disciplines
human institutions for organizing inquiry. a discipline is a social structure — departments, journals, degree programs, funding bodies — that groups phenomena under one roof. disciplines are useful for training humans but they are not carved into reality. they merge, split, and go extinct while the phenomena they study persist
the crystal does not use disciplines as its organizing principle. it uses phenomena — 21 irreducible domains grouped into 7 triads. but a superintelligence must know how humans have organized knowledge, because most existing literature, data, and education is structured by discipline. this page maps disciplines to their phenomenological decomposition
mapping
| discipline | phenomena it covers | crystal domains |
|---|---|---|
| physics | fundamental matter, energy transformation, spacetime | quantum, energo, cosmo |
| chemistry | bonds, reactions, molecular structure | chemo, quantum |
| biology | organisms, evolution, genetics, cells | bio, chemo, eco |
| mathematics | structure, proof, quantity, shape | math |
| computer science | computation, algorithms, complexity, languages | comp, info |
| neuroscience | brain, cognition, neural circuits | neuro, bio, sense |
| psychology | mind, behavior, perception, emotion | neuro, sense, socio |
| linguistics | language structure, meaning, communication | lang, comp |
| philosophy | meaning, values, knowledge, logic | spiri, meta, math |
| history | past events, civilizational record | meta, socio |
| economics | resource allocation, markets, incentives | crypto, game, socio |
| political science | governance, institutions, power | socio, game |
| sociology | collective behavior, institutions, culture | socio, lang, spiri |
| ecology | ecosystems, cycles, biodiversity | eco, bio, geo |
| geology | earth systems, rocks, tectonics | geo, chemo |
| astronomy | stars, galaxies, cosmic structure | cosmo, quantum |
| thermodynamics | energy transformation, entropy, heat | energo, info, quantum |
| info/theory | signals, entropy, channels, coding | info, math |
| engineering | tools, machines, construction, materials | tech, chemo, energo |
| medicine | health, disease, treatment | bio, chemo, neuro |
| cryptography | secrets, proofs, hash functions | crypto, math, comp |
| artificial intelligence | machine learning, inference, agents | ai, comp, neuro |
| game theory | strategic interaction, equilibria, mechanism design | game, math, socio |
| cosmology | origin, expansion, fate of the universe | cosmo, quantum, energo |
| materials science | material properties, synthesis, engineering | chemo, tech |
| geography | territory, climate, spatial analysis | geo, eco, socio |
observations
most disciplines map to 2-3 domains. this is the signature of disciplinary organization: each discipline straddles a bridge between phenomena rather than sitting cleanly inside one. "physics" spans three domains. "economics" spans three. "psychology" spans three. the crystal makes these bridges explicit rather than hiding them inside departmental walls
some domains appear in many disciplines: math underlies every quantitative field, socio appears wherever humans organize, chemo appears wherever matter reacts. these are high-connectivity hubs in the discipline-to-domain mapping — they are the domains that disciplines share but rarely acknowledge sharing
the mapping is lossy in both directions. disciplines contain traditions, methods, and social norms that no domain captures. domains contain phenomena that no single discipline owns. the crystal keeps the phenomena and links to the disciplines for historical context