(New Instrument of Threes)
- page two -
(The Study of Threes)
http://threesology.org
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In addition to accomplishments he may be entitled to receive recognition for but that we may never know about since information thereof was either lost, still buried, or was never recorded; he is remembered for showing that air is required for combustion— and is said to have been the first who used lenses to correct vision. Allegedly, he also prophesized many of the inventions of later centuries such as aircraft, telescopes, steam engines and microscopes. Whether factual or some fanciful notion perpetrated by an historian reminiscent of the Piltdown Man hoax without British based stage props, he nonetheless deserves credit for what can be established. As a further historical note, in his day, he was a wealthy lecturer at the schools of Oxford as well as Paris and a scholar renown for having a great knowledge of science. In terms of referencing a third Bacon, we can also find a reference to a Robert Bacon who is said to have been either a brother or uncle of Roger. We might only guess as to how much he influenced the thinking of Roger. Image source: Roger Bacon |
There was a Roger Bacon (1220-1292) noted as an English
scientist and Franciscan monk; and one might want to assume would be the person for
whom "The Empirical Method" is best remembered, since he stressed the importance
of experimentation... but which nonetheless earned him the accolade of being viewed
as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method... even
though his "experiments" are said to have been carried out by way of acquiring
information derived from texts and were not those based on actual testing methods
outside his own mind's visualization processes.Because we encounter the information that:
- Francis Bacon is assigned recognition for "The Empirical method" based on observation and collection of data.
- Roger Bacon is assigned similar recognition for utilizing "The Empirical Method" applied with experimentation...
...it is of need to portray three different kinds of this methodology with some explanation.
The need is great in order to clear up confusion which might possibly ensue when the same "The Empirical Method" phrase is being used to label (metaphorically speaking), the same animal seen from different vantage points:
- The "common sense" form of Empirical Method which gathers information from a variety of sources that may be invalid and is typically catalogued in one's memory 'ledger'. For example, someone you respect says they "think" something is correct, and you accept their honest admission as a statement rendering a factual account that is attributed to the information being provided. Your conclusion might thus be faulty due to an incorrect or small sampling of information, which may nonetheless come from a true source... (in other words, it wasn't made up in your imagination). This is not to say you weren't sincere, nor that your approach to acquiring information is wrong, whether overall circumstances such as time, availability of information sources, etc., are taken into account.
- The "authoritative or professional" form of Empirical Method which produces "educated guesstimations" after a certain type and amount of information is assembled for a given circumstance. However, authoritative and professional individuals sometimes view themselves as being infallible, and do not always make the best judgments... they just think they do and convince others they do; while being able to use their position and intelligence to cover up mistakes with various defensive maneuvers.
- The "experimental" or "scientific" form of Empirical Method which gathers information, develops an hypothesis, subjects the hypothesis to one or more experiments and then draws a conclusion which may include having the problem subjected to others by way of their expertise.
In short, as mentioned in the previous exploration (page 1), The word "Empirical" generally denotes an internalized toolbox of (different) investigative techniques used not only to collate different ideas, but to analyze and work out some testability of verification. It is colloquially phrased in a succinct way as thus: "Different strokes for Different folks." (Which, by the way, may have been thought of while somebody was attempting to row a boat differently from someone else, but intent on the same destination.)
While I agree with experimentation and observation from which facts can be itemized and derived into practical application; the (experimental form of) empirical method is not always used. Take for example the concept of "Brownian Motion" as developed by Robert Brown (1773 - 1858) which describes frequent, random, fluctuation of the motion of particles suspended in a fluid; after observing (in a microscope) a suspension of pollen grains in water.
Like an artist, he was observing nature but "painted, sketched or sculpted" his perception in words on a canvas that we might call a notebook, ledger, or frequent, random, fluctuation of the motion of papers on one's shelf or desk. His "painting" was ahead of its time in the sense it might well have been viewed as a Piccassoian-like "abstract"-ion by those with "common sense" who might have seen the same thing but said "so what!?" or issued some other type of exclaimed expletive. Even many of his scientific-minded contemporaries might well have seen the same thing but dismissed the observation as an "everyday thing", that is, if any further acknowledgment of the observation was even made.
Such is the case with an observation of the "threes phenomena". Similarly, many can see the various "threes" examples when brought to their attention, but they themselves don't catalogue all the examples, much less different variations thereof. And nor do they extend their observations into a developed philosophy of further considerations, such as using the information to teach speech writing and vocal delivery thereof.
