If we look back at the last 400 years or so … Kolmogorov (1903-1987) - Poincaré (1854-1912) - Gauss (1777-1855) - Euler (1707-1783) - Newton (1642-1727) - Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

“Every mathematician believes that he is ahead of the others. None state this belief in public because they are intelligent people … the achievements of mathematics prove useful to mankind, while to us, mathematicians, they bring such inner satisfaction because … truth is sacred, it is our honor, privilege and noble duty to seek it out and to defend it, regardless of whether it is pleasant or not.” – Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov … As the Luzin affair shows us who are interested in the trajectory of mathematics and science, what anyone sees as truth always tends to be a bit path-dependent, because many egos and many reputations are involved, so the truth is subject to political power … of the regime, of the majority, just or unjust, but truth is subject to power because the loser’s truth dies with them.

Henri Poincaré never spent a long time on an unsolved problem since he believed that the subconscious would continue working on the problem while he consciously worked on another problem.

“It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again.” – Carl Friedrich Gauss Gauss’s personal diary indicates that several mathematical discoveries may be found by him years or decades before contemporaries firstly published on them. Many colleagues encouraged him to publicize new ideas, and sometimes rebuked him if he hesitated too long, in their opinion. Gauss defended himself, claiming that the initial discovery of ideas was easy, but preparing a presentable elaboration was a demanding matter for him, for either lack of time or “serenity of mind” he disliked the popularization of scientific matters. The example of the method of least squares is a notable example. Gauss possessed and used the method and even furnished the ideas behind the method informally to others to use, even though Gauss considered the ideas behind the method to be “trivial” or so obvious that he figure he must not have been the first to use the method at least a decade before Adrien-Marie Legendre developed and published the ideas for the general population of mathematicians and scientists to use, but Gauss was so unsuccessful in broadly communicating the method well enough in published work to benefit more of his contemporaries that it set off “one of the most famous priority disputes in the history of science. Gauss would eventually be given most of the credit as the founder of regression, but not without a fight.

Prolificacy is often associated with greatness, ie both quality and quantity. Leonhard Euler may have accomplished the most in his time, since he is generally considered to be the most prolific mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician, and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made foundational discoveries in many other branches of mathematics such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, infinitesimal calculus. Of course, Euler is also known for his other contributions to mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, and music theory. And if that were not enough, Euler also introduced much of modern mathematical terminology and notation, including the notion of a mathematical function … and did other things, like finding time to father 13 children … because large families were still seen as the only important indicator of success, back in Euler’s day.

Issac Newton is generally viewed as having been the sole person “to have distinctly advanced every branch of mathematics then studied” which includes not only his foundational impact on Calculus … but also on Light / Optics … and, rather famously, on Gravity and mechanics. His record is nothing short of breathtaking or beyond merely awe-inspiring, given the day in age when Newton was alive and/or what his starting frame of reference was and how serious the punishments were for those who held heretical views questioning the prevailing dogma. This does not mean Newton got everything right, eg he certainly let his emotions get the best of him, was totally swayed by the irrationality of the crowd and rushed in late to bet on the bitcoin of his day. Tulip mania is hardly the only example, consider the implications of what it means for his level of experimental work and scientific thought when we can see that the mercury in Newton’s hair indicates just how serious and devoted he still was to the art of alchemy. Newton had inklings that he was, too large degree, a prisoner of the times he lived in. Along with his scientific fame, Newton’s studies of the Bible and of the early Church Fathers were also noteworthy in natural philosophy or mechanical philosophy sense of disenchantment with religion. Newton wrote works on textual criticism, most notably An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture and Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. It’s not really that Newton got everything right, as much as is that Newton really set the stage for the modern scientific method and critically second-guessing the unexamined assumptions upon which the prevailing dogma are based.

Galileo Galilei, the astronomer, physicist and engineer, studied speed and velocity, gravity and free fall, the principle of relativity, inertia, projectile motion and also worked in applied science and technology, describing the properties of the pendulum and “hydrostatic balances”. He was one of the earliest Renaissance developers of the thermoscope, a tube in which a liquid rises and falls as the temperature changes, thus a forerunner of thermometer. Galileo’s own work with his thermoscope led him to develop an essentially atomistic conception of heat and corpuscularist theory of matter in motion. Galileo was also the inventor of various military compasses or sector calculating instruments; proficiency in developing these instruments tremendously aided his use of the telescope for scientific observations and measurement of celestial objects. It was that measured, reproducible observation which led to Galileo’s championing of Copernican heliocentrism which was forbidden territory. Galileo’s work was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615 and based on the conclusion that heliocentrism must be foolish and absurd, because it contradicted established dogma, any advocates of heliocentrism must be heretical. Galileo was then tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, and forced to recant to avoid immediate execution. He then spent the rest of his life under house arrest. During this time, he wrote Two New Sciences (1638), primarily concerning kinematics and the strength of materials, summarizing work he had done around forty years earlier [before he got into trouble by using his instruments to prove established dogma to be wrong].

