AI-enabled Mapping and Animation of Learning Pathways

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 22 Jul 2024

Anthony Judge | Laetus in Praesens - TRANSCEND Media Service

Use of Polyhedra in Configuring Memorable Integrative Frameworks

Introduction

22 Jul 2024 – The early web version of the program of the Summit of the Summits to be held in Hakone (Japan) in September 2024 invited critical commentary in an exercise appropriate to the times. Possible criteria for such commentary are identified in Evaluating Synthesis Initiatives and their Sustaining Dialogues (2000) and were submitted to two AIs in the form of ChatGPT 4 and Claude 3 (Opus variant) together with the web variant of the Summit program (AI Commentary on an Envisaged Synthesis Dialogue, 2024).

Given that that gathering places particular emphasis on Japanese culture, that exercise resulted in consideration of how the set of 48 koans of the classic Zen compilation of the Gateless Gate (Mumonkan) could be configured as an indication of potential cognitive synthesis. This followed from an earlier exercise to that end (Configuring a Set of Zen Koan as a Wisdom Container, 2012). A case had been previously made for the value of appreciating the insights of “Eastern” articulations to complement those promoted so vigorously within the “Western” frameworks with which AI is now so prominently associated (Coherent Reconciliation of Eastern and Western Patterns of Logic, 2023).

Curiously the Summit of the Summits in Japan takes place in the same month as the UN’s Summit of the Future in New York (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Summit of the Future, Transcend Media Service, 8 July 2024). It remains unclear whether the integrative objectives of either event will benefit significantly from the use of AI — rather than deploring its threat to their respective agendas from a technophobic perspective. The value of AI to such dialogue has been explored separately (Envisaging the AI-enhanced Future of the Conferencing Process, 2020).

A specific challenge of any form of integrative synthesis is assumed to be that of the comprehension and memorability of complex frameworks — hence the provocative evocation of some 47 micronutrients as insightful metaphors of relevance to collective sustainability (Memorable Configuration of Psychosocial “Vitamins”, “Amino acids” and “Minerals“, 2024). The AIs in the earlier experiment (and the following) engaged proactively and explicitly in the hypothetical confrontation of such micronutrients with the set of 48 koans — and with possibilities for their memorable geometrical configuration as polyhedra, as discussed separately with respect to their potential implications for international, interfaith, intercultural and interdisciplinary discourse (Facilitating Global Dialogue with AI? 2024).

The following exercise, as with that which preceded it, is understood as an experiment in the use of AI with respect to programming of configurative mapping in 3D with respect to polyhedra. The polyhedral configuration envisaged in the earlier exercise was the 48-edged rhombicuboctahedron. This highlighted 6 colinear pathways of 8 edges, potentially to be understood as primary “metabolic pathways” — whether understood cognitively in the light of the koan, or metaphorically in the light of the micronutrients. Considerable effort with AI was devoted in what follows to developing a working model — and recognizing the learning associated with that process — using techniques far beyond the previously acquired competence in use of X3D.

The insights from the exercise with the rhombicuboctahedron were then applied to the 64-edged drilled truncated cube. This had been previously explored for mapping both the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching and for the 64 genetic codons (Proof of concept: use of drilled truncated cube as a mapping framework for 64 elements, 2015; Relating configurative mappings of 64 I Ching conditions and 48 koans, 2012). A comparable working model was again developed with the aid of AI, distinguishing 8 hexagonal pathways and 6 octagonal pathways — each therefore capable of carrying 48 disk messages.

As in the previous experiments, the responses of ChatGPT are distinctively presented below in grayed areas, in parallel with those of Claude 3. Given the length of the document to which the exchange gives rise, the form of presentation has itself been treated as an experiment — in anticipation of the future implication of AI into research documents. Web technology now enables the whole document to be held as a single “page” with only the “questions” to AI rendered immediately visible — a facility developed in this case with the assistance of both ChatGPT and Claude 3.

Reservations regarding this method of interaction with AI have been previously highlighted (Eliciting a Pattern that Connects with AI? 2024). These noted questionable styles of response readily characterized as “algorithmic enthusiasm” (or “synthetic appreciation”), together with presumptions of an anthropomorphized relationship by which the questioner is repeatedly flattered — clearly to encourage engagement in the process as a marketing technique. Whilst these could be edited out, as a feature of the experiment they have not been removed; responses have been minimally edited for format alone. The approach allows readers to repeat the questions at a later stage or to other AIs — possibly at a future time when their capacities have been further developed.

Of greater potential concern regarding the use of AI in this context is the questionable role of leading questions in eliciting responses deemed of value — in a period in which the undoubted capacity of AI to aggregate relevant information is now called into question by science (Joe Slater, et al, ChatGPT Isn’t ‘Hallucinating’ — It’s Bullshitting! Scientific American, 17 July 2024). Somewhat ironically such assertions occurs in a period in which unprecedented numbers of academic papers are being retracted. In a period in which there is seemingly limited capacity to address global issues effectively, the proactive responses of AI contrast strangely with the dismissive style of academia (Richard Phelps, Dismissive literature reviews reduce understanding – so why do academics keep making them? LSE, 17 June 2024).

The exercise concluded with insights from AI regarding the possibility of polyhedral configuration of AI responses as a means of enhancing systematic connectivity of memorable global dialogue. This compact presentation facilitates readability and overview by reducing the apparent length of the complete document by over 90%. However readers have the ability to toggle access to the individual AI “response” associated with each question — and to hide it. This interactive facility is not available in the PDF forms of the document — for which both questions and responses are necessarily visible in a necessarily lengthy presentation.

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