Many of us have seen similar accounts of observing motioned activity whether or not similarly described with the same illustration given by Robert Brown (since he used a microscope), but did not develop our observation into a stated form that is followed up with additional analysis.
Here is a short list of motion involving different types of "particles" or "waves". Some readers may think to view some of the examples as representations of ordering and placement specificity such as the laying of bricks or blocks. However, if you've never worked on a construction site where different teams of worker were in friendly competition with one another, either for fun or profit, you might then realize how "chaotic" the process and players involved can get.
- Bugs "skimming" on water producing concentric "wave particles" ("wavicles").
- Frothing bubbles.
- Social or group encounters of people, animals, insects.
- Cloud movement.
- Fruit on, and falling or picked from trees, bushes or vines. (Growth and decay are not always as linear and consistent as some might think to imagine or design in their minds.)
- Vegetables picked from a garden. (Ask any group of kids who can pick the most the fastest.)
- Bricks, blocks or stones assorted into a roadway, building, or arch-way.
- Waves on a hot surface such as sand, pavement, or metal surface.
- Waves of water. (Waves are not always "melodic".)
- Leaves on trees being "scattered" by the wind.
- Someone with a television remote "looking for something good" on television.
- "Black Friday" Christmas shopping.
- A room full of flies evading a fly swatter.
- Words, numbers, symbols "scattered" on a page (though we claim coherency).
- Keys "scattered" on a keyboard or sound waves "connected" to piano keys, guitar strings, etc... (The "coherency" of a musical selection is very often personalized.)
- Plant seeds scattered by wind, animals, or clothing.
- Debris scattered by whirling waves called tornadoes.
- Planets "scattered" in orbits.
- Centipede legs going in different directions. (As one might see in a cartoon.)
- Snowflakes in a snow storm, snowflakes having different patterns, no two snowmen are the same, etc...
- Pepper sprinkled in a bowl of water in which a drop of oil is placed.
- Candy, cake and ice cream put into a room of kids.
- Kids looking for Easter Eggs.
- Silence may cause movement by motivating someone to remark how quiet it is; thereby disturbing the "particles" of silence into waves of sound which are absorbed, reflected, and refracted by objects, thereby creating a third metaphysical atomic structure for which no label presently exists..
- ETC...
Once you become aware of "Brownian Motion", it can be seen everywhere. If not actually, than imaginatively so.
And while we're on the subject of waves and particles (including the combined notion of "wavicle"), I would like to suggest the possible existence of three forms of atomic particles: Linear, Circular, Triangular. Even though it is customary to view quantum mechanics in terms of a billiard table model, colliding particles don't seem to respond as if two "circular" particles are colliding with one or more other circular particles. Collisions might well take place amongst variously-shaped particles. Whereas a recurrence of the "threes" phenomena in physics is known in context, those making a mention thereof are not taking a larger philosophical view thereof. If there are three basic particles known as electrons - neutrons - protons, along with 3 quarks and 3 anti-quarks,three families of fundamental particles as well as three theories to the shape of the Universe; three different forms of particles might well exist.
3 branes page 3
Here is a short list of other linear - circular - triangular forms:
| "3" Basics Formula | Linear | Circular | Triangular |
| 3 galaxy/universe items | Our galaxy through space | Motion of galaxy | Expansion/Contraction {<>,X} |
| 3 basic Earth motions | Earth+Moon+Sun | Rotation of Earth | Precession of Earth's axis |
| 3 forms of matter | Liquid | Solid | Gas |
| 3 fundamental forces | (N)electro-magnetism(S) | Gravity | Nuclear (+)(-)(+/-) |
| 3 conceptual models: A dual form of singularity A circular form of duality A plurality of threeness |
Primitive (Singularity) |
Native American (Duality)
|
Indo-European (Trianguality)
|
| 3 (hair) cross-sections | African: ribbon-like | Asian: circular | Caucasian: ellipsoid |
| 3 Earth shapes | Earth is flat | Earth is round | Earth is a triaxial ellipsoid |
| 3 Universe theories | Universe is flat | Spherical | Saddle (triangular)-shaped |
| 3 physics ideas | String theory | Particle theory | Multi-dimensional theory |
| 3 stone tool shapes | Mono-facial | Bi-facial | Tri-facial (arrow heads) |
| 3 counting objects | Lines (on bones, rocks, etc.) | Pebbles, stones, (clay,etc.) | Cones (wedges) |
| 3 engineering tools | Lever | Pulley/Wheel | Fulcrum |
| 3 engine shapes | In-line, Slanted, etc... | Radial, Rotary | V-shaped |
| 3 shapes game | Paper (flat-linear) | Rock (round-circular) | Scissors (X-shaped/triangular) |
| 3 human face items | Eyebrows | Eyes | Nose |
