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Who?
Who can find such solutions with
all these little pieces? Anyone with a keen interest in solving puzzles and ready access to a
PC, an Excel spreadsheet, and a copy of the Enterprise Biology
Software can become a player.
The software package currently offers an information
infrastructure, one that uses the biology literature as a
stepping-stone to discovery. It enjoys simplicity of
design and application, openly transparent - even to the beginner.
The secret of its success is that it begins at the beginning.
Biology and its literature derive from four
basic data elements (volume, surface, length, and number) that form
three data types - concentrations, amounts, and
proportions. We, as scientists, have two options. We can
either use
these data types separately (reductionism) or as a
connected set (connectionism). Our choice determines our playing
field, the game, and the outcome.
Notice that the information
infrastructure asks – and answers - two key questions. What
game is biology playing and how can we play the same game? Biology
is playing the complexity game and we can play it as well because complexity
becomes one of the emergent properties of an information infrastructure.
By operating within the framework of this
infrastructure, biology behaves as a quantitative science - complete
with variables, equations, rules, and principles. These
features become our new research tools.
Complexity, of course, comes in two parts:
natural and man-made. The man-made variety typically comes from
one or more of the following: poor sampling, semiquantitative approaches, an inability to detect
biological changes accurately, and reductionism (disconnected
data). The information infrastructure minimizes these
man-made complexities by enforcing unbiased sampling, applying
robust approaches, minimizing bias and animal variation, and
treating the three data types as a connected set. In effect, variables guided by equations
and rules become a key component of the game plan.
However, there is a problem. Inventing the future
by introducing a new technology has always
been a risky business because of unintended
consequences. Harnessing complexity will create a new and disruptive
technology, one that shifts the primary focus of our discovery
platform from laboratory benches to digital databases. Moreover, it may
also shift the balance of power from the biology community to the
institutions, companies, and countries that build and maintain these
new information resources. The competitive advantage of having
access to such resources is rapidly becoming mission critical -
locally and globally.
Interested in taking a step-by-step tour of the
infrastructure? Start here.
Need specific details? Read the
Rule Book and the Progress Reports.
Glacier National Park, Montana
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