Overview

What is the Paradigm of the Great Life?

The Paradigm of the Great Life is a dual way to read Reality. It says every phenomenon has two complementary sides:

Key terms:

• Objective side (Metaphysical Realism): Energy — the conserved physical substrate of change.
• Subjective side (Metaphysical Anti‑Realism): Information — agent‑dependent meaning shaped by Context.

Core claim: Explanations that use only one side become one‑sided. Pairing both sides makes models clearer, more complete, and more useful.

Key definitions (short and practical)

• Text: an objective carrier — signals, traces, records, data streams.
• Context: an agent’s model — prior knowledge, expectations, and purposes.
• Interpretation: how an agent maps Text into meaning and action via its Context.
• Agency: the ability to maintain “Me” against “Not‑Me,” update Context, and act to keep internal order (homeostasis).

Why this matters (in one minute)

• It unifies “what is there” with “what it means.” Physical carriers (Texts) explain what can be observed; agent Contexts explain why it mattered and what happens next.
• It clarifies information: Shannon’s objective information (about sources) and an agent’s surprisal (about its own expectations) can and should be distinguished — and related.
• It scales: from molecules and cells to organisms, societies, and “quasi‑organisms” (species‑level collectives), each with its own cognition limits.
• It opens testable bridges: dual statements for thermodynamics, quantum measurement, autocatalysis, and feedback control suggest concrete experiments.

What this site offers

• Clean concepts: precise, short definitions with examples. See 📝Text–Context–Interpretation and 🌓Dual Reality.
• Research prompts: small, falsifiable projects that fit current lab and simulation toolchains. See 🔬Research Directions.
• A shared 📚Glossary and ❓FAQs for quick lookup and citation.

How to read this site

• New here? Start with 🌓Dual Reality, then 📝Text–Context–Interpretation, then 🧭Agency & Delegation.
• Curious about scale? Read 🧬Hierarchies & Quasi‑Organisms.
• Building models? Read 📊Information: Objective vs Subjective.
• Specialist? Jump to 🧠For Specialists and 🔬Research Directions.

What this framework is (and isn’t)

• Is: a manifesto and a practical lens. It invites specialists to re‑express known problems with an explicit subjective leg and derive new, testable questions.
• Isn’t: a wholesale replacement for physics or biology. Established results stand; this framework adds the missing complementary view.

Design choices

• Minimal math; maximum clarity.
• Compatibility first: align with known equations and tools before proposing extensions.
• Testability: every idea should admit an operational reading (what to measure, what to change, what would count as a miss).

Quick mental model

• Objective: “What happened on the sensors?” (Text)
• Subjective: “What did it mean for this agent?” (Context → Interpretation)
• Agency: “What changed because it mattered?” (Action → new Text)

Next steps

• Read the 🧩Core Concepts pages.
• Skim the 📚Glossary for terms you’ll see often.
• If you work in quantum foundations, thermodynamics of open systems, autocatalysis, or control, open 🧠For Specialists to find entry points aligned with your tools.

Cite and reuse

• Book: Alexander Neshmonin, Changing the Paradigm of Life: New Answers to the Old Questions (EN edition), ISBN: 9798316199631.
• Site content: CC BY 4.0 with attribution. Short quotations of definitions are encouraged.

Contact

• Pointers to datasets, labs, or collaborators are welcome. See 📬Contact & Updates.