The point of the AncientGuy essays are about transcending Time

Why are even the most intelligent, most noble as focused on Time as we are? … we allow our egos to define us, we tend to care more about our reputations and how we are seen by others than anything else … many inventions do not happen because the would be inventors care more deeply about being first, getting the credit, than they do about.

Time and the quest for a better understanding of timekeeping is extremely important for the practical human technlogy that humans increasingly depend upon. For example, CERN’s White Rabbit open hardware project is a fully deterministic Ethernet-based network for general purpose data transfer and synchronization. It can synchronize over 1000 nodes with sub-ns accuracy over fiber lengths of up to 10 km by providing sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds precision of synchronization for large distributed systems and also allows for deterministic and reliable data delivery.

But what if Time is a bit of a dimensional illusion or something dependent upon a human-centric view of the Universe?

Does Time matter in the REALLY BIG picture? Transcending notions of Time is about thinking outside the human box or completely ditching the baggage of one’s ego … not just viewing one’s problem from a different angle millions of miles into space and not just from a completely different dimensional framework, but from beyond dimensions.

The root cause of bad theory is generally driven by the ego of the theorist … the theory always suffers as the theorist clings to the belief that one, ie the theorist, can make a permanent contribution … it’s a matter of DESPERATELY, PATHETICALLY needing to see oneself as The Discoverer of the Grand Unifying Theory of Everything, ie something that explains away all need for God.

Seeing Beyond Time necessarily involves realizing that the ORIGIN of all Origins is defined as God. The DEFINITIION of terms is what we must emphasize.

God is matter of operationally DEFINING a word … not a matter of faith … , eg Genesis 1:1 is an operational DEFINITION … strictly about opening the story to DEFINE a term … Genesis 1:1 is not a matter of belief.

It’s not that God is alive, per se. The human concept of what it means to be alive is strictly what that means in a human context … and we humans generally have terrible ideas about what life is about or was about, even when we are on our deathbed or facing certain death. The idea of what it means to be alive illustrates the human cognitive limitations … OF EVEN THINGS that we are immersed in.

God … as the ORIGIN of all origins … is obviously not bound by human limitations. God is not bound by ANY limitation.

God is the Creator of Everything, including Time.

God IS Everywhere, throughout all time, but all at once.

The notion of life or what it means to be alive is an artificial, imperfect human concept constrained by the limitations of the human experience.

Of course, we have do have our moments of actually understanding our limits, such as when we contemplate the human inklings of what Everything really is. Our understanding is limited by what we can cognitively imagine; so obviously that our species’ notions of Everything will necessarily be severely limited.

We can start to contemplate things like dark matter, blackholes, spacetime, timewarps, gravitation, electromagnetism, strong/weak nuclear forces … and our understanding of these things SLOWLY expands, but the human cognitive potential will always be severely limited as long humans remain bound by their own egos, their own thoughts, their own significance [as measured by others, in their own time or the time that human can contemplate, eg 5,000 years].

The Creator is not bound by Time or Space or human concepts of physical dimensions or concepts like attrative forces such as electromagnetic forces, gravitational force, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force.

God is not some nice Old Man, not our servant, not some superhero, not some anthropomorphized quasi-equal that’ll will invite us up to the club so we can say we had steaks at God’s place.

In this Time-bound existence, humans are trapped by their egos, unable to escape the Timebound notions of their existence.

Timebound humans cannot ditch their egos; thus, they unable to see why they must work harder at loving others as they love themselves, not simply as some commandment to do that without realizing why, but in order to escape the pathetic selfish timebound me-ness of their finite time-bound existence.

The Creator always WAS, always IS, always WILL BE … the Kingdom of Heavan is at hand, not something that is coming in the future. Luke 17:20

Your death is the only thing that is CERTAIN and certain to be coming in the future; embrace the FINITENESS of your lifespan and healthspan by attempting to make better uses of each second, ie work harder on improving your prayer life.

Everything dies. Everyone you know will die OR they will see you die before they contemplate their certain death.

Everyone and everything that remembers any evidence of your existence or your species existence will die.

Everything will return to the precursors of the Creator’s dust.

There is no such thing as genuine permanence in the manner that humans are able to concieve of permanence, because human thoughts are Timebound, therefore EGO-bound and entirely disposable … the SOUL of the human is LOVED by God, but the EGO of the human is an impediment of the human’s ability to accept God’s love, to love ALL others as they love themselves.

