scientific cool

Is there objective value to the vernacular assertion that human communities are somehow "more cool" than communities of non-sentient metazoans, which are themselves somehow "spiffier" than communities of microbes alone? If so, a more scientific definition of the assertion's meaning might be needed for a start.

Imagine that "cool" in the vernacular applies to things that in some positive way show evidence of unexpectedness i.e. KL-divergence from ambient or correlation-surprisal in bits. These might include:

• a blank or low-noise canvas (e.g. provided by that new carpet or that freshly painted fence),
• smart engineering (e.g. found in that Mercedes-Benz or that new i-phone),
• informed/evolved connections (e.g. discovered at a school reunion or in a new job),
• and what else?

Other synonyms for cool which might be considered in this same context include:

• keen, nifty, rad, amazing,
• appealing, spiffy, neat,
• just right, fashionable, in sync,
• correlated, together, unflustered,
• less random, chilly, heat sink,
• and what else?

The simplest quantitative measure of coolness as unexpected harmony may be the surprisal of throwing N heads on the first toss of N coins. This is guess what: N bits! Other more familiar practical quantities that also show this quality of unexpectedness include:

• available work e.g. in the form of food and gasoline,
• the variety of species and number of niche-layers in a community,
• and what else?

This might be a good place to expand futher on what these important quantities have in common.

multilevel public square

Recent developments in the transmission of ideas between citizens have included things like the vote, the opinion poll, and more recently the blog. Through such tools, communities draw strength from the logical and perceptual tools of all members.

Regional task-focused wiki's, added to this sequence, can (possibly with local government support) help create multiscale versions of the public square by nurturing real-time (24-7) constructive internal-community discussion about topics of shared interest. Such discussion might for instance take the form of unofficial but jointly-edited:

• event notes for the specific audience at hand,
  
• task protocols e.g. for getting something done like:
  
  • getting a tree removed,
    
  • avoiding a speed trap,
    
  • meeting occupancy requirements,
    
  • and what else?
  
  
• observation notebooks about processes of community interest like:
  
  • traffic hazards,
    
  • flooding,
    
  • questionable activity,
    
  • "brown tap water",
    
  • and what else?
  
  
• educational information on locally-specific matters e.g. like:
  
  • selling electricity to the grid,
    
  • getting certain plants to grow,
    
  • and what else?
  
  
• strategy discussions e.g. on making sure that a new electrical-transformer substation in the area is safe for residents,
  
• and what else?
  

The big picture

What if science not only took a tolerant view of belief systems, but saw them as an important part of the physical structure of communities. Indeed nature has been telling us for a long time that subsystem correlations are a key physical part of the world around.

For example science already recognizes the ordered energy that powers our vehicles, our appliances, and even ourselves. It also recognizes the mutual information associated with species diversity on our planet.

The next step may be recognition of layer-multiplicity in niche-networks as just one more ad hoc measure of subsystem correlations (i.e. net surprisal or KL-divergence with respect to ambient) that we'd like to nurture as best we can. Work that each of us is doing to support correlations looking inward/outward from the physical boundaries of skin, family & culture fit into this picture.

This is one way that science might provide us with a picture so big that all residents of our solar system could enjoy making it better, and more quantitative, over time.

Multiscale objectives

In spite of our primate origins, prestige among apes is important but not the only meaningful goal in life.

Trick question

Are polarizing questions more likely to: (a) be ill-posed and not bear repeating, or (b) show others to be much stupider than you?

Winning hearts & minds

Sell democracy by showing not that it has bigger bombs but that it works better sustainably.

In this context niche-network layer-multiplicity might serve as a cross-disciplinary measure of how well democracy works.

Like available-work & species-diversity, NNLM is a measure of complexity defined by the standing crop of correlated-subsystems.

Seen this lately?

Idea makes hay while bad guy catches glare! Where is this sometimes a problem?

Multiscale values

What does your conscience do to balance the doctor, mentor, parent, community-leader, cultural-guardian & scholar-scientist inside you?

Puzzle solving or evolving?

Is the fact that the beak of the New Zealand wry-billed plover slopes to the right, thereby helping the right eye quide the beak toward food under small river stones, related to the fact that right and left handed people respond more quickly to unexpected stimuli with their left hand?

This article suggests that the left brain in vertebrates supports solving behavior & in humans language. The right responds to the unexpected.

Which side do you rely on most?

Taste in questions?

There are empirical reasons to think that the appeal of black-and-white answers to uncritically-chosen questions is especially difficult to resist for communities under stress. This may be why demagogues sometimes thrive in bad economic times.

