CivilizationStack

Situate. Navigate. Initiate.

INVOCATION

An Invocation to the Daughters of Mnemosyne

Daughters nine of Mnemosyne, hear my pray:

Kneeling by your hoof-grac’d fount, pen in hand

With open scroll; Clio, please help me say

What my voice alone cannot. Hour-glass sand

Trickles down. My Fate-portion’d  thread is taut.

While ink and blood still flow for pen and life, 

Please guide my hand. By your words I am caught.

By your verse, your song, your dance: Joy & Strife

Greet me on this Stage. We share in this Play:

A dance in the Cosmos, a hymn to all.

Tell me, dear Sisters, how shall we convey

This to our guests in the theatre hall?

I know not yet. Together shall we try?

Replace the Old Story with a New Lie.

[1.0] Introduction

“All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players” – Shakespeare

[1.1] Elevator Pitch

Situate, Navigate, Initiate. CivilizationStack is a framework for operators in the world of human affairs – people of action influencing human outcomes. This framework is designed to help you map out the contextual factors that can hinder or help your intended influence operations. At root, CivilizationStack runs on a dramaturgical model – it is a way for you, the Player, to situate yourself on your respective Stage, to navigate the drama of the Play in which you are immersed, and to initiate your Events on the Stage.

[1.2] Target Audience

You recognize a problem in your immediate world and you want to solve it – whether this problem is of a religious, technological, commercial, civil, or political flavour. The key factor in terms of your fit with this framework is that you are committed to a course of action but are merely unsure of the best way to proceed. CivilizationStack is about developing an understanding of your situation so as to better navigate it as you initiate your intended course of action.

[1.3] Pain Point

• You are exploring a domain of human phenomena without a map.

• As a metaphor, you are a player in an RTS game, like Red Alert or Starcraft, and the entire playing field is under Fog of War.

[1.4] Gain Opportunity

• CivilizationStack is a way to create a map of the territory that you are exploring so that you can situate yourself in said territory, navigate its topology, and ultimately influence the denizens therein.

• As a metaphor, lift the RTS Fog of War and glimpse the entire playing field.

[1.5] Key Metric

The only metric that matters in the use of CivilizationStack is: were you able to map out all of the factors that could meaningfully hinder or help your influence operation? However your operation is packaged – whether as a venture, product, project, movement, or campaign – the utility of CivilizationStack is measured solely in terms of its mapmaking capabilities. If you are hindered or helped by factors that cannot be currently represented by CivilizationStack, please help me improve this framework. This is merely a first draft of what can be multiple iterations.

[1.6] CivilizationStack in Brief

{Player}, {Stage}, and {Play} – these are the conceptual foundations. You and I are Players, the Stage is the situational context in which we find ourselves, and the Play is the sum of the intersubjective human forces that we must navigate as we implement our influence operations and are operated upon by others.

Modes of Interaction are ways of looking at the interplay between the intersubjective human phenomena. 

• {Player Upon Stack} focuses on outputs from Players as codified in {Event Definitions}; 

• {Stack Upon Player} focuses on inputs to Players, as codified in {Event Effects Analyses};

• {Plotting the Play} is an act of withdrawing from the Stage in order to piece together the narrative flow of multiple Events through {Narrative Scatter Plot Graphs (Narrative Plots)}, honing in on how effects from Event #1 create cascading conflicts that instigate Event #2, so on and so forth among multiple chains of related Events.

Once the relevant Event Definitions and Event Effects have been plotted on a Narrative Plot, the Player is ready to engage in an {Event Initiation} which follows the same template as an Event Definition, only instead of documenting a past Event, one is plotting a future Event.

[1.6.1] PLAYER

Player consists of {Interests}, {Capacities}, and an {Operating Narrative}.

• {Interests} are the sum of your {Satiations} and {Needs}. Satiations are where you are fulfilled in life – these lead to assumptions and non-actions; your needs in life lead to actions. Your motivation to act in the world comes in two major forms: (1) defenses of threatened Satiations, and (2) pursuits to satiate unmet Needs.

  • A subsidiary component of Interests are Player {Attributes}, of which there are three core such Attributes: {Status}, {Wealth}, and {Aesthetics}. Many defenses of threatened Satiations and pursuits of unmet Needs revolve around these three Attributes such that they are worth explicitly formalizing as distinct from other potential attribute categories.

• {Capacities} represent your stats in the game of life – your abilities or lack thereof along certain core parameters. There are six core capacity parameters that I have mapped to the six layers of the Play in this framework – Sovereignty, Narrative, Technology, Economy, Association, Governance. Furthermore, I have loosely correlated these six parameters to the six DnD stats in order to encourage a parallel between the DnD character sheet and how we should think of ourselves as Players.

• Your {Operating Narrative} is your personal Kuhnian Paradigm, your basic assumptions about how the world works, and is therefore how you make sense of all that happens to you. Your Operating Narrative functions at an embedded level in your unconscious – it is the worldview that you take for granted. Your Operating Narrative filters what you focus your attention on, shapes how you process the happenings of the world, and defines the courses of action and reaction that you deem obvious and legitimate.

• All Players can act on the Stage. However, a Player only produces an Event when an act affects  at least one other Player. We are, of course, dealing with influence operations – an act that influences no one does not register in CivilizationStack.

Players, more often than not, act in groups. For simplicity’s sake, we will refer to these as different types of Organizations. There are {Organizations of Living (Vivendi)} and {Organizations of Doing (Operandi)}. There are common structures across all organizations that are an outgrowth of the Player parameters I described above.

• {Organizations of Living}: {Family}, {Friends}, {Communities}. I permit very loose definitions of these categories because CivilizationStack is focused on how we act in the world upon other humans. For instance, it is immaterial whether you choose to define Family by bloodline or other permutations. What’s important is that we have distinct categories for different levels of group size and bond intensity..

• {Organizations of Doing}: these map to the six layers of the Play

• Organizational Structures: as aggregates of Players, Organizations contain the Player parameters at an aggregate level – Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives. Further, there are Organization-specific parameters, such as {Shared History} and {Communication Structure} (RE: Conway’s Law etc.) as emergent multi-human factors that constitute the social glue of the Players operating in these Organizations.

[1.6.2] STAGE

The {Stage} consists of the {Environment} Layer, the {Settlement} Layer, and the {Society} Layer. I permit a very loose definition of Environment and Settlement layers depending on the intended scale of operation for which this framework is to be used – for instance, one could define the Environment as a galaxy and the Settlement as one’s space colony. However, for most common applications, the Settlement should be a given city or village and the Environment is at most the biome in which the Settlement is situated. Further, the Society Layer is the most pertinent Stage component for CivilizationStack as a framework dealing principally with human influence operations.

• First of all, Society is both a Stage upon which we act but, in its totality, contains the entirety of the Play that acts upon us. Keep this duality in mind when we address the two key Modes of Interaction, which consist of {Stack Upon Player} Events and {Player Upon Stack} Events.

• Naturally, you might now consider the Society Layer to be redundant when the six components of the Play collectively constitute Society. However, we need a conceptual category to keep track of aggregate parameters that structurally define the nature of the Society in question, for example: population size, population density, age structure, fecundity, mortality, migration, among other factors.

• In short, the Society Layer tracks the structural elements of the human population that parameterize the Play, whereas the Play deals with the functional elements. Metaphorically, Society would be the entirety of your body’s vein network, while the Play would be the blood dynamically flowing through said network. 

[1.6.3] PLAY

The Play consists of six functional domains, listed here in order of primacy: {Sovereignty}, {Narrative}, {Technology}, {Economy}, {Association}, and {Governance}. I will briefly describe these domains and then explain why they are listed in the hierarchy I have outlined.

• {Sovereignty}: Military security. This is monopoly on the use of violence in a given territorial demarcation. We are not concerned with legitimacy in the Weberian sense – legitimacy is optional. Raw military supremacy, sans legitimacy, is how the clear-sighted Chinese Legalists saw the Realpolitik of coercive force. This is the force you need to both defend your borders against opposing external threats and to impose order within your borders against internal insurgents like bandits or pirates.

• {Narrative}: The sum of legends, myths, folktales, religions, ideologies, philosophies, theatre performances, fairy tales, novels, radio shows, movies, digital media and all media productions whose goal is to tell stories. Players fill the narrative voids in their beings with some mixture of these media products that, in turn, influences their worldviews. Thereafter, these influenced worldviews filter what the Players focus their attention on, shape how they process the happenings of the world, and define the courses of action and reaction that they deem obvious and legitimate.

• {Technology}: Tools and Techniques. We use tools to solve problems and techniques are how we use said tools. The limits of a Player’s technology stack are the limits of the Player’s possibility space to act in the world.

• {Economy}: Tasks and Resource Accumulation. A reductionist explanation of the economy involves an answer to three questions: (1) what are we making, (2) how are we making it available, and (3) what is everything worth. For Players, this boils down to: (1) what tasks am I performing (whether in production or distribution), and (2) what am I getting back in material resources to both survive and thrive. What we do (and where we do) and what we consume (and where we consume) has a huge influence on the type and size of our social network. The valuation of what we do and what we consume shapes where we sit on the social hierarchy.

• {Association}: Factions. How does society divide itself? Think less about Organizations of Living and Organizations of Doing. Think more about what the spread of private interests are (verily: assess all the Satiations and Needs of all Players) in society and how these individual interests aggregate into various collective interests – these collective interests will be the true factions of society. Genuine collective interests will tend to formalize into associations that advocate for and lobby for said interests. Moreover, these formal associations will tend to form coalitions with other aligned interests once they bump up against associations that advocate for counter, or at least non-aligned, interests.

• {Governance}: Rules and Rights. The governance of a polity involves the setting of rules and the allocations of rights: how does our polity function and which groups are accorded privileges.

Let’s now briefly describe the order of primacy among these functional domains:

• Without {Sovereignty} – a monopoly on violence in your territory – you are prey. Do not even worry about losing to fellow humans, as our technologically impotent ancestors were losing to other animals and were not at the top of their food chain. No future exists for us if we cannot both defend ourselves from without and impose order within: we are at risk of becoming food for apex predators or slaves – whether of the general labour or of the sexual variety –  for other human groups.

• {Narratives} guide our worldviews – they are the filter through which we see what is possible and impossible, what is permissible and forbidden, what is sacred and profane. In other words, narratives define our possibility space, which means they have a massive downstream effect on how we engage with the world: as such, worldviews will shape what technologies we choose to explore and what economic activities we perform.

• {Technologies}, as {Tools} and {Techniques}, are how we explore the possibility space defined by our narratives. Tools are extensions of ourselves – the levers we use to get increasingly more output from increasingly less input. If an economy is understood simply as the valued activities that we engage in, the presence or absence of technologies define what activities we can or cannot do. How can I employ people in the role of ditch diggers if my society doesn’t  have shovels?

• {Economic} activity is jointly shaped by narratives and technologies: the stories we tell ourselves have a degree of influence on what things are worth and the tools we use shape what activities we can engage in. Nonetheless, the economic activities of production, distribution, and consumption have their own downstream effects on how groups form in society. It’s not just what we do, it’s where we do it; it’s not just how we distribute, it’s where we distribute; it’s not just what we consume, it’s where we consume. For all economic activities, ask: where does the population gather? Furthermore, the nature and amount of material resources we acquire in exchange for our activities will shape our associations: common leisures create common bonds in the same way that common tasks do.

• {Associations} are ultimately downstream of all of the above. Narratives shape how we associate as they contain embedded criteria for inclusion and exclusion; the continuum of tools, techniques, economic tasks, and economic acquisition shape us into groups according to what we do and what we consume. Ultimately, all of these functional domains shape which mixture of Satiations and Needs are possessed by the total population of Players in a given Society and, as such, which private interests become common interests and therefore the call to action for faction formation and coalition building.

• {Governance}, as expressed through rules and rights, is dependent upon buy-in from the majority of society. Furthermore, and most importantly, these rules and rights are mere scribblings on parchment unless they are backed by a Sovereign administration with a territorial monopoly on coercive force to enforce them within the polity’s jurisdiction. It is important to categorically separate Governance from Sovereignty in order to highlight how ineffectual the procedures of Governance are without the backing of Sovereignty – every lawmaker needs a police force. Finally, the formal Associations and their coalitions – which are downstream of most functional domains – are the ones lobbying for the rules and rights, such that Governance can be seen as directly downstream of Associations.

[1.6.4] MODES OF INTERACTION

Having laid out what is meant by Player, Stage, and Play, we can now discuss how the drama unfolds – how all the pieces work together. As an opening act, in order to orient our minds around inputs to Players and outputs from Players, I have constructed a stylized {Prism-and-Flashlight Model} of Players in the Stack. Channeling this input-output orientation, we walk through the three main {Modes of Interaction}: {Player Upon Stack}, {Stack Upon Player, and {Plotting the Play}. Finally, in having mapped out our operational territory with the aforementioned modes of interaction, we are ready to engage in {Event Initiation}, a form of {Player Upon Stack} but instead of looking back, we project forward.

• {Prism-and-Flashlight Model}: Envision every Player as a flashlight attached to a prism. The singular output of a Player is an Event – a beam of light from the flashlight. Naturally, the Event-as-beam-of-light that strikes the Player-as-prism is immediately experienced as a singular entity; however, just as a prism refracts a beam of light into a rainbow, the Player processes the effects of the Event along its various functional domains. In short, Event Outputs are singular, and Event Input Processing is plural. Finally, factor in that not every Player is a pure prism: certain Players only allow certain colours to pass through them, such that the same Event can have different Event Effects according to the Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narrative of the Players in question.

• {Player Upon Stack}: Outputs from Players. When we are analyzing the actions of a Player upon the Stack, we are creating an {Event Definition} along these parameters: a What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How.

• {Stack Upon Player}: Inputs to Players. When we are analyzing the actions of the Stack – that is, the aggregate of all Players performing the Play on the Stage – upon a given Player, we are assessing the Event Effects along the functional domains of the Stack. A {Detailed Event Effects Analysis} will go into each of the nine layers of the Stack sequentially, whereas a {Shorthand Event Effects Analysis} will take the six layers of the Play and further compress them into three composite categories. The Shorthand is meant to be used as an in-the-moment Litany, such that it employs alliteration as a memory device:

  • {Sovereign-Narratival}: Order and Orthodoxy

  • {Techno-Economic}: Tools, Techniques, Tasks, Trade, and Treasure

  • {Associo-Governancial}: Rifts, Rules, and Rights

• {Plotting the Play}: {Event Definitions} are {dots} and {Event Effects} are {lines} connecting the dots. A streamlined way to map the unfolding of the Play is to plot a {Narrative Scatter Plot Graph (Narrative Plot)} where the X-axis is time and the Y-axis is the number of Players affected by a given event where, again, each dot is a documented Event Definition. In reality, more dots are connected by more lines than you can be consciously aware of; however, the Plotting of the Play is for you to make sense of the Events in your sphere of operations, in your corner of the Stage. On this simple graph, you place all of the Events that you are aware of as dots, and you link said Event-dots with lines according to the cascading conflicts produced by Event Effects. When we draw a line between Event Definition #1 and Event Definition #2, we are saying that Effect Effects from Event Definition #1 have caused conflicts that have influenced the emergence of Event Definition #2.

