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Metaphoric Entrapment in Time
avoiding the trap of Project Logic
Four possibilities of metaphoric entrapment?
Detachment from embodiment within traps
Varieties of trap
Challenge of recognizing traps of different order
Traps as attention sinks
Designing 'better' attention traps
Designing arrays of traps
Attitudes towards entrapment: entrapment policies
Project Logic: an undetected policy trap?
Entrapment and comitment
'Tao' -- the 'way' between traps?
We are all exposed to a variety of conceptual frameworks and beliefs, as well as to a wide range of designed physical environments. The arts provide us with cultural analogues. The academic world provides us with conceptual analogues in the form of models and theories. Spiritual leaders provide us with ethical and mystical variants. We are variously entranced by these and may creatively use our capacity to engender our own, possibly to entrance others. International initiatives endeavour to persuade people of the unquestionable merit of particular ethical or explanatory frameworks -- as a basis for particular patterns of action into which most will be hopefully mobilized.
This paper is concerned with the ways in which we are entrapped by the metaphors that underly such patterns. It is concerned with clarifying the nature of the entrapment process and how it helps to understand who we are as the entrapped -- or as the entrappers. The term "entrapment" is used to provoke recognition of the extent to which people are trapped, or endeavour to trap others as part of their working mandate or their interpersonal dynamics. But this exploration is also designed to highlight how some form of "entrapment" seems to be a necessary in order to constrain and discipline our physical, social and conceptual behavior. There is thus an ambiguity to appropriate understanding of entrapment as a characteristic of civilization as currently understood.
This exploration derives its inspiration from four observations:
Personal violence is for the amateur in dominance; structural violence is the tool of the professional. The amateur who wants to dominate uses guns; the professional uses social structure. The legal criminality of the social system and its institutions, of government, and of individuals at the interpersonal level is tacit violence. Structural violence is a structure of exploitation and social injustice. It seems to survive very well the changes from a slave society, via a feudal and capitalist order, to lodge in a socialist society. (Johan Galtung)
A trap is a function of the nature of the trapped (Geoffrey Vickers. Freedom in a Rocking Boat : Changing values in an unstable society, 1972)
The world we inhabit is abundant beyond our wildest imagination... Still many are bothered...and they react accordingly -- they try to 'block off' what disturbs them. For them the world is too complicated and they want to simplify it further... The search for reality that accompanied the growth of Western civilization played an important role in the process of simplifying the world... What we find, with very few exceptions, are intellectual leaders repeating slogans which they cannot explain and which they often violate, anxious slaves following in their footsteps and institutions offering or withdrawing money in accordance with the fashions of the day... (Paul Feyerabend. Conquest of Abundance, 1999)
In contrast with what is commonly assumed, a description, when carefully inspected, reveals the properties of the observer. We observers, distinguish ourselves precisely by distinguishing what we apparently are not, the world. (Francisco Varela)
Galtung's identification of structural violence may be extended to include the many invidious forms of easily deniable conceptual violence that justify and reinforce the attitudinal traps into which people are forced. Vickers suggests the extent to which entrapment is an unrecognized function of attitude and comprehension -- and possibly self-imposed. Feyerabend clarifies how such conceptual constraints reduce the richness of an abundant reality. Varela points out the self-reflexive consequences of this approach -- and the extent to which such traps are not the world.
It may be useful to distinguish the following situations in which metaphoric entrapment occurs:
Entrapping others: In this mode, individuals or groups, whether intentionally or inadvertently, set up a dynamic that entraps others within a particular metaphoric framework. This is most clearly seen in modern advertising campaigns, whether for commercial, political, or other purposes. It might be considered an important skill of leaders and intimately related to any charisma they may possess -- notably in the case of leaders of religious movements, and especially cults. In all these forms, the process may be described as "manipulative" -- as exemplified by the current visibility of political "spin-doctors". In interpersonal situations, it may be described as "doing a number" on someone, or using "a line". Much sales training is concerned with developing this facility. But any effort to "market" a perspective, including that of a particular academic school of thought, is a variant of this form -- including many aspects of courtship processes. Consultants may be considered successful to the extent that they can entrain clients into use of their favourite model. Of course there is also the form of entrapment associated over the centuries with witchcraft and sorcery, if only in folk tales. In this case it is named as spell-casting, and it continues to be practised both within groups in western society as well as in traditional societies. But story-telling and spinning tales are appreciated for the pleasures, insights and nourishment they bring.
Entrapping oneself: In this mode, a person cultivates a pattern of belief or enthusiasm by which he or she effectively become entrapped. Unlike the previous case, it is not necessary that the person become subject to some pattern deployed by others. Rather, through their own life experience and proclivities, a belief pattern takes form and acquires increasing coherence. In its pathological forms this would be labelled as delusion, and can acquire cumulative power so that the person is "sucked into" it, as with a whirlpool or blackhole. However, the process of developing a romantic attachment, or falling in love, might also be seen in this light. But so would the inordinate desire for a particular experience -- an addictive habit. Clearly entrapping oneself can be facilitated by interaction with others in which case the entrapment process is reinforced by such interaction -- possibly through a form of co-dependency.
Being entrapped by others: This is the counterpart to the first form, and some measure of the second. In this case one is subject to an entrapment process, or "buys into it" in some way. At a material level, this is perhaps most clearly seen in the case of a design produced by others that one finds pleasing or appropriate, or at least tolerable. In contemporary society product branding ensures that consumers are entrapped with little freedom to escape -- as in the environments created by restaurant and hotel chains. People are conditioned to accept the aesthetics of such designs. Expressed in the language of folk tales, one becomes entranced through appropriate enchantment. Legitimacy is occasionally given to it by mainstream preoccupation with "de-programming", or even "exorcism". Again, however, the courtship response to a suitor may be seen in this light.
Developing a framework: Without seeking to question the merits of the previous forms, there is a sense in which each of them depends on a measure of lack of awareness, whether on the part of the entrapper or the entrapped. In this form, however, although a kind entrapment takes place, it is consciously accepted as a necessary behavioural constraint -- a platform or base from which other concerns can be explored. This is most clearly seen in the construction of a shelter, a house, or a base camp. It is necessary for protection against the 'elements', or possibly against theft or attack. One may have privileged access to it, in the form of a key, a password, or qualifications. But inhabiting it is a form of entrapment by choice. Another example is a monastic rule that provides a discipline within which people choose to function, and which may be the basis for the construction of a closed monastery within which people live out their lives -- although for particular individuals this example may be tainted by the previous forms. In this form the "entrapped" have the key to the framework by which they are entrapped. They are not imprisoned or incarcerated by it. It has been consciously chosen. At best this is the nature of an explanatory model. However, the owners or inhabitants may develop a degree of attachment to the model such that they effectively lose the key, or the ability to use it. They are then unable to leave the framework and reframe themselves, notably into the second form.
The previous section endeavoured to show the ambiguity of entrapment in practice. People may indeed be entrapped in a manner that can only be described as incarceration, even though they may not be aware of it. But, as with story telling, the entrapment may be a gentle, instructive form of enchantment. Or it may imply all the learnings of romantic attachment, or embodiment of a profoundly held belief. And it may be a provisional model of reality, a stepping stone to further understanding.
In this light, "freedom" from any form of entrapment could easily be understood as simply another form of entrapment -- an entrapment in trap avoidance. A subtler form of freedom would be the freedom to choose to be entrapped, knowing that one could escape from the trap at any time. This implies an attitude that resonates with the Buddhist understanding of detachment. Such detachment is tolerant of being entrapped for a while -- until it is time to move on. This offers the larger freedom of entering into the experiences associated with different traps, experiencing them from within.
There is therefore a sense in which reality can only be experienced through embodiment in the framework offered by a trap. However it is the attitude to such entrapment that is the key to being able to switch into experience through other frameworks -- through other traps. Each trap is effectively a kind of discipline. The attitude to that discipline determines whether it can be set aside to escape that trap. But such escape is seldom an escape into "traplessness", rather it is an escape into another form of entrapment. This is perhaps most charmingly illustrated by Konrad Lorentz's experiment with ducklings which, on escaping from their eggs, "imprinted" themselves on the first moving object they thereafter encountered -- namely his boots, subsequently followed as their mother. There are many situations, whether political, romantic, academic, or spiritual, where the escape from one trap into a larger reality is accompanied by some analogue of such imprinting. It throws a harsh light on "conversion" and other forms of 'breakthrough'.
The "meta-discipline" that governs the attitude, and the skill required to set aside any discipline, has no name. Detachment is one of its qualities. It may perhaps be understood through metaphor. A good example might be a person's attitude to choice of clothing. Equipped with a varied wardrobe, a person may choose to wear one garment rather than another, to wear a particular combination of garments, or to change any one of them. In this sense each garment is a trap and wearing any combination is a form of entrapment that may be appropriate to the challenge of the environment or the occasion. The person has no need to feel entrapped in any permanent way, but a choice has to be made to wear some combination of garments -- or none at all. Of course, if the person has an absolutely minimal wardrobe, the choice is extremely limited and the lack of choice may be experienced as a much more permanent trap. But even with a more extensive wardrobe, the person may also get into the habit of wearing one combination of clothes and be unable to act otherwise -- as with grey-suited officials, and others working in uniform.
