Institutions plus

For all the interest I have in expanding my knowledge of institutions, when I got to that section I didn't do much beyond creating a few links, although several of them were to particular nations. The development program just hasn't quite progressed that far. For culture, I managed to add a page for customs, but not much more. I did nothing in the other major sections.
When I got this far, I went back around to considering the main history page. I took a look a the World History Association, read over the copy of their first newsletter, and it appears that my approach fits well with that of this association. I linked the general history page to the various new pages of social structure and change. The comment in the WHA Bulletin that international patterns and changes in society are part of what distinguishes world history from a more traditional approach echoes the reason I think these are important links. In my development plan, I hihglingted more of the specific sections I want to develop as aids to history.
I also got down to the prehistory page. Although my knowledge of the development of prehistoric archaeology in the 20th century is pretty vague, I got in a couple of references. The areas of social structure and change I would like to link to for this period, such as hunting-gathering peoples and the agricultural revolution, are undeveloped, so I had to leave these mostly undeveloped. Evidence for the various social institutions is also lacking, although there is room for a connection to pagan religion (also an undeveloped subect.) Material culture, which is the only really relevant area of culture for prehistory, is also badly underdeveloped.

Skimming

I've been doing a fairly quick skim through various sections of the knowledge base. I ran almost all the way through my history section, and principally noted where I need to do more work. I've developed social structure and change enough that various areas can connect to it. I noted that in history, a lot of what I call the heavy lifting involving history of particular nations is now down to the 20th century, so I'll be concentrating there before long. I also took a run through the sociology section. I didn't do any substantial work with peoples and nations, but for communities, I had done some work on the modern history, and I did more in connecting cities within the sociology section. Most of the new work came in social structure and change.
As a first try, I have particular changes divided into three major periods. The first is what I call the agricultural or Neolithic revolution, when people began settling down and farming. The next is the Agrarian revolution, or the process of civilization, when literature and metal working came into used. The final and most recent is what I call the Industrial revolution. Each of these have various movements and stages in it, which I hope to cover in more detail, but for now, I'm just getting the basics. I've also done some work on identifying the corresponding peoples' a more static view of where a society is in its cultural development, and I've been looking at social structure. Nowadays, quite a few of these aspects of society can be quantified and measured, but I'm stuck on doing that until I get deeper in to the social institutions and culture. I've been wanting to concentrate more on social institutions for some time, but keep getting held back by other developments. However, the inadequate development I now have is starting to hold up everything else, so I will be concentrating more on it soon.

Update published

After an exhausting afternoon of loking up and adding snippets of city histories, the latest major update of the Sapience Knowledge Base has now been published to the web. I'm ready to break for a break for a day or few.

19th century and an apology

I finally got cought up on my program for outlining the history of nations up through the 20th century., though I still don't have the last few months work posted to the web yet.
I've also been taking a peak at the history of a few cities, but that's been lagging far behind nations and I have a bunch of catching up to do.
The e-mail addresses for this blog and for the web site are regularly bombarded with spam and nothing else for two and three months at a time, and I haven't noticed any legitimate replies, so I've let the e-mil boxes fill up instead of checking them. I'm in the middle of cleaning them out again to make room for any legitimate contact, so in the off chance that someone has visited either and has tried to leave a comment that I've missed, my apologies.

18th Century

I've been continuing with history of particular nations lately, inching forward through history. I got to 18th century history of France, which includes the "Age of Reason" in France leading up through the French Revolution, and for some reason couldn't bring myself to go on to the 19th century, which in my peculiar scheme of development involves different countries. I don't particularly care a great deal for Modern European history. Since I'm not a European, the various wars between Country X and its neighbor Country Y just don't interest me that much, although at some future time, I may want to know more about some particular war.
Instead, I found myself going back to the beginning with prehistory and filling in a few more of the connections between that and other subjects. That gives me more reason, when I start looking at these other subjects, to begin at the beginning with their history. I'm getting anxious to look at some of these other areas, but I hate leaving things unfinished until I get to a proper break point, which is going to keep pulling me back to history for a while.

Back again

I've been offline for about a month due to problems with my internet connection, which are now being resolved. In the meantime, I've added a substantial amount of content to the histories of particular nations, and I hope to be able to post the added material by the weekend.

Religion

Some days I'm able to get a fair amount accomplished, other days I'm not. I got references to religion in about a half dozen cities, and then in the next phase, references to specific religions traditions in a few nations, and then again ran out of steam. I did some talking about my biblical chronology theory to a friend, and writing more about it to others. ( a couple of people mentioned Velikovsy, whom I don't consider reliable, although apparently some of his work is less wildly speculative than other parts.

Biblical chronology

The other day when I was working in ancient history, specifically the 2nd Millennium BC, trying to identify some key events, was a bit unhappy with all the approximate dates I was finding in the reference I was using, and went hunting online for a few others. I ran across the Wikipedia article on ancient chronology, and found that it claims ancient history is pretty solid and well known back to about 750 BC, but before that, the fuzziness gets worse and worse, due to multiple uncertainties in the primary sources that are used for dating. This led down a side track of biblical history. I'm already aware that archaeologists have had difficulty identifying the time and place of key events in biblical history, even those that ought to have left some traces. The Bible itself isn't much help, because there are too many uncertainties in the various time periods such as reigns of kings that it gives, and there are few clear synchronizations to non-Israelite history, especially in the pre-exile period. I'm not a strict biblical literalist...although I do believe that God spoke to prophets, I don't believe that makes the record free of error, and as something of an amateur scholar, I like to have as much independent verification as possible before I trust in something as a fact.
I see that many non-believing and atheistic scholars seem to want to seize on any apparent contradiction between the biblical account and archaeological finds as positive proof that the whole Bible is a piece of fiction, while Christian apologetics is full of amateurs who grasp at straws and spin elaborate theories to supplement missing facts and cannot agree among themselves. This has been a minor irritant for some time, but when I saw again how thin the evidence is for some of the "accepted wisdom", and how it leads otherwise competent people to draw absurd conclusions (for instance that Joshua arrived several hundred years after the destruction of Jericho), or on the other hand, that that 300 years of Egyptian history is missing, it fired up my determination to do something to clarify the situation.
First, with my scientific education, I'm reasonably content with radio-carbon dating as a valid method of getting the approximate date of remains, although I believe that this should be combined with other evidence.
So, I went hunting late last night for more information. I'd encountered a couple of sources before that broadened my mind to other hypotheses for the dating of the Israelite Exodus than the one given. I'm not sure what reasons people give for the dating of it between the 12th and 14th Century BC, or the association of Ramses II with the Pharaoh of the Exodus, (besides the names of the treasure cities the Israelites were supposed to have built) but I was generally aware that evidence for the exodus hadn't been located, at least in that period.
Recently I read a comment that the line in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" "They're digging in the wrong place!" drew chuckles among a group of archaeologists, because it's something of an occupational hazard. Likewise, looking at the wrong time has to be similarly hazardous, when one is dealing with uncertainties of chronology as great as 300 years. But that's a side note. What drew my attention were the various web pages constructed by those who have added up the dates in the Bible and concluded that the Exodus took place around 1400 BC. That's about 200 years back from a traditional date equating the Pharaoh of the Exodus with Ramses. Also, I was having a problem with the conclusions drawn from the excavation of Jericho by Kathleen Kenyon. Some were citing her research claiming that there was no evidence for Joshua's conquest of Canaan, others were saying it dovetailed nicely with other evidence. What I finally decided was that her date for the destruction of a strongly-fortified Canaanite City had been verified at in 1995 at about 1562 BC +/- 38 years, and to take that as evidence that best fits the biblical account. That's a a century and a half earlier or so than traditionally described, but I don't think the Israelites wandering in the wilderness or living in tents were all that meticulous about chronology, and some attempts to reconstruct biblical chronology push the exodus back to about this far.
Next I decided to look for an appropriate Pharaoh for the Exodus. I'd seen a work that claims the "Pharaoh's daughter" who rescued Moses was Hatshepsut, and in various places I'd seen suggestions that the "Pharaoh who knew not Joseph" came from one of the dynasties that succeeded the Hyksos. I didn't find one that seemed to satisfy what I remember, so I decided to review Egyptian chronology, and look up some of the unsolved problems in Egyptology, and found a clue. One of the various speculations on the nature of the Exodus and the plagues associates it with with the major eruption of Thera, at some date that I hadn't been able to find exactly. Apparently this has been pinned at 1613 BC +/- 13 years. Reconciling this date with traditional chronology for Egypt has produced about a 100 year discrepancy, but this is within the approximate range of error for Egyptian chronology at this period. What grabbed my attention, though, was that this is about 50 years before the date given for the destruction of Jericho, which fits reasonably well with an approximate 40 year wandering in the wilderness described in the Pentateuch.
I had long ago set the possible correlation of Thera and the biblical plagues as an interesting possibility to be re-examined if and when other evidence came along, and this fits the category of additional evidence I was looking for. So now I have this as a working hypothesis for the correlation of events in ancient history. Since I'm hardly even an amateur in the field, there could be a lot wrong with this theory. But it seems there are worse ones in print. The debate about Biblical chronology lies somewhere near the heart of the conflict between scientific atheist and devout believer, between Christian or Jew and Muslim, and at the intersection of the Greek World, Assyriology, Egyptology, and other specialized disciplines. I would like to see a better resolution than anything I have seen yet.
PS. The reason I have added this was because it ocurred to me, before I put myself down for the night, I did a Wiki search on "Independent Scholar", which led me quickly to an on-line copy of the Independent Scholar's handbook, a work which helped put me on the path to Independent Learning, and was rereading it. This blog is probably the closest I'm going to come to an intellectual journal, and so I decided to start recording intellectual diversions as well as the work I'm doing on my web site. This counts as a diversion...not something that's part of my main effort, but something to set aside for now and come back to some day.

