Topological Clues to a Memorable 12-fold Systemic Pattern

Uses learnings from helicopter development to frame psychposocial evolution possibilities.

Annex to

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Introduction

The main paper argues the need for Experimental clues to a memorable 12-fold systemic pattern (2011) using as a common framework the 12-fold pattern elaborated by Arthur M. Young  with a view to the design of a hypothetical "psychopter" -- a "winged self" (The Bell Notes: A Journey from Physics to Metaphysics, 1979). The possibility was introduced in an earlier paper (Engendering a Psychopter through Biomimicry and Technomimicry: Insights from the Process of Helicopter Development, 2011). Young was the designer of Bell Helicopter's first helicopter, the Model 30, and inventor of the stabilizer bar used on many of Bell's early helicopter designs. His approach to the design of a "psychopter" is inspired by his subsequent aspiration, through generalizing from those technical challenges.

The helicopter had been developed as a result of what subsequently became known as biomimicry (Janine Benyus (Biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature, 1997). The field had emerged in 1950 and was formalized in 2002 as the research network BIONIS: The Biomimetics Network for Industrial Sustainability. As previously argued, Young's subsequent initiative could be fruitfully understood as "technomimicry" -- seeking insight from previous technical discoveries as biomimicry had sought insights from nature. As an exercise in innovative thinking in quest of previously unrecognized capacities, Young's imputation of significance to the elements of the 12-fold pattern in the light of aerodynamics is seen as an indication of a method which can be used with other forms. Here the focus is on topological forms as a sources of clues to the nature of that 12-fold pattern and the relationships between its elements.

In the main paper, emphasis was placed on the manner in which memory and comprehension constrain the scope of any set of operational insights. Given the experiential nature of such insights -- as illustrated by the case of piloting a vehicle -- the complexity of the forms through which they may be variously identified and communicated are recognized as a potential barrier to individual and collective learning and to communication. The following is therefore best understood as a quest for cognitive clues which may be helpfully elicited through the subtleties of topological formalism -- and especially through visualizations offering a sense of the complexity that piloting a "psychopter" may well require. It is a quest for forms of greater complexity, commensurate with the cognitive challenge, with which psychosocial meanings may be associated -- if only for mnemonic purposes.

The main paper emphasizes (in an annex) that other 12-fold sets of clues may be usefully explored for mnemonic purposes, especially by those who are alienated by the forms below (Checklist of 12-fold Principles, Plans, Symbols and Concepts, 2011). .

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