What Math-related Fields Relate To Consciousness Work?

[Beyond Words]

Purpose Statement:

• I quantitatively optimize information to creatively advance collective consciousness.
• Quantitatively optimizing information:
  • I absolutely love learning Math, solving Math problems and doing investigations.
  • I constantly seek ways of doing things more efficiently without assuming constraints (rejection, current skill/knowledge level etc).
• Creatively:
  • I have always loved exploring, whether it is via urban exploration, video games (e.g. Witcher 3 / Skyrim, but I don't play much at all), or my dreams.
  • I love to create structures and draw.
• Consciousness:
  • I'm naturally very introspective and philosophical and have experienced profound consciousness shifts and absolutely love meditation, self-inquiry and researching consciousness (even if it can be emotionally daunting).

What I'm struggling to reconcile:

• I can get into almost any university in the world but I can't pick a field. While I have studied quantum, nuclear, particle, wave, thermal, etc etc Physics, astronomy and Math (and Psychology and Economics, but I'm not interested in studying them at a uni level), I have no experience in engineering, artificial intelligence, programming and other Math-related fields in which I could potentially merge consciousness work into.
• I'm taking an online course on artificial intelligence and am consulting with some people in those fields but I would like to know from you guys which fields you think could be advanced and merged with consciousness work if I were to master the field.

Possible Fields:

• Quantum physics.
• Mathematics.
• Artificial intelligence.
  • Specifically machine learning. I've played around with algorithms that create virtual neural networks, thereby learning how to do a task very efficiently. This definitely involves Math and efficiency and potentially could relate to consciousness. I'm doing some courses to find out as this seems like my most likely field.
• Cosmology:
  • Finding evidence for and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. I don't know how much Math it involves though.
• Engineering.
  • Aerospace engineering and mechanics.
    • I think this could potentially be used to fulfill my value of adventure / exploration, but I don't see a connection to consciousness. Are certain technologies possible in that field to advance collective consciousness?
  • Industrial and systems engineering.
    • Involves engineering processes to improve productivity an efficiency and requires a lot of Math. This would satisfy Math and productivity but I wonder how it could relate to consciousness work.

Summary:

• What fields involve a lot of Math that could relate to consciousness work?

Edited November 26, 2016 by Beyond Words
clarity

[Elisabeth]

9 hours ago, Beyond Words said:

• Cosmology:
  • Finding evidence for and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. I don't know how much Math it involves though.

Huge lots of maths, if you wish to. Don't worry about that. You'd find yourself studying general theory of relativity to properly understand the background, and quantum field theory to look into possible explanations of dark energy (well, unless you accept that it's just a "constant" in Einsteins equations). But I don't see the link to consciousness in there (unless you're happy to equate understanding the fundamental laws of physics with raising consciousness, in which case yes, go do theoretical physics and quantize gravitation, it's fascinating). 

Brainstorming: neuroscience, architecture (you like drawing), theoretical informatics (algortihms)

If you haven't decided what impact you want to make, you may as well stay very general with your field of study (pure maths, physics or informatics).

However, reading your text, I'd say spend some more time thinking about what are the most effective ways to raise consciousness, and what that phrase even means for you. Find what you want to achieve, and then learn the stuff necessary. 

 

[Martin123]

@Beyond Words Have you thought about education? It seems you have a very broad interest in many fields and at the same time you are very creative. Creating a new educational system where there is more conscious effort put into "what you're teaching" would fit your statement and abilities imo.

[Pramit]

Computational neuroscience

 

have fun!  you are not the only one to choose his field based on the desire to understand the mind. 

Edited November 27, 2016 by Pramit

[electroBeam]

AI is fun; and i currently work in that, but it doesn't have as much consciousness raising stuff as it might seem. How computer brains work, is very different to how the mind works, and applications of artificial intelligence do not directly relate to raising of one's consciousness.

Though I'm currently working on a project which uses artificial intelligence to help individuals understand the relationship bwtween introspection and reality, through back propagating neural networks.

Like what Pramit said, computational neuroscience has a well balanced fit of mathematics, and applications to consciousness, though honestly, every field would have some sort of consciousness work that you could leverage off, and also use maths to do it.

[Beyond Words]

On 11/27/2016 at 4:52 AM, Martin123 said:

@Beyond Words Have you thought about education? It seems you have a very broad interest in many fields and at the same time you are very creative. Creating a new educational system where there is more conscious effort put into "what you're teaching" would fit your statement and abilities imo.