Institutions

I mentioned that I wanted to strengthen my ties between nations and communities and the subject of institutions of society, and I got as much of that done as I had planned. Then I realize that wasn't nearly going deep enough, and I started making connections specifically with religion. I got through linking the two dozen nations I had planned, and half of the two dozen cities, and ran out of steam for the day. There's more I want to do with religion before I move on to the next subject, but I need to get more specific.

National connections

I skimmed past studies of the future and started digging into the areas I call sociology. Just adding a few nations to the list inspired a cascade of other events. For one, it;s painfully clear that I need to take quite a few of these nations and look into their history before modern times in order to give substance to earlier periods of history. I've been listing nations in order of population size, which has very little direct correlation with international significance. Some of the connections I was making illustrate this. After all, a nation such s Tanzania doesn't greatly affect the United States, but the United Kingdom and India have had a great deal to do with one another. I did a little more sorting these into major groups. I still don't have enough nations to quite divide up Western Civilization into its subdivisions, but Asiatic peoples are well represented even if incomplete. I added more cities, and made preliminary connections to rather more areas of peoples and social structure and change. I need to do a little more digging into the history of various cities, especially earlier history if they have it. With better connections to nations, I can also manage links of cities to each other, which may be useful when I go to do things like trade routes. I've never been too pleased with how my sections on social structure and change are coming, but that may be because I need to get down to brass tacks of particular examples. Then, too, the whole area of Institutions, which I will be looking at next, is not as well connected to the areas of sociology as I would like, so I will be looking at those connections. In the meantime, though, I'm reasonably pleased with today's progress.

Here again

I've never actually quit working on the Sapience Knowledge Base, but it has been a while since I've reported on on it here. I hope to have a new round of updates posted online in a day or two.
I've added substantially to the section on prehistory and a fair amount of new content to antiquity. I note that there are still considerable discrepancies in various ancient chronologies, so there is even now not a single chronology of the ancient world that is accepted as having a sound basis by scholars. Since biblical archaeology falls within this period, there are still major problems reconciling the Biblical account with accounts from other nations. I find this frustrating.
More recently, I'm starting to work backward through the classical and medieval periods for some of the currently most populous nations, and into the 19th century for those same ones. I;ve beenun using a mental analogy of the aids to a subject as tools for investigating it, and I keep finding that my tools aren't quite sharp enough. The list of nations is, for now, about the sharpest and most useful of them.

Current events

I've expanded my notes on events of the past three years, and improving the connections to the particular peoples I've been considering. I've created a couple of new pages to break up events of the last year into quarters.
Rather than work extensively with whole groups of peoples as I've been doing before, I decided to go back to an earlier approach and add one nation at a time. The three most populous nations of the world are China, India, and the United States, so I've been working on getting current events connected. These were most of the way there already, so it wasn't too hard, but getting the new quarter year pages all the way down to these specific nations will take a few more rounds of development.
The USA page is getting big enough that it's going to have to be broken up. I want to start including individual state pages, as well as regional pages, covering more than one state. I will eventually be doing the same with China and India, but this isn't an immediate goal.
I've also made some progress on the social structure and change pages, and on connecting these to history and peoples of the world. There will be a couple of new and expanded connections in the next set of updates.
I had planned to do more work with institutions and culture, but I'm going to have to put these off until tomorrow, at least.

Latest

Enough already. My approaches to building the knowledge base have a tendency to become overly rote, structured, and mechanical. There is enough of a base now, that I can start with a more lively approach. I got a number of pages started in history, but had a hard time getting out of that subject into other areas. So, I tried something new. I was told by one reviewer that my knowledge base had more outline than content, and that's still the case. So, it's time to start adding live content.
A listing of historical events in the US for the year 2006 is almost an insignificant fragment, but it's enough to prompt attention to a whole array of connected subjects. Going back a year to 2005 may give a little perspective to these events. I might also separate out those events that deal specifically with the United States from the general mass of events of the year. I might consider local regions within the US. I might work on another nation...China is next on my list of targets. I might work on government, which has been sadly neglected. I might also do more work on culture, and connect it to the year 2006, or the United States. In any case, I have some live information to work with, and a variety of possible directions to go. More later.

History and peoples.

Besides connecting to the present, I was looking at updating the connections of historical periods to other areas, which led right back into the whole subject of history.
The main history page is about as well developed as I can get until other areas are themselves better developed.
I probably won't be doing much work with Prehistory until I've finished the Antiquity section. I have a new page for Antiquity, the 4th Millennium BC, which is not much more than a stub at present. For the most part, Classical and Medieval history is being set aside, except that in the Late Medieval period, I have added a page for the 13th century. The main Modern history page is also about as well developed as I can get it for now. In the 18th century, I have added a mid-18th century page. The 19th century has been mostly set aside for now, and the main 20th century page is mostly abaout as well developed as I can get it for now. In the late-mid 20th century, I have added a late 1970s page. The Late 20th century is also about as well developed as is prudent for now. I did some work in the early 2000s, mostly by going through with basic events for 2006. I have done little work in the Future this round.
For the most part, before I can make real progress in history, I need to do work in Sociology, and in order to do this, it involves first connecting it back to history.
I haven't yet added pages in this area, so far, I've just been adding a few cross-links. Peoples of the world are first and easiest to work with, and the main page is alread linked to history as far as is prudent for now. The primary focus has been in Western Civilization, and mostly I've been reviewing where I am. I see that a a few important areas are rather undeveloped and I could expand the discussion of their history some, in future development rounds. I've also been reviewing Asiatic peoples and in this area, there are a lot of unused developments in the Middle East. However, I already know from previous attempts that other areas of Asiatic peoples will need to be come before this.

History

In the past couple of days, I've been working on history. In accordance with my development program, I got as far as adding a new page on antiquity, the 3rd millennium BC, then decided that I was really not that much interested in antiquity, or late medieval times, or the 18th century. I switched to another approach I have been using, one of starting from the present and working backward.

Wikipedia is doing well at keeping an ongoing, up-to-date chronicle of events, which is something I have difficulty with. This allows me to keep almost up-to-date, something I have difficulty with when the only source of current events is daily news. The last 20 years is now split into 5-year pages, and I have a page for the current year and each of the last two.

I would like to narrow the gap between when events occur and interpretation of them, by being able to fit major current events into historical context as soon as possible. These new pages bring me a step closer to that goal.

Resume notes

It's been three months since I last posted to this blog. Development of the Sapience Knowledge Base has continued, but I haven't been commenting on it. I've recently switched back to a top=down approach to development of the knowledge base, since work at higher levels tends to promote the development of lower level details more than the other way around.

The site map has been updated, with most active non-science pages now linked. The "About" page has been rearranged. There is also a page describing 3VL I mentioned earlier this year. In the past couple of months, there has been a burst of activity, with new pages in almost every section, and the past several month's worth of revisions and updated have now been published to the web. I expect to do more updates as I go along.

European geography

This subject has been recently added to the knowledge base.

This will depend rather heavily on physical and natural science, once I catch up in this development plan to where I reached in the previous one.
Most of Personal studies, as already mentioned, is too undeveloped to be useful, and I don't have many European geographers to mention. I have been using geographical information from biographies to help guide development in this section, and expect to continue this approach.
So far it is not well subdivided, but I have connected it somewhat to Asian geogrpahy, which it neighbors.
Culture, including conceptual culture, such as maps, is also not yet developed enough to be useful, nor are the social institutions well connected. Most of socology is not yet very useful, although I have been using locations of cities in connection with biographies to help guide development of geography. So far, there isn't quite enough material to prompt division of the subject. This is closely connected with Western Civilization, and most of my information comes from and through the efforts of anglic peoples. The contributions of Asiatic civilization to European geography would appear to be rather minimal.
European geography has a long history, but so far I am only considering modern contributions, including those of the 20th century. Specific divisions of the late middle and late 20th centuries are so far and unfortunately mostly empty of content.

