Systemic interpretations of playing card patterns

Radical Localization in a Global Systemic Context (Part #3)

The particular value of a pattern language lies in its ability to evoke and enable dialogue through speculative interpretation of the significance of the patterns. In so doing it helps to avoid forms of conflation which inhibit the emergence of more subtle insight. Various ways of thinking about such patterns are clustered below.

Systems: Each pattern can be considered as indicative of a systems diagram in which the lines may be directions of movement essential to the coherence of that system. They can be understood as lines of connectivity between disparate functions of some kind.

Adaptive cycles and Learning pathways: The movement can be understood as indicative of an adaptive cycle through which the resilience of the system is ensured. This in turn may imply a sense of learning pathways, possibly analogous to metabolic pathways. (Memetic Analogue to the 20 Amino Acids as vital to Psychosocial Life? 2015; Dynamics of polyocular and multifacetted cognitive framing: navigating the adaptive cycle, 2010)
Vicious cycles and Serendipitous cycles: The pathways may be understood in a cybernetic sense as positive feedback loops and negative feedback loops. The more complex interlocking loops can be explored in relation to so-called wicked problems (Encycling Problematic Wickedness for Potential Humanity, 2014)
"Cyclones": As cycles, some patterns contain features which recall the cyclones typical of weather reports, offering an implications of cognitive weather in relation to decision-making (Weather Metaphors as Whether Metaphors, 2015).
Mass effects: Understood as a centre of mass, the circular movement around it recalls the degree to which light is bent around mass according to the field theories of relativity.
Catastrophes: The movements are also suggestive of various kinds of cognitive catastrophe -- recalling the semiotic interpretations of catastrophe theory (René Thom (Semio Physics: A Sketch, 1990; Peeter Müürsepp, Semiophysics as a Theoretical Basis for Scientific Creativity; F.T. Arecchi, Complexity and Emergence of Meaning: toward a semiophysics, 2001). There is the tantalizing possibility that a 3-dimensional variant of the patterns of the four suits could be in some way comparable to the elementary catastrophes (Fold catastrophe (diamond?), Cusp catastrophe -- heart?, Swallowtail, catastrophe -- spade?, Butterfly catastrophe -- clubs?). These are the potential functions of one active variable -- in contrast with three additional catastrophes with two active variables (Hyperbolic umbilic catastrophe, Elliptic umbilic catastrophe, Parabolic umbilic catastrophe). Cognitively the set of seven can be explored in relation to distinctive styles of question (Cognitive Feel for Cognitive Catastrophes: Question Conformality, 2006). It would be intriguing to discover that the four suit designs reflected an early intuitive understanding of the one-variable catastrophes -- especially since they are characteristic of observable natural phenomena. The additional three might derive from combinations of 3 of the 4 suit patterns (excluding the linear diamond pattern).
Ecosystem of diversity: The distinctive patterns could be explored as cognitive and strategic styles -- a categorization of variety.

Patterns of N-foldness: As presented, distinctive patterns of 2-foldness and 4-foldness are evident. More complex patterns of 8-foldness and 12-foldness can also be derived. Especially interesting in the latter case -- through the 4-fold combination of the club pattern -- are the distinctive foci of 12 possible "voices", as implied in any archetypal round table (Implication of the 12 Knights in any Strategic Round Table, 2014). As noted there, particular significance is attached to the 12-fold set (Checklist of 12-fold Principles, Plans, Symbols and Concepts: web resources, 2011). There is however little effort to depict what kind of pattern their relationships might form. The following are therefore indicative in this respect.

Contrasting 12-fold patterns based on a 4-fold club configuration

Of interest in the sequence above is the distinction between the "box" defined by the configuration on the left and the progression indicated by the two other patterns. The first could be considered indicative of the contrast between thinking outside the box -- in the 12 distinctive domains -- in comparison with thinking "within the box", as a potentially deprecated mode characteristic of the conventions of normality.

The tendency to cluster concepts of any kind into sets of a limited number has been noted separately (Representation, Comprehension and Communication of Sets: the role of number, 1978; Patterns of N-foldness: comparison of integrated multi-set concept schemes as forms of presentation, 1980)). The question is whether this tendency can be fruitfully supported through a pattern language which suggests possibilities of higher orders of connectivity that merit exploration.

Symbolism: There is a very long tradition of symbolism in the use of playing cards, with many references to a variety of interpretations. The use of the suits as a distinctive pattern language derives from the possibility of exploiting design tools like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop in order to manipulate and overlap transparent variants of the suit designs. This opens the possibility of a quite distinctive mode of interpretation and engagement with the resulting pattern language. In particular there is a much higher degree of focus on the geometry of the design, the manner in which this "works" aesthetically and cognitively, and the implications for systemic understanding.

Possible lines of further exploration include:

Embodying complex insight in a popular gaming device: It can be argued that there is a particular challenge to embodying insight into a device which encourages buy-in rather than indifference. This is an interesting dilemma in relation to current challenges of governance, as previously argued more generally (Minding the Future: thought experiment on presenting new information, 1980).
Pattern language use in a game: The use of playing cards in a wide variety of games is indicative of the possibility of embodying insight into a device which is effectively game-independent, allowing users to choose which game they find meaningful whilst offering a degree of interaction with the underlying patterns. The overlapping explored above allows for 2-person, 4-person, and N-person variants. It is noteworthy that cards are especially used for the 4-person game of bridge with the connotations that term has for bridging across incomprehension, lack of information and reliance on inference (Giovanni Giachetti, Playing cards and the rudiments of Bridge, 2013; Pamela Granovetter, 8 Reasons to Play Bridge, Bridge Today. The term recalls the importance attached to it by the Emperors of Rome -- as Pontifex Maximus -- currently one of the Pope's titles. More intriguing is the scarcity of examples of designs of 4-way bridges for transportation, but the extensive use of electronic variants (4-way circuit bridges).
Mandala/Yantra: Clearly many of the overlapping patterns indicated above take forms reminiscent of rose windows, yantras, or mandalas. -- with the cognitively integrative functions those may imply, especially those of greater complexity.
Hemispheric integration: The heart pattern is most notably intriguing because of its suggestion of the two hemispheres of the brain and their integration through the corpus callosum, as can be variously argued (Engendering Viable Global Futures through Hemispheric Integration: a radical challenge to individual imagination, 2014; Corpus Callosum of the Global Brain? Locating the integrative function within the world wide web, 2014). The horizontal integration of right-wing and left-wing ideological perspectives suggested by the heart pattern can then be speculatively complemented by a vertical integration between objective (fundamental) and subjective (existential) perspectives. Arguably, just as two ("horizontal") eyes are required for depth perception, there is another form of stereoscopic perception calling for two ("vertical") eyes with complementary cognitive implications.