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?