| 3 playground items | Monkey bars/See-saw | Merry-go-round | Slide/Swing-set support |
| 3 in-vehicle views | Road, Stick shift, etc... | Steering wheel | Perceptual view of distance |
| 3 early industry tools | Staff, Poker | Pottery wheel, Kiln | Fire (flame), Bellows |
| 3 pre-industry tools | Stick | Rock | Fire (flame) |
| 3 cyanobacteria shapes | Filamentous (string-like) | Coccoidal (ball-like) | Ellipsoidal (egg-shaped) |
| 3 stromatolite shapes | Flat-layered | Domical/Columnar | Conical |
| 3 building structures | Skyscrapers | Coliseums Stadiums,etc. |
Pyramids |
| 3 foot descriptions | Heal to Toe line | Balls of feet | Arch of foot |
| 3-in-1 necktie forms | Fronts piece covers buttons | Encircles the neck | Triangle slip knot |
| 3-in-1 washing machine cycle status symbols Speed Queen Commercial washer Model # SWT91QN |
 In Use (vertical line) |
Spin (circular "curlicue") |
Rinse (triangular water shape) |
| 3 bird-flight formations | Diagonal, Horiz., Vertical | "Bunched up" | V-shaped (also J/L/7 variations) |
Note: I used the symbols {><} and {X} to portray expansion and contraction. Did the Universe expand like a bursting ball in all directions or a selected direction? It is not certain if the "Big Bang" occurred at a single point and then expanded in all directions. Unless we care to consider that our Universe is the result of an implosion, which is 1 idea, then there are 3 other theories we can consider, which brings our overall formula to a 3:1 ratio. The other three being a Linear- Circular- Triangular expansion after the Big Bang. Also, if the expansion is slowing down, is there to be an eventual "Big Crunch?"
3-part P. Allen Smith's rule-of-thumb for dressing a pot with plants:
- Top of pot- Use tall and spikey plants (linear)
- Center of pot- Use round and full plants (circular)
- bottom of pot- Use plants that spill over the edge (triangular)...
[You will have to visualize a triangular-shaped clay pot in order to appreciate that plants "spilling over the edge" produce a triangular visual image as they contour a triangular pot.]
Robert Brown (21 Dec. 1773 – 10 June 1858) was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; the observation of Brownian motion; early work on plant pollination and fertilization, including being the first to recognize the fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made numerous contributions to plant taxonomy, including the erection of a number of plant families that are still accepted today; and numerous Australian plant genera and species, the fruit of his exploration of that continent with Matthew Flinders.
Robert Brown made lists of plants just as did Darwin and many, many others did and do. But his type of memory required him to develop a methodology of categorization for his particular usage. Whereas some people once prided themselves on remembering the birth-dates and telephone numbers of friends and family members, the electronic era is replacing this effort by simply requiring people to remember to catalogue dates (date numbers/letters) and phone numbers/names and where to locate the catalogue... such as in a cellphone, day planner, etc.
One must wonder if memorization is being set on idle, requiring less mental functioning as well. And we must also wonder if this lack of mental memorization activity will lead to earlier occurrences of senility since the brain is being kept less active... above and beyond a socially acceptable interactively functional vegetative state. Speaking of memory, I was once told I have the memory of a Billy goat... meaning, I remember quite well. This was told to me by someone who relied on people forgetting about the many lies he told... just like so many businesses, governments and religions. But for those who have good memories, such entities want you to remember only false memories.
But making a list is not the difficult thing. Whereas categorization is a little harder and time consuming, the task is relatively easy if one uses methods and manners identical with or similar to that which is already in usage. One needs merely to substitute one's own examples for those being used by another in their categorization formula. If one's sole interest is to make money off of one's list, one has to apply the information to a given medium that is marketable at a given time in a given way. But you can't sale an erudite book in a culture whose people are illiterate. In the case of selling a collection of different "threes" examples, a game called "Tribond" had been developed.
TriBond was invented by (three people) Tim Walsh, Dave Yearick, and Ed Muccini. The idea first came to them in 1987 while they were students at Colgate University. The inspiration came when they learned that John Haney and Ed Werner, who invented Trivial Pursuit, had also attended Colgate. They wanted to invent a game that provided an intellectual challenge but also had a broader appeal than games of straight trivia questions that had been very popular in the 80's. Within two years, they had their first prototype of TriBond and were ready to market the game.
