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Conversation with Michael Brown. To get the discussion going.

Special Thanks for being one of the best teachers I've ever had.
From 1992-1996, you were like a father to me. Thanks again. God Bless you.

1. Philosophy

   1. Plato - main lesson of the allegory of the cave?

“The Allegory of the Cave” likely serves as a wake-up call for people to seek the truth and not settle for what they see in front of them as reality and truth. In the allegory, the prisoners in the cave symbolize what our human existence is like if we do not question things and seek the truth.

1. 2. Descartes  -René Descartes is most commonly known for his philosophical statement, “I think, therefore I am” (originally in French, but best known by its Latin translation: "Cogito, ergo sum”).

2. Famous Germans: 

   1. Albert Einstein is known in popular culture for his famous E = mc2 formula. Scientists know him for revolutionizing physics with his general theory of relativity.

   2. Heisenberg's name will always be associated with his theory of quantum mechanics, published in 1925, when he was only 23 years old. For this theory and the applications of it which resulted especially in the discovery of allotropic forms of hydrogen, Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932.

   3. Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He is celebrated as the creator of many masterpieces of church and instrumental music. His compositions represent the best of the Baroque era.

   4. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment. 

   5. Martin Luther (1483—1546) German theologian, professor, pastor, and church reformer. Luther began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517. In this publication, he attacked the Church's sale of indulgences.

   6. Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, but he was more a disciple of the Classical tradition

   7. Ludwig van Beethoven. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of the Western European music tradition. His work crowned the classical period as well as initiated the romantic era in music. 

   8. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was one of the most influential, popular and prolific composers of the classical period. He composed over 600 works, including some of the most famous and loved pieces of symphonic, chamber, operatic, and choral music. Mozart was born in Salzburg to a musical family.
      
      

3. Science Communicator.  

   1. Carl Sagan, 

   2. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist at the City College of New York, a best-selling author, and a well-known popularizer of science. He's the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory) and continues Einstein's search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory.

4. Fermi Paradox 

   1. Enrico Fermi - The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Fermi for his work on the artificial radioactivity produced by neutrons, and for nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons.

4. 2. Possible Solutions

      1. 1. The Zoo Hypothesis - Like the Federation in Star Trek, super-intelligent alien life may answer to a Prime Directive: don’t interfere. Also known as the Zoo Hypothesis, this theory was formally proposed as a solution to the Fermi Paradox by John Ball at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1973.
         Given the age of the universe, Ball noted, multiple type III civilizations may have appeared millions or even billions of years before intelligent life developed on Earth. With such a vast head start, these first civilizations would have complete control over the universe. They’d be able to destroy or control less advanced forms of life, like humans have done on Earth.
         They would have to grapple with the same ethical question as the Federation in Star Trek: what’s the right way to interact with less advanced civilizations, some millions of years behind?  On Earth, we’ve decided to create nature reserves and national parks, places where generations of ants may never come in contact with a human. Likewise, entire alien civilizations may have agreed to let us be, to let us mature and evolve naturally, to observe our progress from afar, hiding from us until they decide we’re ready to join the extraterrestrial community.

      2. 2. We’re living in a simulated universe - Call them crazy, but renowned scientists and philosophers are developing increasingly creative (some would say delusional) ideas about how a simulated universe would work. Some of their arguments are logical, perhaps even convincing, and they’ve been debated by serious academics in serious journals for years now.

      3. 3. The “Rare Earth” hypothesis - The Rare Earth hypothesis disputes the first and second assumptions of the Fermi paradox, which suppose that the Earth is a typical planet revolving around a typical star. There’s something special, or at least rare, about Earth, proponents of the Rare Earth hypothesis claim, that allowed complex to form and thrive on its surface.

      4. 4. The Great Filter - The Great Filter is the idea that the development of a civilization that can colonize a galaxy is a unique, maybe once in a universe event because of the many exceptional barriers to life along the way. 

5. History Backwards 

   1. American History

   2. European History

   3. Roman Empire

   4. Greece

   5. Hebrews

   6. Egypt

6. Anthropology, history of humans 

7. Earth, Geology - Okay, so here's a super brief summary of understanding life and humanity through an evolutionary lens.