With respect to behavior and beliefs, people seldom have the same detachment that they do with respect to clothing. Some form of "uniform" is the rule -- as is evident in the enthusiasm of academics and consultants for particular models. Switching attitudes would appear to be a mark of inconsistency. It is very challenging for a scientist to switch between models -- despite the archetypal complementarity between the wave and particle theories of light. Some understanding of the skill is offered by the way in which people gifted in interpersonal relations adjust their behaviour when encountering others, notably parents or children. For then the dynamics required may in each case be understood as a trap -- possibly to be avoided on occasion.
Property and possessions as traps
Possessions offer a variety of learnings into the nature of entrapment. They clearly evoke desire in many cases and as such are used as bait for many kinds of trap. People may struggle over many years to acquire them. The struggle itself may be come to be experienced as a trap, whether or not the goal is achieved. This trap is typically named the "rat race".
Once acquired, possessions have to be protected and maintained. The relation of 'encryption' to such protection (with its connotations of 'burial'), and the trap it constitutes, merits further consideration. Leaving them for any time may be a cause of anxiety. Certain kinds of possession may have a pattern of behavioral constraints associated with them that is experienced as a trap, whether or not the possession itself is considered a trap. Thus possession of a dream house may create pressures to conform to the social patterns and expectations of others in the neighbourhood with similar houses. Aspects of this are labelled as "keeping up with the Joneses".
Having experienced this kind of trap, people may make radical attempts to "downscale" their lifestyle against expectations of their peers. However there is a Hindu tradition that men of a certain age should indeed lay aside their possessions and become a sanyassin - thus escaping this trap.
People may be entrapped not so much by ownership of property but by the responsibilities that come with it. This is typically the case with hereditary estates where there is a responsibility to tenant families or a clan. It is intriguing that evolution of notions of property in relation to corporate ownership and intellectual property have significantly diminished, if not eliminated, any associated sense of responsibility. It is only in recent decades that corporations have endeavoured to recognize some degree of social responsibility - for which, however, they only have moral, not legal, obligations. Owners may experience these responsibilities as a trap in their pursuit of profit. However such "good neighbourliness" does not extend to responsibility for misuse of intellectual property, such as patents licensed to others for the manufacture of dangerous or exploitative products.
These essentially western notions of property are radically different from those of indigenous peoples who do not necessarily have this relationship to land or to other possessions. And to that extent the trap may be of quite a different nature. For peoples such as the Australian aborigines, so much of their culture is embodied in the actual landscape of the area where they live that they are effectively "trapped" there -- even though traditionally they have never owned it in any western sense. Leaving that area is tantamount to depriving themselves of their cultural identity. It is a form of cultural suicide with severe personal consequences. The trap in this sense is a nurturing womb. Westerners with strong links to a village or neighbourhood may be trapped in a somewhat similar way, even though they too do not own the features of the village to which they are attached.
Relationships as traps
People often recognize a relationship to be a 'trap' prior to leaving the parental home, opting for divorce, or placing an elderly parent in a nursing home. This view is sustained by certain forms of New Age philosophy that encourage people to 'move on' and focus on their own individual development -- even 'dumping granny' in the process. Some spiritual paths, and their cult variants, even require that such relationships be terminated because of the manner in which they detract from the primary spiritual relationships to be subsequently developed. Understanding this, others seek to avoid permanent relationships in the belief that this will ensure their freedom. But, as pointed out earlier, traplessness is not a sustainable condition and the result is that some people then come to recognize the nature of the 'singles trap' and to be challenged by loneliness.
Much effort is devoted to trapping people into relationship. This is most clearly seen in the soft selling techniques of commercial representatives who recognize that relationships must be established before there is any possibility of a sale. Diplomats may use similar techniques in establishing a basis for negotiation (cf the Harvard study on Getting to Yes). Both may use 'courtship' and 'seduction' as a metaphor to describe their initiatives. Of course there is a long tradition in efforts to obtain a suitable marriage partner that is based on some form of entrapment. Women may speak of 'hooking' or 'netting' a man, using fishing metaphors. Men may use herding metaphors to describe the process through which a woman is finally 'corralled'. With similar slills, spiritual mentors may cultivate potential disciples. More dubious entrapment examples are associated with practices of counter-intelligence and professional blackmailers who seek to obtain a hold over people.
The many inter-personal games identified by Eric Berne's (1996) method of Transaction Analysis may all be considered as having the quality of traps.
Roles as traps
People are born into roles, grow into other roles, acquire other roles through marriage and parenthood, enter other roles through education and employment, and are promoted or elected to other roles by peers or acclaim.They may develop yet other roles through their own initiatives and actions or through their definition by others. Under appropriate circumstances any of these may be experienced as a trap and may inhibit other preferred behaviour through their associated obligations -- whether 'silken bonds' or 'bars of steel'.
Models as traps
As noted above, explanatory models are increasingly offered, whether by the most qualified scientists, philosophers, gurus, management consultants, or anyone with the capacity to think. Many of these are designed to supplant previous models and exclude any reference to alternative models. They seldom account for those that will replace them. Many are copyrighted as intellectual property. Their use may be licensed or franchised. The designers of such models often have high financial ambitions.
As software, the goal for many is to produce what is termed a 'killer ap', namely an application that is so effective that it is a 'must buy' for computer users - slaughtering the competition. Amongst the intellectually ambitious, there are similar ambitions to produce what might be termed a 'killer model'. For management consultants this would take the form of the ultimate management solution through which countries or major corporations could be held to ransom -- as prefigured by pricing of special pharmaecutical drugs. For the purer scientists, the Nobel Prize is seen as being recognition of having produced such a model. For physicists, the Holy Grail is the Theory of Everything within which all phenomena would be entrapped. Of course, for the spiritually inclined, some insights gained from a spiritual experience may constitute a model that needs to be seen in this light. Unfortunately, and ironically, there is a tendency for fanatical followers to kill to ensure their acceptance - 'killer aps' par excellence !
The power of models to entrap is most delightfully expressed by Evan Eisenberg (1999) who notes that scientists, like artists, tend to fall in love with their models. Ironically in this respect, the forefather of world model builders, futurist Herman Kahn, lived in Croton-on-Hudson - where the World Modelling Association was headquartered to group its member agencies. For a further irony, Croton was the base of the archetypal builder of conceptual traps -- Pythagoras.
Feyerabend (1999) clarifies how models can serve to entrap the unsuspecting:
Variety disappears when subjected to a scholarly analysis... We can occasionally explain why crude ideas get the upper hand: special groups want to create a new tribal identity or preserve an existing identity amidst a rich and varied cultural landscape; to do so they 'block off' large parts of the landscape and either cease to talk about them, or deny their 'reality', or declare them to be wholly evil.
The earlier example of the ducklings escaping from their eggs points to the existence of traps of different order of complexity or scope. One can escape from a simpler trap, only to find oneself caught in a subtler and more complex trap. Traps may thus be understood as nested - like Russian dolls. The simpler traps are thus nested within those that are more complex and more difficult to recognize and understand. This discussion does not explore traps which are of equivalent complexity but different in kind - since supposedly one could learn how to escape them in the light of past experience of their analogues.
It may be useful to label the trap by which one is currently constrained of order N. Ability to function within that trap would then imply freedom to enter and escape from traps of lower order (without being a challenge to learning). Or at least they could be successfully recognized and avoided most of the time -- as hazards.
The trap of lower order from which one last successfully learnt to escape might be labelled of order N-1, with earlier traps in one's learning journey experience labelled N-2, N-3, etc. "down" to those that are no longer experienced as any kind of constraint. However whilst one can recognize these traps from one's experience, those that might be labelled N+1, or N+2, etc, must necessarily lie beyond one's normal comprehension. It is with these that one can be most readily trapped by others. The trap may not even be recognizable, even after one has been entrapped. The research of Ron Atkin provides a systematic mathematical analysis of such nesting in terms of communication within complex institutions.
The intriguing feature of traps of "higher" order is the ease with which one can deny their existence. These are the traps associated with sophisticated sales techniques - that may with luck be recognized before the sale is closed. As with 'mis-selling' of private pension plans in the UK, they may only be recognized tardily by society. More complex are those associated with entrapment by manipulative cults, especially when they have an exciting quality that distinguishes what they offer from the drabness of everyday existence and the "mainstream" alternatives. People can live within such traps for years and be enchanted by them to a degree that may not be replicable after an escape. It is for this reason that people are drawn back in.
It may be useful to see higher order traps as functioning like "strange attractors". They have no "existence" at the level at which one is capable of sensing. Charm and charisma have this quality, as does romantic attraction.
A prime challenge for marketing is to recognize when the old traps fail and how to develop subtler traps - better mousetraps -- to attract consumers to their products. Potential consumers are recognized as naturally fickle. For a while, they may be effectively trapped by traps of order N. But trapping them in this way offers them a learning experience through which an increasing proportion builds up the capacity to recognize and avoid the trap - developing sales "resistance". At some stage there comes a competitive advantage to the producer in designing and offering traps of order N+1 - exemplified by the efforts of the most creative advertising agencies. This may be framed as "scaling up" the market****. Religious and educational groups may see this as a desirable feature of their instructional processes. Is God the ultimate trap?