Initial marketing for the game was difficult. Parker Brothers, Mattel, Tyco and several other game companies all turned TriBond down. At the time they were working with Patch Products to manufacture the game. Tim Walsh talked them into hiring him on as a marketing manager to sell TriBond. With some clever promoting techniques they were able to sell around 150,000 copies of TriBond in 1993. By 1996 TriBond had sold over a million copies. Image source: The Play Makers.com
For those of us who understand that our "threes" research may not, in and of itself develop even a marginal income, we persist in it with our own reasons for doing so. While this is not particularly troublesome, attempting to get people to see the "threes phenomena" from a new perspective is difficult when those who have shown some interest in generating a list, attribute it solely to some religious, superstitious, or urban legend influence in a given era. Such a page as the present one is not meant for them.
I know (well, slightly almost) exactly what Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) felt when he provided the Scientific World with his papers in 1905, but it took his peers quite awhile to understand what he was portraying because it was a new way of perceiving the world, or at least some aspect of it. (Note: Einstein's papers are given a "Pythagorean" quantum: 3, 4, 5... Threes Hypothesis supplement 2)
An entire shift in thinking had to take place amongst Einstein's peer group in order for them to grasp his perspective, just as it will be of need for a shift in thinking when physicists step beyond Einstein's theories... Theories which will no doubt lead not only to experimentation, but new forms of experimentation. The same thing occurs with many, many, many observations. For example, lots of people know we are on the 3rd planet from a Sun and that DNA has a triplet coding system and that you end a sentence with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. But none of these millions of people are cataloguing their awareness of the recurring "three" into a repository with which to reflect on and study further beyond their stupid religious, superstitious or urban legend (such as "death occurs in threes") nonsense... much less try to develop some coherent form of experimentation.
From Robert Brown's cataloguing of his observations, others have been able to reflect on the information and applied it to their own catalogued observations, even if their "catalogue" is only written in memory. For example, Einstein gave the first theoretical analysis of Brownian Motion which helped to convince the Scientific World of the reality of molecules. (And to think many of us today take this knowledge for granted.) Robert Brown's work, followed by Einstein's, assisted with the development of Kinetic Theory which is a statistical model based on the idea of randomly moving atoms or molecules whose kinetic energy increases with temperature.
In short, not all discoveries of importance take place in the laboratory. The ideas for generating the experiments are very often little more than conjectures based on an accumulation of information which consciously, sub-consciously, and perhaps even unconsciously "exerts itself" on a particular person's "mentatiousness". (I think I prefer the word "mentatatiousness", unless 'threeness' requires "mentatatatiousness". But this either gives the impression of some infant babbling sequence, stuttering, or some play-back recital of childhood when we used to repeat ourselves while holding a pretend machine-gun when playing neighborhood army games.)
Indeed, some discoveries are made quite by accident. For example, Radio Astronomy was initiated in 1932 by Karl Jansky who found an interference in a telephone system he was working on: The source proved to be the Milky Way. Such "accidents" are frequently referred to as by way of serendipity... though that which is "tripped over" may then be subjected to experimental verification, and elaborated on by others, because a person may not believe their eyes and won't believe anything could be so simple, so easy, is laying 'out in the open', etc., whether it would be readily obvious to one or more others. With the following a notable observation in this regard:
There are three kinds of men. (Attributed to Will Rogers, 1879 - 1935)
- The one that learns by reading.
- The few who learn by observation.
- The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
And for some readers, a related 3-patterned phrase may be (taken from a movie entitled "The Lathe of Heaven"):
- Neurotics build castles in the sky (Imaginary observation).
- Psychotics live in them (Imaginary experimentation).
- Psychiatrists collect the rent.
The last item relates to: (Straddling the world of reality and make- believe, with the "reality" as a made-up world itself. Thus, experimentation to define the real and fanciful must keep intact the reality which provides a steady income in the observed and practiced "realty"... which might involve all sorts of nonsense such as believing in witches or that one's government would not intentionally murder its own people under "rationalized" guises and call such acts "collateral damage".)
You'll have to decide for yourself which of the above three categories are those that pee on the electric fence. Perhaps all of them do at one time or another.