Thoughts on a Grand Theory Of Everything

What follows is a year-long 200-module syllabus for studying the thinking behind current research in the fundamental forces in physics; this include the more important attempts by humans to develop a Theory of Everything … it is important for us to understand something about the latest and greatest thinking that is about explaining our physical reality.

This syllabus covers a wide range of topics, from the basic principles of the four fundamental forces to advanced theories that attempt to unify them. It includes in-depth explorations of each force, their theoretical foundations, and experimental evidence.

The course also delves into grand unification theories, supersymmetry, string theory, and other approaches to developing a Theory of Everything. It concludes with a discussion of current experimental frontiers and future directions in the field.

Throughout the course, students will gain a deep understanding of the fundamental forces that govern the universe and the ongoing efforts to unify them into a single, coherent framework. They will be exposed to cutting-edge research and will develop the skills needed to critically analyze and contribute to the field of fundamental physics.

Introduction to the Fundamental Forces (20 modules):

1-4: Historical Overview of the Fundamental Forces

5-8: Newtonian Mechanics and the Gravitational Force

9-12: Electromagnetism and Maxwell’s Equations

13-16: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

17-20: The Standard Model of Particle Physics

Gravitational Force (30 modules):

21-24: Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation

25-28: Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

29-32: Tidal Forces and Gravitational Potential Energy

33-36: Gravitational Fields and Gravitational Waves

37-40: General Relativity: Curved Spacetime

41-44: Black Holes and Singularities

45-50: Experimental Tests of General Relativity

Electromagnetic Force (30 modules):

51-54: Electric Charge and Coulomb’s Law

55-58: Electric Fields and Electric Potential

59-62: Magnetic Fields and Magnetic Forces

63-66: Electromagnetic Induction and Faraday’s Law

67-70: Maxwell’s Equations and Electromagnetic Waves

71-74: Special Relativity and Lorentz Transformations

75-80: Quantum Electrodynamics (QED)

Strong Nuclear Force (30 modules):

81-84: Atomic Nucleus and Nuclear Stability

85-88: Yukawa Potential and the Discovery of Mesons

89-92: Quarks and Gluons: The Fundamental Particles of the Strong Force

93-96: Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and Color Charge

97-100: Confinement and Asymptotic Freedom

101-104: Experimental Evidence for Quarks and Gluons

105-110: Lattice QCD and Numerical Simulations

Weak Nuclear Force (30 modules):

111-114: Beta Decay and the Discovery of the Neutrino

115-118: Parity Violation and the Wu Experiment

119-122: Charged and Neutral Weak Currents

123-126: W and Z Bosons: The Mediators of the Weak Force

127-130: Electroweak Unification and the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam Model

131-134: Neutrino Oscillations and Neutrino Mass

135-140: CP Violation and the Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry

Grand Unification and Supersymmetry (20 modules):

141-144: Grand Unification Theories (GUTs)

145-148: SU(5) and SO(10) GUT Models

149-152: Proton Decay and Experimental Constraints on GUTs

153-156: Supersymmetry (SUSY) and the Hierarchy Problem

157-160: Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM)

String Theory and M-Theory (20 modules):

161-164: Introduction to String Theory

165-168: Bosonic String Theory and Superstring Theory

169-172: Kaluza-Klein Theory and Extra Dimensions

173-176: Branes and M-Theory

177-180: AdS/CFT Correspondence and Holography

Loop Quantum Gravity and Other Approaches to Physics Beyond The Standard Model (BSM) (10 modules):

Physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) refers to the theoretical developments needed to explain the deficiencies of the Standard Model, such as the inability to explain the fundamental parameters of the standard model, the strong CP problem, neutrino oscillations, matter–antimatter asymmetry, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Another problem lies within the QFT mathematical framework of the Standard Model itself which combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics; the Standard Model is inconsistent with that of general relativity, and one or both theories break down under certain conditions, such as spacetime singularities like the Big Bang and black hole event horizons.

Theories that lie beyond the Standard Model include various extensions of the standard model through supersymmetry, such as the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), and entirely novel explanations, such as string theory, M-theory, and extra dimensions. As these theories tend to reproduce the entirety of current phenomena, the question of which theory is the right one, or at least the “best step” towards a Theory of Everything, can only be settled via experiments, and is one of the most active areas of research in both theoretical and experimental physics.

Despite being the most successful theory of particle physics to date, the Standard Model is not perfect.[3] A large share of the published output of theoretical physicists consists of proposals for various forms of “Beyond the Standard Model” new physics proposals that would modify the Standard Model in ways subtle enough to be consistent with existing data, yet address its imperfections materially enough to predict non-Standard Model outcomes of new experiments that can be proposed.