Circle of Blame experiment no.3 Martin Nowak and Leanardo Da Vinci
The Circle of Blame: The 31.7766166719343% Solution
Leonardo’s Fish hook
I have read Charles Nicols biography of Leonardo Da Vinci 3
times or so and there are some great extracts from Leonardo’s
various notebook the first verse here is straight forward plagiarism,
attributed here of course the other verses are additions based
upon some of the stories related to scandal and other ephemera
from Leonardo’s life. There is a melody surviving also that
Leonardo wrote for lute, he was a great musician as well
apparently. All in all this poem is the beginning of something a
little longer in the way of asongsettoLeonardo’sonlysurviving
melody.
Leonardo’s Fish hook
while the horse goes over the sheep, back and forth, the wood
returns a mellifluous sound
So take a look at me all who wish: how ugly a man looks when
he has no money
Don’t despise me because I am poor: a man is poor when he
desires many things
Only love makes me remember, it alone fires me up.
in the seventh circle, I saw a virgin I might have loved.
Dante’s inferno burns deeply within.
Dressed in Black just 17, and not ashamed to say
A sculptures muse, jokes of salt and honey.
The virtue of a wolfs diet the scent of success attracts.
your actions bely what you said
flights of fancy, swoopingKites.
The content explores themes of mathematical cooperation theory, philosophical inquiry about existence, and artisanal craftsmanship through the lens of Martin Nowak's game theory research, the "Why Are We Here?" documentary series, and Roger Lewis's guitar-making apprenticeship experience that parallels Leonardo da Vinci's workshop methods.
Why Are We Here? Documentary Series
Explores fundamental questions about science, universe, morality, and humanity through expert interviews
Features topics including scientism, reductionism, emergence, fine-tuning, cooperation, and non-material realities
Includes prominent thinkers like Martin Nowak, Roger Penrose, Jane Goodall, and others
Produced by Tern Television and supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation
Martin Nowak - Mathematical Biologist Profile
Studies the mathematics of cooperation using game theory models
Demonstrates how cooperators can persist despite natural selection favoring defectors
Shows patterns where cooperation spreads through populations in wave-like formations
Believes it's more rational to believe in God than not to believe
Research reveals the "sheer beauty" of mathematical patterns in cooperative behavior
Roger Lewis Guitar-Making Documentary
Chronicles a guitar-building course with master craftsman Michael Sanden in Sweden
Draws parallels between modern artisanal workshops and Leonardo da Vinci's Renaissance studio
Documents the collaborative nature of craftsmanship and apprenticeship
Explores themes of attention to detail, patience, and traditional skill transmission
References Charles Nicholl's biography of Leonardo da Vinci extensively
The Circle of Blame: The 31.7766166719343% Solution
Being a David Malone Analysis of How Mathematical Cooperation Theory Becomes a Weapon in the War Against Understanding
Prologue: In Father Brown's Garden Where Numbers Bloom
The morning mist hung over Father Brown's garden like a statistical distribution curve, and in the center of it all sat Martin Nowak, staring at a chessboard where the pieces had been replaced with cooperators and defectors. The mathematician's eyes held that particular gleam that comes from seeing patterns where others see chaos, but today there was something troubled in his expression.
"Father," he said without looking up, "I've been thinking about the 31.7766166719343%. John Ward's dream of heaven where the world's put to rights and there's tea before seven—it's mathematically precise, isn't it? But look how they've weaponized it."
Father Brown, who had been tending to roses that seemed to grow in Fibonacci spirals, looked up with interest. "How so, Professor?"
At that moment, Roger Lewis appeared through the garden gate, carrying a half-finished guitar and humming what sounded like a melody from Leonardo's notebooks. Behind him came David Malone, that chronicler of financial absurdities, his laptop bag slung over his shoulder like a medieval scribe's satchel.
"Ah," said Father Brown, "the fellowship is complete. Shall we examine this Circle of Blame that has formed around cooperation itself?"
Chapter One: The Equation of Accusation
Malone settled into his chair with the weary satisfaction of a man who had spent years watching the powerful blame the powerless for the crimes of power itself. "Let me tell you what I've observed," he began, opening his laptop to reveal screens full of data that looked suspiciously like Nowak's cooperation models.
"The 31.7766166719343%—it's not just a number, it's become a battleground. The Economists blame the Mathematicians for creating models that don't account for human greed. The Mathematicians blame the Economists for corrupting pure research with market ideology. The Politicians blame both for being too theoretical, while the Theorists blame the Politicians for being too practical."
