Requisite complexification of imagery to embody greater significance

Comprehension of Numbers Challenging Global Civilization (Part #7)

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The composite imagery inspired by the FIFA World Cup was tentatively explored as a means of identifying what might be framed as an "imaginative gap" in the ability of global governance to represent itself its own action meaningfully such as to constitute an inspiring global attractor for the peoples of the world. In a multi-media world, the capacity of conventional static symbols to carry imaginative meaning is as challenged as the governance with which they are associated.

The World Cup process highlights the extent to which there are dimensions missing from the representation of governance. These include:

• visually comprehensible rendering of how debating points made in a process of argumentation engender a globally significant outcome
• the manner in which attractive significance is implied in a converging dynamic without being definitively contained by those embodying it or by the tangible outcome
• a sense of embodiment of emergent meaning through the dynamics between the players interacting around a shifting point of focus
• a sense of a process readily emulated by all with lesser skill -- even by children in the most underprivileged conditions
• problematic dynamics between male and female, unresolved by conventional frames -- exemplified by the global neglect accorded the FIFA Women's World Cup

In this light, the challenge for the future of governance might be usefully framed in terms of the fundamental lack of:

• imagination, as embodied in skillful interaction with the ball, by individuals, within teams, and between teams (as appreciated by the phrase "a good game"). No governing body would care to identify the elements of "imaginative thinking" which gave meaning to its endeavours.
• playfullness, as is so evident by the joyful emulation of the process by people of all ages. Whilst play may be evident in the deprecation of one governing party by another -- typically as skillful mockery -- there is little evidence that the processes of governance benefit from being carried forward playfully. It is little wonder that the process is alienating to many.
• framing, as evident in the adherence to rigid game patterns, indicative of the manner in which the "game of democracy" (with its opposing teams) is seemingly set in stone. The challenge of including or excluding women exemplies this -- as with the emerging transgender issues. Curiously this lack of imaginative research is a primary factor in preventing effective consideration of the manner in which population numbers are uncontrollably engendered.

These factors "play out" in terms of :

• numbers and size: whether understood as the challenge of encompassing "all the numbers", "all the sizes", or "all the interactions", rather than introducing essentially arbitrary pattern limitations upheld by tradition. This is evident in terms of team size, electoral domains***,
• ignorance: whether with respect to extant phenomena and the comprehension of any explanation of them, uncertainty, or the perspective of other cultures or times (past or future). Zero serves as a useful marker in all cases, indicative of both the unknown and the (as yet) unknowable
• otherness: as typical of other perspectives and challenging alternatives, but clearly exemplified in the challenging relationships between male and female -- embodied in the implicit sexuality of the two FIFA cups and the currently inconceivable possibility of "marrying them" -- despite intense debate regarding sexual equality
• possession: whether with respect to physical territory or intellectual property -- exemplified with respect to "possession of the ball" in football, occupation of the territory of an opposing team, or intellectual property rights regarding imagery associated with the game
• purpose: understood as the outcome of governance of which the Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is a particular formulation -- in all probability to be called into question by the future, as suggested by the variously attributed quotation: Happiness is for pigs.
• intangibility: whether highlighted by the mistaken focus on the tangibility of sacred cups, highlighted by various grail myths, or by the idolisation of the golden calf. Ironically the golden FIFA World Cup might well be perceived as a "golden calf" through confusion of "winning" it with the "spirit" it is held to imply
• embodiment: through which intangibility, comprehension and purpose are somehow exemplified, most strikingly through movement of the body, as highlighted by various authors (Mark Johnson, The Body in the Mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason, 1987; George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought, 1999)
• interestingness: namely the challenge of engendering attractors and sustaining attractiveness, as highighted by Oliver Burkeman (This column will change your life: interestingness v truth, The Guardian, 5 April 2014).

