ONE IS ALL, ALL IS ONE

"One is a number that can cause more than trepidation." It's very surprising and interesting, the commotion that the number one causes. Everyone wants to be 'number one,' or 'the one,' or above one. It's surprising that people killed each other by the significance of this number, when it's considered such a small value. (Next to zero) "That oneness has led to intolerance and centuries of bitter, bloody battles."

I liked this chapter because it discussed the historical and mathematical value of the number, all that it has caused and some of the things that it has been involved with. I didn't think it would have such a meaning in alchemy. "The mysterious Philosopher's Stone...was said to be 'one in essence'..." The Philosopher's Stone wasn't the only thing that number one affected in alchemy. It also affected many other rules for alchemy, like 'one is all, all is one.' This phrase was applied into the principles of alchemy by teaching alchemists that one individual was united and part of the entire universe, yet at the same time, this universe was all part of said individual. It was a belief used to try to convert objects into something containing the same mass.

I think one indeed is a magical number that, like infinity, has a value and significance that will never be truly determined. It has become an important part of our lives, civilization, and I'm glad such a small number has brought us this far. I really hope that people recognize the value of numbers and the other things that surround our world and use it for good, instead of harming one another in order to achieve the grandness of our resources.

It is possible that, like the resources nature has offered us, the benefits of mathematics can get to an end. I think this could be caused by people exploiting the values more than using them for good, building weapons, killing animals, destroying habitats, etc. I think people should really turn the goodness of this knowledge around, and understanding the significance of small components such as one is the beginning.

Like the alchemists believed, 'all is one, one is all.' It is a true ideal that can be expressed even now. We each are one individual among so many people. However, if one by one affects the place where we all live, we will eventually be affected. We are part of this world and the world is part of us. We're basically harming ourselves, and we still don't understand. We are every living organism no matter how 'insignificant' it may seem, and by mistreating it, we are showing how much we really value ourselves and our surroundings.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

I really enjoyed this reading. It's impressive how much we depend in mathematics, how much we have since very ancient times. Pythagoras was a truly brilliant man and I admire all of his work.

"Pythagoras was perhaps the first professional..but he wasn't very good at fractions." It's kind of amusing that brilliant as he was, Pythagoras wasn't very good in one concept of mathematics. I can relate to him, in the sense that I am pretty good at some concepts of mathematics, but on the other hand, am terrible at others. Before this chapter, I had only read about men that were geniuses at mathematics, born with some supernatural might that enabled them to work through any unimaginable mathematic problem. Though Pythagoras still was as great as could be, it kind of makes me feel better that he wasn't as excellent in one little petty problem that did not hold him back from achieving so much. It might be foolish. It makes me feel good that I might still be good and succeed in math class despite not being as good in some of its concepts. I don't mean that because I'm not a genius like these men and because Pythagoras wasn't good at one thing I'm not going to try hard myself. It makes no sense, right? So why even have this mindset in the first place? I'll try hard to get better at things I don't understand, catch up with what I need to catch up on.

I like how important little numbers like...0.000000000000000.....1 are. I mean, people wouldn't usually imagine what an important role they play in our lives. But, this reading shows that it's one of the fundamental things in not just in math, but physics, science, you name it. As I read more and more of these chapters, I understand better how math is incorporated to the real world, what place it takes, which is pretty much everywhere. Not that I don't know what math is used for, mind you. The things I read in these chapters only surprise me because they further explain the way mathematics is employed, and yes, does enlighten me with new mathematic information.

A.21- Euler

"There is considerable truth in the old saying that all elementary and advanced...copies of Euler." I liked the fact that even after centuries have passed, Euler's discoveries and theories are still being used and taught nowadays. Euler's intelligence really impressed me. I didn't know about him before, and discovering that he had such a big influence over the calculus that I learned today...It makes me really admire him and wonder how he was capable of thinking up such things.

I'll be honest, I hardly understood the equations shown in the reading. They seem very complicated and I would love to understand them better. I would like to fully understand all the mathematical definitions and explanations that the reading gave.

How is it possible that Euler could understand and apply such a great knowledge in the limited time in which he lived? Has there been anyone to be as great as he was in our day, or even greater? That would be one heck of a genius that would have the power to, well, create a revolution in the world and perhaps change the world as we know it. I'm always interested and curious as to whether or not the smartest person in the entire world and timeline, a person that can defy the masters' rules and get away with it, has knowledge that compared to this person, the great ones are put to shame...I know it sounds a little fictitious, but if such a person existed in our time, I'd love to see what he or she comes up with, what he or she changes in the world.

NEWTON

I was very interested while reading this chapter. Newton's intelligence really surprised me as I kept reading. I think it's a shame that he kept retiring from the subjects that he excelled at and had such a bad attitude that he was considered dislikable as a person, as expressed in the quote, "As an original thinker...he was a stupendous genius whose impact on the world can be seen by everyone; but as a man he was...intuitive mystic for whom science and mathematics were means of reading the riddle of the universe."