Nowak nodded grimly. "But notice what's missing from this circle of mutual accusation—any discussion of who actually benefits from keeping cooperation theory locked in academic silos."
Roger Lewis, running his fingers along the guitar's neck as if feeling for the mathematical ratios that determine harmony, added quietly, "It's like what happened in Leonardo's workshop. Everyone argued about technique while the Medici counted their profits from the art market."
Chapter Two: The Academic Blame Game
Father Brown poured tea—Earl Grey, naturally, arriving precisely at seven—as Malone continued his analysis. "The Universities have created their own Circle of Blame around Nowak's work. The Biology Departments blame the Mathematics Departments for reducing life to equations. The Mathematics Departments blame the Philosophy Departments for muddying clear thinking with metaphysics."
"The Psychology Departments," Nowak added with a rueful smile, "blame everyone for ignoring the emotional dimensions of cooperation. Meanwhile, the Economics Departments blame the whole lot for not understanding market mechanisms."
Lewis looked up from tuning his guitar to perfect mathematical intervals. "But who's funding all these departments? Who benefits from keeping them divided and arguing?"
Malone's eyes lit up with the particular satisfaction of a financial investigator who has found the smoking gun. "Ah, now we're getting to the heart of it. The same investment firms that profit from competition fund research into cooperation. The same banks that create artificial scarcity sponsor studies on abundance. The same corporations that destroy social cohesion finance research on social bonds."
Chapter Three: The Media's Mathematical Manipulation
"Consider how the Media has handled Nowak's findings," Malone continued, pulling up news articles on his screen. "They present cooperation versus competition as if it were a football match. 'Scientists Prove Cooperation Beats Competition!' or 'New Study Shows Competition Essential for Survival!'"
Father Brown, who had been watching a pair of birds cooperatively building a nest while competing for the best twigs, observed, "But the research shows they're complementary, doesn't it? Like the birds—cooperating and competing simultaneously."
"Exactly!" Nowak exclaimed. "But nuance doesn't generate clicks. The Media profits from presenting false choices. Meanwhile, the real story—how mathematical models could help us design better social systems—gets buried under sensationalism."
Lewis, now playing a melody that seemed to follow the mathematical patterns Nowak had discovered, added, "It's like how they treated Leonardo's inventions. They focused on the flying machines and ignored his hydraulic engineering that could have prevented floods."
Chapter Four: The Policy Makers' Paradox
Malone leaned back in his chair, assuming the pose of a man about to reveal the deepest layer of institutional hypocrisy. "The Policy Makers have created their own special Circle of Blame around cooperation theory. The Conservatives blame the Liberals for promoting 'unrealistic' cooperation. The Liberals blame the Conservatives for ignoring scientific evidence of cooperation's effectiveness."
"But notice," Father Brown interjected gently, "how both sides avoid discussing the policies that would actually implement cooperative solutions."
"Precisely," Malone replied. "Because those policies would threaten the power structures that both parties serve. Universal Basic Income, cooperative ownership models, participatory democracy—these applications of cooperation theory never make it into mainstream political discourse."
Nowak nodded sadly. "My research shows mathematically how cooperation can emerge and thrive, but the political system is designed to prevent the very conditions that would make cooperation possible."
Chapter Five: The Corporate Co-optation
Lewis set down his guitar and looked directly at Malone. "Tell them about the corporate response to cooperation research."
Malone's expression grew darker. "The Corporations have performed a masterpiece of co-optation. They fund research into 'team building' and 'collaborative leadership' while maintaining hierarchical structures that make genuine cooperation impossible."
"The Tech Companies," he continued, "use cooperation research to design platforms that appear collaborative but actually extract value from users' cooperative behaviors. They blame users for not cooperating enough while designing systems that reward competition and conflict."
Father Brown, who had been observing how the garden's ecosystem demonstrated perfect cooperation without any corporate management, asked, "So they profit from both the problem and the supposed solution?"
"Beautifully put, Father. The same companies that create social fragmentation sell software to fix social fragmentation. The same firms that destroy community fund research on community building."
Chapter Six: The Financial Blame Spiral
Nowak looked up from his chessboard, where the cooperators and defectors had arranged themselves into a pattern that looked suspiciously like a financial market. "The Financial System has created the most sophisticated Circle of Blame around cooperation theory."
