Cognitive epicycles -- prefiguring more fundamental insight?

Going Nowhere through Not-knowing Where to Go (Part #4)

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Contrasting qualities: There are many indications of constraints on the human capacity to recognize distinctions -- potentially associated with point identities. The phenomenon has been notably explored by George Miller (The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: some limits on our capacity for processing information, Psychological Review, 1956), although approaches by other authors are of relevance, as separately summarized (Systems of Categories Distinguishing Cultural Biases, 1993). The phenomenon can be considered in terms of the capacity to cluster distinctions in many domains into sets of a limited size (Representation, Comprehension and Communication of Sets: the role of number, 1978; Patterns of N-foldness: comparison of integrated multi-set concept schemes as forms of presentation, 1980). More recent research of relevance to social networking concerns is that on Dunbar's Number, namely the cognitive limit to the number of people with whom an individual can maintain stable social relationships.

Qualitative encounters compared to encounter with planets: Rather than as a simple list or static pattern, the question here is the nature of the experiential dynamic of the cognitive encounter with "distinctions". Such distinctions can be variously understood in terms of styles, preferences or types -- each eliciting some degree of attraction or repulsion. This response may vary with time and circumstances -- as with choice of clothing, food, music, or activity.

The strategic response may be perceived as "flitting" between such choices, with little sense of pattern, coherence or continuity. Especially relevant is the memory of each encounter, the manner in which the experience is forgettable, and the subsequent possibility of renewing it. Each encounter functions as a kind of learning zone with the shift from one to another as tracing out a form of learning pathway -- possibly repetitive and to be recognized (by others) as habitual cycles, if not vicious -- potentially to be associated with the pathology of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

A potentially fruitful approach is to consider the elements of the set of such distinctions as being associated with "planets", in the light of the manner in which the dynamics of planets posed a challenge to the earliest astronomers. A degree of justification is provided by the tendency in those times to associate various distinct qualities with those planets. The planetary metaphor was a theme of Marsilio Ficino, as described by Thomas Moore (The Planets Within: the astrological psychology of Marsilio Ficino, 1990) and separately discussed (Composing the Present Moment: celebrating the insights of Marsilio Ficino interpreted by Thomas Moore, 2001). It is echoed to a degree by Joseph Campbell (The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: metaphor as myth and as religion, 1986), and more recently by Neil Shubin (The Universe Within: discovering the common history of rocks, planets, and people, 2013).

The planetary metaphor encourages a degree of recognition of phases in "cycles" -- however those cycles are understood or experienced (as with the movement of the planets). This may be limited to a sense of recurrence without being comprehensible as an orderly pattern of phases as a whole. Within that setting, the experiential phases of one distinctive quality may reinforce or undermine those of another at different times. Qualitative distinctions may then be "in phase" or "out of phase" to some degree. The issue is of significance in design.

Cognitive epicycles: The explanation first offered by Ptolemy for the perceived complexity of the movement of the planets was for a geocentric pattern presented diagrammatically in terms of epicycles -- the Earth, understood as being the centre of the universe, then considered to be the centre of that movement as shown below

Pattern of epicycles (reproduced from Wikipedia)

This pattern preceded the "correct" explanation which emerged centuries later in helicocentric terms. This emergence is now presented as a primary indication of the triumphant success of the scientific method. The epicycle model is now deprecated as an indication of past inadequacy, now transcended by progress in comprehension. It is in this sense that it has been variously used in discussion of stages of cognitive development (as noted in references below).

The point to be made here is the possibility that the ability to comprehend a set of incommensurable distinctions, as they are dynamically encountered (over time), may currently bear closer similarity to the justification originally accorded the geocentric model than that now accorded the heliocentric model.

An individual, as a mysteriously experiential point identity, is more readily understood (especially by that individual) to be positioned at the centre of the explanatory universe -- however complex may appear the dynamics of the distinctions experienced from that perspective. The coherence offered by the transcendent "logic" of the "heliocentric model", challenging this grounded sense of "geocentric" understanding, can only be appreciated through disassociation -- through detachment from the appearances of that grounded worldview. This requisite detachment may be felt to be as unrealistic by the individual concerned as was evident in historical resistance to the heliocentric model.

Whilst a "heliocentric" worldview may be in principle more correct and more elegant, offering more appropriate understanding of the dynamics between incommensurable distinctions, it may be experientially "inaccessible" in ways that merit attention. Comprehension may be readily trapped in a more powerfully attractive "geocentric" worldview through inability to achieve the detachment required. In a sense the immediate appeal of every model or theory -- giving it a sense of being "right" -- is indicative of the trap.

