Taxonomy     

I share below my response to a letter asking for how to create a taxonomy of anecdotes. I describe the House of Knowledge as a general framework for creating such taxonomies in any field.

For example, I've written out almost 100 anecdotes about "my money mind", episodes in my life that informed my thoughts about money. I recently realized that each of them is informing a particular "way of figuring things out". And I've developed a system (a House of Knowledge) for categorizing those ways into 24 frames of mind (or rooms). Dave Gray found it quite readable, see here.

• Avoiding evil, not shutting ourselves down

• Rooting ourselves in our inner world, believing
• Presuming others likewise, believing in believing
• Integrating some of us, believing in believing in believing
• Fostering an environment for integration, believing in believing in believing in believing

• Being completely open to the outer world, caring
• Focusing and maximizing our openness, caring about caring
• Recognizing the limits of our openness, caring about caring about caring
• Allowing for an ideal that transcends our limits, caring about caring about caring about caring

• Taking a stand, having a hypothesis, extending the applicability of what we take to be true
• Following through, designing and doing an experiment, driving it to its "logical" conclusion, breaking the model or not
• Reflecting, noting the outcome, generalizing it as a principle

• Allowing for a person-in-general, matching up the inner and outer worlds

• 0) Whether. Game player and game maker are taken to be the same, they are conflated, as when we learn by feeling how we feel in our heart or gut.
• 1) What. Game player knows what we learn from experience whereas game maker knows the innate model.
• 2) How. Game player's knowledge is implied by the game maker's knowledge, but not the other way around.
• 3) Why. Game player and game maker are taken to be different, taking up different perspectives from Whether-What-How-Why, with the game maker taking the broader perspective, Why being the broadest. (This yields the six pairings that come next.)

• How does it seem to me? evokes evolution (hierarchy restructured by sequence) for determining weights
• What else should I be doing? evokes atlas (network restructured by hierarchy) for determining connections
• Would it make any difference? evokes canon (sequence restructured by network) for determining priorities
• What do I have control over? evokes chronicle (sequence restructured by hierarchy) for determining solutions
• Am I able to consider the question? evokes catalog (hierarchy restructured by network) for determining redundancies
• Is this the way things should be? evokes tour (network restructured by sequence) for determining paths

• There is a greater context in which everything can be reinterpreted and get unexpected meaning. (As when 10+4=2 because we're talking about a clock.)

     Bob Lichtenbert, a Philosophical Portrait      2011.05 Andrius Kulikauskas: I'm creating a philosophical portrait of Bob Lichtenbert.

           Andrius Kulikauskas, 2011.05.11: Pamela McLean of agreed that I draw her philosophical portrait by documenting and sharing her ways of figuring things out. She's a pioneer! Thank you, Pamela!

Not shutting ourselves down     

          Avoid depending on a single method      Wikipedia: According to Badiou, philosophy is suspended from four conditions (art, love, politics, and science), each of them fully independent "truth procedures." (For Badiou's notion of truth procedures, see below.) Badiou consistently maintains throughout his work (but most systematically in Manifesto for Philosophy) that philosophy must avoid the temptation to suture itself (that is, to hand over its entire intellectual effort) to any of these independent truth procedures. When philosophy does suture itself to one of its conditions (and Badiou argues that the history of philosophy during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is primarily a history of sutures), what results is a philosophical "disaster."

          Do not have contempt prior to investigation      "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." --Herbert Spencer

          Not rushing up from being knocked down      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: When you get knocked down, the first thing you do is try to compose yourself and not rush up. Don't jump up because of embarrassment because your equilibrium is still off. And if you jump up too fast, you're going to stumble. You're going to fall back. The key is to hopefully be near a rope which you can use as a brace to help you up.

          Stories of people who ended badly      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "I had no intentions whatsoever to become a professional fighter because I had heard horror stories about former boxers who made money but, in the end, ended up with nothing. I didn't want to be one of those guys."

          Try different lines of questioning      Her blood pressure was through the roof. I leafed through the chart and noted it had been controlled in the past. I began to dig to see if I could identify a cause. "How do you feel?" I probed. "All right," she mumbled with her Arkansas accent. "Are you having any chest pain or problems breathing?" "No suh." I tried another line of questioning before moving on. "Have you had any recent stress in your life?" Jackpot. Her eyes welled. Her voice remained emotionless. "My gran-chillin, got kilt. On my fron poich," she said. ... She cowered in panic on the other side of the door, inches from her grandchildren. "Ah was a-scared to open it. Ah din know it were them. Ah din know it were them," she repeated. ... Her blood pressure shot up. And remained high two weeks later. If I had not asked, she would not have told me. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

Our inner world     

Rooting ourselves in our inner world     

          Having a complete desire to win      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: But there are a few, that have that intestinal fortitude, and they want to win at any cost. That's the guy who's listening to whatever his corner has to say.

Presuming others likewise     

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. Perhaps all we ever really do in dig deeper into our own understanding, and develop that, in response to someone else sharing their own explorations of understanding.

          Having someone who sounds urgent but not desperate      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: The key is having someone who's composed, someone who has experience. Someone who wants you to get out there and go at the guy but who doesn't sound so desperate or frustrated. And Angelo Dundee was that guy, who was in my corner, who said the right things at the right time."

          Make eye contact that you are OK      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: While you're doing that, make eye contact with the referee to give him [the] sense that you're OK.

          Trust the person you are improvising with      Fresh Air interview of Steve Coogan, June 9, 2011: Coogan tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that playing a version of himself was harder than playing fictional characters, in part because of the way he had to think about himself in front of a camera. "My biggest fear, really, was that it would be self-indulgent," he says. "Actors play my parents and actors play various people I meet, but the only real people are Rob and I. So it's a very difficult thing to try and be creative in that type of environment. But if you trust the person you're with, then you know when you're improvising you'll be able to create stuff and come up with ideas."

Integrating some of us     

          Honoring a request      She expressed no bitterness about her illness or about my inability to cure her. During her last hospitalization, she made one request. She lay in the hospital bed, her chest heaving to get air. We held hands. "Doctor Ansen?" Her eyes sparkled. "Ah want ta see yo chile. Please, can ah see yo chile?" We hatched a plan. On the next Saturday morning, I brought my son to County Hospital for her to see. She came to the sixth floor window of the Medical A building. I stood outside and held my infant son up over my head like a gift offering to the gods. She smiled and waved at us from the sixth floor window, oxygen tubes dangling from her nose. We waved back. I cried when she died a few days later. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          Let each other offend each other      Fresh Air interview of Steve Coogan, June 9, 2011: So the two comedians decided to give each other the artistic license to offend each other while filming. "What makes it interesting is that there's an edge to it and a discomfort to it that makes it engaging," Coogan says. "It's not just a couple of actors saying, 'Get a load of me. I'm laughing at myself.' There are a couple of moments where I find Rob irritating — genuinely — and I respond naturally, but not the way that I would in reality."

          Revealing that you have been abused      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: I saw an episode of Oprah and [former child TV star] Todd Bridges finally came forth and said that he was sexually abused. I hear people always say that when you surrender and admit these things, it's a sense of freedom too.

          What I miss      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "Of all the things I miss in boxing, I miss the preparation of a bout, I miss choreographing tactics and moves and things like that," he says. "I miss all of my guys, my entourage being around me and working out with me, getting in better shape.

Fostering an environment for integration     

          I-Thou dialogue      Bob Lichtenbert writes up a dialogue where one person is the Seeker and the other is the Tipper (typical person). Then volunteers read that dialogue out loud. Then they pause discuss. This yields a more interdisciplinary approach to questions because the audience is from different fields and aren't philosophers.

Our outer world     

Being completely open to the outer world     

          Unexpected recording of unconscious      Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones came up with the riff for the song "Satisfaction" in his sleep, recorded it unexpectedly, and woke up to find it on the tape. Fresh Air: In an interview on Fresh Air, Richards recounts how he woke up just long enough to record the famous opening riff of "Satisfaction" on a cassette player he'd placed next to his bed. "I go to bed as usual with my guitar, and I wake up the next morning, and I see that the tape is run to the very end," Richards tells Terry Gross. "And I think, 'Well, I didn't do anything. Maybe I hit a button when I was asleep.' So I put it back to the beginning and pushed play and there, in some sort of ghostly version, is [the opening lines to 'Satisfaction']. It was a whole verse of it. And after that, there's 40 minutes of me snoring. But there's the song in its embryo, and I actually dreamt the damned thing."

Focusing and maximizing our openness     

          Ask for something more substantial from participants      Fresh Air interview of Steve Coogan, June 9, 2011: The idea for The Trip was first proposed by Michael Winterbottom, who directed Coogan and Brydon in A Cock and Bull Story. Winterbottom wanted something "more substantial" from the two actors, Coogan says.

