Threesology Research Journal
Artificial Intelligence and 3sology (56K)
Page 25

http://threesology.org


Note: the contents of this page as well as those which precede and follow, must be read as a continuation and/or overlap in order that the continuity about a relationship to/with the typical dichotomous assignment of Artificial Intelligence (such as the usage of zeros and ones used in computer programming) as well as the dichotomous arrangement of the idea that one could possibly talk seriously about peace from a different perspective... will not be lost (such as war being frequently used to describe an absence of peace and vice-versa). However, if your mind is prone to being distracted by timed or untimed commercialization (such as that seen in various types of American-based television, radio, news media and magazine publishing... not to mention the average classroom which carries over into the everyday workplace), you may be unable to sustain prolonged exposures to divergent ideas about a singular topic without becoming confused, unless the information is provided in a very simplistic manner.

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The foregoing describes Hermes as being thrice great, and yet an Astronomer used the word to describe a binary asteroid:

(Hermes refers to a) binary asteroid whose eccentric orbit brings it near Earth. It was discovered in October 1937 by German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth when it approached within about 742,000 km (461,000 miles) of Earth; announcement of this near passage occasioned some fear that it might collide with Earth. Hermes was subsequently lost and was not observed again until 2003. Radar observations of Hermes showed that it was actually two asteroids that orbit each other every 14 hours. The asteroids are 630 and 560 metres (2,070 and 1,840 feet) in diameter.


In the following reference to Greek god Hermes, though the foregoing referred to him as being "thrice great", we find that the number 4 is attributed as his sacred number. One would think that once a reference was established, it would thus be retained as the primary characterization.

Greek god Hermes

(Hermes was a) Greek god, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia; often identified with the Roman Mercury and with Casmilus or Cadmilus, one of the Cabeiri. His name is probably derived from herma (see herm), the Greek word for a heap of stones, such as was used in the country to indicate boundaries or as a landmark. The earliest centre of his cult was probably Arcadia, where Mt. Cyllene was reputed to be his birthplace. There he was especially worshiped as the god of fertility, and his images were ithyphallic.

(Merriam Webster Dictionary: "Ithyphallic"— of or relating to the phallus carried in procession in ancient festivals of Bacchus; having an erect penis — usu. used of figures in an art representation.)

Both in literature and cult Hermes was constantly associated with the protection of cattle and sheep, and he was often closely connected with deities of vegetation, especially Pan and the nymphs. In the Odyssey, however, he appears mainly as the messenger of the gods and the conductor of the dead to Hades. Hermes was also a dream god, and the Greeks offered to him the last libation before sleep. As a messenger, he may also have become the god of roads and doorways, and he was the protector of travellers. Treasure casually found was his gift, and any stroke of good luck was attributed to him; this conception and his function as a deity of gain, honest or dishonest, are natural derivatives of his character as a god of fertility. In many respects he was Apollo's counterpart; like him, Hermes was a patron of music and was credited with the invention of the kithara and sometimes of music itself. He was also god of eloquence and presided over some kinds of popular divination.

The sacred number of Hermes was four, and the fourth day of the month was his birthday. In archaic art, apart from the stylized herms, he was portrayed as a full-grown and bearded man, clothed in a long tunic and often wearing a cap and winged boots. Sometimes he was represented in his pastoral character, bearing a sheep on his shoulders; at other times he appeared as the messenger of the gods with the ke-rykeion, or herald's staff (see caduceus), which was his most frequent attribute. From the latter part of the 5th century BC he was portrayed as a nude and beardless youth, a young athlete.

Source: "Hermes." Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, 2013.

