Memorable systemic organization of dramatic situations and folk wisdom?

Thirty-six Dramatic Situations faced by Global Governance? (Part #10)

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Mnemonic devices: The current tendency is to engage with any new crisis as it emerges as a "dramatic situation" -- potentially to be acclaimed as unexpected and inexplicable --  namely as a Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable, 2007).

The question here is rather whether any such situation can be recognized as embedded in a reasonably familiar pattern providing a valuable context grounded comprehensibly in collective memory. In conventional terms this is only framed as emergency preparedeness. However there is a case for framing a dramatic situation as characteristic of a dramatic development, then to be understood quite otherwise and especially from an aesthetic perspective. Use of "tragedy" on such occasions is indicative of recognition of the relevance of appreciation of an aesthetic dimension -- "tragedy" being merely one stage in a dramatic process..

However, rather than "tragedy" alone, the question is whether it is possible to "re-cognize" and name a set of 36 situations (for example) potentially relevant to strategic engagement with a crisis -- enabled by popular understanding.

The possibility can be framed in terms of the necessary articulation of mnemonic aids to trigger appreciation of dramatic patterns -- in contrast with abstract systemic perspectives -- as argued separately (Time for Provocative Mnemonic Aids to Systemic Connectivity? Possibilities of reconciling the "headless hearts" to the "heartless heads", 2018).

What mnemonic devices enable a complex of 36 dramatic situations to be presented succinctly and rendered memorable? Of relevance in this respect is the quantitative challenge to overloaded memory, as clarified separately (Comprehension of Numbers Challenging Global Civilization , 2014). The set of 36 dramatic situations is well beyond what is readily memorable.

Edge mapping on polyhedra: The following exercises illustrate the use of polyhedral forms to hold the 36 dramatic situations distinctively. The attribution of situations to the forms if however arbitrary in anticipation of the possibility that the forms facilitate systemic insights into a more appropriate positioning.

Stella Octangula: One approach is to transform the list of 36 disparate dramatic situations, so extensively referenced as a list, onto the 36 edges of a singular form as shown below (using what is otherwise known as the stellated octahedron). The value of the polyhedron shown derives in part from the manner in which it constitutes a version of the Star of David in 3D, as discussed separately (Richer pattern of significance through complexification of the Star of David? 2017). The relative positioning of the dramatic situations is arbitrary (and merely indicative) in this exercise -- in anticipation of careful consideration of any memorable positioning in the light of dramatic and systemic factors.

Animations indicative of allocation of 36 dramatic situations onto 36 edges of Stella Octangula (36 edges; 24 faces; 14 vertices)
Solid faced	Faces transparent	With great circles
Animations above (and below) prepared with the aid of Stella Polyhedron Navigator

The transformation of the images above into their geometrically dual form below is one indication of how representation of a dramatic complex might be totally transformed -- with vertices becoming faces, and faces becoming vertices -- whilst the number of edges remains constant.

Animations indicative of allocation of 36 dramatic situations onto 36 edges of dual of Stella Octangula (36 edges; 14 faces; 24 vertices)
Solid faced	Faces transparent	With great circles

Archimedean polyhedra: Two of the 13 Archimedean polyhedra have 36 edges and can be used in a similar manner to the above.

Indicative animations of mapping of 36 dramatic situations onto edges of Archimedean polyhedra
Truncated cube 36 edges; 14 faces; 24 vertices	Truncated cube (dual) 36 edges; 24 faces; 14 vertices	Truncated octahedron 36 edges; 14 faces; 24 vertices	Truncated octahedron (dual) 36 edges; 24 faces; 14 vertices

Vertex mapping on Leonardo Octahedron: One alternative approach is to map the 36 dramatic situations onto the 36 vertices of a memorable polyhedron like the Leonardo Octahedron, as variously depicted below, and discussed separately (George W. Hart, Leonardo da Vinci's Polyhedra, Virtual Polyhedra, 1999).

Animations indicative of allocation of 36 dramatic situations onto 36 vertices of Leonardo Octahedron (96 edges; 48 faces; 36 vertices)
Solid faced	Faces transparent	Transparent with great circles

Curiously, and potentially of mnemonic value in contrasting the edge-mapping with the vertex-mapping, the dual of the Stella Octangula offers a similar appearance to the dual of the Leonardo Octahedron as shown below. In the latter case however, the transformation to the dual then associates the 36-fold vertex mapping with the 36 faces of the dual in a manner which does not allow them to be indicated on the complex internal geometry of the dual.

Animations indicative of allocation of 36 dramatic situations onto 36 faces of dual of Leonardo Octahedron (96 edges; 36 faces; 48 vertices)
Solid faced	Faces transparent	With a selected face-type transparent

Face-mapping on 3-Frequency Tetrahedral Geodesic Sphere: Using one of the very few polyhedra with a set of 36 visible faces, the dramatic situations can be mapped onto it as shown below left. The faces can be unfolded into a network as shown in the central image in which the 3 face-types are distinctively coloured. The animation on the right offers an interesting perspective on how the set of dramatic situations might be "unfolded" and "folded" together.

Animations indicative of allocation of 36 dramatic situations onto 36 faces of 3-Frequency Tetrahedral Geodesic Sphere (54 edges; 36 faces; 20 vertices)
Solid faced	Unfolded network of faces	Folding and Unfolding

Configuring patterns of "wisdom" consistent with this approach: Other sets of insights have evoked the possibilities of such an approach, with relevant images and animations in 3D.

One classic set is composed of 48 fundamental koans of Zen Buddhism, known as the The Gateless Gate. A koan can be usefully recognized as a form of dramatic situation, at least in cognitive terms. Appropriate to the associated paradoxes and dilemmas, the set is also recognized as a barrier (Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier, 1991). (Configuring a Set of Zen Koan as a Wisdom Container: formatting the Gateless Gate for Twitter, 2012).

Another traditional set of particular interest, because of its degree of articulation, is the pattern of 64 conditions of change known as the I Ching -- each condition being indicative of a strategic dilemma whether understood personally or collectively (Framing Cognitive Space for Higher Order Coherence: toroidal interweaving from I Ching to supercomputers and back? 2019).

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