          Being invited by the right person      Fresh Air interview of Stephen Colbert, June 15, 2001: That's when Sondheim wrote Colbert a personal note. "[He said that] against his instincts, he had a good time on my show and would I consider playing Harry in Company?" he says. "And he ended the letter with the sentence 'You have a perfect voice for musical theater.' And I read it to my wife and she said, 'Boy, you have to do this. No one, let alone Stephen Sondheim is going to ask you to do Sondheim.' And I said, 'You're right, I have to do it.' "

          Changing the level of protein intake      Can the amount of protein that we eat change the activity of an enzyme? How does protein intake affect cancer initiation? Our first test was to see whether protein intake affected the enzyme principally responsible for aflatoxin metabolism, the mixed function oxidase (MFO). This enzyme is very complex because it also metabolizes pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, friend or foe to the body. Paradoxically, this enzyme both detoxifies and activates aflatoxin. It is an extraordinary transformation substance. At the time we started our research, we hypothesized that the protein we consume alters tumor growth by changing how aflatoxin is detoxified by the enzymes present in the liver. ... After a series of experiments, the answer was clear. Enzyme activity could be easily modified simply by changing the level of protein intake. pg.51, T.Colin Campbell, Thomas M.Campbell, The China Study, 2006. Health.

          Enlisting a team      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: After deciding to go pro, Leonard enlisted Morton to bring others onto his team. Morton asked several men, including lawyer Mike Trainer and Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali's trainer, to work with Leonard.

          Hear stories from real life      I heard similar stories from my other patients .. He was killed when he pushed a girl out of the way of the bullets. My patient, the mother of the dead boy, climbed into bed with her mother, also my patient, and they held each other and cried together. Her two surviving children struggled at school. She developed diabetes and hypertension and some heart abnormalities. The grandmother's health deteriorated as well. How can these experiences not affect health and accelerate death in our patients? Each story left me, mouth agape, in shock and dismay. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. I don't pretend to read all the group posts that land in my inbox - but I do try to dip in to yours now and again to sample your thoughts and activities.

          What keeps people interested      Fresh Air interview of J.J. Abrams, June 13, 2011: "Whether it's commercial, whether it's online, whether it's any number of magazines, by the time a movie comes out — and all it is is entertainment — people are force-fed information they didn't even want. ... So by the time you go to the movie, it doesn't have that power anymore."

Recognizing the limits of our openness     

          Be immersed in the lives of those who suffer      The hand of institutional racism was invisible to most white people, including my friends, who tended to avoid institutions or neighborhoods that catered to black people out of fear for their own safety or discomfort. My weekly session with my patients in the General Medicine Clinic heightened my sensitivity to the issues of race in America. In 1906, W.E.B. DuBois said, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." I was a middle-class white man from a small city in upstate New York. I had never been in a position to understand the meaning of these words until I was immersed in the lives of my patients that revealed their truth so powerfully and so tragically. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          Being introduced to an activity      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 10, 2011: It was Leonard's shyness as a child, he says, that prompted his brother Roger to first take him to a boxing gym as a young teenager.

          Have hang ups and neuroses      Fresh Air interview of Steve Coogan, June 9, 2011: "There is a certain insecurity and a certain kind of malcontentedness that [I] just channel into [my] work," he says. "Being creative means some of the things that bother you stop bothering you, because you exploit them creatively. So it's a kind of a strange process, but you need to have hangups and neuroses to be creative. If you're just in a state of nirvana, you're not going to be very interesting or funny."

          Let people fight it out      The oral surgery clinic had a perverse policy. They would treat only fifty patients daily. No appointments. Fantus' doors opened at 7:00 a.m. Patients with toothaches, loose teeth, oral tumors and mouth abscesses lined up in painful silence during the dark hours of the early morning. When the doors to Fantus were opened, it was like the starting gate at Arlington race track. They're off! The crowd scrambled through the open Fantus gates. Patients, some in wheelchairs, others with canes and crutches, raced to get to the Oral Surgery clinic to win one of the fifty prized slots that guaranteed a dentist would see them. This system had persisted through the years despite its inhumanity. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          Not wanting to listen to your trainer      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "When you're losing, you really don't want to hear what your trainer has to say. He may tell you the right thing, but you're so exhausted, you're so beat up, that your lungs are burning, your legs are tired. And you've given up

          Things getting out of control      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: I shared the wealth. And I tried to give [my family] a home. I bought homes for most of my family members. And I bought cars. I bought 10 cars, they were Pintos. They were free [for them.] I just tried to help them because they're my brothers and sisters. But things just got out of control. Things became too frequent.

          What a typical person goes through      Just about every man had a scar from a knife or bullet wound. Almost every woman had lost a close family member to violence. The names of lost loves and relatives were tattooed onto the arms and in the memories of my patients. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

Allowing for an ideal that transcends our limits     

          Being drawn to an activity      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 10, 2011: "For some reason, I was drawn towards boxing," he says. "Or maybe boxing drew me towards it — because once I put those gloves on, after about six months, boxing was my life."

          Finding the value that lies between those things we know      Bradford Hansen-Smith, 2011.04.25: Meaning is not in explaining what we know, rather in finding the value that lies between those things we know. Alignment with that which is out of our range extends our understanding revealing greater symmetries and ways of solving problems, like ways of making a living without having to get into someone else's box.

          What we're not taught in school      If I had not asked, she would not have told me. I might have just adjusted her medicine and had her return in three months. I did not learn how to treat this in medical school. There was no medicine for grief, for the inevitability of urban violence. I felt powerless. I mumbled my sympathy and asked her to return in a month to recheck her blood pressure. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          Surprising interaction      Bob Lichtenbert's aphorisms: "I'm so glad when other people respond to me." Somebody responded to me and I was surprised that they didn't change the subject.

Relative Learning     

                Changing one's attitudes, beliefs and values that reinforce one's criminal behavior. Effective strategies should also focus on changing the attitudes, beliefs, and values that reinforce offenders' criminal behavior. This approach teaches the offenders to (1) pay attention to their thoughts and feelings; (2) recognize how those thoughts and feelings lead to negative behavior; (3) use new thinking to reduce risk; and (4) practice, practice, and practice those new thinking and positive behavioral skills. This is not something that can be done in a classroom setting. Offenders must be given daily opportunities to practice on their own, especially since intensive repetition is a key to intervention's success. Without it, the approach is nothing more than a lecture, and will never effectively reduce delinquency. Dispatches from Juvenile Hall: Fixing a Failing System, by John Aarons, Lisa Smith, Linda Wagner, Penguin Books, 2009. Page 180.

     Astronomy experiments      At Wikipedia, the experiment page gives examples of how the scientific method is applied in astronomy. There is also a page listing key astronomy experiments.

     Biology experiments      Wikipedia documents more than 80 biology experiments. The experiment page gives examples of how the scientific method is applied in biology. There is also a page listing key biology experiments.

     Chemistry experiments      Wikipedia documents 7 chemistry experiments. The experiment page gives examples of how the scientific method is applied in chemistry. There is also a page listing key chemistry experiments.

     Design of experiments      Wikipedia has more than 150 pages on experimental design.

     Field experiment      Wikipedia: A field experiment applies the scientific method to experimentally examine an intervention in the real world (or as many experimentalists like to say, naturally-occurring environments) rather than in the laboratory. Field experiments, like lab experiments, generally randomize subjects (or other sampling units) into treatment and control groups and compare outcomes between these groups. Examples include:

• Clinical trials of pharmaceuticals are one example of field experiments.
• Economists have used field experiments to analyze discrimination, health care programs, charitable fundraising, education, information aggregation in markets, and microfinance programs.
• Engineers often conduct field tests of prototype products to validate earlier laboratory tests and to obtain broader feedback.

           Professor Shakhashiri (?) of the University of Wisconsin chemistry department: Add joy and share the fun of scientific experimentation with friends and family members. Safety comes first. Be sure to follow each instruction carefully. HAVE FUN!

     Psychology experiments      Wikipedia documents 55 psychology experiments. There is also a page listing key psychology experiments.

     Schiehallion experiment      Wikipedia: The Schiehallion experiment was an 18th-century experiment to determine the mean density of the Earth. ... The experiment involved measuring the tiny deflection of a pendulum due to the gravitational attraction of a nearby mountain.

     Space science experiments      Wikipedia documents 20 space science experiments.

     Tim Hunkin's experiments      Cool cartoons that will have you experimenting with food, light, sound, clothes, and a whole lot more!! Hundreds of cartoon experiments from cartoonist, broadcaster and engineer Tim Hunkin.

Extend application     

          Embracing a role      I was at a crossroads. Ready or not, here I was, "Presenting Dr. Ansell." A "real" doctor. And while I felt like a poseur, a fraud, I decided that despite my insecurity and inexperience, I needed to act as if I knew what the hell I was doing. One month into my internship, on the West Side of Chicago, in a steamy corner of the fourth floor of Fantus clinic, at the County Hospital. An epiphany. I suppressed a wave of panic and shoved my doubts aside. Oh. I got it. I was a "real" doctor now. The patients expected no less. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          Making little adjustments      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: It's just little pointers. It's like golf — making those little adjustments. The same thing occurs in boxing. You make adjustments."

Drive to logical conclusion     

          Destroying a prototype      Fresh Air interview of Michael Hiltzik about the Hoover Dam, June 8, 2010: "The federal government created two labs for the concrete to be tested; they enlisted the University of California [and] the University of Colorado to test other formulations. And they even built a test dam in a California river valley — they built it so it could be destroyed, so they could see what kinds of stresses and strains this dam would undergo."

