Compression and global insight (conceptual integration)

Compression is a phenomenon in conceptual integration that allows human bei ngs to simultaneously control long diffuse chains of logical reasoning and to grasp the global meanings of such chains. Compression operates on a smal l set (under twenty) of relations rooted in fundamental human neurobiology as it applies to shared physical and socio-cultural human experience. So-ca lled Vital Relations, including Cause-Effect, Change, Time, Identity, Inten tionality, Representation, and Part-Whole, can apply across mental spaces, and also define essential topology within mental spaces. In blending networ ks, a vital relation across inputs (outer-space vital relation) can be comp ressed into a vital relation within the blended space (inner-space vital re lation). We show how one of the overarching goals of compression through bl ending is to achieve 'human scale' in the blended space, where a great many of our conscious manipulations take place.