Wonderfest, the Bay Area Beacon of Science, presents “A Worldview for the 3rd Millennium”… to hang on a wall! It’s an insight-rich 3’x5′ poster designed by John Lomberg (of “Cosmos” and “Contact” fame) entitled “Layers of Scientific Understanding.” Each depicted layer elucidates a principal science subject. Psychology rests atop biology because — as far as we know — psychological events are a special class of biological events; so psychology is grounded in biology. Biology, in turn, is grounded in chemistry, and chemistry is grounded in physics. Finally, all these branches of science rest on the deepest stratum, philosophy of science. Each major science subject reveals three substrata that describe “structures” of differing scale, large to small. Each such structure refers laterally to a crucial scientific theory that underlies our understanding of the universe at that level. As Einstein wrote: “All this science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike — and yet it site most precious thing we have.”