  • Why are Event Effect Lines solely based on cascading conflicts? To the chagrin of narrative theorists, we do away with the Three Act Structure and focus simply on Confrontation: CivilizationStack maps an unending string of Confrontations without any Resolutions. More specifically, we draw Event Effect Lines between Event Definition Dots when we can see that there was a Defence of a Threatened Satiation or a Pursuit of an Unmet Need taking place.

• In creating Event Definitions, analyzing Event Effects, and drawing Narrative Plots, you will then be able to situate yourself on the Stage with a map in hand to help you better navigate the various hindering and helping factors, as you initiate your next course of action via {Event Initiation}:

  • What Event do you want to initiate on the Stage:

    • that is responsive to the conflicts imposed upon you by the sequence of Event Effects of the Play in which you are enmeshed, and

    • that is aligned with your Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narrative as a Player?

  • When you are ready to perform an Event Initiation, it is as simple as walking through the same categories as was done for an Event Definition, only that instead of analyzing the past we are planning to act in the future. Accordingly, define the What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How. There is no guarantee that you will succeed; however, if the CivilizationStack framework was engaged with properly, it is likely that the planning process for your intended Event has been informed by most of the relevant factors in your operating environment - as you act, you will at least have a map in hand.

[1.7] Competitive Analysis

Perhaps better framed as “complementarity analysis,” I stumbled upon three methodologies that roughly mirror what I am trying to accomplish with CivilizationStack if combined into one. I don’t have the background to have ever encountered them in my work, but they are worth noting:

1. PESTEL/PESTLE, based on Aguilar’s Scanning the Business Environment (1967). There is a rough focus on the same macro factors and even the operational metaphor of “scanning” is a good approximation of how CivilizationStack should be used by a given Player.

2. Quigley’s civilizational matrix – intellectual, religious, social, political, economic, and military – was outlined in The Evolution of Civilizations (1961). I have long been aware of Quigley, due to his magnum opus Tragedy & Hope, but never had the opportunity to engage with his other work yet.

3. Elinor Ostrom’s “Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD)” framework. The conceptual model of an Action Arena embedded in Exogenous Variables mirrors my use of Play on a Stage.

In terms of pure complementarity, I am broadly aligned with what Turchin is attempting to do with his emerging discipline of Cliodynamics. I am a fan of his work and one may consider my approach influenced by his general take on the study of human affairs over time. Further, by virtue of my time spent in startups, I would model the desired output of CivilizationStack along the lines of Strategyzer – famous for developing frameworks like the Business Model Canvas, among others.

[1.8] Author Background

• High School, International Baccalaureate (2005-2009): HL History, HL Biology, HL English, HL French, SL Chemistry, SL Mathematics.

• McGill University (2009-2013): Philosophy and English Literature (I was initially an English and Psychology double major: all of my electives were in Psychology). The two courses that had the greatest impact on me were on Milton and Heidegger – my passive reading after university, when not reading the startup/tech canon, involved exploring the writings of the phenomenologists.

  • Spent my first two years deeply embedded in student politics; spent nearly every weekend of my last two years at business and technology conferences in Toronto (hello red-eye Megabus). When not in class or student groups, I was involved in majority-uWaterloo/UofT student nonprofits that organized business and technology conferences at the student level – initial connections to these groups came from my participation in Shad Valley.

• Initial Career (2013-2019): I started off in a joint Accelerator and Venture Capital fund. During and thereafter, my main startup contributions in the Toronto startup scene were around code schools. When not working on code schools, I hopped around as an early-stage employee in “Growth” roles; just before COVID, I dabbled in Toronto municipal politics as a campaign manager.

  • Emergent Intellectual Interests: There is a rough “startup/tech canon” that I thoroughly explored in those years. Moreover, due to my VC participation I stumbled upon the work of Carlota Perez, reading much of her work and that of her cohort (SPRU) in addition to that of Erik Reinert (Other Canon). If I could summarize my intellectual orientation after my startup scene participation, it is roughly captured by Mariana Mazzucato’s IIPP at UCL (Mazzucato being a mentee of Perez), though I do not care for the Sustainability/Green topics.

• COVID (2019-2023): Watching the CCP nationalize factories prompted me to reskill for manufacturing at a local technical college, taking a 3-year PLC-based Electromechanical course (my father’s background is in this area and my mom always wanted me to acquire his skill set). Local municipal politics became an avenue for maintaining my startup sales/marketing skill sets.

• Post-COVID (2023-onwards): White label beverage manufacturing in a PLC-oriented role and consistent local political involvement with what I’ve come to call my “political unit.”

[1.9] Framework Background

I was involved in startups at the pre-seed and seed levels: a lot of these fail. Only one of my ventures ever got acquired and it was very early in my career (I was on the founding team of Toronto’s BrainStation, which was acquired by Konrad Group). How does one deal with sequential failure? My cope was writing what were the initial versions of this framework; to my surprise, I was invited to present these drafts at the Toronto Employment and Social Services (Queensway) in 2017 and 2018. I was simply trying to make sense of the world in which I was embedded. The framework was never completed and I simply shelved the working drafts during COVID as I was reskilling for manufacturing. What inspired me to dust off this framework was experiencing the 2024 UK Riots second-hand via Substack: I realized that the original business use case was too narrow and that it could be more meaningfully applied as a generic tool for mapping one’s operational environment in the pursuit of shaping human outcomes.

[1.10] Table of Contents

INVOCATION

[1.0] Introduction

[1.1] Elevator Pitch

[1.2] Target Audience

[1.3] Pain Point

[1.4] Gain Opportunity

[1.5] Key Metric

[1.6] CivilizationStack in Brief

[1.6.1] PLAYER

[1.6.2] STAGE

[1.6.3] PLAY

[1.6.4] MODES OF INTERACTION

[1.7] Competitive Analysis

[1.8] Author Background

[1.9] Framework Background

[1.10] Table of Contents

[2.0] The Player

[2.1] The Player’s Interests

[2.1.1] The Player’s Attributes

[2.2] The Player’s Capacities

[2.2.1] Sovereign Power: Force

[2.2.2] Narrative Power: Persuasion

[2.2.3] Technological Power: Amplification

[2.2.4] Economic Power: Wealth

[2.2.5] Associational Power: Mobilization

[2.2.6] Governancial Power: Rules & Rights

[2.3] The Player’s Operating Narrative

[2.3.1] Perceiving Assumptions // Embedded Event Sensory Filters // Action: Focus

[2.3.2] Thinking Assumptions // Embedded Event Processing Algorithms // Action: Associate

[2.3.3] Feeling Assumptions // Embedded Event Reaction States // Action: Prescribe

[2.4] The Player’s Actions: Event Initiation

[2.5] Players and their Teams: Organizations as the Foundation of CivilizationStack

[2.5.1] CivilizationStack Organizations in Brief

[2.5.2] Shared History

[2.5.3] Communication Structure

[2.5.4] Shared Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives

[2.5.5] Shared Knowledge

[2.5.6] Organizations of Living (Vivendis)

[2.5.7] Organizations of Doing (Operandis)

[3.0] The Stage

[3.1] Environment Layer

[3.2] Settlement Layer

[3.3] Society Layer

[4.0] The Play

[4.1] Sovereignty Layer

[4.1.1] Control of Military and Security Forces

[4.1.2] Enforcement of Law and Order

[4.1.3] Monopoly over the Use of Force

[4.1.4] Territorial Boundaries and Control Points

[4.1.5] Presence of Symbolic Authority

[4.1.6] Compliance of the Population

[4.1.7] Economic Control: Taxation, Resource Extraction, & Protection Rackets

[4.2] Narrative Layer

[4.2.1] Cultural Artifacts

[4.2.2] Key Organizations

[4.2.3] Dominant Ideologies

[4.2.4] Narrative Conflicts

[4.2.5] Public Sentiment

[4.2.6] Legal and Political Structures

[4.3] Technology Layer

[4.3.1] Identify the Primary Problem Areas

[4.3.2] Examine Formalized Use Cases

[4.3.3] Map the Tools and Techniques

[4.3.4] Identify Major Technology Development Organizations

[4.3.5] Analyze Productized Technologies

[4.3.6] Understand Adoption and Side Effects

[4.3.7] Evaluate Technological Power

[4.4] Economy Layer

[4.4.1] Production

[4.4.2] Distribution

[4.4.3] Exchange

[4.4.4] Consumption

[4.4.5] Resource Accumulation (Economic Power: Wealth)

[4.4.6] Macro Diagnostic Lenses: Integrate Insights Across Domains

[4.5] Association Layer

[4.5.1] Map the Major Divisions of Society

[4.5.2] Investigate Formal and Informal Organizations

[4.5.3] Track Alignments and Coalitions

[4.5.4] Evaluate Leadership and Influence

[4.5.5] Analyze External Networks

[4.5.6] Identify Key Brokers

[4.6] Governance Layer

[4.6.1] Identify the Formal Structures of Governance

[4.6.2] Look at the Informal Mechanisms of Governance

[4.6.3] Examine the Power Structures around Specific Issues

[4.6.4] Map out the Privileged Groups

[4.6.5] Assess Control of Organizations

[4.6.6] Evaluate the Enforcement Mechanisms

[4.6.7] Diagnosing Governancial Power

[4.6.8] Macro Diagnostic Tools

[5.0] Modes of Interaction

[5.1] The Prism-and-Flashlight Model of Players in the Stack

[5.2] Mode of Interaction #1: {Player Upon Stack}

[5.3] Mode of Interaction #2: {Stack Upon Player}

[5.3.1] Shorthand Event Effects Analysis: OTRs

[5.3.2] Detailed Event Effects Analysis

[5.4] Mode of Interaction #3: {Plotting the Play}

[5.5] Event Initiation

[6.0] Document Administration

[2.0] The Player

“there are no small parts, only small actors” – Stanislavski

There is only one attribute that separates the Players in CivilizationStack from the general audience: awareness that you can act. At some implicit level, we all know that we can and are being acted upon – that is the mindset of the audience members and those who don’t even realize this are mere props on the stage. Building on the default audience position, the Player further realizes that, however limited, he can act in this world and he commits to doing so.

This action-oriented definition of a Player allows us to define the archetypal Player according to the factors that affect his motivations and abilities to act on the Stage:

• {Interests}

• {Capacities}

• {Operating Narrative}

[2.1] The Player’s Interests

• {Satiations} >> {Assumptions} >> {Non-Actions}

• {Needs} >> {Gap Realization} >> {Actions}

• {{Threatened Satiations}+{Pursued Needs}} = {Motivations}

As a Player, there are areas where you are fulfilled and areas where you are unfulfilled – domains of {Satiations} and {Needs}, respectively. When your domains of satiation remain continually satiated, you project forward into the future an assumption about their continual satiation. For instance, if your village is right next to a river of potable water, you tend to assume potable water to be a steady-state resource in your life and your mind never directs itself to consider how potable water would be acquired without the presence of this river – this results in a full domain of non-action. Conversely, where you have unmet needs, an awareness of a gap in your life develops such that action will eventually be taken to convert your unmet needs into satiations. Using the existing example, if your village is nowhere near a water source, it is very likely that you will expend a considerable amount of effort mapping out where water can be found in your operating environment. Finally, what happens when your satiations get threatened? What if the water level of the river by your village gets considerably low one year? Your bedrock assumptions begin to fracture, if not outright shatter: all of a sudden a previous satiation reconverts into a need that requires dedicated action to satiate. The Player’s motivation to act in the world is an internalized priority list that rank orders the sum of all threatened satiations and unmet needs.

[2.1.1] The Player’s Attributes

As a subcomponent of Interests, I wish to mention three pervasive Attributes that will likely be a constant presence in the Satiations and Needs of Players: {Status}, {Wealth}, and {Aesthetics}. One might even consider these as macro categories of Interests such that much of human endeavours are engaged in for their attainment or for the defense of their possession. In brief:

• {Status}: This is a Player’s public ranking, as derived from the highest rank achieved across all functional hierarchies; in CivilizationStack there are 6 broad hierarchies of competence – Sovereign, Narrative, Technological, Economic, Associational, and Governancial. Naturally, most Players will have a rank in more than just one hierarchy; however, a Player’s Societal Status will typically reflect his highest ranking across all functional hierarchies. For instance, even though a sitting Prime Minister may have launched a successful small business in his past, society will primarily rank him by the role that he attained in the Governancial hierarchy. This is especially true because the most salient shorthand for assessing genuine Societal Status is through explicitly status-oriented roles in the Governancial domain via public office and peerage. For most functional domains, it takes a while to attain a functional status that also has corresponding societal weight: Generals, Popes, CEOs, Executive Directors, etc.

• {Wealth}: At a macro level, we live in the Merchant’s Era – at present, we occupy neither the Warrior’s Era, nor that of the Priest. As such, in public discourse, the singular way to rank Players in a streamlined way is according to Wealth. When we speak of the “top 10%” of Players, we are discussing these percentages in the context of Wealth parameters. In a different era of functional dominance, the streamlined metric would be assessed according to the functional domain that is in ascendance in that spatiotemporal context.

• {Aesthetics}: Are you beautiful or handsome? Is your physique desired? Answer this in the context of your society’s spatiotemporal norms around aesthetic evaluation. Entire industries are built around satiating the need to be appealing to one’s peers in society. CivilizationStack is not here to judge you but please, dear Player, assess yourself realistically according to the Stage you are situated in. Aesthetics can act as an overall enhancing Buff or Debuff for Players engaging with other Players in the Play.