Catastrophe theory: One speculative exploration of this is through correlating the generic form of such a cup with the insights of catastrophe theory. Given the transformative significance of the cup as variously understood in different traditions, it is appropriate to note the specific concerns with "transformation" articulated by René Thom (Structural Stability and Morphogenesis: an outline of a general theory of models, 1994; Peeter Müürsepp, Structural Stability as the Core of René Thom's Philosophy: from Aristotle to contemporary science, 2010), as discussed separately in relation to the so-called elementary catastrophes (In-forming the Chalice as an Integrative Cognitive Dynamic: sustaining the Holy Grail of global governance, 2011). The latter suggests a relationship depicted as follows

The challenge of governing sustainably might be fruitfully explored in terms of the set of catastrophes identified. This is suggestive of how different catastrophes, to which an integrative form is potentially vulnerable, may be "contained" by the form of the Chalice itself. This was a focus of a separate exploration (Interrelating Cognitive Catastrophes in a Grail-chalice Proto-model, 2006) which included the following presentation:

Relating elementary catastrophes to fundamental questions
why?	parabola			typical deep cup
who?	ellipse			minimal stem with a knob (nodus or pommellum)
what?	hyperbola			wide base
	2-D Cross-section		Example of a chalice

The potential of such exploration is discussed separately (Embodiment of Identity in Conscious Creativity, 2011).

Quest for cognitively relevant design elements: The argument above regarding the cognitive gap -- as embodied into both cup imagery and the United Nations symbolism of global governance -- can be taken further. The question is what connotations it is useful to attempt to build into the design of a "cup". How to complexify the existing imagery of the globe (in the UN case), the ball (in the FIFA cup case), or the emptiness (of any sacred cup). It is that emptiness which implies the potential of emergent significance, as in the traditional Buddhist parable regarding the empty cup. The punch line regarding the process of acquiring knowledge of Zen might be adapted to "global governance". Perhaps: Like this cup, the world is full of particular opinions and speculations. How can global governance be comprehended without first emptying the cup?

The images below suggest ways in which the cup might be filled and emptied. The animation on the left offers a variety of centro-symmetric symbols and schematics suggesting facets of insight. The central image embeds the football -- as the acknowledged global focus transcending politically opinion -- within a matrix of receptive attention. The third image uses the geometrical design of the football ball to present a framing of emptiness, without filling it -- emphasizing (through an animation) the dynamic, so valued in potential movement of the ball.

It might be considered a supreme irony that the ball, kicked with such pleasure around the globe, derives from a design which is of considerable potential significance to global governance, as argued separately (Metaphorical Geometry in Quest of Globality -- in response to global governance challenges, 2009; Towards Polyhedral Global Governance: complexifying oversimplistic strategic metaphors, 2008). The standard football pattern is that of a truncated icosahedron (presented dynamically below with the aid of Stella Polyhedron Navigator).

Possible clues to schematic "stemmed cup" design elements understood dynamically (distinguishing cup, stem and base alternatives)
Symbol animation	Football implication	Animation framing emptiness

Simplified schematic axial view of DNA (see schematic articulation and complex variant)	Transition between a toroidal base and rising ball (from Wikipedia)
Alternative base design possibilities to cup stem above (an animation of DNA segment from Wikipedia)

The design of the FIFA Cup (reproduced above) incorporates a spiral swirl in the lower portion -- as does that of the FIFA Women's World Cup. A more significant complex form for the stem might reflect the spiral structure of DNA enabling life on the globe (as above), possibly understood as incorporating the 2D vesica piscis used in the earlier composite schematic above (DNA Supercoiling as a Pattern for Understanding Psycho-social Twistedness, 2004).

The DNA pattern could also figure in the base design (as above left). The more complex renderings, on which the schematic is based, reveal patterning reminiscent of that to be found in the tracery on the base of sacred cups (see images of DNA axial view). Together these design elements would stress the point that, presented symbolically as cut, the leafy branches above require connection to a living base to be sustainable -- and to represent viability. The metaphor can be developed with respect to the use of cut flowers in plenary gatherings (Flowering of Civilization -- Deflowering of Culture: flow as a complex experiential dynamic, 2014).

For the base, the animation alternating between the toroidal and spherical forms is also suggestive (above right). Through what form of "uterine peristalsis" do strategic outcomes get engendered from a global matrix, as may be speculatively explored (Complexification of Globalization and Toroidal Transformation: topological implications of invagination and gastrulation in embryogenesis, 2010)? Some recognition is offered by the sense in which significance is perceived to "bubble up" when peering appropriately into a cup, as suggested to some degree by another speculative animation (Dynamic Exploration of Value Configurations: interrelating traditional cultural symbols through animation, 2008).

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