Human Geography

In previous versions of this knowledge base, I have more or less neglected this subject, which has seriously weakened the entire program. Human geography deals with such things as the population, natural resources, and land use of a particular area. I have chosen to divide this up by area or region.
One of the various difficulties of geographers is the problem of boundaries. There are few natural dividing lines on the surface of the earth; political boundaries are quite arbitrary. In general, I have chosen to follow traditional lines, except where there seems good reason to ignore them.

This subject naturally depends heavily on nature and natural science, particularly earth science and biology. Until these are better developed themselves, I have difficulty making this connection more explicit.
It is difficult to say geography is influenced by the human body and psychology, except to note that some regions are difficult to explore and travel through due to the hardships involved. Since everyone lives somewhere, and many people live or travel in more than one place, analysis of multiple biographies is one indicator of the relative importance of various places, although it is only one such indicator. Another way biography is of use is in making note of prominent explorers and geographers.
The connections to other areas of anthropology will be highly important here, although just how much so will not be clearly evident until these areas are better developed. The areas I am currently working with are European geography, Asian geography, North American geography, and African geography.
Human geography will make use of a variety of culture-related tools. Conceptual culture will include the highly important, even essential area of maps, once it is better developed.
The institutions of family, education, economics, government, and religion will also be important, although these are not sufficiently well developed.
Sociology is useful for various reasons. The location of particular cities is a useful aid to human geography, for instance in helping to estimate population density. This overlaps somewhat with the description of peoples; although many peoples occupy only part of an area, and others occupy many areas. Much geographic knowledge has come from and through Western Civilization, with Anglic geographers especially prominent, although, especially in earlier times, Asiatic and specifically Middle Eastern geographers were also noteworthy. I don't yet have specific detail on which of these came from North Africa.
The history of human geography is also interesting. Much of it was developed in classical and medieval times, and in later medieval times, the modern exploration of the world began. It developed greatly in modern times, and by the 19th century, most of the world and its peoples had been at least roughly mapped and identified. In the 20th century, the various tools available for study of human geography have become more powerful and sophisticated, including for instance the use of airplanes and color printing in the middle part of the century, spacecraft in the late-mid 20th century, and the widespread use of computers in the late 20th century. I am unfortunately not quite up to date on developments in the last few years or current events.

Anthropology

I've been doing a daily series on various subjects, describing what I have accomplished in my current development program and what I hope to accomplish in the near future. This lags a little bit behind the actual state of development, but various areas need to be brought up to date in an organized fashion.

As I have discussed elsewhere, what I call Anthropology differs from what is usually meant by the term. This subject deals more with what is fundamental and universal, and includes parts of both Anthropology as it is more commonly understood and sociology as well. I have recently rewritten this page to better reflect a more detailed understanding of the subject, as well as to make connections to the Middle east and the 20th century.


Since I have set aside most detail in science until I can properly catch up to it, I have little to add, except that earth science and biology will be necessary foundations.
This whole area depends heavily on the various areas of Personal studies, including the human body and psychology, but since these are undeveloped, the details of this connection will have to wait. Biographies will be useful in providing source material, since everyone is socially connected, but rather than duplicate the whole list, I will focus on those who have developed anthropology.
Most of Anthropology is still undeveloped. Social foundations, demography, physical anthropology, human ecology, and particular groups are being set aside for now. The best developed division is human geography.
This area will make some use of culture, especially conceptual culture such as language, literature, and mathematics, but on other areas also. The various institutions will also be significant and provide source material, but need their own development first.
Anthropology will also make use of sociology. Although social structure and change is undeveloped, there will be a considerable amount of raw material associated with various cities once these are better developed. This subject is closely connected to particular peoples. Much of Anthropology has come from western Civilization, especially the primarily English-speaking nations and peoples. Asiatic peoples have also made contributions. I lack detailed information on those of Middle eastern peoples, such as North Africans (to name one example); this is an area yet to be explored.
The development of Anthropology in classical and medieval times can only be sketched. In late medieval times, the works of Islamic geographers and Marco Polo contributed to this knowledge, and early European explorers also contributed. In Modern history, this also developed, although it was not recognized as a science and did not use methods comparable to those of the physical and natural sciences until the 19th century. Developments in the 20th century, including the middle (just after WW II), the late-mid 20th, (the Cold War period), and the late 20th century, including those of the last six or seven years, are only roughly sketched, though more detail should emerge later.

Biographies

Back when I first started this site, I was doing some work with biographies as sources of historical information and other information. I eventually moved away from that approach, although signs of it still remain on the site. However, biographical information in the latest version still drives a lot of the development.

With the current approach, science and nature are only mentioned for most individuals.
Areas of the human body and psychology are perhaps more applicable, but not sufficiently well developed themselves. I have about two dozen individuals I am working with, and the number will continue to increase. I'd like to work with contemporaries and associates of these individuals, but I need information from history and peoples in order to do this, as well as more than just a few individuals.
Anthropology is not very useful yet, but I have been working in human geography and have major areas of Europe, Asia including Southwest Asia, and North America connected to biography, so that I can at least place individuals in the right general area.
Culture will be very important, especially conceptual culture which will include literature and source material about people's lives. Other areas of culture can also be used once they are better developed.
Institutions are not yet developed enough to be very useful.
Social changes and movements aren't yet developed enough to be able to connect them to biography, and the direct connections between a list of individuals and a list of major cities are rather sparse. I can categorize individuals by the major peoples they belonged to, which is somewhat useful.
The easiest grouping is to identify individuals by when they lived. Many of the most significant ones lived in classical and medieval times, which is not where mt principal focus in history is. Instead, I have been looking at the 19th and 20th centuries. These will be more useful in examining biographies when I have more individuals from later times.

Personal studies

I published the latest batch of updates on my knowledge base to the web. Rather than summarize them here, I'm going to continue with a more extensive review of what I;m trying to accomplish.

Personal studies is a highly important area, but one I am not particularly expert on. In principle, it depends heavily on parts of science, but I have not yet made these connections very well.
There are three principal divisions: the Human Body, Psychology, and Biographies. In my latest development program, the first two are set aside for now, while I concentrate on biographies.
Anthropology also hase limited usefulness. I have been working extensively on linking this to human geography, principally European, Asian, and North American geography, with a deeper link to Southwest Asia, with some newer pages.
Culture will be applicable also, and conceptual culture will include language, literature, mathematics, and philosophy of personal studies, while other areas of culture will also be applicable once they are better developed.
Institutions of families, education, economics, government, and religion will also help once they are better developed.
Sociology is not quite as useful as I would like just yet. Analysis of cities isn't yet showing much that's useful to personal studies. Western Civilization remains prominent, and I have managed to extend Asiatic civilization to middle eastern peoples, with a connection to North African peoples that has been prompted by development within biography but doesn't seem to be the most useful just yet.
I have made connections to later periods within the 20th century, and to current events within the early 2000s, but so far only the barest hints of a historical sketch are beginning to emerge. This whole section is developing fairly slowly.

Replanning and science

In my last set of updates, I found myself in a trap very similar to one I have fallen into before; spending too much time in some sections and not enough in others. I decided to, once again, modify my approach. This time, it is working in a much better and more satisfying way.

Although I would like to base everything else on physical and natural science, this doesn't work well because it depends too heavily on other areas. Physics, for example, depends too heavily on mathematics. Chemistry is not nearly as well organized as I would like. There is too little information in Astronomy, compared to the other sciences, and it is not generally as useful as I would like. The areas where significant progress is possible are Earth Science and Biology. I haven't quite caught up to where I was recently in putting these sections in place, so I've been considering the connections to the science aids.
Personal studies will be valuable to science, but so far, the human body and psychology aren't well enough developed to be useful. I've been making rather more progress in biography. Many of the individuals listed in Hart's list of the 100 most influential are scientists, and analysis of these biographies is bound to reveal something.
Anthropology has been badly under-considered in my previous attempts. Most areas of this subject are again too undeveloped to be useful, but I have been working with human geography, and placing individual scientists in a geographic context has some benefit. European geography is particularly useful.
Culture has also been under-considered. Areas of conceptual culture such as scientific language, literature, graphics, mathematics, and philosophy should have a fairly prominent place in studies of science. Material culture, or tools and artifacts, and behavioral culture, such as customs and occupations, aren't quite well enough developed in this version to be very useful in science.
Institutions have also been under-considered. Areas of families, education, economics, government, and religion will all be useful to science when they are better developed.
Sociology has been considered fairly prominently. I don't have enough detail on particular cities to consider their respective influences on science, but peoples are far more significant. By far the greatest majority of work has been performed in Western civilization.
I have little to add at present to the history of science, except a connection to the late 20th century, which includes the last 25 years or so. There isn't much real detail in this period yet, but it should develop in time.