Traps as landmines
Traps as nourishing wombs plugin umbilical
Traps as prisons
Traps as addictions
For a metaphoric trap to work, it must effectively distract or divert attention without making evident the intention of doing so -- or at least avoid arousing suspicions about the purpose in doing so. But for the trap to work well, this diversion cannot simply be from A to B. The entrapped need to have their attention 'grabbed' and taken "for a ride" -- the longer the better. The ultimate trap is a never-ending cycle of distraction.
The easiest traps to understand are those designed to distract children -- starting with a baby's rattle. It is easy to see how such distractions have to increase in sophistication as the simpler "rattles" lose their power. The "best" toys for children are those which distract the longest at any one time, although the most valued may be those to which the child returns time and time again. With the advent of the electronic media, many of these take the form of games that shade into those that are a distraction for adults.
The full range of entertainment may be seen as offering distraction -- now supplemented by "edutainment". It is useful to ask what cultural products should be seen in this light -- including the visual arts, drama, music, opera. This would include the participative arts such as dance and song. By extension it would necessarily include the preoccupations of the theoretical and investigative disciplines from philosophy through to entomology, as well as the experiential disciplines from sports to the spiritual. Indeed many admit to engaging in such practices through "fascination" or simply in order to occupy their minds. The prime function of spectator sports may be understood from this perspective.
In this light it is possible to envisage the future design of sustainable communities as based primarily on an array of attention traps. The community would then be sustainable precisely because it's members were individually or collectively held in relationship by the traps within which their attention was diverted. The Romans made this point with their policy of 'bread and circuses' to control the population. Television, as many have remarked, is the modern equivalent to such circuses - a virtual Colisseum for a virtual civilization. Many cinemas have even been called Colisseum. There is a recognition that without the distraction offered by television, people would "take to the streets". Attention traps are therefore vital as a means of avoiding social unrest and its consequences. They are the graphite dampers of a society on the verge of criticality.
From this perspective, an important social indicator would be some measure of the extent to which people's attention was entrapped rather than free (cf concepts of 'free energy' in thermodynamics) . This is a poorly recognized challenge in deprived environments, notably degraded housing estates and long-term refugee camps. The desire for "development" is in part driven by the desire for television and the continuing fascination that it provides through soap operas. The risk is that the effectiveness of the entrapment will progressively erode and society will not be able to provide sufficient distraction to keep people "off the streets". This is already the case in many deprived urban environments in industrialized countries. As in the Roman Colisseum, media are being driven to violence and perversion of greater and greater extremes in order to be able to hold attention.
For the governance of a country -- or of global society -- how many kinds of trap, and of what kind, should be embedded in the social fabric to stabilize the social system? Should social and environmental 'problems' and 'solutions' be cultivated to this end? Do they emerge from the collective unconsciousness for this reason? How many traps, and of what kind, should one cultivate in one's own personal behaviour to facilitate the task of personal self-governance?
Designing "better" attention traps
Is it possible to envisage a generic approach to the design of better attention traps? Is there anything to be learnt from the array of toys and games? Could the full array of cultural products be evaluated in terms of their attention trapping potential? What different qualities of attention might need to be trapped? Seemingly Wagner would serve well for some and the Beatles for others. Mozart has proved to be an extremely successful trap for some, just as technomusic works to entrap others. The same may be said of different religions (from Zen to charismatic Christianity on TV) or of different philosophies (from positivism to subjectivism).
Unsustainable traps
Rattle metaphor: The best point of departure remains the baby's rattle and the fascination we can see that it exerts on the victim. This is achieved by occupying the visual and auditory plenum with movement and sound -- and posing the challenge of their correlation. Its fascination may be increased by occasionally hiding the rattle behind some other object and bringing it out as a surprise. The rattle metaphor is basic to the fascination of many simple "happenings". The attraction of street happenings derives its strength from this pattern of unusual movement against an uninteresting background. How many media shows might be said to follow this basic pattern -- even to the point of using the primal colours characteristic of rattles, and reinforcement with 'baby talk'?
The problem with traps based on the rattle metaphor is that they are essentially unsustainable -- although this may not be a requirement in the case of a 'death rattle' ! The happening may be repeated on some later occasion but the duration of its entrapment effect for any one period is quite limited. So another show in the series can be broadcast on another occasion, but at any one time it will not hold the attention of many for more than its (half-)hour duration. Media programmers are obliged to switch through several kinds of rattle during an evening or risk that audience/spectators switch to channels that do. High ratings are achjieved with 'unzappable' attention grabbers. Similarly the merit of web portals is evaluated in terms of their stickiness as traps.
Unfortunately many political programs -- including those for 'sustainable development' -- are designed to distract public attention just like rattles. Politics might be seen as the art of distracting the population through a succession of rattles. The challenge comes from the need to design better rattles as the distraction power of the older ones wears off. A typology of confidence tricks is helpful in this exploration ( for example).
Hunt metaphor: Another basic pattern is the hunt. This is best seen in games where a cat allows itself to be entrapped in hunting a mouse-like object pulled across a carpet. Many stories and TV dramas are based on the hunt metaphor, with the "bad guy" being hunted and caught by the "good guy" after many exciting adventures and struggles. Spectators are encouraged to identify with the hunter and to glory vicariously in his/her success.
Again, unfortunately, traps based on the hunt metaphor are essentially unsustainable. TV dramas hold attention to the extent that there is a sense of convergence. With skill a denouement can be held over to a later session, but this postponement can seldom be repeated successfully (the X-files might be considered an exception).
It could be argued that the hunt metaphor is basic to the project logic typical of international organizations. According to this pattern 'problems' are identified -- as the 'bad guys' -- and 'solutions' are designed by organizations in response to them -- as the 'good guys'. Over the period of the drama, the good guys pursue the bad guys and their success in doing so is reported in the final evaluation. Projects, like TV dramas, are seldom effectively related to one another and no effort is made to do so. Advocates, supporters and funders of a project effectively 'switch channels' when the project ceases to appeal.
Collection ('gatherer') metaphor: Corresponding to the hunt metaphor is that associated with gathering or collecting. This pattern identifies a set of 'collectibles' on which attention can be focused. Collectibles can range from the sports cards favoured by children, through birds eggs, stamps, books, antiques, classic automobiles, autographs, etc. This collection process shades into the preoccupations of many of the disciplines. Data collection is a focus for most disciplines: astronomy, botany, psychology, etc.
This trap provides a remarkably successful device in the design of remedial programs responding to social and environmental problems. There is always an iron-clad case for collecting more data through monitoring, prior to any action that can thereby be postponed sine die.
Song metaphor: Especially among aural cultures, song is a highly effective trap. It can be used to hold the attention for long periods of time, through a succession of songs, inhibiting any focus on other forms of action. Examples include: work songs (notably amongst negro slaves), drinking songs, marching and bootcamp songs, religious ceremonial songs, team support songs, and company loyalty songs. Unlike TV dramas, songs can be 'rerun' relatively frequently.
This trap is intriguing because of the way in which can be used to express, hold and manipulate emotions - for which it is a powerful vehicle. It encourages the expression of the emotions that might otherwise be focused on escaping from the trap. Song helps people to accommodate to entrapment.
It is the power of this metaphor that underlies the process of articulating global and universal declarations and credos. People may then be gathered together to rehearse and revisit the verses of such compositions. Emphasis can then be placed on affirming belief in them and offering testimony in support of adherence to them. Unfortunately it is only religious groups that have succeeded in actually embedding such compositions in songs and chants. Those formulated by international gatherings are remarkable for their lack of any aesthetic properties that would render them memorable and provide some guarantee of their coherence. As such it is difficult to 'rerun' them frequently.
Partially sustainable ("endurance") traps
Soap-opera metaphor: In contrast to individual TV shows in a series, soap operas are designed to achieve a degree of partial sustainability. Some hold collective attention over periods of years or even decades (cf Dynasty, Dallas, Neighbours, Coronation Street, East Enders). The early role of morality plays in this respect is worth exploration.
There would be many critics that would have little difficulty in labelling modern politics as pure soap opera. Fewer might be inclined to see it as deliberately designed as soap opera, but those enthralled by conspiracy theories already argue that most politicians are controlled like puippets by hidden figures. Such figures would indeed have a strong motivation to ensure that the visible political process remained as absorbing of attention as was feasible. They would indeed be concerned at the effectiveness of the trap and would be increasingly preoccupied by rising political apathy. Conspiracy aside, there is a case for extending the concept of designed 'photo-opportunities' into designed 'video-dramas' in order to catalyze certain processes of social change. The inter-personal dramas between media stars are developed and sustained over years by their pagents through the tabloids on this basis. An interpetation of the dissolution of the USSR along these lines has been explored elsewhere (Judge, 1991). In this respect, Orrin Klapp (Symbolic Leaders, 1964) ma kes the point that: 'Man's second life is now in the public drama. His dreams are taped, filmed and projected'.
Multi-level metaphor: These are a more complex phenomenon especially characteristic of recent computer (video)games. They are primarily characterized by confrontation of challenges (whether conflicts or puzzles) which if successful shifts the player to a new level. Each level may be made more challenging than the previous one. Repeated efforts and acquisition of skills, over many sessions, may be required to get through to a new level. However, like the hunt metaphor, there is necessarily a convergence on successful completion -- or the player gives up in frustration.
