What am I for?

Rationalising the Universe was set up on 3 November 2015, with the modest aim of communicating some mathematics and science. Things have come a long way since then, with our most important boost from the WordPress Discover team – which really helped increase our traffic.

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Alongside this we have gained a whole host of loyal supporters who have commented, shared on social media platforms and discussed science in a wonderful way. We have managed to break 1,500 likes on our Facebook page, gain 8,500 site followers and reach far more people than we ever thought we would. Looking forwards we plan to continue this growth and to do what we can to popularise the subjecst that brings so much excitement into our own lives.

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The exciting thing about being an inquisitive mind in the 21st century is the internet. If you name any area you want to learn about, you can find a wonderful, free resource where you can learn all about it if you have the passion. Whatever your path in life, you can change it now for very little cost, all because there is a great pool of knowledge which can be shared almost instantly and studied flexibly. We are here to do our bit, to contribute into the seemingly infinite pool of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

You can see personal author information in the links at the top of this site, this page has been intentionally left free of such information.

ideas@rationalisingtheuniverse.org.

86 responses to “What am I for?”

  3. I was never good at physics, math, chemistry. Now that I am much much older, I find these subjects fascinating and wish I had listened to my teachers and read the textbooks instead of daydreaming. But it’s never too late. I like your blog already. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Hi, I love the tone of the post. I have been fascinated about the pure sciences, not as a student, but in terms of the philosophy which seems to come in, almost unnoticed. There are many mysteries in our world and those who seek to unravel them are a fascinating tribe. Would love to read more of your blog. Happy trails!

    Liked by 2 people

  9. I am no scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like to stretch the imagination from time to time. Personally, I lean more philosophical – I’m the naked Thinker. That said, I am fascinated by all that is the scientific realm. I look forward to following you on your endeavor.

    Liked by 2 people

  14. Joseph, Love the comment “The exciting thing about being an inquisitive mind in 2015 is the internet. Whatever path you have chosen in life, you can rectify this – because there is a great big pool of knowledge which can be shared almost instantly and often for free.” I have noted also that people will often avoid the opportunity to expand their minds to new learning, because a certain platform of information contains the equivalent of “Junk Mail.” One need only go to their mailbox, or answer the unsolicited phone calls to receive the ultimate garbage. Please continue to follow the path you are on and ignore the detractors, for some of them are professionals at perfecting the art of being negative.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thank you so much for your comments I am so pleased you visited it really helps me keep on doing what I am when I know that other people think it is a good ideas too! I hope that before too long the whole world is learning, imagine the power

      Liked by 1 person

  18. We went with two groups of architecture students and stayed in India, oops Incredible India for four months each time. I am sending you a post of one of the students this last group. ( See post just before Moral Bucket. . From Their Eyes. . . . ) Part of their work was essays on trips or various experiences. Jennifer is an amazing writer and this is such a picture of the India we grew to love!
    If you have an places you are curious about in India, let me know. I may have a post! I promise not to bore you with long chatty replies. . . I was just drawn to your background. . . go to India , there is so much more than Mumbai! Have you read Katherine Boo’s book on slums in Mumbai. . “Beyond the Beautiful Forevers?” Amazing! https://talesalongtheway.com/2015/05/05/reflections-on-north-india-by-jennifer-lema/

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yes I was actually in Mumbai for work purposes but I did manage to get around a little more. I didn’t have time to properly explore though so I really must do that. I loved that article very much, the one bit I really liked was “ndia has the great ability of making someone feel like an individual by concealing all the rest that surrounds them”…. so well written. I will be giving that book a read I had not even heard of it if I am honest. Thank you so much for your insight

      Liked by 2 people

      • As you can tell, I am rather obsessed with India. I have come to discover that there is no middle ground when it comes to India. Either people are , I guess obsessed or the other extreme and only see the poor, the dirt, the traffic. . . . For me it was all about the wonderful people who smiled and wanted to take my picture. . . One more book that is excellent. Also a nonfiction narrative.
        “Indian Summer: The Secret History Tunzelmann . . . insights into all the well known characters including Ghandi, of course.
        We just saw Helen Mirian in “Eye in the Sky” . . . .excellent thoughtful, and the Dame was marvelous! Enough of my foolishness!