And more

After not quite two weeks, I have just posted another round of updates to the Sapience Knowledge Base.

The main science page hasn't changed much, except that I have reorganized Biology and matched the comment to the reorganization, and I have direct links to several influential scientists. I also have a few more links to the pages where I am actively working in history, and the 19th century is a little clearer.

In Earth science, I have done some miscellaneous addition of links to other pages in the knowledge base. Physical geography also has about a dozen new links, and Terrestrial geography also has a number of new links. There is a new page, Eurasia, which is in the early stages of development with only very general links.

Biology has been reorganized somewhat: I have pushed the systematics (types of organization) down a level by incorporating it into organism biology, although on further thought, I may bring it back up. Biological classification of living things doesn't classify organisms so much as it does populations of closely related organisms.

Personal studies hasn't changed much, although I do have links to physical geography and Eurasia, and to areas within history. I have more links of biography to areas of earth science and history. All the individuals added at the last update have had more attention given to them, and I have added new pages for Euclid, Moses, Shih Huang-Ti, Caesar, Copernicus, Lavoisier, Constantine, Watt, and Faraday.

In Anthropology, I have begun to revise and rearrange the component disciplines, but there is still some rewriting to do. Human Geography has a narrower focus, as I am transferring demography and human ecology into separate sections. The list of particular groups remains empty, as I still have not found a satisfactory list of organizations.

In Culture, I have a few more links to other areas. I am beginning active work in Material culture, and the conceptual culture page and literature page have a few more links. The Literary Works page is not so recognizably new, and has a forest of connections. In the next set of updates, I intend to begin working on a list of major important works, similar to the biography list.

The Institutions page and the Religion page both have a few new links to earth science and to areas in history, but the Religious traditions page has the most new links.

There has been comparatively little work in Sociology, though the main page, Communities page, Peoples of the World page, and Western Civilization and Asiatic Civilization each have a few new links added to them.

There has also been comparatively little work done in History, although within Modern History, I have completed the division of the 19th century by adding a new early 19th century page and creating basic links to other general areas.

Also, in the next set of updates, since I have more individuals to work with, I will be linking areas of within institutions, sociology, and history more directly to the biography pages for prominent contributors to those areas.

More updates

I have new updates to the Sapience Knowledge Base. Science has better connections to biographical entries, including Einstein, Pasteur, and Galileo. It is also better connected in principle to literature and literary works. There is also a connection to religious traditions. I have also rewritten the presentation of science history a little, and added links to some specific periods of history.

The only particular area of science I have done much work in is Earth Science. Here there are new connections to particular groups, literature and literary works, Religion and particular religions, Western Civilization and Asiatic peoples, and several periods of history. There is not yet much real new content.

Personal studies are also linked to literary works and religious traditions. I have also strengthened the connections to and within the 19th and 20th centuries.

Biography is connected to particular social groups, literary works, and religious traditions, and in general to a few periods of history. New pages for several major historical figures have been added, although these so far have fairly little actual content.

In Anthropology, I have added connections to literary works, religious tradition, and connections to classical and medieval history. I have rewritten part of the discussion of history also.

Particular groups are connected to science, to personal studies including biography, and to culture, institutions, sociology including cities and peoples, and history down to modern history and the 20th century. This would be more significant if I had pages corresponding to actual particular groups, but since I don't have a list of the few most important particular groups, this will have to be gleaned from review of those areas.

The culture page has had only had links to the late medieval period and the mid 19th century added to it. Conceptual culture is newly linked to late medieval history. Literature is linked to Earth science and to late medieval history. This page has been rewritten and much of its former content transferred to a literary works page.

Literary works has been connected to Science including Earth Science, Personal studies including biography, Anthropology, Institutions including religion, sociology including peoples and communities, and history, particularly modern history, with the 19th and 20th centuries. This would be more significant if I had pages corresponding to actual, specific literary works, but these will be added as the site develops.

On the main Institutions page, I have only added a connection to literary works. The religion page has been almost entirely rewritten, and most of its content transferred to the new Religious Traditions page. This is connected to literature, and to parts of the 19th and 20th century.
Religious traditions is so far connected to science, personal studies, Anthropology, culture, and sociology.

On the main sociology page, I have only added a link to the late-mid 19th century. The communities page is also not much expanded, with links to literature and to the late-mid 19th century and late 19th century. Peoples also only have new links to the lage-mid 19th century and the late 19th century. There has been no real change to western civilization, and Asiatic peoples only have new connections to Earth science and the late 19th century.

History has no new content or links on the main page, and neither classical and medieval nor the late medieval page have any new information. In modern history, I have slighly revised the descrption of the 19th century and added a biographical reference to Isaac Newton. There has been more development in the 19th century: I have created a new early-mid 19th century page, rewritten the appropriate section, and transferred content to that page. Several of the 19th century pages are now linked to biography. I have added nothing to the 20th century page but the early 20th century has connections to earth science and biography.

The developments I am most pleased with include the revision of scientific history and addition of links to particular individuals, the starting of several new biographical pages, the new literary works page, the revision of religion, and the new early-mid 19th century page.

Updated Site

The Sapience Knowledge Base has had its first update in over two years, so it is now officially active again. Most of these are fairly minor changes involving links to new areas.

The Science page has a link to Isaac Newton, and to more detail in the 19th and 20th century. Earth Science has links to areas within sociology.

Personal studies has a slightly revised version of the human body, as well as to details of the late 19th century. in Biography, I have introduced several new individuals, including Jesus, Newton, Buddha, and Mohammed, as well as introducing links into the 19th century.

The Anthropology page has a significant and substantial revision of the 19th and 20th century, and also connections into areas of the 19th century.

Within culture, I have substantially rewritten the Literature page, and transferred much of the content to a new Literary works page.

Back now

I've been doing a lot of traveling this summer and have been involved with other people and have had limited access to the Internet. However, I now have access from home, and the summer activity is coming to a close, which is giving me the time and opportunity to resume my independent studies. Anybody miss me? I'd be surprised.
With the renewed computer access, I now have an opportunity to resume work on the Sapience Knowledge Base which has been dormant for two years.

I keep switching back and forth between a "top down" approach, involving history and working from those details, and a "bottom up" approach, which involves starting with science and working up from those details. I think this time I'm boing to switch back to the "bottom up". The difficulty with either approach is that knowledge doesn't fit in a neat, linear order into any classification scheme, and the most important topics are as likely to be in the middle as anywhere else.

At present, I am working on a few biographical pages, more than any other one topic.

Another break

Again due to the press of personal affairs, I have been unable to update this particular blog. Updates are likely to be sparse until fall, depending on events.

Critical areas

In my efforts to merge the two largest versions of my knowledge base, I've reached the point where I can begin to identify the most critical and important areas for major progress.
Within history, it's no great surprise that I need to work on modern history first, before going to classical and medieval history. It's also clear that the most important area to develop these is Sociology, and in particular, peoples of the world. For history in general, prehistory, and antiquity, the most influential of these is Asiatic civilization, but for classical and medieval history, modern history, and the future, western civilization is more of a critical area. Beyond this, I need to do more work in merging.
In sociology, it is also no great surprise that I am choosing to work on peoples of the world, with communities in second place. Although history is an important influence on sociology, and modern history in particular, institutions are likely to be nearly as important.
More work on merging remains to be done.

Minor work

Finally got back to merging the two major versions of my knowledge base, and went through the History section. There's still a bit to do before I can identify the most critical section, the area that needs most work, but I have at least reopened investigation of these areas.

Still alive

I've made a little more progress at reconciling the various versions of the knowledge base; I've made a start on sociology including peoples and communities, on Institutions including religion, and culture. Next, it's back around to history to begin identifying what areas are really most critical.

Back again

After a long hiatus, I am now at the point where I can resume work on the paper-and-pen version of the Knowledge Base.

Right now, I have two competing versions in a similar state of development, and I've decided to work on merging them.
The main page on history has connections at a fairly specific level of detail to most other subjects. Before I decide which of these subjects is most critical to the study of history, I need to look at the major divisions history to decide which of the areas is most important to each of them, and see if there is a consensus.
Prehistory still needs to have the two versions merged. Antiquity is being merged, but so far only as far as its connections with other areas of history. Classical and medieval history is merged as far as Western Civilization. Modern history is marged through peoples of the earth. Its greatest need will have to be determined following examination of its component centuries. Merging has begun on the 19th and 20th centuries. The Future still needs its two versions merged.
Sociology has its two versions being merged also. So far the merger has gone through history. Peoples are being connected, so far only as far as antiquity. Other areas have not yet begun. Institutions are also being merged, but so far only include a little history. It shouldn't be too much longer before I can report further progress.

