This is a message as a comment on my earlier post of today on the 4-fold ecosystem of the CI field from David Beatty who has just asked me by email to post it for him because our spam-protecction software prevented him from doing it himself. (I guess, we will junk our “junkstopper,” now that the new version of Movable Type, our blog software can provide stronger protection.) Here comes David:

George,
I appreciated the ‘hey, look-at-this’ note a few minutes ago. Long time since we have had a conversation.
A 4 element structure is a very rich structure. I will limit myself to pointing out the relationships that a 4-fold enables.
1) You have the ‘purity’ of each of the four elements A B C D (which can also be subdivided, of course.)
2. You have the combos of the 4 elements AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD If you wish, you can also consider these as simultaneous, separate operating pairs, AB/CD, AC/BD, AD/BC,
3. You have the dynamism of the 3’s ABC, ABD,ACD,BCD,. Since a characteristic of 3 is the dynamic nature, you can read each trio as one of three forms. e.g. ABC ACB BAC BCA, CAB, CBA. reflecting the difference that comes when you consider first position as impulse, second position as reception, and third position as interactive product. (see J.G. Bennett, The Dramatic Universe, Vol.2, Ch.27,28 for more) If this dynamism is useful, (often is) that gives you 4 triads, each of which has 6 dynamic states.
4. And you have the ‘whole’ of all four creating a state of affairs.
Thus, while the four form does look simple, the importance of the choice of the most potent 4 terms is clear. (or maybe, it also indicates that our language of terms is a short-form code for much more complexity. (4/38ths!)
No wonder intelligence must be collective, continuously-changing, and self-reflective!!
regards
David B