Memorable Packing of Global Strategies in a Polyhedral Rosetta Stone

Correspondence of cognitive internalization with collective strategic articulation

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Introduction

In a period of multiple global crises there is an extraordinary disconnect between strategic articulations -- such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals -- and the remarkable media preoccupation with competitive ball games, such as the FIFA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. The disconnect is also evident with respect to the world tennis and golf championships in comparison with the relative neglect of strategic challenges faced by societies -- ranging from extreme hunger to disastrous climate change and systemic environmental degradation. Strangely the thrill of competition in sport echoes the attention accorded to global conflicts and the capacity to "crush" opponents -- currently evident in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The disconnect is evident otherwise in the enthusiasm for music of every kind and for competitive electronic games (esports) -- too readily framed as a distraction from life-threatening challenges in a complex global system.

Arguably it could be asserted that strategic articulations and international declarations are now inherently boring in comparison with the dynamics of games and the uplifting qualities of music -- and hence the disconnect. That term is also applied to the disassociation of many from the natural environment -- and notably from others in straightened circumstances, exemplified by the increasing evidence of compassion fatigue and psychic numbing. Much could be explained by the increasing complexity of the world in which people live -- with "everything connected to everything". The quest for competitive triumph then offers a unique sense of coherence -- a lens through which a degree of order can be perceived and assumed.

Some forms of philosophy have responded to the challenge by framing a quest for a so-called philosophers' stone -- itself elusive in nature although purporting to offer a higher order of coherence. Like the various religions, science has aspired to the formulation of a Theory of Everything, although unable to address the radical differences between proponents. Success in these endeavours may itself be perceived as inherently boring and meaningless for most, especially given the language in which it is likely to be articulated. More realistic is the concluding assessment of Nicholas Rescher:

For centuries, most philosophers who have reflected on the matter have been intimidated by the strife of systems. But the time has come to put this behind us -- not the strife, that is, which is ineliminable, but the felt need to somehow end it rather than simply accept it and take it in stride. (The Strife of Systems: an essay on the grounds and implications of philosophical diversity, University of Pittsburg Press, 1985)

The following exploration imagines the possibility of a form of "cognitive container" -- a form of "arena" characterized by dynamics analogous to those in sport and other games -- effectively incorporating what renders them attractive. This contrasts with the stasis implied by the stone metaphor, or the closure implied by an ultimate theory. As understood in archetypal terms, the container could then be understood as one whose bounding walls can be dissolved by what it contains -- as featured in the toroidal design of nuclear fusion reactors (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing (ITER-8), 2006).

Exploiting the stone metaphor, the question is whether the disparate interactions can be appropriately packed, succinctly and attractively, into a form of Rosetta Stone capable of paradoxically exemplifying the requisite dynamics. Beyond the necessary recourse to more obscure disciplines in its design, one requirement could be its significance in musical terms -- as a musical instrument of a higher order, as an invitation to play (Memorability, Mnemonics, Maths, Music and Governance, 2022). Engagement with it could then be understood as a form of memory enhancement ensuring strategic credibility.

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence suggests the emergence of devices of this kind (Envisaging a Comprehensible Global Brain -- as a Playful Organ, 2019; Governance of Pandemic Response by Artificial Intelligence, 2021). Such a device could also be understood in symbolic terms (Reimagining Guernica to Engage the Antitheses of a Cancel Culture, 2022; Concordian Mandala as a Symbolic Nexus, 2016).

The argument in what follows builds on the case previously made that there is an implicit collective recognition of the coherence of particular patterns (Imagining Partnership of the SDG Goals as Phases of the Cross, 2022). This is possibly to be understood as a characteristic of the collective unconscious (Cognitive Embodiment of Patterns of Governance of Higher Order, 2022). It is most evident in preferences for team sizes in rugby (15), football (11), and related games. It is a curious feature of the seam curve common to a baseball and a tennis ball. Such patterns are seemingly evident in global strategic articulation and fundamental declarations of principles. The concern here is whether there is some form of container capable of holding such disparate formulations -- and the potential dynamics between them.

The conclusion focuses on the possibility that competitive team sports may embody an intuitive understanding of the elusive abstractions of quantum theory and may well be effectively  engaged in a form of quantum dynamics through their implicit polyhedral organization. As a response to any "disconnect", this suggests a mode of dynamic global strategic organization usefully illustrated by "cosmograms" in 3D as a form of Rosetta Stone,

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