Hiatus

Due to a sequence of personal events, including a decision to rewrite and consolidate the paper-and-pen version of my knowledge base, medical problems, developing social interests, and physical relocation, this blog has been dormant the entire month of March, and will probably not resume until May, unless readers suggest topics and ask questions, like the recent reader who has asked about 3-valued logic. However, it is not dead.

More Sociology

The various parts of Sociology aren't helped much by the cautious addition of historical periods. It's helped a bit more to add varieties of religion.
As well as giving a better start to the analysis of peoples I've already considered, I've added British peoples, Hispanic Peoples, Chinese peoples, and Mexico City to the system.

20th Century

Several of the various areas that are being applied to modern history are better connected to the 20th century than to other areas. North American peoples have become particularly prominent in this period, and New York City became one of the world's leading cities. Secularism became especially important, International government structures developed; sports and games proliferated, applied science greatly expanded, and new forms of buildings and arhitecture developed.

Subdivisions of this century are being established. The Early-mid 20th century (1921-1940) is a new stub, the Mid-20th century (1941-1960) which includes World War II and the early Cold War period is not much better advanced, and the late-mid 20th century (1961-1980, Vietnam & Middle Cold War) is not quite ready for much discussion. So far, I don't have many events to put in the late 20th Century (1981-present), but this should be developing before long.

The future is rather difficult to follow, until I have better methods from other areas of study. I have opened investigation of the 21st Century by looking at the immediate future (2006 - 2010), but don't yet have details.

More history

The most recent round of studies hasn't added much to my knowledge of prehistory, which isn't well subdivided.
Antiquity is a little more developed, and can introduce the early 1st millennium as a stub. to be expanded later.

Classical and medieval history has a very little more that can be added to it. I trace modern secularism to this period. the Abbasid dynasty and Jesus belong to this period. In particular, the late medeival period is being developed somewhat with the 14th century (1300s) added as a stub and the 15th century (the 1400s) a little bettier developed.

Most of the more recent develolpments can be applied to modern history. The extension of North American englis-speaking peoples, the addition of more African and Native American peoples, New York City, and consideration of Industrial peoples also belong to this period. Secularism developed substantially during this period, and international governments also developed. There was substantial improvement in the applied sciences and growth of buildings. Among the particular groups, the Abbey Theatre belongs to this period.

The 16th century and the 17th century don't quite have the full range of development yet.
Beginning in the 18th century, I can start looking at North American colonial and revolutionary history better, and the beginnings of industrial societies can be found.
In the 19th century, North American peoples were becoming prominent along with other Anglic peoples, and secularism became considerably more acceptable. There was considerable growth of industrial peoples.

I've also added a few more sites to the sidebar here.

More progress

I paid a little more attention to economics, education, and families, but the stubs I added aren't contributing a great deal to any of them.
In the area of Culture, I added a little bit more. Along with events and performing arts, I now have sports and games; along with philosophy, I have applied sciences, and material culture now has a subdivision, buildings. These will all be useful when I go back to social and institutional analysis.
In the area of Anthropology, I added a couple of new groups. Still in alphabetical order, I expanded a very little on the Abbadid Dynasty, and added the Ammasid Dynasty and Abbey Theatre to my list of particular groups. In Human geography, I started mention of Eurasia, and put demography in a position to be considered.
I also made progress in peoples. For particular individuals, I gave first place to Jesus. and I've also added a section on the human body to this latest version. In science, I've added Earth science.

This completes one of my development cycles amd makes it time to begin another. History in general refers to all the major peoples of the world, but doesn't have enough detail in particular cities or social movements to be as useful as I would like. There isn't yet enough information to be able to distinguish abrahamic from secular points of view, but this may appear later, as well as other influences of religious organization, practicee, and belief. I also don't have enough information on particular governments, strocture, activity, or law to be useful. In economics, companies are lass useful thatn economic systems. My knowledge of education and famiies is lagging a bit, and the various areas of culture are not yet very sseful. Addition of more particular groups and particular individuals is best done within particular periods of history.

More institutions

I continued with Religion to include a hierarchy as one of the major forms of religious organization. I'm also adding international government under the category of particular governments.

Progress

I've been involved in other things the past couple of weeks, but have made a little progress. I've begun consideration of New York City; Social processes as part of the general category of social change, and industrial peoples as one of the types of society. In Religion, I'm adding a category for secularism. This is intended to include atheism and agnosticism and variants of them as categories.

Peoples again

With the addition of th 15th century and mid-20th century, I have a few more historical tools for examining different peoples. The beginning development of particular changes, Abrahamic religion, and particular families; Performing arts and philosphy; and more areas of Anthropology also are elaso extending the bag of techniques.

An outline for the history of Western civilization is starting to come together without quite so many serious gaps. North American Anglic peoples how have an introductory entry. I've also added Southern Africa and Central Africa, and South American Indians and North American Indians, which gives a complete set of the major areas of the world.

Sociology revisited

This is such an abstract, high-level topic that it's difficult to outline its history in meaningful terms. I can make more progress by preparing for more detailed Institutional analysis that includes such things Abrahamic religion and particular families. Cultural analysis includes Performing arts and philosophy, and Anthropological analysis will include such things as particular groups, physical anthropology, and human ecology.

Future

As part of my studies of history, I am looking for trends that will help in examining the future. I can do a little extrapolation from existing events into the near future; longer range events are increasingly speculative. The starting point is the present, which I am grouping with the late 20th century. I've grouped this into the next 100 years, next thousand years, and the far future, as broad, general categories.

Modern History

Most of what I can say about this subject is pretty much the same as for history in general, but more specific details are in the current round of development. The 16th century, the 17th century, the 18th century, and the 19th century all need more specific details before I can discuss them in any but the most general terms.

I've extended the 20th century a little further back. The Mid 20th century (1941-1960) includes most of World War II, a major event in world history, and the beginnings of the Cold War. I have broadened the connections of the late-mid 20th century (1961-1980) and the late 20th century (1981-present), but don't have enough detail to report on them yet.

Classical and Medieval History

This subject now includes all of its principal subdivisions, but the limited development of them makes generalization difficult. It is evident that the principal focus shifts to Western civilization away from Asiatic peoples, which predominated in antiquity. Abrahamic religion and particular families can be noted as important subtopics, and many of the performing arts and much of philosophy originated in this period. I also note that the Abbadid dynasty, noted in particular groups and history, belongs to this period.

Early classical history and late classical history do not yet have much interesting detail, and early medieval history is not much better. I have begun to subdivide the late medieval period by century, starting with the 15th century, but have no detail for it yet. Otherwise, it chiefly follows the same patterns as classical and medieval history in general.

History revisited

The addition of new subjects allows better insight into world history. Western Civilization is now filled out with the inclusion of Balkan and Scandinavian peoples, while Asiatic peoples are now filled out with the inclusion of Central Asian peoples. Africa has only begin with Eastern and Western Africa, and American Indians have only begun with Meso-America. Particular cities are not yet to the level where I can connect them yet, and specific social changes also not yet to the level where I can name them. Addition of Abrahamic religion brings in a major topic to history, and the category of particular families will also be useful. The role of the performing arts and philosophy in history can also be considered. The use of particular groups, such as the Abbadid dynasty, gives detail to history. Physical anthropology and human ecology are also somewhat useful. Personal studies haven't yet reached this point, and psychology is at too low a level to be really useful to history. Biology is also hard to related directly to history.

Study of Prehistory (up to 3000 BC) will definitely be aided by considering Asiatic peoples, which can be traced back at least this far, and the major institutions can also be traced back, although not in the detail I would like. Evidence for performing arts and philosophy is scanty compared to later periods. So far, I have no specific particular groups, although physical anthropology and human ecology form a large part of studies of prehistory, and this tends to merge with parts of biology.

Studies of Antiquity (3000 BC - 500 BC) are brought into much better focus by including Central Asia and Balkan peoples. Particular changes are possible, and the recognized origins of Abrahamic religion begin in antiquity. I am not aware of major developments in Performing arts or philosophy during this period, although they presumably existed. So far, I have no specificl particular groups, but physical anthropology and human ecology can also be connected.

Culture

Culture is still too high-level and general a topic to work with easily. I don't yet have a good idea of its history, although a broad overview of world's cultures is possible. Connections to each of the social institutions can also be made.

Behavioral culture isn't very specialized yet. I have begun linking Events to other major areas and have added a "Performing arts" heading.

Under Conceptual culture, I have added a
"Philosophy" heading. Under Material culture, I don't yet have enough detail.


