Transformation of psychic numbing

Mapping Paralysis and Tokenism in the Face of Potential Global Disaster (Part #5)

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Is-Ought problem: There is no lack of indication as to what "ought" to be done in relation to the conditions which give rise to psychic numbing. This is evident in the range of active political agendas in some degree of disagreement -- possibly of a radical nature. It has been a focus of philosophy, as summarized by Nicholas Rescher (The Strife of Systems: an essay on the grounds and implications of philosophical diversity, 1985) who concludes:

For centuries, most philosophers who have reflected on the matter have been intimidated by the strife of systems. But the time has come to put this behind us -- not the strife, that is, which is ineliminable, but the felt need to somehow end it rather than simply accept it and take it in stride.

It is similarly evident in the relation between the range of conflicting religions and their respective moral injunctions (Stephen Prothero, God Is Not One: the eight rival religions that run the world, and why their differences matter, 2010). Of particular interest is the classical articulation as the Is-Ought Problem. As originally noted by David Hume, many make claims about what ought to be on the basis of statements about what is. However,  there seems to be a significant difference between descriptive statements (about what is) and prescriptive or normative statements (about what ought to be), and it is not obvious how to get from making descriptive statements to prescriptive. The is-ought problem is also known as Hume's Law and Hume's Guillotine. He expressed the concern as follows

In every system of morality, which I have hitherto met with, I have always remarked, that the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary ways of reasoning, and establishes the being of a God, or makes observations concerning human affairs; when all of a sudden I am surprised to find, that instead of the usual copulations of propositions, is, and is not, I meet with no proposition that is not connected with an ought, or an ought not. This change is imperceptible; but is however, of the last consequence. (A Treatise of Human Nature, 1739)

Any effort to articulate a "map" of what "is" -- such as that above -- then gives greater focus to the question of what enabling initiative "ought" to be undertaken in response to it. The issue is especially acute given that major crises tend to evoke "mega-oughts" in the form of strategic plans with which all "should" agree.

Mirror: A map of that kind might be fruitfully understood as an effort to construct a mirror -- perhaps a collective analogue to the crudest of mirrors in which the distant ancestors of humanity first peered at themselves in the mirrors offered by nature (pools of water, etc). Recognition in a mirror, as in the mirror test of self-awareness, offers a sense of "is". However the "sight" then raises the question of what to do about it -- of what "ought" to be done about it. Ironically, if only phonetically in English, the plethora of web "sites", suggests that each is both a form of portal on reality as well as performing the function of a mirror.

The mirror metaphor is widely used in relation to cognitive and epistemological paradoxes, notably by Eastern traditions. Its fundamental role in Western traditions, beyond "reflection" on personal identity, is in "speculation" on the basis of what "is" held to be the condition of reality -- as with respect to the global financial market. It is formally evident in the speculative dimension of futures research. Imaginative fiction offers a possibility of "stepping into" a mirror which suggests a way of responding to a mirror -- such as that articulated above as a map (Stepping into, or through, the Mirror: embodying alternative scenario patterns, 2008).

A mirror-map is then a prerequisite for self-reflexive initiatives, as separately discussed (Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives: Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations, 2007). This then raises the question of the meaning of cognitive embodiment in relation to what is considered "ought" to be (Embodiment of Change: Comprehension, Traction and Impact? Discovering enabling questions for the future, 2011). Self-reflective "embodiment" is itself suggestive of a  hypothetical "mirror-test" that extraterrestrials might apply to humanity (Self-reflective Embodiment of Transdisciplinary Integration (SETI): the universal criteria of species maturity? 2008). Their question might be whether humanity was capable of recognizing its own nature in the environment of which it has made such a total mess. There is every indication that it cannot.

Transformative change: An Urgent Appeal to Change the Mindset (March 2011) appears to been a consequence of the International Forum for Climate Justice (Cancun, 2010) and its "alternative" Cancún Declaration  with the slogan: Let's change the system, not the planet -- as discussed previously (From Changing the Strategic Game to Changing the Strategic Frame: missing cognitive possibility in changing the system not the planet, 2010).

Whether "ought" is focused on "changing the system" or on "changing the mindset", the challenge of the variety of perspectives on these matters remains. Both might be caricatured as highly ambitious "oughts" -- as "mega-oughts". One response, following from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), has been the less ambitious "think globally, act locally", used earlier in relation to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972). In anticipation of the Rio+20 event (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the question is whether that has proven to be sufficient. One effort to "mirror" those early reflections was unsuccessful (Configuring Globally and Contending Locally: shaping the global network of local bargains by decoding and mapping Earth Summit inter-sectoral issues, 1992).