Malone nodded approvingly. "The Banks blame individuals for not cooperating enough to repay loans, while creating monetary systems that require competition for scarce money. The Investment Firms blame companies for not collaborating enough, while rewarding only competitive behaviors."
"The Central Banks," Lewis added, surprising everyone with his financial acuity, "blame governments for not cooperating on monetary policy, while maintaining systems that force governments to compete for investment capital."
Father Brown, who had been watching ants cooperatively building their colony without any need for central banking, observed, "It seems they've created a system where cooperation is mathematically impossible, then blame people for not cooperating."
Chapter Seven: The Educational Establishment's Equation
"The Education System," Malone continued, "has turned cooperation research into another weapon in the pedagogical wars. The STEM Advocates blame the Liberal Arts for not teaching mathematical thinking. The Liberal Arts Advocates blame STEM for reducing human cooperation to mere equations."
Nowak sighed. "But my work shows that cooperation is both mathematical and humanistic—it requires both precise understanding and intuitive wisdom. The educational divisions prevent students from grasping this integration."
Lewis, who had learned more about mathematics through guitar-making than through formal education, added, "It's like learning craftsmanship. You need both technical precision and artistic intuition. But they teach them separately and wonder why students can't integrate them."
Chapter Eight: The Hidden Beneficiaries Revealed
Father Brown set down his pruning shears and looked at his three guests with the expression of a man who had solved many mysteries by looking where others feared to see. "So who actually benefits from this Circle of Blame around cooperation theory?"
Malone's laptop screen filled with corporate ownership charts that looked like Nowak's network diagrams. "The same Financial Oligarchy that benefits from every other Circle of Blame. BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street—they own shares in the universities that fragment cooperation research, the media companies that sensationalize it, the corporations that co-opt it, and the governments that ignore it."
"They profit from competition," Nowak realized, "while funding research that proves cooperation is more effective. It's the perfect strategy—control both sides of the debate while ensuring neither side can implement actual solutions."
Lewis looked up from his guitar, which he had been unconsciously tuning to mathematical harmonies. "Like the Medici funding both religious art and secular humanism. They didn't care about the ideology—they cared about maintaining their position as the necessary intermediaries."
Chapter Nine: The Scapegoats of the System
"Every Circle of Blame needs its scapegoats," Malone observed, pulling up statistics that painted a grim picture of individual responsibility for systemic failures. "The Individuals get blamed for not cooperating enough in systems designed to prevent cooperation."
"Students are blamed for not collaborating in educational systems that reward only individual achievement," Nowak added. "Workers are blamed for not being team players in workplaces that pit them against each other for scarce promotions."
"Citizens are blamed for not participating in democratic systems that have been captured by special interests," Lewis concluded. "Artists are blamed for not cooperating with market demands that destroy the conditions for genuine artistic cooperation."
Father Brown, who had been watching his garden demonstrate perfect cooperation without any blame whatsoever, observed, "It seems the system creates the conditions that make cooperation impossible, then blames people for the predictable results."
Chapter Ten: The Mathematical Manipulation
Nowak looked troubled as he moved pieces on his cooperation chessboard. "They've even weaponized the mathematics itself. The 31.7766166719343%—it's become a number that different groups use to prove opposite points."
Malone leaned forward with interest. "How so?"
"The Optimists use it to prove cooperation is inevitable. The Pessimists use it to prove cooperation is rare. The Capitalists use it to justify competitive markets. The Socialists use it to justify cooperative economics. Everyone finds what they want to find in the same mathematical result."
Lewis, who had been listening to the mathematical harmonies in his guitar, observed, "It's like how different people can hear the same musical interval as either harmonious or dissonant, depending on the context they place it in."
Chapter Eleven: The Memory Hole of Cooperation
Father Brown, who had been tending to plants that seemed to remember how to cooperate across generations, asked, "Why don't the successful examples of cooperation theory application get more attention?"
Malone's expression grew grim. "Because they threaten the profit model. Every time someone successfully implements cooperative solutions—worker cooperatives, participatory budgeting, commons management—the examples get marginalized, defunded, or simply ignored by mainstream media."
"The Mondragon Corporation," Nowak added, "demonstrates mathematically optimal cooperation in practice, but it never appears in business school case studies. The Kerala model shows how cooperation can create prosperity without growth, but it's absent from development economics."
Lewis nodded. "Like how Leonardo's engineering solutions were ignored in favor of his more marketable artistic innovations. The practical applications of genius get buried while the spectacular aspects get commodified."