[2.2] The Player’s Capacities

• {Sovereign Power}:{Force}

  • Machiavellian Lion, DnD: Strength

• {Narrative Power}:{Persuasion}

  • Machiavellian Fox, DnD: Dexterity

• {Technological Power}:{Amplification}

  • Promethean Flame, DnD: Intelligence

• {Economic Power}:{Wealth}

  • Beehive, DnD: Constitution

• {Associational Power}:{Mobilization}

  • Wolf Pack, DnD: Charisma

• {Governancial Power}:{Rules & Rights}

  • Scales of Justice, DnD: Wisdom

The six capacities of the Player map directly to the six layers of the Play. In other words, the mix of a Player’s capacities defines the extent to which he is able to engage with the fullness of the Play along the complete trajectories of functional phenomena. When a Player has a fully developed capacity, it means that he can act in its respective layer as someone setting the course of action that other Players must respond to; a weak or near absent capacity translates into an inability to act in that capacity’s associated layer, where the Player is responding to agendas set by others. 

[2.2.1] Sovereign Power: Force

• Definition: The monopoly on the use of coercive force within a given territory.

• Details: Sovereign coercive power is rarely ever held by a single Player – this is a group phenomenon and the group that holds this power legitimately can call itself the State. Pockets of bandits and pirates can have de facto sovereign coercive power over limited territorial stretches even if others perceive this as illegitimate. Legitimacy and illegitimacy are stories we tell ourselves – what matters is if we can actually enforce our will or not.

• Key Metric: A simple test to see if your group is in possession of sovereign coercive power is to imagine a situation where another group is physically threatening your group. The question is: What’cha gonna do ‘bout it? What is your response to the challengers?

  • If you can push back the challengers directly, you have sovereign coercive power in your territory.

  • If the challengers can overwhelm your group, they have sovereign coercive power in what was formerly your territory but is now theirs.

  • If you have to appeal to some other group to push back the challengers, you are a vassal and the group you appealed to is the actual sovereign of your territory.

• Relevance: If we are to factor in all possible courses of action that Players can take in the world, Sovereign Power consists of the capacities needed to start revolutions and conquests or to defend against them. In terms of offensive uses of Sovereign Power, other Players will consider your actions illegitimate only if you lose – if you win, eventually you will gain recognition and legitimacy (look at how the West decided to engage in trade relations with Communist China, eventually). However, I mention this category of Player capacities only to emphasize how practically no Players on the Stage have it. Many of us are, at best, mere vassals who appeal to others for protection – it is important to know your place in the world if you do not possess Sovereign Power and to act accordingly.

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Machiavellian Lion.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Strength. 

[2.2.2] Narrative Power: Persuasion

• Definition: The use of stories to persuade others on a given course of action.

• Details: While the narrative operator is normally conceived of as a rhetorically astute salesman, in our modern media environment narrative power consists of the ability to construct stories in a multimedia manner. Stated another way, narrative power requires both a mastery of stories and a mastery of the medium through which to convey said stories. To lean into the Machiavellian conception, narrative power is the ability to create traps for others to fall into while simultaneously being able to avoid the traps set by fellow Foxes. With this conception in mind, narrative power is, at root, the mastery of indirection; applying the mindset of one who has mastered narrative power in a more forceful way, the narrative operator is the type to host a party of feigned goodwill and to give you a hug of merriment while serving you poisoned wine. As such, at the extreme of indirection, this is the type of archetype to engage in cloak-and-dagger operations.

• Key Metric: Being successful at various permutations of: “Sell me this pen.” Furthermore, in a reverse sense, the ability to recognize when a sales frame has been imposed upon you and to be able to back-out with a simple “No.” Alas, to be able to set traps to be able to avoid them.

  • To have mastered narrative power is to understand every juncture in a conversation that is a sales moment. Moreover, it is to apply this mindset on a societal scale and to see all of the human-to-human interfaces where a sales moment exists and thus where narrative techniques can be applied to one’s advantage at the expense of others.

• Relevance: In our networked age, this is the one power that every Player has in abundance, so it would behoove us to learn how to use it properly. Everyone is a media company at this point (provided that you haven’t checked out of social media altogether). In what era does every individual have a printing press at their fingertips? We are so saturated with our potential narrative power that I don’t think we actually realize what an aberration this development is compared to the majority of human history.

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Machiavellian Fox.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Dexterity. 

[2.2.3] Technological Power: Amplification

• Definition: The use of tools and techniques to achieve maximum output at minimum input for a given category of phenomena.

• Details: A definition of technology that I have arrived at, after reading authors like Ellul and Mumford, is that they are standardized bodies of tools and techniques used to address formalized use cases that are derived from general problem areas. Let’s go over each of these components of the definition:

  • {Problem Area} = A domain in which a human is experiencing a block.

  • {Use Case} = The human recognizes the {Problem Area} as a problem and starts to formalize it as something to be solved. This is an internal act, a shift in perception, and an investment of human intentionality.

  • {Technology} = {{Tools} + {Techniques}}. Multiple technologies can solve for a given {Use Case}. For instance, either a combustion engine or an electric motor can function as a prime mover in a vehicle designed to solve the use case of human transportation.

  • {Tool} = The apparatus that interfaces directly with the {Problem Area}, as formalized by the {Use Case}. Realize that our bodies are the first tools that we possess and, as such, the technological mindset first consists in recognizing our own instrumentality. In the problem area of human conflict and solving for the use case of close quarters combat, the Human Body is our first tool.

  • {Technique} = Methods of using the {Tools} to address the {Use Case}. Sticking with the use case of close quarters combat, Wrestling is a body of techniques for using the Human Body as a tool for addressing the use case: individual techniques would be double legs, arm drags, suplexes etc. Also, because multiple technologies can solve for the same use case, we can switch out Wrestling with Boxing – both are techniques for using the same tool to address the same use case. Further, rather than just switching out techniques for a common tool, we could change the tools completely. The realpolitik fighter realizes that it’s merely customs of honour preventing parties from bringing knives and guns to a fistfight – for instance, David brought a sling to fight Goliath.

  • There is one further detail worth mentioning on the nature of the interaction between technologies and their use cases. We normally invent a specific technology to solve for a specific use case; however, a given technology can typically solve multiple use cases very well – the best example that comes to mind is how Viagara was initially designed to be a blood thinner. When they ran trial runs, Viagara had a very interesting “side effect” that ended up becoming its main intended application.

• With this definition in mind, it’s easy to see how the main value proposition of technology is in the amplification of human capacity. The technology stack that you implement defines the ultimate impact and reach of your actions as a Player. Throw a fist and you can bruise a man beside you; pull a trigger and you can kill a man some distance away; release a nuclear bomb and you can wipe out a man’s settlement a continent away. Whisper a message and you can (mis)direct a man beside you; shout a message on a megaphone and you can (mis)direct men in your townsquare; package a video meme into a video distribution platform and you can (mis)direct many millions of people in multiple polities.

• Key Metric: List out all of your core activities – that is, your economic tasks – and further list the tools and techniques that you employ in the execution of these activities. How does your technology stack match up against the best in class for each activity? If you don’t even know what the best in class is for a given activity, you already have your answer. In making all of these comparisons, you’re arriving at a rough measure of your aggregate activity amplification relative to the total possible activity amplification. This lets you know how much room you have to improve your effectiveness on the Stage by merely swapping out the tools and techniques that you employ.

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Promethean Flame.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Intelligence. 

[2.2.4] Economic Power: Wealth

• Definition: The accumulation of resources to be operationalized as a steady-state buffer against exposure to the sinusoidal ups and downs of quotidian life.

• Details: The end result of our economic activity – the tasks we perform for society, whether through production-oriented activities or distribution-oriented activities – consists of the resources that we accumulate to both survive and thrive on the Stage. Since we are already playing with RPG language, it’s easy to think of a Player’s wealth as his health bar: you can only survive as a Player on the Stage to the extent that you have resources to support you in your endeavours. A further interpretation of wealth in the context of Players trying to influence other Players is that, depending on what you want to achieve, the mix of resources needed is not just mere currency but the full suite of materials involved in your influence operation. As such, a broader interpretation of wealth could be: health bar, mana bar, stamina bar, currency, and core consumables.

• Key Metric: What type and quantity of resources do you possess relative to the impact that you want to achieve on the Stage? A Player’s total amount of wealth does not matter unless we specify the conditions under which these resources must be operationalized: $1000 is a lot of money for buying chocolate bars but a pittance for buying cars.

  • What is your resource burn rate per month and, therefore, how many months can you last on the Stage at the current burn rate?

  • Do you need to optimize your burn rate for a marathon or for a sprint?

  • What is your course of action when your resources have been fully spent and your desired impact has not yet been achieved?

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Beehive.

  • The hive as a colony embodies division of labour, and hence economic tasks.

  • Honey is a way of conceptualizing accumulation.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Constitution. 

[2.2.5] Associational Power: Mobilization

• Definition: The ability to interact effectively with others, to gather others as a collectivity under a common goal, and to instrumentalize this collectivity towards the attainment of said common goal.

• Details: It’s not the absolute size of a collectivity that matters – it is the total size that can operate effectively as a single unit. In other words, not a group, but a genuine team. Associational power is the ability to consolidate a team and to act as its leader in the attainment of a common goal. Based upon Dunbar’s number, 150 is likely the upper limit of what an effective team size can be; any action on the Stage that requires more than 150 Players thus requires coalitions.

• Key Metric: What is the largest group of people that you can lead that can still function as a single unit? However, you have to situate that question in its broader operational context: what is the group size needed to accomplish your goals on the Stage? The gap between how many people you can functionally lead versus how many people are needed to win in your slice of the game of life determines what type of coalition you need to build in order to be an effective Player.

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Wolf Pack.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Charisma. 

[2.2.6] Governancial Power: Rules & Rights

• Definition: The ability to define the core, living and breathing, rules that undergird how society functions and to grant privileges to some groups over others within said society.

  • Note: in the political science literature (and related disciplines) the common term for a rule is an “institution.” I believe this is a woefully ambiguous term, where neophytes will confuse “institutions” with organizations and certain authors also encourage the double meaning since said rules normally emerge in organizational contexts. As such, I believe a simplistic reduction to the term “rule” is preferable – no double meanings, no confusion.

• Details: What is so devious about the power to determine the rules of societal operation and the rights of privilege is that embedded in their joint application is the subtle ability to determine what the core issues are that can even be considered politically debatable. Defining societal rules is literally the power to determine what game we’re all playing; elevating certain Player archetypes above others defines the Player attributes that will be rewarded under the current ruleset. Further, when these powers are jointly applied, the Gamemaster – what else are we to call he who sets the rules and rights? – is able to either expand or contract the number of issues that can be politicized on the Stage. Another way of framing this is that the Gamemaster is determining the legitimate playing field within the Stage and, through an intricate use of curtains and lighting, this sly devil can curtail the full use of the Stage. Gamemasters, more than anything else, will be fearful of the use of force and that is the trajectory of action most likely to be curtailed from the Stage. Why? The Players who become Gamemasters in full command of governancial power are, in reality, mere scribblers on parchments of paper – they require command of or partnership with the Sovereign power administration in order to enforce their scribblings into functional mandates. Without a pairing with sovereign power, governancial power is the weakest of all functional power domains – a mere coterie of scribes furiously scribbling concepts that will never be enforced. Even when governancial power is paired with sovereign power, the priests, technologists, merchants, and community faction leaders are able to impose their interests upon what the Gamemasters implement as rules and rights. Finally, Players need to be aware of one interesting feedback loop that takes place after a Gamemaster has implemented a version of their rules and rights upon the Play that Players experience on the Stage. The codification of an iteration of rules and rights comes with embedded expansions or contractions in the operational Stage space: this alone will restructure the main cleavages of conflict that define the overarching associational factions and coalitions. A different Stage space means the viable games to play have shifted: narratives, tools, techniques, tasks, and accumulations all shift and thus the core factions shift as a result.

• Key Metric: Is the specific slice of society that you are interested in:

  • Running according to the ruleset you would like it to?

    • If no, can you change it?

    • If yes, can you maintain it?

  • Preferentially treating the Player characteristics that you hold in high esteem?

    • If no, can you change it?

    • If yes, can you maintain it?

• One’s capacity to change or maintain the rules and/or rights of one’s society is a measure of the degree to which one’s intentions are married to sovereign power. Again, without sovereign power attached to your endeavours in governancial power, all your yearnings for a change in governance amounts to the scribblings of a scribe. Further, in a society where governancial power is wedded to sovereign power, the desire to change or maintain rules and/or rights indicates participation in the de jure system of politics. As such, a close proxy for measuring governancial power is just: (1) are you in a legitimate position of power, and (2) is your faction within the de jure system strong enough to make official and binding changes to the system during your tenure of power?

• Conceptual Encapsulation: Scales of Justice.

• DnD Stat Parallel: Wisdom.

[2.3] The Player’s Operating Narrative

• {Perceiving Assumptions} // {Embedded Event Sensory Filters} // Action: Focus

• {Thinking Assumptions} // {Embedded Event Processing Algorithms} // Action: Associate

• {Feeling Assumptions} // {Embedded Event Reaction States} // Action: Prescribe

A given Player will encounter numerous Events on the Stage. The Player’s Interests will determine the types of Events that the Player will encounter; the Player’s Capacities will determine how well the Player is able to navigate the series of Events that he does encounter and therefore which Events cause the most impact upon himself. Downstream of which Events the Player encounters and how much impact each of these Events has upon the Player, is how the Player processes the experiences of the Events and their effects. The Player’s Operating Narrative determines how the Player makes sense of all that is happening around him. It is the filter through which he sees the world: his Worldview. A Player’s Worldview operates at an embedded level of assumptions and is therefore not something that can be overtly arrived at but can be stitched together incrementally; the Player tacitly assembles his Worldview through accumulated learnings (X works in situation Y to get result Z) over the entirety of his life, which is why they sometimes consist of concepts that are hard to verbalize. Another way I like to explain Operating Narratives is that they are a Player’s personal Kuhnian Paradigm; a Kuhnian Paradigm tells a group of researchers what type of phenomena to observe and how they are to scientifically assess said phenomena – for instance, whether to assess the phenomena of human health under the lens of the Four Humours or under that of modern Germ Theory. Well, because we develop our Operating Narrative out of our cumulative life experiences, every individual’s Operating Narrative has a slight idiosyncratic tweak to the extent that we can reasonably classify each one as a distinct personal Paradigm (even though there will be a massive amount of overlap and similarities between people who have undergone similar life experiences). In any case, a given Player’s Operating Narrative affects how he perceives, thinks, and feels about the Events that he has experienced; stated more in-line with the language of this framework, an Operating Narrative consists of {Event Sensory Filters}, {Event Processing Algorithms}, and {Event Reaction States}.

