A theory and methodology to quantify knowledge

Hierarchical consciousness: the Nested Observer Windows model

Foremost in our experience is the intuition that we possess a unified conscious experience. However, many observations run counter to this intuition: we experience paralyzing indecision when faced with two appealing behavioral choices, we simultaneously hold contradictory beliefs, and the content of our thought is often characterized by an internal debate. Here, we propose the Nested Observer Windows (NOW) Model, a framework for hierarchical consciousness wherein information processed across many spatiotemporal scales of the brain feeds into subjective experience. The model likens the mind to a hierarchy of nested mosaic tiles-where an image is composed of mosaic tiles, and each of these tiles is itself an image composed of mosaic tiles. Unitary consciousness exists at the apex of this nested hierarchy where perceptual constructs become fully integrated and complex behaviors are initiated via abstract commands. We define an observer window as a spatially and temporally constrained system within which information is integrated, e.g. in functional brain regions and neurons. Three principles from the signal analysis of electrical activity describe the nested hierarchy and generate testable predictions. First, nested observer windows disseminate information across spatiotemporal scales with cross-frequency coupling. Second, observer windows are characterized by a high degree of internal synchrony (with zero phase lag). Third, observer windows at the same spatiotemporal level share information with each other through coherence (with non-zero phase lag). The theoretical framework of the NOW Model accounts for a wide range of subjective experiences and a novel approach for integrating prominent theories of consciousness.

Quantifying knowledge from the perspective of information structurization

Scientific literature, as the major medium that carries knowledge between scientists, exhibits explosive growth in the last century. Despite the frequent use of many tangible measures, to quantify the influence of literature from different perspectives, it remains unclear how knowledge is embodied and measured among tremendous scientific productivity, as knowledge underlying scientific literature is abstract and difficult to concretize. In this regard, there has laid a vacancy in the theoretical embodiment of knowledge for their evaluation and excavation. Here, for the first time, we quantify the knowledge from the perspective of information structurization and define a new measure of knowledge quantification index (KQI) that leverages the extent of disorder difference caused by hierarchical structure in the citation network to represent knowledge production in the literature. Built upon 214 million articles, published from 1800 to 2021, KQI is demonstrated for mining influential classics and laureates that are omitted by traditional metrics, thanks to in-depth utilization of structure. Due to the additivity of entropy and the interconnectivity of the network, KQI assembles numerous scientific impact metrics into one and gains interpretability and resistance to manipulation. In addition, KQI explores a new perspective regarding knowledge measurement through entropy and structure, utilizing structure rather than semantics to avoid ambiguity and attain applicability.

What difference might retractions make? An estimate of the potential epistemic cost of retractions on meta-analyses

The extent to which a retraction might require revising previous scientific estimates and beliefs - which we define as the epistemic cost - is unknown. We collected a sample of 229 meta-analyses published between 2013 and 2016 that had cited a retracted study, assessed whether this study was included in the meta-analytic estimate and, if so, re-calculated the summary effect size without it. The majority (68% of N = 229) of retractions had occurred at least one year prior to the publication of the citing meta-analysis. In 53% of these avoidable citations, the retracted study was cited as a candidate for inclusion, and only in 34% of these meta-analyses (13% of total) the study was explicitly excluded because it had been retracted. Meta-analyses that included retracted studies were published in journals with significantly lower impact factor. Summary estimates without the retracted study were lower than the original if the retraction was due to issues with data or results and higher otherwise, but the effect was small. We conclude that meta-analyses have a problematically high probability of citing retracted articles and of including them in their pooled summaries, but the overall epistemic cost is contained.

Towards medical knowmetrics: representing and computing medical knowledge using semantic predications as the knowledge unit and the uncertainty as the knowledge context

In China, Prof. Hongzhou Zhao and Zeyuan Liu are the pioneers of the concept “knowledge unit” and “knowmetrics” for measuring knowledge. However, the definition on “computable knowledge object” remains controversial so far in different fields. For example, it is defined as (1) quantitative scientific concept in natural science and engineering, (2) knowledge point in the field of education research, and (3) semantic predications, i.e., Subject-Predicate-Object (SPO) triples in biomedical fields. The Semantic MEDLINE Database (SemMedDB), a high-quality public repository of SPO triples extracted from medical literature, provides a basic data infrastructure for measuring medical knowledge. In general, the study of extracting SPO triples as computable knowledge unit from unstructured scientific text has been overwhelmingly focusing on scientific knowledge per se. Since the SPO triples would be possibly extracted from hypothetical, speculative statements or even conflicting and contradictory assertions, the knowledge status (i.e., the uncertainty), which serves as an integral and critical part of scientific knowledge has been largely overlooked. This article aims to put forward a framework for Medical Knowmetrics using the SPO triples as the knowledge unit and the uncertainty as the knowledge context. The lung cancer publications dataset is used to validate the proposed framework. The uncertainty of medical knowledge and how its status evolves over time indirectly reflect the strength of competing knowledge claims, and the probability of certainty for a given SPO triple. We try to discuss the new insights using the uncertainty-centric approaches to detect research fronts, and identify knowledge claims with high certainty level, in order to improve the efficacy of knowledge-driven decision support.