In the discussion of language and codes or "cyphers" (ciphers) one must make reference to the occult such as the practice of Alchemy, which preceded chemistry and other scientific inquiries. Throughout history we have records describing different acts by different people... and groups, who engage in practices thought to reflect some divine meaning... a meaning that some think to interpret can be understood if they can only find and decipher an assumed code. Even today we have physicists trying to uncover hidden truths, through mathematical proofs, in order to establish a "Theory of Everything" (the big TOE), or "Grand Unified Theory" (the distended GUT)... though someone may propose some other (3-lettered) anatomically descriptive EYE or EAR configuration. The same type of thinking is occurring in the computer industry, particularly when philosophical discussions about artificial intelligence take place, even if the two-word phrase "artificial intelligence" is not explicitly stated. Such explorers are seeking to unravel the mystery which will lay bare the means by which a given person's definition of AI will be discovered and reveal, thus rendering them into a state of being viewed as a great wizard who can turn the base metals of the elements into "living gold"... and is a perspective being practiced by the activities of those at NASA in their search for some "biological gold" remanant, substrate, or base macromolecule. This idea is commensurate with the view I espoused when I momentarily attended a poetry class (in another life time), and said that those in the class were like Alchemists trying to turn their pencil lead into poems of gold. Needless to say, my comment was not well appreciated by those who were taking their writing efforts way too seriously. I was continually treated and viewed as an outsider... because I didn't think like everyone else... particularly not when defining creativity in the same manner as the consensus... led by an instructor who did not let the class evolve into its own personality... and instead wanted it to be a reflection of themselves.

(Alchemy is ) a form of speculative thought that, among other aims, tried to transform base metals such as lead or copper into silver or gold and to discover a cure for disease and a way of extending life.

Alchemy was the name given in Latin Europe in the 12th century to an aspect of thought that corresponds to astrology, which is apparently an older tradition. Both represent attempts to discover the relationship of man to the cosmos and to exploit that relationship to his benefit. The first of these objectives may be called scientific, the second technological. Astrology is concerned with man's relationship to “the stars” (including the members of the solar system); alchemy, with terrestrial nature. But the distinction is far from absolute, since both are interested in the influence of the stars on terrestrial events. Moreover, both have always been pursued in the belief that the processes human beings witness in heaven and on earth manifest the will of the Creator and, if correctly understood, will yield the key to the Creator's intentions.

Source: "Alchemy." Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, 2013.
(Note: the above article discusses Chinese, Indian, Hellenistic Arabic, Latin and Modern Alchemy.)

(Hermetic writings) also called Hermetica,

—works of revelation on occult, theological, and philosophical subjects ascribed to the Egyptian god Thoth (Greek Hermes Trismegistos [Hermes the Thrice-Greatest]), who was believed to be the inventor of writing and the patron of all the arts dependent on writing. The collection, written in Greek and Latin, probably dates from the middle of the 1st to the end of the 3rd century AD. It was written in the form of Platonic dialogues and falls into two main classes: “popular” Hermetism, which deals with astrology and the other occult sciences; and “learned” Hermetism, which is concerned with theology and philosophy. Both seem to have arisen in the complex Greco-Egyptian culture of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

From the Renaissance until the end of the 19th century, popular Hermetic literature received little scholarly attention. More recent study, however, has shown that its development preceded that of learned Hermetism and that it reflects ideas and beliefs that were widely held in the early Roman Empire and are therefore significant for the religious and intellectual history of the time.

In the Hellenistic age there was a growing distrust of traditional Greek rationalism and a breaking down of the distinction between science and religion. Hermes-Thoth was but one of the gods and prophets (chiefly Oriental) to whom people turned for a divinely revealed wisdom.

In this period the works ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos were primarily on astrology; to these were later added treatises on medicine, alchemy (Tabula Smaragdina [“Emerald Tablet”], a favourite source for medieval alchemists), and magic. The underlying concept of astrology—that the cosmos constituted a unity and that all parts of it were interdependent—was basic also to the other occult sciences. To make this principle effective in practice (and Hermetic “science” was intensely utilitarian), it was necessary to know the laws of sympathy and antipathy by which the parts of the universe were related. But because these assumed affinities did not, in fact, exist and hence could not be discovered by ordinary scientific methods, recourse had to be made to divine revelation. The aim of Hermetism, like that of Gnosticism (a contemporary religious-philosophical movement), was the deification or rebirth of mortals through the knowledge (gnosis) of the one transcendent God, the world, and humankind.

