What is a paradigm ?
Defining what a paradigm is - will be an ongoing process. Here is a broad-stroke working definition:
A paradigm is a meta-structure with a set of values and a defined perspective. These meta-structures contain and generate theoretical models, ideas, methodologies, and information. Every fact and model that we encounter is contained within at least one paradigm.
Why is the concept of a ‘paradigm’ important?
The reason I care about defining the concept of a ‘paradigm’ - is because paradigms quietly structure our thoughts, questions, information, and directions of scientific research. By actively seeing the delineation of paradigms we learn to operate with greater awareness in our consumption and creation of information.
Why is paradigmatic flexibility important?
We often become entrenched in just one way of seeing or conceptualizing something. Paradigmatic flexibility gives one the capacity to see from a totally different perspective. When we operate from a single perspective - this creates paradigmatic entrenchment and it narrows our perspective. Paradigmatic entrenchment makes it hard to integrate data that doesn’t add up to what we expect from the paradigm. Data that doesn’t fit the paradigm’s way of understanding is then rejected as an outlier, deemed a conspiracy, or labelled “irrational”. But sometimes, widening the scope of the paradigm or shifting to another paradigm - brings new order and clarity.
Here’s an example of how a paradigm can restrict our perspective - and makes a problem seem unsolvable:
When I was eleven years old I woke up one morning dizzy and foggy-minded. My mom took me to the doctor and they said it was strep throat. I took the antibiotics prescribed twice and didn’t get any better. Then, we went to doctor after doctor for three months - I had blood tests, brain scans, and inner ear tests. When all the results came back negative - they sent me to a psychiatrist - who decided I was making it all up.
In this example the paradigm of allopathic medicine was unable to diagnose or even find any evidence that my condition was real. Thus, the only logical conclusion from the perspective of the allopathic medical paradigm, given this lack of diagnostic evidence, was that the condition was: not real.
In a last ditch effort to help me, my mom took me to a holistic chiropractor who tested me for food sensitivities using kinesiology (a form of muscle testing). The chiropractor quickly diagnosed me with severe food sensitivities. I stopped eating the list of 15 things he told me were incompatible with my system and three days later I felt totally better - my symptoms were completely gone.
The change in paradigm from allopathic medicine to holistic medicine expanded the perspective to include additional methods for data collection and other possible explanations of my condition. This expansion resulted in the collection of evidence which validated that my condition WAS REAL and that could it be SOLVED with a dietary change. The fact that I got better after implementing the dietary guidelines - shows that paradigmatic flexibility is sometimes necessary when approaching difficult to solve problems and data that doesn’t add up.
Sometimes, all that’s needed is a change in perspective.
By widening the perspective to include the paradigm of holistic chiropractics, new awareness was gained and a solution to the problem was found!
Developing Paradigmatic Flexibility
I propose that consciously cultivating paradigmatic flexibility is essential for optimizing the information we create and generating frameworks that accurately reflect the complexity of human biology.
How I have cultivated paradigmatic flexibility
My training as a research scientist has been widely interdisciplinary. I have changed fields numerous times in order to quench the thirst of curiosity and in order to broaden the landscape across which ideas could be generated within my mind. This experience has given me the flexibility to see natural phenomena from many perspectives. At first this process was unintentional, but as I started to see the advantages of thinking across paradigms - I started to intentionally stretch my thinking into new spaces.
This journey has led me from plant sciences and ecosystem physiology to molecular toxicology and carcinogenesis to epigenetics and large-scale data analysis. In toxicology, we often work with very large datasets - on the order of 5,000 to 10,000 things tracked in response to a toxin. I used to performed statistical analyses on these datasets and quickly became overwhelmed by the amount of information I was encountering. I realized that in order to address all of the toxins in the world, we would need to start to generalize about toxins and systemic responses, and I started to consciously step back from my process and think paradigmatically about my work.
I realized that in order to create a meaningful contribution in a world overloaded with information - I would need to know the following:
why I was creating information
what that information could be deployed to do
To answer these questions, I considered the nature of the paradigms of molecular biology and toxicology, and I decided I wanted to take a different route.
I thought about ways to undercut the complexity of the massive datasets found in gene expression profiles, epigenetics and signaling pathways. I started focusing upon the biophysics of cells, models of these properties, and experimental techniques to measure them. Biophysical properties integrate the information of genes, gene expression and epigenetics into mechanical properties that are closely correlated with cancer development and progression. By focusing on these signals I found I could undercut the noise of the system.
Still not satisfied with the vantage point of my perspective, I stepped even further back and and abstracted my own process. I decided to look at the cell from another paradigm. I delved into the world of pure mathematics and abstract conceptualizations of spaces in topology. This gave me new language, new conceptual frameworks and new rigor with which to approach my process. I now work across all of these paradigms - synthesizing information and structure - intentionally working with paradigmatic flexibility.
What we gain from paradigmatic flexibility
When we consciously work with paradigmatic flexibility we gain the ability to question the paradigmatic structure and the presuppositions underlying the paradigm. This capacity to question and then think outside of the paradigm leads to a wider landscape of possible explanations and different tools for data collection. With new possibilities and different data - problems that seem impossible to solve can often be solved.
What is needed for paradigmatic flexibility
Paradigmatic flexibility requires humility. There is no way around it. Paradigmatic flexibility requires the willingness to accept that the way we have been seeing things might be incomplete or even wrong. In order to be paradigmatically flexible we have to release our attachment to always being right. The more we can become comfortable with the limitations of our own perspective - the more we can challenge it and evolve. The more we do that - the more we find information that can SOLVE problems.
**This is the first in a series of essays on paradigms.