This pattern is not used in drama. It is however widely used in many educational and training games in which people are encouraged to face challenges and acquire skills at one level before becoming qualified for those at another. In this sense it might be called the qualification or promotion trap. As implied by the expression "life-long education", it may trap people for a lengthy period of time. An interesting variant is that used in esoteric and secret societies where the "levels" may be labelled as initiations. Some branches of freemasonry have 33 such levels. People may spend considerable time at a given level before being initiated into the next level. The insights gained or required for each level may be increasingly subtle if not obscure (offering considerable scope for manipulation by insiders as part of "testing" the eligibility of candidates to higher levels). These nested traps offer a remarkable capacity to keep people patient and unprotesting over extensive periods of time, or risk being refused access to subsequent levels. The academic tenure process is a much simpler variant which nevertheless severely constrains people to orthodoxy for fear of being refused tenure or other professional offices. The British system whereby civil servants and others acquire medals and honours (signifying varying degrees of worthiness) works in a similar manner as a constraint on unorthodox behaviour.
This pattern is intriguing in the way that it works only when people attach value to the status of being at the next higher level -- within an inner trap. This is achieved by persuading them of the unworthiness of their current and earlier levels, namely of the inferiority of their current entrapment. The significance of the higher (or inner) levels is thus sustained to a large degree by the insignificance of the lower (outer) levels, which need however to be heavily populated for the system to work. There are some parallels to pyramid selling and Ponzi schemes.
Sustainable ("dynamic") traps
The challenge is to identify metaphors that might facilitate the design of sustainable traps. This implies a design in which the attention is continually held within a pattern -- a form of permanent fascination or "enchantment". The following are possibilities:
Fish pond metaphor: It has been reported that traditional Chinese farms usually had a small carp pond, often for a single carp. The problem is that a single carp in a small pond positions itself in the middle of the pond and seldom moves. Without any exercise its condition rapidly deteriorates. The simple traditional solution is to place a rock in the middle of the pond. The carp then has the visual illusion that it is in a stream and that by swimming (between the rock "wall" and the other visible "stream bank"), it is continually advancing towards some fruitful goal. This suggests that by identifying a suitable 'rock' and positioning it appropriately in an otherwise static environment, an individual can be encouraged to engage in what is perpetual, and therefore sustainable, movement for her/his own health. In so doing the individual will be sustained by the illusion that he/she is moving towards some fruitful goal.
It is not obvious that this pattern is consciously used. However it is consistent with the feeling of frustration that many feel, without being able to articulate, that the socio-political system has conned them into a pattern of activity that is essentially going nowhere -- although offering insubstantial promises that things will get better. Again, the research of Ron Atkin provides a systematic mathematical analysis of how such a "rock" functions in terms of communication within complex institutions.
Pendulum/Spring ("alternation") metaphor: With this pattern a system is created in which conditions alternate between two extremes. People may aspire to A, spend time struggling against B to achieve it, then achieve it and be faced with a period in which they must live with what they desired and the problems that gradually become evident. The case for rejected condition B, in contrast to A, is made with increasing skill and credibility by B-advocates, until the situation is reversed and B is achieved. The cycle then repeats itself.
This pattern is advocated as the basis of democratic society with power shifting between opposing coalitions with different policies in response to any inability of the coalitions in power to deal with challenges effectively (the "Westminster model"). It is typical of cycles of management fads in corporations -- periodically switching, for example, from centralization to decentralization and back. It has some of the advantages of the hunt metaphor in that the challengers can frame themselves as the good guys seeking to overcome the bad guys. Then, as in any good children's game, the roles can be reversed and the other guys get to be the good guys. William Irwin Thompson has explored this reversal in his work on enantiodromia (1985).(see summary) A case for using this alternation process as ther basis for the design of development processes has been made elsewhere (Judge, 1982)
Bouncing ("plasma") metaphor: This trap is based on the containment technology for nuclear fusion. Such fusion can be achieved by confining plasma under certain conditions for sufficient time. A plasma is an electrical conducting medium consisting of positive and negative charges forming a neutrally charged distribution of matter. Plasma, as the fifth state of matter in which 99% of the universe is to be found, is unique in the way it interacts with itself, with electric and magnetic fields, and with its environment. (in contrast with the four other states of matter: reacting elements as in fire, gas, liquid and solid). Its properties depend upon on the collective behaviour of the constituent particles, as distinct from the individual. It is unique in its instability and its tendency to revert to ordinary combinations of matter and energy. In order to generate energy in a fusion reactor, the problem is to find the particular configuration of magnetic fields, values of plasma parameters and means of protecting the plasma from impurities which would quench it. This is achieved by 'bouncing' the plasma around within the configuration of a magnetic cavity (or 'bottle').
Individual attention or collective awareness (public opinion) has properties analogous to those of a plasma. The problem of a significant breakthrough in mobilizing the political will to change is comparable to that of designing a fusion reactor. The challenge is to be able to contain and focus individual or collective attention (despite its inherent instability) by a suitable configuration of psycho-social functions that can protect such attention from degenerating into normal modes. Since no one function can be used to this end, the problem is to constrain attention by all of them simultaneously without allowing reliance or dependence on any one of them. Mysticism in both Eastern and Western traditions has stressed the need for an individual to create an inner environment to contain psychic energy (cf. alchemical containers, controlling the movement of 'ch'i, and the circulation of the 'golden fire'). Of course this works best, solely as a trap, if the design ensures that the reactor never reaches citicality. In sub-critical modes, attention is simply shunted around the contained in a continuing cycle.
The operation of this trap may perhaps be explored at a much simpler level through the way an individual's attention is trapped by a mirror that reflects back a self-image that is inherently fascinating. Metaphorically one's environment can be designed to mirror back one's reality. Some people, notably leaders, are in fact considered to be trapped in patterns of reflecting mirrors held for them by sycophants.
Advertising agencies and marketing managers are fully aware that consumers can seldom be successfully trapped by a single message articulated through a single medium. As suggested (above) by the plasma containment metaphor, wayward consumer attention has to be focused back onto the desired behavior from a configuration of "mirrors". For success, a marketing manager must develop a campaign based on a variety of seemingly disparate initiatives (TV, stickers, pins, tie-ins, magazine advertising, endorsements, placements, etc). In a sense none of the individual features of the campaign is a trap, but together they reinforce each other to ensure consumer entrapment. This might be termed contextual or combinatorial entrapment.
Such contextual entrapment in its modern forms is practiced mainly in connection with product and service marketing, although increasingly in political campaigns -- notably where there is a concern with the subtleties of image management. For their own political purposes, the Nazis are significant in having invested heavily (under Goebels) in the design of an impressive array of psycho-cultural traps for the German people -- including dance, displays, architecture, song, film, drama, parades, iconography, youth camps, etc. But it is intriguing that religious movements have traditionally explored contextual entrapment to a far greater degree. Christianity, for example, has never limited dissemination of its message to pronouncements from the pulpit. A whole array of supporting devices has been used: iconography, liturgical music, bells, processions, pilgrimages, fasts, prayers, religious stories, church design, religious habits, artefacts, relics, rites (birth, confirmation, marriage, death, harvest, etc), and cyclical celebrations (annually, weekly, daily). The difficulty for anyone to gain perspective when immersed in these mutually reinforcing messages is well-known, especially when they are born into such a context.
With what discipline is the coherence of any such complex array ensured? At the material level, the challenge is well-clarified by the discipline of urban planning, especially through its interface with architecture and design. These disciplines can be explored in terms of their capacity to design successful arrays of traps. The criteria of success may be taken from one of their distinguished practitioners, namely Christopher Alexander. He focuses on design of places in which it is good to be (Timeless Way of Building). A successful trap is necessarily one that an individual has no desire to leave because of the well-being they experience within it -- a good trap provides a 'feel good' experience.
The challenge for urban planning is to avoid using a design that results in an essentially sterile environment. This sterility is one of the prime characteristics of total urban design, notably in the case of new capital cities for a country: Brazilia, Canberra, etc. In the case of Canberra, for example, all the 'action' is in neighbouring Queenbean. Brazilia has its adjacent unplanned slums. Efforts at designing whole new suburbs have tended to follow the same pattern. Their artificiality is an alienating characteristic that undermines their role as traps. There is little to hold the attention and no distracting patterns of behaviour in which to engage for any length of time. They are monuments to be visited, perhaps with malls for consumers -- but typically good places to hang out somehow do not fit the design.
Where the emphasis is shifted from tangibles to the design of psycho-social systems, there is a similar inability to configure arrays of traps. Such arrays may emerge to characterize 'in' places like St Tropez or Ibiza, possibly as a result of a confluence of artists and others that create a pattern of traps around which people hang out. But somehow there is difficulty in designing such environments from scratch to ensure the social traps 'take'. It is common to see a nicely designed empty restaurant/café next to one that is less well-designed, but full.
This challenge extends into the design of conceptual and spiritual systems. These range from the belief systems and rules underlying intentional communities through to the global charters designed to ensure universal consensus on some theme: environment, spirituality, peace, etc. Whilst these may serve as a very effective trap for those closely involved in their design, or their adherents, they have a disastrous track records in their failure to trap others. The interesting exceptions in the case of intentional communities are those which 'simply' grew into major traps without any preliminary design, like The Farm (USA), Findhorn (Scotland), or Auroville (India) - or perhaps some of the earlier monastic communities.