               Black Hole as a Natural Laboratory      "Seeing a star get ripped apart by a black hole from almost 4 billion light-years away, that's a remarkable thing," says astronomer Dave Goldberg, co-author of A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty, who was not part of the studies. "We want to study black holes because they are tremendous natural laboratories for what happens to matter at very high energies." "Rare Cosmic Blast Traced to Black Hole" by Dan Vergano, USA TODAY, June 16, 2011

          Practice with sparring partners similar to one's opponent      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: Dundee, Morton and Trainer were responsible for managing Leonard's fights and for selecting sparring partners who were similar in height, speed and power to the opponents Leonard was about to face. These sparring partners worked with Leonard for weeks to prepare him for a match. ... To prepare, Leonard chose a sparring partner who idolized Duran. "He fought like Roberto Duran — he used his head and dirty tactics and what-have-you," he says. "And it made me more aware, from a defensive standpoint, so when I faced Duran, I was prepared."

          Practicing as a child      Fresh Air interview: When J.J. Abrams was 13, his grandfather gave him a Super 8 camera to shoot homemade movies. He started off making horror films — and killing off all of his relatives. "I would take anyone who was available — my sister, my mother, any friends — and I would kill them in crazy ways," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "We would do makeup effects. ... I would make blood and ask my mom if I could borrow her makeup — which didn't trouble her because she knew I was going to basically just kill someone with it. It was all ridiculous." Abrams went onto a successful film and television career, with credits including Alias, Lost, Fringe, Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek (2009) and Cloverfield.

     Natural experiment      Wikipedia: A natural experiment is an observational study in which the assignment of treatments to subjects has been haphazard: That is, the assignment of treatments has been made "by nature", but not by experimenters. Thus, a natural experiment is not a controlled experiment. Natural experiments are most useful when there has been a clearly defined and large change in the treatment (or exposure) to a clearly defined subpopulation, so that changes in responses may be plausibly attributed to the change in treatments (or exposure). Natural experiments are considered for study designs whenever controlled experimentation is difficult, such as in many problems in epidemiology and economics.

Accept outcome     

          Comparing effort and outcome      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: When they announced the decision, I felt like I had given 100 percent, just for the wrong fight.

          Early victories      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: He started competing in amateur matches, eventually winning the 1973 National Golden Gloves Lightweight Championship. The following year, he won the Golden Gloves title again, along with the National AAU Lightweight Championship. Those early victories, he says, helped him break out of his shell.

          Look at yourself in the mirror      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: It's a gradual progression of getting better and, as weeks go by, you look into the mirror and you see a different person. It evolves. One minute, you look kind of soft and then, within 6-8 weeks, your muscle and all that definition appears. The mirror doesn't lie. It tells you exactly what you are."

          Natural experiment      Conversing with: creativity of nature We can recognize that nature itself may be "conducting experiments" that we would like to conduct, but can't. Nature has created the conditions for the experiment and we simply have to note and analyze the results. There are natural nuclear reactions in uranium, bacteria growing in high levels of arsenic, and many types of remarkable configurations in microbiology and astronomy. Such searches have the spirit of Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science".

          Suffering from the actions of others      Fresh Air interview of J.J. Abrams: His justification for such secrecy has to do with a script for a Superman film he wrote 15 years ago, he explains. "It was leaked out of the studio, and someone reviewed the script online in great detail, and it became this big thing and ultimately the film didn't get made,

Match inner and outer worlds through person-in-general     

          Maximum Margin Classifier      Starting with the Minimum Empirical Error Classifier, the number of dimensions exceeds the number of training samples, and proper training leads to zero empirical error. Zero empirical error can also be obtained when n = N1 + N2 exceeds the number of dimensions p, if the distance between the pattern classes is sufficiently large. Let the empirical error be zero, and consider the Euclidean distance D between the discriminant hyperplane and the learning-set vector closest to it. Consider likewise the distance between the discriminant hyperplane and a second learning-set vector. Then as the weights grow, a related ratio diminishes to zero, which implies that the relative contribution of the second learning-set vector becomes insignificant. There is a tendency for the learning algorithm to put the decision hyperplane further from the closest learning-set vector. At the end of the learning process, several vectors are at the same distance from the discriminant hyperplane. Only the ones closest to the discriminant hyperplane contribute to the cost function and the final hyperplane location. This is the maximum margin classifier. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

          Address the needs of loved ones      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: When he got back to D.C.'s Maryland suburbs, where his family lived, he realized that his father was extremely sick. His mother had her own health issues and the family needed money — right away. "Janks Morton, who eventually became my trainer and mentor, told me: 'You turn pro, you make money. You can pay your father's hospital bills.' ... I turned professional for that reason."

          Overloading terms      Jerry Michalski of The REXpedition overloaded the terms of Yin and Yang. Taoism traditionally understands Yin as receptive, feminine, dark Earth energy and Yang as active, male, outward, bright energy. Jerry extends these terms to our times by attributing to Yang what is rational, logical, Cartesian, hierarchical, command and control, analytic energy, and to Yin what is emotional, spiritual, ecological, systemic, biological, emergent, abundant, creative energy. Taoism recommends creative tension. Jerry thinks that we're in a great rebalancing, we've been suffering too much Yang, and Yin is showing up on the Internet, interpersonal relationships. Jerry brings attention to it, collaborating with people who are making it happen and creating things that accelerate the process.

          Relationships with people who face hardship      I learned a lot from the patients. I was discovering the tools of medicine from them. Many of my patients and I grew up together. They had seen me become a father for the first time, and they consoled me when my father died. I had seen their children grow up, having children themselves. I had helped them through family crises, tragedies, diseases, and deaths. I had no idea in those first weeks and months of General Medicine Clinic how much I would grow from these relationships. I am on a first-name basis with many of my original patients. From them I gained insight into illness and the dignity with which people can face hardship that has helped me through difficult times in my life. I have taken care of three generations of some families, and have seen the destruction that poverty, poor diet, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension can unleash on a family's tree. I learned that sometimes giving hope or an embrace is as therapeutic as a drug. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.

          Why are we using the word we are using?      Jerry Michalski of The REXpedition is turned off by the word "consumer" because of what the dictionary says it actually means (to destroy, often wastefully) and because of the violent metaphors that it encourages (military campaigns, branding cattle, driving traffic).

          Defining basic terms      Bob Lichtenbert, Seekers' Dialogue on Motivating For More Meaning Let's start at the same place that we always ought to and do begin, namely, with a definition of boundary setting on basic terms. Now by "motivating" I shall primarily mean "moving another person to care or be interested or do in anything". I am mostly interested in personal motivation in the psychological and philosophical (or value) senses. So "motivation" as I mean it here in general is "to arouse others toward goal-directed behavior".

          Applying the letter of the law and watching for the spirit of the law      Perry Recker notes that in this episode the two mothers are like the two branches, one of harshness and destruction and the other of forgiveness and healing. I note that the Talmud has a tradition that if two conflict over a coat, and it is not clear who owns it, then it should be divided in half. Solomon may have simply applied the same logic here. His application revealed who the true owner was. If so, he was wise by being true to the law, yet alert to what the law then reveals of our hearts. The law is a process of clarifying, not a decision. 1st Kings 3:23 Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;' and the other says, 'No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'" 3:24 The king said, "Get me a sword." They brought a sword before the king. 3:25 The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other." 3:26 Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it!" But the other said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide it." 3:27 Then the king answered, "Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She is its mother."

          God's law is down-to-earth and known      Deuteronomy 30:11 For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?" 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?" 30:14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

Game maker vs. Game player     

          Models for Systems Analysis      I presented our paper "Organizing Thoughts into Sequences, Hierarchies and Networks" at a conference in Heidelberg in 1999. At that conference I think there was a talk about the different kinds of modeling systems being used, and how they might be used together eclectically, heterogeneously. I created this diagram to show how they might be organized by the six kinds of representations. Four of them correspond to Whether-What-How-Why. The other two are representations in terms of Observer and Thing, and may correspond to the branches of Believe and Care, respectively.

Gut feeling     

          Emotional devastation of loved ones      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: When they announced the decision, I felt like I had given 100 percent, just for the wrong fight. But the devastation — the emotional devastation that went across the board to my family and friends — was unbelievable. I saw them crying. Everyone was crying but me."

          Feeling release      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: Yet he was also hiding something: He was the victim of sexual abuse. "It's like a paradox," said Leonard. "I'm a fighter but yet, I'm so fearful. I don't fight back and I don't tell anyone. I don't confront it. So I lived with those periods for 30-some years but I remember too, that when I drank heavily, when my emotions were not as stable, I would cry, sob and the pain — it felt good. I felt embarrassed but it felt good because I released some of those memories or that poison that was in my stomach."

          Following what makes me feel uncomfortable      Jerry Michalski of The REXpedition: The genesis of my Relationship Economy thesis was a realization, back around 1994 when I was writing Esther Dyson's monthly tech newsletter Release 1.0, that the word "consumer" made me really uncomfortable. I followed that energy, and it proved invaluable. Ideas kept unfolding from that initial premise. I began to notice the consumerization of so many spheres of human activity, from how we educate our children to how we elect our governments and how we pray to our Gods. I paid attention to the language of marketing to consumers, to the metaphors and business models that had spun out as a result.

          Sweetest feeling      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "There is no sweeter feeling than when you throw the perfect punch. You get a signal — you get this little tingling sensation that shoots up and down your arm to let you know that you've hit the jackpot. And you know. You know right away that guy's gone."

