Significance of encompassing the numbers required for meaningful governance

Comprehension of Numbers Challenging Global Civilization (Part #9)

---

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

---

Disillusionment of the numberless: As made evident by recent European elections, there is increasing recognition of public apathy, democratic deficit, and the ever increasing lack of credibility of leadership. The "numberless" no longer believe in the promises and strategies of the Nomenklatura. It is in this context that the worldwide "belief" in the FIFA World Cup merits consideration, as with that aroused by the Eurovision Song Contest. Beyond their "interestingness" however, lies the question of how to derive insights of relevance to governance (Investing Attention Essential to Viable Growth, 2014).

The challenge is highlighted by the manner in which efforts at nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan have been shown to be more than problematic -- echoing the long pattern of strategic inadequacies in developing countries. There is a real challenge of the numberless being "left behind" -- effectively "remaindered", whether passively or not (Reintegration of a Remaindered World: cognitive recycling of objects of systemic neglect, 2011).

Anticipation by the numberless: Curiously the pattern of leaves framing UN system emblems could be understood as visually recalling the numberless -- We the Peoples of the United Nations. It also recalls the audience arrayed physically in a FIFA World Cup stadium -- and, by implication, in any stadium of cyberspace. Strangely symbolic is the manner in which those on the field are typically numbered, named and well-identified for media commentary. Those in the stands may well be in numbered seats, with numbered tickets, but are essentially nameless and otherwise unidentified -- except possibly for security purposes. Typically those on the field are male whereas the audience includes a significant proportion of females.

The attentive expectancy and anticipation of the audience is necessarily focused on what may be recognized as the essence of male tumescence disporting itself for possession of a symbolic ball through which scoring can be achieved -- possibly associated with "scoring" off the field, if on-field scoring is notably successful. Curiously, as indicated above, there is a strange form of role reversal on the occasion of the FIFA Women's World Cup -- frequently won by a country which has never won the male variant.

Ordering globality otherwise: The challenge implied by events in a stadium is how to ensure a higher order of involvement of the numberless of relevance to governance, namely how to "translate" that focus into one that engages with and addresses issues of governance. This challenge was evident in use of the amphitheatres of the Roman Empire, most notably the Colloseum.

The challenge is reframed in an information society based on the internet. Whilst every user may indeed be specifically numbered for technical reasons (IP address, etc), the question is how to order meaningfully those so numbered, together with their preoccupations, and to relate emergent patterns to the challenges of governance.

Eliciting engagement through comprehension: The obvious preoccupation is constraints on attention time and cognitive capacity to order and process such quantities of information in a meaningful manner. Whilst this can be done "technically" through constantly developed technology, the issue is how to frame the challenge to comprehension and memory.

An important possibility would appear to lie in the use of symmetry to elicit complex patterns and to render them comprehensible. This can be framed as a question of ordering the numbers associated with emergent pattern formation, notably taking geometrical form -- or possibly in the form of sound, through techniques of sonification.

The possibilities are most strikingly illustrated through fractal patterns, as discussed and illustrated separately (Psycho-social Significance of the Mandelbrot Set: a sustainable boundary between chaos and order, 2005). Even more striking are the implications of group symmetry, the fundamental discoveries in that respect, and visual renderings of patterns which honour the elegance of globality (Polyhedral Empowerment of Networks through Symmetry: psycho-social implications for organization and global governance, 2008; Potential Psychosocial Significance of Monstrous Moonshine: an exceptional form of symmetry as a Rosetta stone for cognitive frameworks, 2007).

The concern with respect to such possibilities relates most specifically to the challenges and meaning of comprehension, especially in so far as it is fundamental to collective consensus (Dynamics of Symmetry Group Theorizing: comprehension of psycho-social implication, 2008). It is this concern which suggests the need to focus on mnemonic aid, specifically as highlighted by "correspondences" (In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007; Theories of Correspondences -- and potential equivalences between them in correlative thinking, 2007).

Global configuration of values fundamental to civilization (examples based on articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reproduced from Dynamic Exploration of Value Configurations Polyhedral: animation of conventional value frameworks, 2008)
Partially folded pattern	Faceting diagram	Simulated "4-dimensional" view
Images produced with the aid of Stella Polyhedron Navigator

---

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]