Missing however is any understanding of how to design a viable array to entrap a wide variety of beliefs. This is most clearly seen in the failure of efforts to design multi-cultural systems, whether as a result of affirmative action in US universities or in places like Kosovo. Groups such as the Bahai that set out to do this create systems that have a particular flavour that honours a diversity of perspectives without being especially attractive to their adherents - a problem analogous to that of designed cities.
What attitudes can be taken towards entrapment? In this connection the Buddhist notion is suggestive that suffering (see the recent studies of R G H Siu) is associated with a form of ignorance that results in entrapment (within a cycle of incarnations, according to that belief). The following options can be usefully distinguished:
Attitudes towards one's own entrapment by others (cf suffering at the hand's of others):
resignation / despair
accomodation / acceptance
identification with the trap / denial of the trap's existence
reframing of the trap
feel-good / appreciation
determination to escape
patience / holding pattern
Attitudes towards entrapment of others (namely to their suffering):
assistance to escape
enjoyment of their suffering (Schadenfreude)
patience (in the expectation of eventual improvement)
acceptance as a reality
exploitation of the trapped in a no-choice situation:
labour / servitude / peonage / bondage
forced conversion (faith, ideology, philosophy, morality, etc)
forced marriage or other affiliation
forced breach of promise / trust / vow
forced resettlement / eviction
forced sex (rape, closed houses, etc)
indoctrination / re-education / perversion of belief
forced military role (cannon fodder)
forced taxation / impoverishment
forced criminality (theft, murder, abortion, etc)
humiliation / torture / killing
misleading with false hopes
involuntary experimentation (medical or behavioural) as with laboratory animals
The contemporary approach to governance of a society ridden with 'problems' may be caught in an invisible trap of 'Project Logic'. How else to explain an international track record of broken promises and delivery failures: "health for all by the year 2000", "employment for all", "education for all", "freedom from hunger", "justice for all", "security for all", 'peace for all', "shelter for all", and so forth -- currently followed by promotion of "communication for all" and "information for all" for a conveniently distant future time? All without any discussion of the issues of 'children for all' !
Research at the National Bureau for Professional Training in the Ivory Coast has aimed at determining management and organizational models appropriate to African cultures. Henry Bourgoin, Director of the Bureau, in a study entitled "L'Afrique Malade du Management" (1984) notes, in reviewing the forms of management used in African through the colonial period to the present period of "occidental management" that:
"... l'entreprise industrielle que nous connaissons actuellement dans le monde entier s'est surtout developpée dans le contexte culturel de l'Europe du XIXe siècle. Une telle organisation, malgré des aménagements en cours dans différents pays, reste fondé sur des "valeurs" particuliers qu'elle continue à véhiculer: productivité, rentabilité, etc. Elle s'appuie aussi sur des "logiques" particulières: planning, ordonnancement, etc. qui intègrent elles-mêmes des éléments, qui, s'ils existent évidemment dans toutes ces cultures, n'y sont pas toujours aussi valorisés" (p. 20).
He continues: "C'est pourquoi, jusqu'aujourd'hui, les différentes formes de "culture managériale" importée ont glissé sur notre comportement, comme une goutte d'huile sur une feuille de manioc... Il ne put s'agir ni 'd'imiter les Blancs" ni de "faire comme nos ancêtres". Une seule voie, celle du juste milieu, est réaliste, car elle prendra en compte le visage actuel de nos sociétés" (p. 20-21). This follows studies such as those of Gert Hofstede and Magoroh Maruyama (1994). Given the current socio-economic situation in Africa, perhaps it is time to give consideration to alternative perspectives.
Johan Galtung has commented on the manner in which concepts relating to issues emerge and are transformed over a period of time within the international policy process (see summary). The phases he identifies ('concept careers') might necessarily be determined by Project Logic.
Project Logic is above all distinguished by the benefits that accrue to those who employ it, whether politicians, academic advisers, professional consultants, foundation executives, (international) civil servants, or sub-contractors. How else to explain that the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund, covering 16 agencies, is one of the worlds largest pension funds offering a generous range of benefits to some 55,000 people?
Project Logic involves a complex combination of consultancy, fund solicitation, report writing, meetings, accounting, evaluation, administration... that can absorb over 80 percent of the funds made available for any initiative -- with the maximum degree of delay, untimeliness, and ineffectiveness. Although Project Logic is based on an array of traps, this does not translate into a correspondingly well-designed array of institutions. Many have remarked on the tragically unsystematic and uncoordinated array of UN agencies -- to name but the most visible. Despite early warning, it is incapable of providing for flood victims (Mozambique, 2000) or the millions threatened by starvation (Ethiopia, 2000). Analogous lack of coordination occurs more recognizably at the neighbourhood level where many have noted the uncoordinated way in which local authority departments successivley dig up a street for different utility services.
Project Logic works through a mutually reinforcing array of traps -- contextual entrapment par excellence, ensuring a high degree of 'group think'. Use of this approach is considered to be totally neutral. It is considered as applicable to building dams as to organizing a pilgrimage, caring for the mentally handicapped, or dieting.
It is curious the degree of dependence of this group think on the array of essentially Latin-derived terms starting with the 'prefix' pro -- and including both "problem' and "project'. The proconsular management methods of Rome have a lot to answer for! The role of these terms is best seen in the following caricatural description of the contemporary project process:
Despite its track record, it is beyond criticism -- unless it is proper criticism by proud professionals (or their protegés), ignoring provocation, in response to protest that is confined to proposing refinements in the form of proprietary models and procedures in the light of projections regarding prospective, proven problems arising from proximate causes based on data of known provenance -- propitiating the powers that be, if not by prostration before them. The probity of those proclaming, via proxy, the profound significance of their proactive proposals is protected by propaganda -- despite their profligate expenditure, private profanity and the prostitution of their intelligence in support of procrastination, broken promises, and provisional prophylactics. In this spirit of progress, there is a propensity for promotion of maximum profit for the prominent and property owners, rather than in favour of the proletariat with their proclivity for procreation and preoccupied by their progeny. This approach ignores the profusion of indicators on the probability of systemic crisis due to uncontrolled production and the proliferation of people (and in hope of prompt, providential intervention in fulfillment of prophecy) . Alternatives to this dubious prognosis are proscribed and their proponents are prosecuted without respect for due process. This approach is promulgated in prose of great prolixity especially respectful of protocol.
These terms are very tentatively clustered in the following table, in which the rows serve the following purposes:
Obvious concerns: These are the overt concerns and actions that dominate awareness and may evoke new policy responses [B]
Policy (expedient) responses: These are the overt, publicized responses by those mandated to deal with obvious concerns [A]
Opportunisitic exploitation: These reflect the unpublicized concerns associated with the (collective) praxis of implementing responses articulated by [B] to the concerns of [A]
Critical evaluation: These reflect the necessarily frank, unwritten, and unconstrained assessment of the responses to [A], [B] and [C] by those in the know and involved in some way
Functions in relation to overt and convert concerns (tentative) /tr>
Functions Goals
Values Focus/Scope
Methodology Actions
Implementation Style
Presentation Time
Certitude Outcomes
Overt
provocation proof
prose prospect
procreation
responses property
profundity
propitiation
prolocutor
prognostic
probing
proaieresis protocol
proscription
propound
profluent
profulgent
procinct
probouleutic
prolixity
[II]
Covert [C]
Opportunistic exploitation
(praxis)
proscenium
propinquity
pro rata promoter
protégé
procurer
promachos
prowl prosthetic
prophylactic
propugnation promotion
proselytism
profanation procrastination
prodigality
Cricial evaluation
(analysis) prosaic
proletarian
propelling provincial
proselyte
prostitution proclivity
profiteering
promenade profanity
protervity
procrypsis
procacity prorogation
prolepsis prolapse
proctal
'Parts of speech'
in Project Logic
(v. tentative) Injunction Noun
Adjective Verb Adverb Conjunction Preposition
The words in the table are most of those in English dictionaries commencing with 'pro'. Those less commonly used are italicized. In considering their relevance to Project Logik, it is important to understand the contextual trap that they help to define or in which they are relevant. Examples from the apparently less probable terms include:
proscenium: relates to the stage context on which so many policy pronouncements are made
propinquity / proximity: recalls the manner in which 'old boy networks' affect selection of proposals and the narrow focus on proximate explanations
propelling: recalls the importance attached to projects capable of propelling those involved into better career positions
profile: signals the extent to which having, or presenting, the right profile is vital to project dynamics; and the profiles assembled in so many databases as a guide to policy-making
procession: points to the formalities with which projects are presented for media consumption and mutual admiration by peers
profanity: recalls the amount of swearing that usually accompanies project execution, as well as the profanation of principles
prostitution: points to the prostitution of intelligence (noted earlier) as well as the widespread use of 'comfort girls' during any negiotiation process
In reflecting on the provisional clustering in the table, one approach is to consider the kinds of discourse that might be restricted to the obvious preoccupations of Level [A], notably those of the ordinary citizen. As 'songs' these might introduce terms from Rows 1 to 8 in different combinations. Shifting to Level [B], political and policy discourse tends to combine another range of terms from Rows 1 to 8 in different combinations, referring to Level [A] only when constrained to do so. The concern at this level is the expediency of the response in order to maintain the status quo to the extent possible.
