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Abstract

The Paradigm of the Great Life is a dual framework for interpreting Reality. It pairs:

• Objective side: Energy — the physically conserved substrate of change.
• Subjective side: Information — agent-dependent meaning formed by Context.

Core idea: every phenomenon should be examined from both Metaphysical Realism (objective) and Metaphysical Anti-Realism (subjective). Ignoring either produces one‑sided explanations. This site distills the framework, provides operational bridges to current science, and outlines research prompts specialists can test.

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Why this matters

• Unifies sense-making: links physical carriers (Texts) with agent models (Contexts). See Text–Context–Interpretation.
• Clarifies information: separates Shannon’s objective information from agent surprisal. See Information: Objective vs Subjective.
• Grounds agency: defines a minimal “Me/Not‑Me” boundary and shows how agents organize both Energy and Information. See Agency & Delegation.
• Scales across levels: from molecules to organisms to “quasi‑organisms” (species‑level collectives). See Hierarchies & Quasi‑Organisms.
• Suggests testable bridges: dual statements for thermodynamics, quantum measurement, autocatalysis, and quantum control. SeeFor Specialists.

Key principles (at a glance)

• Dual Reality: Objective Energy is conserved; Subjective Information depends on an agent’s Context.
• Text–Context–Interpretation: Texts are objective carriers (signals, traces, data). Context is the agent’s model. Interpretation maps Texts into meaning and action.
• Information duality:
  • Objective: Shannon information and entropy derive from source distributions.
  • Subjective: surprisal is $−log Q(i)$, the agent’s unexpectedness given its Context $Q$.
• Agency: the capacity to maintain homeostasis by distinguishing “Me” from “Not‑Me,” updating Context, and acting.
• Two‑way organization: Life organizes Energy using Information, and organizes Information using Energy.
• Hierarchy: agents exist in levels; each level has a cognition limit. Collective patterns can behave as “quasi‑organisms.”

What this framework is (and isn’t)

• Is: a manifesto and research agenda — alternative interpretations consistent with current formalisms where possible, aiming for new questions and experiments.
• It isn’t: a replacement physics theory, nor a rejection of established results. It’s a complementary lens that emphasizes the subjective leg, which is usually implicit.

Bridges to current science