The Culture that has been here all the time

I was surprised as a young man to discover that a famous scientist may have had a "promiscuous" lifestyle.

Artists and musicians, and actors all seemed to fall into this category, but scientists?

I have an extensive technological training and a Physics degree, but my tendency to be promiscuous, I believe, was due to my creative sides of art and music. Let me share with you the three scientists whose love life was unexpected to me (the ignorant human boy).

While the extent of J. Robert Oppenheimer's personal life, particularly his relationships, remains a subject of ongoing debate and speculation, there is evidence that he had a complex and possibly promiscuous history. His affairs, particularly with Jean Tatlock, were well-documented and played a role in the scrutiny he faced during the Cold War. 

Several famous scientist couples were also known to have romantic relationships. Notable examples include Marie and Pierre Curie, Gerty and Carl Cori, and Irene Joliot-Curie and Jean-Frederic Joliot. Jerome and Isabella Karle, and Marie-Anne and Antoine Lavoisier were also scientific collaborators who were also romantic partners. 

Several prominent scientists, including Albert Einstein, are often described as having had a "promiscuous" lifestyle. This term, while subjective, generally refers to a lifestyle characterized by multiple casual sexual relationships. Einstein, along with other figures like Sigmund Freud, are sometimes associated with this label due to their personal relationships and behaviors that deviated from societal norms of their time.  
Here's a more detailed look: 

all images creative commons or public domain

I have noted that popular science literature has introduced discussions on philosophical questions once more, and the questions about "time" are at the forefront.

Einstein definition:

Google AI

Einstein's theory of spacetime, as developed in his theories of relativity, describes how space and time are interconnected and not absolute, but rather relative to the observer's motion and gravity. In his special theory of relativity, Einstein showed that the speed of light is constant for all observers, regardless of their motion, leading to the concept of a unified space-time continuum. His general theory of relativity further expanded on this, proposing that gravity is a result of the curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy. 

This has been verified and made use of in the space age by accounting for it in satellite speed and distance from the closest center of gravity.

STOP.

Our sense of time and our perception vary little in our human reality. Navigation and accurate time keeping are important, but how we think of time is not often viewed in the number of decimal points our timepiece is accurate to.

Sometimes it seems more time has passed, and sometimes it seems less time has passed. The filter of our mind is affected by our age, our hormones, and the activities we engage in. As we are experiencing a trauma, it seems time is in slow motion, and as we are experiencing boredom, it seems time is dragging on. Our sense of time has little to do with how much time has elapsed as we humans define it, but more about how many things are occurring in time that we experience them.

Set aside philosophy: We observe how things age from stone to fruit to our bodies. It seems we are captive by the second law of thermodynamics, and the best we can do is slow down the deterioration of things with the passing of time.

I have observed it also seems we have some form of internal clock (life in general), as we somehow usually know when it is time to wake up, go to sleep, go to work, find a mate, time to eat and so on even though these biological clocks are subject to error they are also subject to improvement with training. 

For now, we define time as a second, a minute, a day, a week, a month, and a year, etc.

The most accurate practical clock we have for keeping the time scale we as humans adopt

Google AI:

AI Overview
The most accurate practical clock currently available is the strontium optical lattice clock. It can lose less than one second every 40 billion years. This level of precision is achieved by using a lattice of light waves to trap and measure strontium atoms, allowing for a more stable and precise timekeeping mechanism than traditional cesium atomic clocks. 

Google public domain images

It is not a coincidence that the way things suddenly seem to emerge and relate is the way reality works. The story of Pesto.

In the 1990s, it seems that all of a sudden, everyone I knew was having Pesto. It was offered in restaurants, and recipes seemed to pop up everywhere.

This type of coincidence has seemed to happen often with some popular things, like a Furby toy or a Hula Hoop, encouraged by marketing. Yet I have experienced this type of coincidence that did not seem connected to advertisement or word of mouth, it just appeared to pop up spontaneously. I theorize it is the collective result of known and unknown influences permeating the prevailing reality. 

Some of these coincidental examples can be attributed to significant world events: war, famine, disease, or even a historical event like the moon landings. I am not omniscient or a savant, but the one thought I have is that somehow the reality we all share is how we are connected (see previous blog). This and similar happenings have something to do with this phenomenon, is my best guess.

pixabay.com image

Most People Struggle to Understand These 17 Philosophical Questions

11 Classic Philosophical Questions That Still Challenge Us Today

20 Deep Philosophical Questions That Leave Most People Stumped

Google AI Overview
Having multiple romantic or sexual partners simultaneously, often referred to as polyamory, is a practice where individuals engage in relationships with more than one person at a time, with the understanding and consent of all parties involved. It's a form of consensual non-monogamy, where the focus is on open communication, honesty, and equality within the relationships. 

I explored the idea of Polyamory and even had a Friend with Benefits for a short time. It wasn't bona fide, however, as my wife can neither participate, consent, nor object. We have been married for forty years and have been monogamous and sincere to each other. In my youth, I was promiscuous but tempered with periods of monogamy.

Now I don't know what I am or what I want. There are days in my old age when I desire sex, but I have a slim chance of finding a partner. I have tried, but I have come up empty, and nothing that has happened suggests that will change. We live in a typical family populated neighborhood, and if I had chosen to move into a community of active adults (fifty-five and up), I probably would have had lovers.

Do people in retirement homes have a lot of sex? 
 
"Google AI Overview
 
Yes, older adults in retirement homes do experience sexual activity and intimacy. While it's not always a public topic, studies show that a significant portion of seniors between 65 and 80 remain sexually active. This can manifest in various ways, including intimate relationships with partners, both within and outside the facility, and also includes personal sexual expression." 

