The universe is lawful and intelligible and we’re made to understand it

Mechanical causation works great for matters of ordinary experience, but otherwise should stay in its lane

Probabilistic causation is a useful abstraction for predicting the behavior of simple systems

Complexity is kryptonite to material causation (mechanistic and probabilistic); complexity requires simple, holistic explanations

Respect your enemy for what it is: a complex and living system that demands to be understood in the whole

There's randomness in all causation, and it’s the joker in the deck

The truth of a complex system is in the whole, and it’s a vision of symmetrical beauty

Emergence is magic pretending to be science; it’s the latest failed attempt to explain the whole by reference to the parts

Living beings are causal agents, with awareness, who bring purpose into the universe; we are perpetrators of causation, not victims

Life begins with homeostasis, which is an active way of being in the world for the purpose of staying in the world

Aristotle got it right: we should analyze from the parts up -and- from the whole down

Whole-to-parts causation works through meaningful connection, not just mechanics