Anthropology is linked to various subjects at a high level, but doesn't have much detail yet. In particular groups, I haven't found a well-organized listing of the few most important ones, so what I've decided is to go to the Encyclopedia Britannica and reorganized them from alphabetic order. The first one on the list is the Abbadid Dynasty, of medieval (Islamic) Spain. I've also added headings for "Physical anthropology" and "Human Ecology". Since I include the content of social or cultural anthropology, which deals with whole societies, under the heading of sociology, it's not absolutely clear which section should get which title. Human ecology deals with the relationships between humankind and the rest of nature.

Personal studies now include a new heading of "Psychology", and Science includes a new heading of "Biology" in the current version of the knowledge base, which should absorb the older versions as I develop it.

Institutions

Since the social institutions aren't a well-unified subject, the history of the subject has to be reconstructed from individual areas. The origins in prehistory, developments in antiquity, and in classical and medieval times can be difficult to follow. What is clear is that in modern times, they have become more complex and more formalized than they were before. Comparative studies, using the institutions of different societies, examples from particular cities, and the tools of social structure and change will clarify these areas. I've discussed the major divisions of religion, government, economics, education, and families before. This time, the connections to particular areas of culture will be more useful.

I want to elevate the importance of religion. I have only the sketchiest outline of religious history, and a somewhat better idea of how it is distributed among peoples. The major divisions of particular religion, religious organization, practice, and beliefs are all being studied. This and has been fairl closely connected to government. It is hardly possible to discuss religion in general without looking at particular traditions, and their organization, practice, and beliefs. The economics of religion is not often discussed. Education and the roles of families are also important, and roots in culture will also need to be considered.

The first catetory of particular traditions is what I call Abrahamic religion, and including this will give substance to several other areas of study. Discussion of religious organization, practice, and beliefs will have to be postponed.

Government can benefit from historical and comparative studies, though I don't yet have details. It depends more on religion than is often realized, but discussion of particular governments, government structure, activity, and law will have to be examined later. It is closely tied to economics, somewhat to education, and some to families.

Economics can also benefit from historical and comparative studies. It is somewhat connected to religion, but more importantly to government. I haven't yet reached analysis of particular companies, but economic systems are beginning.

Education likewise can benefit from historical and comparative studies, and is also connected to religion, government, and economics. I haven't yet reached analysis of particular schools or school organization, but this will be coming.

Families likewise can benefit from historical and comparative studies, and are influenced by religion, government, economics, and education. I have a category for particular families, but this doesn't have much content yet.

Communities

Communities, that is particular cities, would be the next subject in the list, but i'm going to put this off a little until I have specific communities to examine.

Social structure and change is also appropriate, but the applications of other areas doesn't advance the subject much at the current state of development.

Social change ought to be informed by the whole range of human history and particular societies, but I need discussion of particular changes, social types, and structure before I can discuss this in enough detail.

Particular changes is not yet well enough connected to be very useful yet.

Social types are better connected to other areas, but not yet subdivided much.

Social structure is also in the fairly early stages of examination.

Non-Western Civilization

Asiatic civilization is a large category witn no real unit. Most of it is known by its particular subdivisions. Most of its prehistory is fairly obscure, but the major areas can all be traced back into antiquity. The classical and medieval history will be described when I have a more complete division of its topics. Its modern history is easier to follow, as it has come in contact with Western peoples.
The principal divisions of Middle East, South Asia, Orient, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia can be each considered in a little more detail. These have to be considered in connection with Anglic, Latin, and Germanic peoples, and to some extent Northeast Europeans. The Balkan peoples are less influential now than they were in classical and medieval times, and Scandinavia has never had a major influence on the asiatic peoples. The connections to African and American Indian peoples are much less important. Again, examination of particular communities, the social institutions, culture, anthropology, personal studies, and science will be postponed until these are better developed.

The Orient is considered here in first place because these are the most populous of the world's peoples, although they have had proportionally less influence on the world.

South Asian peoples are also important within Asia, though a little bit less in the world.

Southeast Asia is comparatively neglected, compared with other Asian peoples, but have to be given nearly equal status here.

The Middle East, because of its central location and proximity to Western peoples, has had more influence in world affairs than its size alone can account for.

Central Asia has had less attention given to it than other areas of the world, and is comparatively poorly known, which makes it more interesting to me.

African Peoples are not as well known as the major Western and Asiatic peoples. Comparatively little of their history is written until modern times, and is more difficult to study. I am so far concerned with Eastern and Western Africa than with other areas. Africa was divided up by the Western colonial powers in the 19th and 20th centuries; principally the Anglic, Latin, and Germanic branches. The Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia have also been connected. American history is virtually negligible in comparison. There are few large cities to prompt rapid development of this subject, so it will be to some extent set aside.

West African people have have not yet had other areas applied to them in enough detail to describe at present.
East African peoples likewise also have not yet had other areas applied to them in enough detail

American Indian peoples are the least well known of any of the major divisions. Their history in antiquity, classical and medieval times is mostly lost, and their modern history has been more or less absorbed by western civilization. I have three principal branches: Meso-America, South America, and North American. These have been dominated and submerged by Western civilization, particularly the Anglic and Latin branches, and have had some African influence, and are difficult to examine because there are no large cities where their influence is predominant. However, other areas can be applied just as for the other major branches of peoples of the world.

Meso-american peoples are the most prominent, but have not yet been examined in full detail.

Western Civilization

Western Civilization is a rather broad and fuzzy term; it generally refers to European peoples and those peoples whose culture is largely derived from European antecedents. I've studied its history to some extent, although I don't claim expertise on all the details. I have divided this roughly into categories of Anglic (English-speaking), Latin, Germanic, Northeast European, Balkan, and Scandinavian peoples. There are connections with the Asiatic peoples, such as the Middle East, India or South Asia, Orient, and Southeast Asia, but it's difficult to generalize until I have examined the relations with each of the individual peoples. There are also connections to African and to Native American peoples. Study of particular cities will help give color and detail to study of Western civilization. Social changes, types, and structure can be applied to analysis of these peoples. The major institutions, culture, anthropology, and biography can be usefully applied when I have more detail on these subjects.

Anglic, or English-speaking peoples is probably not a traditional category, but I find it a useful one. The connections with other areas are similar to those for Western civilization in general, but it's useful to consider also relations to the other Western peoples. These are perhaps better connected to Native American peoples than to African and Asiatic peoples.

Latin peoples are a rather broad category, not yet properly analyzed or considered in the same depth what I have applied to anglic peoples.

Germanic peoples are also a broad category with only a preliminary analysis.

Northeast European peoples are likewise a broad category.

I've reintroduced Balkan peoples and Scandinavian peoples into the latest version of my program so that I now have a fomplete list of the broad categories for Western civilization.

Peoples

Peoples of the world are a little easier to grasp than the general area called sociology. There isn't enough detail yet in my studies of prehistory and antiquity to identify the most important ones. In the classical and medieval period, As a skeleton I have Roman civilization in the late classical period, Byzantine and early Islamic peoples in the early medieval period, and the late or high medieval period in the west, but my knowledge of corresponding non-Western peoples is rather sketchy. The modern history of the major peoples can be followed century by century, and I also have connections to what I loosely call the Vietnam era (1961-1980) and the end of the Cold War (1981-2006) I have place for the major divisions of Western, Asiatic, African, and Native American peoples. I can give more color and detail to these studies by considering the largest cities of each of these major peoples, although this is still in the early stages. I can also consider the major social changes, types of societies, and structure of society. Each of these can be examined from the point of view of particular religions, particular governments, companies, particular schools, and families. I am also making room for behavioral culture including major events, conceptual and material culture, and Anthropology including particular groups and human geography, personal studies including biographies, and science in general.

Sociology

I've begun reformulating my approach to the subject, and so far it seems to be working more happily. The study of sociology is closely connected to history, and it is possible to trace a degree of progress from prehistory through antiquity. In this round of studies, I'm adding the late classical period, from 1 CE to 500 CE to studies of the classical and medieval period in sociology, and the 16th century, which will complete a survey of the modern period. In the 20th century, I'm also adding preliminary consideration of the Vietnam Era. I've also prepared this for more detailed consideration of particular religions, particular governments, companies, and particular schools. The areas I call Behavioral culture, including events, conceptual culture, and material culture can also be sketched. Areas of Anthropology including particular groups and human geography, personal studies including biography, and possible direct applications of science may also be useful.

Modern History

In Modern history, there are two areas that are more or less active areas of study, the 19th century and the 20th century. The Northern US is the most active area, Western cities, and the Industrial revolution. Mormonism, international governments, companies such as Wal-Mart, higher education, and particular families, ceremonial objects, warfare, philosophical schools and doctrines, particular groups, biography, and science are areas to be be connected. Some of these are included mostly because they need to be studied in the 20th century.

