Questions from Ballet Girl

Let them ask you questions and then and only then will you realize how little you know. This has been my life. It's very depressing realizing how little I know. as I have said before in the rush to stuff kids with information we have taught them to avoid the most important element of survival-the power to think. At least this is my case.

But my daughter is different, and thankfully so. So is my son.

Ballet girl asked me: 'How did life begin'. As intriguing as evolutionary biology, it tells you of a journey but not of the origin of the journey, much like physics tells you of the evolution of the entire universe but says nothing about the onset of this evolution. As an applied mathematician, a person who knows a thing or two about dynamics and chaos, I am reluctant to believe that the universe, as complex as it is, has such a simple dynamics that we can track it in time. Similarly, I am skeptical of the linearity exhibited by nature according to the theory of evolution. My main question there is: of all possible solutions to the survival process, why did only a particular subset become realized? What probabilistic law governs that selection?

I later asked myself: Why are he gaseous planets gaseous?

I am also very curious to understand more classifications. Classifications in science to a great extent have been the result of luck and intuition but not necessarily 'science'. Look at Mendeleev. Classification of our senses, for instance, is very misleading because it is incomplete. Classification of plants is equally so, which is the reason I did not biology in elementary school. So, what I would like to do is collect information with Sophia on plants, and see if we can use an algorithm to classify them, and maybe recognize groups that are not 'standard' in some way i.e. see a pattern that has not been listed in the elementary texts.

First collection of questions:

Mechanics:
What is acceleration? How is acceleration measured? How did the people who invented acceleration measured it?
Weight and mass and why one can float weightless in space?

Thermodynamics:
What does the statement 'hot air is lighter than cold air' really mean?

Biology:
What is fern?

What is mushroom? How do we know mushrooms do not make their own food? How do we know plants make their own food?

What is life? What is alive?

Are there animals with odd number of limbs?

What is the difference between nuts, fruits and vegetables?

History:
Breading and why some animals produce infertile offsspring?

What I want to accomplish?

I want to record all questions I have about science.

I don't know why but my scientific training was very much of the 'plug-in' nature. There was some thinking required but mostly it was of the type: here are a bunch of equations, manipulate them to answer some question. So I never wondered about anything in nature. All answers were provided, in fact I never had to bother to ask the questions. The questions were asked and answered for me. That alone is really bad!

Then came the disappointment that after years and years of chugging at chemistry and physics equations, I felt powerless when someone asks me ' So, what is gravity?', 'Why does a hot air balloon float up?', 'What is electricity?', 'How does electricity come to our homes'?,' What is power?', 'What is energy?','What is a wave?','What is a particle?', 'Why can planes fly?'...oooh, stop already! What I mean is that after years and years of plugging in and manipulating equations I did not learn how these equations related to actual physical systems and problems that people have wondered about. I failed to understand why many explanations are possible, why many descriptions are possible. Oh, what a waste! I feel deep shame. I failed to use my exposure to investigate independently my own questions.

After years, over ten, of feeling ashamed, broken, I decided to rebel. I decided that no, I will not dying with regret. I will not die not knowing or at least not making the effort to learn. I have decided to understand, to start wondering, and to ask questions and look for answers until the answers make sense i.e are understandable, convincing TO ME. I don't look for the answers that my professors were looking for. I am looking for the answers that will satisfy ME. I don't have a GPA to run after. I only have me to make happy.

I am going to allow science to make me happy.

The aim of this blog is to keep track of all of my questions and my quest for answers. Very simple!

Welcome on the journey with me!