So gone is the assumed idea that sex ends with a certain age (even if young people have trouble imagining it). I miss out because I am just a victim of my circumstances and my decisions.

What constitutes too much sex is as subjective as too much good weather.

Too much of anything is certainly a judgment made by each of us in our unique way, and it applies to everything from food to drink to relationships.

The first time (or the first several times) is a special condition that usually morphs into a routine. Routines can be okay, but they can diminish the excitement, joy, and specialness of the subject of the routine. Taking a break usually restores some of the pleasure lost to excessive repetition. WE all know "make up sex" is great, and having a favorite food we didn't have for a while renews the pleasures.

Can this phenomenon be modified? Maybe. Yet, how this is accomplished may have some risk, and it may not always work. In other words, the break may be the only real solution.

So, whether a course of abstenance is chosen or applied to us by serendipity, it still seems to function as described above. There are a number of ways to inject "the spice of life," and they all amount to variety as each of you may define it.

Pix a bay photo of serendipity:

Perfection is subjective. Therefore, it is fluid and can be amended and adjusted according to the results of events,  or a change in perspective.

The ideal is a standard envisioned and striven for but never achieved.

One of Zeno's Paradoxes:
Dichotomy Paradox:
To travel a distance, one must first travel half the distance, then half of the remaining distance, and so on, creating an infinite sequence of distances to cover. This suggests that any journey is impossible because it would take an infinite amount of time. 

If you define The Ideal of something and apply Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox to the thought experiment in achieving it, the logical outcome is that you could never achieve perfection as defined by that ideal.

AI Overview
In calculus, the phrase "closer but never there" refers to the concept of a limit, where a function can get arbitrarily close to a certain value as its input approaches a particular point, but the function might never actually reach that value. This idea is central to understanding continuous and discontinuous functions, and it's also relevant to understanding infinite series and the concept of infinity itself. 

That is the mathematical description of achieving an ideal.

Most of us realize that "The Journey and Quest for Perfection" is what counts because it works with our reality and provides some satisfaction.

The Instant

Consider this: Everything we see in life, or non-life, is made from the same stuff. Organized according to chemistry, nuclear, and particle physics. And, the forces we know about:

“The four fundamental forces of nature are gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. These forces govern all interactions in the universe, from the behavior of subatomic particles to the movement of planets.“

My big question is: At what exact moment does the inorganic become organic, as life in particular, and when does a living thing become conscious?

When a sentient being becomes conscious, they become self-aware. When advanced intelligent life (as Homo Sapiens) becomes fully conscious and self aware it seems it is as if the whole cosmos is then self aware.

puxabay and Hubble Photo

Everything is Connected. You are free to believe otherwise, but that will not change the reality of this knowledge.

From science, especially physics, it is understood that everything we see is made of the same elementary subatomic particles. This is proven with math and elaborate scientific instruments. This blog post is interested in a specific set of atoms or chemicals.

Important to us, all life forms are made of the same stuff. Yes, all living things are made of the same stuff despite all the ways we differ in appearance, detail, and apparent function.

Organic Compounds are the detailed chemistry of life. There are estimated to be around 20 million different known organic compounds. This number is constantly growing as scientists discover new compounds. (One reason why medicine and healthcare are a challenge).

An organic compound is generally defined as a molecule that contains carbon atoms. While many organic compounds contain both carbon and hydrogen, it's not a requirement for all organic compounds. The presence of carbon is what distinguishes them from inorganic compounds. Yet all living cells are primarily composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. 

From the smallest life form to the largest, for example, an amoeba is related to an elephant.

I do not know if we are connected on a spiritual level, but if we are all entangled in an invisible plane, it wouldn't surprise me.

Humans have been around a long time, and although survival may have dominated everyday life, there have been enough examples of ancient intellectual development and wisdom to give me cause to emphasize "There is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9, Holy Bible)

"The wisdom literature from Sumer and Babylonia is among the most ancient in the world, with the Sumerian documents dating back to the third millennium BC and the Babylonian dating to the second millennium BC. Many of the extant texts uncovered at Nippur are as ancient as the 18th century BC. Google AI"

I am a believer in a Liberal Arts education because it opens a person's mind to think, even think "outside the box."

 Heraclitus* famously stated, "There is nothing permanent except change."  *Heraclitus (/ˌhɛrəˈklaɪtəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἡράκλειτος Hērákleitos; fl. c. 500 BC) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, . . ."

If you want an efficient way to learn about ancient wisdom, I recommend: Bartlett's Familiar  Quotations  ISBN 0-316-08460-3, first edition was offered in 1882. I have the 17th edition, published in 2002.

Not a book to just read through, but great for scanning or using like a dictionary or encyclopedia.

A search of ancient books of wisdom will generate a list for you to consider.

As mentioned often, my wife was afflicted by early-onset Dementia in 2017, and her decline has been steady. My job as her only caregiver has been a great challenge, especially with her needing near-total care.

She can sort of eat food with help, and still can walk usually, but the single greatest difficulty is aphasia. Without normal conversation, I can never be certain she understands me. She will laugh at some of my off-beat humor at times and has moments where she will offer a kiss and a hug, and a garbled "I love you" - that is the extent of our intimacy.

I suppose I am too frail a human who craves more but I will not abandon her. I have learned to be a better caregiver and understand that a person affected by dementia, memory loss and aphasia can have short spans of lucidness, but there is no cure and no reversal of her condition.

I half jokingly say that cats, dogs, and humans can adapt to almost anything, and so it is with me. I have adapted.

There is only the slimmest chance for some semblance of a normal social life, as people do not know how to behave in my wife's presence, and I can not leave her alone.