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Emergent Design


Quadrophasic Transformation


Trifractal Analysis

By Christopher Sunami (12/7/04)

Tripartite analysis (the ancestor of trifractal analysis) is time-honored technique of examining a complex issue or phenomena. It consists of examining three different and contrasting perspectives in order to gain a more complete and nuanced picture of the subject under study.

Three additional innovations transform classic tripartite analysis into a new Christian Existential Humanist conceptual tool, trifractal analysis:

  1. Generalized aspects
  2. Fractal nesting
  3. Balance creation

Generalized Aspects:



There are three general types of aspects that (together with their variations) are
  1. universally applicable
  2. lead towards a comprehensive understanding of the subject, and
  3. provide a direct tie to Christian theology.
Number:123
Christian:FatherSonHoly Spirit
General:GodSelfthe World
Active:PurposeIdentityRelationships
Realm:FundamentalPersonalCommunal
Reality:ObjectiveSubjectiveConsensus
Ownership:UniversalIndividualSocial
Worldview:ChristianExistentialHumanist
Worldview Element:FocusHookMechanism
Casuality:FateFree WillLuck
Guidance:MoralsDesiresNorms
Language:MeaningStatementContext
Orientation:IdealCreativePractical
Aesthetic:DepthOriginalityCraft
Etcetera


For any subject, an applicable set of three aspects that aligns with this table can be found (or created).

Fractal Nesting:

Under the principles of emergent design, we can allow for valid overlapping patterns of analysis. When we apply this concept to tripartite analysis, we see that it is possible to analyze a subject using one set of three aspects, and then to further subdivide our analysis by applying each of a different set of three aspects to each of the original three.

Pictorially, this can be represented as a Sierpinski Triangle (also known as a Sierpinski Gasket --see above diagram), a fractal diagram in which a large triangle is divided into three smaller triangles, each of which is further divided into three yet smaller triangles, and so forth. The use of this technique allows us to analyze a subject with significantly more depth, subtlety and detail than with simple tripartite analysis.

(For a more comprehensive example, please read “Three Ways of Being Human” which describes a fictional society mapped out according to this process, as continued down to three levels of depth).

Balance Creation:

This is a technique borrowed and adapted from Chinese Medicine. In Chinese Medicine, the concepts of “Yin” and “Yang” as paired opposites are used as a conceptual tool for the creation of balance, by adding or subtracting matched “Yin” and “Yang” elements until there are roughly equal amounts on either side of each pair of elements.

In the same way, once a subject has been mapped out using a trifractal diagram, it can be brought into a state of balance (and health) by adding or subtracting elements until the diagram has roughly the same number and kind of elements in each sub-triangle.

© 1999-2004 Christopher Sunami. All Rights Reserved.


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