        Liked by 2 people

      • I am taking not of all of your suggestions, I have a holiday coming up and this is certainly most welcome, I wanted some new material. I confirm what you say… having been myself in groups I found some of us got the bug and just wanted to be there more and more…. and some people just thought it was unbearable… I couldnt ever share that viewpoint!

        Liked by 2 people

  20. oh! I am married to a nuclear physicist! we believe we are both creative. little bit of poetry and flash fiction mixed with smashed atoms – yummy stuff of love and life. thanks for reading my Virginia Woolf poem.
    Maybe it is believing in the chaos of life…that it can produce something essential that links science and art.
    ellespeth

    Liked by 2 people

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  23. Good afternoon Joseph, sir I know that you are a man of science and that most folks I have ever met who believe in scientific facts and speculation have no faith system at all. Most folks who have a strong Christian or Jewish faith system have no faith in science. I am a firm believer in Biblical truth and thus know that most every person ‘of faith’ do not have a clue about what even the first two chapters of the Bible tells us. What I am saying is that the Bible and Science agree on almost everything, the two sides just don’t know that because of incorrect teachings about what the Bible actually says is being taught in the Churches. ‘Church doctrines’ have caused millions to not believe because what they are teaching about ‘the beginning’ is very incorrect.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Good afternoon! It poses an interesting question on how you should most appropriately define a set of religious values. By the holy text? But the followers? Or something else altogether? if you choose to just look at the most mainstream scientific ideas and the most mainstream religion then the two are not compatible. However on issues such as the big bang for example, where flexibility is allowed greater unity is possible – it just depends of the flexibility of the individual I believe

      Liked by 2 people

  25. Joseph.

    Interesting thoughts, I appreciate your interest in sharing and encouraging others involved in science or in some kind of innovation; good to see people promoting that.

    I’ve always been fascinated with seeing how things really work and finding new ways to solve problems.

    I am proud to say that my Dad is a real rocket scientist (an Astro Physicist) and he basically taught me how to think, how to analyze. I enjoy taking things apart (finding the problem) and putting it back together and see it work. Amazing!

    In addition to posting about my health journey, I’m working on a #STEM educational travel project.

    Louis

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hello! I think it is important that we all share these things together – the world is just too dam complex not to! Good on you for your personal health journey – keep it up! I’ve gone in and out of good and not so good fitness, but for the last two years I have been consistently active and it has really helped my work. I am training for my first half marathon at the moment!

      How interesting being trained by a rocket scientist! Is your educational travel project also going to be via the same blog?

      Joe

      Liked by 1 person

  28. Thanks for dropping by Joseph and I like your easy, fluent style.
    I grinned at noting a reference to Feynman – brings back dim and distant memories!

    Am intrigued by the nature of time (eg. different apparent speeds depending upon our consciousness 😉 and of our Father-Creator being outside and yet within its full spectrum. And then this connects into coincidental events and ‘designed serendipity’, especially when a rational motive and knowledge is involved and revealed! (Hence, my blog tags ‘God-incidents’ and ‘Jigsaws’.)

    Have you blogged on those notions, or can you suggest any not too technical sources on those subjects please? (Hope to have time to read over August) Many thanks

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Thanks Joseph and after a quick-squint of the first have done hard-copy to mull over, and the book looks interesting too. When I hear of new scientific discoveries bringing deeper understanding I often think, “They’re catching up with scripture”. You may like to note a short post that gives links to a couple of well-qualified scientific Christians, as well as to my brief thoughts on quantum mech and time, at https://richards-watch.org/2015/01/29/a-prophetic-word-to-physicists/

    Your open, unfettered intellect mirrors mine of some decades ago. Then when I had a direct encounter with and correction from our holy maker, and much later immersion in His Spirit, I underwent several ‘quantum leaps’. That’s why the term ‘religion’ is misleading because the reality is a supernatural, spiritual relationship with a living being like but holier than us. ‘Churchianity’ isn’t always Christianity!

