The Bernoulli Station
An Essay by Christopher Bek
christopher.bek@gmail.com
Summary—This essay builds on the Risk Management Services essay by introducing The Bernoulli Stations as math / philosophy bars, which are coffee shops where one goes to study mathematics and philosophy. It tells the story of Flatland, which is a place like Canada’s Moral-Flatland; followed by Robert Hutchins and his definition of metaphysics as knowledge that draws out basic principles and causes underlying our world, existence, and individuality. The essay concludes with discussions regarding essays, portfolio models and knowledge bars.
Quotation—What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness. Happiness is found in the rational understanding of life and the universe. —Baruch Spinoza
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott first published in 1884 pseudonymously by “A Square”. The book uses the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to comment on the hierarchy of Victorian culture, and its more enduring contribution: the examination of dimensions. Two dimensional Flatland is occupied by geometric figures where women are simple line-segments and men are polygons. The narrator is a square who guides the readers through some of the implications of living in two dimensions. In addition to going through the practicalities of existing in a two-dimensional universe, the story presents a history leading up to the eve of the 3rd Millennium. On New Year’s Eve, the Square dreams about visiting one-dimensional Lineland inhabited by lustrous points. These points are unable to see the Square as anything other than a set of points on a line. The Square attempts to convince the realm’s monarch of a second dimension, but cannot. In the end, the monarch of Lineland tries to kill the Square rather than tolerate his nonsense any further.
Pointland—SpaceTimeland. The Square is then visited by a three-dimensional sphere from Spaceland. Similar to the points in Lineland, the Square is unable to see the sphere as anything other than a circle. The Sphere levitates up and down through the Flatland, allowing the Square to see the circle expand and contract. However,the Square is not convinced until he sees Spaceland for himself. The Sphere visits Flatland at the turn of each millennium in order to introduce the idea of a third dimension with the hope of eventually educating the population of Flatland. From Spaceland, its leaders are able to observe the leaders of Flatland secretly acknowledging the existence of the sphere and dictating the silence there on. After this proclamation is made, many witnesses are massacred or imprisoned according to caste, including the Square’s brother. After the Square’s mind is opened to new dimensions, he tries to convince the Sphere of the theoretical possibility of the existence of a four-dimensional SpaceTimeland, but the Sphere shuns the Square’s argument, and returns him to Flatland in disgrace. The Square then has a dream in which the Sphere visits him again, this time to introduce him to Pointland where the Point (sole inhabitant, monarch, and universe of one) perceives any communication as a thought originating in his own mind (solipsism). Thus, we have: Pointland, Lineland, Flatland, Spaceland and SpaceTimeland—of dimensions: zero, one, two, three and four.
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977) was an American educational philosopher, and president and chancellor of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School. He criticized overspecialization and sought to balance the college curriculum in order to maintain the Western intellectual tradition. Overspecialization occurs when a person works in an excessively narrow occupation or scientific field. The Western intellectual tradition is the intellectual history in the largest sense, not confined to ideas in one or a few fields, but covering the whole spectrum of Western intellectual activity when the world transformed from medieval to modern. This transition was foreshadowed by economic expansion, political centralization, and secularization (away from God). Throughout his career, Hutchins was a fierce proponent of using select books that had gained the reputation of being great—books that had stood the test of time as educational tools. He called for an education that was centered on nurturing the mind. Hutchins asserted that the unifying principle of the university to be the pursuit of truth for its own sake. He stated, “Education implies teaching. Teaching implies knowledge. Knowledge is truth.
The truth is everywhere the same. Hence education should be everywhere the same.” Hutchins argued that the curriculum had to be coherent, and to be founded on metaphysics. By metaphysics, he meant knowledge that draws out basic principles and causes underlying our world, our existence, and our individuality. Mathematical
metaphysics states that an object exists if and only if it is an element of some mathematical structure. In other words, to be is to be a mathematical object. And remember what Pythagoras said: All is number.
