at ourselves on a closer scale, we would be quite shocked. Our skin is so cracked and full of minute cuts that we would be quite disgusted to see an “un-airbrushed” view of it. This idea of our scale as an airbrushed view of reality is what this chapter explains. It applies to many things, not just our bodies, of course. A microscopic view of ocean water, for instance, would be likely to cause anyone to think twice about swimming at the beach again. The same goes for bath water, which would also show colonies of little animals and bacteria under the microscope. Though scientists study this invisible world, most people are oblivious to it, only seeing the airbrushed view that our own scale gives us, losing the understanding of what makes up everything they are looking at. The idea of “more is different” introduced in Chapter 6 describes how simply reducing things to their smallest parts cannot help one to understand everything. In actuality, it cannot help one to understand almost anything. This unlikely statement can be understood by realizing that as things complicate, the rules change. For example, someone who knows all there is to know about biology will not know nearly all there is to know about psychology, because although psychology is often thought of as an applied use of biology, it contains many new ideas and rules. This sudden change in seemingly related things, things that appear to be simpler or more complex forms of each other, can be described as the “tipping,” or “critical point.” A good example of this “tipping point” is water and ice. They are two substances associated with each other, both made up of the same “smaller parts.” However, when water lowers that one degree, its properties shift drastically. It ceases to be a flowing liquid that permeates porous objects, and hardens into an inanimate solid. That one degree between 32 an...