[2.3.1] Perceiving Assumptions // Embedded Event Sensory Filters // Action: Focus

When a Player experiences an Event there are multiple categories of phenomena that are packaged into the singular experience – CivilizationStack assumes at least six such categories exist at the functional level of human action and perhaps there are more worth categorizing if this framework had a different focus. In any case, the {Embedded Event Sensory Filters} of a given Player’s Operating Narrative already determines, from the initial contact with the Event, which category of phenomena the Player is focusing on, among the six functional domains. Imagine, for instance, that you are one of a group of Players witnessing a civil war take place in an urban environment. Do your eyes drift to the faction firing the bullets or to the civilians getting gunned down in the streets? Are you focusing on the particular model of guns being used and the type of infantry tactics being employed? Perhaps your mind immediately contemplates the infrastructural damages being inflicted and their associated costs? Are you wondering what ideology would be driving the guerrillas to gun down civilians in the daytime? A single Event is occurring, and yet different Players are already having a different experience. Does the Player calculating the infrastructure costs even hear the civilian cries? Does the technical gun hobbyist ever stop to think about ideology? Does the bleeding-heart humanitarian weeping hysterically over civilian corpses ever consider what would motivate a faction to perform said street executions? The implications of the existence of these {Embedded Event Sensory Filters} is that a Player is only allowing a certain fraction of the occurring Event into his perceptual field of view.

[2.3.2] Thinking Assumptions // Embedded Event Processing Algorithms // Action: Associate

As a rough definition, an algorithm is a process that is followed to solve a particular problem. By virtue of the {Embedded Event Sensory Filters} structurally curtailing the perceptual inputs to the Player, said Player is already dealing with a partial grasp of the unfolding event phenomena. Next, the {Embedded Event Processing Algorithms} – consisting of all internal rulesets that define how the Player thinks about what he is perceiving – proceeds to process the event phenomena with a web of associations. In the context of CivilizationStack, a single ruleset operating within a Player’s processing algorithm consists of a chain of associations linked to a broad topic. For instance, when a Player hears “Life” he can associate the word with “… is beautiful” or “… is suffering” among multiple potential associations. Bringing up the civil war example again, an internal ruleset that “all wars are bad” combined with another along the lines of “human lives are sacred” may cause a Player to feel immediately negative about the transpiring urban civil war. Conversely, a Player who has developed the internal rulesets of “war is politics by other means” and “not all human lives are equal” gets immediately inquisitive about the structural forces at play and is unmoved by blood stains on the streets – alas, he has another internal ruleset of “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.” At a conscious level, Players are not quite aware of this event processing happening in real time – their cumulative life experiences are activated and instrumentalized according to the emerging events.

[2.3.3] Feeling Assumptions // Embedded Event Reaction States // Action: Prescribe

After the {Embedded Event Processing Algorithms} tell a Player what is descriptively happening, the Player needs a prescriptive course of action to take in response to the unfolding events: this is the role of the {Embedded Event Reaction States}. Said Event Reaction States both guide how the Player feels about what is transpiring and suggest trajectories of actions that can be taken. At root, these Reaction States are permutations of Fight or Flight – to be enticed into action or to be terrified into retreat. Whatever feelings emerge are merely reinforcements of a binary option set towards engagement or disengagement from the Event phenomena.

[2.4] The Player’s Actions: Event Initiation

All Players can act on the Stage; however, only an action that affects other Players can be considered an Event – a What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How (capturing all of these standard details encompasses an Event Definition in CivilizationStack). We will go into greater detail on the nature of Events further down in this methodology. For now, it suffices to summarize an Event as the summation of “the 5 Ws and H” as initiated by at least one Player and affecting at least one other Player. Nonetheless, rounding out this description allows us to make sense of the Player Model that I’ve included below:

When we discuss the modes of interaction between Player and Stage in the last leg of this methodology is when the Player Inputs and Player Outputs will be addressed in detail. 

[2.5] Players and their Teams: Organizations as the Foundation of CivilizationStack

A Player that wants to achieve anything on the Stage cannot act purely alone – he needs to work in groups. Moreover, a Player does not emerge into this world as a completely singular being but is instead raised in an enmeshed network of family, friends, and communities. For the sake of simplicity, we will be referring to all Player collectivities of more than one Player as Organizations and, further, we will have two major subdivisions of Organizations:

• {Organizations of Living (Vivendi)}: Family, Friends, Communities.

• {Organizations of Doing (Operandi)}: engaged in one or several activities corresponding to the six layers of the Play.

Nonetheless before going into the two main organizational flavours, let’s first discuss the common organizational structures. Note that the following section is inspired by Schein’s Organizational Culture and Leadership; I refrain from explicitly using the word “culture” due to its multiple common meanings but do know that I’m leaning into the Scheinian notion of organizational culture and his approach to organizations in general (which has also seeped into how I initially defined a given Player’s Operating Narrative).

[2.5.1] CivilizationStack Organizations in Brief

• {Shared History}

  • {Group Duration}

  • {Membership Stability}

  • {Experiential Intensity}

• Communication Structure

  • {Roles}: Individual, Departmental

  • {Information Flow}: Directionality, Frequency, Intensity

  • {Patterns}: Recurring Flows, Emergent Flows

• {Shared Interests}

• {Shared Capacities}

• {Shared Operating Narrative}

• {Shared Knowledge}

  • {Common Actions}

  • {Shared Observation of Action Outcome}

  • {Shared Perception of Action’s Success or Failure}

  • {Shared Assumptions}

[2.5.2] Shared History

The glue that keeps Players together in groups is their {Shared History}, which consists of the group duration, its membership stability, and the experiential intensity of the events that the group has navigated together.

• {Group Duration}: How long have you been together?

• {Membership Stability}: What is the organizational turnover rate?

• {Experiential Intensity}: For the complete duration of the organizational existence, and for the stable membership base, how impactful were the Events that you navigated together? Did you launch a company together? Fight a war? Engage in the daily production of societal essentials? Suffer the daily humiliation of performing Graeberian Bullshit Jobs and commiserating over your collective meaninglessness together?

[2.5.3] Communication Structure

I was not aware of the importance of Comms structure until I read Raymond’s The Cathedral and the Bazaar, where Conway’s Law is summarized as “process becomes product.” More broadly, for organizations that develop “systems” (products or services), the system designs will mimic the communication structures of the organization. Imagine that we are creating an electromechanical machine to work in a factory (for instance, a conveyor belt system): we need a mechanical team, an electrical team, and a (PLC) programming team, where each functional domain communicates as a department to the other departments. Is it any surprise that the final design of the product consists of three very segmented parts? In any case, in terms of analyzing communication structures, I prefer a streamlined network analysis approach: roles (nodes), information flows (links), and patterns.

• {Roles}: What are all of the roles in your organization and how do they divide into functional departments or subunits? If the subunits influence the roles, make note of it.

• {Information Flows}:

  • Directionality: For a given set of roles, is the communication direction unidirectional or bidirectional? One-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many?

  • Frequency: Who communicates more to whom?

  • Intensity: “Howdy buddy” vs “Lo, the civilizational structures are disintegrating before our very eyes, dearest compatriots; how shall we navigate this storm?”

• {Patterns}: Given all the information flows among all roles, which flows are recurring patterns and which are emergent developments that may reflect situational anomalies?

[2.5.4] Shared Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives

Take everything that was written for a given Player and apply it in aggregate form for an Organization. For the sake of convenience, imagine aggregations of Players into Organizations as one single Player for the purpose of the {Common Actions} taken under the banner of the Organization. Every Player has their own personal interests; however, when acting in a formal group, it is the group interest that is being pursued such that in the pursuit of a common goal through common actions, the many Players are acting as a Singular Player on the Stage. As such, we can speak of Organizations as having their own Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives. For the sake of nomenclatural standardization, simply preface “shared” in front of all the categories that were described for a given Player. For instance, for Shared Operating Narratives, the component parts would be:

• {Shared Perceiving Assumptions},

• {Shared Thinking Assumptions}, and

• {Shared Feeling Assumptions}.

[2.5.5] Shared Knowledge

Finally, we deal here with how organizations act on the Stage.

• {Common Actions}: This is Event Initiation on a collective scale – a group launching a What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How. Again, it is termed as a common action, because there is no guarantee that the actions will have an impact. Only when common actions result in an impact upon another Player can it be considered an Event.

• {Shared Observation of Action Outcome}: The group performing the common action must be present to observe what the eventual impact is. Note that this feeds into the group’s Shared History in terms of experiential intensity.

• {Shared Perception of Action’s Success or Failure}: Based upon the intended goal of the common action, can the outcome be considered a success or a failure?

• {Shared Assumptions}: The result of shared success/failure perceptions feeds into the group’s shared assumptions about the world – this has a feedback loop into the group’s Shared Operating Narrative and especially into their Shared Satiations if a set of actions continually produces successful results. 

[2.5.6] Organizations of Living (Vivendis)

Players both initiate Events and experience Events – we exist as both producers and consumers of influence operations. Speaking very broadly, Organizations of Living (which I shall truncate as Vivendis) are how to conceptualize Players as they experience the Events on the Stage. Although there is a narrow slice of phenomena exclusively experienced when acting as a producer of Events (especially the intra-producer level conflicts), the realm of Vivendis concerns itself with how most Players spend the majority of their lives: we are simply passive recipients of what other Players have concocted. Factoring in the Vivendi tiers of Family, Friends, and Communities is necessary not just from a developmental perspective but because Event processing happens at this group level. For the sake of brevity:

• {Family}: smallest in number, highest in depth of connection.

• {Friends}: moderate in number, moderate in depth of connection. (Where “moderate” is relative to the extremes of Family and Communities).

• {Communities}: largest in number, shallowest in depth of connection. 

The Player as living in a Vivendi:

• Is protected by a Sovereign administration of which he is not a part;

• Has bought into various Narratives, at least at the religious and ideological level, that he does not lead, evangelize, or contribute to;

• Uses Technologies and goods/services that were produced/provisioned and distributed by Economic organizations he is not a part of;

• Associates into civil society groups that he does not set the agenda for; and

• Obeys the Governance structures he did not conceive of, imposed upon him by administrators that he neither lobbied nor realized could have been lobbied towards an alternative set of governance structures (that he, further, has not developed).

In other words, for the majority of his life, the Player is a mere audience member in the great Play of life. The plot saddens and he cries; the plot gladdens and smiles; the Players on the Stage are setting the terms of his life and of those in the Vivendis with whom he associates. In order to visualize Vivendis, take the Player Model, apply it at an organizational level, and put an emphasis on the Inputs to the Player – especially as these inputs would relate to the Shared Operating Narrative of each Vivendi tier. Moreover, the Shared History of these Vivendi groups should possess a depth that cannot be achieved in the Organizations of Doing. 

[2.5.7] Organizations of Doing (Operandis)

In understanding the dual nature of Players as both consumers and producers of Events, Organizations of Doing (to be truncated as Operandis) are how to conceptualize Players as they initiate the (actions that may become) Events on the Stage. It would be wrong to think of Operandis as literally occupying layers on the Stack – all Players and all Organizations operate on the bedrock layer of the Stage as defined by the Environment, Settlement, and the totality of the humans occupying the Society in which Operandis operate. The Events initiated by Operandis have effects that may be categorized along one or several of the functional layers. The layer that the Operandi’s Events have the greatest impact on are what we will use to categorize said Operandi – an Operandi that is primarily influencing the Narrative layer is a Narrative Operandi even though it may be causing downstream effects to the Association and Governance layers. With this focus on the initiation of Events and their effects on other Players, visualizing Operandis involves taking the Player Model, applying it at an organizational level, and putting an emphasis on the Player Outputs – especially as these Event Outputs relate to the Shared Interests and Shared Capacities of the Operandi. Shared Interests will define the likely layer targets of the Operandi, while Shared Capacities will determine how effective the Operandi is at having an impact upon their target audience.

[3.0] The Stage

The Stage is the platform upon which the Players perform – as true in a theatrical performance as in the Play of CivilizationStack. One way of thinking about the Stage is that it consists of the structural factors within which humans operate; every aspect of the Stage has downstream effects on the Players, while the Players have a limited effect upon the Stage (which varies by level of technological development). In brief, Players are shaped by the environment that they occupy, by the resources contained in said environment, by the built environment of the settlement in which the Players live, and by the other Players that reside in said settlement. It is because this framework is concerned with human action that other humans can be framed as part of the environmental factors: when you want to accomplish a goal and it was a human that blocked your attainment of said goal, how should we categorize their presence on the Stage? Some human actions have been instituted at such a deep level that we are no longer facing another Player but an entrenched solidification of human will that operates as if it were a structural feature on the field in which we are operating. With this in mind, let’s walk through the layers of the Stage in CivilizationStack.

[3.1] Environment Layer

• {Defining Landform}:{Plains, Waterfront, Island, Mountain, Valley, Plateau, Desert}

• {Natural Hazards}:{Frequency of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic activity}

• {Solar Exposure}:{Soft Metric: Proximity to Equator}

• {Temperature}

• {Altitude}

• {Topology}

• {Rainfall}

• {Drainage Pattern}:{Dendritic, Rectangular, Radial, Trellis}

• {Bodies of Water}

• {Natural Resource Concentration}:{Forests, Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, Metal, Stone, Sand}

• {Biodiversity}:{Diversity & Quantity of Flora, Diversity & Quantity of Fauna}

• {Quantity of Apex Predators}:{Potential Non-Human Threats to Humans}

• {Quantity of Other Human Settlements}:{Potential Human Threats to Humans}

• {Agricultural Land Area}

  • {Degree of Circumscription of Agricultural Land}: Does the agricultural land extend in a vast expanse or is its spread being curtailed by geographical barriers?

  • {Population Pressure on Agricultural Land}: How much of the total agricultural land is currently being used? How much of the land currently in use is being used to its limit?

  • {Human Carrying Capacity}

I start the Environment Layer with the concept of {Defining Landform} since the theme of geography influencing the character and governance of populations is commonly mentioned in classical works of political philosophy. In particular, mountains, waterfront, and plains are cited most often, where:

• Mountain people are the hardest to govern,

• Waterfront people are most likely to become merchants and hence develop alternative sources of power, and

• Plains people are the easiest to govern.

The rest of the geographical measures are listed as ways to understand what type of flora, fauna, and resources to expect in your operating environment. Of particular importance is the convergence of {Rainfall}, {Drainage Pattern}, and {Bodies of Water}: where the water pools, life will gather. If you’re a Player operating in a time or place of subsistence, these factors will be crucial in defining your hunting grounds; moreover, in such a spatiotemporal context of subsistence, the {Quantity of Apex Predators} will loom larger in your concerns than for Players enjoying industrial wealth. The category of {Natural Resource Concentration} should be self-explanatory in a descriptive sense, although the emphasis is on the word concentration: how much of each resource is present, where are they present in your environment, and what is the density and accessibility of presence per location? The search costs, transportation costs, and extraction costs will determine which resources get pursued in what order. We must also consider the flora and fauna as resources that can be instrumentalized for human ends; within the broad pie of {Biodiversity} in your operating environment will be found flora that can be instrumentalized as agricultural crops, and fauna that be instrumentalized as beasts of burden and livestock. Finally, we can use {Agricultural Land Area} as a soft proxy for {Human Carrying Capacity}, independent of further technological inputs. What matters is not merely the total available agricultural land but how it is partitioned:

• By geographical factors like mountains, deserts, and bodies of water, and

• By the presence of other human populations in your operating environment.

Finally, the {Quantity of Other Human Settlements} is highlighted since other Players in your operating environment, for most spatiotemporal contexts, constitute the single greatest threat to your well-being while also potentially being another form of resources to be exploited. Historically speaking, where there are conflicting groups of humans competing for limited resources in a given territory, wars emerge and the losers of said wars tend to become slaves (especially so when resource competition is elevated); just as flora and fauna can be instrumentalized, so too can your fellow humans. Note that if your operating environment is resource rich and expansive, losers of human conflicts can simply move to new plots of land and the aggressors won’t necessarily have the same incentives towards the maniacal conquest and enslavement of outgroups.

[3.2] Settlement Layer

• {Defense Infrastructure}: How does your settlement defend against apex predators and other human populations? What fortifications are present?

• {Internal Order Infrastructure}: How does your settlement maintain internal order? Where are your regime enforcers located? How are various categories of lawbreakers and criminals managed?

  • {Surveillance Infrastructure}: What surveillance mechanisms exist within the settlement for monitoring societal behaviour in the pursuit of maintaining safety?

• {Dwelling Infrastructure}: Where are the residential units located in your settlement? What are the different types of dwelling permutations and what is each type’s share in the total composition?

• {Transportation Infrastructure}: How do people and goods travel to, from, and within your settlement?

  • {Transportation Hubs}: Where are the major agglomerations of people in transit – for instance, ports, train stations, and airports – located? How are these hubs integrated with the broader transportation and market infrastructure?

• {Communication Infrastructure}: What forms of synchronous and asynchronous communication exist in your settlement along one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many paradigms?

• {Water Supply Infrastructure}: How is potable water provisioned in your settlement?

• {Waste Management Infrastructure}: How is human and non-human waste managed in your settlement?

• {Energy Infrastructure}: How is energy produced and distributed in your settlement? What is the energy mix of your settlement? Which energy source fuels the prime movers in your settlement?

• {Market Infrastructure}: How are goods and services distributed, priced, and exchanged within your settlement?

  • {Food Supply Infrastructure}: How does the settlement ensure a steady supply of food? Are there local farms, markets, storage facilities, or imports? How is food stored and distributed?

• {Production Infrastructure}: Does your settlement contain districts where value is added to raw materials in the production of commodities for use or trade? If not, are you a net importer of finished goods and, if so, where are you importing from?

• {Health Infrastructure}: How does the settlement provide healthcare, including hospitals, clinics, and emergency services? Are there quarantine areas for diseases or public health systems in place?

• {Educational Infrastructure}: Where are the institutions of learning (knowledge:what) and training (skills:how) located? How is education distributed across different levels (primary, secondary, higher education)?

• {Knowledge Infrastructure}: How is knowledge stored, accessed, and disseminated? Traditionally this includes libraries, archives, and research centers; modern permutations might involve dedicated server farms housing mission critical data.

• {Public and Cultural Space Infrastructure}: Are there venues for cultural expression, such as theatres, museums, parks, or sports facilities? Where are the spaces to hold public ceremonies (e.g. Christmas festivities) and events? Are there locations for holding legitimate protests?

• {Religious Infrastructure}: Where are the venues of worship in your settlement?

• {Governance Infrastructure}: Where are governance decisions deliberated upon and formalized in your settlement?

• {Emergency and Disaster Response Infrastructure}: How does the settlement prepare for and manage natural disasters, fires, or other emergencies? What contingency resources have been set aside, if at all?

I have tried to streamline the total number of categories listed under the Settlement layer – balancing conciseness against clarity – and, yet, it is still a sizeable checklist of factors to consider. Every category listed above could be addressed with several textbooks, let alone mere paragraphs. As such, I will leave the skeleton structure as is and, instead, focus on what is relevant in the context of CivilizationStack: how the Player interfaces with the Settlement layer. At core, this framework is dynamic – we are assessing human phenomena over time. With the progression of time, the implementation quality of the various social functions nested under the Settlement layer will change, either for the better or for the worse. Ameliorating and deteriorating aspects of the Settlement layer will affect a given Player’s threatened Satiations and pursued unmet Needs, prompting the initiation of various Events. What is also worth considering is the state of the Settlement in a Player’s childhood versus said state in adulthood – what does the Player consider as “normal” and how does this definition of “normal” differ between generations? There are human settlements in the current year, for instance, that have not even operationalized all of the factors listed here: how would a Player experiencing this subpar settlement compare against his grandchildren, 50 years later, experiencing a full maturation of their settlement in terms of developmental standards? In other words, contained in the differential evolution of a settlement over the course of time are the seeds of conflict between generations who have different baseline Satiations and Needs.

In order to operationalize this time-based insight, either for a Player or for an Organization, we need 2 time slices of the Settlement layer: a point of reference (“back in my day…” Well, yes, which year are you referring to?) and the current moment. Capture all of the salient features for each of the time slices and make notations of upward-pointing arrows and downward-pointing arrows along categories of the Settlement layer that have materially changed. Wherever you have placed an arrow is a likely venue of future conflict where Players may initiate Events.

[3.3] Society Layer

• {Population Size}

  • Total population count

  • Population growth rate

  • Proportion of population increase (natural vs. migration-related)

  • Historical population trends

• {Population Density}

  • Density per unit area

  • Regional distribution (urban vs suburban vs rural)

  • Crowding index (households per unit area)

  • Carrying capacity of the environment

• {Age Structure}

  • Dependency ratio (children + elderly relative to working-age adults)

  • Median age

  • Youth (0-14), working-age (15-64), elderly (65+) cohorts

  • Life expectancy and aging trends

  • Key visualization tool: Population Pyramid

• {Fecundity}

  • Crude birth rate (births per 1,000 population)

  • Total fertility rate (average number of children per woman)

  • Adolescent birth rate

  • Contraceptive prevalence and family planning access

• {Health and Disease}

  • Prevalence of diseases

  • Healthcare access

  • Life expectancy

  • Overall health status

• {Mortality}

  • Crude death rate (deaths per 1,000 population)

  • Infant mortality rate (deaths of infants under 1 year)

  • Maternal mortality rate

  • Leading causes of death (e.g., diseases, accidents)

• {Migration}

  • Immigration rate (people moving in per 1,000)

  • Emigration rate (people leaving per 1,000)

  • Internal migration (rural-to-urban, etc.)

  • Net migration (difference between immigration and emigration)

  • Refugee or asylum-seeking populations

• {Sex Ratio}

  • Birth sex ratio (at birth)

  • Adult sex ratio (after reproductive age)

  • Sex ratio by age group

  • Gender imbalance due to migration or cultural factors

• {Ethnic, Cultural, & Religious Composition}

  • Proportion of major ethnic groups in the population

  • Proportion of major linguistic groups in the population

  • Proportion of major religious groups in the population

  • Social integration and intermarriage rates

• {Family Structure}

  • Household size and composition (single-parent vs two-parent)

  • Marital status (single, married, divorced, widowed)

  • Average age of first marriage

  • Prevalence of extended families or multigenerational households

• {Employment}

  • Labour force participation rate

  • Employment sectors (primary, secondary, tertiary)

  • Unemployment rate

  • Types of employment (formal vs informal, part-time vs full-time)

  • Total number of roles and distribution of total population per role

• {Income Level}

  • Median household income

  • Income distribution (Gini coefficient)

  • Poverty rate

  • Wage inequality by sector, gender, or region

• {Education Level}

  • Literacy rate (by age and gender)

  • Enrollment rates (primary, secondary, tertiary education)

  • Average years of schooling

  • Quality of education (teacher-student ratio, access to resources) 

Just as with the Settlement layer, there is far too much in the Society layer to tackle individually – one is better served by reading a textbook on population demographics. That being said, I have tried to package what I would consider as the most salient parameters to get a feel for the contours of a given human population, in its aggregate form. The categories of data I have packaged here are useful whether your operations are of the commercial or political variety.

The way to use data that is compiled and structured according to the above parameters also mirrors the modus operandi mentioned in the Settlement layer: a dynamic approach that looks at the differences between two periods of time. Capture all of the data relevant to your intended operation at a reference period and in the current period. Look for any differentials and mark the data in your notes with either upward-pointing or downward-pointing arrows: understand that these will be areas of motivation where either Satiations will be threatened, or unmet Needs will be pursued by Players on your Stage.

Finally, just a note on understanding the Society layer as a component of the Stage. In the above parameters, we are looking at people not as individuals but as aggregates of characteristics. Take the unity that is your being and decompose it into its constituent parts; repeat this decomposition process for all people relevant to your operation; now, reassemble the decomposed constituent parts according to functional domains. Aggregates of functional tendencies operate much more like background structures – human tendencies and preferences coalesce in the aggregate as structures that either block or facilitate your intended operations. As will be discussed further on in the framework, while the Player can act upon the Stack, it is also equally true that the Stack can act upon the Player through these aggregate human attributes functioning as structuring elements.

[4.0] The Play

If the phenomena of social life were a grand symphony that we experienced as a unified sound, what would the orchestral divisions be? What are the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion sections of social life? This type of framing undergirds how I conceive of the Play in CivilizationStack. Experiential reality is phenomenally engaged with as a unified whole and yet there are many functional threads being stitched together at the interface where the Player meets the Play. What are these originating threads? Or, rather, what are the main categories of said originating threads?

In this section I will walk through the six layers of the Play, which correspond to the six capacities of a Player. Moreover, as a framework concerned with human action, to speak of a given layer is to speak of the organizations that are dominant within its sphere of phenomena. What this section amounts to, therefore, is a series of diagnostic tools to assess the major organizations that operate in your layers of interest. Of course, a single organization can and will have impacts on several layers so it is inevitable that a single organization will pop up several times while using the diagnostic tools of several layers.

[4.1] Sovereignty Layer

I define a Sovereign Organization as a group of people with the monopoly of violence in a given territorial demarcation. This definition does not rely on the Weberian notion of “legitimacy” to undergird the monopoly on violence – my departure from the Weberian version comes via the Chinese Legalists who operated during the Warring States period: to them, the mere possession of the monopoly of violence was itself its own legitimation. Who are you to complain about legitimacy when there is a boot on your neck, and you are unable to remove said boot from your neck? CivilizationStack operates under the Chinese Legalist notion of sovereignty since it can capture sovereignty both in its de facto and de jure instantiations. With this in mind, under this working definition, a group of bandits or pirates could be considered sovereign for very narrow pieces of territory; furthermore, although states declare de jure sovereignty over vast contiguous territories, it is very likely that their de jure claim is riddled with pockets of de facto sovereignty by held gangs, bandits, pirates, and foreign operatives instead of the de jure state.

Given the above definition, diagnosing Sovereign Organizations in a given territorial demarcation involves the examination of several key factors:

[4.1.1] Control of Military and Security Forces

• Observe which group or organization exercises control over armed forces, paramilitaries, police, or militias.

• A Sovereign Organization will be the one whose security apparatus dominates the territory, enforcing order through coercive force.

[4.1.2] Enforcement of Law and Order

• Pay attention to which group can enforce rules, settle disputes, and punish transgressions within the area.

• Whether the law is formally codified or informally established, Sovereign Organizations will demonstrate effective capacity to control human behaviour.

[4.1.3] Monopoly over the Use of Force

• Identify which group prevents others from using violence without its permission.

• The genuine Sovereign Organization will not tolerate competing factions or individuals using force independently within its controlled area.

  • As such, pockets of territory where the de jure sovereign diverges from the de facto sovereign(s) show us gaps in the enforcement of the de jure regime over its formally claimed territory.

[4.1.4] Territorial Boundaries and Control Points

• Look for evidence of control over key geographical features—checkpoints, borders, transportation hubs, or natural barriers.

• Sovereignty is often asserted by controlling access to and movement through territory.

[4.1.5] Presence of Symbolic Authority

• Even without formal legitimacy, Sovereign Organizations often display symbols of power—flags, uniforms, or controlled infrastructure.

• These symbols may mark the limits of their control and act as indicators of their authority over the population.

[4.1.6] Compliance of the Population

• Observe the behaviour of the people within the territory.

• The group that the majority of the population submits to, or at least avoids conflict with, is likely the true Sovereign Organization, even if this compliance is based on coercion rather than consent.

[4.1.7] Economic Control: Taxation, Resource Extraction, & Protection Rackets

• The entity that collects taxes or extracts resources (whether formally or informally) typically has control over the economic levers within a territory.

  • Even groups such as bandits or pirates often enforce "taxes" on those within their sphere of influence.

• Beyond formal taxation, see if the organization engages in protection rackets, wherein they charge for "protection" of businesses and trade, enforcing a de facto monopoly on economic activity.

Using the above factors, one can discern Sovereign Organizations – whether they be a state, a warlord, a criminal syndicate, or a bandit group controlling a small domain – and their associated organizational phenomena.

[4.2] Narrative Layer

Narrative Organizations – such as Churches, Political Parties, Cults, and Media Organizations – tell and sell stories through packaged media offerings; narratives in the context of CivilizationStack, thus, consist of all potential stories as conveyed through all potential mediums. However, more specifically, CivilizationStack narratives can be better framed as general purpose Kuhnian Paradigms that shape individual and collective worldviews; a deeply held worldview influences what we focus our attention on, shapes how we process the happenings of the world, and defines the courses of action that we deem obvious and legitimate.

Major Narrative Organizations and their productized narrative packages can be diagnosed through the following process, which walks through a society’s dominant storytelling structures, organizations, and cultural artifacts.

[4.2.1] Cultural Artifacts

Begin by investigating the cultural productions of the society in question, such as:

• {Art, Icons, and Monuments}: Artworks, symbols, and public monuments can embody and transmit powerful narratives about identity, history, and values.