Origin     

          Apply constructs of source domain to target domain      George Lakoff and Mark Johnson describe how a metaphor allows us to apply the constructs of a source domain (such as WAR) to a new, target domain (such as ARGUMENT). ...This is an example of what it means for a metaphorical concept, namely, ARGUMENT IS WAR, to structure (at least in part) what we do and how we understand what we are doing when we argue. The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. It is not that arguments are a subspecies of war. Arguments and wars are different kinds of things - verbal discourse and armed conflict - and the actions performed are different kinds of actions. But ARGUMENT is partially structured, understood, performed and talked about in terms of WAR. The concept is metaphorically structured, the activity is metaphorically structured, and, consequently, the language is metaphorically structured. Moreover, this is the ordinary way of having an argument and talking about one. From Chapter 1, Concepts We Live By, of Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, The University of Chicago, 1980 Tikslinti #803

          Ask people why      Why did County patients tolerate these waits and abusive conditions? Our patients declared that they came because County had "the best doctors." This was not true. There is no way we were the best. We were young, uninitiated, and worse, unsupervised. But many of our patients had been turned away from other institutions or had family or friends with the same experience "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. Maybe that is why we need story telling (and pattern languages) in our post-web world - so that communication is tied firmly into context through anecdotes.

          The beauty of a role model      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "I watched Muhammad Ali, how when he would speak, how it was such a thing of beauty. It sounded so wonderful. And I wanted to be like him."

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. Maybe generalisations only work effectively when people are living in the same cultural groups or working in the same silos.

     Identifying with a larger equivalent      Socrates explores the human soul by identifying it with a city.

Implication     

          Compare total expenses      Fresh Air interview of Michael Hiltzik about the Hoover Dam, June 8, 2010: Dams are very expensive. And the water that they provide for users is very expensive water because of the capital expense of building a dam. It's wiser today to look for other sources of water supply, including conservation and reclamation, and this is what we try to do now because it's much cheaper, more efficient and ecologically friendly.

          Decide to be different from a leading influence      Fresh Air interview with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones: "If you're talking image-wise, we probably did make a decision to not be The Fab Four. They were basically differences between the bands. The Beatles were basically a vocal band. They all sang and one song, John would take the lead. Another, Paul [would] or George and sometimes Ringo. Our band set up totally differently — with one frontman, one lead singer, and what I loved about it is that there's an incredible difference in it between The Beatles and ourselves, but at the same time, we were there at the same time, and you're dealing with each other. And it was a very, very fruitful and great relationship between the Stones and The Beatles. It was very, very friendly. The competition thing didn't come into it as far as we were concerned."

          The path I want to take      Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "I wanted to win the goal medal and then go home and further my education in college," he says.

Levels     

                Edward Cherlin, 2011.04.05: This idea [of dropping the excluded middle] can be followed into a realm of multiple-valued logics. Buddhist logic considers the possibilities

• Exists
• Does not exist
• Both exists and does not exist
• Neither exists nor does not exist
• None of the above

Experiencing     

     Single Layer Perceptron      Sarunas Raudys considers the non-linear Single Layer Perceptron as a process in which the weights of the perceptron are increasing, and the cost function of the sum of squares is changing gradually. He shows that when this single layer perceptron is trained by adaptive optimization techniques, then it is not any single kind of classifier, but rather, in the course of its evolution, it exhibits the behavior of a very rich family of linear classifiers. During the backpropagation training, the decision boundary of a single-layer perceptron become close to or identical to that of seven statistical classifiers:

• (1) Euclidean Distance Classifier
• (2) Regularized Linear Discriminant Analysis
• (3) Standard Fisher Linear Discriminant Function
• (4) Fisher Linear Discriminant Function With Pseudoinverse Covariance Matrix
• (5) Generalized Fisher Discriminant Function
• (6) Minimum Empirical Error Classifier
• (7) Maximum Margin Classifier

• target value control
• moving of the learning data centre into the origin of coordinates
• zero weight initialization
• use of an additional negative weight decay term called "anti-regularization"
• use of an exponentially increasing learning step

Andrius: In my understanding, the basic intuition is that in learning we must watch out for over-learning as this keeps us from learning new approaches. For this reason it is important that training always include some noise. My hypothesis is that this yields a hierarchy of learning approaches that accord with the statistical classifiers. Each of them I expect is of increasing sophistication and able to solve the problems of the preceding approaches, although perhaps not as quickly. I imagine that the sophistication is characterized by the number of point of views entertained by the approach so that it functions as a Division Of Everything into one, two, three, four, five, six or seven parts. Basically, I think that a classifier is, in its world, a division of everything. I wish to understand intuitively the statistical approaches so that I might clarify or reject my hypothesis. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

                     An example of the 6+4 model is in my paper , see especially the diagram which I got to present to Joseph Goguen's class because I related it to his algebraic semiotics of user interface design. (Yes, he was brilliant! and a great shame that he passed away.)

Onesome: What-Whether     

          Euclidean Distance Classifier      Suppose that at the beginning of training the weights are small and the activation function acts as the linear function. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

          Serving people of a different background      My patients' lives were a window into a slice of American life I had never known — sharecroppers, wooden shacks on dusty backroads, back-breaking cotton picking for pennies a pound. Towns whose names littered civil rights history — Philadelphia, McComb, Indianola, Yahoo City, Little Rock, Montgomery, Birmingham. Life under Jim Crow. "Yes, suh. No, suh." The humiliation of survival in places where being black meant no chance for justice. The Illinois Central ride to Chicago. The promise of jobs. The disappointment of segregation and the urban violence that greeted them. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

          What is most enjoyable for viewers      Fresh Air interview of J.J. Abrams: it's literally wanting people to have a good time and to have a little bit of a surprising time. So whenever I'm trying to keep things quiet, it is 100 percent an effort to make the experience of actually seeing the movie or TV show more enjoyable for the viewers."

          Who had an impact on my growth?      I sometimes measure my life progress by thinking of the people who have had an impact on my growth as a human being. My parents, my wife, my children, my friends and colleagues. I number my patients among them. Health. Chicago. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved.

Twosome: How-Whether     

          Regularized Linear Discriminant Analysis      Starting with the Euclidean Distance Classifier, assume that tj(1) = 1 and tj(2) = -1. Analyze a change in the weight vector after the second and following iterations. This yields the weight vector resulting from regularized linear discriminant analysis. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

          Imagining a different conceptual geometry      Jerry Michalski of The REXpedition thought of the growth of knowledge as expanding beyond what a single person (like Leibniz) could know, expanding as if in a radial plane where various disciplines (math, history,...) carved out and walled off their own portions. Then one day he reimagined that plane as a sphere where each person was a point on that sphere with tangents heading off in different directions, but the points on that sphere may be starting to converge, so that people of different jargons are saying similar things.

                     Dave Gray reimagines Jerry Michalski's geometry of knowledge. He draws it as a basket. The idea here is about the advance of knowledge. The spines are the various disciplines which must necessarily diverge as we attempt to understand a universe where the unknown always exceeds the known. ... The horizontal weaving strands are the threads we weave as we attempt to connect the various disciplines. ... Without the weaving the spines just lay flat on the ground and radiate out. And without the spines the basket is just a coiled garden hose on the ground. ... Over time it holds more and more meaning, life, knowledge and goodness. It's a cornucopia! :)

Threesome: How-What     

          Standard Fisher Linear Discriminant Function      Given the Regularized Linear Discriminant Analysis, when t goes to infinity, then we get the Fisher discriminant function. The standard Fisher linear discriminant function was proposed by Fisher in 1936. It is the first known classification rule. In 1951, Anderson showed that it can be obtained from optimal statistical decision function theory. We assume multivariate Gaussian classes with a common covariance matrix (GCCM). Into the model we insert maximum likelihood sample estimates instead of unknown parameters. The Fisher rule requires the inversion of a sample-based covariance matrix. This is problematic when we have a small learning set and large dimensionality. The adaline linear classifier of Widrow and Hoff is identical to the Fisher rule when we have the same number of learning vectors from both competing classes. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

          How may society be changing for the better?      Jerry Michalski of The REXpedition notes that businesses are turning away from "consumer" culture and towards person-to-person relationships with customers, clients, guests, citizens, members, participants, households...

          How one concept misrepresents another      Fresh Air interview of doctor David Ansell, June 15, 2001: Working at County, Ansell says, made him realize just how much the current payment system drives health care inequalities. "There's a misunderstanding that if you just go to the [emergency room], that's health care," he says. "It's not. ... And I don't think the public or politicians really understand that. Health. Chicago.

          Surveys of different populations      Many years later, colleagues of mine conducted door-to-door health surveys in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. More than a third of those surveyed had higher rates of depression, asthma, hypertension and smoking than those in white communities. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

Foursome: Why-How     

          Fisher Linear Discriminant Function With Pseudoinverse Covariance Matrix      Starting with the Standard Fisher Linear Discriminant Function, we may then allow that the covariance matrix is not invertible. This is always the case when the number of learning samples is 2N < p + 2 If we write the weight vector in a certain way, then the weights approach the Fisher linear discriminant function with pseudoinverse covariance matrix. This assumes that the inputs of the activation function vary in the linear interval. We need to have non-limit target values abs(tj)<1. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. Maybe that is why we need story telling (and pattern languages) in our post-web world - so that communication is tied firmly into context through anecdotes.

