Memorable Events – EthnoPhysics

Outline

Anaxagorean Sensations

Events are characterized by the sensations they encompass. And describing events can be very intricate. So to limit complexity, we start making descriptions using just eighteen Anaxagorean sensations.

Anaxagorean Sensations
visual	achromatic	white
	achromatic	black
	inorganic	yellow
	inorganic	blue
	organic	green
	organic	red
thermal	dangerous	burning
	dangerous	freezing
	safe	cool
	safe	warm
lateral		right-side
lateral		left-side
oral	sour	tart
	sour	soapy
	salty	brackish
	salty	potable
	sweet	sugary
	sweet	savoury

These Anaxagorean sensations are simple, common and unmistakable. We name them after the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras of Clazomenae because he started connecting them to European physics. To be definite, we say that a sensation is Anaxagorean if it is white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, burning, freezing, warm, cool, tart, soapy, potable, brackish, savoury, sugary, on the left-side or on the right.

EthnoPhysics depends on making binary descriptions of sensory experience. And binary analysis reduces all detail and subtlety to just two contrasting possibilities. So Anaxagorean sensations appear in opposing pairs.

Initially, sensations that are complex or ambiguous are not considered in this descriptive scheme, even if they are common and important. For example, the color orange is not unmistakably red or yellow, it is a bit of both. It is not perfectly distinct from red and yellow, so it cannot be included in the set of Anaxagorean sensations.

The theory of EthnoPhysics is built-up from mathematical sets of sensations. Arithmetic and algebra are also based on set-theory. And the founder of set-theory Georg Cantor says that a set is “a collection into a whole, of definite, well-distinguished objects.”¹E. Kamke, Theory of Sets, page 1. Translated by Frederick Bagemihl. Dover Publications, New York, 1950. Or in another translation as, “definite and separate objects.”²Georg Cantor, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers, page 85. Translated by Philip E. B. Jourdain. The Open Court Publishing Company, La Salle Illinois, 1941.

Moreover, distinguishability is required³Wolfgang Pauli, General Principles of Quantum Mechanics, pages 117 and 123. Translated by P. Achuthan and K. Venkatesan. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 1980. to develop Wolfgang Pauli’s exclusion principle.

Anaxagorean sensations are like these painted building-blocks.

Anaxagorean sensations are building-blocks we can use to describe more complicated sensations. They must be distinct so that we can accurately count them, use mathematics to analyze the results, and thereby scientifically describe events.

Sensory Events

An event is a discrete bit of consciousness; an occurrence, experience or incident. Not all happenings occur in the realm of the senses. But for physics, most events are sensory events.

Indeed reference sensations are selected for consideration exactly because experiencing one is a very common sensation for most people. So we assert the first hypothesis by defining a physical event as a mathematical set of Anaxagorean sensations. This definition formally limits the scope of EthnoPhysics.

Events are generically noted using a letter, usually $\mathsf{P}$ , together with a subscript like this: $\mathsf{P}_{k}$ . Here are some examples that are expressed using the icons for Anaxagorean sensations. If an event called $\mathsf{R} _{a}$ was experienced as a burning red sensation, we could write

$\mathsf{R}_{\mathit{a}} =$

{

}

$\mathsf{ = \{ A, T \} }$

Another incident that felt like a freezing red sensation on the left could be represented as

$\mathsf{R}_{\mathit{b}} =$

{

}

$\sf{ = \{ A, B, \overline{O} \} }$

As a third example, the occurrence of a tepid red sensation on the right might be expressed as

$\mathsf{R}_{\mathit{c}} =$

{

}

$\sf{ = \{ A, C, S, O \} }$

The characteristic that all these examples share is the visual sensation of redness. So we use the letter $\mathsf{R}$ to label all of them. The descriptive method of EthnoPhysics combines sequences like these to build-up an account of more complicated experience.

Chains of Events

Events are often arranged in ordered-sets called chains of events. Then the subscript in an event-name is used to indicate location in the ordered-set. In general any sensation can be used to organize order. And to be put in order, happenings must be somewhat different from each other.

But grouping phenomena together in a chain also implies that they have some common characteristics, at least enough to establish membership in the set. We often use the letter $\mathsf{P}$ without a subscript to represent these common attributes. The chains themselves are usually referred to using the Greek letter $\Psi$ as in

$\Psi^{\mathsf{P}} = \left( \mathsf{P}_{1}, \, \mathsf{P}_{2}, \, \mathsf{P}_{3} \; \ldots \; \mathsf{P}_{k} \; \ldots \; \right)$

Events may be ordered, but not linear, as illustrated in this chromolithograph of Trachomedusae by Ernst Haeckel. — Trachomedusae (detail), Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur. Chromolithograph 32 x 40 cm. Photograph by D Dunlop.

