What I want to do with my life (This is two years out of date.) * learning interests * Major fields of interest: mathematics / || \\ / || physics / || / / computer_science / // | linguistics | \ | scripture * dilemma logic abstract_mathematics ===== / | \ /\ \/ geometry \/ discrete_math -- (global) --- continuous_math \/ \/ \/ CS_foundations computation --> physics \/ /\ computer_systems * Some of my specific areas of interest (* = special interest): discrete pure/abstract <====================> applied/concrete /\ || category theory || || * automated proof verification || symbolic computation || automated reasoning || programming languages || || automated translation || computational linguistics || * speech-to-text processing || signal processing || image processing || scientific computing || || * numerical analysis || Lie theory || || theoretical physics || geophysical signal processing \/ continuum Things that don't fit: - information theory * Some ideas I have had for projects: + develop a philological/etymological database + develop a computer language + develop a software system to process math documents * departments of study relevant to my interests + physics + math + applied math + statistics + computer science + linguistics - computational linguistics + electrical engineering - signal processing + neuroscience - cognitive studies * A map of the general fields I'm interested in: discrete pure <======================> applied /\ || ------------------ || +---------/ CS:theory of \ || | math \ computation --------- || | logic \ CS:systems | linguistics || | ---------+ | || | math: math: | CS:scientific | || | abstract applied | computing | geophysical signal || +--------------------+----------------+ processing and || physics: physics: climate change || theoretical applied \/ continuum + education (formal learning) + Things I want to understand. * The essence of reality. - I want to pursue basic questions about the real world. - I don't like to be dependent on something which I don't understand. + primary specific interests - applied logic - theoretical physics + mathematics: the foundational science - I want rigorous applied mathematics. A deep search that begins and ends in physical reality. + mathematical logic/metamathematics (foundations of reasoning) - understand self-reference - Goedel's theorem - axiomatic systems - constructive (Hilbert program) - categorical - Zermelo-Fraenkel set axioms - category theory - formal methods - algebraic math - lie groups + numerical math (foundations of theoretical Physics & applied math) - differential equations - calculus of variations - inverse transform theory - statistics (crucial for applied linguistics) - computer science - theory of computation - Turing machine - NP-complete - mathematical programming - automated theorem proving and proof verification - data processing - programming tools to aid in acquisition of relevant data - databases - information retrieval - algorithms - algorithm behind diff program + physics: - electrodynamics - relativity - quantum mechanics - string theory - axiomatic physics + linguistics - historical comparative linguistics - etymology - language families - Indo-European - Semitic - language acquisition + Christianity + scripture and Christian tradition - languages - history - archeology + theology - attributes & character of God - ecclesiology + philosophy - categories of reality + Fields of study I am interested in + Interdisciplinary subject areas - computational mathematics - formal systems - information science (math + computers) - artificial intelligence (understanding and modeling how humans interact with the world) - This could give me the opportunity to study both "discrete math" (foundations of computer science) and "continuous math" (foundations of physics) - automated reasoning and formal methods - computer-aided verification tools - numerical analysis - computational linguistics (computers + linguistics) - quantum information and computation (physics + computers) - signal processing + Programs I am interested in (looking for a learning community, not just an institution) - strategy: find people who are doing the kind of things I would like to do and find out what they did to prepare themselves. (e.g. read the biographicals of grad school teachers and see where they went to school, what they studied, etc.). + Masters in Christian studies (postpone or study on my own) - Regent college: masters in Christian studies - Notre Dame: Masters in Early Christian studies - Catholic University: Early Christian studies - prerequisite: 4 semesters of college Latin - Marquette: theology program + informal learning + technological foundations of culture + motivations: - I would like to believe that I could survive if I were washed up on a desert island. - I would like to believe that if I were transported to an undeveloped culture, what I know would actually be helpful to them. - I am unsatisfied with the fact that I am dependent on so many things that I don't understand. - I think that our culture is too dependent on itself. lack of ability to handle major disruptions + self-sufficiency: understand basics - clothing: textile production - food: growing, harvesting, and preparing - shelter: materials, construction - medical care: human anatomy, physiology, biochemistry + foundational technologies - printing and map-making - metalurgy * travel interests - general motivations: - to understand and experience the life situation of other peoples - to learn, especially from Christians of other cultures -- to express the unity of the body of Christ - to see how God is working in different places - to open myself to the possibility of God involving me in what He is doing in these places. - I want to visit people, communities, and institutions - places - Europe, Mediterranean - Africa - Uganda: Kibaale Children's Centre - vibrant Christianity - Asia - China - South America - Mexico - Casa Hogar - Catholic missions * things I might enjoy doing between grad school and career - peace corps (requires two years, I think) - volunteer for the United Nations * language acquisition + learn to read the Hebrew Bible - motivations: - greater understanding from regular readings - love for Old Testament - better appreciation for Semitic influence in the New Testament + study Latin - motivations: - understand roots of Western culture - linguistics - English etymology - Romance languages - classical literature (e.g. Virgil) - access to Biblical scholarship + study German - motivations: - frequently encounter it - pronunciation - access to German scholarship - Bible - math - linguistics - etymology of English words - Germanic language family - talk to people + study Modern, Byzantine, Koine, Classical, Homeric Greek - motivations - know Greek as a single language with a connected history - ability to talk to people - read early Christian literature - read Homer, ancient Greek philosophy + study Russian - motivations - linguistics: Slavic language family - math: Russian scholarship in Real Analysis - talk to people + study Arabic - motivations - linguistics: - Semitic language family (close to proto-Semitic) - etymology of names of stars - intellectual history of the Islamic world - talk to people + learn basics of French: pronunciation, orthography, & structure - motivations - linguistic - etymology of English - ability to pronounce phrases I encounter * publishing + Greek: + post/publish: - A Concise Reference Grammar of Essential Greek. (The set of things that one would expect someone who "knows Greek" to know) - structure - parts of speech - inflectional properties - tenses - euphonics - contraction - consonant collisions - inflection - conjugation - basic primary endings - primary endings - endings - contracted endings - declension - basic endings - endings - contracted endings - accents (need to write) - 400 roots (need to research) - prepositions - word formation (need to research) - syntax (need to research) + devotional literature - a series of meditations on themes in the Lord's supper + wavefield migration of seismic profiles - finish the book I was starting to write - package as a demonstration of what I have done * large projects + naked-eye historical astronomy + essential goal: to create tools that enable one to see the stars as people would have seen them from any location on the earth, at any time in history, in any cultural context. + envisioned tools: - a catalog of the name of every star and constellation in every language and culture, indexed to: - an etymological database allowing one to research the meanings of the names - a database of related ancient legends - create a set of maps, planispheres, star globes, and software that allows the user to determine the configuration of observable celestial objects at any location on earth at any time in history. The coordinate system would be defined by the ecliptic and its axis, not the celestial equator and the polar axis, so that the precession of the equinoxes will not invalidate the indicated configuration. + invent a writing system + devise a phonetic writing system + specifications to satisfy: - rapidly written - easily read - indicative of articulatory and auditory function - easily learned - nondyslexic - compact - can be written without looking at what one is writing + other possible writing systems: - heiroglyphics - based on a correspondence between graphical features and systems of categories and word formation - syllabary + strategy: + research orthographic systems + catalog: + types of writing paradigms - ways of indicating speech/concepts (heiroglyphics, syllabary, letters) - ways of forming marks (stylus, cuneiform, Braille) - types of marks that can be made loops, cusps, corners, curves + phonemes + develop a correspondence between the categories of marks that can be made and the categories of sounds that can be made. + set up a computer system to study speech and vision + devices - microphone - speakers - screen - video camera + software - data processing language - frequency analysis, spectrograms * ideas + reverse dictionaries: type in a meaning and retrieve matching "hits" - Stanford: concept-based information access and retrieval - concept retreival of Biblical and patristic texts + assist elderly people in bringing their lives to fruition * Big ideas + join or establish an on-line project to develop language software and compile data for the study of ancient texts related to the study of scripture and Christianity. - philological database - manuscripts -> critical texts - compile the existing manuscripts and sources, and use them to create a high-quality public domain critical edition of the New Testament available in digital form - goals would differ slightly from the goals of the UBS/Nestle Aland text: - a goal would be to provide the reader not merely with a best judgment of the original reading of the text, but also indicate to the reader textual variants that commentators might have had in front of them. I have occasionally been mystified and frustrated when reading Chrysostom or other writers because it is obvious that the text in my Greek Bible could not have been what they had before them when they were writing. - Bible maps - archeological discoveries - "Biblical UNIX" - Bible study environment: - focus on mechanisms, separable components, minimal dependencies, configurability, ability to navigate to relevant information, support for publishing good, compact paper helps that accompany a textual narrative and address the questions that naturally arise. + create an etymological database of the Indo-European languages - the history of words as the history of ideas - dictionary meanings - given a word in one language (e.g. English), generate a list of related words (cognate and derived) in another language (e.g. Greek). (For a given word, generate its family tree.) - a database to support the automatic generation of linguistic and textual reference works. + motivation: - Bible study and translation. - currently I have to carry around a mountain of reference books which could be automatically generated from an adequate linguistic database. - greatly enhanced ability to immediately answer philological questions. + invent a bridge language to serve as a medium for automated translation between any two languages (already done by many people -- look into UTL) - rationale: English is an inadequate bridge language. For example, when I am translating Greek to English, English forces me to be more precise than I want to be. Goals of the language would be to express meaning as accurately and tersely as possible. + develop a proof-checking computer language (already done by many people -- e.g. HOL, Isabelle) - prove fundamental theorems starting from set axioms - construct the integers - construct the real numbers + develop a computer language + objective - good defaults - concise data-processing - component-wise operations - Grand Unification Language (GUL) - eclectic features from shell, lisp, perl, C++, ML - interactive, interpreted, compiled - operating system kernel simply a GUL "interpretor" - strategy: first survey languages & learn theory + computer language that can be used to define computer languages. A single compiler would be able to compile any computer language by reading a set of declarations which define its grammar. (check out Gentle) + develop a help system for UNIX - Someone who has never encountered UNIX should be able to type "help" at the command line and find out everything they need to know to do what they want to do. * research efforts I'm interested in + Automated parser construction based on statistical analysis of a corpus. Maybe I could apply this to to computer vision. * career ideas + teach, study, work and learn with other people, discover and share how simple things really are. * goals + to have a circle of Christian friends who share a common vision. + to belong to a Christian brotherhood, preferably in the larger context of a Christian community - focus on outreach, caring for the elderly, raising and enculterating children, assisting needy families in becoming self-sufficient, education and learning, cultivating a full human life. - a community which sees what it does as being part of God's kingdom-building project. - bringing people together: rich and poor, old and young, educated and uneducated. + strategy: find friends and groups who share these visions * summaries + project summary - Christian community * math verification - data-processing language - language database, Bible study environment - computational linguistics: * speach recognition - signal processing - neural nets - automated translation - speach generation * academic interest summary - foundations of math, CS, and physics - theoretical physics - signal processing - math verification + courses/topics I'm interested in + logic - Goedel's incompleteness theorem - category theory - lambda calculus - theory of computation; Turing completeness - NP-complete + language - compilers and translators - natural language processing - speech recognition + math - category theory - topology & geometry - applied - computational math - inverse transform theory - signal processing - numerical analysis - optimization - linear algebra and integral transform theory - vector calculus and partial differential equations + physics + laws of the universe - quantum mechanics - electrodynamics - relativity - thermodynamics + mechanics - waves - fluid flow