Table 1.

Reductionism and related ideas that will die

Idea	Why it makes sense	Why it will die
Unification	Few principles must explain many natural phenomena. Mathematics can explain natural patterns.	Mathematics isn’t physics. We can only construct approximate models.*
Essentialism	People and events must belong to discrete categories.	There exists a continuous spectrum of intermediates.
Cause-Effect	Events must be organized into chains or causes and effects. A gene seems to cause a trait like height or a disease such as cancer.	Complex dynamical systems of living organisms have patterns of information flow that defy our tools for storytelling.
Linnaean Classification	The vast biological diversity can be ordered based on the description of their similarities and differences.	Taxonomies do not equate with basic biological processes, impeding discovery of treatments.
One genome per individual	Single-cell sequencing technology works because all 37 trillion cells have the same copy of one’s genome.	A high proportion of brain cells have structural DNA variants (mosaicism).
Race	Skin color, hair form, cranial shape cluster into some diseases. Racial groups may give order to biology.	Racial patterns are complex genetic mixtures created by the sharing of similar exposures.
Nature versus Nurture	You can separate one from the other like Newtonian space and time: heritability is immutable.	As Einsteinian spacetime, they are intertwined. Heritability is affected by the environment.
Big Data	Larger n is better because we can detect small effects. More events and effects become salient.	Significant effects on low n means effect is bigger. Big data may be 99% irrelevant.
	Underlying constructs
	Reductionism: PD as a clinico-pathologic entity	Systems Biology: PD as a collection of biological entities
	A complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts and can be reduced to its individual constituents. Exceptions to this model are physiological “noise” obscuring the “true” signal.	“Noise” turn into profiles of unique biological systems or subsystems evolving in humans into intricate phenotypes that cannot be reduced.

Inspired from “This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress” [15]. ^*Even the most sacred unifications are approximations: equations describing electricity and magnetism are perfectly symmetric only in an empty space. Unification from Marcelo Gleiser (Theoretical physicist); Essentialism from Richard Dawkins (Evolutionary biologist); Cause and Effect from W. Daniel Hillis (Physicist); Linnaean Classification (“Numbering Nature”) from Kurt Gray (Social psychologist); One genome per individual from Eric J. Topol (Professor of genomics); Race from Nina Jablonski (Biological anthropologist); Nature versus Nurture from Timo Hannay (Director of Digital Science); and Big Data from Melanie Swan (Applied genomics expert).