Abstract

Evidence will be presented from a wide spectrum of recent empirical and theoretical research to advance the thesis that the laws of nature, particularly in the astrophysical and microphysical arenas, are in some sense contextual, possibly dependent on both location and to a certain extent direction. The most compelling evidence to date to support this hypothesis will be brought forth ? the surprising 2010 finding that the value of the fine structure constant appears slightly smaller than it was eons ago, if one looks in the northern sky direction, and incrementally higher if one scans the southern sky. This and the ?chameleon? principle, which has been advanced to explain the anomalous acceleration of cosmic expansion, will also be shown to call into question one of the sacrosanct foundational tenets of general relativity, the Equivalence Principle. In the microphysical realm, it will be shown that the principles underlying quantum mechanics, especially superposition and counter-intuitive nature of entanglement, might naturally exhibit contextual qualities that have yet to be recognized and fully probed. In particular, it is argued that further progress in achieving mastery over the precise flexible manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) states could demonstrate that quantum contextuality might be an over-arching archetypal principle in nature, leading to new insight in regards to the interpretation of quantum mechanics as applied to all levels of nature Finally, it is demonstrated that this considerably fairly well hidden contextual aspect of natural laws, might be brought to bear to account for physical anomalies heretofore inexplicable using current paradigms, such as the claimed efficacy of homeopathic protocols. Moreover, acknowledgment of this novel principle of contextual posturing of natural laws even in the macroscopic regime might imply unplumbed prospects for development of new energy sources and forms of energy generation.