Unquestionable preference for linear thinking

Cultivating Global Strategic Fantasies of Choice (Part #9)

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Presentation of a map of the form of that above in a widely read newspaper is most unusual. Typically, whether in media presentations or policy debates, the preference is for linear, sequential presentations of the crudest ("we right, you wrong" form). This characterizes linear thinking and reinforces it whatever the degree of "twisting" and "turning' by participants. There is little else on offer. Many policy environments do not have a facility for non-linear presentations. This is also true of rallies eliciting support for policies, typically supported by banners of the briefest kind -- to make a "point".

Perhaps of most relevance to the above argument is not why such a global map does not exist but rather why the case for such a map is considered to be irrelevant to the comprehension and management of the challenges of global governance -- despite the "existence" of destabilizing Tea Party and Al-Qaida movements. It is therefore somewhat ironic that such a map is considered useful to comprehension of the disputes between the global smartphone suppliers, symbolizing as they do the emerging facility for global communication -- on a globalizing Earth, "universally" lauded as being "flat" in communication terms.

Why for example has no such map been produced in relationship to the climate change debate or to other problematic dialogue arenas? The point has recently been emphasized in the long-standing dispute over Kashmir, in which calls have been made to indict Arundhati Roy for treason following her suggestion that their might be some validity to the Kashmiri perspective (Gethin Chamberlain, Arundhati Roy faces arrest over Kashmir remark, The Guardian, 26 October 2010).

Curiously, to the extent that such maps are used, it is primarily by the security services for the detection of threats or fraud -- notably by tracking phone contacts or banking transactions. They are seemingly never used to map and communicate conflicting perspectives and opportunities even in the case of security challenges, as more generally argued (From ECHELON to NOLEHCE: enabling a strategic conversion to a faith-based global brain, 2007).

This has been shown in the apparent contrast between the aversion to an analytical overview by the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US of the counterinsurgency (COIN) initiative in Afghanistan as represented by the PA Consulting Group. This takes the form of a map, notably publicized on behalf of McClatchy Newspapers by Dion Nissenbaum (The great Afghan spaghetti monster, Checkpoint Kabul, 20 December 2009; Graphic Shows Complexity of US Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, The Huffington Post, 22 December 2009). Coincidentally this map was publicized over the web at the end of the Copenhagen climate change event.

To illustrate the possibilities (as in the above exercise), the "spaghetti map" was adapted (as reproduced below) to suggest the relevance of such a perspective to the climate change debate (Insights for the Future from the Change of Climate in Copenhagen, 2010) .

Adaptation to climate change of a representation of counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan (click on image for larger version)
Afghanistan COIN dynamic (clusters in original map)	Climate change COIN dynamic (clusters in adapted map)
Population/Popular support Infrastructure, Economy and Services Government Afghanistan Security Forces (ANSF) Insurgents Crime and Narcotics Coalition Forces and Actions Physical Environment	Population/Popular support Infrastructure, Economy and Services Governance Activist NGO Strategic Forces (ANSF) Dissenters ("Them") Crime and Distractions Initiatives of Coalition of the Willful ("US") Physical Environment

However the sophisticated application currently used for security purposes can indeed be adapted to the exploration of incommensurable issues (Preliminary Netmap Studies of Databases on Questions, World Problems, Global Strategies, and Values, 2006). Some screen shot examples are reproduced below.

Studies of potential Where, When, What, Which, How, Who and Why-Questions to be asked about the relationship between Faith and Prosperity (emergent groups and detail) (represents 2980 Questions and 4804 links) [Full size images of those presented below can be accessed by clicking on the image]

The point remains that it is not whether such applications can be used (they can), but why they are not used (since they are not) -- despite being available over an extended period (Holistic network mapping using NETMAP, 1995). Clearly there is a deep commitment to the binary logic of linear debate and the manner in which that logic can be enacted (using bombs and missiles) against those who do not think "right". There is a deep irony that the original intercontinental ballistic missiles were necessarily based on a sophisticated understanding of curvature -- in order to be able to flatten those who were otherwise upright, but with the "wrong" orientation.

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