Introduction--Image: embarking on retroduction--working backwards toward the truth...
Hello World! My name is Eric Sparkman, a.k.a. Vorticieflux6626, I am a 38 year old regular old dude who, from the temerity and tumult of a life where a lot of risks have been taken, many avenues explored and no shortage of injurious reward, has accumulated quite a bit of thought on a wide variety of subjects. I hope to share these on here, as well as other places... and I hope that someone enjoys them.
I grew up in South-West Florida, in a little town called Naples; a kind of strange place to grow up. Naples is a class-stratified locale, either you got too much for your own good; or, you're busting your hump earning a living providing services for those who do. We weren't on the bottom, but not near the top either... my family was a member of that elusive caste of legend: The Middle Class.
Growing up, and encouraged by my father; I took an interest in science, and therefore logic/computers/mathematics by consequence. Regaled by tales of the wonder age of technology; spoken in reverent tones by Dad, I grew up just knowing that the 'Golden Age' of Utopian lifestyle, by means of scientific miracle, was lurking 'just beyond the 'morrow'... a mere distance of small patience for the seeker firmly on the path of enlightenment. Through reason and imagination; tempered by the truth of empiricism. It was a wonderful point of view, and I came to be as enchanted by the siren call of salvation by human reason and creativity as 'ol pops was. My mother was a school teacher in my youth, thus pursuing this paradigm was made all the easier by her knowledge and eagerness to encourage the mental development of her son. I had a younger sister, and she was also in agreement with the spirit of the home, so for a great while it was a wonderful experience.... the Halcyon Days.
Well I am sure you can guess what came down the pipes... (I have come to feel that this is intrinsic to all nice dreams had in the human condition) and of course the harsh reality of an imperfect and rather surprisingly deceptive world came crashing down; tearing asunder the tender imaginings of two small children. (This is a ubiquitous experience I have come to find) Of course looking back it was quite a privilege to have even had an idyllic point of view to be crushed, but ever so painful the crushing was nevertheless. Next came the times of tempestuous tribulation, chaotic circumstance; the frenzy of childhood reason desperately grasping for a handhold--in order to parlay an adaptation of paradigm in hopes of avoiding complete relational-collapse; between the unmistakably cold nature of reality, and the luring optimistic paradigm which had fostered hope & imagination as well as a fertilizer fosters the hardiest weed.
So it has been said that the foundations of psychology are laid out quite early in childhood, everything else is just added onto that basic mental and emotional structure. And so it was for me as well, every action, every thought and all imagination centered around the theme of reconciling the ugly with the beautiful, and thereby constructing a path from this awful here to that wonderful over-there; so that everyone (including myself) could navigate the divide and frolic in the iridescent green pasture of actualized imagination, rewarded venture--the life truly lived.
I chose to study chemistry after much deliberation, it seemed a reasonable compromise between seeking knowledge of practical benefit that did not preclude a future search for objective truth and subjective awareness. Basically, I wanted an excuse to call hedonism a high-brow endeavor, as it seemed to me to be the primary activity enjoyed by the adults in my little world--and by studying chemistry I could achieve this while still head toward a deeper understanding. All life is chemistry, and all awareness I am familiar with is biological, so it seemed like a wise choice to investigate this field... if the problems I had encountered were truly the result of a hidden mechanism of human nature, than a solution; or at least a practical mitigation, could be had by understanding the basic principles upon which such a strange thing as the collective we are built.
So there you have it, I feel that this is a fair introduction of an honest nature... I hope to find an outlet here for my personal philosophical undertakings and desire to express... here is the platform and time will take care of the rest.