The discourse of Level [C] is that of the 'operators' and 'promoters' who contract their services, as consultants, employees or others -- and have the capacity to actually effect changes advocated at Level [A] or [B]. Alternatively they may propose services, anticipating needs. They seek to benefit from the preoccipations of the previous levels. Their mode of operation is not transparent, only the results and their presentation. This level indicates the terms characteristic of the non-transparent dimensions of their operations. Clearly they also make extensive use of terms from Levels [A] and [B], notably to promote their initatives and skills.
At Level [D] the discourse includes terms that reflext analysis and evaluation of discourse at the previous levels -- but unconstrained by pressures to conform to the particular requirements of those levels. In practice this discourse is confined to exchanges amongst professionals and those in the know and seldom appears in published documents. As such it contrasts with the kinds of analysis associated with the previous levels.
The final row is very tentatively included on the assumption that if Project Logic works like a language, then at any Level the elements of such a language might be distinguished by 'parts of speech'. In relation to the contents of the table, this clearly calls for much more work.
Are there other 'prefixes' that merit exploration to determine the relative degree of policy dependence on this very narrow range of perspectives?
Entrapment and commitment
Throughout this argument emphasis has been placed on the questionable merits of entrapment. To be trapped is to be prevented from engaging in other processes and experiences that may be more fruitful. Entrapment may directly inhibit any form of development. It may be inherently painful and no release may be foreseen.
The important role of traps is obvious, if only in hunting for food. Less obvious is that it is in geological 'traps' that oil and water reserves, vital to modern civilization, collect below ground -- an interesting metaphor to explore. Such traps are amongst the few to have been classifed. Intriguing also is the manner in which 'expectation traps' have been recognized. V. V. Chari et al. (1996) argue that discretionary monetary policy exposes the economy to welfare-decreasing instability. It does so by creating the potential for private expectations about the response of monetary policy to exogenous shocks to be self-fulfilling. Among the many equilibria that are possible, some have good welfare properties. But others exhibit welfare-decreasing volatility in output and employment. They refer to the latter type of equilibria as expectation traps.
The argument has also indicated that people must effectively allow themselves to be trapped in order to engage in society and to acquire experience. 'Expectation traps' is an interesting term for this. Traps, as frameworks, are the vehicles through which people are able to act. In many respects they are like prosthetic devices that constrain behaviour in a manner that can affect social reality. A deep-sea diver is trapped within equipment that enables action on the sea bed, as is the case for an astronaut in space. If either refused to get into the suit, no such action would be possible.
Similar points could be made with regard to the long educational and training requirements of certain professions such as surgery, or maintenance of complex equipment. These call for commitment that results in entrapment. The person may in principle be able to leave the trap but because of their investment in it, they would be reduced to high vulnerability - like a crab between shells.
As with highly skilled occupations, the same might be said of relationships with significant others. They derive their significance from the commitment or covenant, irrespective of the technical ease of setting them aside in modern society. Japanese society is built on networks of obligations that can readily be understood as traps. Trap or not, it is the commitment signalled by pledges and vows -- as when entering a religious order -- that frames the reality within which people live.
"Tao" -- the "way" between traps
The above considerations clarify a challenge. Clearly "shiftiness" is not the quality that is desired, nor is "indifference". But if they are not, then what gives coherence to the actions and attitudes associated with detachment? Does a person experience loss of sense of identity when relating consecutively to a parent, a child, an employer, an employee, a rival, or a significant other? Or does a person with lingusitic gifts experience such loss when switching between languages? And what of a highly 'mobile' worker?
Yet clearly there is a real challenge when relating consecutively to different academic models and/or spiritual belief systems. Typically the degree of entrapment experienced will be vigorously articulated in terms of their "inadequacy" as a vehicle for the truth, their "distortion" with respect to orthodoxy, and the like -- shading into condemnatory judgements of a quality that differs little whether they are from academic or religious priesthoods. With respect to the clothing example, it can only be compared to the discomfort of those who feel their dress is not consistent with fashions articulated in Vogue or its equivalent -- an entrapment greater than that of those who can choose freely from their wardrobe. This points to a sense that there are forms of entrapment experienced as of higher quality. Using slavery as a metaphor, there are inhumane and enlightened forms of servitude and entrapment, even if escape is not a consideration.
Coherence in shifting between traps comes not from the structural prosthetics of any overarching model or framework, but from the pattern of movement. The 'locus' of identity shifts from the static configuration to the 'pattern' of the dynamics - to the dance. Significance is then associated as much with the dynamics of relationship as with any particular actor in that dynamic. It is that pattern which carries and mirrors a larger sense of identity than that of the individual in isolation. Every feature of the environment to which the individual relates, whether animate or inanimate, may thus carry aspects of this larger identity - a role effectively delegated by the individual in isolation to those features through the process of objectification.
How such dynamics might be understood or described is the subject of separate papers that explore the use of polarization as navigational devices (Judge, 1998; Judge 1998), notably by designing a more appropriate language (Judge, 1999)
As yet another effort at interior decoration, this paper is of course necessarily a trap !
Christopher Alexander. The Timeless Way of Building. Oxford University Press, 1979
Ron Atkin:
Combinatorial connectivities in social systems : an application of simplicial complex structures to the study of large organizations, Birkhauser.
Multi-Dimensional Man: can man live in 3 dimensional space? Penguin, 1981 (see summary of argument)
Eric Berne. Games People Play : The Psychology of Human Relationships. Ballantine Books, 1996 (reissue)
Henry Bourgoin. L'Afrique Malade du Management. Paris, Editions Jean Picollec, 1984 (Collection Perspective 2000).
V. V. Chari, Lawrence J. Christiano and Martin Eichenbaum. Expectation Traps and Discretion. 1996
Evan Eisenberg. The Ecology of Eden: an inquiry into the dream of Paradise and a new vision of our role in Nature. Vintage, 1999
Paul Feyerabend. Conquest of Abundance: a tale of abstraction versus the richness of being. University of Chicago Press, 1999
Paradigm-shifting through transposition of key: a metaphoric illustration of unexplored possibilities for the future 1999 [text]
From statics to dynamics in sustainable community: navigating through chaos by playing on polarities as attitude correctors 1998 [text]
Discovering richer patterns of comprehension to reframe polarization 1998 [text]
In Quest of Uncommon Ground: Beyond impoverished metaphor and the impotence of words of power 1997 [text]
Metaphor as an Unexplored Catalytic Language for Global Governance 1993 [text]
Gorbachev: Dramaturge : Participative Democracy vs. Participative Drama -- lessons on social transformation for international organizations from Gorbachev. 1991 [text]
Development through Altedrnation 1982 [text]
Orrin Edgar Klapp. Symbolic Leaders: public drama and public men. Chicago, Aldine, 1964
Magoroh Maruyama. Mindscapes in Management : Use of Individual Differences in Multicultural Management. Dartmouth Publishing, 1994
R G H Siu:
Less Suffering for Everybody: an introduction to panetics. Washington DC, International Society for Panetics, 1994 (Panetics Trilogy, Vol I)
Panetics and Dukkha: an integrated study of the infliction of suffering and the reduction of infliction. International Society for Panetics, 1994 (Panetics Trilogy, Vol 2)
Seeds of Reflection: word clusters for meditation on the infliction and the relief of suffering. Washington DC, International Society for Panetics, 1994 (Panetics Trilogy, Vol 3)
Geoffrey Vickers. Freedom in a Rocking Boat : Changing values in an unstable society. Pelican, 1972


Seas at Risk - Deep sea mining: stop and think!
Deep sea mining: stop and think!
Seas At Risk urges the International Seabed Authority to stop granting licenses for deep sea exploration and exploitation until all alternatives have been investigated and stringent environmental framework conditions are put in place.
So far 26 exploration licenses have been granted by the International Seabed Authority, with more in the make. And while actual mining is not yet taking place, it is expected that the industry will have the technology ready to start mining within four years. The International Seabed Authority is developing a set of international regulations for deep sea exploitation. A working draft of the Regulations and Standard Contract Terms on Exploitation for Mineral Resources is under consultation and will be complemented later in the year with a draft environmental regulation.
In its response to the consultation, Seas At Risk points to the critical gaps in scientific knowledge and data (as the recent MIDAS conference showed), the governance problems within the International Seabed Authority (in terms of openness, participation, transparency and capacity), the risks for irreversible serious damage to the deep sea ecosystems and the need to complete a network of marine protected areas. This calls for a strong precautionary approach, and looking for more sustainable alternatives should be the priority. Curbing the demand for raw materials through better product design, sharing, re-use, repairing and recycling and development of new materials is key to the solution. First and foremost, the International Seabed Authority should take its core mandate, which is to protect the deep sea, at heart.
Seas At Risk's submission to International Seabed Authority can be downloaded here. The consultation period has been extended till 25th November.


text:
WoodWing and Syndy team up to help brands bring the right product content to online retailers
Zaandam, The Netherlands, Sept. 21, 2016 — WoodWing Software and Syndy announced today that they are entering into a partnership to help brands streamline the distribution of rich digital product content to online retailers.
Syndy and WoodWing team up to help brands and online retailers to optimize their marketing processes.
WoodWing Software is a global market leader in multichannel publishing and digital asset management software. WoodWing´s digital asset management system Elvis DAM helps brands, retailers and agencies around the globe to efficiently manage the ever-growing amount of product assets. Brands include Delta Faucet, Yamaha Motor Europe, Bavaria, Steve Madden and more; retailers include bol.com, El Corte Ingles, The Home Depot, and more.