Fivesome: Why-What     

          Generalized Fisher Discriminant Function      Starting with the Fisher Linear Discriminant Function With Pseudoinverse Covariance Matrix, if the target values differ from the limiting values, then the smallest deviations are obtained for medium size weights, and the activation function becomes a non-linear function, as does the non-decreasing odd and non-constant function phi (see Sarunas paper). The minimization of the cost function yields a linear classifier very similar to generalized discriminant analysis. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

               Collect examples how TIME IS MONEY is used in English      George Lakoff and Mark Johnson collected examples from everyday language to investigate how metaphorical concepts apply broadly as mental frameworks and are not simply aspects of language. To get an idea of how metaphorical expressions in everyday language can give us insight into the metaphorical nature of the concepts that structure our everyday activities, let us consider the metaphorical concept TIME IS MONEY as it is reflected in contemporary English.

• You're wasting my time.
• This gadget will save you hours.
• I don't have the time to give you.
• How do you spend your time these days?
• The flat tire cost me an hour.
• I've invested a lot of time in her.
• I don't have enough time to spare for that.
• You're running out of of time.
• You need to budget your time.
• Put aside some time for ping pong.
• ...

          Choreographing individual moves       Fresh Air interview of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, June 6, 2011: "I worked on certain moves that would be a factor in the contest — whether I had to bob and weave or constantly be mobile, all those things," he says. "I choreographed my fights in my head before I faced the opponent."

          Playing around with connecting two ideas      Fresh Air interview: Abrams explains that the concept for Super 8 came from two different movie ideas he was playing with in his head: a Stand By Me-like ensemble film based on his own childhood obsession with filmmaking, and a thriller about the U.S. Air Force moving Area 51 and its contents to another destination. "I didn't have more than that, but I had a premise where I thought, 'Oh, that's kind of a fun ... movie,' " he says. "And while playing with the idea of connecting these two movies, suddenly they started to answer each other's questions."

          Why would somebody say that      "Why would I make up epilepsy?" he screamed. "Give me my phenobarbital." I let loose in return. I might be young and inexperienced but I was not a pushover. I was nose to nose with my first patient — not what I had imagined when I opted for a career in primary care. My mind raced as I considered my options. Phenobarbital was a controlled substance. What if he was a drug user? I gazed at the pile of charts in front of me. It was hot. The air was muggy. I had patients waiting for me in the hospital when I was done with clinic. Why would anyone fake epilepsy? He had a point. I had no frame of reference. I could not afford to get bogged down. I took a deep breath. "What the fuck?" I mused. I took his word, wrote out a prescription for three months of a medication I had only read about in a pharmacology book. He grabbed the script out of my hand, as soon as I wrote it, eyebrows furrowed. "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

Foursome: Why-Whether     

          Minimum Empirical Error Classifier      When the limit values are the targets, then for two distant classes it is possible to obtain very high weights upon applying the minimizing cost function. Then the activation function is acting as a hard limiting threshold function. If one avoids local minima by using global minimization techniques, then one obtains a classifier similar to the minimum empirical error classifier. (See: Sarunas Raudys, Evolution and generalization of a single neurone: I. Single-layer perceptron as seven statistical classifiers", Neural Networks 11 (1998) 283-296)

          Can the amount of protein that we eat change the activity of an enzyme?      How does protein intake affect cancer initiation? Our first test was to see whether protein intake affected the enzyme principally responsible for aflatoxin metabolism, the mixed function oxidase (MFO). This enzyme is very complex because it also metabolizes pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, friend or foe to the body. Paradoxically, this enzyme both detoxifies and activates aflatoxin. It is an extraordinary transformation substance. At the time we started our research, we hypothesized that the protein we consume alters tumor growth by changing how aflatoxin is detoxified by the enzymes present in the liver. ... After a series of experiments, the answer was clear. Enzyme activity could be easily modified simply by changing the level of protein intake. pg.51, T.Colin Campbell, Thomas M.Campbell, The China Study, 2006. Health.

          Impact on ecological balance      Fresh Air interview of Michael Hiltzik about the Hoover Dam, June 8, 2010: "When you dam a river, basically you reduce the flow downstream. That's going to affect wildlife habitats. In certain rivers, you're going to destroy the spawning grounds for fish like salmon, you're going to destroy wetlands — you're really interfering with a lot of the ecological balance when you build a dam.

          Looking at basic conditions and services      Fresh Air interview of doctor David Ansell, June 15, 2001: The first time Dr. David Ansell went into the men's room at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, he immediately ran out. "It was so bad, I couldn't use it," he says. "I ran across the street and had to use the bathroom there. It was quite an introduction to my first day at County." Health. Chicago.

          Looking for reasons for discrepancies      Fresh Air interview of doctor David Ansell, June 15, 2001: On the South Side of Chicago, the life expectancy of an African-American male is eight years lower than that of a Caucasian man, Ansell explains. "When you look at the reasons for it, at least half of this is [because of] heart disease and cancer and things that could be treated," he says. "One of the problems with our current system is segregating people by insurance status, which ends up limiting the options of care — especially when you get down to the specialty care that people need." Health. Chicago.

          What is fair      Fresh Air interview of doctor David Ansell, June 15, 2001: The only fair way to do this is where people have a card that gets them in, where that card is accepted widely and broadly by everyone, and [giving people] choice," he says. "So you could go anywhere you want, you get the care you want, and choose your own doctors — and that would be some sort of universal plan — Medicare for all, single-payer. We need a system that really gives patients — poor or rich — adequate care." Health. Chicago.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: My hunch is that any ideas I might put forward on developing educational systems would probably be 99% ignored and 1% ridiculed - but I might have got the proportions wrong.

A greater context in which everything can be reinterpreted and get unexpected meaning     

                Bradford Hansen-Smith, 2011.04.25: One of the aspects of figuring things out is to figure out how to support ourselves doing what we desire in a society that has limitation on what it has decided has meaning and will pay for. My suggestion is to look towards your thoughts about "Identity." ...there is Context, which can change the meaning entirely,..." The larger the context the greater is one ability to make connections that give meaning to individual purpose. All other areas of compartmentalization will by necessity be limited. This is what I think people are really talking about with the overused phrase of "thinking outside of the box." You know, the one that was never there until we constructed it, giving it an identity of "reality" which then becomes directive and instead of moving through it stays on our shoulders, limiting our range of vision and diminishing our choices. Meaning is not in explaining what we know, rather in finding the value that lies between those things we know. Alignment with that which is out of our range extends our understanding revealing greater symmetries and ways of solving problems, like ways of making a living without having to get into someone else's box.

          Be taught by others how life is for them      My black male patients had all been stopped by the police for traffic violations — "Driving while black." They taught me the routine. Something I had never experienced myself. Flashing red lights. A floodlight blasts through the back window illuminating the interior of the car. Every black parent taught his or her children how to respond to a police stop. White kids were taught to trust the police. Black kids were taught to be cautious around the police. There was a routine that black men had learned to follow when stopped by the police. Open the window. Put your hands up. Easy does it. ... "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital" by David Ansell M.D. Copyright 2011, David Ansell M.D. Published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Health. Chicago.1934

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. Even the simplest of words may conjour up completely different images to different people - or even to ourselves as we picture ourselves in different place. I think of being with my friends in Nigeria or back home in the UK and of some words that would conjour up very different pictures in the two situations - school, kitchen, breakfast, family, water, wedding, party, market, taxi, greetings, condolences, morning, evening, rain, sun ... the list could go on.

                Pamela McLean, June 10, 2011. So many of us are connecting at a distance with people whose cultures are dramatically different from our own. We try to communicate about ideas, roles, structures, feelings - all kinds of complicated things - and it is temping to believe we all have a shared understanding. Perhaps that never really happens.

          God wants his law to be followed with all our hearts and our souls      As Perry Recker noted to me, God ends Deuteronomy with a blessing and curse, and they are like the two branches of the House of Knowledge. God wants us to obey him, but if we stray, then he wants us to return with all of our hearts and all of our souls. We are to follow the letter; but if we don't, won't, can't follow the letter, then even so we are to follow with our spirit. Deuteronomy 30:1 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, 30:2 and shall return to Yahweh your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; 30:3 that then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 30:4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there he will bring you back: 30:5 and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers. 30:6 Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. 30:7 Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 30:8 You shall return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. 30:9 Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers; 30:10 if you shall obey the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

          God's children are those who obey his law which he gave them      Deuteronomy 32:5 They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation. 32:6 Do you thus requite Yahweh, foolish people and unwise? Isn't he your father who has bought you? He has made you, and established you. 32:7 Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. 32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 32:9 For Yahweh's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

Not yet sorted      I'm collecting and sorting ever more ways of figuring things out. Please send them to me at Thank you! Andrius Kulikauskas

Other ways     

     Miscellaneous science experiments      Wikipedia has 18 pages related to miscellaneous science experiments.

     Other ways: Acting      My friend Rimas Morkunas is a wonderfully funny actor. I want to study books by: Constantin Stanislavski (Konstantinas Stanislavskis, , (Aktoriaus saviruosa), , Michail Chekhov, Lee Strysberg, Namerovich Danchenko (or Danchenka), Merholdas about biomechanics, Efroso theatre, Aristotle's poetics.

                    An understanding heart to judge God's people, discern between good and evil      Solomon says, 1st Kings 3:7 I am but a little child. ... 3:9 Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this your great people?

     Other ways: Bible characters      I study ways of figuring things out illustrated by characters in the Bible. (I consider God and Jesus separately).

               Warned in a dream, Joseph withdrew to Galilee      Matthew ... Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, 2:23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth

          Ask all the chief priests and scribes      Matthew 2:4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.