Chapter Twelve: The Deeper Pattern
As the afternoon sun slanted through the garden, creating patterns that seemed to follow the mathematical principles Nowak had discovered, Father Brown asked the crucial question: "What's the deeper pattern here? What maintains this Circle of Blame?"
Malone closed his laptop and looked directly at his companions. "The pattern is this: any research that could lead to genuine cooperation gets captured, fragmented, and turned into a weapon for maintaining the status quo. Cooperation theory becomes another tool for preventing actual cooperation."
"The Financial System," he continued, "requires competition for scarce resources. If people understood that cooperation could create abundance, the entire debt-based monetary system would collapse. So cooperation research gets funded, published, debated, and ultimately neutralized."
Nowak moved his final piece on the chessboard, creating a pattern where cooperators and defectors achieved perfect balance. "The mathematics shows that cooperation emerges naturally when the conditions are right. But those conditions threaten existing power structures."
Chapter Thirteen: The Leonardo Connection
Lewis picked up his guitar and began playing the melody he had learned from Leonardo's notebooks—a mathematical progression that seemed to encode the principles of harmony itself. "Leonardo understood this. His notebooks are full of cooperative solutions—hydraulic systems, urban planning, mechanical innovations that would have benefited everyone."
"But," he continued, "the powerful preferred his paintings and sculptures—individual genius they could own and control. The cooperative technologies that could have transformed society were left to gather dust."
Father Brown, who had been watching the garden demonstrate Leonardo's principles of natural cooperation, observed, "So the pattern repeats across centuries. Genius that could liberate gets captured and commodified, while the liberating applications disappear."
Chapter Fourteen: The Real Circle Revealed
Malone opened his laptop one final time, revealing a diagram that looked like Nowak's cooperation models but mapped financial flows instead of behavioral patterns. "The real circle isn't the Circle of Blame—it's the Circle of Capture."
"Research into cooperation gets funded by institutions that profit from competition. The research reveals how cooperation could solve social problems. The solutions threaten existing profit models. So the research gets fragmented, the researchers get co-opted, and the solutions get buried under academic debates."
Nowak studied the diagram with growing recognition. "It's a perfect system. They fund the research that could destroy them, then control how that research gets interpreted and applied."
Lewis, whose guitar now seemed to be playing the mathematical music of the spheres, added, "Like funding research into musical harmony while maintaining a monopoly on instruments."
Chapter Fifteen: The Garden's Teaching
As the three men prepared to leave Father Brown's garden, they noticed something remarkable. The plants, the birds, the insects—everything in the garden was demonstrating the very cooperation principles that human institutions had made so complex and contentious.
"The solution," Father Brown observed, "isn't to win the debates about cooperation theory. It's to step outside the Circle of Blame entirely and simply begin cooperating."
Nowak looked at his chessboard one last time, where cooperators and defectors had spontaneously arranged themselves into a living mandala. "The mathematics shows that cooperation is not only possible but inevitable—if we create the right conditions."
Malone packed away his laptop, which had somehow transformed from a tool of analysis into an instrument of hope. "And the right conditions exist wherever people choose to cooperate despite the systems that discourage it."
Lewis slung his guitar over his shoulder, the instrument now resonating with harmonies that seemed to encode the mathematical principles of universal cooperation. "Like Leonardo's workshop—a space where individual genius serves collective creation."
Epilogue: The 31.7766166719343% Solution
As the four men walked away from the garden, Father Brown noticed that the path behind them seemed to be growing new flowers—mathematical blossoms that encoded cooperation algorithms in their very structure.
The 31.7766166719343% wasn't just a statistic—it was a doorway. Not to heaven as John Ward had dreamed, but to something equally miraculous: a world where cooperation theory wasn't trapped in academic debates but lived in the daily practice of human beings who had chosen to step outside the Circle of Blame and into the Circle of Being.
In the garden, the roses continued to grow in Fibonacci spirals, the birds continued to cooperate and compete in perfect balance, and the tea—Earl Grey, naturally—continued to arrive precisely at seven, just as mathematics predicted it would.
The Circle of Blame had dissolved into the Circle of Understanding, and understanding, as Leonardo had known, was the first step toward genuine cooperation.
In the style of David Malone, who understands that the real conspiracy isn't hidden—it's hiding in plain sight, disguised as the very systems we're told exist to help us.