Syndy is a 'one-stop-shop' solution for brands with multinational operations to take control of their products across the e-commerce channel. Through efficient product content distribution across retailer websites (Walmart.com, Bol.com, Feelunique.com etc.) and real-time online store checks, Syndy empowers brands to make smarter decisions about their product representation online.
The two parties agreed to work towards an integration between their software applications, both already in use at the largest Dutch online retailer bol.com. Brands managing the growing amount of digital assets with WoodWing's Elvis DAM will be able to efficiently push the latest product content to e-commerce via Syndy's distribution network. The combination helps brands to ensure consistent brand management and conversion-driven product representation online, while helping online retailers with the latest product content in real-time.
"We're noticing a great need from our customers for interconnectedness between different systems to optimize the flow of digital content used to present their products on the e-commerce platforms of their retail partners. This partnership between WoodWing and Syndy takes us a huge step forward in achieving that", said Pieter van Herpen, CEO at Syndy.
"Digital assets unfold their full value when the DAM system used for the creation and management of digital assets is integrated with other business systems in the CRM, WCM and MDM space", said Roel-Jan Mouw, CEO of WoodWing Software. "Via this partnership with Syndy, we're looking forward to enabling more brands to make sure their rich product content gets efficiently distributed to their online retail partners."
About Syndy
Syndy creates leading product experiences in e-commerce for its customers (brands) while driving cost efficiencies and incremental sales. At the heart of Syndy lies its online platform; which provides brands with market-by-market access to product content, and a system that automatically distributes and tracks product content across retailer websites. Syndy's platform integrates with leading PIM/ DAM/ ERP/ MDM systems and can be used as an add-on to existing IT structures. Founded in 2012, today, Syndy works with 1.600+ manufacturers in Europe and the US across the following product categories; consumer goods (grocery, beauty, pet care, pharma), electronics, home decor, sports, fashion, luxury, white goods, office supplies, software, and hardware. For more information on Syndy's e-commerce product content distribution and analytics technology visit www.syndy.com or email info@syndy.com.
Home Press Room WoodWing and Syndy team up to help brands bring the right product content to online retailers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Alexander Singer
Alex Singer
New York City, New York, USA
Alexander Singer lent his keen eye as a director of many television series. Early on, Singer directed a variety of independent films, such as "A Cold Wind in August" (1961), the dramatic adaptation "Psyche '59" (1964) with Curt Jurgens and the drama "Love Has Many Faces" (1965) with Lana Turner. He also appeared in "Glass Houses" (1971) and "Captain Apache" (1971) with Lee Van Cleef...
The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D. (1984)
Hunters of the Reef (1978)
Time Travelers (1976)
The Million Dollar Rip-Off (1976)
The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant (1975)
Glass Houses (1972)
Love Has Many Faces -- (Movie Clip) Love Is Thin Ice
Cold Wind In August, A -- (Movie Clip) You're Trapped
Love Has Many Faces -- (Movie Clip) Some Of Us Are Different
Cold Wind In August, A -- (Movie Clip) What I Don't Need
Alexander Singer lent his keen eye as a director of many television series. Early on, Singer directed a variety of independent films, such as "A Cold Wind in August" (1961), the dramatic adaptation "Psyche '59" (1964) with Curt Jurgens and the drama "Love Has Many Faces" (1965) with Lana Turner. He also appeared in "Glass Houses" (1971) and "Captain Apache" (1971) with Lee Van Cleef. Singer's also directed the television series "The Magician" (NBC, 1973-74). To help launch his Hollywood career, Singer directed some television shows like "The Magician" (NBC, 1973-74). In the seventies, work on the television shows "The Rockford Files" (1974-1980), "Police Woman" (NBC, 1974-78) and "Joe Forrester" (NBC, 1975-76). He also appeared in "Rafferty" (CBS, 1977-78). followed During the latter half of his career, Singer directed "The Magician" (NBC, 1973-74). Most recently, Singer appeared on "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures" (Cinemax, 2000-01).
Captain Apache (1971)
Deathwork (1971)
Love Has Many Faces (1965)
Psyche 59 (1964)
A Cold Wind in August (1961)
Writer (Feature Film)
The Killing (1956)
Bunco (1977)
Cast (Special)
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)
Assistant Direction (Short)
Day of the Fight (1951)
Cast (Short)
Cinematography (Short)
Cinematographer (Uncredited)
Cold Wind In August, A -- (Movie Clip) You're Trapped Vito (Scott Marlowe), son of the super, getting his reward from tenant Iris (Lola Albright) for sort of fixing the air conditioning, early in director Alexander Singer's A Cold Wind In August, 1961.
Cold Wind In August, A -- (Movie Clip) What I Don't Need Director Alexander Singer practically drags estranged husband Harry (Clarke Gordon) indoors, meeting Shirley (Janet Brandt) on the way, to see dancer-wife Iris (Lola Albright), opening A Cold Wind In August, 1961.
Love Has Many Faces -- (Movie Clip) Love Is Thin Ice An Acapulco cop (Enrique Lucero) is questioning heiress Kit (Lana Turner, proving she can still wear a swimsuit) and young husband Pete (Cliff Robertson) on their boat about a drowning, early in Love Has Many Faces, 1965.
Love Has Many Faces -- (Movie Clip) Some Of Us Are Different Inebriated Acapulco trophy husband Pete (Cliff Robertson) drops in on visiting Carol (Stefanie Powers), whose boyfriend has drowned, then returns to spouse Kit (Lana Turner) in Love Has Many Faces, 1965.


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What's Going On with Selena Gomez and Bella Hadid?
Hadid followed and unfollowed Gomez on Instagram, and fans have theories about it.
By Kimberly Truong Updated May 05, 2020 @ 8:45 am
Now that many of us are several weeks into self-isolation with screen time and social media dominating most of our downtime, our collective online activity is bound to get a little... messy (and not just because so many of us are attempting sourdough starters).
Over the weekend, fans realized that Bella Hadid followed Selena Gomez on Instagram, encouraging a slew of headlines about how any drama between the two women after they both dated The Weeknd had dissipated. Gomez dated The Weeknd in 2017 during an "off" period in Hadid's on-and-off relationship with him, and the two women unfollowed each other on Instagram that year when news of Gomez's relationship with The Weeknd became public. As JustJared reported, Gomez re-followed Hadid back in November of last year, though the model didn't return the favor until this weekend.
But just as quickly as she hit the follow button, Hadid once again seemed to unfollow Gomez — and of course, fans took notice. Some even theorized that she did so to... anger The Weeknd?
Hadid and Gomez were also both embroiled in Instagram drama last year, when Gomez left a supportive "stunning [heart eyes emoji]" comment on one of Hadid's photos — after which Hadid deleted the post. Gomez found out via a fan, and expressed her disappointment.
According to TMZ, Hadid just deleted the post because she didn't like it, and reportedly even reached out to Gomez to clear up the situation.
RELATED: Bella Hadid Just Gave Herself the Riskiest At-Home Haircut
It's unclear what made her follow and unfollow Gomez this time around, but I for one am glad to not be a celebrity and therefore not have my online activity tracked by fans.


i am using Zoderm E cream for four days but noting has happened, the skin is showing no improvement. Please tell what should i do.?
Jock itch doesn't usually happen where you're saying it is. Zoderm is for bacteria. Get something for fungus. like tinaftate.(tinactin). If it doesn't start getting better with that in a few days, see your dr.
Can you use econazole nitrate cream for jock itch?
Please help! Best prevention or cure for Jock itch. All things considered. Thanks?


text:
package org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.rtree.api;

import java.nio.ByteBuffer;

import org.apache.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
import org.apache.hyracks.dataflow.common.data.accessors.ITupleReference;
import org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ISlotManager;
import org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ISplitKey;
import org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexFrame;
import org.apache.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexTupleReference;
import org.apache.hyracks.storage.common.MultiComparator;

public interface IRTreePolicy {
    public void split(ITreeIndexFrame leftFrame, ByteBuffer buf, ITreeIndexFrame rightFrame, ISlotManager slotManager,
            ITreeIndexTupleReference frameTuple, ITupleReference tuple, ISplitKey splitKey) throws HyracksDataException;

    public int findBestChildPosition(ITreeIndexFrame frame, ITupleReference tuple, ITreeIndexTupleReference frameTuple,
            MultiComparator cmp) throws HyracksDataException;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Old Turkish Carpets
Selçuk Carpets
A high point in the art of carpet making was to be achieved during the three centuries of the Selçuk Period but unfortunately there are no examples from the period called the Great Selçuk Period. We do however ha ve surviving carpets and fragments from the Anatolian Selçuk Period. These have been designated the "Konya Carpets" but basıcaIly this is a misnomer. The sources of our evidence come from three finds those from Konya, those from Beyşehir and those from Fostat.
İn spite of the fragmented condition of most of these samples, it has been possible to piece together what we have come to believe is the first expression in a consistent development of design and quality. Thus this group can be called the first group of Turkish carpets recognizable as the forerunners of carpets of later periods even up to the present.
