User:Josephprymak

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Joseph Prymak is in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has contributed to Wikipedia since 2004 as a spelling and grammar editor, providing original contributions, verifying content, and making many words and statements more specific, detailed, and not so vague. Joseph has studied mainly Environmental Science and Physics at the University of Manitoba, and Biology, Philosophy, and logic at the University of Winnipeg. He helped to found an ecovillage project of sustainable agriculture and alternative energy use. Joseph and his wife Catherine own and operate an outdoor education business named Eternal Sky (www.eternalsky.ca), and volunteer for the Manitoba Eco-Network and the Canadian Environmental Network. Joseph considers himself mainly as a student and researcher of history, ecology, ethnobotany, and philosophy. He also is a writer, an outdoor educator, a botanist, a wilderness survivalist, a bat researcher, a gardener, a home school teacher, and a father. You can often find him wandering in the woods looking for edible and medicinal plants, learning about archaelogy and traditional ways, or searching for petroforms. Lately he has been doing archival research of the fur trade in North America, Ojibwe history, early mapping of areas near Lake Winnipeg, and treaty making in Canada. You can contact him at josephprymak@yahoo.com or www.eternalsky.ca

1 Some contributions, some original, some edited:
2 I also hope to somehow incorporate the following ideas into the Wikipedia:
3 Universal Questions
- 3.1 References
- 3.2 Links

[edit] Some contributions, some original, some edited:

and more

[edit] I also hope to somehow incorporate the following ideas into the Wikipedia:

The idea of true and false statements is an important one in logic. I have made it my duty to carefully show how basic ideas in logic and science are required to make any knowledge claims. True statements can exist simply because of definitions by demonstration. Any human, anywhere, at any time in history can and often did point to the sun or moon, that truly exist, and give them a name, a common definition, or an etymological one. The sun and moon exist even if there are inconsistent, consistent, and more detailed definitions, words, symbols, and images that attempt to represent the actual and partially changing sun and moon. We can build complex technology, do science experiments, get humans on the moon, build interesting cities, and co-operatively drive on superhighways because language can often very accurately correspond to what truly exists. The language of math has greatly enabled humans world wide to excellently apply the scientific method, to test a hypothesis, and to discover, not create, the true and probable statements about this universe. Words and language are a fantastic invention that allows humans to co-ordinate, map, plan, and prosper with great success, because the words and symbols actually do communicate about what truly exists, as opposed to false claims about what exists. The search for true statements about the world around us and within us is an ancient art and science that also attempts to demonstrate or prove what is bogus, false, or lies about what exists. There are far too many false opinions in the minds of humans. What is true? How can one know with certainty and proof? There are true or probable answers to many important questions, and logical ways to demonstrate fallacies, false statements, and lies.

The word "philosophy" is etymologically and historically from the Ancient Greek word of φιλοσοφία, or love of wisdom, compounded from φίλος (philos, meaning friend, or lover) and σοφία (sophía, meaning wisdom). Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are some of the most famous to use the word, and the first that we know of to carefully reason about the definition. The Ancient Greek word "philosophy" became widely known because of them, but the very first origin of the word is unknown. Many of Plato's lengthy dialogues and Aristotle's notes have been preserved (for good reasons) for over two thousand years and have helped to shed light on the ancient origins of philosophy, in their own words and texts. Of key importance here is to return to the original texts, in the original language, to study what some of the ancients thought of themselves, or about the universe, without applying many theories that can easily misinterpret what they truly thought about.