David Malone's Footnote: The beauty of this particular Circle of Blame is its mathematical precision. Unlike the crude propaganda of previous eras, this system uses genuine research and real mathematics to maintain the very divisions the research proves are unnecessary. It's corruption by complexity rather than conspiracy—which makes it both more subtle and more effective than anything Machiavelli could have imagined.
We are given a query that asks for a "Circle of Blame" story analyzing Martin Nowak's "SuperCooperators" concept in the context of a specific mathematical expression (12 Log 2 -8) and the claim "we are the 31.7766166719343%". The story should be written in the style of David Malone's Golemxiv blog, which is known for its critical and analytical approach to complex topics.
The search results provide information about Martin Nowak's book "SuperCooperators", which argues that cooperation is a fundamental force in evolution. The book discusses five mechanisms for cooperation: direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, spatial games, group selection, and kin selection. It also touches on applications to human society, climate change, and the importance of cooperation for progress.
The query references several sources, including a Substack post titled "12 Log 2 -8 we are the 31.7766166719343%" and links to David Malone's work. The mathematical expression 12 Log 2 -8 calculates to approximately 31.7766166719343%, which appears to be a key element in the analysis.
We are to write a story showing how different groups blame each other for problems related to this concept, while revealing who actually benefits from these conflicts. The style should mimic David Malone's critical and insightful blogging.
Key elements from the query:
The mathematical expression: 12 Log 2 - 8 = 31.7766166719343%
The context: Martin Nowak's "SuperCooperators" and cooperation theory
The setting: Place it in the garden of Father Brown, with characters including Martin Nowak, Leonardo da Vinci (represented by Roger Lewis's poem), and David Malone.
Plan:
Introduce the Circle of Blame concept within the setting of Father Brown's garden, where these intellectual figures are discussing cooperation and the mathematical expression.
Identify the groups involved in the blame:
Scientists and mathematicians who focus on the purity of the model
Social activists who see the model as ignoring real-world power imbalances
Economists who blame the model for not accounting for human greed
The industrial-technological complex that benefits from the conflicts
Show how each group blames the others for the failure to achieve perfect cooperation.
Reveal the hidden beneficiary: the existing power structures that thrive on the appearance of cooperation while maintaining control.
Conclude with the irony that while they argue, the mathematical expression remains a cold truth, and true cooperation remains elusive.
Structure:
Start with a vivid description of the garden setting and the characters.
Present the mathematical expression and its significance.
Describe each group's perspective and who they blame.
Show the hidden beneficiary.
End with a reflection on the futility of the blame game.
Citations: We have search results 1 to 5 about Nowak's work. We'll cite relevant points from these sources.
Writing style: Emulate David Malone's critical, analytical, and slightly ironic tone. Use vivid imagery and sharp insights.
Now, let's write the story.
In the shaded repose of Father Brown’s garden, where hydrangeas bow like penitents and bees hum psalms, a Circle of Blame festers around Martin Nowak’s SuperCooperators and its enigmatic equation: 12log2−8=31.7766166719343%12log2−8=31.7766166719343%. This number—a stark quantification of evolutionary cooperation—becomes a battleground where scholars, activists, and economists clash, while power smirks unseen.
The Scientists’ Indictment
Mathematical purists, cradling Nowak’s "five pillars of cooperation" (direct reciprocity, spatial games, kin selection, etc.)12, condemn social theorists for diluting rigor. They argue that activists misapply the 31.77% as a literal manifesto, ignoring Nowak’s caveat: cooperation is cyclical, prone to collapse and rebirth45. "You turn evolution’s poetry into propaganda," they sneer, blaming humanists for distorting the Prisoner’s Dilemma into a moral fable24.
The Activists’ Counterattack
Social reformers, armed with Al Gore’s Nobel proverb ("Go far, go together")1, accuse scientists of myopia. The 31.77%, they insist, exposes a betrayal: global elites ("supercooperators") hoard cooperative gains while the masses starve. They cite climate crises—where "punish and perish" dynamics let polluters evade consequences5—as proof that Nowak’s models serve the powerful. "Your equations whitewash theft," they charge, pointing to corporate giants coopting "cooperation" for greenwashing15.
The Economists’ Grievance
Policy architects blame both camps for naiveté. The 31.77%, they argue, is useless without hierarchies: "Cooperation thrives in ants, but humans? We have banks." They mock Nowak’s hope for a "cooperative century"1, noting that his models ignore asymmetric power—where "kin selection" becomes nepotism, and "indirect reciprocity" fuels corruption35. "You ignore greed’s gravity," they lament, while tax havens flourish.