• {Theatre, Folklore, and Storytelling Traditions}: Explore local myths, legends, and storytelling formats. Folk narratives often reveal deep-rooted worldviews.

• {Religious Texts and Practices}: Observe dominant religions or belief systems and analyze their core narratives, rituals, and how they influence societal values.

• {Books and Films}: Identify the most popular works of fiction and non-fiction, including bestsellers and highly influential or widely discussed works.

• {Media Consumption Patterns}: Look into major news outlets, television channels, radio shows, podcasts, social media platforms, and influencers.

[4.2.2] Key Organizations

Investigate organizations that serve as custodians and promoters of specific narratives. Look for:

• {Religious and Spiritual Organizations}: Churches, temples, mosques, and other places of worship that promote a coherent worldview based on particular texts and doctrines.

• {Political Parties and Movements}: These often present ideological narratives about governance, justice, and social order, shaping how people perceive their role in the world.

• {Educational Institutions}: Schools, colleges, universities, and research institutions are critical for transmitting knowledge and worldview narratives.

• {Media Organizations}: Identify dominant news outlets, entertainment industries, and online platforms that influence public perception and discourse.

[4.2.3] Dominant Ideologies

Look into the prevailing ideologies, such as nationalism, capitalism, socialism, environmentalism, among other permutations. These are often reinforced through specific narratives, which are sold by both formal organizations and informal networks.

• {Political Discourse}: Analyze how political leaders and media outlets frame key issues such as national identity, security, economics, and foreign relations.

• {Cultural or Ethnic Narratives}: Examine the stories that a culture tells about its origins, heroes, struggles, and values. These may be preserved through both formal institutions and everyday cultural practices.

[4.2.4] Narrative Conflicts

Investigate areas where narratives might be in conflict, as such points often reveal the most influential narrative organizations. Three salient narrative zones of conflict to map out include the following:

• {Religious Narratives vs Secular Narratives}: Look at how religious groups and secularists engage with each other.

• {Traditional Narratives vs Modern Narratives}: Examine tensions between proponents of modernization and those seeking to preserve traditional ways of life.

• {Domestic Narratives vs Foreign Narratives}: Identify narratives shaped by global media, external ideologies, or foreign policy influences that may challenge or coexist with local narratives.

[4.2.5] Public Sentiment

Pay attention to public opinion surveys, popular movements, and cultural festivals or events. These can reveal the narratives that resonate most deeply with the population.

• {Online Platforms and Social Media}: Track trending topics and popular opinions online. Social media influencers often serve as modern-day storytellers.

• {Grassroots Movements}: Explore how community organizations, activist groups, or social movements articulate their narratives in contrast to mainstream or dominant institutions.

[4.2.6] Legal and Political Structures

The legal framework and political systems often reflect the embedded dominant narratives, especially around concepts like justice, governance, and human rights.

• {Constitutional and Legal Documents}: These often codify foundational narratives, such as what constitutes citizenship, rights, and duties.

• {Public Speeches and Declarations}: Analyze speeches by politicians, religious leaders, or media personalities for recurrent themes or framing techniques.

By investigating the elements listed above, we can uncover the underlying narratives driving a given society’s worldview, along with the organizations that sell these packaged stories. For those who have read Kuhn, this process is akin to diagnosing paradigms: each Narrative Organization presents its own version of reality, and by recognizing the dominant and competing narratives, we can develop an understanding of how said narratives shape individual and collective perceptions.

[4.3] Technology Layer

This section will not make sense unless the definition of technology presented earlier in this framework is understood; in brief, technologies are standardized bodies of tools and techniques used to address formalized use cases that are derived from general problem areas. Please review this framework’s conception of: {Problem Area}, {Use Case}, and {Technology as Tools and Techniques}. Further, technological power consists of the use of tools and techniques to achieve maximum output at minimum input for a given category of phenomena. With these definitions of technology and technological power in mind, it’s easy to see how the main value proposition of technology is in the amplification of human capacity. The technology stack that we implement defines the ultimate impact and reach of our actions.

In order to diagnose the major Technology Development Organizations and their productized packagings of tools and techniques in a given society, we will follow the contours of the definitional structure I arrived at. We build on the key components of my idiosyncratic definition of technology: problem areas, use cases, tools, and techniques.

[4.3.1] Identify the Primary Problem Areas

• Start by analyzing the major problems that are faced by a given society, its industries, and its regional subdivisions. These problems can be in areas such as transportation, health, agriculture, manufacturing, communication, or defense. Differentiate between general problem areas that could be encountered across multiple societies and those that are specific to the environment, culture, or economic conditions of your society in particular.

• Look for recurring issues (e.g., energy shortages, transportation inefficiencies, deaths of despair) and try to assess how local Players conceptualize and prioritize these problems.

[4.3.2] Examine Formalized Use Cases

• Investigate how these problem areas are formalized into recognized challenges that people are actively trying to solve. Pay attention to where institutions or organizations invest resources (e.g., corporate R&D labs, VC-backed startups, government agencies).

• Look for common societal, corporate, or governmental use cases. For instance, an island nation might formalize naval security as a core use case and invest heavily in shipyards and shipbuilding.

[4.3.3] Map the Tools and Techniques

• {Tools}: Identify the key implements that interface directly with the problem area that has been formalized into a use case.

  • Transportation: in the use case of human transportation, the tools could be everything from electric vehicles to public infrastructure.

  • Agriculture: irrigation systems are tools that solve for the use case of crop growth, drones solve for the use case of crop management, and biotechnological advancements may be applied towards the use case of pest management.

• {Techniques}: Analyze the methods employed to optimize the use of these tools. Are they focused on efficiency, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, or scalability? Investigating dominant technical standards, engineering methodologies, or professional expertise will provide insights into the techniques at play.

[4.3.4] Identify Major Technology Development Organizations

Technology Development Organizations (TDOs) can include:

• {Private Companies}: Look for corporations that specialize in the design and production of technological tools. These companies often commercialize specific solutions to use cases and maintain dominant positions within the market.

• {Public Institutions}: Governments or publicly funded research centers often spearhead projects in areas like defense, health, or infrastructure. Investigate national technological agendas or major state-sponsored initiatives.

• {Educational Institutions}: Universities often drive innovation in various technological domains. Assess their partnerships with private companies or the government.

• {International Organizations or NGOs}: These entities may address problem areas like poverty, climate change, or public health through targeted technological interventions.

However, we cannot find TDOs directly through the way – that is, in a consumer-oriented fashion – that I have been framing use cases. The consumer-oriented use case is much too narrow of a way for an entire organization dedicated to technology development to internally frame themselves or to externally position themselves for funding. It is more likely for TDOs to define themselves according to a macro set of technologically-instrumentalized phenomena under which multiple specific use cases can be found. Without being exhaustive, the following is a broad array of technological domains that a TDO is more likely to use to frame themselves to investors or other funding bodies.

Mechanical Technology

• Definition: Tools and techniques that manipulate mechanical forces.

• Examples: Engines, hydraulics, robotics, gears, and turbines.

Electrical Technology

• Definition: Mastery over electricity and electrical forces.

• Examples: Electric circuits, batteries, power grids, and motors.

Electronic Technology

• Definition: The manipulation of electrons to create devices that process information or power.

• Examples: Transistors, microchips, sensors, and semiconductors.

Nuclear Technology

• Definition: Control over nuclear reactions, including fission and fusion.

• Examples: Nuclear reactors, atomic energy, and radiation technologies.

Software Technology

• Definition: Algorithms and digital processes designed to solve problems via computation.

• Examples: Operating systems, machine learning, applications, and databases.

Chemical Technology

• Definition: Mastery over chemical processes and reactions to manipulate matter.

• Examples: Pharmaceuticals, plastics, fertilizers, and combustion engines.

Biotechnological (Bio-Tech) Technology

• Definition: Use of biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives to develop products.

• Examples: Genetic engineering, CRISPR, vaccines, and fermentation technologies.

Information Technology (IT)

• Definition: Systems for storing, retrieving, transmitting, and manipulating data.

• Examples: Cloud computing, data centers, networking, and cybersecurity.

Telecommunications Technology

• Definition: Technologies that enable long-distance communication.

• Examples: Satellites, fiber optics, telephones, and wireless networks.

 Optical Technology

• Definition: Use of light (photons) to transmit, amplify, and process information.

• Examples: Lasers, fiber-optic communication, microscopes, and telescopes.

Aerospace Technology

• Definition: Mastery over flight and space exploration technologies.

• Examples: Aircraft, rockets, satellites, and drones.

Hydrological Technology

• Definition: Control and management of water resources.

• Examples: Irrigation systems, dams, desalination, and water purification.

Agricultural Technology

• Definition: Techniques and tools used to increase agricultural productivity.

• Examples: Precision farming, genetically modified crops, and irrigation.

Materials Technology

• Definition: Development and manipulation of materials for specific properties.

• Examples: Nanotechnology, alloys, polymers, and composites.

Energy Technology

• Definition: Technologies that generate, store, and distribute energy.

• Examples: Solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and geothermal systems.

Environmental Technology

• Definition: Technologies focused on mitigating environmental damage or improving resource efficiency.

• Examples: Recycling systems, carbon capture, and renewable energy technologies.

Construction Technology

• Definition: Tools and techniques used in building and infrastructure development.

• Examples: 3D printing in construction, smart buildings, and prefabrication.

Medical Technology

• Definition: Technologies designed to improve health and treat diseases.

• Examples: Medical imaging, prosthetics, diagnostics, and biomedical devices.

Nanotechnology

• Definition: Manipulation of matter on an atomic and molecular scale.

• Examples: Nanomaterials, nanosensors, and molecular machines.

Robotics and Automation

• Definition: Machines that can autonomously or semi-autonomously perform tasks.

• Examples: PLC, industrial robots, AI-driven automation, and self-driving vehicles.

Quantum Technology

• Definition: Use of quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement.

• Examples: Quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensors.

[4.3.5] Analyze Productized Technologies

Once you've identified these organizations, look at their packaged offerings: what standardized sets of tools and techniques are they selling or deploying? Consider:

• {Dominant Products}: Are there prevalent consumer technology packages (e.g., mobile phones with common apps), enterprise solution packages (e.g., ERP/CRM suites with common integrations), or industrial solutions (e.g., industrial machinery integrated with PLC automation software suites)?

• {Key Techniques}: What are the most commonly adopted methods for using these tools? Is there a cultural or operational emphasis on efficiency, tradition, innovation, or sustainability?

• {Exported/Imported Technologies}: What tools and techniques are native to the region, and what are imported from abroad?

[4.3.6] Understand Adoption and Side Effects

Explore how the use of technology impacts the local context of the society under examination.

• Consider unintended consequences of deploying a specific technology set.

  • For instance, imported technologies may have different side effects in this region compared to their original application.

• Explore secondary use cases that have been discovered for technologies originally meant

  • A common example is how railways were originally intended for mining use cases to transport ore – it was only much later that innovators realized this same technology could be used to transport people.

[4.3.7] Evaluate Technological Power

Assess how different organizations and their technological offerings amplify human capacity.

• The extent to which their tools and techniques increase efficiency, scalability, or other desirable metrics will help you diagnose their effectiveness and potential influence.

The diagnostic method outlined above can provide a holistic understanding of a region’s technological landscape, its major TDOs, and how these technology developers interact with problem areas and use cases relevant to their broader societal context.

[4.4] Economy Layer

In order to make the Economic Layer of this framework as useful as possible to the user, the main task was to strip away as much detail as possible in order to arrive at conceptual categories for the operator that were not weighed down by excessive minutiae. The way to frame the Economic Layer, from an operator's perspective, is how the symphony of economic phenomena allows one to accumulate resources. Economic Power (that is, Wealth), in this methodology, is the accumulation of resources to be operationalized as a steady-state buffer against exposure to the sinusoidal ups and downs of quotidian life. As such, we will view the end result of a Player’s economic activity – the tasks he performs for society – to consist of the resources that he accumulates to both survive and thrive in the world as he launches his projects. A further interpretation of economic power (wealth) in the context of Players trying to launch projects is that, depending on the projects’ goals, the mix of resources needed is not just mere currency but the full suite of materials involved in the project operations.

Of course, we could conceptualize the economy as something much more complex than what has been articulated here; however, added complexity is not needed, per se, for a given Player. In a given society, we diagnose Economic Organizations along their core functions – production, distribution, exchange, and consumption – with a guiding focus on how these organizations align with the accumulation of resources for Players to gain economic power.

[4.4.1] Production

{Key Question}: What are the primary sectors driving resource generation in this economy?

• {Identify Major Producers}: Look at dominant industries (e.g., agriculture, manufacturing, services, energy) and key production organizations (corporations, cooperatives, state-run enterprises).

• {Production Task Sites}: Observe how these production activities are geographically distributed and whether certain regions specialize in particular resources or tasks. This can also reveal centers of social and economic influence.

{Diagnostic Lenses}:

• Determine the primary industries by investigating the largest employers, exports, and regional hubs of economic activity.

• Identify whether production is more centralized (large organizations) or decentralized (local craft, farming, etc.).

[4.4.2] Distribution

{Key Question}: How do goods and services flow through the economy?

• {Distribution Channels}: Identify how resources and products move from producers to consumers (e.g., logistics companies, supply chains, digital platforms, marketplaces).

• {Distribution Sites}: Look for key transportation nodes such as ports, trade routes, or digital infrastructure that form the backbone of distribution.

{Diagnostic Lenses}:

• Observe key logistics hubs (airports, seaports, major warehouses) and identify the main companies or organizations controlling these channels.

• Examine how distribution networks are structured (centralized vs. decentralized, physical vs. digital).

[4.4.3] Exchange

{Key Question}: How does this society assign value and facilitate trade?

• {System of Valuation}: What serves as the basis of exchange? (e.g., currency, barter, digital tokens). This includes the prevailing currency, how it is stabilized, and the presence of alternative forms of valuation like bartering or digital economies.

• {Exchange Mechanisms}: Understand the mechanisms that facilitate exchanges (e.g., financial institutions, fintech platforms, local markets, global trade agreements).

{Diagnostic Lenses}:

• Investigate the financial infrastructure: key banks, stock markets, trade regulations, and the role of technology (e.g., blockchain).

• Observe how transactions are typically conducted and what alternative or shadow economies may exist alongside formal mechanisms.

[4.4.4] Consumption

{Key Question}: What are people consuming, and where does consumption occur?

