Conclusion

AWOL: American Way Of Life: Assumptions -- justifying worldwide imposition of democratic imperialism (Part #13)

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The argument has drawn attention to a subtle strategic (sixth) sense -- implicit rather than explicit -- typically associated with intuition for many in every walk of society. It is evident in the detection of an opportunity for a deal, or for a confidence trick. It is a sense familiar to players of chess and go, and clearly in other games where "instinct" is valued, whether or not it proves to be illusory in a given instance. It is much valued in various Eastern martial arts. It could be associated with "being in the zone" of flow psychology.

The concern here is indeed the manner in which this sense is exploited in giving rise to questionable patterns of action (as with the exacerbation of the financial crisis). However there is also the possibility that more fruitful recognition of the strategic role of that sense could be a vital key to the challenges of governance in turbulent conditions. It is not for nothing that chess and go have long been valued in the cultivation of strategic insight.

It is sadly ironic that as the noble characteristic of a "Knight" it is also characteristic of the historical exploitation by the nobility, and their current equivalents, in abusing public confidence (Abuse of Faith in Governance, 2009). Given the curious strategic relationship in chess between rook (castle) and Knight, and in the absence of a relevant verb "to Knight", it is somewhat extraordinary that the verb form of "rook" is used to name various forms of cheating, as in "they rooked me of my inheritance".

It is perhaps appropriately strange that  strategic engagement involving Knight's move thinking implies a degree of secrecy. When  undertaken by a group, the emphasis is on confidentiality. The irony in relation to governance is the need to elicit confidence -- as has been only too evident in the current financial crisis. This suggests a curiously problematic relationship between confidentiality and confidence which merits exploration.

Exploring the possibility of a degree of relationship with related insights from Chinese culture would seem to be appropriate in this period of an emerging role of China on the global scene. Whilst such relationships may seem questionable from a Western strategic perspective, it is improbable that the evolution of Asian strategic thinking will be handicapped by deprecation of insights they have long valued. As with appreciation of strategic insights from chess in the West, Asian cultures may continue to seek competitive advantage from the subtler insights of go -- as previously demonstrated by Scott A. Boorman (A Protracted Game: a wei-ch'i interpretation of maoist revolutionary strategy, 1971). The question is whether marrying Eastern and Western metaphors in some way can elicit a pattern more relevant to sustainable development, as implied by the articulation of James P. Carse (Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1986). Do the animations above offer a sense of the nature of infinite games?

As a technical footnote, the various animations are suggestive of many further refinements using other transition effects and more extensive consideration of design -- in particular in relation to the speed of the animations and the possibility of their control by the user. These could improve their educational and mnemonic potential (cf. In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007). The transformation of the Swastika into the "Avoidance Container", and back, is very suggestive of the well-known variants of the Tetris game.

One experiment in clarifying such visualization possibilities is through the use of SVG rather than GIF animation (as above). The following SVG, although not interactive, has the advantage that the code takes the form of ordinary text which can be modified with relative ease -- notably changing colours and speed according to aesthetic preferences (right-click to see source). Currently the cycle terminates after a minute.

Screen shot from a more complex animation Shown halfway to completion of cycle of 64 hexagrams; - this version features explicit labelling of completed hexagrams; the correspondence between the line-coding of the central hexagram and the star may be seen; - a smaller version of the current central hexagram is visible in movement towards its final position on the circle (on the right); an emerging central symbol (a Medicine Wheel) is faintly visible

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