The Hidden Beneficiary
Amid this din, the industrial-financial complex thrives. It weaponizes the Circle of Blame:
Scientists’ purity justifies inaction ("More data needed").
Activists’ outrage is co-opted into viral slogans, sterilizing dissent.
Economists’ cynicism legitimizes extraction ("Human nature, alas").
Nowak’s "cooperation as evolution’s architect"2 becomes a Trojan horse: the 31.77% distracts from the 0.1% who control 45% of wealth. The equation’s beauty obscures its utility—as a tool to fragment resistance.
Leonardo’s Fishhook
While the horse goes over the sheep, back and forth,
the wood returns a mellifluous sound...
Don’t despise me because I am poor:
A man is poor when he desires many things.
In this garden, the ghost of Leonardo lingers—his fishhook a metaphor for the catch-22 of cooperation. The 31.77% is not a destination, but a snare: true beneficiaries are those who profit from the illusion of collective progress while ensuring the math never adds up for all. As the hydrangeas wilt, the Circle spins on—a Möbius strip of blame, where the only winners are those who never joined the dance35.
AI Image Generation Instructions: "The Circle of Blame - The 31.7766166719343% Solution"
A David Malone-Style Visual Analysis of Mathematical Cooperation Theory in Father Brown's Garden
Overall Concept and Composition
Create a complex, layered digital artwork that combines the analytical precision of mathematical visualization with the organic beauty of a Renaissance garden, rendered in the style of a modern infographic crossed with Leonardo da Vinci's technical drawings. The image should function as both a visual representation of Martin Nowak's cooperation theory and a satirical exposure of how mathematical research gets weaponized by institutional power structures.
Primary Visual Framework
Central Garden Laboratory: Father Brown's garden reimagined as a living mathematical laboratory where cooperation theory plays out in real time. The garden is divided into geometric sections that demonstrate different aspects of Nowak's research, with pathways forming mathematical equations and flower beds arranged in patterns that mirror game theory matrices.
Layered Information Architecture: The image uses multiple visual layers—foreground action, middle-ground analysis, and background power structures—to show how mathematical cooperation theory gets filtered through institutional layers before reaching public understanding.
The Central Mathematical Garden
The Cooperation Chessboard Centerpiece
Visual Design: A large, three-dimensional chessboard occupying the garden's center, but instead of traditional chess pieces, use abstract figures representing cooperators (blue, organic, flowing forms) and defectors (red, angular, isolated forms). The board itself is alive—made of living grass squares that change color based on the mathematical interactions taking place.
Mathematical Overlay: Floating above the board, translucent mathematical equations and probability curves show the real-time calculations behind each move. The famous "31.7766166719343%" appears as golden numbers that seem to be growing from the earth itself, with roots extending deep underground.
Dynamic Patterns: The pieces are in constant motion, creating wave-like patterns that demonstrate how cooperation spreads through populations. Some squares show cooperators thriving, others show defectors dominating, and still others show the complex mixed strategies that emerge from mathematical optimization.
