Elusive requisite magic for sustainability?

Interplay of Sustainable Development Goals through Rubik Cube Variations (Part #3)

---

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

---

No "magic", "no sustainability"? How is any "magic" to be recognized -- however it may be associated with sustainability? Is there every possibility that it would be unrecognizable to many -- even when faced with it?

Economic magic? It is noteworthy that some use of a (2x2) "magic square" has been made in relation to sustainable development by Andreas Brunold (Global Learning and Education for Sustainable Development, Higher Education in Europe, 30, 2005, 3-4; Civic Education for Sustainable Development and its Consequences for German Civic Education, Didactics and Curricula of Higher Education, Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 6, 2015). As a pattern, such usage follows a particular tradition in Germany (Sebastian Dullien, A New "Magic Square" for Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth: a policy framework for Germany to move beyond GDP, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2017). Peter Bartelmus notes that:

Macroeconomic policies have traditionally focused on the achievement of overall objectives such as the "magic square" of economic growth, full employment, balanced foreign trade, and price stability (Environment, Growth and Development: the concepts and strategies of sustainability, 2002, p. 85)

Magic of coherence? Whilst any use of the term "magic" can be readily deprecated, it is important to recognize the value it has in indicating subtle attraction -- if not fascination. How is the sense of coherence offered by the quest for it to be associated with "magic"? In an obvious sense it is readily recognized in the attraction offered to so many by completion of a puzzle, as in the case of Rubik's Cube, sudoku or crossword puzzles -- all of which are a focus of worldwide fascination.

The improbable balance elicited by their resolution is even evident in the recognition by nuclear physicists of a near magic number of protons and neutrons which would temporarily reverse the trend of decreasing stability in elements heavier than uranium, resulting in an "island of stability" -- one appropriate metaphor for global sustainability. Is it surprising that puzzle-solving and game-playing by the wider population, and the young, are now anticipating the quest for global strategic order by elites?

SDG magic? How is the fascinating attraction of Rubik's 3x3x3 cube -- acknowledged as the world's most popular puzzle game and toy -- to be compared with engagement with the SDGs? Why has the cognitive challenge so framed been extended to Rubik's Revenge (a 4x4x4 variant), the Professor's Cube (5x5x5), the V-Cube 6 (6x6x6), the V-Cube 7 (7x7x7) and the V-Cube 8 (8x8x8)?

Given the continuing fascination with Dürer's magic square in the engraving Melencolia I (1514), it is appropriate to recognize the potential significance of its 3 dimensional variants (Magic cube with Dürer's square, 14 October 2009; Dürer's square, Complex Projective 4-space, 8 September 2012). Of related relevance (as discussed below), the fascination also extends to the polyhedron depicted in that engraving, especially the manner in which a portion of it is hidden -- rendering the structure and significance of the whole the subject of extensive commentary.

Is it possible that the cognitive patterns of organization and engagement relevant to future governance are being anticipated in modes of puzzle-solving, game-playing and music which are currently dissociated from appreciation of that relevance? Is there a curious "cognitive disconnect" inhibiting "joined-up thinking"?

The interest of Freemasonry in magic squares has been widely noted in relation to its purported role in constitutional development (notably in the USA), as well as in its particular interest in the Dürer magic square, as discussed separately (Transformational pathways between 2D and 3D in the light of graph theory and "magic", 2016; Salvation Enabled by Systemic Comprehension Via aesthetics of magic squares? 2015).

Magical construction: The quest for "magic" frames a desirable interplay of value-goals as potentially to be associated with "islands of cognitive stability" through which sustainable global development might be comprehended as both credible and attractive. In the light of the above argument, there is a case for confronting the various cognitive constraints and possibilities highlighted by George Miller's "magical number seven, plus or minus two" (1956) with the "where mathematics comes from" (2001) of George Lakoff and Rafael Nuñez. Do these variously frame the quest for "magic" in terms of 2x2 (as in macroeconomics), 3x3 (as in the Millennium Development Goals), or 4x4 (as with the Sustainable Development Goals)?

The first is suboptimally challenged by the quintessential (Betty Cornfeld and Owen Edwards, Quintessence: the quality of having it, 1983; Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization, 1990). Are the 8 Millennium Development Goals to be considered as similarly suboptimal -- constrained by cognitive failure to embody the ninefold?

Is the challenge of configuring the 17 Sustainable Development Goals an exercise in doing just that -- especially given the pattern of 9-fold and 8-fold axes implied by the tetrahedral geodesic sphere as an exemplification of the global brain? Especially noteworthy is the role attributed to the ninefold by Freemasonry, as discussed separately with respect to the nonagonal symbol of its penultimate degree (Speculation on Potential Symbolic Relevance of the Concordian Mandala, 2016).

---

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