ABSTRACT
A major reason human scientists find their research fields fascinating is presumably that human life, like all life, has not only a manifest level but also a latent one. We have to look for clues at the latent level to make sense of ordinary as well as extraordinary occurrences. To anyone imagining how intelligent creatures in space would try to make sense of ordinary situations on Earth, it becomes all the clearer that human scientists need to search for explanations and logics below the surface. Just to mention one situation that an intelligent, extraterrestrial creature would find peculiar, there is the huge difference in government spending (worldwide) between car-based infrastructure compared to bicycle-and public transport-based infrastructure. This gap remains huge even though traffic congestion in daily commuting is enormously costly for society and individuals concerning health, wellbeing, monetary costs, and environmental conditions. In the event people do not find this disparity peculiar, it is most likely due to the conventionality of congestive, car-based commuting. To understand, and fully explain it, however, is challenging, particularly how causes may partly differ between regions and countries. It demands extensive studies below the surface, of latent interests and structures.