   1. The universe is around 15 billion years old.

   2. The Earth is about 6 billion years old.

   3. Life on Earth has evolved over 3.5 billion years.

   4. Humans evolved from small mammals and split from chimpanzees around 7 million years ago.

   5. Modern humans appeared approximately 150,000 years ago.

   6. Civilization began after the last Ice Age, about 15,000 years ago.
      
      

8. Astrophysics 

   1. JWST -  can see to the beginning of time! (almost)
      
      

9. Cosmology, Big Bang 

10. Epistemology - Epistemology is the study of knowledge acquisition. It involves an awareness of certain aspects of reality, and it seeks to discover what is known and how it is known.
    Considered as a branch of philosophy, epistemology addresses cognitive sciences, cultural studies and the history of science.
    
    

11. Religion 

    1. Eschatology - four elements of Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things
       (Latin: quattuor novissima) are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife.

       1. Eschatology Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints

       2.  eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses

       3.  eschatology of Biblical Christianity

       4.  eschatology of Jewdism 

       5. eschatology of Buddism

       6.  eschatology of Muslims

       7. eschatology of Hinduism
          
          

    2. Mythology 

    3. Bible - Jewish Old Testament

    4. Bible - Christianity New Testament
       
       

12. Spirituality 

    1. Arguments for God's existence

       1. Pascal's wager is a philosophical argument that posits that people are essentially gambling about whether or not to believe in God.
          The argument was developed by Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and theologian.
          
          

    2. Arguments against God's existence

       1. Divine Hiddenness

       2. Religious Confusion
          
          
          

13. Purpose + Meaning

14. Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen

15. Imagine - John Lennon
    
    

16. Classical Piano
    
    

17. Languages:

    1. Latin

    2. French

    3. Spanish

    4. Hebrew

    5. Greek

    6. Japanese

    7. HTML
       
       

18. Music Lessons

    1. Music Theory

    2. Learn to play Violin
       
       

19. Podcasts - Long Form Discussions
    
    

20. YouTube (a few of the 35 channels so far)

    1. ​@SunsetGuitarist​ 

    2. @OblivionCocoon 

    3. @Science-God

    4. @SunsetPiano

    5. @Sunset-Psyche

    6. @SunsetPianoGod

    7. @OblivionComedy 

    8. @Sunset-Videos 

    9. @Sunset-Psychology 

    10. @MentalHealth-Sunset 

    11. @Sunset-Mountain 

    12. @Sunsets-CuteAnimals 

    13. @Sunset-Channel

    14. @jeffreythepug 

    15. @ChristianMusicRocker 

    16. @Manof2ManyHats 

    17. @windymountain

    18. @Sunset-Singer 

    19. @davidwcoon 

    20. @NarcissisticAbusePsychology  
        
        

21. Art/Music

22. Oil Painting Sunsets

23. Waldorf Philosophy

24. Timeline 

    1. 1992-1996 - Spring Hill

    2. 1997-2002 - Saratoga Public School

    3. 2002-2007 - SUNY Albany - Sociology

    4. 2008-2015 - USMC - Aviation Logistics

       1. Afghanistan War -  OEF/OIF 2009-2010

    5. 2015-2022 - Marriage, Hot Oven Cookies, Springfield MA

    6. 2017-2021 - Cambridge College - Masters Degree

    7. 2023-2024 - Now - Life on my own, 100 Percent disabled veteran. Queensbury, NY
       
       

25. your son - I'd like to talk to him.  Perhaps I could provide some counseling.
    
    

26. Addiction

27. Mental Health Counseling - LMHC
    
    

28. Psychotherapy
    
    

29. my Dx: Disabled Veteran
    1.1. PTSD
    1.2. Bipolar
    1.3. Depression
    1.4. Anxiety
    1.5. Dissociative / Depersonalization
    1.6. Addiction
    1.7. TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)
    1.8. ADHD / ADHBD
    
    

30. Divorced - Losing my family is the worst, saddest thing ever.
    2.1. I trust no one.
    2.2. I don’t love myself (ref. 1.6).
    2.3. I’m manic + depressed.
    2.4. I’m afraid of the outside world.
    2.5. I can’t sleep.
    2.6. I’m in the 1st stage of Hell, Limbo.
    2.7. I kill myself every day with addiction (1.6) and no love for myself (2.2).

31. I’m dying and it feels like I have no one who cares.

32. Hopeless without God.

33. Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
    It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence.
    A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.

34. Posterity

35. Job for you

36.  I think that is a good start....   

0800 EST, December 4th, 2024