The argument here is that a "micro-ought" with a higher probability of enabling new forms of change -- including "changing the mindset" -- requires a better "mirror" capable of reflecting the collective characteristics of human nature inhibiting any strategies to "change to the system". One approach has been offered by Joël de Rosnay (The Macroscope:  a new world scientific system, 1979) as the detection of patterns of larger systems (by analogy with the microscope). Understanding at the micro-level may offer guidance to understanding of systems of a larger scale. This approach was a stimulus to the study of Luc de Brabandère (Le Latéroscope: systèmes et créativité, 1989; The Forgotten Half of Change: achieving greater creativity through changes in perception, 2005).

How best to reflect -- and "re-cognize" -- the factors inhibiting remedial action, as previously discussed (Recognizing the Psychosocial Boundaries of Remedial Action, 2009)? Especially challenging is the extent to which looking into such a mirror may be "psychically hazardous" -- as discussed with the respect to the implications of overpopulation (Overpopulation Debate as a Psychosocial Hazard: development of safety guidelines from handling other hazardous materials, 2009).

High-tech "mirrors": There is a high degree of irony associated with such a "micro-ought" in that humanity is investing considerable resources on a global scale in constructing multiple high-tech "mirrors" -- in the form of radio telescopes (see list of over one hundred). Given the level of crisis on the planet, this indulgence in mega-science can readily be interpreted as  displacement activity on the most massive scale. As noted in commenting on a previous exercise (Mind Map of Global Civilizational Collapse: why nothing is happening in response to global  challenges, 2011), these initiatives include:

• construction in Chile (the Atacama Large Millimeter Array), to detect objects from the cosmic "dark ages" of the universe 13 billion years ago.
• construction in China of such a telescope in China -- capable of resolving objects 7 billion light years from Earth (Anil Ananthaswamy, China starts building world's biggest radio telescope, New Scientist, 13 June 2011).
• construction in South Africa or Australia of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)

Many are presented as global initiatives aimed to provide answers to fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the Universe -- curiously justified as a "mega-ought". As with use of the Wide Field Camera 3 of the Hubble Space Telescope to inspect objects 11 million light years from Earth, it may be asked whether there are equivalent initiatives capable of gathering and resolving psychosocial conditions on Earth -- with a view to understanding the nature of future evolution of human society, given its present crisis of crises.

Exploiting an astrophysical metaphor, it is extraordinary that extensive research has been undertaken on the origin and lifecycle of stars, whereas little of significance has been achieved regarding the formation and lifecycle of global strategic initiatives. There is no "Herzsprung-Russell diagram" mapping such evolution in terms of any equivalent to "luminosity" and "temperature". How many current global strategic initiatives might have been been usefully described as "red giants" or "brown dwarfs". Might the "European project" be on track to becoming the latter (whether or not ITER enables sustainable fusion)?

How would the following widely-publicized, but "short-lived", strategic initiative appear on such a diagram:

When exhausted European leaders emerged from all-night negotiations in Brussels last month with a "comprehensive" plan to claw the euro back from the abyss, they could have had no inkling that, less than a fortnight later, it would have so comprehensively collapsed.... If the week began with a sense of limbo, it rapidly spun into chaos (The week that Europe stumbled to the brink of disaster and stopped, The Guardian, 13 November 2011)

In an effort to construct what might be interpreted to be an Earth-pointing "mirror", a "Living Earth Simulator" (of the FuturIcT EU research initiative) is planned -- a 10 year 1 billion EUR program "to explore social life on earth and everything it relates to" (Social Supercomputing Is Now, Science News Online, 26 May 2010). Similarly the US government is undertaking an effort to enable social scientists  to mine the vast resources of the Internet -- web searches and Twitter messages, Facebook and blog posts, the digital location trails generated by billions of cellphones -- combining mathematics and psychology to predict the future (John Markoff, Government Aims to Build a 'Data Eye in the Sky', The New York Times, 10 October 2011).

The question is whether such initiatives will offer more comprehensible maps of relevance to governance than those of the Limits to Growth project in 1972. If they do not, will the simulations be able to show why not -- in the light of issues discussed separately (Considering All the Strategic Options: whilst ignoring alternatives and disclaiming cognitive protectionism? 2009)? Will they be able to generate more fruitful maps than that above?

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