I was an electronics technician on a fleet ballistic missile submarine, responsible primarily for navigation computer electronics. I have a fairly good foundation in the theory behind inertial navigation, and have extended that to include complications that would be associated with extraterrestrial navigation where translation from one reference frame to another would be required. I have yet to read a sci-fi novel that takes such complications into account for navigation from one solar system to another, much less through worm holes, etc.

I must thank Carl Sagan, starting with "Cosmos" for really sparking my interest in SETI, astrophysics and cosmology. He opened the door for me. Subsequently, Roger Penrose's twistor theory and various string theories with underlying topologies have had their own impact. Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe, implications of symmetry (and breaking thereof) have also had their impact.

My main interest in all of this is primarily with the underlying metaphysics and ontology. I have no desire in solving the mathematical equations involved; I want to have a conceptual understanding of the underlying tensors as far as translation from one phase space to another though. I'm more philosopher than scientist.

My interest in AI, cognitive science, neuroscience, psychophysics largely sprang from my background in computer science and subsequent interest in Turing Machines. Paul and Patricia Churchland were both major influences with regard to the plasticity of mind and with the idea that the brain contains neural networks that perform translations from one phase space to another. The idea that collections of neurons along with their connections solve mathematical equations, so that from seeing an object, we know how to move our arms and hands to grab it, etc.

For really sparking my interest in evolution and how it relates to chemistry and physical sciences, I must thank Philip Kitcher for his book "Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism." Everyone who is on a school board or any organization responsible for deciding what is going to be tought in our schools relating to the origin of humans and other species on the Earth should have to read and comprehend that book (or another book written for a similar enough reason).

Last, but not least, I must thank Thomas Kuhn for his excellent book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," and the idea of paradigm shifts. That provides my foundation for both the history of science and the philosophy of science.

Welcome to our board. Tensors are rough. But please ask some questions to get this started. This board is not very old. i just redid it about 7 days ago. Please feel free to start the threads with your questions and I will do the best to fill in the places that I feel I understand.

I'm referring more to a conceptual understanding than a technical one. I like math, but I'm not a masochist. Nevertheless, I will work at developing some questions to post.

Trust me ... One of the reasons that I started this board was out of frustration from another board that I posted on. There they insisted on math for everything. You couldnt ask any questions without fully being able to calculate GR. I got very frustrated and started this board.

So I totally get where you are coming from.