Essays on Science & Technology

These essays explore how we think, how we observe, and how we make sense of the universe around us. Each piece provides a clear analysis of the concepts that shape our understanding of reality.

Cognition and Consciousness

• Do We Need Language to Think?
  Is it possible to have thoughts without words? This essay explores how language influences our thinking.
• How Deaf People Think Without Having Heard Spoken Language
  This essay explores how people in the deaf community can think cognitively without words since they have never heard spoken language.
• Neuropsychiatrists Try to Answer: Where Is Our Consciousness?
  This essay explores the possibility that if our consciousness is not a function of the brain, conscious experience could depend on something else.
• Why Humans Feel Awe and Become Awestruck
  This essay reviews how awesome emotions impact our lives by providing a biological advantage over other animals and why these emotions may have evolved to ensure our survival.
• Why Our Perception of Reality Is Limited: The Observer Effect
  This essay discusses how our observations change the details we perceive, limiting our perception of reality.

Physics and Cosmology

• Examining the Empty Nature of Matter in the Universe
  This essay explores the reasons behind the Universe's vast emptiness, from subatomic particles to the stars.
• How Physicists and Philosophers View Concepts of Nothingness
  This essay examines why the concept of nothingness, a state of nonexistence, has long troubled physicists and philosophers.
• Was the Universe Recreated Until the Laws of Physics Worked?
  This essay explores a theory that the universe could have been recreated repeatedly after several 'big bangs' until the laws of physics and natural phenomena had worked.

Space Exploration and Planetary Science

• How Astronauts Live on the International Space Station
  View the challenges astronauts face on the International Space Station without having the amenities we take for granted on Earth. Videos included.
• Colonizing Mars and Challenges of Living on Another Planet
  This article reviews the issues scientists face in determining if colonizing Mars is possible with our present technology.
• Why We Can’t Find Intelligent Life in the Universe
  This article reviews how the distance imposes a major limitation, life forms may differ from what we expect, and our communications technology might not integrate with theirs.

Theories of Time Perception

• Is the Passage of Time an Illusion?
  This essay explains why time may only be a concept of the mind.
• Why Forward Time Travel Is Plausible, but Backward Is Unlikely
  This essay explores why we can't go back and change what has already occurred, but why future time travel doesn't break the laws of physics.
• Why Does Time Only Go Forward? A Theory Called Time Gravity
  This essay explores a theory that explains why time only progresses in one direction, comparing it to gravity as an analogy.
• Eight Reasons Why Time Seems to Speed Up as We Get Older
  This article examines how our perception of time changes, mainly because we have less time ahead.
• Why We Need Leap Years and Leap Seconds (The Math Formula)
  I explain the complex mathematical formula for the adjustments needed to keep our Gregorian calendar in sync with solar time.
• When Did Time Begin? (In Search of Time’s First Moment)
  A short breakdown of the fundamental mysteries of time in an attempt to understand its first moment.