The 19th century is not as active as the 20th. It is likewise concentrated in the Northern US, with western cities and the Industrial revolution. Mormonism began during this period, and national, rather than international government, was important. Companies were important, higher education, and particular families are also areas of possible study. Ceremonial objects, warfare, and philosophical schools and doctrines were also significant. I don't yet have particular groups. Biographies are a little more specific, and I will need special attention to Darwin and Pasteur. Sciences are less directly useful.

In the 20th century, I will be concentrating on the Late-mid 20th century and late 20th century. The Northern US, Western communities, and Industrial revolition are still useful, Mormonism, international government, companies such as Wal-Mart, higher education, and particular families will be needed. Ceremonial objects, warfare, and philosophical schools and doctrines, biography such as Einstein, and sciences will be useful.

The late-mid 20th century (1961-1980) doesn't yet have enough connections to the detail of other areas. For now, I will be calling this the Vietnam War era.

The late 20th century (1981 to Present) includes the early 2000s, since this period isn't yet far enough from the 20th century. I am calling it the ending of the Cold War. This also doesn't heve connections to the detail of other areas.

The Early 2000s (2001 - present)is also a bit longer than other areas and not yet well enough connected to other areas in my notes to have much detail. It is at the leading edge of my historical studies.

History

Once again I'm not certain whether to employ a history-down or science-up approach, and once again I've flip-floppled. So, now it's History.

Rather than attempt to summarize the introduction to history, I am including the connections to important "leading edge" topics which will be useful to history. Not all of the subjects mentioned here are useful in antiquity, or in classical and medieval history, but are examined because they are useful in modern history. However, related subjects will be examined, which will provide clues to which areas will be considered "leading edge" in the next round of studies.
I am working toward my present local region, the Northern United States. This is also tied to Western Cities. I'm also looking at particular changes, especially those associated with the Industrial revolution.
In connection with religion, I'm going to put Mormonism in first place, International governments, particular companies such as Wal-Mart, Higher education, and particular families.
Also at the fringes of historical exploration, there are ritual and ceremonial objects, warfare, and philosophical schools and doctrines. Particular groups will be useful. There are are too many inviduals to summarize here, but thuse represent an imprtant part of historical study. Science is rather less significant to history.

For studies of antiquity, (3000 BC to 500 BC), I need to work back from the 5th century BC, since most of the peoples and cities of modern times don't date that far back. I' will be looking at adoption of agriculture and the spread of civiliation as a major social change. I'll also be looking at Judaism, national governments, economic systems, and secondary education,.

For studies of classical and medieval times, I will want to work back from the 16th century, and at British people to start with, and at western communities and the process of westernization. This connects to Roman Catholicism, national governmnet, economic systems, higher education, and particular families.

Science again

Some of the of the human body in scientific study are related to its overall shape and size: We are not well equipped to observe the very large or the very small. Before I can apply psychology, I need to at least expand one of its current areas of study, consciousness. My list of prominent and influential scientists is all too short, but its important to have one as a foundation for other areas, such as social interaction among scientists. I also don't yet have a list of important scientific groups. I haven't studied many of the Indo-European languages for their usefulness in science and need to work on this. I have looked over the collection of scientific literature where I am and at other places, but don't have favorites to recommend yet. For most purposes, I can begin study of literature with the Bible, but it is not very useful for science. I also need to look more closely at drawing, arithmetic, measurement, and philosophical schools and doctrines, scientific expeditions, and means of written communication. Particular famlies, Higher education, companies (such as British Petroleum), international government, and secularism as a religious-philosophical system. Western cities, the United States, and current scientific events (2001-2006) are also areas where should be able to report progress.

Particle kinematics

For the past while, I've been feeling stretched rather too thin, as If there are too many things to be working on and not enough time and focus on any one of them. So, I'm taking another cycle at a different pace.

Starting science, and within science, starting on physics, and within physics starting with mechanics, and within mechanics starting with classical mechanics, I've spent a couple of days working on particle mechanics.

The first subject is particle description, but this is fairly trivial. A particle is a geometric point, with certain fundamental and derived quantities belonging to or associated with it. As such, it is a mathematical abstraction, but a very useful one.

Kinematics, the description of the motion of particles, is a more interesting subject. I have this roughly divided into quantities of position, velocity, acceleration, higher quantities, and cases of motion. These underlie and do not depend heavily on particle kinetics (the study of momentum and force), particle energetics, or higher particle mechanics, since kinematics is the description of motion without regard to its causes. This overlaps somewhat with rigid-body mechanics, which can sometimes be treated as particles, but doesn't depend much on nonrigid bodies. other areas of classical mechanics are more useful in mechanics in general, other areas of physics, and other sciences are more useful in presenting applications of this study. Study of the particular individuals or scientific groups that have worked on this subject is a fairly low priority. Aristotle studied motion, and Galileo and Newton pioneered the modern and more effective study of it, but it has been otherwise developed and clarified by others.
I cannot give too much attention to the language and literature of particle kinematics before studying those subject themselves. Graphics and graphic methods are also used. However, the single most important area is mathematics. Many physics texts connect this to measurement. Until I have more informtion on philosophy, I can't really comment on this. Newtonian particle mechanics has been explored and tested thoroughly enough that it is no longer considered an experimental science, although instruments for study of the various quantities are continually being refined. By itself, without connection to other areas, particle kinematics is fairly simple, and the difficulty of learning or teaching it is tied to how much mathematics is involved. It is closely tied to mathematics in its extent among peoples and in history.

The hardest part is associated with the description of position. Verbal descriptions of "above", "behind", "to the right" and so forth, are insufficient for scientific purposes. It is necessary to refine exactly where the starting point is, and how far above, ahead, behind, or to the right some object is. Descriptions in two or three dimensions are more complicated and involve direction as well as distance. There are various possible ways (called coordinate systems) to describe position, and much of applied kinematics invovles translating descriptions of position from one coordinate system to another. Part of the reason is that it is easier to describe position in some systems, but easier to describe changes of position, or motion, in others. Another area of interest is particular paths of motion.
Once position is described, the next quantity of interest is velocity. This has no relation to location. Unless the motion is confined to some particular curve, only the changes are of interest. Velocity includes the rate of change of position, measured in some unit of distance per some unit of time (for example, miles per hour, or feet per second) and may involve conversion from one system of units to another. However, since position may take account of direction, a full description of velocity must also include direction. Changes in velocity may include changes in speed (the rate of motion) and changes in direction.
The next quantity of interest is acceleration; which is the rate of change of velocity. Again this has no inherent connection to either position or velocity unless the motion is confined to some particular curve. Acceleration is typically measured in velocity units per unit of time (as in, for sports car enthusiasts 0-60 mph in 10 seconds gives an average acceleration), which can be converted to others. Galileo was the first to study acceleration in connection with falling objects, and the accelleration due gravity is still a favorite subject of introductory mechanics, enough that while there is not e common unit of velocity, the "g" is a common unit of acceleration.
There are other nigher kinematic quantities, but these are of interest only to specialists.
There are important special cases of motion; including motion with constant acceleration, which includes sub-cases of constant velocity, or uniform motion, and constant position, or rest. Another case is simple harmonic motion, which is a mathematically simple type of confined, back-and-forth motion, and another is uniform circular motion, which is also confined to a plane, and is a case of constant speed, but changing velocity (because the direction of motion is always changing, towards the center). This counts as accelerated motion. These special cases are simple and important enough, that many students go no further in their study of kinematics. However, there is an infinite variety of curves, constant motion is rare in nature, and constant acceleration is nearly as rare, for those who might wish to stretch their skills in examining other cases.

Mathematics

I've been wanting to get back to mathematics, since it's so important in many other areas. This includes subjects of mathematical foundations, arithmetic, algebra, analysis, geometry, and statistics.

I've also begun taking a look at what i call food-related or agricultural occupations. These include foraging, agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing, herding, processing, and preparation.

I've also finished making notes on miscellateous classes of artifacts, which finished the matierial culture review for now. I will pick this up again before too long.

In family studies, I've finished an initial look at marriage.

In education, I'm taking a look at learning, which, for lack of better organization, I'm dividing as observation, mimicry, reading, experiment, and theorization. This is a somewhat tentative division and may vary as I gather more information.

In corporations, I've taken a look at BP, British Petroleum.

Under social change, I'm starting to look at major processes. These are roughly grouped as the agricultural revolution, civilization or agrarianism, westernization, and industrialization. These are very broad categories and involve many others.

In cities, I'm taking a look at Western cities first.

I've also started a review of Peoples of the world, so that I can take my analysis a little deepter.
I've also begun taking a look at what I call Central Asian peoples, which include Tibetan, Mongol, Siberian, and Inner Asian peoples, until I have a better categorization of them.

In history, I have been taking a look at the 23rd century, which included the Akkadian empire which followed the Sumerians. The Late 3rd Century BC includes much of early Roman history; think Hannibal and Archimedes. 1941-1945 includes the bulk of World War II.

