I don't actually know what it means; this may be why I like it.
(Andy has heard my rants often enough on research: although you can have systems & practices in research, the most important parts are always outside such practices. I like to think this is what N meant!)
I think he was referring to philosophical systems—Schopenhauer, Hegel. The impulse if you’ve got one is to fit everything into its structure, even if that means whacking square pegs into round holes and falsifying phenomena in an attempt at explaining everything
Interesting. I think of this as a very productive impulse in science! Eg you learn about gravity on earth and nearby... then use that explanation to try to explain everything everywhere with it (galaxy rotation curves! the Big Bang! etc). Very revealing.
Yes! To me the operative word is "will"—it's the *will* to a system which distorts. Trying to use gravity to explain more things: great! Failing but persevering because you think there's something there: great! Failing but trying to *will* reality to fit the system: not so great!
Trying to think of a good example. In a way, the holographic principle fits: it's sorta what happens when you take thermodynamics way, way, way too seriously. First you get the Bekenstein bound. Then Hawking radiation. Then AdS/CFT and a whole lot of ideas about quantum gravity.