The theological writings are represented chiefly by the 17 treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, by extensive fragments in the Anthologion (Anthology) of Stobaeus, and by a Latin translation of the Asclepius, preserved among the works of Apuleius. Though the setting of these is Egyptian, the philosophy is Greek. The Hermetic writings, in fact, present a fusion of Eastern religious elements with Platonic, Stoic, and Neo-Pythagorean philosophies. It is unlikely, however, that there was any well-defined Hermetic community, or “church.”

Hermetism was extensively cultivated by the Arabs, and through them it reached and influenced the West. There are frequent allusions to Hermes Trismegistos in late medieval and in Renaissance literature.

Source: "Hermetic writings." Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, 2013.

The study of language has fascinated many people from different walks of life. The word "language" like music and mathematics (amongst others), has been used to describe a perception that might otherwise be taken for granted... until the usage of some other word or symbol is used to invigorate one's perceptions by allowing one to see the common-place from the vantage point of someone given the opportunity to discover it anew. In other words, when did language began and what language was the mother tongue, so to speak. In an attempt to divine... to discover which language was superior due to being first, it was suggested that whatever language (word) was first used by infants, would be the victor of this experimental contest. It was perhaps thought that such an occasion thus displayed a natural recognition that a particular language was preeminent. 3 rulers are noted for carrying out experiments (supposedly by isolating children (infants) from all spoken language influences) to determine which language would be spoken first, and hence, identify the first language:

  1. Egyptian Pharaoh Psammetichus (664 - 610 B.C.)
  2. Roman Emperor Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen (A.D. 1200's).
  3. James IV of Scotland (A.D.1473 - 1513)

If we should continue in this sort of retrograde approach to the study of language, we would necessarily want to recognize what the first pattern was emitted, though a slap on the backside by an obstetrician to produce a wail might seem to be an artificial inducement. However, do we only log infant babbling in our survey notebook, or do we include the "vegetative" sounds such as the blowing of bubbles, grunts of constipation, and other vocal expressions? Is it the sound (amplitude, frequency, tone...), or the pattern (single, double, triple...) that is of most importance in describing the foremost basic (symbolic) language? And do we also notice that with each retrograde approach, we are trying to unravel the most conservative language... that is, the language which uses the fewest expressions to explain and interpret the most? For example, mathematics is extremely conservative in its representation of complex ideas, but the ideas themselves are very often a product of spoken language that is sub-vocalized.

While computers may use a conservative "digital" approach at compiling and displaying a wealth of ideas, computers don't think, or at least not in terms we have come to consider as a quality of our humanness... Hence, thinking is not necessarily linked with a compilation and display of ideas (words, symbols, etc...). Then again, are infants thinking when they use vegetative sounds or engage in babbling? As a matter of fact, do people actually think most of the time, or is mental activity just a composite of efforts to sustain our biology? Is thinking, or "can" thinking be more than what it typically is? If all mental behavior is to be defined as thought, then is concentration on a particular task a different mental process that is being developed along a separate evolutionary trek due to specific (or generalized) environmental pressures? Did Einstein actually think differently than most people, or did he simply thought, and the rest of us simply engage in non-thinking mental behavior?

Are all human feats of defined excellence or exception, the result of thinking differently, or simply just thinking in a given situation for a given task? Do most people not think, and actually only engage in patterned behavior we can identify with in terms of describing as good/bad, right/wrong, etc? For example, if we catalogue a pattern, is this thinking or an over-extended response to a given perception? Is pattern recognition an indication of "higher-order" thinking, or merely the pointing of a finger at that which others also see, but do not speak of? Does being the first to comment about a given pattern actually represent "better" thinking skills for a given observation? Does a person who recognizes the necessity of a move to be made in a game of chess a better thinker than someone who recognizes a plumbing, electrical or mechanical problem and fixes it? Is a profitable business an indication of better thinking or simply an indication of luck established by preparations which permit someone to take advantage of opportunities presented to them, but not necessarily presented to someone else who may nonetheless share the same environment?

If we look at the pattern of infant babbling, we find a recurrence of a one- two- three occurrence involving binary "reduplications":

3 successive/overlapping stages of infant babbling: (There are a variety of sounds.)

