Possible psycho-geometrodynamics implied by order, law, force and lore?

Law and Order vs. Lore and Orders? (Part #12)

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The fundamental nature of order, law and force offers a reminder that these terms are shared with fundamental physics, specifically with the discipline of geometrodynamics. This is a continuing attempt to describe spacetime and associated phenomena completely in terms of geometry. Technically, its goal is to unify the fundamental forces. Very little of the thinking applied to these matters is reviewed in relation to preoccupations with order, law and force in current conflicts. Essentially it is considered irrelevant -- despite the fact that current thinking sustains a framework in which multiple deaths occur on a daily basis in arenas such as Syria.

Missing from the framing offered by physics are the implications of the psychosocial dimensions of belief and engagement. These might otherwise give rise to a discipline termed "psycho-geometrodynamics". Given the fluid nature of movements of opinion and belief -- and the "magnetism" of their attractors -- a similar argument could be made with respect to magnetohydrodynamics, namely a future discipline of the form "psycho-magnetohydrodynamics". This would be consistent with the arguments for exploring the design of a "cognitive fusion reactor" (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: imaginal transformation of energy resourcing (ITER-8), 2006). Such an enterprise emphasizes the extent to which the future is dependent on eliciting creativity and imagination thinking to address the concern articulated by Thomas Homer-Dixon (The Ingenuity Gap: how can we solve the problems of the future?, 2000).

The current inability to reframe violent dispute fruitfully suggests the value of a speculative review of possible analogies -- ironically emphasized by associating the "optics" of much-favoured strategic "vision" metaphors with speculation and imaginative formulation of any future-relevant image (even its "resolution").

The approach is reinforced by the recent comprehensive study by Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander (Surfaces and Essences: analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking, 2013), as a further development of Hofstadter's earlier work (Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, 1979; Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies,   1995). The speculative approach can be framed as a form of imaginative quest (In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007; Imagining the Real Challenge and Realizing the Imaginal Pathway of Sustainable Transformation, 2007).

A brief review could accept that current use of "law", "order", "force" and "lore" with respect to conflict may well be considered relatively undeveloped and inchoate by the future -- characterized by cycles of circular argumentation, finger-pointing and blame-gaming in a culture of vicious cycles (Dysfunctional Cycles and Spirals: web resources on "breaking the cycle", 2002). Correspondingly, the approach of physics may be seen as completely disassociated from experiential reality. The two domains may however lends themselves to a fruitful confrontation. There is a degree of similarity in:

• law as a pattern of regulation
• order as the structure (or geometry) of that pattern
• force as a dynamic, of which "force of persuasion" and "attraction" are especially significant
• lore as characteristic of a proven belief system engendering confidence and credibility

Pointers for speculative interweaving might then include:

• the cybernetic arguments of Stafford Beer (Beyond Dispute: the invention of team syntegrity, 1994) and their implications for sustainable initiatives (Spherical Configuration of Categories -- to reflect systemic patterns of environmental checks and balances, 1994; Configuring Globally and Contending Locally: shaping the global network of local bargains by decoding and mapping Earth Summit inter-sectoral issues, 1992)
  
  
• the degree to which hyperlinking, as fundamental to the emerging pattern of relationships within the web, both constitutes a form of order and implies a communication "directive", if not a "rule". Such links are then effectively regulating "orders" which may be "followed" or not. Beyond their more conventional uses, their significance has been the subject of extensive commentary in relation to the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement. Configuration of hyperlinks suggests emergence of both higher degrees of order and dynamically constrained zones of "lore" (From Information Highways to Songlines of the Noosphere: global configuration of hypertext pathways as a prerequisite for meaningful collective transformation, 1996; Dynamically Gated Conceptual Communities: emergent patterns of isolation within knowledge society, 2004).
  
  
• the degree to which "force-full" use of the web is associated with the quest for "impact", whether in marketing terms or more generally as a "force of persuasion" in influencing public opinion
  
  
• the emergent possibilities of argument mapping, and their relation to concept mapping, as both clarifying patterns of significance and constituting a form of vehicle (Interweaving Thematic Threads and Learning Pathways: noonautics, magic carpets and wizdomes, 2010; Magic Carpets as Psychoactive System Diagrams, 2010). With respect to challenging relationships, a related possibility is evident in an alternative interpretation of the Feynman diagrams of fundamental physics, especially to distinguish the potential variety of forces in play (Potential of Feynman Diagrams for Challenging Psychosocial Relationships? 2013).
  
