Identification of major systemic currents

Transcending One-eyed Global Modelling Perspectives (Part #4)

The following processes, understood as currents, are listed here as disparate elements which the future may be able to weave together appropriately into a global system -- as with the thermohaline system indicated below.

The list is necessarily tentative and indicative and calls for much refinement. Again the progressive mapping of the ocean currents over decades is indicative of the challenge. Many pieces need to be fitted together to build a picture of the system as a whole. Global models, such as the world dynamics initiatives promoted by the Club of Rome, are highly selective in the "currents" they consider relevant to an understanding of the world system. Corruption of any kind -- as an under-current -- was not taken into account. Hence the inadequacy of such models for global governance. Many of the "under-currents" indicated are the subject of further comment separately (Abuse of Faith in Governance, 2009).

Use of "currents" as a metaphor emphasizes that the following are dynamic processes -- experiential flows -- rather than abstract frozen categories. Separately a distinction has been made, in relation to a corresponding list, between "reality" and "fantasy" and what is then held to "exist" (Reality and existence, 2010). Here "reality" as commonly identified can be understood as a characteristic of "surface-currents", whereas "fantasy" might be understood in terms of "under-currents".

Politics:
- surface-current: this is what is extolled as the honourable essence of the political process through which decisions are reached democratically or in response to political honorable compromise
- under-current: this is characterized by "dirty politics", whether "under the table" or in "smoke filled rooms", through which influence is "bought" (bribery of legislators, lobbying, influence peddling) -- or ensured by unmentionable pressures (bullying, threats, etc), all readily disavowed by both perpetrators and victims. It include the promotion of ill-specified threats -- the politics of fear, and the
Societal relationships:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed interaction between a diversity of cultures, appreciated for their unique contribution to global society
- under-current: this is the active discrimination in practice governing relationships between groups defined as "in" against those defined as "out" and "nobodies" -- if not "sub-human" . It is most characteristic of social elites and self-selected secret societies, whether criminal or otherwise, often protecting themselves through vows of silence (as with both the freemasons and the mafia)
Science and Research :
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed collective pursuit of knowledge through research in the interests of humanity
- under-current: this is the extent to which research and its results are controlled and determined by "sponsors" (possibly requiring scientific fraud) ; it includes the more questionable aspects of peer review and the manner in which some research themes are marginalized as disruptive to the mainstream
Business:
- surface-current: this is the world of healthy competition promoted by business groups (chambers of commerce, Rotary, etc) as unquestionably vital to vibrant economic growth as the motor of society
- under-current: this is the reality of contracts determined by "under the table" processes ("commissions", bribery, threats, "dirty tricks", unethical lobbying, etc), of systematic tax evasion (the "black economy"), and evasion of labour, health and environmental regulations. It also includes deliberately misleading advertising and contravention of protective legislation (pollution, degradation of the environment, etc)
Finance:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed reality of the "market", considered unquestionably essential to healthy growth and the correction of imbalances
- under-current: this is the reality highlighted by the recent financial crisis (deliberate design of problematic derivatives, mis-selling, speculation, etc).
Taxation:
- surface-current: this is the conventional practice whereby government and necessary public services are financed
- under-current: this is the reality of tax avoidance and tax evasion (tax havens, etc) *** catch up
Military / Security services :
- surface-current: this is the reality of honourably ensuring (national) security, whenever there is exposure to threat
- under-current: this is the reality of disproportionate use of force, violent repression, deliberate attacks on civilian populations, torture -- and their misrepresentation as being necessary for the protection of (national) security. It is characterized by the development and use of secret and ever more inhumane weapons, institutionalised bulling and misrepresentation of levels of threat.
Religion:
- surface-current: this is the celebration of spiritual belief and the promotion of human values upheld as the highest
- under-current: this is the deprecation and demonisation of alternative beliefs and of nonbelievers. It is also associated with questionable discrimination against women and other sexual preferences, condemnation of sexuality in general (especially outside marriage), and actions of the priesthood incompatible with acclaimed values (sexual and other forms of abuse, etc). Notably in the form of cults, this may involve extensive manipulation and misrepresentation, especially abuse of confidence in relation to the use of solicited funds (promises of heavenly salvation, sale of indulgences, etc)
Health:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed promotion and protection of health and well-being by every means possible
- under-current: this is the deliberate misrepresentation of health risks and cures, most notably by health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry. It includes the complicity of medical professionals in unethical experimentation on humans (syphilis, radioactivity), involvement in torture and its development, and questionable complicity in health scares (flu pandemic)
Law and Justice :
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed protection of all according to the provisions of legislation, exemplifying the excellence and fairness of justice
- under-current: this is the reality of miscarriages of justice, vulnerability of the judiciary to bribery, tampering with witnesses and evidence (or its suppression), arbitrary justice, deliberate procedural delays. It is also associated with the legitimation of secret treaties and dubious legal opinions
Education:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed process through which all are enabled to develop themselves to the limits of their capacity
- under-current: this is the process through which educational qualifications are "acquired", whether by cheating, payment, or "services rendered". It also includes the introduction of deliberate bias into the curriculum in the promotion of particular ideological agendas.
Sport:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed context for honourable competition through which the human spirit is exalted
- under-current: this is the reality of "fixing" competitions, doping, bribery (as documented in the case of FIFA and the Olympic Games), and such scandals as the case of Caster Semenya
Arts:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed arena of human creativity of every kind -- painting, music, song, dance -- as an expression of human identity
- under-current: this is the reality of the manipulation and distortions of value in the art market, of theft of cultural property (from indigenous peoples, etc), and of forgery
Fashion:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed world of fashion through which people reimagine and redesign themselves
- under-current: this is the reality of manipulation of fashion under commercial pressure to render obsolete previous fashions in order to ensure frequent purchase of new products and to deprecate those who fail to follow such trends. It includes the forgery which endeavours to bypass the constraints of "labels". It is the reality of pretence made evident through cosmetic surgery.
Bureaucracy:
- surface-current: this the respected world of the honourable administrators and civil servants who keep the "wheels of society running".
- under-current: this is the reality of bureaucratic game-playing and red tape through which delays are deliberately ensured and the lives of some are made into a living hell
Interpersonal relations:
- surface-current: this is the acclaimed world of friendship, community and family values
- under-current: this is the reality of undeclared attraction,"chemistry", secret relationships and sexual intercourse

Movement within each current could be understood cognitively as bearing some resemblance to movement along an optical fibre cable in which coherence is maintained by reflection back from the side of the cable. This corresponds to the argument regarding traffic on communication geometry by Ron Atkin (Multidimensional Man: can man live in three dimensional space? 1981). Experienced as "flows" rather than "sectors", the issue is one of recognizing "inter-flows" connectivity rather than "inter-sectoral" connectivity.

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Identification of major systemic currents