  1. Single Chunks (example: Ba [1 binary])
  2. Double chunks (example: MaMa [2 binaries] )
  3. Triple Chunks (example: DaDaDa [3 binaries])

(Combinations produce long strings of sounds sometimes referred to as "reduplications")
3-patterned babbling stages: Reduplicative babbling~ Variegated babbling~ Late babbling

3 successive/overlapping stages of word development which follow the babbling sequence:

  1. Single word (example: Doggie)
  2. Double word (example: Doggie Come)
  3. Triple word (example: Doggie Come Here)

In the 1940's, the American linguist and Slavic-language scholar Roman Jakobson had three considerations about babbling, the last of which seems a rather astonishing interpretation since a "reduplication" is itself a regularity... unless of course one is trying to compare babbling with the "regularity" of patterns in communicative speech. Hence, there would be no "regularity" in the hissing of a snake, chirping of crickets, cawing of crows, etc., if we are to address pattern recognition solely on whether or not it represents human speech patterns... or sounds consistent with behavior such as mating calls, warning calls, etc...

  1. Babbling and meaningful speech are distinct processes.
  2. Babbling has astonishing diversity.
  3. Babbling has little or no regularity.

If we assume that an infant is not thinking in terms as we might describe an adult's thinking pattern, not to mention the emotional/impulsive thinking many teenagers experience and portray; one may easily state that the world of infancy and childhood to be quite different... though I would disagree with the following account of Bruno Bettelheim:

BRINGING ORDER INTO CHAOS
By Bruno Betteleheim

Before and well into the Oedipal period (roughly ages three to six or seven), the child's experience of the world is chaotic, but only as seen from an adult point of view, because chaos implies an awareness of this state of affairs. If this "chaotic" fashion of experiencing the world is all one knows, then it is accepted as the way the world is. In the language of the Bible, which expresses the deepest feelings and insights of man, in the beginning the world was "without form." The way to overcome chaos is also told in the Bible: "God divided the light from darkness." During and because of the Oedipal struggles, the outside world comes to hold more meaning for the child and he begins to try to make sense of it. He no longer takes for granted that the confused way he sees the world is the only possible and appropriate one. The manner in which the child can bring some order into his world view is by dividing everything into opposites. In the later Oedipal and post-Oedipal ages, this splitting extends to the child himself. The child, like all of us, is at any moment in a welter of contradictory feelings. But while adults have learned to integrate these, the child is overwhelmed by these ambivalences within himself. He experiences the mixture of love and hate, desire and fear within himself as an incomprehensible chaos. He cannot manage feeling at one and the same moment both good and obedient, yet bad and rebellious, although he is. Since he cannot comprehend intermediate stages of degree and intensity, things are either all light or all darkness. One is either all courage or all fear; the happiest or the most miserable; the most beautiful or the ugliest; the smartest or the dumbest; one either loves or hates, never anything in between. This is also how the fairy tale depicts the world: figures are ferocity incarnate or unselfish benevolence. An animal is either all-devouring or all-helpful. Every figure is essentially one-dimensional, enabling the child to comprehend its actions and reactions easily. Through simple and direct images the fairy story helps the child sort out his complex and ambivalent feelings, so that these begin to fall each one into a separate place, rather than being all one big muddle.

As he listens to the fairy tale, the child gets ideas about how he may create order out of the chaos which is his inner life. The fairy tale suggests not only isolating and separating the disparate and confusing aspects of the child's experience into opposites, but projecting these onto different figures. Even Freud found no better way to help make sense out of the incredible mixture of contradictions which coexist in our mind and inner life than by creating symbols for isolated aspects of the personality. He named these id, ego and superego. If we, as adults, must take recourse to the creation of separate entities to bring some sensible order into the chaos of our inner experiences, haw much greater is the child's need for this! Today adults use such concepts as id, ego, superego and ego-ideal to separate out internal experiences and get a better grasp on what they are all about. Unfortunately, in doing so we have lost something which is inherent in the fairy tale: the realization that these externalizations are fictions, useful only for sorting out and comprehending menial processes. Giving the inner processes separate names-id, ego, superego--made them entities, each with its own propensities.