The Four Dialogue Participants
Martin Nowak - The Mathematical Visionary
Position: Standing at the chessboard's edge, one hand touching a cooperator piece, the other holding a tablet displaying his research Appearance: Rendered in the style of a Renaissance natural philosopher but with contemporary academic attributes Symbolic Elements: Mathematical formulas flowing from his head like thought-bubbles, transforming into living vines that connect different parts of the garden Gesture: Pointing toward patterns on the board while looking troubled, as if seeing how his pure research is being corrupted Surrounding Details: Game theory matrices that bloom like flowers around his feet, with cooperation strategies manifesting as beautiful geometric patterns
David Malone - The Financial Investigator
Position: Seated at a garden table covered with laptops, financial charts, and corporate ownership diagrams Appearance: Depicted as a modern investigative journalist with the intensity of a medieval monk illuminating manuscripts Symbolic Elements: Corporate logos arranged like heraldic shields, connected by golden threads representing financial ownership Gesture: Typing on multiple keyboards simultaneously, with data streams flowing from his screens into the garden's mathematical patterns Surrounding Details: Ownership charts that look like family trees, with the same few names appearing at the root of every branch
Roger Lewis - The Artisan Philosopher
Position: Sitting on a stone bench, working on a guitar whose sound holes are shaped like mathematical spirals Appearance: Rendered as a modern craftsman in the tradition of Leonardo's workshop apprentices Symbolic Elements: The guitar strings are mathematical equations that produce both music and mathematical harmonies when plucked Gesture: Tuning the guitar to mathematical intervals while listening to the patterns emerging from the cooperation game Surrounding Details: Wood shavings that transform into mathematical symbols, tools that double as geometric instruments
Father Brown - The Wise Gardener
Position: Moving throughout the scene, tending to plants that grow in mathematical patterns Appearance: Simple clerical garb but with gardening tools that gleam with mystical significance Symbolic Elements: Watering can that pours liquid light, creating mathematical equations wherever the water touches Gesture: Pruning away the artificial divisions between different sections of the garden Surrounding Details: Plants that demonstrate natural cooperation without any institutional framework
The Circle of Blame Visualization
Institutional Blame Rings
Outer Ring - The Blamers: Arranged in a circle around the central garden, figures representing different institutions pointing accusingly at each other:
University Departments: Biology pointing at Mathematics, Mathematics pointing at Economics, Economics pointing at Psychology
Media Organizations: Sensationalizing cooperation vs. competition as a sports match
Policy Makers: Conservatives and Liberals blaming each other while avoiding actual cooperative solutions
Corporate Representatives: Using cooperation research to justify competitive practices
Middle Ring - The Captured: Researchers and academics whose work has been co-opted, shown as figures trapped in golden cages shaped like institutional logos
Inner Ring - The Scapegoats: Individual citizens, students, and workers being blamed for failing to cooperate in systems designed to prevent cooperation
The Hidden Power Structure
Above the Blame Rings: Floating in the sky like Renaissance angels, but rendered as corporate logos and financial symbols:
BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street: Depicted as puppet masters with golden strings connecting to every institution below
Central Banks: Shown as classical gods controlling the flow of money-rivers through the garden
Media Conglomerates: Broadcasting towers that emit waves of confusion and division
The Underground Network
Below the Garden: A root system revealing the hidden financial connections between all the surface institutions, showing how the same entities fund both cooperation research and the systems that prevent cooperation
Leonardo da Vinci Integration
Technical Drawing Elements
Margin Annotations: In Leonardo's mirror writing style, technical notes about cooperation theory mixed with observations about institutional capture
Mechanical Diagrams: Showing how the "Circle of Blame" operates like a perpetual motion machine, with each accusation providing energy for the next
Anatomical Studies: Cross-sections of institutional bodies showing how they're designed to fragment rather than integrate knowledge
Renaissance Workshop Parallels
Workshop Scenes: Small vignettes showing modern academic "workshops" where cooperation research gets fragmented into competing specializations, contrasted with Leonardo's integrated approach
Master and Apprentice: Showing how genuine knowledge transmission (like Roger Lewis learning guitar-making) differs from institutional knowledge fragmentation
Mathematical Visualization Elements
Game Theory Matrices
Living Matrices: Flower beds arranged as payoff matrices, with different flowers representing different strategies. The flowers change color and size based on their mathematical success rates.
Population Dynamics: Wave patterns moving through the garden showing how cooperation spreads, with the 31.7766166719343% appearing as a golden ratio that governs the wave propagation.
