Metaphor as the integrative function of the global brain?

Are the UN and the International Community both Brain Dead (Part #7)

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The argument above frames the question as to what kind of information would perform an integrative function within the global brain -- understood as relating the forms of information characteristic of each hemisphere.

Inter-, Trans-, And? A prime candidate could have been what might have emerged from preoccupation with interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinaeity -- on the assumption that the disciplines so related would include those characteristic of both hemispheres, namely the arts and the sciences. There is little trace of a viable integrative function resulting from such preoccupation. More concretely might have been initiatives deliberately combining the arts and sciences. Examples include the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS). Again, few would claim that such exclusive bodies perform a vital integrative function.

In practice, use of "inter", "multi", "cross" or "trans" tends to be meaningful only with respect to declared intentional and public relations. There is indeed a degree of cross-fertilization resulting from juxtaposition. Hence the use of "and" in relating art and science. It is a matter of debate as to whether this constitutes fruitful integration, especially when the arts are used only to "decorate" the activities of the sciences and offer symbols of their elegance and appeal. Juxtaposition is not sufficient for integration -- as delightfully impliedby the German compound term Buchbindersynthese with respect to interdisciplinary volumes. The contrast is evident in the acclaimed initiatives of György Kepes through the Center for Advanced Visual Studies in integrating art and technology (Structure in Art and in Science, 1965). That between science and religion is less evident.

It would seem that some such possibility is being explored otherwise as "joined-up thinking" (Rick Lewis, Joined-up Thinking, Philosophy Now, Nov/Dec 2014; Chris Frith, Neuroscience: Joined-up thinking, Nature, 2014; Philip Delves Broughton, Joined-up thinking, Financial Times, 8 June 2011; Joined-up Thinking, Lloyd's News, 1 December 2014; EU development policy needs joined-up thinking, say MEPs, European Parliament News, 25 October 2012). How is this form of integrative thinking enabled within the world wide web?

Metaphor: The question is what is the special form of language that enables movement between the cognitive functions performed by the hemispheres of the global brain? Following Bateson, one interesting candidate is metaphor, given the manner in which it can reframe the preoccupations of each for the other -- offering a degree of comprehensibility, communicanility and credibility where other devices fail, with the additional advantage of memorability.

The argument has been developed from another perspective (Metaphors as Transdisciplinary Vehicles of the Future, 1991). With respect to the focus of WAAS, for example, and following the argument of Bateson with regard to poetry, metaphor can be used to reframe strategic preoccupations (Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns: reframing the scope of the "martial arts" in response to strategic threats, 2006).

Cognitive psychology and bioculture: A more powerful case has been made from the perspective of cognitive psychology by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Metaphors We Live By, 1980/2003). In the light of the distinction between Eastern and Western hemispheres, it is useful to note how this was extended by those authors in a manner which raises useful questions as to the nature of the "flesh" of the global brain and any embodiment of the global mind (Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought, 1999) -- and separately discussed (Enhancing the Quality of Knowing through Integration of East-West metaphors, 2000).

Also of relevance, in the light of neuroanatomy and neuropsychology, is the association of the development of the various lobes of the brain with emergence of particular cultures and intelligence systems (Maria M. Colavito, Why Study Humanities? The Biocultural Mandate, 1999; Antonio de Nicolas, The Biocultural Paradigm: the neural connection between science and mysticism, Journal of Experimental Gerontology, 33, 1998, 1/2). This paradigm shows that biology and culture act on one another as the conditioning parameters of neurocultural information. Through mutual interaction biology in humans becomes culture, and vice versa, culture opens and stimulates the neural passages of the brains, accounting thus for the varieties of brains in humans, and for cultural diversity.

What is the number of the global brain? In her consideration of the insights of mathematician Georg Cantor with respect to transfinite sets, Sarah Voss framed a question which could be asked of the integrity of the global brain (What Number is God?, Metaphysics, metamathematics, and the nature of things, 1995). Rather than any simple understanding of the oneness of the global brain, such a question could highlight other ways of understanding its nature and that of any integrative function. Voss considers the use of transfinite numbers as a way of understanding the infinity with which God is frequently associated. Such an association was an early inspiration for Cantor (Joseph W. Dauben, Georg Cantor and Pope Leo XIII: mathematics, theology, and the infinite, Journal of the History of Ideas, 1977).

Contrasting understandings of number, potentially relevant to a more appropriate understanding of the integrity of the global brain, include: zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, hypercomplex numbers, hyperreal numbers, transfinite numbers, and transcendental numbers. With respect to that integrative function, such possibilities suggest another way of considering the alleged assertion of Pythagoras: All is number. If the all-encompassing global brain is to be considered a form of surrogate for deity by some, use can also be made of the argument of Stephen Prothero (God Is Not One: the eight rival religions that run the world -- and why their differences matter, 2011). If the global brain is not singular, what indeed are the "eight" rival functions to be held as ruling the world -- and why might their differences matter?

Given the characteristic association of mathematics with one hemisphere, of further interest is the role of metaphor in mathematics (George Lakoff and Rafael Núñez, Where Mathematics Comes From: how the embodied mind brings mathematics into being, 2000). The authors aim to lay the foundations for a truly scientific understanding of mathematics, one grounded in processes common to all human cognition. They find that four distinct but related processes structure basic arithmetic metaphorically: object collection, object construction, using a measuring stick, and moving along a path. Criticism of their endeavour could be fruitfully explored as consistent with bias characteristic of particular lobes. Part of the difficulty for mathematics is that it is itself highly fragmented -- it is "not one" -- despite the efforts of meta-mathematics. Nor does it benefit from much effort to elicit a degree of overarching order commensurate with the richness of its parts, as tentatively explored (Is the House of Mathematics in Order? Are there vital insights from its design, 2000).

With respect to the quest for the integrative function of the global brain, there is some irony to the manner in which such distinctions are recognized -- in the light of distinctions made with regard to the number of lobes of the brain. As noted above, these are variously distinguished as 2 (hemispheres), 4, 6 and 8. This recalls the cheerleader chant: 2, 4, 6, 8; who do we appreciate? Missing from such denumeration is the linking function provided by the corpus callosum -- as the third, the fifth, the seventh, or the ninth?. This recalls the much-cited study by George Miller (The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: some limits on our capacity for processing information, Psychological Review, 1956).

Lobotomy and corpus callostomy of the global brain? Cutting the connection between lobes and hemispheres constitute forms of psychosurgery to alleviate mental disorder. Between the frontal lobes, this is the controversial practice termed lobotomy. Cutting the corpus callosum, through corpus callosotomy, endeavours to prevent the spread of interhemispheric epileptic seizures along that pathway. In addition to seizure reduction, behavior and quality of life may improve.

The arguments for these procedures in response to severe mental disorder suggest valuable questions with respect to disorders of the global brain and its integrative functions. It is not difficult to recognize analogues to the tragic behavioural crises of global civilization, readily to be compared to occasional epileptic seizure. The argument can be taken further through exploring the possibility that civilization is already a victim of a form of self-inflicted lobotomisation -- potentially indicated by the dysfunctionality of the "and" process in any token juxtaposition of art and science, for example. The point was strongly made by C. P. Snow (The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, 1961). Does the global brain have a propensity to extreme self-harm?

Is the very activity of the sciences or the humanities, as formally recognized, dependent on a process of cognitive disassociation which could be framed metaphorically as corpus callostomy? Can the political slogan, There Is No Alternative (TINA), as framed by Margaret Thatcher, be understood as a form of lobotomy through which hemispheres are separated? The TINA mindset is frequently cited as an inherently dysfunctional symptom by social change advocates.

Of related relevance as a metaphor is agenesis of the corpus callosum, namely the condition in which that structure is partly or completely missing, severely limiting integration of left-brain and right-brain function.

Metaphorical capacity and the corpus callosum: Citing L. B. N. Hinkley (The Role of Corpus Callosum Development in Functional Connectivity and Cognitive Processing, PLoS ONE, 2012), the argument is supported otherwise by brain science, as presented by Cittoor Girija Navaneedhan and T. J. Kamalanabhan (Metaphorical Thinking and Information Processing Ability, Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 2014), arguing that:

Practice of metaphorical thinking in understanding given information promotes the communication of the two hemispheres by a bundle of connecting fibres, the corpus callosum at neo cortex level and through hippocampus at the level of limbic system. Hence, metaphorical thinking helps learners to make connections and develop patterns and relationships in parallel to the language as well as symbols relevant to the given information.

War and metaphor: Warfare, whether metaphorical or otherwise, could be understood as eliciting a curious form of integrative function between the hemispheres -- possibly framed by enabling metaphor, as variously argued by George Lakoff (Metaphor and War, Again, AlterNet, 17 March 2003; Obama Reframes Syria: Metaphor and War Revisited, The Huffington Post, 9 June 2013) and by others (Noriko Iwamoto, Constructing Reality through Metaphorizing Processes in Wartime Reporting, 1996). The recognized relevance of metaphor to national security is made apparent by the launch of a major new programme -- The Metaphor Program of the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (Alexis Madrigal, Why Are Spy Researchers Building a 'Metaphor Program'?, The Atlantic, 25 May 2011). A significant participant is the US Army Research Laboratory -- slogan: Technology Driven - Warfighter Focused.

Alternation? How then to imagine the sustaining metaphors of a global brain? Given the requisite degree of communication between the hemispheres implied by any integrating function, one approach is in terms of alternation, as separately discussed (Metaphors of Alternation: an exploration of their significance for development policy-making, 1984).

Whether such integration is associated with an analogue to the corpus callosum, or is to be understood otherwise, there is clearly a case for the exploration of the meaning of integration in that respect. Given issues of non-locality, where and how it might be understood to be "located" also merits consideration.

NB: This theme is developed otherwise in a subsequent document with other animations: Envisaging a Comprehensible Global Brain -- as a Playful Organ Patterns connecting the dots between hemispheres, epicycles and quavers (2019)

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