"How big or small?"
RELATIVE
LOGARITHMIC
CONTEXT
Everything is relative to scale. Understanding size, duration, and magnitude transforms perspective and enables appropriate thinking at every level.
Signature Concept
Powers of Ten - Journey from quantum to cosmic
38 concepts
L0-L4
"How does complexity arise?"
SIMPLE
COLLECTIVE
EMERGENT
Complex behavior emerges from simple rules. Order arises spontaneously without central control. The whole exceeds the sum of parts.
Signature Concept
Starling Murmurations - Thousands moving as one
39 concepts
L0-L4
"How do things influence each other?"
CONNECTED
DYNAMIC
LEVERAGE
Everything affects everything through feedback, delays, and nonlinear relationships. Small changes in the right place create large effects.
Signature Concept
Feedback Loops - Thermostat maintaining temperature
39 concepts
L0-L4
"What drives change?"
FLOW
TRANSFORM
CONSTRAIN
Energy drives all transformation. Entropy always increasesβenergy spreads, disorder grows. This arrow gives time its direction.
Signature Concept
Waterfall - Potential β kinetic energy transformation
39 concepts
L0-L4
"What can we know?"
RANDOM
PROBABILISTIC
UNCERTAIN
The future is inherently uncertain. Probability quantifies uncertainty. Perfect knowledge is impossibleβquantum, chaos, complexity impose limits.
Signature Concept
Coin Flip - Pure 50/50 irreducible randomness
39 concepts
L0-L4
"How is reality processed?"
ENCODE
PROCESS
TRANSMIT
Reality processes information at every scaleβDNA codes life, brains compute thought, networks transmit data. Information is physical and has costs.
Signature Concept
DNA Code - Life's programming language
39 concepts
L0-L4
"How and why do things change?"
CAUSALITY
EVOLUTION
MOMENTUM
Time's arrow flows from entropy. Causality structures change. Evolution, history, and momentum shape trajectories. Understanding time enables planning and learning.
Signature Concept
Cosmic Calendar - Universe in one year
39 concepts
L0-L4
"Who is experiencing all of this?"
AWARE
METACOGNITIVE
MEANINGFUL
Consciousness is the observer experiencing all other dimensions. Self-awareness enables growth. Metacognition improves thinking. Meaning-making creates purpose.
Signature Concept
Mirror Recognition - "That's me"
39 concepts
L0-L4