          Ask others to bring word when they know      Matthew 2:8 He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him."

          Be informed      Genesis 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.

          Be instructed by God      Genesis 6:14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 6:15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 6:16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

          Be warned in a dream      Matthew 2:12 Being warned in a dream that they shouldn't return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

          Become pregnant      Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

          Children are like parents      Matthew 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there.

               John calls Pharisees and Saducees the offspring of vipers      Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

          Confession      Matthew 3:6 They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

          Contrasting ourselves with Jesus      Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

          Endow names with meaning      Genesis 5:28 Lamech lived one hundred eighty-two years, and became the father of a son, 5:29 and he named him Noah, saying, "This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed."

          Follow a star      Matthew 2:9 They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

          Hear from an angel in a dream      Matthew 1:20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 1:21 She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."

               An angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt      Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."

               Angel told Joseph to return to Israel      Matthew 2:19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 2:20 "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead."

          Inquire      Matthew 2:7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

          Jesus sorts out the good and the bad      Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire."

          Judge the tree by the fruit      Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 3:8 Therefore bring forth fruit worthy of repentance!

          Look      Genesis 8:13 It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried.

          Not having sex      Matthew 1:24 Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself; 1:25 and didn't know her sexually until she had brought forth her firstborn son.

          Not to shame      Matthew 1:19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

          Receive unexpected guests and presents      Matthew 2:11 They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

          See a star      Genesis 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 2:2 "Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him."

          See and touch      John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn't with them when Jesus came. 20:25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." 20:26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you." 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believing." 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed."

          See that one was mocked      Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

          See what a star stands over      Matthew 2:9 They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

          Send out a probe      Genesis 8:6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 8:7 and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8:8 He sent out a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 8:9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. 8:10 He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. 8:11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. 8:12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; and she didn't return to him any more.

          The meaning behind a name      Matthew 1:21 She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins."

          The writings of a prophet      Matthew 2:5... They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet, 2:6 'You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.'"

          What God is able to do      Matthew 3:9 Don't think to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

          What happens to those who don't give fruit      Matthew 3:10 "Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn't bring forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

          What is at hand      Matthew 3:1 In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 3:2 "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

          What is known is meant to be known and followed      Moses and the Jews. Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

          What roles are appropriate for who?      Matthew 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 3:14 But John would have hindered him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?"

          Who watches over us      Matthew 3:9 Don't think to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

     Other ways: Buddhism     

          Compassion for men of little virtue      All these living beings, hearing such a statement, must indeed realize the thought of the difficulty of meeting a Buddha and cherish a longing and a thirst for him; thus they will cultivate the roots of goodness. Therefore the Tathagata, though he does not in reality become extinct, yet announces his extinction. From the book Buddhist Thought Through Later Centuries.

          Learning the difficulty of meeting a Buddha      If the Buddha abides long in the world, men of little virtue - who do not cultivate the roots of goodness and are spiritually poor and mean, greedily attached to the five desires, and caught in the net of wrong reflection and false views - if they see the Tathagata constantly present and not extinct, will become puffed up and lazy and unable to conceive the idea that it is difficult to meet a Buddha, and be unable to develop a mind of reverence for him. Therefore the Tathagata tactfully says: "Know, Bhikshus! The appearance of a Buddha in the world is a rare occurence." Wherefore? In the course of countless hundreds, thousands, myriads, koits of kalpas, some men of little virtue may happen to see a Buddha, or none may see him. For this reason I say: 'Bhikshus! A Tathagata may rarely be seen!' All these living beings, hearing such a statement, must indeed realize the thought of the difficulty of meeting a Buddha and cherish a longing and a thirst for him; thus they will cultivate the roots of goodness. Therefore the Tathagata, though he does not in reality become extinct, yet announces his extinction. From the book Buddhist Thought Through Later Centuries.

     Other ways: Business      What ways of figuring things out are relevant for business?

     Other ways: Chess      I played a lot of chess in my youth. I want to share ways that I and others have figured things out.

          Assign values to chess pieces and add them up      We can gauge which player has the material advantage by counting up and comparing the values of their remaining pieces. The usual scale is: Queen 9, Rook 5, Bishop or Knight 3, Pawn 1. This is not part of the rules, but simply a helpful method. Computer chess programs may use more subtle scales. The material advantage is important because it reflects greater opportunities, but also, because that relative advantage increases as pieces are traded off, so that exchanges become threats in and of themselves. Material advantage may be outweighted by the "initiative", which is to say, somebody may fall victim to a mating attack even though they have more pieces. Material advantage and initiative are like potential energy and kinetic energy.

     Other ways: Creative Arts      Natalie d'Arbeloff investigates artistically with her book ''Designing With Natural Forms'', artistic investigations. See also: Experiments in Seeing.

          Allusion      Wikipedia: "I don't use shamanism to refer to death, but vice versa - through shamanism, I refer to the fatal character of the times we live in. But at the same time I also point out that the fatal character of the present can be overcome in the future."

          Create an event score      Wikipedia: The term "score" is used in exactly the sense that one uses the term to describe a music score: a series of notes that allow anyone to perform the work, an idea linked both to what Nam June Paik labeled the "do it yourself" approach and to what Ken Friedman termed "musicality." While much is made of the do it yourself approach to art, it is vital to recognize that this idea emerges in music, and such important Fluxus artists as Paik, Higgins, or Corner began as composers, bringing to art the idea that each person can create the work by "doing it." This is what Friedman meant by musicality, extending the idea more radically to conclude that anyone can create work of any kind from a score, acknowledging the composer as the originator of the work while realizing the work freely and even interpreting it in far different ways from those the original composer might have done. Event scores, such as George Brecht's "Drip Music", are essentially performance art scripts that are usually only a few lines long and consist of descriptions of actions to be performed rather than dialogue.

          Ring discussions      Wikipedia: Another aspect of Beuys' pedagogy included open "ring discussions," where Beuys and his students discussed political and philosophical issues of the day, including the role of art, democracy, and the university in society. Some of Beuys' ideas espoused in class discussion and in his art-making included free art education for all, the discovery of creativity in everyday life, and the belief that "everyone [was] an artist."

     Other ways: Dance      Twenty years or so ago I gave my sister a book on dance that was very philosophical. I think it had eight main concepts. The first was breathing.

     Other ways: David Ellison-Bey      I'm collecting ways that my friend David Ellison-Bey has figured things out. He leads the Moorish Cultural Workshop.

          Living by principles      David Ellison-Bey, 2011.04.27: Living by principles has us see beyond the hype. Having principles and living by them in practicing the best in you which has gotten you this far along, seeing beyond the hype.

          Look at a person of great character      David Ellison-Bey, 2011.04.27: We can look at Mother Theresa, look at her life, how she dedicated her life. Did she have to fill out her income tax? Did she get anything from the diocese, even? Did she have to account for it? Have a secretary, financial secretary, recording secretary? But she was going around picking people off the street.

          What have we not figured out?      David Ellison-Bey, 2011.04.27: ...and we still haven't figured out the money system out for the corruption and greed for the materials of life that's beyond many in their lifetimes of work, sweat and blood, etc.

     Other ways: God      I'm collecting ways that God figures things out as evident from passages in the Bible. I'm also considering them from what I myself know of God personally and through my philosophy, for example, God's headlong nature, and his interest in love.

          Appreciate human nature      Genesis Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done. 8:22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

          Assign a purpose      Genesis 1:11 God said, "Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth"; and it was so. 1:12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

          Assign a role      Genesis 1:14 God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 1:16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 1:17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth, 1:18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness.

          Be thorough      Genesis 7:20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 7:21 All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. 7:23 Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. 7:24 The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days.

          Bless with purpose      Genesis 1:22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

          Command      Genesis 1:3 God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

               God created the earth and seas      1:9 God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

               God created the sky between the waters above and below      1:6 God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

          Consider all possibilities      God's mind is unlimited. Thus God considers all possibilities, sensible or not. We are all thoughts in God's mind, like variations on a chess board, which may not be played (as Jesus, the winning variant, was played), yet are all relevant for winning the game.

          Counting the generations      Matthew 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

          Divide one thing from out of another thing      Genesis: God divided the light from the darkness. 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." There was evening and there was morning, one day.

               Divide the earth from the sea      Genesis 1:9 God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

               Divide with an expanse      Genesis 1:6 God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 1:7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 1:8 God called the expanse "sky." There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

          Dividing everything into perspectives      God thinks by dividing everything into perspectives. These divisions accord with his days of creation in Genesis. A day for God is an event, and that event is a division of everything.

          Ensure the survival of the species      Genesis 6:20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.

          Explain      Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them. 1:28 God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 1:29 God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. 1:30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.

          Favor      Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.

          Fill with life      Genesis 1:20 God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky." 1:21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

          Finish work      Genesis 2:1 The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. 2:2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made;

          Genealogy      Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 1:2 Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. ... Matthan became the father of Jacob. 1:16 Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

          Give dominion over      Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

          Give names to things      Genesis 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."

               Name the earth and seas      Genesis 1:10 God called the dry land "earth," and the gathering together of the waters he called "seas."

               Name the sky      Genesis 1:8 God called the expanse "sky."

          God rejoices in both multiplying and destroying      Deuteronomy 28:63 It shall happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from off the land where you go in to possess it.

