Do You Exist?

Do you exist? A French philosopher, Rene Descartes, came up with "method of doubt" and is one of the greatest philosophers ever. He has contributed greatly to mathematics and philosophy. He questioned if we really existed. Do we exist? There's no way of knowing. How do we know we exist? We can't solve that either. It's the "method of doubt." It's impossible to know if we really exist or we're just a brain in a vat. Why do we think our existence matters? Well, everyone has dreams that they want to accomplish. Whether it's beating a video game, or selling out Madison Square Garden. We think that we exist to accomplish goals, because what's the point of existing if you have nothing to win? Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. We think that everything has to have a purpose, but there's no way of knowing that. That's what the method of doubt is all about. Comment what you think.

-Scotty

KEPLER

Johannes Kepler was a mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. He was a key figure in 1700's science evolution. He had three laws of planetary motion:
1. All planets move in an elipse around the sun
2. The closer a planet is to the sun, the faster it orbits. When a planet is further away from the sun it moves slower.

3. The larger the elliptical orbit, to slower it takes a planet to complete one orbit.
When a planet moves in an opposite direction it's called "Retro Grade." Planets that move in Retro Grade also do epicycles. An epicycle is a when a planet moves in a circle.
We still use these laws today in astrology. We're even still discovering new things about the universe. Kepler was a pioneer in astronomy!

Equality

What is your definition of equality? Seems like these days no one has a sense of equality. Think of all the things people say online. We "Become numb to what we're saying"- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Same Love. How do you think it would be like if everyone around you hated you because of your race? What if they tormented you non-stop? No mercy? Equality has many different parts like race, gender, gay, disability, age, and religion. We're all human beings and no one deserves to be tormented by how they we're born. We all should have equal opportunity. But there is also of types of discrimination like how you look and the type of music you listen to. There is always going to people that try to make lesser, that try to take your freedom and equality. But the least that we can do is strive to let everyone have everyone have freedom and equal opportunity. No one can take away you from you, and no one can defy that.

-Scotty

Malthusian Trap

Locke

Today I learned about John Locke, a philosopher who came up with the "veil of perception." The "veil of perception" is just a theory. The "veil of perception" is what we imagine of the world. It is only what we perceive it as. It’s how we see it, but we must perceive the world pretty accurately or else we wouldn’t survive long. Though, there is no way how we perceive the world is accurate so there is always the doubt, the theory. Has anyone read the book "Ender's Game?" In the book the author (Orson Scott Card) chose a made a pseudonym for one of the characters. He chose the name Locke because the kid was perceiving everyone one the internet and tricking them to think that he was an adult. This is sort of an example of the "veil of perception." Is everything really as it seems? (That last line seems like the closer to a movie...)

-Scotty

9/11

Thanks to all men and women that protect us and save us. Thanks for keeping our country safe and hopefully this event will never happen again.
                                                           

Heliocentric?

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to come up with the theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe. He figured out that the sun was the center of the universe. He thought that the planets moved in a circle around the sun. Not far behind was a name that we all should know, Galileo. Galileo was told by the church to stop his research of this topic or else...(BUMBUMBUM!!!!) Guess what? Galileo didn't stop even after what the church did. Galileo was later arrested by the church and was charged with heresies (Going against the churches beliefs). The was put under house arrest due to his age and health. We also have Kepler. He discovered that the planets moved in an oval around the sun instead of what Copernicus thought. The knowledge of knowing the sun was the center of orbit, not the Earth, made the church very mad because it went against what they believed. So it made a lot of people get imprisoned. They eventually learned that they were proven wrong and the world had finally discovered a key fact about our universe.

-Scotty

Angel

My version of dubstep:

Dow wow teteteteeeteteo
Bow wow bowchica bububububohhh!!!
Buhhh bwanananananow
Abrumbrumbrumbrum bowdadow bowda dow
DUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!

Yeah, today I'm just going to talk about my cat because I have nothing else to talk about. My cat is a hyland-lynx and her name is Angel:). She is a house cat because even though she is part lynx, her breed can't survive outside. She loves cuddling at night, stealing my bacon, attacking me, stoping me from working, scratching my stomach, and falls asleep while she's standing. Yeah, she's a pretty weird cat... but I prefer the term "*Special*". So birds watch out! Well, she probably is too fat to actually catch a bird, but that doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts.

-Scotty

JUSTICE

Is justice our best virtue? Greek philosopher, Plato, said that the law system should have a combination of justice, order, and punishment (BUM-BUM-BUAMM!!). Even still today we try to have justice in our law system. We try to be fair. The symbol of universal justice is a blind-folded lady holding a scale. It represents that every one should be treated equally no matter race, gender, or any of that! Her name is Lady Justice. Justice must be pretty important to be in our law system and have its own symbol (I wish I could have a symbol). But there are plenty of other virtues that are important. Virtues like kindness, humorous, bravery, independence. Take all of those in. What would happen if no one had those virtues? Now think, what would happen if we didn't have justice. The outcome for both would be pretty bad. Personally, I don't think that justice is our best virtue, I think that all virtues play a huge role in life. All virtues are our best virtues because our virtues are what makes us who we are! All virtues have the same role in making us who we are. They define us, they make us.

-Scotty

Supply = Demand

Equilibrium means supply meets demand. Let's say your selling homemade cheese puffs. You start out selling them at $1.00 a puff, but no one is buying them. You lower the price to $0.75 and 12 people buy a puff. Then you lower the price to $0.50 and more people start to buy them. The cheese puffs are also selling faster. Once again, you lower the price to $0.25 a puff, but so many people are buying them so fast, that you can't keep up with demand. So, you decide to make the price $0.35, which is equilibrium. It's right in between how fast you can make cheese puffs and how many people buy them at a certain rate. Supply meets demand. That's exactly where you want to be, right in the middle. Also, since you reacted quickly to all of the changes, you are be price elastic. Price elastic means to rebound quickly to a change in sales. Price inelastic means to react slowly. Think of a rubber band. If it has a lot of elasticity, it will sling faster. If it has very little elasticity, it will sling very slow. If you are trying to sell something and make the most amount of money, I recommend finding equilibrium and being price elastic. Also, let me know if you're selling chocolate covered bacon.^_^ Comment what I should write about next.

-Scotty

Plato

Philosophy is the questioning of ideas and knowledge. Plato is one the most legendary philosophers of all time. He was an extremely deep thinker. Plato was born in 428 B.C. in Athens, Greece. He founded the Academy of Athens and was apprenticed to Socrates. He is famous for his book Republic and created the theory of Forms. To me Plato's Cave basically means that you start to question what everything is and how this is that. You start to question everything you know and all of your ideas. You try to find the truth. Just imagine if you've been holed up in a cave you life being shackled to the wall with a fire behind you and all you can see is shadow on the wall, you'll start to question your knowledge. I know, deep stuff.

-Scotty