Do you know what a paradigm shift is? There is an ancient story of three monks that happened across a flag blowing in the wind. The first monk said the wind was moving (geocentricity = earth-centre). The second monk said the flag was moving (heliocentricity = sun-centre). The third monk then trumped the first two by claiming it is only our minds that are moving (psychocentricity = mind-centre). So, whereas Copernicus took us from geocentricity to heliocentricity, The Theory of One World essay takes us from heliocentricity to psychocentricity.Do you know what a paradigm shift is? According to Leaderchat.org, “95 percent of people believe they are selfaware, but the real number is 12 to 15 percent.” That means, on a good day, four out of five people are lying to themselves about themselves all day long. That is a sick, pathetic statistic which is fully owned by the officers & directors, honourables & doctors. History will show, under their dominion, only 12 to 15 percent of people were self-aware, and the vast majority of the rest were liars. Socrates maintained the man who lies to himself has anenemy living within. He is not even a person. He is just a chaos of selfish desires wrapped in an animal hide. And that is, on a good day, four out of five Canadians—ie. Moral-Flatlanders. I propose we add the dimension of time and shift from Spaceland to SpaceTimeland. I propose we add the time dimension by extending our mathematical and philosophical modeling further into the past so that we may forecast further into the future, thereby making possible the transcendence of the spacetime continuum.
Do you have faith and reason? We are compelled by faith and reason to acknowledge the existence of natural inalienable rights and duties independent of convention, agreement or contract. We are compelled by faith and reason to transcend the spacetime continuum by having the officers & directors, honourables & doctors make the fifteen percent commitment to God, the Mathematician and the Philosopher. In a forty-hour week, that is, three hours of personal time and three hours of company time—or the equivalent monetary value. Risk Management Services offers three exciting products that serve to makeup this time commitment to studying God’s thoughts. RMS turns the Everyman into the Superman by putting Him face-to-face with God, the Mathematician and the Philosopher. Firstly, Philosophy Magazine and the Risk Management Review offers essays and books of essays. An essay is a try. It is a written piece designed to present an idea, propose an argument, express an emotion, or initiate a debate. Secondly, The Bernoulli Model is a postmodern realization of modern portfolio theory for looking at any phenomenon holistically; based in Microsoft Office and the Palisade.com suite of decision tools. It is portfolio theory, scientific management, risk management and decisionmaking for the Third Millennium. The Bernoulli Model provides a self-aware layer of management for any organization—turning collections of Pointlands into SpaceTimeland—ie. portfolio theory.
The Bernoulli Station. And thirdly, The Bernoulli Stations present themselves as coffee shops housing mathematical / philosophical alcoves for any would-be mathematician / philosopher to plug-in to. Mathematics is quantitative in nature, whereas philosophy is qualitative. Mathematics is about numbers, whereas philosophy is about ideas. The key link between the two is logical problem solving. The mathematical proof and philosophical argument bear strong resemblance and are, in fact, different views of the same underlying Platonic Form. Each alcove would present a computer with mathematics and philosophy learning software, and a full spectrum of great books, as Hutchins would prescribe. Each Bernoulli Station would house between one and six alcoves, making it the perfect knowledge bar for a potentially-great city like Calgary.
Do you want to be a part of something great? Risk Management Services is the God company. With essays,people basically serve up their essence for all to see. Essays are appeals to God. Postmodern portfolio theory essentially interpolates and extrapolates on the 1952 work of Nobel-prize-winning Harry Markowitz in delivering organizations into salvation. The Bernoulli Model is postmodern portfolio theory that looks at the organization and tries to see it whole. The Bernoulli Stations are knowledge bars bringing life to the community, rejoining man with God, and are the new church we go to pray to pass our actuarial exams. They could redefine the Canadian intellectual landscape. All three RMS products resonate with the sound of God’s voice in a choir of mathematical harmony. I would be willing to accept stakeholders, shareholders, officers and directors who respond favorably and are willing to make a five percent commitment to Risk Management Services (two hours per week). Essays,portfolio models and knowledge bars are great things that could turn the LeaderChat.org statistic around so that only 12 to 15 percent are not self-aware. At RMS, we take peaceful and powerful action in creating a bold,new, authentic future