This suggests that every theoretical model can be fruitfully assumed to be "geocentric" in contrast to the "heliocentric" insight by which it will be reframed by future understanding -- born of greater detachment, when this is existentially viable. In this sense the "geocentric" experience, represented to a degree by epicyclic movement, prefigures the emergence of "heliocentric" insight -- if and when this is sensed to be meaningful and viable. Curiously any "geocentric" model must necessarily "make more sense", given its relatively closer and more direct relation to the senses -- and, by extension, to the sensational. It follows that identity may be more readily framed by such engagement -- as with its identification with the land in many cultures.

Unsuspected "geocentric" attachments? Of relevance to any organization of distinctions, it is appropriate to note the the manner in which these sets tend conventionally to be organized, as indicated above with respect to number and patterns of N-foldness. Also of relevance are the methods of documentation systems, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification or the Universal Decimal Classification. As essnetiallyb nested listed structures, these have their limitations in reflecting the variety of dynamic considerations required for any transdisciplinary systemic approach to the global condition -- hence the experimental approach used in the ordering of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, as described separately (Functional Classification in an Integrative Matrix of Human Preoccupations, 1982).

Given the possibility of unsuspected attachment to what the future may deprecate as a "geocentric" mode of classification, it is therefore appropriate to note recent research on the manner in which the brain organizes information, as reported by Sara Reardon (Take a peek inside the brain's filing cabinet, New Scientist, 5 January 2013). Using most common nouns and verbs, the activation responses of neurons of individuals under an fMRI scanner were mapped (Huth, Nishimoto, Vu and Gallant, A continuous semantic space describes the representation of thousands of object and action categories across the human brain, Neuron 2012). The results suggest that the brain organizes visual information by its relationship to other information.

Such research may be related to that on how human modular brains lead people to deny and distort evidence as reported by Michael Shermer (Logic-Tight Compartments, Scientific American, January 2013). He argues:

If you have pondered how intelligent and educated people can, in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence, believe that evolution is a myth, that global warming is a hoax, that vaccines cause autism and asthma, that 9/11 was orchestrated by the Bush administration, conjecture no more. The explanation is in what I call logic-tight compartments -- modules in the brain analogous to watertight compartments in a ship. The concept of compartmentalized brain functions acting either in concert or in conflict has been a core idea of evolutionary psychology since the early 1990s.... There is no unified "self" that generates internally consistent and seamlessly coherent beliefs devoid of conflict. Instead we are a collection of distinct but interacting modules often at odds with one another. The module that leads us to crave sweet and fatty foods in the short term is in conflict with the module that monitors our body image and health in the long term. The module for cooperation is in conflict with the one for competition, as are the modules for altruism and avarice or the modules for truth telling and lying.

Compartmentalization is also at work when new scientific theories conflict with older and more naive beliefs. In the 2012 paper "Scientific Knowledge Suppresses but Does Not Supplant Earlier Intuitions" in the journal Cognition, Occidental College psychologists Andrew Shtulman and Joshua Valcarcel found that subjects more quickly verified the validity of scientific statements when those statements agreed with their prior naive beliefs. Contradictory scientific statements were processed more slowly and less accurately, suggesting that "naive theories survive the acquisition of a mutually incompatible scientific theory, coexisting with that theory for many years to follow."

Physics offers a formal legitimacy to speculation on the first moments of the expression of an identity, whether in an individual or through the points made in creative pursuit of particular agendas. The most recent cosmological reflections of astrophysicists regarding the "Big Bounce", in relation to the prevailing model of the "Big Bang", point to new and more integrative ways of understanding the formation of the explicated universe. It is implied by the cyclic model or oscillatory universe interpretation of the Big Bang where the first cosmological event was the result of the collapse of a previous universe.Loop quantum gravity(LQG) is a theory that attempts to describe the quantum properties of gravity. Davide Castelvecchi (Scientists Extend Einstein's Relativity to the Universe's First Moments,Scientific American, 9 January 2013). New calculations extend Einstein's general theory of relativity into the universe's first few moments.

Of relevance here is the extent to which the prevailing understandings of today themselves constitute "naive beliefs" -- in the eyes of the future. Of even greater interest, however, is the total incapacity and disinterest of physicists in their point-making process, through which each new model acquires recognizable identity superceding the old. Self-reference is restricted to issues regarding an "observer" but does not extend to a "point-maker", as separately discussed (Knowledge Processes Neglected by Science, 2012). There is a remarkable sense in which it is assumed that any further insight into the nature of reality in future centuries will be a "mere footnote" to 21st century science. This is remarkably exemplified in the deprecation of religious belief, widely publicized through the unquestionable point-making efforts of Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion, 2006).

