	Odour insensitivity	>>	>>
	Hyper	<<	<<	<<	<<	Odour over-ensitivity	>>	>>
Feel Touch	Hypo	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	Unfeeling Heartless	>>
	Hyper	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	Hypersensitive .	>>
Cognition Thinking	Hypo	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	Unthinking Don't think
	Hyper	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	<<	Think too much
Use of prosthetic aid	Dependence	Spectacles	Hearing aid	Prompt	Spices	Fragrances	PR	.?
	Avoidance	(for vanity)	(for vanity)	(for vanity)	.	.	.	.?
Dysfunctional collective interaction		Don't read	Rumour-mongering	Gossiping	Over- consumption	Over- perfumed	Invasive bonding gestures	"Dumbing down"?
Constrained distinguishing capacity		Colour blindness	Tone deafness	Insensitive speech	Tastelessness Restricted pallet	No smell?	Emotional insensitivity	Limited recognition of spectrum of options
Remote capacity (virtual)		Text, Web, Video, CCT	Telephone, Radio, Bug	Telephone, Radio, Bug	Aesthetics?	?	Haptic?	Augmentation of collective intellect

Problematic bias: Except by implication, the table above is itself biased in that an alternative presentation might have highlighted the distinct cognitive skills (intelligences) associated (metaphorically) with each of the senses -- enabling them collectively to have much greater capacity to detect and comprehend the nature of the "elephant".

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