%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |    Not for the faint of art. |
|
Complex Numbers A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number. The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi. Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary. Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty. ![Merit Badge in Quill Award
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning Best Blog in the 2021 edition of [Link To Item #quills] !](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quill Award 2
[Click For More Info]
2022 Quill Award - Best Blog - [Link To Item #1196512] . Congratulations!!!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award_2-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in 30DBC Winner
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning the Jan. 2019 [Link To Item #30dbc] !!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-30DBC_Winner-2064535_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Blogging
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning an honorable mention for Best Blog at the 2018 Quill Awards for [Link To Item #1196512] . *^*Smile*^* This award was sponsored by the blogging consortium including [Link To Item #30dbc] , [Link To Item #blogcity] , [Link To Item #bcof] and [Link To Item #1953629] . For more details, see [Link To Item #quills] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Blogging-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Highly Recommended
[Click For More Info]
I highly recommend your blog.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Highly_Recommended.gif) ![Merit Badge in Opinion
[Click For More Info]
For diving into the prompts for Journalistic Intentions- thanks for joining the fun!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Opinion-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in High Five
[Click For More Info]
For your inventive entries in [Link To Item #2213121] ! Thanks for the great read!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-High_Five.gif) ![Merit Badge in Enlightening
[Click For More Info]
For winning 3rd Place in [Link To Item #2213121] . Congratulations!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Enlightening.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quarks Bar
[Click For More Info]
For your awesome Klingon Bloodwine recipe from [Link to Book Entry #1016079] that deserves to be on the topmost shelf at Quark's.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quarks_Bar-2046190_12.gif)       |
| How about a trip out on a limb, today? The Hard Science of Reincarnation  All over the world, scholars studying reincarnation are making findings even skeptics have difficulty explaining. Let me preface this by saying: I don't believe in this stuff. Nevertheless, just like with out-of-body experiences, hauntings, UFOs, cryptids, and other phenomena considered "fringe," something is going on. Some of it is hoax, some false perception, and a lot of attention-seeking behavior is involved; but even discounting those things, there's something there that, if it doesn't tell us anything about the world outside, can shed some light on how the mind works. The trap is falling into the belief in these things wholeheartedly, finding "evidence" that supports said belief, and discounting that which does not. That's the worst kind of bias, and it's the sort of thing that divorces people from reality. For instance, the phenomenon of sleep paralysis is fairly well documented and partially understood. But it often tracks neatly with descriptions of alien abduction. Having experienced sleep paralysis myself, I can absolutely understand how some people can be convinced they were teleported up to the mothership and experimented upon. It's also been established that certain frequencies of sound waves, too low to be perceived by our ears, can induce fear and hallucination. Hence, ghost stories. While I'm absolutely on the side of science when it comes to these things, part of science is admitting that we don't know everything. Another part is trying to fix that. It's an ongoing process, hopefully one that never ends. But the history of science is littered with the dashed hopes of people who wanted a thing to be true, a thing that turned out to not be the case. And I think "reincarnation" is going to end up being one of those things. You'll notice I'm not quoting much from the article today. It's an interesting article, if a bit credulous, though it includes some of the skepticism involved. But one of the things it focuses on is my own former university's research into these phenomena, in a department I've known about since I started going there lo these many years ago. This was right around the time Ghostbusters came out, and afterwards, it was probably embarrassing for a major state university to have a Parapsychology Department, so I suspect that's why they ended up changing the name. It's this quote from a skeptic, from the linked article, that I find most appealing: “There could only be two possibilities. One is that there is something genuinely paranormal happening, and if that is true, that would be amazing,” he told me. “Or, alternatively—which is more the line that I do favor—it tells us something very interesting about human psychology. So either way, it's worth taking seriously.” While I object to the characterization of "only two possibilities," I certainly can't think of others right now. As for reincarnation itself, we know this: on a purely physical level, of course we're recycled. Whatever they do with your body after you kick it, those atoms don't just poof from existence; they get incorporated into the environment, perhaps even into other living things. You've almost certainly eaten carbon atoms that were once in the body of an ancestor of yours; you've definitely breathed air that has spent some time in other living beings. (People who fart in elevators cannot be trusted. Just saying.) That's so obvious as to be trivial, which is why we don't think about it much. What reincarnation purports to be, though, is a kind of continuation of consciousness, or at least of the memories that are incorporated into consciousness. And we don't understand consciousness, or even the way memories are formed and stored, so there's no way to say with certainty "this is utter bullshit." And yet, it's probably utter bullshit, or at least something else is going on that we don't fully understand. Given consciousness's utter inability to conceive of its own nonexistence, the belief persists. So I'm all for the research. Just let's not be too trusting of our own conclusions about it. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