As an atheist Dawkins has become identified with that point, especially regarding the nature of death (Richard Dawkins, Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life, 2012). Such efforts imply a quest for personal identity in contrast with his scientific beliefs and indifference to the potential implications of the subtlest reflections of theoretical physicists -- all of whom are faced with death, possibly to be preceded by tragic forms of senility. Especially intriguing is his fascination with his identity as portrayed in a mapping of his genome -- one of the first people in the UK to possess such a representation (Richard Dawkins sequences his genome, Science and Atheism, October 2012). Ironically in terms of the above argument, it is portrayed as a circle with only an implied centre -- a circular genome map, typically subject to copyright restrictions. As the originator of the concept of a meme, there is further irony to the incapacity to produce an analogous "circular memetic map" indicative of his conceptual identity. A visually striking genome map of this kind is provided below.

Maize Genome (extract from a circular genome map generated by the University of Maryland, The B73 Maize Genome: Complexity, Diversity, and Dynamics, Science, 20 November 2009.)

The elusive nature of the transition from one such "geocentric" perspective to another can be explored through the contrast between a "rotten" perspective and an "enlightened" one (a "heliocentric" perspective), as in the argument of Henryk Skolimowski (From the Rot to the Light, Scientific and Medical Network Review, Winter 2012). He introduces his theme as follows:

The title itself says it all. Our true journey of becoming is one in which we overcome the petrified forms, and the rot around us, in favour of new openings, transcendence and Light. Yet so often we stay stuck in the old forms. We do try to reach the Light and transcend but instead we are performing the epicycles of the old. It is not sufficient to have good intentions. It is not sufficient to criticise the old eloquently. We need to have courage, imagination and will to break the mirror in order to be on the other side of it. And then we shall realise that there was no mirror - only our own mind, which has been holding us in captivity.

Strangely, in arguing previously for a participatory universe, Skolimowski seemingly has little to say about the continuing function of "rot" -- so vital to the dynamics of sustainable ecological systems (The Participatory Mind: a new theory of knowledge and of the universe, 1995). Again, the "rotten" framework is necessarily more directly accessible to the senses and is in that sense more meaningful.

Gravity and gravitas? The epicyclic metaphor suggests a sense in which the attraction of each is to be understood in terms of the "gravitas" (as potentially experienced in others) from which "gravity" originally derived as the "force that gives weight to objects". This then accords with the seriousness of that particular perspective, as recognized by the belief of those who promote it and others who are "moved" by it, and the significance then associated with "motivation".

Together these suggest consideration of how that seriousness contrasts fundamentally with superficiality -- and the possibility of "taking things lightly". The seriousness of problems -- their qualitative "weightiness" -- is typically described metaphorically in terms of their "gravity". Quantitative statistical methods may focus on the relative "weight" of a problem -- possibly by massaging the data, through a weighting process, thereby adjusting some items to be perceived as more significant than others. Ironically this could be compared with mastery of "gravity control" -- irrespective of the "mass" of data, as in the case of climate change.

Curiously, in contrast to its use in gravity modelling of marketing catchment areas, the degrees of seriousness of problems are not distinguished in terms of their relative gravity -- and the catchment areas they engender within belief systems. The same could be said of the related concept of a gravity well -- suggestive of the manner in which the "light" in any communication in that system is "bent" around that well, as typically recognized in the more dubious processes of news management. The possibility of using a communication equivalent to a gravitational lens also merits exploration.

The metaphor also recalls the sense in which a person may be recognized as "orbiting" or "revolving" around another. It offers further insight, given the "gravitational" implication, of how "right" is distinguished as an orientation to a "centre of gravity". In physics, that centre of mass of a distribution of mass in space is the unique "point" where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Whether in a physical object or, metaphorically, in relation the identity of a person, that "point" is necessarily intangible and elusive.

Cognitive slingshot transitions?: As a more directly accessible explanation, the epicycle model highlights an interesting possibility for navigating experientially from phase to phase within any habitual cycle -- of navigating between alternative realities (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002; Entering Alternative Realities -- Astronautics vs Noonautics: isomorphism between launching aerospace vehicles and launching vehicles of awareness, 2002).

Metaphorically the possibility may be understood through the gravitational slingshot manoeuver, used in the design of space missions, through which the gravitational pull of one attractor can be used to accelerate a spacecraft onwards to another planetary destination -- offering the possibility of an Interplanetary Transport Network (cf. Interplanetary Superhighway Makes Space Travel Simpler, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 17 July 2002) as discussed separately (From an "Interplanetary Transport Network" to an "Inter-other Transition Network"? 2012).