• {Consumption Mix}: Identify the most in-demand goods and services (basic necessities vs luxury goods). How much is each item consumed relative to all other items being consumed by a given target demographic? Layer on concepts like market share and wallet share; more niche concepts like stomach share are applicable as you dive deeper into product categories.

• {Consumption Sites}: Where does consumption take place? (e.g., marketplaces, retail stores, online platforms). Per product category of interest, consider whether consumption is primarily local, regional, or global.

{Diagnostic Lenses}:

• Visit markets, shopping centers, and digital platforms to see what people are buying and how consumption patterns vary based on income or region.

• Determine whether local consumption is geared towards domestic products or heavily reliant on imports.

[4.4.5] Resource Accumulation (Economic Power: Wealth)

{Key Question}: How do individuals and organizations accumulate and store wealth?

• {Economic Power Structures}: Identify the major actors controlling wealth accumulation (e.g., oligarchs, large corporations, influential families, government entities).

• {Buffer Mechanisms}: Investigate the systems people or organizations use to stabilize their economic situation (savings, investments, land ownership, or insurance mechanisms).

{Diagnostic Lenses}:

• Analyze the wealth distribution (Gini index, income levels) and understand how wealth is stored (real estate, banking systems, informal networks, gold, luxury items, etc.).

[4.4.6] Macro Diagnostic Lenses: Integrate Insights Across Domains

• {Dominant Patterns}: Is production driving economic power, or does economic power rely more on distribution networks or exchange systems?

• {Powerful Gatekeepers}: Who controls key choke points in production or distribution (monopolies, government control)?

• {Dynamic Opportunities}: Identify areas where access to production or distribution can give a Player leverage, or where consumption trends suggest untapped opportunities.

By focusing on these diagnostic factors, Players can efficiently map out the key Economic Organizations without getting lost in minutiae. The lens of resource accumulation keeps the focus on operational leverage, allowing Players to quickly assess which sectors or organizations would be of interest to a Player launching a business or political venture. 

[4.5] Association Layer

Recall that, in CivilizationStack, the driving mechanism for a given Player involves his Interests, which are the sum of his Satiations and Needs. Satiations are where he is fulfilled in life – these lead to assumptions and non-actions – while his Needs in life lead to actions. Thus, a Player’s motivation to act in the world comes in two major forms: (1) actions to defend threatened satiations, and (2) actions to satiate unmet needs. With this mind, the Associational Layer of society is driven by the agglomerations of private interests into group interests and how said group interests determine the major factions of a given society.

Associations are the factions of society – I am speaking of private interest groups in the spirit of what Schattschneider described in his The Semisovereign People. Investigating civil associations consist of asking the question: how does society divide itself? If we assess all the Satiations and all of the Needs possessed by all individuals (as weighted by wealth and power) and assess the commonalities, we likely arrive at what eventually gets expressed as formal private interest groups in the form of foundations, institutes, NGOs, and lobby groups. These individual interests tend to aggregate into various collective interest groups,  which become the true factions of society. Genuine collective interests will tend to formalize into associations that advocate for and lobby for said interests. Moreover, these formal associations will tend to form coalitions with other aligned interests once they bump up against associations that advocate for counter, or at least non-aligned, interests.

Associational Power is the ability to interact effectively with others, to gather others as a collective under a common goal, and to instrumentalize this collectivity towards the attainment of said common goal. It is not the absolute size of a collectivity that matters – it is the total size that can operate effectively as a single unit. In other words, not a group, but a genuine team. Associational Power is the ability to consolidate a team and act as its leader in the attainment of a common goal.

The following section involves diagnosing the major (civil) associations, with the goal of determining the major factions in a given society. Moreover, an embedded goal is to arrive at an understanding of who the individuals or organizations are with the greatest Associational Power. The procedure is as follows:

[4.5.1] Map the Major Divisions of Society

• {Assess Satiations and Needs (Aggregate & Segmented)}: Begin by identifying the primary concerns that drive action or create stability in society. This involves mapping out the needs (economic survival, social recognition, etc.) and satiations (existing privileges or fulfilled desires) across various societal strata. This can be performed in aggregate or for desired segments – nonetheless, the aggregate analysis forms a baseline against which segments can be meaningfully compared, so engage in the aggregate analysis first.

• {Commonalities and Fractures}: Look for clusters of shared needs or satiations across different segments of the population. These clusters are the seeds of collective interests that form associations.

[4.5.2] Investigate Formal and Informal Organizations

• {Organizational Scan}: Identify formal private interest groups such as foundations, think tanks, NGOs, unions, professional organizations, and advocacy groups. This can be done through media analysis, government registries, or civil society reports.

• {Media and Public Discourse}: Analyze local news, social media, and public debates to spot recurring advocacy groups or coalitions that champion specific causes. Groups that repeatedly appear in discussions around political or economic issues are likely key actors.

• {Key Events and Causes}: Track the most significant movements, demonstrations, or campaigns. Associations that lead or have a visible presence in these events often wield considerable associational power.

[4.5.3] Track Alignments and Coalitions

• {Interest Alignment}: Identify coalitions or alliances formed among different associations. Groups with aligned interests often join forces to advocate for broader agendas. Mapping these alliances reveals factional groupings.

• {Opposition Dynamics}: Associations tend to clarify their agendas when faced with opposition. Determine who is positioned against whom in critical debates, revealing the main contending factions.

[4.5.4] Evaluate Leadership and Influence

• {Leadership and Spokespersons}: Find out who regularly represents these associations in public forums. Leaders who frequently appear in decision-making arenas or who can mobilize large followings signal associational power.

• {Resource Mobilization}: Identify associations that can quickly mobilize resources (funds, media coverage, people) toward action. This could be through events, lobbying efforts, or high-profile campaigns. The ability to galvanize collective efforts reflects effective associational power.

• {Membership Dynamics}: Investigate the structure of the associations. Do they have a broad but loosely organized base, or are they tight-knit, hierarchical organizations? Clannish and disciplined groups with clear leadership generally have greater operational power than diffuse networks.

[4.5.5] Analyze External Networks

• {International Ties}: Identify associations with foreign connections, such as partnerships with international NGOs or multinational corporations. These ties often expand influence, bringing in resources and legitimacy.

• {Corporate or Government Connections}: Some associations have strong ties with economic or political elites, amplifying their power through informal networks. Identifying these connections can reveal hidden layers of associational power.

[4.5.6] Identify Key Brokers

• {Power Brokers}: In any society, certain individuals act as bridges between factions. These individuals often have cross-cutting influence, engaging multiple associations and mediating between coalitions. These brokers are crucial in shaping the outcomes of associational conflicts.

By sequentially piecing together these analytical components, insight can be gained into the major factions, their associations, and the individuals or organizations with the greatest associational power. A successful diagnosis balances both formal organizations and informal social dynamics to capture the true factional divisions within the society under examination.

[4.6] Governance Layer

In CivilizationStack “governance” is a shorthand for rules (we are deliberately avoiding the term “institution”) and rights. For, the governance of a polity involves the setting of rules and the allocations of rights, answering the questions: how does our polity function and which groups are accorded privileges over others? Note that rules can also be thought of along the lines of processes; the concept of rules paints a static picture, while the concept of processes projects a dynamic motion picture onto the canvas. For those who prefer to represent social phenomena using biological models, the notion of processes should prove more useful.

In turn, Governancial Power is the ability to define the core, living and breathing, rules that undergird how society functions and to grant privileges to some groups over others within said society. What is so devious about the power to determine the rules of societal operation and the rights of privilege is that embedded in their joint application in unison is the subtle ability to determine what the core issues are that can even be considered politically debatable. Defining societal rules is literally the power to determine what game we’re all playing and to elevate certain classes of people above others defines the operative attributes that will be most rewarded under the current game’s ruleset.

The following section outlines how to diagnose the major Governancial Organizations in a given society; the goal is to determine those in possession of the greatest Governancial Power and to identify the major rules and rights operative in the society under examination.

[4.6.1] Identify the Formal Structures of Governance

• {Constitutional and Legal Framework}: Look at the state's constitution (if applicable), major legal codes, and foundational documents to understand the formal rules that structure political, economic, and social life. These documents often highlight the foundational rights and privileges granted to citizens, specific groups, or organizations.

• {Legislative Bodies}: Identify which bodies have the power to legislate and determine the scope of their legislative authority. This might be a national assembly, parliament, or local councils, depending on the political structure.

• {Judicial System}: The courts often play a role in interpreting and enforcing rules. Examine how the judiciary functions and how it might interpret or challenge existing laws and rights.

• {Executive Bodies}: Understand how executive power is wielded and how rules are enforced through administrative mechanisms (e.g., ministries, government agencies).

[4.6.2] Look at the Informal Mechanisms of Governance

• {Cultural and Religious Norms}: In many societies, unwritten cultural, religious, or social norms exert as much influence as formal laws. Pay attention to how these norms shape behaviour and allocate privileges within society. For example, in certain theocratic or traditional societies, religious leaders may exert substantial governancial power.

• {Customary Law and Traditions}: Especially in societies with a strong emphasis on local or tribal governance, unwritten customs may govern critical aspects of life and allocate privileges, operating parallel to or even in place of formal legal systems.

[4.6.3] Examine the Power Structures around Specific Issues

• {Key Political Issues}: Identify the main political debates or societal concerns that dominate public discourse. Often, the rules governing the most contentious issues (e.g., land ownership, resource allocation, civil rights) are central to understanding governancial power.

• {Media and Public Discourse}: The media plays a significant role in shaping what is considered politically debatable. Analyze which issues dominate the media and public sphere and who is controlling the narrative. This will help you understand how the theatrical stage of political debate is set up.

[4.6.4] Map out the Privileged Groups

• {Who Holds Privileges?}: Investigate which groups, classes, or identities hold the most social, political, or economic privileges. Is privilege based on wealth, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or political connection? Understanding who benefits from the current ruleset gives insight into which classes are being elevated.

• {Political Patronage}: In many societies, political favours and privileges are granted through patronage networks. Identify who receives these favours and which organizations are tied to those in power.

[4.6.5] Assess Control of Organizations

• {Major Political Parties and Movements}: Determine which political parties or movements are in power and how they influence rulemaking. Look at their platforms and their historical role in shaping legislation and policy.

• {Non-Governmental Power}: Some major organizations, such as business conglomerates, religious institutions, or influential NGOs, may exercise significant control over rules and rights, despite not being formally part of the state apparatus. These groups might lobby for specific privileges or influence key decisions around the allocation of rights.

[4.6.6] Evaluate the Enforcement Mechanisms

• {Sovereign Backing}: Examine how the rules and rights are enforced (via coercive force) and who controls the enforcement. This can be the state’s military, police forces, or other coercive institutions, and is key to distinguishing governance from mere prescription.

[4.6.7] Diagnosing Governancial Power

• {Rule Changes}: Who has successfully pushed for major legislative or policy changes in the past? This indicates where the power to alter or maintain the rules resides.

• {Group Elevation}: What demographic or interest groups have seen increased privileges or status over time, and who has advocated on their behalf?

• {Public Debates}: Who or what organizations control the narrative parameters of major public debates? Pay attention to what issues are being suppressed or emphasized, and by whom. Who benefits – directly or indirectly, via first order effects or via second order effects – from the current selection of issues?

[4.6.8] Macro Diagnostic Tools

• {Interviews}: Speaking to local political analysts, academics, or activists can provide insight into which individuals and organizations wield governancial power.

• {Media Analysis}: Examine both state-run and independent media sources to see what is being highlighted or downplayed in public discourse.

• PPolicy and Legal Reviews}: A close examination of laws, policies, and judicial decisions will reveal who has the power to shape rules and privileges.

By following these steps, one can systematically diagnose governancial power structures and the major organizations or individuals shaping governance in the society under examination. Moreover, this methodology highlights the incorporation of informal mechanisms of governancial power in order to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of how governance actually operates in practice. These less formal systems can be just as influential as de jure laws and institutions, especially in societies where traditional or cultural norms hold significant sway.

[5.0] Modes of Interaction

Now that all of the core components – Player, Stage, and Play – of this framework have been articulated, we can thread them together into a unified whole and demonstrate how this framework can be used: a product demo, so to speak. In this framework there are three main modes of interaction: Player Upon Stack, Stack Upon Player, and Plotting the Play. However, before going there we have one last piece to articulate: a metaphor of how to conceive of the Player as embedded in this dynamic stack.

[5.1] The Prism-and-Flashlight Model of Players in the Stack

• Player Definition: Envision every Player as a flashlight attached to a prism. The flashlight is related to Player Output; the prism is related to Player Input.

• Event Definition: An Event is an action taken by a Player that affects at least one other Player. In this model, an Event is a Beam of Light that strikes at least one other prism.

• Player Output: the Event-as-beam-of-light that strikes the Player-as-prism is immediately experienced as a singular entity. Thus, Player Outputs are categorically singular.

• Player Input: Just as a prism refracts a beam of light into a rainbow, the Player processes the effects of the Event along its various functional domains – Sovereignty, Narrative, Technology, Economy, Association, Governance. Player Input processing is plural.

• Player Composition (Differential Responses): Not every Player is a pure prism and no two Players are the same – certain Players only allow certain colours to pass through them, such that the same Event can have different Event Effects according to the Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives of the Players in question. Further, no Player is necessarily the same prism over time – suspend your disbelief and allow for prismatic evolution such that Players will emphasize different colours at different stages in their respective time progressions through the Play. The nature of a Player’s prism will shift based on the Player’s previously experienced Events, evolving Interests, and changing Capacities over time.

• Stage Composition (Feedback Loops): Assume that society is a closed system for the purpose of this metaphor. Consequently, it can be conceived of as a dome of mirrors encircling all of the Players under examination. A Player that shines a beam of light on other Players will eventually have the second order effects refracted back upon himself, for a Player embedded in society cannot escape the downstream societal effects of the Events that he sets in motion.

With the above in mind, let us return to the simplified Player Model that was showcased in an earlier section:

The main purpose of creating the prism and flashlight model of the player is to place explicit emphasis on the inputs to (Event Effects) and outputs from (Event Initiation / Event Definition) a given Player. These concepts will be the main focus of the subsequent two modes of interaction.

[5.2] Mode of Interaction #1: {Player Upon Stack}

• Performing Action: Player

• Receiving Action: Stack

• Stack-Oriented Description: The passive Stack that is acted upon by the Player.

  • At the moment of the Event Initiation by the Player, envision the entire Stack as frozen in time while the Event unfolds.

