An Autonomous Agent

exploring the noosphere

Category: book (Page 10 of 27)

Why the Pharaohs Built the Pyramids with Fake Stones – Joseph Davidovits

While reading The Pyramids: An Enigma Solved, by Joseph Davidovits and Margaret Morris, I was immediately impressed by the seemingly simple, yet controversial suggestion that the pyramids were built from artificial, synthetic stones. Who would have thought?!?! Davidovits’ argument, evidence, and overall logic for Egypt’s Old Kingdom construction of sacred tombs and statues from geopolymeric stone (similar to concrete) convinces me that we have answered the question, “How were the pyramids built?” Warning! I am no Egyptologist, however, the evidence exists and the pieces of the puzzle fit nicely into place. Both in terms of the physical construction and the religious aspects of Khnum vs. Amun. The Old Kingdom Egyptians were master alchemists and could create high quality artificial stones thanks to their excellent skills and suitable geology/environment. Davidovits provides more details, examples, and experiments in his second book, Why the Pharaohs Built the Pyramids with Fake Stones.

There are several videos and more information at the Geopolymer Institute.

Khnum

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed – Eric Cline

Eric Cline’s book, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, provides a scholarly summary on the rise and decline of the bronze age in the Mediterranean region. Citing a number of different reasons for collapse, I find the most interesting to be a complex systemic failure arising from a continuous wave of natural disasters combined with external attacks by “sea peoples” which the “global” system could not withstand. These shocks were applied to the ancient system at its peak, in terms of power and interconnectedness, which indicates that collapses seem to occur near peaks, not troughs, in societal wealth and prosperity. And several civilizations tend to disappear at the same time; much as species extinction tends to occur in clusters. Chinese dynasties, Mesopotamian cities, Persian kings, the Mongols, the Romans and countless other examples show the same pattern. 

I am interested in seeing a frequency plot showing the number of states, governments, societies which last a given length of time (similar to here except with plots; the average tells us nothing about the shape of the distribution). And if no such plot exists I will try to create one. Collapse occurs time and time again in the history of humans and biological evolution. To me, this seems to indicate a natural law of growth which applies to all biological growth phenomena. And such a law has been mentioned by Robert Prechter and provides a basis for mathematical analysis.

Thoughts About a Project and GPUs

I want to do something which combines GPU programming, finance, and/or conservation — something which will help the relationship between humans and the environment. There are a few ideas in my head. One is about displaying data with 3D graphics to give traders more than just a ticker price. The price of a security is a minimal form of information. What is a good method to display the daily progression of trade volume? Most information about short sells, margin levels, and ownership levels are hidden; revealed only on a monthly or quarterly basis. This infrequent update hinders the development and understanding of crash prevention. Combining all of this information into a visual display based on an Ising model (example) and N-Body particle simulation should be informative. Of course I am simply speculating and putting thoughts into words. The two books I am currently browsing through are: OpenCL in Action by Matthew Scarpino and CUDA Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to GPU Programming by Nicholas Wilt.

CUDA Samples:

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History – Elizabeth Kolbert

The information contained in Elizabeth Kolbert’s book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, should concern all humans alive today. The facts presented have been known to the scientific community for a number of years. Its message is clear and important: the human species has been the chief cause of a massive extinction not seen since the dinosaurs perished. Biological diversity has been decreasing for a long time. She presents the facts in a clear and fascinating story; visiting numerous places around the globe and witnessing first hand the effects of “The New Pangea.” The Washington Post’s review of Kolbert’s book.

The Machinery of Life – David S. Goodsell

The equisite details of cellular life are quite remarkable. Understanding how life continuously exists and reproduces in all parts of the world and the universe is beyond anything I could ever imagine. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoy spending time admiring the microscopic biology all around us; which is why I love David S. Goodsell’s book, The Machinery of Life. You can view many of the pictures here.

 

Page 10 of 27

Become a Friend of GNOME [ GNU Link] kde-user

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén