Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
AM RADIO REFLECTIONS
AM RADIO REFLECTIONS
Electrical carrier beams and modulating waves make AM-radio waves.
These were graphically depicted on a black board by my college professor decades ago.
For whatever reason that event was recalled by me this morning within the context of philosophy. I had wondered how “known” technology principles affected human mental spiritual conception perceptions?
I had read that the early Christian Church has adopted an Aristotelian geocentric view of the cosmos, which caused it to reject Galileo’s heliocentric views. Gradually of course it relented as reflected by the fact that Galileo was not killed.
These thoughts, which may or may not be absolutely true, animate me.
Yesterday , you see, I had read that aspects trigonometry were known in Timbuktu, West Africa., a place that “is usually presented as the traditional hunting ground for slaves. Very few writers have shown any interest in the contributions of West Africans to science and technology. Thus there has been very little research that challenges the perspective that all West Africans have ever been historically is to be under the whip of other peoples.” In BLACKS AND SCIENCE, VOLUME TWO (2016) Robin Walker further wrote in its profound preface : “There are some interesting findings that appear in this text:...Timbuktu astronomers used the cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant functions of trigonometry.”
Because I had labored mightily with trigonometry in high school , junior year, (perhaps because the young female Greek-surname teacher was not only beautiful but voluptuous ); and perhaps also, in part, because Momma had told me that she had struggled with trigonometry in high school, herself—signaling assent to under-achievement—trigonometry’s challenges continue to abide in me.
Therefore, I self-deduced that: if trigonometry had a philosophical foundation, like a book has a back, perhaps I might be able to better grasp its principles mathematically .
Rather like the carrier beam and modulation wave combination gave us early AM radio, philosophy and trigonometry may co-communicate clarity to my spiritual/mental health.