Vocabulary sharing among subjects belonging to the hierarchy of sciences

To what extent do the vocabularies of mathematics, computing, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology, economics, political science, philosophy, and linguistics overlap? To explore this question, samples of the anglophone vocabularies of these subjects were created using the Oxford English Dictionary (Benjafield in Scientometrics 118:1051-1064, 2019. 10.1007/s11192-019-03021-2). The first part of this study compared the vocabularies of the five empirical members of Comte's hierarchy of the sciences (HoS) plus psychology (i.e., astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology). The results were generally consistent with the existence of an empirical HoS. For example, each subject shared its vocabulary the most with another subject adjacent to it in the hierarchy (i.e., astronomy with physics, physics with chemistry, biology with chemistry, psychology with biology, sociology with psychology). The second part of this study examined patterns of sharing between mathematics, computing, economics, political science, philosophy, linguistics and the six members of the empirical HoS. Among the most interesting results was the high degree of vocabulary sharing between mathematics, philosophy, and linguistics. Indeed, it turns out that all subjects share their vocabularies with all other subjects, to varying degrees. It was suggested that, in addition to comparing subjects in terms of a linear HoS, similarities between subjects should be examined independently of their position on the HoS.

Unburdening the Shoulders of Giants: A Quest for Disconnected Academic Psychology

In current academic psychology, scholars typically develop their research and ideas by drawing on the work of other contemporary and preceding psychological scientists and by following certain conventions of the field. I refer to this variant of psychology as connected because the emphasis is on connecting various research findings and ideas generated by different scholars (e.g., by showing how they are related to each other via referencing). In this article, I argue that, although connected psychology advances psychological knowledge, it restricts the total amount of knowledge that could eventually be produced and therefore limits the potential of the discipline to improve the understanding of psychological phenomena. As a solution, I propose that, alongside the currently existing connected psychology, disconnected psychology should be established. In disconnected psychology, researchers develop their ideas by following the main principles of psychological method, but they are disconnected from a “field” consisting of other psychologists and therefore do not follow the discipline’s norms and conventions. By drawing on one of the core constructs from information theory—information entropy—I argue that combining the two streams of psychology would result in the most significant advancement of psychological knowledge.

Doing the Same Thing and Expecting a Different Outcome: It Is Time for a Questioning Philosophy and Theory-Driven Chiropractic Research

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this commentary is to discuss the philosophical and hypothetical underpinnings of chiropractic and consider whether there is a need for chiropractic to have a questioning philosophy and theory-driven process to guide future scientific endeavors in the profession.

DISCUSSION

The earliest beliefs of the chiropractic founders centered on chiropractic vertebral subluxation but differed on whether this was a static, bone-out-of-place misalignment or a lesion whereby joints had lost their normal direction or range of motion. More recently, new hypotheses such as dyskinesia, inflammation, and neuroplasticity attempt to explain the purported clinical effects of chiropractic. Yet practitioners and students advocate for both traditional viewpoints that typically tout misalignment and embrace a science of chiropractic. I propose that chiropractors should not have to choose between philosophy and science. Instead, they should advocate for adoption of a modern questioning philosophy that not only informs their clinical questions and drives their theories, but also that is in turn influenced by outcomes from their research. Such a questioning philosophy is in stark contrast with the dogma that some have mislabeled as "philosophy" in the profession. I recommend that a review of chiropractic hypotheses and a theory-driven research process is needed to help guide the profession's research agenda given its wide range of clinical activities and limited resources. As the chiropractic profession increasingly embraces evidence-informed practice, enhanced integration within the wider health care community may then result in further gains in utilization.

CONCLUSION

Theory-driven research that results from and subsequently informs a questioning philosophy may expose truths related to practice behaviors, activities, and outcomes, and spur more complete integration of chiropractic within the wider health care community.

The Easy Part of the Hard Problem: A Resonance Theory of Consciousness

Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible “neural correlates of consciousness” in mammalian brains is a specific combination of gamma, beta and theta electrical synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and offers a possible solution to what we see as the “easy part” of the “Hard Problem” of consciousness, which is generally known as the “combination problem.” The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach, a meta-synthesis, as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness. We offer some suggestions for testing the theory.