The disproving of race theories and race categories is a specialty of mine. Few today, in Canada and the United States of America question the idea of races to the extent that is necessary and logical. I have studied political philosophy and logic, including Darwin's popular writings about wether or not races even exist, or are race theories pointing out important differences in the human species. The first questions are why does one want to divide up the human species? For what goals or ends? In what ways is it helpful or important to point out any number of possible differences in humans especially across very large and often unspecific geographical areas of land? Once one has chosen a specific, or even unspecific criteria of what is different, then how many categories should there be? Many scientists such as Darwin have clearly demonstrated how there are any number of possible and therefore arbitrary criteria and categories that can be used to divide up the human species. For example, skin color is very popular, because of conventions, customs, and traditions, but eye color, hair type, and height are less often used as criteria. Then how many specific or often unspecific categories will one use for any type of criteria chosen? Many expert scientists and thinkers throughout history have inconsistently proposed a wide number of possible races, which shows how difficult it would be to finally determine if there is only one race, 2 races, or any other number, and what criteria would be best to do so. The search for specific genes using induction and statistics also has major problems. Again, which genes should one search for and why? Are these then racial categories, or simply individuals with or without a certain gene? What about all the gradations, mixes, exceptions, and even the varied expressions of those with the same gene or gene sequences? What are the margins of error, the sample sizes used, and again for what goal is all of this done? In biology and medicine, is it best to treat each human as a unique individual with many unique environmental factors that can affect the way a gene is expressed or not?

The key ideas to focus on about false race theories are the ideas of goals, criteria, an arbitrary number of categories, gradations, degrees, statistics, margins of error, and very unspecific geographical areas. With a bit of logic, math, and careful thinking one can easily disprove the claims that races of humans actually exist without a doubt.

[edit] Universal Questions

Universal questions, or permanent questions are the great questions that many humans have asked for thousands of years, and that anyone, anywhere, can ask. Often these kinds of questions are very philosophical and some are unanswered. For example: Was the universe created? Does a Creator exist? What can we know what is a true or false statement and how? What should we do in certain circumstances? These questions and many more might have answers, but some might be impossible to answer, and some may require more time to discover the true answers through deduction, or the probable answers of induction. There have been many attempts of using logic and math to answer some of these questions, and some answers require difficult evidence and proof.

This is not a topic of idle speculation, and it is partly the historical foundation of science. Science and the scientific method began historically with careful philosophical questions and different methods that are prior to the scientific method. The foundational questions themselves also come logically prior to scientific knowledge, or any knowledge that is carefully proven, peer reviewed, and debated using logic and reason. The idea of first principles that must be proven before any other knowledge claims can be made is written about by Plato over two thousand years ago.

The immaterial world refers to the philosophical idea, or at least the question, that a non-material, or incorporeal realm might exist. A logical and prior question is whether or not there is only the one material universe? If no, then what else exists?

Does an immaterial world or realm exist? This is possibly one of the very basic and common universal questions asked by many humans over thousands of years, but can be asked in other ways by using very similar ideas, concepts, and words. The question about the immaterial realm is not the same as the claim of idealism or immaterialism. The question about whether or not an immaterial realm exists may never be answered with certainty, but the question itself is an important one for many philosophers, theologians, and many others. If it is answered eventually by a method other than the scientific one, then what exactly exists in the immaterial, or non-material realm?

The question about an immaterial Creator prior to this material universe is also very common, but this assumes that this material universe, or even universes, had a non-material beginning. This leads one right back to the logically prior questions of metaphysics and epistemology that attempt to find the answers to wether or not the material realm alone exists.

Ethnogeology is the study of how geological features were intelligently used by ancient peoples around the globe, and compared to human uses of the Earth today.

Humans use certain features of the natural landscape for their benefit and survival even today, which provides insights into what many humans may have thought and did in the past. Examples of this are natural hills for easier defense, high ground to escape from floods, access to rivers and lakes for travel, access to natural sources of drinking water, access to soil for agriculture, and access to useful mineral deposits for tool making and better hunting. Humans have wisely used the natural features of any landscape to their advantage.

One research area involves the flat, granite ridges of the Canadian Shield in the Whiteshell Provincial Park of Manitoba, Canada. The ice ages scoured down the Precambrian cored mountains over millions of years and left behind many acres of flat surfaces that are very similar to the flat paved areas that we build in cities today. These hard, solid, large areas were used for humans to gather, trade, teach, and to make petroforms. This central area of the continent provided a natural place to meet and trade objects and ideas. There is evidence that these large, pink granite surfaces were used and even revered by ancient peoples for thousands of years. Granite ridges provided natural highways through dense forests and wetlands. Plentiful amounts of large rocks and boulders left by the last ice age gave humans the opportunity to build geometrical shapes, patterns, animal shapes, and symbols by lining up the rocks on the flat granite surfaces. These hills and ridges also provided the opportunity for better defense, and to study the rising, setting, and movement of the sun, moon, and stars. The petroforms on ridges were used as astronomical devices, as direction finders, and possibly as maps. These rock shapes were also used to help memorize important ideas and stories.