I think it wasn't necessary of him to begrudge Leibniz, because he just published his own version of his work. The problem is that he published it first than Newton. If Newton had published it first, like he was urged to, right when he finished his work, he would have succeeded and gotten the glory of discovering calculus.

I don't understand why most geniuses are most genius behave so oddly, including Newton. As I've read through the different chapters, I've kind of seen that the weirder these men are, the bigger their intelligence is, though this stereotype doesn't always have to be true. But why? Why can't they just behave normally? Like I've asked before, do their peculiar habits have anything to do with their intellect? If they had behaved normally, perhaps the people in the time when they lived would have understood them better, and it would have been easier for them to work without criticism from the society of their time. Maybe the people's belief had something to do with their behavior, and influenced upon their work by making them doubt or discontinue it. Which kind of turned into a cycle, because then they acted even more odd, and people criticized them more, and so on.

They were often misunderstood because their insight was far greater than what people back then expected, but it wasn't just that fact, it was also that these men themselves didn't really try to display their knowledge openly to the public so that they could understand, as Newton shows when he refused to publish his work, or when he gave a student the simple reply of "I calculated it," instead of explaining the whole procedure of the problem to him.

The Stone-breakers

"The field attracted many extraordinary figures, not least the aforementioned Murchison...he discovered an interest in rocks and became with rather astounding swiftness a titan of geological thinking." I liked this quote and the man they talked about. Many people think that just because someone is not good in some things, they're not good at anything. This quote shows that people that are not skilled in one particular subject don't have to be stupid; they can actually show surprising knowledge in other things that no one would have imagined.

I thought it was amusing how men were very curious and eager to discover the age of the Earth, coming up with weird and most likely impossible ways to try to calculate it. Edmond Halley's method was amusing and creative, I liked it, but it was obviously impossible to find out the planet's age with that.

As I read further, I also found out the odd behaviors those great men have. For example, Buckland, and Lyell. Does odd behavior have to do with great intelligence and findings? Many people that I have come across with and are very intelligent have some peculiar tendencies and habits, too. Does the intelligence influence these habits, or viceversa?

Chapt. 4- The Measure of Things

"Almost at once...a man named Pierre Godin, ran off with a thirteen-year-old and could not be induced to return." Okay, the last sentence of this paragraph was indeed very weird and...Messed up, but the whole paragraph itself was very radical and intense. I mean, how did everything go wrong out of the simple attempt of studying measurements? How can that study be so unfortunate and difficult every time?

The unfortunes of the men that tried to research these subjects wasn't the only thing about the chapter that interested me, of course. I also liked to hear about Newton's laws, and the explanations of the measures, etc. I liked to see how some researchers took the credit for others' findings, and how others tried and tried to discover something in vain.

Lost in the Cosmos- Chapt. 2 & 3

"There isn't a great deal that goes on...when they have a mind to." I liked this quote because it tells me about astronomers' determination to discover new things about our world. It reminds me not only of their determination, but of human determination and will in general. We humans are very unique beings. Yes, we may be the only ones that are self-destructive (relatively) and destroy our own environment, etc., but we also have very good things, and our determination is one of them. Many say that the ingredients for evolution are mistakes, of course, and knowledge. I don't know if others have added this before, but I'd say determination, and the wish to go past the limits that others have set are also ideal ingredients, because when you set your mind to accomplish something and try hard to do so, no matter how long it takes, you end up completing your goal.

"Tombaugh could see at once that the new planet was...any big news story in that easily excited age." It was very interesting to discover the origins of planet Pluto, and how people kept debating whether one or the other's ideas were preposterous and mere fiction. It's curious how nobody yet knows how big Pluto is, or what it's made of, etc., when the beginning of the chapter just said that astronomers can find anything they're determined to find. Are they not determined to find out more information about Pluto?

"The difficulty is that many of them...are about four billion miles away." What does this mean? What's wrong with Plutinos being too dark, and their albedo, or reflection? I couldn't understand this.

How would a manned mission to Mars tear the crew's DNA to tatters? I mean, I understand it would be by the high-energy solar particles, but how would these particles affect the body, mainly the DNA's structure, so this would happen? I'd really like to know these details.

I'm glad that there's a good probability of other thinking beings existing in the universe. I wonder if we'll ever get to make contact with them, or something.

For chapter two, I read the sentence of how supernova work. "The core of a neutron star...would be a huge amount of energy left over--enough to make the biggest bang in the universe." Could the universe end or be majorly altered because of this? Why can a supernova occur "only once every two or three centuries"? What would happen if the process sped up or delayed?

I like Evans' quote, "There is actually...one of those rare areas where the absence of evidence is evidence." I think it's very powerful, and it applies to many things. 'The absence of evidence is evidence.' It's like the saying "no news is good news."