Potential implications of alternation and rotation in psychosocial fields

Reimagining Teslas Creativity through Technomimicry (Part #10)

Metaphors of alternation: The possibility can be explored through a range of metaphors, as discussed separately (Metaphors of Alternation: an exploration of their significance for development policy-making, 1984). These focus primarily on the dynamic of alternation, with the dynamic of rotation being typically implicit. A notable exception is crop rotation (Sustainable Cycles of Policies: crop rotation as a metaphor, 1988)

Tesla's insight: The breakthrough in Tesla's thinking with respect to alternation/rotation is eloquently described by John J. O'Neill (Prodigal Genius: the life of Nikola Tesla, 1968):

The conception of a rotating magnetic field was a majestically beautiful one. It introduced to the scientific world a new principle of sublime grandeur whose simplicity and utility opened a vast new empire of useful applications... Alternating currents motors had heretofor presented what seemed an insoluble problem because the magnetic field produced by alternating currents changed as rapidly as the current. Instead of producing a turning force they churned up useless vibration.

Up to this time everyone who tried to make an alternating current motor used a single circuit, just as was in direct current. As a result the projected motor proved to be like a single cylinder steam engine, stalled at dead center, at the top or bottom of the stroke.

What Tesla did was to use two circuits, each one carrying the same frequency of alternating current, but in which the current waves were out of step with each other. This was equivalent to adding to an engine a second cylinder. The pistons in the two cylinders were connected to the shaft so that their cranks were at an angle to each other which caused them to reach the top or bottom of the stroke at different times. The two could never be on dead center at the same time. If one were on dead center, the other would be off and ready to start the engine turning with a power stroke. (p. 50)
This analogy oversimplifies the situation, of course, for Tesla's discovery was much more far-reaching and fundamental. What Tesla has discovered was a means of creating a rotating magnetic field, a magnetic whirlwind in space which possessed fantastically new and intriguing properties. It was an utterly new conception. In direct-current motors a fixed magnetic field was tricked by mechanical means into producing rotation in an armature by connecting successively through a commutator each of a series of coils arranged around the circumference of a cylindrical armature. Tesla produced a field of force which rotated in space art high speed and was able to lock tightly into its embrace an armature which required no electrical connections. The rotating field possessed the property of transferring wirelessly through space, by means of its lines of force, energy to the simple closed circuit coils on the isolated armature which enabled it to build up its own magnetic field that locked itself into the rotating magnetic whirlwind produced by the field coils. The need for a commutator was completely eliminated. (pp. 50-51)
He worked out the design of dynamos, motors, transformers and all other devices for a complete alternating-current system. He multiplied the effectiveness of the two-phase system by making it operate on three or more alternating currents simultaneously. This was his famous polyphase power system.

The mental constructs were built with meticulous care as concerned size, strength, design and material; and they were tested mentally, he maintained, by having them run for weeks -- after which time he would examine them thoroughly for signs of wear. Here was a most unusual mind being utilized in a most unusual way. If he at any time built a "mental machine", his memory ever afterward retained all the details, even to the finest dimensions. (pp. 51-52)

Force-field analysis in social science: Kurt Lewin has developed an understanding of force fields in psychosocial systems. It has proven to be a significant contribution to the fields of social science, psychology, social psychology, organizational development, process management, and change management. This has provided a framework for looking at the factors (forces) that influence a situation, originally social situations. It looks at forces that are either driving movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movement toward a goal (hindering forces).

The question raised by Tesla's insight is the manner in which any force field in a psychosocial system could be understood to "rotate" -- however "rotate" might then be fruitfully understood (as suggested by enantiodromia, or the BaGua system, for example). Would such an understanding enable what it could be assumed that Lewin's approach has failed to reframe with respect to ongoing conflicts at this time (Kurt Lewin, Defining the "Field at a Given Time", Psychological Review. 50, 1943, pp. 292-310; republished in Resolving Social Conflicts and Field Theory in Social Science, American Psychological Association, 1997)

Comprehension: There is a fundamental challenge to appreciating Tesla's breakthrough in electromagnetic terms. As is evident from any description, and from the many diagrams illustrating the discovery (available on the web), comprehension is not as simple as might be assumed or desired. This is despite widespread technical familiarity with the operation of devices based on the electrical principles involved, or a degree of correspondence with multi-cylinder combustion engines (see Hypercomputer operation clarified through metaphors of engine design, 2014).

This challenge to comprehension can itself be used as a metaphor of the challenge with respect to any potential application of the insight to psychosocial processes. That it "works" in so many devices is no consolation in endeavouring to render the possibility comprehensible in the psychosocial case. That the original applications have since been further developed in so many ways both increases the challenge and suggests the range of possibilities that might be explored through technomimicry for the psychosocial case.

The animation on the left below illustrates the operation of a polyphase system is a means of distributing alternating-current electrical power. Polyphase systems have three or more energized electrical conductors carrying alternating currents with a definite time offset between the voltage waves in each conductor. Such systems are considered particularly useful for transmitting power to electric motors. Three-phase electric power, as illustrated, is a common method of alternating-current electric power generation, transmission, and distribution.