Geology and anthropology combined can give us new insights into the ancient past. History is partially "written" on the Earth itself because the natural landscape gave certain logical advantages to humans, and enough humans would have discovered these natural facts to use to their advantage. The human ability to reason, think carefully, plan ahead, and to survive in diverse environments allows us to use the natural geological features to our advantage. Humans have the ability to find the easiest ways to survive, and there are obvious ways that we would have used the landscape and water ways to our advantage.

More thought needs to be given about how humans as a whole naturally used and still use their landscapes to thrive and develop their ways of life. Different geography and geological features can physically limit humans in certain ways, or open new avenues for exploration and development. The peoples who lived near oceans had the opportunity to discover advanced ship building skills and knowledge, whereas humans on desert land would need to focus more on water storing, and desert agriculture.

Anthropogeology is the study of anthropology and geology combined. This study attempts to do the obvious, which is to answer some basic and fundamental questions where these two disciplines overlap. Some common questions are: What specific types of rocks were used for stone tools? What types of stone provided what types of stone tools? What specific locations provided the types of rocks required? In what other ways did humans live in relation to their geological environments? How do some geological and geographical environments influence human actions, tool making, and skills? What are the natural needs of humans and how have they adapted to specific rock formations of geological features on Earth?

Some obvious examples of the relation of anthropology and geology is the use of certain minerals and rocks for stone tools, spear points, and arrow heads. Other examples are the human use of waterways for boat travel, or the use of desert agriculture that needs water storage and irrigation technology. Humans for thousands of years have developed different boats depending on their need to travel over different types of water bodies. Canoes are a good example of the Ojibway need to travel and hunt along the fresh water rivers of North America. Humans have also been limited in their ability to travel, or to overcome political borders, because of rugged mountain chains that divide up continents. Petroforms and Petroglyphs are also good examples of the use of geological features by prehistoric native peoples.

[edit] References

Wilson, Lucy 2003 "Importance de la difficulté du terrain par rapport à la distance de transport dans les stratégies de circulation des matières premières lithiques dans le Vaucluse, au Paléolithique moyen" in Préhistoire du Sud-Ouest Supplément No. 5: Les Matières Premières Lithiques en Préhistoire - Table Ronde Internationale organisée à Aurillac (Cantal), du 20 au 22 juin 2002; pp. 343-349.

Wilson, Lucy 1986 "Hominid Lithic Raw Material Procurement Behaviour at the Caune de l'Arago, France" Symposium on Social and Economic Contexts of Technological Change, World Archaeology Congress; Southampton, England

Texier, P.-J., J.-P. Brugal, C. Lemorini and Lucy Wilson 1998 "Fonction d'un site du Paléolithique moyen en marge d'un territoire: l'abri de La Combette (Bonnieux, Vaucluse)" Economie préhistorique: les comportements de subsistance au Paléolithique, XVIIIè Rencontres Internationales d'Archéologie et d'Histoire d'Antibes, Editions APDCA, Sophia Antipolis, France; pp. 325-348.

Black, David W. and Lucy Wilson 1998 "History and Geology of the Washademoak Lake Chert Source, Queen's County, New Brunswick", invited paper, presented at the Geological Society of America, 33rd Annual Meeting, Northeastern Section; Theme Session: Archaeological Stone Artifacts: Contributions to Sources, Petrology and Distribution; GSA Abstracts with Programs, vol. 30, no. 1, February 1998. [edit]

[edit] Links

   * http://www.clarion.edu/departments/ages/
   * http://www.indstate.edu/gga/
   * http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/geology/law/law.htm
   * http://www.gly.uga.edu/gasfp/

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User:Josephprymak

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[edit] Some contributions, some original, some edited:

[edit] I also hope to somehow incorporate the following ideas into the Wikipedia:

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