Their older brothers, a biophysical chemist at Rutgers and a political scientist at Berkeley, are exploring shared concepts. His brother, a biophysical chemist at Rutgers and a political scientist from the West Coast, joined their intellectual forces to realize a long-time dream of co-authoring a paper that combined disciplines related to cells and society.
In their paper, they argued that there are strong parallels between the microscopic, natural world of cells and molecules and the world of human-made organizations and political systems. Going a step further, the brothers, eminent scientists who are prominent leaders of their respective institutions, suggested that humanity learn lessons from the commonalities between the microscopic and macro worlds. Ideally, they say, their perspectives can inform policymakers about adaptive intervention strategies to improve the effectiveness of their institutions and political systems.
Exceptional career and personal experience
they write National Academies of Sciences Nexus Proceedings His older brother, George Breslauer, the Linus K. Pauling Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) and Provost Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, identified and analyzed the similarities. In the rules that apply to both natural and social areas.
“Our focus is timely, especially given the increasing global challenges to various forms of governance and the emergence of history-changing biology,” said Kenneth, a Rutgers faculty member for 50 years and the University’s founding dean of Life Sciences. . . “Many stability-related concepts, properties and phenomena in the physical sciences find similar expression in influences on the relative stability of socio-political systems.”
In 2018, former SAS Executive Dean Peter March called Kenneth, one of the world’s leading authorities on the forces that control the structure and function of biological molecules, “the architect of our extraordinary life science programs that helped establish Rutgers as a pioneer.” It is an institution within the framework of the Prime Ministry [Асоціації американських університетів.]» Additionally, Kenneth served as Dean of Life Sciences, Vice President of Healthcare Partnerships, and Vice President of Research.
His brother George is recognized as a world-renowned expert in Soviet and Russian politics and foreign relations. According to his profession, he is the author of 14 books. George served as Director of the Center for Slavic and East European Studies, Dean of the Department of Social Sciences, Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at the University of California at Berkeley.
Born 14 months apart, the Breslauers grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, to parents who were refugees from Nazi Germany.
“George and I are each other’s best friends,” Kenneth said.
The brothers waited years to work together. They say their documents are a “to do list” for both of them.
Common concept: stability in different areas
They used the common concept of “stability” as a prism. Breslauers says that while the molecular functioning of microscopic systems, such as a cell or molecule, is generally believed to obey the laws of nature, social and political events are believed to be structured by human action and chance. However, according to them, both natural, molecular systems and socio-political organizations under the influence of similar features show a certain level of stability, instability and even “metastability”, that is, a state of shaky stability.
For example, when a chemical system is trapped in a high-energy state, it can be metastable for long periods of time until external influences become sufficient to destabilize the trapped species. Similarly, isolated welfare states, such as the former country of East Germany, can remain in a quasi-stable state for decades until isolated boundaries are disrupted by external influences.
The researchers compared the political science macroscopic concept known as the “collective action” barrier to the chemical property of cooperation, which accelerates microscopic molecular transformations from one chemical state to another.
Regarding the public collective action barrier, people who want to change some aspect of their government are less likely to take action if they believe they are alone. Conversely, if they believe they are one of many like-minded people, they are more likely to collectively advocate for change.
Similarly, in the natural world, when molecules are arranged in the optimal configuration, they can accelerate chemical transformation, creating a snowball effect. This phenomenon is known as cooperative migration.
The birth of interdisciplinary research
The idea for the study emerged five years ago while the Breslauer brothers were walking near Lincoln Center in Manhattan. George mentioned that his latest work had just been published. Kenneth asked George about the topic of his research that shaped publications.
“He told me that it shows what properties allow certain social institutions to maintain stability over long periods of time, a property that might be called ‘longitudinal persistence,'” Kenneth said. “George then identified about five necessary properties. At this point I stopped him and said: ‘George, you have just described properties that are exactly like the properties that ensure the stability of molecules.’
Kenneth later realized that the microscopic molecular world he was studying shared many fundamental features with the macroscopic social world his brother was studying; especially in terms of the properties that allow systems to form, adapt and persist, or grow and decline. Roman empire. .
“You can think of the central government as the central core of the cell,” Kenneth said. “Think of regional governments as embedded mitochondria and other specialized organelles. To take the analogy even further, a country’s borders resemble a cell membrane.”
Kenneth added; “There are many parallels between nature and society. Identifying and studying such structural, organizational and functional analogues provides a huge amount of information waiting to be extracted.”