          Headlong      God does as God thinks. They are the same. Thus God is headlong. God may ask, would God be even if God wasn't? and the experiment proceeds directly.

          Judge a person's heart      God instructed Samuel to anoint Jesse's son David. God said he chooses not as humans do, not on outward appearance, but on the heart. Even so, David was handsome. Samuel I 16:6 It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab, and said, "Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him." 16:7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, "Don't look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart." 16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has Yahweh chosen this one." 16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, "Neither has Yahweh chosen this one." 16:10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, "Yahweh has not chosen these." 16:11 Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your children here?" He said, "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." 16:12 He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he."

          Make according to kind      Genesis 1:21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. ... 1:25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind.

          Make in God's own image      Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

          Make provision      Genesis 6:21 Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.

          Observe the thoughts of people's hearts      Genesis 6:5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

          Provide for the ecosystem      Genesis 7:1 Yahweh said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. 7:2 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. 7:3 Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth."

          Remember      Genesis 8:1 God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.

          Remember my covenant with a token      Genesis 9:8 God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9:9 "As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. 9:11 I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth." 9:12 God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 9:13 I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, 9:15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9:16 The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 9:17 God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

          Removing himself      God thinks as he creates, and he creates by removing himself, thereby considering whether he would be even if he was not.

          Repeat what is important      Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

          Rest      Genesis: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made.

          See corruption      Genesis 6:11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 6:12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

          See everything      Genesis 1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.

          See righteousness      Genesis 7:1 Yahweh said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation."

          See what God created      Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 1:3 God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 1:4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good.

          Self-collaborate      Note the use of the plural "us". Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion...

          Smell the pleasant aroma      Genesis 8:20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 8:21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done. 8:22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

          Solildarity with similarity      God has solidarity with man because God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.

          Sorrow and regret      Genesis 6:6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 6:7 Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

          Truth of the heart and truth of the world      God thinks the truth of the heart, but God allows for the truth of the world. God sees how we relate them. Which one do we choose?

          Unfolding perspective      God thinks by unfolding his perspective, as in my video summary, "I Wish to Know", generating I, then You, then Other.

          What fulfilled a prophecy      Matthew 1:22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 1:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel"; which is, being interpreted, "God with us."

               Fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene      Matthew ... Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, 2:23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

               Fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my son      Matthew 2:14 He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, 2:15 and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

               Isaiah prophesied John the Baptist      Matthew 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight."

               Jeremiah's prophecy fulfilled      Matthew 2:17 Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, 2:18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn't be comforted, because they are no more."

          What is compatible      Genesis 6:1 It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 6:2 that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. 6:3 Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."

          Who is God's beloved Son      Matthew 3:17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

          Who pleases      Matthew 3:17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

     Other ways: History     

          Analyze Theories of History      Wikipedia lists some 300 theories of history. I can analyze each theory to see what "way of figuring things out" each presumes.

          Historical method      Wikipedia: The historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology.

          Historiography      Wikipedia has hundreds of pages related to historiography: Historiography is the study of historians and their work. It is writing about rather than of history. Historiography is meta-level analysis of descriptions of the past. The analysis usually focuses on the narrative, interpretations, worldview, use of evidence, or method of presentation of other historians. There is also a journal Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History.

          Cognitive preference for having an orientation in time      The cognitive interest of human beings in having an orientation in time is one of five factors in Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography.

          Empirical research methods      Empirical research methods are one of five factors in Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography.

          Forms of representation      Forms of representation are one of five factors in Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography.

          Jörn Rüsen's disciplinary matrix      Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography relates five factors: the cognitive interest of human beings in having an orientation in time; theories or "leading views" concerning the experiences of the past; empirical research methods; forms of representation; the function of offering orientation to society. See: "Jörn Rüsen's Theory of Historiography between Modernism and Rhetoric of Inquiry" by Alan Megill, Vol. 33, No. 1, Feb., 1994, History and Theory. Also: compiled by Zenonas Norkus.

          Leading views concerning the experiences of the past      Theories or "leading views" concerning the experiences of the past is one of five factors in Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography.

          Loanwords      Loanwords (words borrowed by one language from another language) are studied as evidence that a concept (such as "books") traveled from one culture to another. Zigmas Zinkevicius studied Lithuanian words in this way.

          National psyche      When I think of the behavior of the Russian nation, especially its brutally domineering attitude towards Lithuania and other neighboring countries, then I wonder, where did that come from? And so I trace it back to the Mongol occupation of the Russian principalities, which was remembered as very brutal. I imagine that the subsequent history of the Russian nation as a whole is a reaction to that traumatic experience, much as an adult's behavior can sometimes be explained as a reaction to childhood experiences. It seems that feelings of national solidarity can carry down attitudes for centuries, long beyond the source of those attitudes is relevant. I think the Serbian nation similarly experienced were traumatized by the Turks. I think the Spanish nation was traumatized by the Moors, and attributed its victory to Catholicism, and thus pursued with zeal the Inquisition and missionary work in the New World. The American South, Black American and even the urban North of the United States deal with trauma of slavery and the end of the plantation culture. National psyche is the mindset that is attributed to a nation rather than to the individuals of the nation. The latter would be the ethnic character or cultural influences on people. The Wikipedia article on National Psychology confuses these.

          Offering orientation to society      The function of offering orientation to society is one of five factors in Jörn Rüsen's "disciplinary matrix" of historiography.

          Semiotic algebra of symbols      Semiotics is the study of symbols and can be used to study history, for example, who reacted to whom, who chose to use who's symbols, and who chose to use different or opposed symbols, and who chose to join symbols of various origins.

     Other ways: Humor     

     Other ways: Law      I'm collecting legal theories for ways of figuring things out. I have the books "The Theory of Rules" by Karl N. Llewellyn, "The Legal Analyst" by Ward Farnsworth, "Truth, Error, and Criminal Law: An Essay in Legal Epistemology" by Larry Laudan, and "Thinking Like a Laywer: An Introduction to Legal Reasoning" by Kenneth J Vandevelde. ÀÈÆËËÁËÐÁØ

     Other ways: Medicine      I think there may be clients or sponsors interested that I collect ways of figuring things out in medicine, nutrition, etc.

     Other ways: Music     

     Other ways: Philosophy     

          Acknowledge ruptures      Wikipedia: The idea, here, is that a truth's invariance makes it genuinely indiscernible: because a truth is everywhere and always the case, it passes unnoticed unless there is a rupture in the laws of being and appearance, during which the truth in question becomes, but only for a passing moment, discernible. Such a rupture is what Badiou calls an event, according to a theory originally worked out in Being and Event and fleshed out in important ways in Logics of Worlds.

          Amend the truth      Wikipedia about Badiou: While such knowledge is produced in the process of being faithful to a truth event, it should be noted that, for Badiou, knowledge, in the figure of the encyclopedia, always remains fragile, subject to what may yet be produced as faithful subjects of the event produce further knowledge.

          Analyze examples from literature      Wikipedia about Badiou: He develops these ideas with examples from the prose of Samuel Beckett and the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé and Fernando Pessoa (who he argues has developed a body of work that philosophy is currently incapable of incorporating), among others.

          Apply concepts external to one's method      Wikipedia: Consequently, philosophy is, according to Badiou, a thinking of the compossibility of the several truth procedures, whether ..., or whether this is undertaken through the more traditionally philosophical work of addressing categories like truth or the subject (concepts that are, as concepts, external to the individual truth procedures, though they are functionally operative in the truth procedures themselves).

          Arrange concepts to spark a new insight      Wikipedia about Badiou: His view of the link between philosophy and art is tied into the motif of pedagogy, which he claims functions so as to "arrange the forms of knowledge in a way that some truth may come to pierce a hole in them".

          Combine different methods      Wikipedia: Consequently, philosophy is, according to Badiou, a thinking of the compossibility of the several truth procedures, whether this is undertaken through the investigation of the intersections between distinct truth procedures (the intersection of art and love in the novel, for instance), or whether this is undertaken through the more traditionally philosophical work of addressing categories like truth or the subject (concepts that are, as concepts, external to the individual truth procedures, though they are functionally operative in the truth procedures themselves).

          Consider methods as methods (or not)      Wikipedia: Truth, for Badiou, is a specifically philosophical category. While philosophy's several conditions are, on their own terms, "truth procedures" (i.e., they produce truths as they are pursued), it is only philosophy that can speak of the several truth procedures as truth procedures. (The lover, for instance, does not think of her love as a question of truth, but simply and rightly as a question of love. Only the philosopher sees in the true lover's love the unfolding of a truth.)

          Consider what a concept denies      Wikipedia: In Handbook of Inaesthetics Badiou coins the phrase "inaesthetic" to refer to a concept of artistic creation that denies "the reflection/object relation". Reacting against the idea of mimesis, or poetic reflection of "nature", Badiou claims that art is "immanent" and "singular".

          Distance oneself with theoretical terminology      Wikipedia: For Badiou, when philosophy addresses the four truth procedures in a genuinely philosophical manner, rather than through a suturing abandonment of philosophy as such, it speaks of them with a theoretical terminology that marks its philosophical character: inaesthetics rather than art; metapolitics rather than politics; ontology rather than science; etc.

          Distinguish what is and what seems      Wikipedia: The idea, here, is that a truth's invariance makes it genuinely indiscernible: because a truth is everywhere and always the case, it passes unnoticed unless there is a rupture in the laws of being and appearance, during which the truth in question becomes, but only for a passing moment, discernible.