    Liked by 2 people

  30. I’d add that ‘God-incidents’ are what many believers refer to when we experience a STRING of coincidences that unequivocally demonstrate a deep rationality beyond our own mental powers that connects them for us. It’s as though the Lord is teaching us new things as seen from His perspective outside the multi-dimensional realm.
    So I’d be interested to know if the mathematics of random chance may have anything to say on this method of instruction.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Hi Kathryn, thank you very much for your kind comment! I am glad you are enjoying your visit to the blog; it has been a far more enjoyable experience than I ever thought it would be to connect with thinking people! I have tried to access your site but I get a page suspended message… I shall try again later

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Thank you for alerting me to your site. I studied Maths (& a bit of Management Science) at Queen Elizabeth (before it became King’s) College, London, many moons ago. So it’s a while since my brain was challenged (in a nice way) and I’m looking forward to some more matematical ‘teasers’ and thought provoking posts ! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you very much for your kind words of encouragement! Yes I agree, whatever path you take I think once you study mathematics once the joy of challenging your brain in that way never quite leaves you

      Liked by 2 people

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  35. I have been reading some of your back posts – like the one about Mathematical beauty on Sept 25th… and whilst I tend to agree that maths has its beautifuly moments, I’m not sure I’d put it above pieces of art.. Photographs, yes, as they are just a moment in time (perhaps doctored to make them look better – mine aren’t btw) but not art, where someone has made something up from their own brain and with their own skill. Surely pure maths is what it is – and I agree the simplicity of it can be beautiful.
    Also I was trying to make sense of the infinite primes ‘proof’ and I thought I understood the (rather neat) argument (if true, then… but if false, then…) until I suddenly realised (don’t ask me why this suddenly came to me, as I was trying to get to sleep) that all prime numbers must be odd and when you multiply two odd numbers you invariably get an odd number, so when you add 1, it must be even. Hence it could never be prime. Or did I miss smething ?
    I also came to the conclusion that infinity was a bit like i (sorry, I can’t do an italic i…) i.e. imaginary… except that it’s so big, it’s unimaginable ! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hello and welcome to the page! The point I would raise is the subjectivity of beauty; to me I can appreciate and enjoy a photograph (I am actually a keen photographer myself) however beautiful mathematics is the thing that does it most for me. It’s not even really a choice; more rather a feeling I get when I see mathematics done well.

      You are thinking 100% correctly with the prime problem! You could have proven it yourself. The subtle point is that yes – it absolutely CANNOT be prime. It’s a proof by contradiction, so you assume the contra statement “there are a finite number of primes” then you show with your set of primes you can derive a number that cannot be prime that is outside the finite set (namely it is larger) therefore the contra is wrong. There are infinite primes.

      There are certainly some conceptual similarities with infinity and i; what is most interesting with both however is there are some real world problems you can only solve using infinity or the complex numbers… so are they really that imaginary at all! Fascinating

      Liked by 2 people

  37. Perfect place for curious minds like me..who only have very very basic knowledge of this field of science but are so so keen to know more..in fact..”Everything”..!! 😀
    Hope to experience satisfaction (at least some) to my thirsty soul..here through your blog..! (Y)

    Liked by 1 person

  39. cool blog. Nothing makes me happier than people who humanize math and help communicate that it is answering the same fundamental questions that philosophy, literature, psychology, etc do about the world around us, just with a different language. Look forward to engaging in the conversations on your blog more

    Liked by 2 people

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