Hence it's probably a good idea to beware of folks who enthusiastically criticize others by monoscale categorization or in true-false terms. That's because ill-chosen questions, with simple answers, are likely one path by which complex life on our planet will begin to fold up its tent.

A better bottom line

Political folk are fond of "bad-mouthing" countries, groups & individuals who don't agree with them, with no respect for objectivity or balance. This is an element of human nature that on a crowded planet may work against temporary coexistence as well as long term sustainability.

An important repair for the bad effects of this tendency might be development of robust and objective tools for monitoring the impact of policy decisions and political strategies on community health. Niche-network layer-multiplicity is a tool based in the physical sciences which could work objectively, for now at least within communities of a single organism type, without regard for race, creed, species, or even solar system of origin. It can guide us away from Jerry Springer moments toward meaningful dialog (when that's what we want).

What will it take to develop it and put it to good use?

Relativity lesson

Unguided reactions to media communcations might be damped by better conceptual framing i.e. informed rearrangement of our idea maze.

Consider the shift in questioning style mandated by the discovery that time's passage is frame-dependent. Since our old ways of thinking and talking often assume that time's passage is universal instead, they may cause more confusion than they are worth.

In that case, the cognitive dissonance can be lessened by reframing questions. For instance, unless you want the resulting arguments to sound like a free-for-all on the Jerry Springer Show...:

• ...don't ask: Is that particular clock fast or slow?
• ...instead ask: How does the proper-time elapsed on that clock compare to: (i) the clock's elapsed-time reading and (ii) the time elapsed in a map-frame of co-moving yardsticks and synchronized clocks?

This second two-part question is better because it respects the fact that time's passage is frame dependent, and separates questions of clock-calibration (i) from questions about frame-dependent differences in how fast it appears to tick (ii).

What are some comparable guidelines for making media communications more robust?

Constructive refocus

Present day media likes to talk about problems with corruption by others. It's also fond of summarizing the numbers of people killed and injured. Both of these items relate to the structure of bonds in a community i.e. of layered niches of responsibility, but they make no attempt to capture the whole picture.

The multiplicity of niche types that look in and out from the skin, family and culture of each individual does attempt to capture the whole picture. When a disaster occurs or a wall is built between cities, what does that do the connections between people involved? How are these connections impacted by changes in governmental policy?

Although there are simpler ways to score social injury, progress bringing niche-network layer multiplicity in a community up near six can be a robust measure of accomplishment as well. Hence a news focus on this broader picture of social impact is probably worth working on, even if we have to work through a few pitfalls of biased representation along the way. Suggestions invited...

Integrative opportunity

The challenge of making available to everyone all six of the niche types that look in/out-ward from skin, family and culture provides a rational basis for working together across regional-community, belief-system, and professional boundaries.

Name two groups who distrust one another, and this platform provides a context for them to work together. How can we make the most of it, and what are some illustrative examples that come to mind?

Flatlining complexity.

Disrespect for perspectives informed to other levels of organization is an excellent way to lose those levels irreversibly. In fact slowing down this process may be a key challenge (not just for our species) during the second half of metazoan life on earth.

How might we help?

Are all roses roses?

Call all spades spades, and black hearts (not expected and hence easily mistaken for spades in a typical deck) may get carte blanche.

Media economics

What folks will pay for something like a home or a gold mine in light of the latest news-reports, and that something's thermodynamic net surprisal with respect to the physical ambient*, are two different things. How can we help one another not lose sight of the latter, as we adapt to the new-found mobility of cartoonifying news-reports across our planet?

* The technical term for this is Kullback-Leibler divergence.

Proactive spending

Discussions about the economy lately have been interesting: We want to give money to people, banks, etc. in hopes that they'll spend it willy nilly rather than save it. Wait a minute. Didn't we get in this mess by spending what we haven't earned on what we don't need?

A more proactive approach might be to give folks better reasons to spend what they have, regardless of where they got it. Most people already know that there are good as well as bad reasons to shop for ipods, video games, automobiles, and new places to live rather than to keep one's money in the bank or under a mattress. Perhaps it's time to dust off some of those reasons.

For instance, most of the challenges that face us in the years ahead involve taking care of correlations between ourselves and the world around on as many as possible of six levels. Connection diversity can at once be a measure of community health and resilience, as well as of individual accomplishment and satisfaction.

Putting money in the bank or under the mattress does very little for connection diversity, especially in times of economic uncertainty. What does? The answer is strengthening correlations that look inward and outward from three physical boundaries: that of your skin, your family, and your culture. Correlations on all six of these levels face severe challenges in the days ahead, and that's what each of us may want to spend some of what we have on now.

How can we get the media engaged in helping us do this as smartly as possible?