Science Power Struggle

The often-hidden political and economic battle over who controls the direction, funding, and narrative of scientific research. This is the dark underbelly of pure inquiry: tenured professors blocking rival theories, corporate funders shaping study outcomes, governments weaponizing research for prestige, and publishers charging outrageous fees. It's the realization that the "marketplace of ideas" is a rigged game with gatekeepers, investors, and propaganda.

Example: "His groundbreaking paper on a cheap battery was buried because of the science power struggle. A senior reviewer with ties to a lithium-ion company sat on it for a year, then recommended rejection based on a minor methodology quibble. Truth doesn't win; it needs a lobbyist." Science Power Struggle

by Abzugal January 30, 2026

Science Paradigms Struggle

The messy, often brutal process described by Thomas Kuhn where an old scientific paradigm (like Newtonian physics) is challenged by too many anomalies, leading to a crisis and eventual revolution, installing a new paradigm (like Einsteinian relativity). The struggle isn't just about data; it's about power, reputation, and worldview. Old-guard professors die, textbooks are rewritten, and what was heresy becomes dogma until the next crisis.

Example: "The conference on consciousness was a full-blown science paradigms struggle. The neuroscientists waved fMRI scans, the quantum biologists talked about orchestrated reductions, and the panpsychists quoted ancient philosophy. It was less a debate and more a three-way intellectual cage match with a cash bar." Science Paradigms Struggle

by Abzugal January 30, 2026

Meta-Science

The science of science itself—studying how research is done, published, and becomes accepted knowledge. It's the practice of applying scientific methods to the scientific process to uncover its flaws: publication bias, p-hacking, the replication crisis, and how grant funding shapes what gets studied. Meta-scientists are the mechanics looking under the hood of the knowledge-making machine, often finding duct tape and questionable wiring. It’s a field born from the realization that science is a human institution, with all the attendant biases and inefficiencies, and needs its own peer review.

*Example: "A meta-science study revealed that 60% of psychology studies couldn't be replicated. The researchers then did a meta-study on that finding to see if it was replicable. It's turtles—and slightly depressing statistics—all the way down."*

by Abzugal January 30, 2026

Meta-Sciences

The collective disciplines that take a step back to analyze the foundations, methods, and implications of various scientific fields. This includes philosophy of science, history of science, sociology of scientific knowledge, and data about data (meta-data analysis). It’s the humanities’ revenge on STEM, asking not just "what do we know?" but "how do we know we know it, who decided, and what power structures were in the room when they did?"

Example: "His degree in Meta-Sciences meant he could deconstruct a physics paper's conclusion, not by arguing the math, but by analyzing the funding sources, the editorial board of the journal, and the historical context of the paradigm it relied on. He was exhausting at parties."

by Abzugal January 30, 2026

Theory of Constructed Science

The sociological view that scientific knowledge, while aiming for objectivity, is inevitably a human construction shaped by social factors: funding priorities, institutional power, peer review culture, dominant paradigms, and even the personalities of leading scientists. This doesn't mean science is "just an opinion," but that the path to reliable knowledge is paved with social negotiations, controversies, and the gradual construction of consensus, not the simple revelation of pure nature.

Example: "Studying the Theory of Constructed Science, she saw the Nobel Prize not as a divine award for truth, but as the pinnacle of a construction process: decades of building a persuasive narrative, converting peers, winning grants, and marginalizing rival theories until one framework became the 'obvious' truth etched in textbooks."

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026

Metabolical Sciences

The interdisciplinary study of metabolism as the central, dynamic processing core of living systems, from cells to ecosystems. It goes beyond biochemistry to model the flow of energy and information as a unified, complex adaptive system. This field asks how metabolic networks make decisions, compute, and evolve. It’s the science of life not as a bag of parts, but as a relentless, strategic game of energy acquisition, allocation, and survival played out in chemical reactions.

Example: "Her lab in Metabolical Sciences doesn't just chart metabolic pathways; they model them as a cognitive economic network. Cancer isn't just rogue cells; it's a metabolic strategy that hacks the body's energy signaling protocols. They treat ATP like currency and enzymes like traders."

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026

Thermodynamical Sciences

The broad field encompassing all scientific inquiry where thermodynamics is the primary lens—from traditional heat engine engineering to cosmology (the heat death of the universe) and information theory (Landauer's principle). It's the science of what's possible given energy and entropy, setting the ultimate boundaries for everything from chemical reactions to computation.

Example: "She studied Thermodynamical Sciences, which meant she could tell you the minimum energy required to erase a bit of computer memory, the maximum efficiency of a star, and why your room gets messier over time. She called it 'the science of inevitable loss,' which made her a riot at parties."

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026