Science and anthropology

It is said that science is a human endeavor. It is not conducted in isolation, but connunication and interaction among scientists is a vital part of it. This subject is in part better known as the sociology of science. Social psychology, interactions, social norms, and the behavior and types of scientific groups are valuable here. Demography is less useful, but parts of human ecology, particularly the effects of human activity on nature, is an important area of study and appears in various textbooks on science. Physical anthropology is rather less useful. The particular location on the earth is not particularly fundamental. I will identify particular groups in the future.

In physics, I've begun looking at advanced gravitation, which includes two principal areas: nonspherical bodies, and nonrigid bodues. These are commected to major areas of classical mechanics.

In the area of chemical change, I've finished a firt look at thermochamistry.

In planetary astronomy, I've made space to look at the terrestrial planets.

In organism biology, I'm starting to look at development, which includes embryology, life cycle, and adaptation to the environment.

Studies of the human body are also progressing with the circulatory system; the heart, blood vessels, blood, and circulation.

an important area of psychology is consciousness, which I consider to include unconsciousness (such a sleep), altered consciousness (such as drug-induced or trance-like states), and waking consciousness.

For biography, I have included space for Charles Darwin.

I've also begun to review the scientific basis of anthropology. Accounts of inhabitants of other worlds, either in or out of this sular system, are not yet in the realm of science. Since people live on the land, Geology is easier to apply than the areas of the hydrosphere. The air, weather and climate have major effects on people and society. This varies according to specific location, and the history of the earth, especially the Cenozoic Era, overlaps with various areas of anthroplogy. Molecular biology and cell biology are less useful than the biology of organisms, but ecology and the history of life on earth also overlap with areas of anthropology.

Personal studies using science

I've reached a point in the development of physical geography where I need to include more mapping of the earth, so far at a very large and crude scale, so I'll be working through that for a little while

In the biology of organisms, I've finished a preliminary look at form. I've also come back around to take a closer look at evolution.

I've also begun to take a closer look at how personal studies depend on science. The human body and psychology both make use of classical mechanics and gravitation, optics and possibly other parts of electromagnetism, classical and nonequilibriutm thermodynamics, and a little subatomic, atomic, molecular and bulk matter physics. They are concerned with elements, compounds, and mixtures (in increasing order of importance), and some details of quantities of substances, chemical thermodynamics, reaction rates and types are also important. Knowledge of the planets is more likely to be applicable than that of the stars. Understanding of the minerals, rocks, rock formations, processes, and landforms of the earth; oceans, glaciers, groundwater, and fresh water; atmospheric composition, weather, and climate; terrestrial physical geography, and the Cenozoic Era of geological history can all be connected. Molecules and molecular processes; cell anatomy, functions, and types are connected. Multicellularity, Anatomy and physiology, form, life cycle and development, behavior, and types of organisms, especially comparisons of people and other living things, are also important. There are also some connections with populations, communities, evolution, biomes, and biogeography, and some with the history of life on earth.

In studies of human body systems, I'm taking a closer look at the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, excretory system, and lymphatic system. In the area of pschology, I've worked through a classification of motor activity, and in biography, I have a couple of notes on Albert Einstein.

In areas of culture, I've moved from linguistics to writing, and here I'm considering three major types; Ideographic, syllabic, and alphabetic writing. I've also started a track on literature. This includes oral tradition, forms of literature, classifications, and works. At the same time, I've finished up the graphics section. Also, I've started on occupations, and I think there are several classification schemes to choose from: Food related, clothing related, building-related, transportation-related, communication-related, industrial, and service-related occupations.

In Education, I've started a topic on learning. I don't really have enough information to classify this, so this is likely to be rearranged fairly often. In corporations, I've expanded a little note on Wal-Mart; which Fortune lists on top of the global 500.

In social change, I'v finished up a classification of processes of change, and I'm starting another cycle of looking at communities, which I'm going to have to group the same way I do peoples. And, speaking of peoples, I've funished a brief look at the oriental peoples.

In History, I've started a look at the mid-20th century, from 1941 to 1960.

Social structure and change

I've finished the introduction to integumentary systems (skin and membranes). At the same time, this completes the section on structural systems of the human body.

I have some notes on the life of Louis Pasteur added.

Progress in various areas of culture is showing up. I have completed a beginning outline of linguistics, a beginning outline for philosophy, and n outline of customs.

I've also picked up education, for a closer look at this important section, and I'm going to start making notes on major companies and corporations.

I also took the opportunity to review the Social structure and change section. As I've mentioned before, I have this divided into social structure, types, and social changes. These aren't really connected strongly to the sciences; I give a little more weight to psychology and particular people as leaders of change, and to anthropology for working out the mechanics of it. Culture is such an important part of social structure and change that it has to be involved, as do the social institutions. Specific communities can be examples, and to some extend this has to be developed by examining specific peoples. The history of social structure and change and its study is another perspective I will have to look at when I have more information.

I've also finally finished my initial survey of scandinavian peoples, which at the same time completes a look at western civilization, but this is such an important area that it will be starting again soon.

In history, I've finished a section on the early-mid 20th century, from the aftermath of World War I to the beginnings of World War II.

In beginning another cycle of development, I'm taking a closer look at how the personal studies are applied in science. There are various necessities and characteristics of the human body that make certain areas of science and nature difficult to examine. For instance, many chemicals are toxic, we cannot breathe in outer space or underwater, and we are too big to see microbes easily. There are other limitations on what we can sense and manipulate, as just one aspect of psychilogy. I am working on making a list of prominent scientists, selected from among prominent world figures, but I'm trying to stay aware of its limitations.

Within physics, I am looking at acceleration and related quantities within particle mechanics. This includes one, two, and three-dimensional cases, and the connection to velocity. I've also finished up an initial look at simple Newtonian gravitation.

History and more

Within Anthropology, particularly Demography, I've started to make space for the basic demographic processes; birth, aging, death, and migration.

Within economics, I finished a preliminary look at types fo economic systems, and I also finished a basic review of religion.

I also have a note on the city of London.

I finished a review of the highest level of history. This does not depend too heavily on the physical and natural sciences, except for methods of dating. The area that is sometimes called "big history" attempts to connect the history of nature to human history, but I have a little bit of distaste for this approach.
Studies of the human body and psychology are at rather too low a level to be useful in history, but the biography list is a very useful tool for examining who was important when. Many of the processes that drive history, such as population growth, climate change, and the growth of socially influential groups, can be studied using means of anthropology. The use of language, literature, concepts, and philosophy, various occupations, motion pictures, and the use of artifacts in archeological reconstructions of history are all important aids. The use of family studies in history is comparatively neglected except at the level of ruling families. Educational and academic endeavors, and economic history is less often used than political history, and religious approaches are also often neglected. Investigation of social structure and change, specific communities, and peoples of the world are also necessary in investigation of history. I may have mentioned these aids earlier, but these illustrate the connections of the many other areas of knowledge to history.

In Antiquity, I've started a closer look at the late 3rd millennium BC, and I'm going to have to do the summary when I've finished taking this look.

Moving on to the next cycle, I'm reasonably pleased the way I've been able to keep various tracks moving forward so that I'm not concentrating excessively on one end of my knowledge base. This has been a big problem before.

Within science, I'm reasonably pleased with how things are going. I have study tracks going on all the basic physical sciences, but I will be putting increasing emphasis on the Earth sciences and Biology.

Within particle kinematics, I've finished my review of velocity-related quantities.
I'm also beginning to look more closely at electrodnamics (electric current, that is), with current definition, EMF (electromotive force), resistance and related quantities, DC circuits, and AC circuits, all of which I've studied before, but need a better review so I can use them.

I'm also looking at Molecular physics, with areas of chemical bonding, structure of molecules, and molecular behavior. This area has a substantial overlap with chemistry, and a lot of the information on it will be coming from chemistry texts, rather than physics.

In Earth science, I'm looking at oceanography, including seawater, waves, tides, and currents. This isn't exactly analogoues to geology, although I would make it so if I could.
In accordance with the intension of expanding my coverage of this area, I'm also starting a physical geography track so I can start considering the earth science of specific places.

And, in Biology, I've finished preparations for studies of communities, to be picked up again later.

Main block elements, hydrosphere

Within Physics, specifically electromagnetism, I've finished up for now with the electrostatics section.
I've also done as much as I'm doing right now on atomic physics, but will come back to this section later.
I decided to go ahead and do a little more detail on what I'm calling the main block elements; the Boron group, the Carbon group, the Nitrogen group, the Oxygen group, and the halogens.
In earth science, after finally getting through geology, I'm taking a closer look at the hydrosphere. Here I have four major divisions; Oceans, Ice and glaciers, groundwater, and freshwater.

Moving on from science, I have also somewhat expanded the basic sketch of Isaac Newton.