Field Science

The practice of applying the authority and methods of science to define and control a specific social, political, or cultural arena (the "field"). It's not about studying a field, but of creating a scientific domain where none existed before, often to legitimize intervention. This involves declaring a human activity (e.g., dating, parenting) a proper subject for scientific management, thereby elevating data-driven experts over lived experience.

Field Science Example: The rise of "Sleep Science" as a field used to dictate parenting. Experts use studies to proclaim the "one scientifically correct" way for a baby to sleep, turning parental intuition and cultural practices into "dangerous myths." The field justifies intrusive monitoring (baby sleep trackers) and creates anxiety, framing adherence to its protocols as moral responsibility.

by Dumuabzu February 8, 2026

Field Sciences

The collective body of disciplines that emerge from the process of Field Science. These are the organized, institutionalized knowledge systems that now govern areas of life once ruled by tradition, art, or personal choice. They produce the experts, journals, and metrics that define normalcy within their claimed territory.

Field Sciences Example: "Nutritional Science," "Exercise Science," and "Happiness Science" (positive psychology). Together, these field sciences have turned the basic human acts of eating, moving, and feeling into highly technical domains requiring expert guidance. They generate constantly shifting, often contradictory commandments that pathologize intuitive living.

by Dumuabzu February 8, 2026

Fractal Sciences

The collective term for the diverse fields that use fractal geometry and scaling analysis as primary investigative tools. This includes fractal physiology (diagnosing disease from heartbeat fractal scaling), fractal geology (characterizing porosity of oil reservoirs), fractal image compression, fractal antenna design, and fractal statistical mechanics. Fractal Sciences share a common methodology: quantify the scale-invariant properties of a system, and use those exponents as fingerprints of underlying generative processes.

Fractal Sciences Example: A cardiologist practicing Fractal Science doesn't just count heartbeats; they analyze the fractal scaling of inter-beat intervals. A healthy heart's rhythm is not metronomic but exhibits complex, long-range correlations across multiple timescales. Disease (heart failure, atrial fibrillation) often manifests as a loss of this fractal complexity—the signal becomes either too random or too periodic. The fractal dimension becomes a diagnostic vital sign.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Mechanical Cognition Sciences

An approach to studying the mind that models cognitive processes as sequences of discrete, rule-governed operations on symbolic representations. This is the classic "computer metaphor" of cognition: perception inputs data, working memory buffers it, a central processor applies logical rules, and output is produced. It treats thinking as computation, and the brain as the hardware running the software. This paradigm powered the cognitive revolution and remains indispensable for many applications, though its limitations are increasingly apparent.

Mechanical Cognition Sciences Example: Early expert systems in artificial intelligence were pure Mechanical Cognition. Programmers interviewed human experts, extracted their decision rules (IF symptom A AND test B THEN diagnosis C), and encoded them in software. The system "thought" by mechanically applying these rules. This worked for well-defined domains like mineral prospecting but failed spectacularly for common sense, metaphor, or any task requiring flexibility. The rules were too rigid; the world refused to stay within their IF-THEN boundaries.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Mechanical Human Sciences

A mechanistic paradigm for understanding individual human beings, viewing the person as a biological machine whose components (genes, neurotransmitters, cognitive modules) can be isolated, studied, and repaired independently. It is the philosophy behind much of biomedicine and behavioral psychology: identify the broken part, fix or replace it, restore normal function. This approach has achieved astonishing successes (antibiotics, joint replacements) but struggles with conditions where the "machine" metaphor breaks down.

Mechanical Human Sciences Example: Testosterone replacement therapy for low libido is Mechanical Human Science. The logic is straightforward: identify a deficient hormone, supplement it, restore function. This works beautifully when the system is truly a simple input-output machine. It fails when the "deficiency" is caused by stress, relationship conflict, or depression—states that are not mechanical failures but adaptive responses the machine metaphor cannot comprehend.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Mechanical Social Sciences

A reductionist approach to studying society that models human behavior using principles derived from classical physics: equilibrium, linear causality, and predictable, law-like regularities. It treats individuals as interchangeable particles, societies as closed systems, and social change as a series of push-pull forces. This was the dominant ambition of 19th-century sociology (Comte's "social physics"), and it persists in certain economic models and policy frameworks that assume predictable responses to incentives.

Mechanical Social Sciences Example: Rational Choice Theory in economics is Mechanical Social Science. It assumes humans are utility-maximizing particles, markets are frictionless planes, and prices are forces that drive systems to equilibrium. This model is mathematically elegant and occasionally predictive—but it systematically fails when humans behave emotionally, culturally, or altruistically. It is physics envy applied to the messy, meaningful business of social life.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026

Complex Cognition Sciences

The investigation of cognitive processes as emergent phenomena arising from the massive, parallel, non-linear interactions of simple neural components. It rejects the computer metaphor (software running on hardware) in favor of viewing cognition as self-organizing, embodied, and embedded in a physical and social world. Complex Cognition Sciences study how global properties like meaning, intention, and consciousness arise from local neural rules, and why these properties cannot be reduced to those rules.

Complex Cognition Sciences Example: Consciousness is the ultimate puzzle for Complex Cognition Science. There is no single brain region that "does" consciousness; it appears to be an emergent property of the brain's massive recurrent connectivity, the global workspace formed when distributed processing modules synchronize their activity. You cannot find consciousness by dissecting a neuron any more than you can find wetness by examining a single water molecule. It is a complex systems property.

by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026