On 11/27/2016 at 8:06 AM, electroBeam said:

Like what Pramit said, computational neuroscience has a well balanced fit of mathematics, and applications to consciousness, though honestly, every field would have some sort of consciousness work that you could leverage off, and also use maths to do it.

Computational Neuroscience sounds interesting; however, I'd have to get a Neuroscience degree which requires Biology and Chemistry... courses I haven't studied. It is not an option as a Bachelor's or Master's degree for me if I am to enroll in one of the top universities. I know what university I go to matters less than my major; however, I could apply to more Physics/Math related majors that I do meet the requirements for (e.g. Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence).

Did I mention that I love to build things and explore/adventure? I think I may just major in something that could combine that with Math, and then do consciousness work on the side. I'm sure I will be able to combine those things into a business some day.

On 11/27/2016 at 8:06 AM, electroBeam said:

AI is fun; and i currently work in that, but it doesn't have as much consciousness raising stuff as it might seem. How computer brains work, is very different to how the mind works, and applications of artificial intelligence do not directly relate to raising of one's consciousness.

Though I'm currently working on a project which uses artificial intelligence to help individuals understand the relationship bwtween introspection and reality, through back propagating neural networks.

Artificial Intelligence interest me as a field regardless of whether it translates to enlightenment work. Does it involve a lot of Math or mostly programming? I think Machine Learning may be interesting. I'm currently working up to a Machine Learning Udacity course to confirm, but want to know what you think as your project sounds intriguing.

[Leo Gura]

@Beyond Words Set theory & category theory.

Did you know that Georg Cantor (father of set theory) discovered the Absolute Infinite set?

He called it God.

And he was right That's as close to God as you're likely to get conceptually.

Shinzen Young told me category theory (basically a more generalized and expanded set theory) pairs very nicely with nonduality.

You seem like a passionate fellow, so my advice to you regarding life purpose is to aim to craft a very customized purpose that sits at the intersection of at least 2 if not 3 or 4 sciences/fields. Then you'll be in an awesome position. Crave out your niche. Your niche probably hasn't been invented yet. YOU invent it! But it will take time. So don't be too insistent on knowing your exact niche right now. For you it's gonna be a multi-year-long process of doing research, study, and experimentation, as you hone in more and more on your niche.

Rather than asking us, or trying to figure this out theoretically, instead, you'll want to follow the breadcrumb trail of your greatest passion. What are the top 3 things you love to study the most? What top 3 fields excite you the most?

Figure that out, and then study the shit out of all them. And then your intuition will tell you where to go from there, and you will invent a niche for yourself.

This is sorta like passion mixology

[cirkussmile]

Amazing story! 

just continue and never stop!

[Beyond Words]

@Leo Gura So...

S = {Consciousness, Reality, Non-Duality, Meditation, Self-Inquiry}

Where S is Enlightenment

Scientific method ∉ S

Set theory, category theory and its relationship with nonduality and the Absolute Infinite set sound awesome. Thank you Leo!

[Leo Gura]

@Beyond Words Nonduality means everything is infinitely interrelated. It's not like consciousness is one thing, reality is another thing, meditation is a third thing, and enlightenment is a fourth thing. 

IT'S ALL ONE INFINITE THING!

The distinctions you make between things constitute reality. And all these distinctions are arbitrary.

It's like you're partitioning an infinite-sized hard drive. How many partitions does an infinite-sized hard drive have?

And of course scientific method is a part of S. Otherwise it couldn't exist S includes everything possible.

[Beyond Words]

@Leo Gura Of course. I completely agree that all distinctions are arbitrary. Unfortunately, like you said language is inherently dualistic. I was mostly playing around with the notation. Talking about enlightenment is hard.

[Beyond Words]

@CaptainFlint That is a great way to enter the forum! I really appreciate the effort. I'm going to finish some courses on AI and Math and Computer Science etc and then I'll be able to give an update (in ~6 months probably).

I definitely think AI, especially data science, is an interesting field. However, I also think that learning engineering may be valuable because I want to integrate adventure/exploration into my purpose. For example, designing tree houses or an augmented reality AI that shows what buildings used to look like before they broke down.

[jse]

On 26/11/2016 at 10:25 PM, Beyond Words said:

What Math-related Fields Relate To Consciousness Work?

De-fi-ni-te-ly not  Finance.