Curiously there is a degree of recognition to such dynamics in use of "rebound" to describe the experiential process in interpersonal relationships following a particularly painful break-up. More curious is recent insight into the possibility of loop quantum gravity (LQG), a theory that attempts to describe the quantum properties of gravity in relation to loop quantum cosmology and the so-called Big Bounce, mentioned above (Emanuele Alesci andFrancesco Cianfrani, Quantum-Reduced Loop Gravity, January 2013)

Versification of phases: Another way of getting a sense of a "cognitive slingshot" is through versification in poem or song. The phase experienced as embodied in each verse is first anticipated, then enactivated, then abandoned for the next. The poem or song, when remembered as a whole, then offers a degree of coherence which transcends the experience of any particular verse and places it in a context -- whose nature can be intuited to a degree but not articulated otherwise.

The transformation from verse to verse may employ devices usefully recalled by the prefixes which can be applied to "verse", as understood in geometrical transformations and optical systems: inverse, reverse, diverse, converse, obverse, perverse, and the like, as separately discussed (Transforming the Art of Conversation, 2012).

There is then the intriguing possibility of "re-cognizing" each moment of life as a verse -- through "versification of the moment", placing it in a space of coherence of larger degree, as separately explored (Being a Poem in the Making: engendering a multiverse through musing, 2012; Enactivating Multiversal Community: hearing a pattern of voices in the global wilderness, 2012).

Poets and song writers endeavour to recall moments having such memorable qualities that can to a degree be shared -- through resonance -- with the experience of others subsequently. The challenge is the cultivation of the ability to improvise such verses for oneself in the moment rather than to depend on past products of others. A sense of this possibility -- interweaving the verses -- is offered by the title of a book by Mary Catherine Bateson (Composing a Life, 1990).

A "neti neti" process? This astronautical indication, suggesting a way of navigating between modes of experience by a pattern of successive attractions and repulsions, can be understood in terms of progressive recognition of the dynamics of attachment-detachment. Traditionally this has been recognized through the Sanskrit philosophical adage: Neti Neti (not this, not that). However, rather than the static emphasis of that statement, here the emphasis is on the process of successively engaging and disengaging -- perhaps engendering a more fundamental insight..

Cognitive epispirals? The pattern of planetary epicycles is typically represented as flat (as above) -- consistent with the plane of the solar system. Such a pattern is reminiscent of the variety of two-dimensional centro-symmetric representations of types and other distinctions -- of which the traditional mandala is the most elaborate.

Given the elaboration of a three-dimensional model of human development in spiral form (cf. Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Spiral Dynamics, 1996), it is useful to ask whether the comprehension challenges this implies might be prefigured by recognition of "cognitive epispirals" rather than the simpler epicycles. The epispiral is a plane curve with polar equation giving rise to representation as two-dimensional images reminiscent of those such as the mandala. It is the polar or circle inversion of the rose curve, itself reminiscent of the rose window and its psychological symbolism.

Mathematically, the epispiral is one of three forms of Cotes spiral. The other two being one of Poinsot's spirals and the third corresponding to a hyperbolic spiral. These forms, as with discussion of the Binet equation, suggest the possibility of psychosocial implications of relevance to the experiential considerations here.

Experientially, as with the planets, a degree of movement "out of the plane" may be sensed -- usefully to be understood as giving rise to some form of spiral experience. One possible metaphor is the coiling of the DNA molecule, with the implication of "cognitive DNA", as previously discussed (DNA Supercoiling as a Pattern for Understanding Psycho-social Twistedness, 2004). The DNA metaphor is especially interesting in that it is intimately related to the emergence of individuality from a point at the moment of conception. As a configuration of "points", it is also of interest as a consequence of efforts to associate individual "identity" with the genome, notably by Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene, 1976; The Extended Phenotype, 1982), and despite the reassessment of the assumptions of the Human Genome Project leading to renewed emphasis on epigenetics.

Another metaphor of potential value to understanding such spiral dynamics of comprehension is the movement of plasma in a toroidal tokamak fusion reactor and the control of that spiraling movement by a configuration of magnets, as separately discussed (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing (ITER-8), 2006).

Unwittingly, the complex nature of a cognitive epispiral is delightfully suggested by the Meander Aquaphonium, using a variety of sounds triggered periodically by the movement of water through a spiral form -- effectively an interactive musical fountain. This "whimsical community arts project", commissioned by the Deloraine Rotary Club (Tasmania), was developed collaboratively under the direction of Kim Clark. The sounds are generated through the following disparate instruments: Pan pipes, Irish whistle plonk dunker, 6 string rotary guitar, Swiss Horn and a Balinese gamelan instrument.