Today the total Selçuk carpet collection consists of eighteen pieces, fifteen of which are fragments. Eight of these were found in Konya and three in Beyşehir. Seven are from Fostat. Only two with in the group are quite similar; both of these are in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, İstanbul. The others ali have varying colors and motifs; each is unigue. Such variation indicates the existence of considerable creative potential on the part of those who produced them.
In essence a study of the Selçuk group reveals that the prototypic designs were derived from the infusion of highly stylized floral motifs into geometric designs and from border compositions consisting of Kufic devices. İn som e cases the geometric forms are created by the repetition of motifs in rows. İn fact floraI motifs, if one can identify them as suchf are not only stylized but highly abstract; certainly representational figures are unknown. As we examine each ofthese fragments it will become quite clear that generalizati ons must give way to the unique and stunning quality of each piece.
The original carpets discovered in Konya's Alaeddin Mosque dating from the first half of the 13th century are products of Selçuk Anatolia and show the development in pile carpet making up to that period. They have also come to be considered as prototypes for ali post-Selçuk carpets. The details of their origins stili are a matter of speculation.
Until 1905 none of the visitors to the Alaeddin Mosque, Konya including F. Sarre, the carpet expertt had been aware of the existence of any valuable carpets there. They were first discovered in 1905 by F. R. Martin who pointed out their great importance to the history of carpet making to Herr Loytved, the then German consular representative in Konya. İn a short space of time they became very well-known even though Martin himself did not publish them until 1908. Then they were given a place in his extraordinary two volume work of text and plates measuring 67×56 cm. (The text volume alone weighed ten kilos.)The story of the adventure surrounding this discovery and ultimate publication is found on page 113 of Martin's volume. He states that in the "Alaeddin Mosque in Konya, which was finished in 1220 AD, are four carpets and two fragments that differ from all the others which to the number of several hundred cover the floor of this mosque, one of the most beautiful and most ancient in Turkey Their ground is decorated with a very simple pattern repeated many times. The border of these carpets, which is their charaeteristic feature, consists of Kufic decorative letters, which by their pompous form and large size are entirely different from all such letters known on other carpets." After Ferid Pasha ceased to be the governor of Konya, and became the Grand Vizier of Abdulhamid II who had assumed the Ottoman throne, he ordered that photographs and watereolors be made for H.R.H. Prince William of Sweden of any Selçuk carpet he wished.
Martin's footnote No. 247 goes on to explain how "the German consular representative Herr Loytved had kindly undertaken to supervise the photographing. However before dispatehing to H.R.H. Prince William any copy of the photographs, Herr Loytved, who is a Dane by birth, though now in German employ, deemed he might serve his new country by sending the photographs of these remarkable carpets to those interested in the matter in Berlin. That is the reason why Dr. F. Sarre could reproduce them in a recently published article on the carpets of Asia Minor in the Austrian art review Kunst un d Kunsthandwerk, October 1907. Dr. Sarre states that they are the object of 'besonders hoher verehrung.' İt is a liftle peculiar that the author of the text of a large work on oriental carpets during ali the lengthy period that he devoted to the study of oriental art in Konya, and assuredly for preparing his great work on Persian arehiteeture, was often a visitor at this mosque, had not before noticed or heard ofthese carpets which he now finds so remarkable. They are certainly tattered, though not so "ausserts sehleeht erhalten' that their peculiar colour and design do not at once strike the beholder. The real fact is that these carpets were not appreciated at ali, being relegated to that portion of the mosque that was farthest from the Mihrab, where they have been trodden underfoot unnoticed not only by Herr Loytved, but also by all other carpet connoisseurs that have visited Alaeddin's wonderful mosque, and yet they are so total-y different from all other carpets in this mosque, that even ata distance their peculiar colouring would have attracted the eye. Subsequent to my having pointed out to Herr Loytved their great scientific value they have become one of the sights of Konya and object of "besonders hoher verehrung."
A further note explains how the Prince asked Loytved to assume responsibility for the photographs and watercolors made at the time, and also, that Loytved had copies made also for himself, sending them without permission to Berlin. A year previously Sarre had stated in an article on the subject that he had worked from Loytved's watercolors and photographs without having seen the original carpets. Sarre's article, "Mittelalterliche Knupfteppiche" in Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, appeared a year prior to the publication of Martin's book and was widely distributed, causing an immediate interest in these carpets. The interest of course was renewed when the carpets were republished in 1909 in his book, Seldchukische Kleinkunst They were again published in 1914 by Bode and Kühnel in the second publication of Vorderastiatische Knupfteppiche aus After Zeit.
The eight carpets discovered in 1905, though severely damaged, have indeed survived from the Selçuk Perlod and now have all been brought to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, İstanbul where they are preserved among the world's largest and richest collection of carpets, one which now consists of over one thousand items and is housed in the museum's new location at the renovated İbrahim Pasha Palace.
Let us look at these pieces. Three of them are almost intact and five are fragments. Ali are knotted in wool with the Turkish knot, with a two play warp of coarse cream and buff colored wool and a weft of twoplay stiff red wool. These pieces have an average of 840 knots per 10 cm2 and two or three weft shoots between each row of knots. The main charaeteristic design element is a border of large Kufic writing, but highly stylized plant motifs and geometric devices are also featured.
Because of their importance, each piece will be deseribed individually. First among the pieces discovered is a woolen carpet 2.85×5.50 m deslgnated as Anatolian 13th century which was brought to the museum on March 31, 1930. The carpet conta ins dark red highly stylized (eagle?) motifs resembling arrowheads, outlined in brown, and with small light blue lozenge shaped central fiilings arranged in offset rows on a light red field. The border consists of light blue Kufic motifs outlined in white on a darker blue field and decorated with red bands and yellow hooked fiilings. A row of eightsided blue stars in red squares fills the inner guard border, while the outer guard border which encloses the main border has the same scheme, but here the colors are reversed.
The second carpet from this group and of the same period, measuring 3.20×2.40 m was broughtto the museum on the same date as the first piece. The knots of this carpet are slightly inclined to the right with 729 knots per 10 cm2. The dark blue maln field is covered with light blue eight pointed star filiings, all arranged in offset rows and joined on four sides by a cross-like scheme of double bands which are also light blue in color and decorated with double hooks resembling Kufic letters.
The third carpet is 6.08×2.46 m and has the same attributions as the one above except that in it the Turkish knots are a littie inclined to the left. The compositon on the main field consists of red octagons in offset rows on a cream field. The octagons are filled with four palmette like hooked motifs known as "camel's feet" arranged in mirror image pairs. The main border, which survives on only one edge of the fragment, contains a row of paired facing Kufic like motifs. Each pair, drawn with white contours and outlined in brown, is linked in the center by a motif crowned by a crescent. The inner and outer guard borders are identical, consisting of a wide brown band between two narrow blue bands.
Selcuk Carpets 2
← Early Turkish Carpets
Selcuk Carpets – Part 2 →
Type IV Holbein Carpets
Large-pattern Type III Holbein Carpets
Carpets of the Ottoman Period
Animal Figured Carpets – Part 2
Animal-Figured Carpets
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A man from the Hudson Valley was one of six, including five Marines, declared dead after their refueling plane collided with a fighter jet off the southern coast of Japan last week.
Major James M. Brophy, 36, from Staatsburg in Dutchess County, and the four others were killed when their KC-130J Hercules crashed with an F/A-18D Hornet during refueling training conducted at around 2 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 6.
Brophy, a 12-year member of the corps, is survived by his wife, son and daughter. His decorations include the Air Medal with two Strike Flight Awards, one Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and one Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
The other Marines killed, also assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152, were: Lt. Col. Kevin R. Herrmann, 38, of New Bern, North Carolina.; Staff Sgt. Maximo A. Flores, 27, of Surprise, Arizona; Cpl. Daniel E. Baker, 21, of Tremont, Illinois; and Cpl. William C. Ross, 21, of Hendersonville, Tennessee. The pilot of the Hornet, Capt. Jahmar F. Resilard, 28, of Miramar, Florida, was also killed.
Lt. Col. Mitchell Maury, commanding officer of VMGR-152, described the men as "exceptional aviators, Marines, and friends who will be eternally missed."
"We are profoundly saddened to learn of the passing of James M. Brophy of Staatsburg," Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said. "Major Brophy defended our nation and our liberty, and will forever be remembered as an American hero who selflessly sacrificed to protect our homeland and the values we hold dear.
"While we enjoy unparalleled freedom in this country, it comes at a cost. Like countless brave men and women before him, James bravely and freely served his fellow Americans – both his neighbors here in Dutchess County, and millions more he never met, living in towns, villages, and cities throughout our great land – to safeguard our way of life.


Hikari Izumi started Parkour when she was a high school student, and then became one of the most famous Asian women tracuers. Working as a cast on major companies' commercials and music videos, and participating in worldwide competitions. From 2016, she had stayed in Los Angeles for two years to earn her associate degree of Media Arts and train Parkour in more developed place.
While being a student in the United State, participated in Japanese Women Ninja Worrier "KUNOICHI" in 2016 and became known as the closest girl for completion.
Graduated the college in 2018 and moved to Tokyo, then started her career as an athlete. By attended well-known worldwide competitions in Sweden and Hiroshima, she has been touching the greatness and beautifulness of Parkour itself. Since the population of women practitioner in Japan is significantly small, Hikari is contributing the community by holding workshops and events.
・FIG PARKOUR WORLD CUP - Speed 1st, Freestyle 2nd.