When we consider the emotional connotations these abstract terms of psychoanalysis have for most people using them, then we begin to see that these abstractions are not all that different from the personifications of the fairy tale. When we speak of the asocial and unreasonable id pushing the weak ego around or the ego doing the superego's bidding, these scientific similes are not much different from the allegories of the fairy tale. In the latter, the poor and weak child is confronted by the powerful witch that knows only its own desires and acts on them, without regard to any consequences. When the meek tailor in the Brothers Grimm's "The Valiant Little Tailor" manages to subdue two huge giants by making them fight each other, is he not acting as the weak ego does when it plays id against superego and, by neutralizing their opposite energies, gains rational control over these irrational forces?

Many errors in understanding how our minds work could be avoided if modern man would at all times remain aware that these abstract concepts are nothing but convenient handles for manipulating ideas which, without such externalization, would be too difficult to comprehend. There is in actuality, of course, no separation between them, just as there is no real separation between mind and body.

When the hero of a fairy tale is the youngest child, or is specifically called "the dummy" or "Simpleton" at the start of the story, this is the fairy tale's rendering of the original debilitated state of the ego as it begins its struggle to cope with the inner world of drives and with the difficult problems which the outer world presents. The id, not unlike how psychoanalysis views it, is frequently depicted in the form of some animal, standing for our animal nature. Fairy tale animals come in two forms...

Source: pages 74 - 75 of "The Uses of Enchantment: The meaning and importance of Fairy Tales" ©1975 ISBN 0-394-72265-5.

As an adult who has worked with different populations of people (pre-school, kindergarten, Jr. High, High school, College, Adult and adolescent criminals, runaways, high and low functioning mentally handicapped adults, adults and children in psychiatric settings, etc...), I don't recall anyone ever discussing an individual's situation with the term "chaotic". And while they may speak of disruptions or disturbances in affect or effect, as well as poor choices, impulsiveness, and being with "the wrong crowd"; no distinction between binary and trinary thinking was ever described... though some researchers use three-patterned theories such as Freud's Id- Ego- Superego, or the MacDonald triangle.

MacDonald Triad
Psychology examples page 1

Many years ago, when I tried to present a distinction between a binary and trinary orientation to a non-computer oriented group of presumed professionals interested in the well being of others, everyone would look at me as if I were an alien speaking in an indecipherable language. What was troublesome for them was that not only was the idea unconventional, but they had not an at-hand grasp of how to apply the knowledge in the day-to-day world of their social work employment... and yet I am finding that the topic of binary and trinary (computation) is somewhat of a sub-culture orientation and language amongst those involved with an interest in computers. In other words, so long as I don't press the issue or attempt to involve too much technicality, I am met with those who are attentive to the topic but have no real applicable context for discussing a "twos" and/or threes computer environment as a very large philosophical topic. In short, during the previous (years ago) discussions, I made mention that those inclined towards criminal behavior appeared to have a world-view that was preferentially filled with patterns-of-two, that we can label as opposites or dichotomies, and non-criminals appeared to have a preference towards a three-patterned orientation, though neither of the binary group (criminals/non-criminals) were particularly aware of their preference. It's not that no one should think in twos, and in fact many people do experience different degrees of ambivalence, ranging from simple indecision to bipolar affect (depression/mania) and schizophrenia (that can lead to psychosis or insanity)... such individuals also (unknowingly) relied on an inclination to a third or alternative option... even if the option resulted in the usage of behavior so-called normal people defined as a mental illness, social age-related status offenses, eccentricity, strangeness, madness, etc...

But the point to make with the inclusion of Bettleheim's perspective, is that he distinguishes a binary (polarized) perspective. The same can not be said for trinary thinking... nor any other model except for perhaps singularity, typically referred to as someone being self-centered, egotistical, or even experiencing a messiah or other leadership focus.



Subject page first Originated (saved into a folder): Thursday, November 13, 2014... 5:50 AM
Page re-Originated: Sunday, 24-Jan-2016... 08:51 AM
Initial Posting: Saturday, 13-Feb-2016... 10:59 AM
Updated Posting: Tuesday, 25-June-2019... 3:05 PM

Your Questions, Comments or Additional Information are welcomed:
Herb O. Buckland
herbobuckland@hotmail.com