Meander Aquaphonium on permanent display at the Great Western Tiers Visitor's Centre, Deloraine (Meander Valley), Tasmania

Epicyclic gearing as a cognitive model: Although the epicyclic pattern is deprecated as outdated from a "helicoentric" perspective, it is remarkable that the value of the pattern should be recognized in epicyclic gear systems -- notably used in a common pencil sharpener and in the automatic gear transmissions of automobiles. The predominant form of automatic transmission is hydraulically operated, using a fluid coupling or torque converter, and a set of planetary gearsets (or epicyclic gearing) to provide a range of gear ratios. In the Toyota Prius transmission, for example, a special gear set is included -- the "Power Split Device" (PSD). The challenge of rendering its role and movement comprehensible has been admirably addressed by Graham Davies (The Power Split Device, 2001) in the animation below.

Power Split Device in Prius automatic transmission (animation reproduced from Graham Davies, The Power Split Device, 2001)

As Davies explains:

In the picture at right, I have tried to show how the gears of the PSD are arranged and how they mesh together. The gear in the center is called the "sun" gear. The gears surrounding it are called the "planets"... The shafts of the planet gears are fixed to a "planet carrier", which can rotate around the same axis as the sun. This is not shown in the diagram. Around the outside is the ring gear, with its teeth pointing inwards and meshing with the planets. This also rotates around the same axis as the sun.

Most people have difficulty visualizing how the gears move in an epicyclic gear set. To help with this, I set about creating some animations. I tried first to animate the above diagram, but I quickly gave up and devised a different picture of a planetary gear. This is shown at left here. This simpler representation does not show the gear teeth. Instead, the "gears" roll against each other. The colored bars make it easier to see how each gear is moving. Looking closely, you can see that I've not cheated and the gears do not slip. The grey bars always line up with each other as the gears go around... The sun gear is, obviously, yellow. The planet gears are blue. The white band with blue bars behind the planets represents the planet carrier. You should imagine that the planet shafts are fixed to this and see how the planet gears move around with the carrier as a whole as well as rotating on their shafts. The ring gear is "rose".

Clearly, as Davies notes, comprehending the "automatic transmission" of an automobile is a challenge, despite widespread familiarity with its use. It is therefore to be expected that there is similar difficulty in comprehending any sun-and-planet "cognitive gearing" -- especially when the "planets" are not as symmetrically arranged as in the schematic gearbox above. Prior to emergence of automatic transmission systems, the metaphorical operation of "Conceptual gearboxes" was previously discussed in relation to manual transmission (The Future of Comprehension: conceptual birdcages and functional basket-weaving, 1980):

... it would seem to be worthwhile considering the nature of the "conceptual gearbox", which we seem to have at our disposal. We can see that certain "gears"would be necessary under certain conditions - whether acting individually or collectively. (For example, the "first" gear would seem to be necessary to start any process). And maybe many of our troubles come because our individual or collective engines are being "revved" above the r.p.m. which the favoured first and second gears can handle. Maybe we are going too fast and do not know how to get into the appropriate conceptual gear.

Such arguments suggest that the transition from manual to automatic transmission systems offers insights into the cognitive challenge of shifting from the "geocentric" over-identification with particular gears to a "heliocentric" mode through which the shift is smoothly done according to circumstances, below the level of conscious attention -- with the traps that that "unconsciousness" may imply (cf. John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization, 1995). Within the "manual" context, it is ironic that in order to "shift" gears a "clutch" is required to disconnect consciously from one mode in order to engage another. Whilst extensive use of automatic transmission implies orderly transition between cognitive modalities, it might be asked whether civilization is increasingly functioning "on automatic", with reduced capacity to comprehend how and when particular "gears" are required or how such transition may be organized.

The static schematic image (on the right above) is reminiscent of the many mandala-like maps of consciousness -- themselves necessarily represented as static. In that sense it is useful to explore the four "psychological functions " identified by Carl Jung (Psychological Types, 1971), notably as extended to form a pattern of eight "psychological types". The animation (on the left above) suggests an epicyclic dynamic interrelating those functions, absent from conventional maps of consciousness -- raising valuable questions as to whether, cognitively speaking, the movement of an implied "sun" drives that of the "planets", or vice versa. A useful discussion of epicycles in relation to Buddhist cosmology is offered by Alexander Berzin (Buddhist Cosmology: a comparison of the Abhidharma and Kalachakra explanations, 1987).

The challenge to comprehension is all the greater if both "planets" and "sun" are to be understood in 3 dimensions or more, moving in relation to one another -- as could be implied by the experiential relation between those cognitive functions.

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