Welcome to my multi-purpose web site. If
you know which of my three topics you wish to browse, just click on its
links below. If you are undecided, or want to know why these
three topics co-exist in one domain, browse this page to read why I
discuss them, and make your decision afterwards.
Joseph Schreiner
En Español
Auf Deutsch
Why Do I
Discuss These Three Topics?
The first, and most obvious reason, is that these
topics interest me. I publish on this web site to invite
others, equally interested in them, to correspond with me.
Next, as far as I can tell, no other web site discusses these three
particular topics.
Plenty of web sites on game & decision
theory discuss the Prisoner’s Dilemma. But the
Prisoner’s Dilemma is an extremely restricted
model. Each player has only two choices, with rigidly
defined, linear rewards and punishments. Nobody else
discusses ethical decision making where there are three or more choices
with dozens of possible non-linear consequences. Our life
decisions are not as simple as the stodgy Prisoner’s
Dilemma. We need insight into environments having many
choices and complex consequences.
Myriad web sites discuss the 88
constellations in our sky, as codified by the astronomical
establishment. A goodly number of web sites discuss the
mythologies and traditions (almost always ancient Greek)
behind these star patterns. But no other site addresses the
questions: “What if we had to redefine the constellations,
the star patterns in our sky? What if we throw aside the
baggage of history and start anew? How would/should we define
constellations in a meaningful way?” I address
these questions, and hope that my presentation allows you to view the
stars from
a new, liberating perspective.
We use
language every day, every hour. But we rarely think about its
components - words, phonemes, the individual letters. Imagine
an alien intelligence trying to analyze our written languages.
How would it approach the task? By the patterns of
letters. And if they are like us, they would try to make a
visual representation of these patterns. And if they were
even more like us, they would use color. That is what I do
here. I convert the patterns of characters of English,
Spanish, French, and German into an intricate display.
What Do
These Topics Have in Common?
The first is advanced statistics, one of my
interests. But before you flee from the prospect of esoteric
equations, consider this: you need no knowledge of statistics, and
almost none of mathematics to appreciate what I offer. I
present no equations. Everything is explained in English text
and graphics. If you are interested in
the underlying statistics, there are a few pages that explain what I
did. But even these pages explain the statistical methods
without mathematics. I have already done the statistical
“heavy-lifting”, and present you with the resulting
insights.
My section on ethical decision making relied
heavily on analysis of variance and correlation coefficients.
You need not know these procedures. All you need to know is
that the former tells us whether two or more groups are different, and
that the latter tells us how closely two things are related.
My section on redefining the constellations (asterisms, actually) made
heavy use of cluster analyses. You need not know the vagaries
of
agglomeration or iteration. All you need to know is that
these procedures allow us to put similar items into the same group,
and different items into different groups. You see the
results, not the number-crunching behind the statistical veil.
My section on displaying the patterns of characters also relies heavily
on clustering algorithms. But for this task, I had to create
customized algorithms, as there is no standard method for placing the
characters on the horizontal and vertical axes.
Another theme links these three topics. They are an effort on
my part to link mathematics, statistics, and simulations with the Good,
the True, and the Beautiful. In determining the best
strategies for making ethical decisions, I reveal insight into the Good
- how we should conduct our lives to benefit ourselves and others.
In redefining the constellations, I reveal new ways
to contemplate the Beautiful. The stars above are available
to all. We can use them to create images of beauty and
universal meaning. And in analyzing the patterns of our
alphabet, I illuminate one of our tools for the True. We use
letters, words, and language as tools to express meaning and reality.
It is appropriate to see the structure of these tools.
Have you decided which topic to view?
Perhaps all three? I offer the choices again. Pleasant
browsing …
Copyright © 2004-2009, Joseph Schreiner