Bruce Lipton describes in Shift, the quarterly publication of the Noetic Society, a how a new type of science might emerge (or is indeed emerging). Before describing what is understood by a "New Noetic Science" it is probably useful to describe what is understood by Noetic.
The word "noetic" comes from the ancient Greek nous, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It refers to "inner knowing," a kind of intuitive consciousness—direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason.
Then, what are 'Noetic Sciences'?
Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing—including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.
The classical floors of the house of science (or should I say knowing) are mathematics as the fundament. The second floor is physics, followed by chemistry and biology. The current top floor is psychology.
The first floor of the house of "new noetic curriculum" is a new kind of mathematics: fractal algebra, (first labelled by Benoit Mandelbrot), followed by complexity theory.
The second floor is called energy physics based on quantum mechanics. It was revealed that the universe is not an assembly of physical parts as suggested by Newtonian physics but is derived from a holistic entanglement of immaterial energy waves. As observers we are personnally involved with the creation of our own reality. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter... we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. (Henry, The mental universe, Nature 436, 2005)
The third floor is labelled Vibrational Chemistry. Vibrational chemistry, based upon quantum mechanics, emphasizes that atoms are made of spinning immaterial energy vortices, such as quarks. The new chemistry is concerned with the role of vibration. Via a process called electro-conformational coupling, protein behaviors can be influenced by neural vibrational fields derived from consciuous porcesses. (Tsong, Deciphering the Language of Cells, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 14, 1989)
The fourth floor is the new biology. The new curriculum perceives of cells and organisms as integrated communities that are physically and energetically within their environment. A noetic biology will also embrace the power of epigenetics. Epigenetics, which literally translates as "control above the genes", is a newly recognized second genetic code that controls the activity and programming of an organism's DNA. This new heredity mechanism reveals how behavior and gene activity are controlled by an organism's perception of its environment.
The fifth floor consists of energy physchology. The environment along with the perceptions of the mind controls behavior and the genetics of biology. Rather than being "programmed" by our genes, our lives are controlled by our perceptions of life experiences. We change the focus from physiochemical mechanisms to the role of energy fields.
The renovation of the building introduces an all-encompassing field known as noetic sciences. Noetic consciousness reveals that collectively we are the "field" incarnate. (Lipton, The Biology of Belief, 2005)
Interesting question is how all this influences our current understanding and practice of mangement. For those reading French, I gladly refer to the full text of my Habilitation thesis, elsewhere on this blog, about a quantum interpretation of innovation. I am also proud to announce my new book "Complexity, Organisations and Learning: A quantum interpretation of business" that is to appear in the coming months with Routledge. And for those that want to be more active, I announce that in January, we, (Erna, my wife, and myself) start again our course "The quantum interpretation of management: from rational to non-rational forms of knowledge", that can be followed in the news and discussion section of this blog.