Network Effects: Visible connections between individual cooperators, showing how local cooperation creates global patterns
Statistical Landscapes
Probability Hills: The garden's topography represents probability distributions, with cooperation strategies thriving on certain slopes and failing on others
Data Streams: Rivers of numbers flowing through the garden, carrying information between different research areas before being captured and redirected by institutional dams
Color Symbolism and Technique
Primary Color Relationships
Cooperation Blue: Deep, flowing blues for genuine cooperative behaviors and research Defection Red: Sharp, angular reds for competitive and exploitative behaviors Capture Gold: Metallic golds for the financial interests that capture and control research Confusion Gray: Muddy grays for the institutional fog that obscures clear thinking
Visual Techniques
Transparency Layers: Multiple transparent overlays showing how the same research gets interpreted differently by different institutions
Morphing Elements: Visual elements that transform as they move from pure research to institutional application, showing the corruption process
Sacred Geometry: Mathematical patterns that appear naturally in the garden's organic growth, contrasted with artificial geometric impositions from institutional structures
Text Integration
Mathematical Equations
The Central Equation: "12 Log 2 -8 = 31.7766166719343%" prominently displayed as if growing from the earth itself
Floating Formulas: Cooperation theory equations that appear as natural phenomena—written in morning dew, spelled out by flower arrangements, traced by bird flight patterns
Corrupted Equations: The same mathematical formulas appearing in institutional contexts, but distorted and fragmented
Literary References
John Ward Quote: "I've a dream some nights where we all go to Heaven – the world's put to rights, and there's tea before seven" appearing as illuminated text along the garden pathways
Leonardo's Notes: Fragments of Leonardo's actual notebook entries about cooperation and competition in nature
Chomsky Reference: "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" as a commentary on how institutional language obscures mathematical clarity
Symbolic Details and Easter Eggs
Hidden Connections
Underground Mycelial Networks: Showing how genuine cooperation happens below the surface, invisible to institutional observation
Migrating Patterns: Mathematical patterns that move freely between different areas of the garden, ignoring institutional boundaries
Seasonal Cycles: The same mathematical principles manifesting differently in different seasons, showing natural adaptation vs. institutional rigidity
Contemporary References
Digital Interfaces: Tablets and screens showing how cooperation research gets filtered through algorithmic systems that reward conflict over collaboration
Social Media Feeds: Showing how mathematical cooperation gets reduced to clickbait headlines and tribal positioning
Financial Instruments: Cooperation research being packaged as investment products, with mathematical beauty transformed into profit mechanisms
The Resolution Vision
The Integrated Center
Where All Paths Meet: The exact center of the garden where the mathematical, artistic, financial, and spiritual approaches to cooperation naturally converge
The Tea Service: A simple tea setting at seven o'clock, representing John Ward's vision of heaven as a place where basic human cooperation makes everything work
The Living Equation: The 31.7766166719343% manifesting not as an abstract number but as a living pattern that encompasses and transcends all the institutional divisions
The Transformation
Dissolving Boundaries: The rigid institutional divisions beginning to soften and blur, allowing natural cooperation patterns to emerge
Emerging Synthesis: New forms of organization that combine mathematical precision with human wisdom, artistic beauty with practical effectiveness
The Garden's Teaching: The final revelation that cooperation doesn't need to be managed or institutionalized—it emerges naturally when artificial barriers are removed
Technical Specifications
Image Dimensions and Format
Large Format: Suitable for detailed examination, with enough resolution to read the mathematical equations and textual elements
Layered Construction: Multiple visual layers that can be examined separately or together, like a complex infographic
Interactive Elements: Visual cues that suggest the image could be explored interactively, with different layers revealing different aspects of the analysis
Artistic Style Integration
Renaissance Techniques: Sfumato effects for the mysterious aspects of cooperation emergence, chiaroscuro for dramatic contrast between cooperation and defection
Technical Drawing Precision: Clean lines and precise measurements for the mathematical elements
Organic Integration: Natural forms that incorporate mathematical principles without losing their living quality
Satirical Edge: Visual elements that expose the absurdity of institutional behavior without losing sight of the underlying mathematical beauty
Final Compositional Notes
The overall effect should be of a living document that functions simultaneously as:
A scientific visualization of cooperation theory
A satirical exposure of institutional capture
An artistic celebration of mathematical beauty
A practical guide to recognizing genuine cooperation
The viewer should be able to study the image at multiple levels—from the pure mathematical beauty of cooperation patterns to the cynical reality of how those patterns get exploited by power structures, and finally to the hopeful vision of what becomes possible when artificial barriers dissolve.
Most importantly, the image should embody the very cooperation it depicts—showing how mathematical precision, artistic vision, financial analysis, and spiritual wisdom can work together to create something more beautiful and more true than any of them could achieve alone.
The Circle of Blame dissolves into the Circle of Understanding, which dissolves into the Circle of Being, which reveals itself to have been the mathematical constant 31.7766166719343% all along—not as a number to be debated, but as a pattern to be lived.
January 8, 2017
Why are we here, An essay provoked by Golem XIv´s David Malones latest Documentary Series.
Why are we here, An essay provoked by Golem XIv´s David Malones latest Documentary Series.
The four films are:
1) Meaning Seeking Beings
2) The Reality of Ideas
3) The Animal Within
4) The Moral Compass
Here is the link to the first part.
12 Log 2 -8 we are the 31.7766166719343%.
For those who are feeling jaded, confused and resentful. 12 Log 2 -8 we are the 31.7766166719343%.