For a specific example, we can organize the red events described above into an ordered-set where they are ranked by their thermal character; from burning to cold

$\Psi = \left( \mathsf{R}_{a}, \, \mathsf{R}_{c}, \, \mathsf{R}_{b} \right)$

And here is another example where events are arranged by their lateral attributes, left to right

$\Psi^{\prime} = \left( \mathsf{R}_{b}, \, \mathsf{R}_{a}, \, \mathsf{R}_{c} \right)$

Please notice that ordering sets in these ways does not depend on any preconceived notions of space or time. Events are arranged using just their sensory qualities. But later we will use $\Psi$ as a mathematical way of representing chronologically ordered experiences. Then as we go from discussing individual-events to chains-of-events our reports get animated. Chains may be called histories or processes. We can even think of them as little movies.

Some chains may repeat a sequence of events over and over again, like a movie loop. This makes them much easier to recognize and remember. Repetition, identification and detection are vital aspects of experimental science. So next we focus on these sorts of recurrent happenings.

Orbits

Orbits are sequences of events that are repeated over and over again in some longer chain of events. Chains like these are used to mathematically describe phenomena that are repetitive or cyclical. Repetition is important so that these events are easy to recall. They are memorable events. More exactly, let $\mathsf{\Omega}$ be some finite selection of events written as

$\mathsf{\Omega}^{\mathsf{P}} = \left( \mathsf{P}_{1}, \, \mathsf{P}_{2}, \, \mathsf{P}_{3} \; \ldots \; \mathsf{P}_{N} \right)$

Let this selection be repeated over and over again to establish a longer chain of events called $\Psi$ as

$\Psi^{\mathsf{P}} = \left( \mathsf{\Omega}_{1}, \, \mathsf{\Omega}_{2}, \, \mathsf{\Omega}_{3} \; \ldots \; \right)$

where $\mathsf{\Omega}_{1} = \mathsf{\Omega}_{2} = \mathsf{\Omega}_{3}$ etc. The repeated sequence of events $\mathsf{\Omega}$ is called a single orbit or an orbital-cycle of P. Sometimes, $\mathsf{\Omega}$ is also called a bundle of sensations because physical events have been defined from sensations. The longer chain $\Psi$ is generically called an orbital chain-of-events.

Orbits and cycles are exploding from a student's head in this 17th century engraving. — Robert Fludd (1574-1637) *Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphisica*. Oppenhemii 1619.

Earlier it was suggested that a chain-of-events could be thought of as something like a movie. To illustrate this notion, here is an example of using repetitive sensations to make a boring movie. Consider that $\mathsf{P}_{k}$ might be a lateral sensation, and perhaps that $\mathsf{\Omega}$ is a single-frame within the motion picture. The first thing that happens in this example is some sort of sound that is heard on the right-side

$\mathsf{P}_{1} =$

{

}

Then the next event is a lateral perception on the left

$\mathsf{P}_{2} =$

{

}

These two sensations are bundled together into an orbit

$\mathsf{\Omega^{P}} =$

(

)

$= \left( \mathsf{P}_{1} , \mathsf{P}_{2} \right)$

and then repeated, over and over again

$\Psi ^{\mathsf{P}}$

$=$

(

... )

$= \left( \mathsf{\Omega}_{1}, \, \mathsf{\Omega}_{2}, \, \mathsf{\Omega}_{3} \; \ldots \; \right)$

Right, left, right, left, right, left and so on … nothing else happens. So this movie is called The Almost-Dead March. Chains like this might seem a little tedious, but as we add more detail, they provide a basic structure for describing more complicated happenings in space and time.

What are Quarks?

Quarks are defined by the enduring union of a thermodynamic-seed with a conjugate-seed. There are 20 different thermodynamic quarks.

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References
1	E. Kamke, Theory of Sets, page 1. Translated by Frederick Bagemihl. Dover Publications, New York, 1950.
2	Georg Cantor, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers, page 85. Translated by Philip E. B. Jourdain. The Open Court Publishing Company, La Salle Illinois, 1941.
3	Wolfgang Pauli, General Principles of Quantum Mechanics, pages 117 and 123. Translated by P. Achuthan and K. Venkatesan. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 1980.