  
• the cognitive "geometry" arguments of R. Buckminster Fuller (Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, 1975/1979) as separately discussed (Geometry of Thinking for Sustainable Global Governance: cognitive implication of synergetics, 2009), and of Arthur M. Young (Geometry of Meaning, 1976), as indicated above.
  
  
• the argument for a geometrical approach can be framed more generally (Metaphorical Geometry in Quest of Globality -- in response to global governance challenges, 2009). Of particular relevance is recognition that, links, bonds and relationships of any kind, now typically represented by "lines", could more appropriately take the form of "curves" -- acknowledging intuitions of how "rules" are "bent", for example. Such curvature is especially consistent with an embodying modality and its implied cognitive centre of curvature with respect to interlocking dynamics (Emergence of Cyclical Psycho-social Identity, 2007). In this respect it is striking is the manner in which lore is widely "held" in some way by circlets of beads -- braclets, necklaces or the like -- typically as a memory aid (Designing Cultural Rosaries and Meaning Malas to Sustain Associations within the Pattern that Connects, 2000; Engaging with Globality through Cognitive Circlets, 2009). The use of circlets of "worry beads" (kompoloi) in various cultures offers an ironic comparison to the collective strategic engagement with issues -- from a lore perspective.
  
  
• any sense of curvature is then suggestive of the possibility of representing the significance of the above schematic spherically to enhance intutive coherence, notably through its articulation into spherically symmetrical polyhedra (Towards Polyhedral Global Governance: complexifying oversimplistic strategic metaphors, 2008).
  
  
• the development of the comprehensive study of Christopher Alexander (The Nature of Order, 2005), with his new focus on its geometric adaptation (Harmony-Seeking Computations: a science of non-classical dynamics based on the progressive evolution of the larger whole, International Journal for Unconventional Computing (IJUC), 2009) as discussed separately (Harmony-Comprehension and Wholeness-Engendering: eliciting psychosocial transformational principles from design, 2010)
  
  
• the emergence of forms of order in the light of the topological arguments of René Thom (Structural Stability and Morphogenesis, 1972; Semio Physics: A Sketch, 1990). In this respect, the relevance of Thom's archetypal morphologies to a configuration such as that above has been explored separately (Geometry of meaning: an alchemical Rosetta Stone? 2013).
  
  
• the psychosocial relevance of a topological perspective in the light of the arguments of Steven M. Rosen (Bridging the "Two Cultures": Merleau-Ponty and the Crisis in Modern Physics. 2009; Topologies of the Flesh: a multidimensional exploration of the lifeworld, 2006)
  
  
• the cognitive constraints on the formation of categories, as variously argued by George Lakoff and collaborators (Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: what categories reveal about the mind, 1997; Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought, 1999; Where Mathematics Comes From: how the embodied mind brings mathematics into being, 2001)
  
  
• the fundamental distinctions elaborated by Ken Wilber into the 4-quadrant AQAL framework, and its embodiment within a spiral dynamic. This is suggestive of a degree of correspondence with law, order, force and lore -- and other spiral possibilities (Designing Global Self-governance for the Future: patterns of dynamic integration of the netherworld, 2010).

Together these imply the need for more radical consideration of how "law", "order", "force" and "lore" emerge and are sustained and embodied. The arguments of Douglas Hofstadter for self-reference are especially relevant to the degree of cognitive mirroring in the consideration of such possibilities ( I Am a Strange Loop, 2007), as separately discussed (Sustaining a Community of Strange Loops: comprehension and engagement through aesthetic ring transformation, 2010). This is notably relevant to any speculative process through which future order is imagined and envisaged (Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives: Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations, 2007).

How then to interweave and order the seemingly disparate arguments above? What pattern of order ensures their communicability and credibility -- and to whom?

Belief plays an especially evident role in sustaining confidence in the "lore" and credibility of contrasting domains of coherence through which their "force" is enabled and their "security" ensured. Curiously this is evident both with respect to confidence in the financial system and in the conflicts sustained by different theological interpretations, as argued separately (Mathematical Theology -- Future Science of Confidence in Belief: self-reflexive global reframing to enable faith-based governance, 2011).

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