Comprehension of Requisite Variety for Sustainable Psychosocial Dynamics: Transforming a matrix classification onto intertwined tori

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Introduction

Systems of classification, whether described as nested thesauri or ontologies, necessarily take the form of nested lists. This approach is facilitated by the ease of representation in printed texts and the menu structure of standard software applications. Additional requirements and constraints are imposed on any classification that is organized as a matrix. This is a format typical of many academic papers where a list structure is viewed as inadequately modest in its dimensionality. The emphasis here is however on comprehension of psychosocial systems rather than descriptive explanation.

In the light of some use of matrix organizations of categories, the exploration here is extended to the projection of a matrix pattern of categories onto a single torus and onto several intertwined tori. This implies that some distinctions explicit there are only implicit or conflated in any representation in a simpler matrix or list.

The assumption here is that purely descriptive articulations, no matter how sophisticated the language used, lack the requisite variety to encompass the differences characteristic of psychosocial dynamics. However, efforts to "grasp" and "possess" higher-dimensional processes through their lower-dimensional "containers" misunderstand the nature of those processes and their relationship to the understanding vital to sustainability.

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