Many questions (complex question)

Biological Parallel

Ecological questions resist bundling because ecosystems are irreducibly multifactorial. 'Why did this population crash?' might assume: (a) the crash was real, not measurement artifact, (b) it wasn't normal fluctuation, (c) it wasn't migration to unmeasured areas. Coral reef declines involve temperature, acidification, overfishing, pollution, and disease—each requiring separate investigation. When researchers ask 'Is this ecosystem healthy?' they bundle questions about productivity, biodiversity, stability, and resilience that may have contradictory answers. Army ants don't ask 'Should we move the colony?'—they process separate signals about food depletion, brood development, and predation pressure through independent information channels. Complex systems decompose questions automatically; organisms that bundle queries make fatal errors. The scientific method's power lies in refusing complex questions.