Salvation Enabled by Systemic Comprehension (Part #11)
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The argument can be taken further through understanding of the movement of a Knight over a chess board (and its equivalent, Keima, in the game of go). In contrast with other pieces in chess, the movement is non-linear. It includes a bend, with the final move being at right angles to the previous three. This non-linearity is variously appreciated as emblementic of creative originality and deprecated as a thought disorder, as discussed separately (Knight's move thinking: appreciated or deprecated, 2012). The appreciation is evident from its use on the coat of arms and insignia of several of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Battalions -- some of which were allegedly involved in the questionable processes in the Abu Ghraib prison. The 312th, for example, has as its motto: Semper Veritas (Always the Truth).
The argument is developed here by exploiting a widespread degree of familiarity with chess -- also known as the Great Game. Chess is a framing notably used in the much-translated study by Zbigniew Brzezinski (The Grand Chessboard: American primacy and its geostrategic imperatives, 1998). Related arguments could be developed in terms of other board games, notably checkers/draughts or go. The latter bears comparison in the light of the work of Scott Boorman (The Protracted Game: a wei ch'i approach to Mao's revolutionary strategy, 1971) -- which demonstrated that with respect to Vietnam, China was playing go strategically against the American expertise in playing chess.
| Animation of possible Knight's moves on 3x3 magic square (columns, rows and diagonals total to 15) | |
| Counter-clockwise | Clockwise |
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