The figure
two (2) is quasisymmetric with the figure five (5). This pairing is
echoed in the alphabet by the letters ‘Z' and ‘S' (whose shared consistency
across case and phonetic coherence has been taken by figural grammarians
as indicative of a zygophidian - or ‘forked-tongue' - cultural source).
The
figure ‘2' designates the number two, the first and definitive even
number, and the first prime (second prime = 3).
The
encounter with the irrationality of the square-root of two has special
importance in the disturbance of Hellenic (‘rationalistic') arithmetic.
It is rumoured that the Pythagoreans resorted to assassination in
their attempt to suppress this discovery.
Two
digitally cumulates to three.
Numeric
Keypad direction: South
The
mechanical importance of bi-stable (on/off) micro-states within contemporary
electronic data-systems has resulted in a vast and diffuse cultural
investment in modulus-2 numeracy (pure place-value semiotics). ‘Digital'
and ‘binary-coded' have now become almost synonymous in their colloquial
usage.
Perhaps
the supreme exemplar of a binary-numeric system is that of the ancient
Chinese I Ching (or ‘book of changes'), which involves both binary
numeracy (of broken and unbroken lines) and double-numbering (of numeric
hexagrams tagged by a series of ordinal numbers). It is Leibniz' study
of this text which elaborates the first Western example of modern
binary arithmetic.
The
syzygetic (or zygonomous) power of two is a productive of an entire
series of subtly differentiated binary concepts, which include: coupling,
twinning, doubling, polarity, schism, contrast, balance, opposition,
and reflection.
Binarity
is multiply ambivalent. It conspires with both the certainties of
analytical reason in general, by way of two-value logics (governed
by the principle of the ‘excluded middle'), and also the uncertainties
of dialogue, or ‘two-way' communication. It is associated - equally
or unequally - with both justice (even-handedness, seeing both sides
of a ‘dilemma'), and deceit (two-faced, two-timing, double-dealing
...).
Duality
is particularly widespread within biological order, from the ‘base-pairs'
of (RNA and) DNA code, through the binary fission of bacterial propagation,
the (binary) sexual difference of meiotic reproduction, to the bilateral
symmetry of the typical vertebrate organism with consequent pairing
of limbs (arms, legs), sense-organs (eyes, ears), lungs, brain-hemispheres,
etc. ‘Dual-organization' provides a basic model for primordial human
kinship structure.
Many
aspects of binarity are prominent within religious systems, whether
gods with two heads or faces (such as the Roman Janus, and the Deleuze-Guattari
gods of the State), twin gods (the Dogon Nommo, or the Zoroastrian couple
Ahriman/Ormuzd), divine couples (god-goddess pairings being widespread
throughout many religions), and twice-born gods (both Zeus and Dionysos
amongst the Greek pantheon, for instance). Hindu culture describes Brahmins
as ‘twice-born.'