• Player-Oriented Description: Output from Player

• Prism-and-Flashlight Model Description: The Player emits a beam of light.

  • Envision all prisms as frozen in place as the beam of light dynamically moves across the Stage.

• Analysis Artifact: Event Description (equivalent to: Event Initiation)

When a Player acts upon the Stage, and this act affects at least one other Player, an Event is produced. As such, the {Player Upon Stack} mode of interaction involves the creation of Event Definitions that capture the What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How. These are common narrative parameters and all CivilizationStack is providing is a stylized way of capturing them according to a common template.

• {WHAT}: Description of the Event. What actions were taken (or, tasks performed) and what situational context are these actions taking place in: describe the immediate chessboard and the moves being performed by the relevant pieces on said board. By immediate chessboard, we mean the active territory that is relevant to the movements under analysis – this is to be more fully articulated in the WHERE section. Sometimes it’s hard to determine the identity of the Player moving the pieces but we can see the moves being made – the nature of the moves being made may lead to details about the piece mover in due time. The mindset we need to hold in our head is one of dynamism: focus on the movement of the water, not the nature of the water. We are not here to diagnose the pH or salinity of water (e.g. the identity of the piece mover); we are here to see where the water is moving and where it is blocked, so that we can eventually direct the water’s motion ourselves.

• {WHERE}: Location of the Event. Fully articulate the immediate chessboard in which the movements of the Event take place. The level of detail should match the scale and scope of the actions under examination; moreover, do not limit the nature of the location to physical territoriality. Yes, the most typical use of this category will be to document Events that happen in a given city, at a given intersection, in a specific floor of a given building. However, a Narrative Event, could be an asynchronous comment section online or an examination of a full canon of works that develop an ideological creed, again, asynchronously. An Associational Event location could be a synchronous Zoom call. A location is merely the point of gathering and the nature of the gathering can be of a physical or virtual nature, and either temporally synchronous or asynchronous; the location is an anchor in the stream of time.

• {WHEN}: Time of the Event. Understand “time” here in both the chronological sense and what can be understood as a “patterned moment of occurrence.” Chronological time will be the most common way of using this category: an Event that occurs between 2pm and 4pm on March 17^th, 2017, for instance. However, for a Player focusing on solving problems with a technological or commercial solution, the nature of the time domain can be as broad as “when people are hungry.” Layering in the Location factor also makes for very niche uses of the Time domain: “when people are hungry” for an intersection that has a gym and a restaurant next to each other can be reduced to “when people are hungry after a workout.”

• {WHO}: The person or people affected by the Event. The Players who cause the Event are to be diagnosed in the WHY section; in CivilizationStack’s Event Definition template, when we talk about a WHO, we mean the people affected by an Event. Do not concern yourself with the personal stories of the people affected – those are mostly immaterial to the Event Definition unless we are dealing with an Event affecting a singular individual. Answer the following questions:

  • How many people were affected?

  • How deeply were the people affected? What’s the distribution of the Event Effects?

  • What are the Roles of the people involved? This can be ascertained by virtue of the What occurring at the Where and When. More specifically, define the individuals’ Roles both nominally (Doctor, Plumber, Banker etc.) but how they fit the dynamics of the specific Event in question. The Event dynamics impose a macro frame that is more important than the mere nominal positions that people fulfill in society. For instance, in a meeting of a given professional association, a policy debate could be occurring, and we could analyze the professionals involved not just by their profession but by their factions in the debate – those factional divisions are more important to the Event than merely calling everyone an Engineer or Lawyer at an Engineering or Law professional gathering.

  • Where relevant: what are the demographic and psychographic factors of the people affected by the Event? If time permits, the level of granularity possible here is immense – choose the level of granularity that suits your operative needs.

    • Demographic Factors: age, gender, income level, education level, occupation, marital status, family size, ethnic background, religious affiliation, household composition.

    • Psychographic Factors: lifestyle, values and beliefs, personality traits, hobbies and interests, motivations and desires, pain points and fears, cultural influences, attitudes toward change, media consumption habits.

    • Segmentation Categories:

      • Behavioural Segmentation: shared behavioural patterns.

      • Cultural Segmentation: shared cultural backgrounds.

      • Lifestyle and Interest-Based Segmentation: shared time expenditures on common activities.

• {WHY}: Motivations for the initiation of the Event; speculation on the identity of the Event Initiator(s). Though crude, answering cui bono (who benefits?) can often point in the general direction of who might have initiated the Event, without being clear on the specifics. This is a crude tool because there can be many layers of mediation between the instigator of an Event (funds, resources, planning, doctrines, methodology etc.) and the hands that merely carry it out. As a point of principle, allow the WHY category to be something that is initially blurry but that will achieve clarity over time. Moreover, over-speculation on motives can detract from the real work of dealing with the Event Effects and developing counter-Events. Remember: we’re here to understand the movement of water so to eventually direct it ourselves, not to perform pH analysis. It is possible to create Counter-Events that nullify the effects of a given Event without ever knowing who initiated the original Event that you are responding to – we may not be able to see the Player facing us across the board but the pieces and the board are what we can materially deal with. So deal with them and leave WHY as an evolving curiosity.

• {HOW}: The mechanisms (Tools and Techniques) through which the Event materialized. Consider this as a subsidiary section of WHAT; WHAT describes that which occurred and HOW describes the mechanisms of that occurrence. If you are motivated to create a Counter-Event, understanding HOW is one of the more important pieces of the puzzle; however, if you are aggregating multiple Events into a larger narrative, HOW may only be a passing curiosity if there are common means of instigating multiple Events. Taking the chessboard lens, HOW is describing the means by which a piece moves from its initial place to its final place over a single move – we are focused on the moving water and any analysis of tools and techniques is concerned with said movement. Again, the room for granularity here is immense so adjust your level of analysis according to your operative needs.

[5.3] Mode of Interaction #2: {Stack Upon Player}

• Performing Action: Stack

• Receiving Action: Player

• Stack-Oriented Description: The active Stack, as an aggregate of all Players performing the Play on the Stage, that acts upon the Player.

• Player-Oriented Description: Input to Player

• Prism-and-Flashlight Model Description: A beam of light strikes a Player or a group of Players. For the duration of the Event-as-beam striking all relevant Players-as-prisms, freeze all of the prisms in the purview of the beam. Visualize how the beam of light refracts through all of the in-range prisms and, further, how the post-prism refracted light hits the dome of mirrors.

• Analysis Artifact: Event Effects Analysis, Shorthand and/or Detailed

Society is riddled with embedded feedback loops: any Event that is enacted upon a given Player is experienced phenomenologically as if the entirety of the Stack were acting upon said Player. We don’t experience an Event according to its segmented constituent parts – the Event is experienced as a singular performance and a given Player merely avoids the full experience by virtue of his or her idiosyncratic mixture of Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives. When a financial crisis hits Society, the Player who is wealthy merely feels the economic portion of the crisis much less severely; nonetheless, said Player’s local golf club may have fewer members due to a few bankruptcies such that Mr. Wealthy still feels the effects of the crisis in his Associational circle. With this in mind, the {Stack Upon Player} mode of interaction involves drawing out the effects of a given Event along its six Play parameters and three Stage parameters and showing how these Event Effects influence the Players under examination according to their respective bundles of Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives. Thus, {Stack Upon Player} is not just about the Event Effects in general, but about their very particular and uneven influence upon the slice of society that you are interested in. The emergence of a Hot Civil War has a very different effect upon the rural gun enthusiast as it does upon the urban avocado toast enjoyer. Since this type of analysis can get quite granular, there is a both a Shorthand and a Detailed version of the Event Effects Analysis that can be engaged in.

[5.3.1] Shorthand Event Effects Analysis: OTRs

When time is limited and you need to develop a quick understanding of the main factors at play, without necessarily focusing on the Player-specific effects, the Shorthand Event Effects Analysis should be used. The six functional domains of the Play are compressed into three complementary aggregates; the Stage is ignored along with a target Player. The true use case of the Shorthand is as a mental model to run through while you are experiencing a given Event – use it to regain composure in the moment and to short-circuit panic reactions. Think of it like a Litany – a little axiomatic verbal recitation to lock yourself in (“Fear is the mindkiller…”), elevating immediate performance over long-range analysis. The Shorthand is thus:

• {Sovereign-Narratival}: Order and Orthodoxy

• {Techno-Economic}: Tools, Techniques, Tasks, Trade, and Treasure

• {Associo-Governancial}: Rifts , Rules, and Rights

An attempt has been made to use alliteration as a memory-enhancing device at the expense of the purity of conceptual expression. As such, please allow the liberty taken with words like Treasure and Rifts; even Trade and Order are not necessarily conceptually what the six functional domains are designed to capture. However, Litanies need to be able to be spoken in the heat of the moment; thus, one is to speak the Os, then the Ts, followed by the Rs in rapid succession – once you recite the word, make a mental note of any deltas (+ or -) or steady states. As a conceptual linking, I am aware that OTR is sometimes used as an abbreviation for “On The Road” and you should only be using these CivilizationStack OTRs while you are metaphorically (or literally) on the road and unable to engage in a more detailed analysis of the unfolding Event phenomena in which you are embedded.

[5.3.2] Detailed Event Effects Analysis

For the Detailed Event Effects Analysis, we use the Player Model as a working template and simply ignore the rightmost column:

The process of engaging in a Detailed Analysis is as follows:

1. Using the information that has been outlined in the Stage and Play sections, describe all the relevant Event Effects from Environment to Governance.

2. Using the information that has been described in the Player section, outline the Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives for the Players in the slice of society that your analysis is focused on.

3. Finally, with a little creative liberty, determine how the idiosyncratic package of Interests, Capacities, and Operating Narratives for your desired Players shape how said Players selectively experience the layers of the Stack that are acting upon them from a given Event. A rule of thumb is that a Player’s Satiation along a functional domain, more often than not, blocks Event Effects along said functional domain (again, for example, Mr. Wealthy not feeling the full effects of a financial crisis).

[5.4] Mode of Interaction #3: {Plotting the Play}

• Narrative Artifact: Narrative Scatter Plot Graph (aka: Narrative Plot)

  • X-Axis: WHEN (Chronological or “Patterned Moment of Occurrence”)

  • Y-Axis: WHO, Player Density per Event (Number of Affected Players)

• DOT on a Narrative Plot: represents an Event Definition

• LINE on a Narrative Plot: represents an Event Effect that is causing Conflict (threatens a Satiation, provokes the pursuit of an unmet Need) for a set of Players. When we link two dots with a line, we are saying that Event Definition #1 has Event Effects that are causing a societal Conflict that leads directly to Event Definition #2 among the Players under analysis.

• Baseline Caveat: There are many Event Effects that you cannot see on your own. The Narrative Plot is merely a way for you to make sense of the Events in your direct line of sight. Your goal is not to map the entire world; instead, map the section of the world that is relevant for you to take the next step or the next few steps in your operations.

The mode of interaction that I have termed as {Plotting the Play} involves taking a step back from the Stage – to momentarily become an Analyst instead of an Operator – and to piece together all relevant Events that are impacting your operations. This is fundamentally about mapping the flow of conflict that is affecting the Players that you have your eye on.

In CivilizationStack, the grand narrative of the Play involves unending conflict at the system level. There is never a resolution; rising actions hardly achieve climax. What we experience is a continual layering of conflicts and any attempted (local) solutions merely cascade into more (system-wide) conflicts. The art of engaging in the grand narrative of the Play is to preserve an island of Order in your corner of the Stage while offloading Disorder to other corners. As an operator, you are not an idealist, you are not a utopian; with your limited time and resources, achieve your objectives for your sphere of interest, the others be damned. We leave those with the luxury to hold luxury beliefs, the luxury to engage in luxury pursuits. Thus, this is how Operators plot the play:

1. Before you start this process, you should have already defined which groups of Players you’re interested in, created a relevant number of Event Definitions, and performed at least Shorthand Event Effects Analyses per Event Definition. These are the necessary ingredients before we can cook the {Plotting the Play} recipe.

2. Take out a blank sheet of paper. Grab a writing instrument. If you’re plotting more Events than can fit on a letter sheet of paper, you’re diving too deep for the level of analysis relevant to an ongoing operation.

3. Draw a horizontal line – this is the X-axis. Label the line according to your desired permutation of WHEN:

   1. Chronological. Choose the recurring unit of time that makes sense for the chronology of the Events that you are considering: Years, Months, Weeks, Days, Hours, etc.

   2. Patterned Moments of Occurrence. In order to zero in on the phenomena you care about, you are going to divide the horizontal line in half and create a binary of: (1) Patterned Moment, and (2) Not Patterned Moment. For example, this could be “when people are hungry” and “when people are not hungry.” Focusing on patterned moments means you are assuming there is some cyclicality to the behaviour such that you can imagine your graph being one cycle slice of a longer sinusoidal graph that has patterned cyclical repetitions across time.

4. Draw a vertical line – this is the Y-axis. Label the line as “Number of People Affected per Event.” Here, the scale of the axis depends entirely on how much data you have on hand. This can be a numerically specific axis; however, if information is lacking the bare minimum you can do is divide the axis line in two along these parameters: (1) Relevant Number of Affected Players, and (2) Irrelevant Number of Affected Players. The definition of relevance is for you to decide according to the parameters of your operation.

5. According to the X-axis and Y-axis parameters, plot your Event Definitions as Dots.

6. Considering the Event Effects per Event Definition, draw lines between Events when the Conflict inherent in Event #1 leads to Event #2.

7. For the longest constructed line, read the Event Definitions and Event Effects in precisely the order that the narrative line suggests. What insights can you derive from this re-reading of the narrative flow?

8. Get ready to act: it’s time for an Event Initiation.

[5.5] Event Initiation

Given how much background work has gone into this moment, the final stage of preparing to act is fairly easy – the construction of a Narrative Plot gives us a lay of the land, a map, in which we can situate our present position, so as to navigate our operation forward by initiating an Event. Preparing plans for an Event Initiation is as simple as going back to the parameters that we used for Event Definitions: instead of describing what occurred in the past, we describe an Event that we want to craft in the immediate future. We are focused on the immediate future because numerous factors can shift the narrative flow that we just derived from the Narrative Plot, including an Event initiated by other Players. In any case, decide on the What that occurs at a Where and When, affecting a Who because of a Why through the use of a How. Commit to performance and let the Play unfold.

[6.0] Document Administration

• Original Author: Ian Gerald King

• Original Publication Date: 03-OCT-2024

• Revision Number: 0

• Revision Date: 03-OCT-2024

• Revision Author: Ian Gerald King