          Embrace competing notions      Wikipedia: Badiou at once embraces the traditional modernist notion that truths are genuinely invariant (always and everywhere the case, eternal and unchanging) and the incisively postmodernist notion that truths are constructed through processes.

          Faithfully anounce the truth      Wikipedia about Badiou: The subject who chances to witness such an event, if she is faithful to what she has glimpsed, can then introduce the truth by naming it into worldly situations. According to a process or procedure that subsequently unfolds only if those who subject themselves to the glimpsed truth continue faithful in the work of announcing the truth in question, genuine knowledge is produced (knowledge often appears in Badiou's work under the title of the "veridical").

          Found in one place only?      Wikipedia: Reacting against the idea of mimesis, or poetic reflection of "nature", Badiou claims that art is "immanent" and "singular". It is immanent in the sense that its truth is given in its immediacy in a given work of art, and singular in that its truth is found in art and art alone.

          Intersect different methods      Wikipedia: Consequently, philosophy is, according to Badiou, a thinking of the compossibility of the several truth procedures, whether this is undertaken through the investigation of the intersections between distinct truth procedures (the intersection of art and love in the novel, for instance)...

          Mediated by other or self?      Wikipedia: Reacting against the idea of mimesis, or poetic reflection of "nature", Badiou claims that art is "immanent" and "singular". It is immanent in the sense that its truth is given in its immediacy in a given work of art, and singular in that its truth is found in art and art alone.

          Name the truth into the world      Wikipedia about Badiou: The subject who chances to witness such an event, if she is faithful to what she has glimpsed, can then introduce the truth by naming it into worldly situations.

          Outstrip knowledge with faith      Wikipedia: According to Badiou, truth procedures proceed to infinity, such that faith (fidelity) outstrips knowledge. (Badiou, following both Lacan and Heidegger, distances truth from knowledge.)

          Reconcile      Wikipedia: The major propositions of Badiou's philosophy all find their basis in Being and Event, in which he continues his attempt (which he began in Théorie du sujet) to reconcile a notion of the subject with ontology, and in particular post-structuralist and constructivist ontologies.[9] A frequent criticism of post-structuralist work is that it prohibits, through its fixation on semiotics and language, any notion of a subject. Badiou's work is, by his own admission,[10] an attempt to break out of contemporary philosophy's fixation upon language, which he sees almost as a straitjacket. ... two elements mark the thesis of Being and Event: the place of ontology, or 'the science of being qua being' (being in itself), and the place of the event - which is seen as a rupture in being - through which the subject finds realization and reconciliation with truth. This situation of being and the rupture which characterizes the event are thought in terms of set theory, and specifically Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory (with the axiom of choice) ...

          Uncouple concepts      Wikipedia: Badiou's theory of truth, exposited throughout his work, accomplishes this strange mixture by uncoupling invariance and self-evidence (such that invariance does not imply self-evidence), as well as by uncoupling constructedness from relativity (such that constructedness does not lead to relativism).

          Witness unexpectedly      Wikipedia about Badiou: The subject who chances to witness such an event, if she is faithful to what she has glimpsed, can then introduce the truth by naming it into worldly situations.

     Other ways: poetry     

          Writing      Tom Mandel: Writing is my primary tool for investigating the world.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: My hunch is that any ideas I might put forward on developing educational systems would probably be 99% ignored and 1% ridiculed - but I might have got the proportions wrong.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: They will agree on areas for investigation and will work collaboratively.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: All our courses will be learner centred.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: The resources that they collect and the original work they produce will be shared using whatever is Dadamac's current system (at present that is through our standard spreadsheet structure - see Published Dadamac spreadsheets and docs - compiled 2011 for examples of the structure).

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Students will be based "within the Dadamac.net space". They will create a collection of work, things they have written, practical projects they have done, people they have learned from and so on. Over the years,as they study (and help others to study) they will develop evidence of work done, and a high trust network of fellow learners, teachers and collaborators.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: The benefit of a prototype is that people can see it and prod at it and give feedback of one kind and another. The feedback may not be helpful and it may not be kind (although it might be) and so it is tempting to keep the prototype hidden from public view until it is reasonably robust and well tested. It may seem preferable to simply share "the idea" of the prototype - how it will work, what it will look like, how useful it will be. However when people give feedback on an idea there are so many possible areas of complete misunderstanding that the subsequent discussions may be fruitless. Even if the prototype is on the rickety side it is something definite to point to and discuss - so it has advantages over an idea. ... So, here goes with my prototype 21st century education system.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Fortunately, because we are an online and emergent organisation we don't need a big budget or a big launch - just a vision and gradual growth.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: I have some clear ideas of how educational systems could emerge during the 21st century (and how I would like them to).

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: My hunch is that any ideas I might put forward on developing educational systems would probably be 99% ignored and 1% ridiculed - but I might have got the proportions wrong.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: You are welcome to join me.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: I appreciate that friends might support me - but as they are biased that probably wouldn't count.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: My hunch is that any ideas I might put forward on developing educational systems would probably be 99% ignored and 1% ridiculed - but I might have got the proportions wrong.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: In recognition of its roots in Dadamac - and because I like the sound of the word - I name it "The Dadamacadamy" (to pronounce it say "acadamy", say "macadamy" say "dada', then run those two together for "Dadamacadamy").

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: There will be no formal accreditation from Dadamac, but there will be references, and evidence, and an increasing network of clients and other employers ready to pay for the services of people with a good Dadamac profile.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Fortunately, because we are an online and emergent organisation we don't need a big budget or a big launch - just a vision and gradual growth.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Faculties will emerge according to the interests of people who study with us and the research that we do.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: The resources that they collect and the original work they produce will be shared using whatever is Dadamac's current system (at present that is through our standard spreadsheet structure - see Published Dadamac spreadsheets and docs - compiled 2011 for examples of the structure).

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: If they do related studies (for example with our friends at http:peoples-uni.org) they will add that to their profile.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: The resources that they collect and the original work they produce will be shared using whatever is Dadamac's current system (at present that is through our standard spreadsheet structure - see Published Dadamac spreadsheets and docs - compiled 2011 for examples of the structure).

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: The resources that they collect and the original work they produce will be shared using whatever is Dadamac's current system (at present that is through our standard spreadsheet structure - see Published Dadamac spreadsheets and docs - compiled 2011 for examples of the structure).

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Students will normally study in small online Special Interest Groups.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Fortunately, because we are an online and emergent organisation we don't need a big budget or a big launch - just a vision and gradual growth.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: I'm already studying there, and teaching, and doing research.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Fortunately, because we are an online and emergent organisation we don't need a big budget or a big launch - just a vision and gradual growth.

                Pamela McLean, April 11, 2011: Given our current areas of activity it seems likely that studies related to health, development, education, social-processes on the Internet, and ecology will come to the fore.

     Thought experiments      Wikipedia lists miscellaneous thought experiments: Buttered cat paradox, Braitenberg vehicles (robotics, neural control and sensing systems) (some have actually been built), Doomsday argument (anthropic principle), Dyson sphere, The Lady, or the Tiger? (human nature), The Planiverse

               Levinthal's paradox      Wikipedia: Levinthal's paradox is a thought experiment, also constituting a self-reference in the theory of protein folding. In 1969, Cyrus Levinthal noted that, because of the very large number of degrees of freedom in an unfolded polypeptide chain, the molecule has an astronomical number of possible conformations.... Therefore if a protein were to attain its correctly folded configuration by sequentially sampling all the possible conformations, it would require a time longer than the age of the universe to arrive at its correct native conformation. This is true even if conformations are sampled at rapid (nanosecond or picosecond) rates. The "paradox" is that most small proteins fold spontaneously on a millisecond or even microsecond time scale. This paradox is central to computational approaches to protein structure prediction.

     Thought experiments in Philosophy      Wikipedia lists thought experiments: Artificial brain, Avicenna's Floating Man, Bellum omnium contra omnes, Big Book (ethics), Brain-in-a-vat (epistemology, philosophy of mind), Brainstorm machine, Buridan's ass, Changing places (reflexive monism, philosophy of mind), China brain (physicalism, philosophy of mind), Chinese room (philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science), Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy), Condillac's Statue (epistemology), Gettier problem (epistemology), Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓân (epistemology), Hilary Putnam's Twin Earth thought experiment in the philosophy of language and philosophy of mind, How many men? (taxation as theft), Inverted spectrum, Kavka's toxin puzzle, Mary's room (philosophy of mind), Molyneux's Problem (admittedly, this oscillated between empirical and a-priori assessment), Newcomb's paradox, Original position (politics), Philosophical zombie (philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science), Plank of Carneades, Prisoner's Dilemma, Ship of Theseus, The (concept of identity), Simulated reality (philosophy, computer science, cognitive science), Social contract theories, Survival lottery, The (ethics), Swamp man (personal identity, philosophy of mind), Shoemaker's "Time Without Change" (metaphysics), Ticking time bomb scenario (ethics), Teleport (metaphysics), Trolley problem (ethics), The Violinist (ethics), Utility monster (ethics), Zeno's paradoxes (classical Greek problems of the infinite)

               Plato's Cave      Plato considers an elaborate scenario where people sit in a cave and view projections which they purport to be real. (He invented movies for the purpose of this scenario!) A person ventures outside the cave and discovers the real world, then goes back to the others and tries to tell them of it, but they deride him.