The animation on the right is an adaptation of the Sri Yantra of the Shri Vidya school of Hindu tantra. The central part is formed of by nine interlocking triangles that surround and radiate out from the central point. As being suggestive of cognitive "wiring", the set of triangles is rotated through three positions at the same rate as that of the animation on the left.

Potential correspondences between electrical and cognitive cycles?
Magnetic field and vectors from 3-phase coils (animation reproduced from Wikipedia)	Experimental 3-phase animation of classic Sri Yantra (core "wiring" configuration passes through 3 phases)

As a further experiment, the set of triangles is rotated at the same rate through 8-phases (image on left below) and 16-phases (image on right). Clearly further experiments of mnemonic significance could be undertaken by rotating different triangles at different rates, possibly differently coloured.

Experimental animations passing through more phases
Animation through 8 phases	Animation through 16 phases

Implications of rotation suggested by technomimicry: Possibilities are suggested in quite disparate domains, as separately explored:

Helicopter development: The argument for technomimicry was inspired by that of Arthur M. Young, designer of the Bell helicopter, as separately discussed (Engendering a Psychopter through Biomimicry and Technomimicry: insights from the process of helicopter development, 2011). Young envisaged the possibilities of applying the principles of helicopter control -- notably involving challenges of rotation -- to the development of a "psychopter" or "winged self" (Geometry of Meaning, 1976; The Bell Notes: A Journey from Physics to Metaphysics, 1979). Possible understandings are discussed separately (Characteristics of phases in 12-phase learning-action cycle, 1998; Typology of 12 complementary strategies essential to sustainable development, 1998).
Nuclear fusion: The design principles required to render plasma control feasible in a toroidal reactor (as in the ITER project) also suggest insights of psychosocial relevance, especially when plasma is understood as the flow of attention (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing (ITER-8), 2006)
Fluid flow: Considerable insight into the functioning of vortices in nature emerged from the work and applications of Viktor Schauberger, as separately discussed (Enabling Governance through the Dynamics of Nature: exemplified by cognitive implication of vortices and helicoidal flow, 2010). His principal argument was that humanity could benefit considerably by learning from nature -- specifically the dynamics of water -- rather than trying to correct it (Douglas Hofstadter, Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: computer models of the fundamental mechanisms of thought, 1995). Schauberger's concern was to liberate people from dependence on inefficient and polluting centralized energy generation. A subsequent development of this turbine is now known as the "vortex generator" (although many others now exist with that name).
Circulation of the light: This can be considered as a form of "technology" potentially to be related to Tesla's preoccupation with light (Circulation of the Light: essential metaphor of global sustainability? 2010). It has been significant in other cultures, notably with respect to the discipline of Neidan. The nature of the metaphorically-enhanced use of word-play in Neidan is admirably clarified in essays by Isabelle Robinet (The World Upside Down: essays on Taoist internal alchemy, 2011), remarkably translated from the French by Fabrizio Pregadio:

Internal alchemy, or Neidan, is a technique of enlightenment whose earliest extant written records date from the eighth century. It appeals both to rationality, which gives order to the world, and to what transcends rationality: the unspeakable, the Totality. Its main tools are the trigrams of the Yijing (Book of Changes) and a number of key metaphors, some of which are alchemical in nature, whence the name, "internal alchemy"....

Robinet most notably indicates in one essay (The Alchemical Language, or the Effort to Say the Contradictory, 1993):

The principle consists in ordering the world by means of multiple and complex reference points built on the basis of these initial data and of a multi-layered structure. Here lies the rationality of alchemy, in the sense of providing order and intelligibility. However, being a didactic technique oriented toward mysticism, alchemy also involves the denial of its own system. This denial is achieved by several means: the reminder that silence is the foundation of the word; the continuous evocation of Unity, which merges and abolishes all reference points; the adoption of a fundamentally metaphoric language that must be surpassed; the recurrent disruptions in the continuity of discourse; the use of images that play at several levels, operating now in one direction, now in the opposite, levels that are related to one another until being unified; the ellipsis that handles two different entities as equivalent; the reciprocal encasing of all images, so that "the child generates its mother" and the contained is the container; the multiplicity of facets, times, and reference points superimposed above one another, which counteracts the fragmentation wrought by rational analysis.

The alchemists, therefore, use a highly structured language, but transgress it by introducing a negation of their own system, and by expressing, through a system of reciprocal encasing, a duality absorbed into Unity, a rationality traversed by irrationality. The language of alchemy is a language that attempts to say the contradictory.

The relevance of this articulation in relation to phenomenology and topology has been developed by Steven Rosen (Dreams, Death, Rebirth: a topological odyssey into alchemy's hidden dimensions, 2014). An argument for contrary expression has been made separately with respect to the Scientific and Medical Network (Embodying a Hypercomplex of Unhygienic Nescience: questionable connectivity enabling apprehension of matters otherwise, 2014)

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