Another way of looking at the above 3-part description is to note that Charities can not exist if the conditions for which they do, are eliminated. Likewise, if conditions which can precipitate a military conflict are not maintained, there would be no need of a military. And, a centralized form of government would not be needed if a decentralized form of social self-governance was practiced. Then again, in the Early days of modern America when there were numerous volunteer fire departments and there were those who wanted to "play fireman" as a full-time occupation, a few of these "brave, honest, upright" citizens took it upon themselves to engage in the logic of starting fires, in order to "prove" to the public the need for full-time firemen... and why taxes had to be increased. Likewise, this same mentality occurs amongst those who want to justify their "needed" positions in various full-time religious, military, anti-terrorist, environmental conservation, charity, pharmaceuticals, oil, forestry fire-fighting, disaster management, policy making, law-making, etc...
Instead of giving refrain to "Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink", we should be chorusing: "Logic, logic, everywhere, but none with which to think." This summarizes the present state of affairs in this day and age. I hope it is used by future historians to make reference to this Age of Irrationality.
The behavior of collecting miscellaneous facts is an activity all of us do in our minds by way of our own method of improvisation. While most people don't collect miscellaneous facts or bits of information and place them into some sort of observable cataloguing system such as a "Threes" list, they still collect facts born from observation and keep them "catalogued" in memory in one fashion or another such as a cook or chef who retains a "running" (retrievable from memory) list of recipes, ingredient substitutions, etc. This of course says nothing about those who collect bits of information or facts in pictorial forms or even in mediums involving mixtures of representation such as a collection of songs which are particularly set into a readily accessible memory because they illustrate a person's personal philosophy of one or more perceptions or particular experiences.
Some people might think it obviously foolish to collect hundreds, if not thousands of "threes" examples. For example, years ago when I made mention of some threes examples to a young woman who looked at me questioningly and queerly... not quite knowing what to make of my recitation. I responded that she must think my collection represented numerically rationalized superficial correlations. She said that this is exactly what they were. Even though she had not had the words to articulate some representative opposition, (actually a verbal form of "blocking" such as when one crosses their arms), I provided a means of defending her inability to respond with an intelligent appraisal. On the other hand, I have encountered many, many, many people who find the list-of-threes fantastic... particularly when it is followed by receiving a copy of the Threes (and Three Wise Men) poster.
Some people prefer to collect only those examples which have some meaning for them which they can provide some appreciable answer to by most or all, that may make a disapproving remark to their collection, such as those examples from the subject area of human anatomy; because such examples are from "authoritative" texts and would-be detractors associate themselves with being some sort of authority... at least in their own mind. And while I have collected different examples of "threes" in what could be defined as a haphazard way, I have also collected "threes" from specific areas with great intent for doing so. However, in both cases, the accumulation of various "threes", regardless of the method used, has required various attempts at deriving some sort of cataloguing system which bests fits the information being collected.
Necessarily so, while conventional methods of cataloguing initially sufficed like someone who owns a personal library of a few books, my collection has exceeded the mere collection of what might be described as, analogously, a singularly personalized book shelf. Along with the "typical" examples of "threes", my mind swims with geometric patterns and arrays of indeterminate (metaphorically speaking) forms and formulas which have no apparent "traditional" categorizations... in as much as these are simplistic accounts thereof and are merely meant as linguistic conventions and not approximations. But such a collection presents one with several questions such as: What do you label something that not only needs a new label, but a new way of looking at it in order to gain perspective?
It is difficult to categorize that which is difficult to label and is more like an impression which periodically "vibrates" in and out of perceptual range... Perhaps indicating the need for the human brain to evolve. It's like the (2000) movie "Frequency" in which a son living in the future talks to his dad in the past via a short-wave radio, because of highly localized electro-temporal spatial effects caused by unusual Aurora Borealis activity.
But, in my case, instead of there being two people, there are three (and I don't mean in a 3 faces of Eve sort of way): One in the past, one in the present and one in the future... but the "radio" is an inter-linked signal bouncing off our minds which act like a satellite straddling different time periods and is attached with a "temperamental" tuning dial with a lot of era-specific "static" Jumbling up the messages because the person in the past is using raw ore as an antenna, the person in the present is using a metal coat hanger as their "rabbit ears", and the person in the future is using the next generation do-it-yourself array. In essence, what I'm describing is a whole new take on "Plato's Cave".
...Whereas I'm trying to illuminate the shadows on the cave wall, they disappear every time I use a torch... since the cave shadows are "burnt away" the closer I get with the torch...
And for those wondering, I am not talking about ordinary shadows used to entertain the minds of children as when one sets up a light to cast "hand shadows" of animals such as a rabbit, bird or dog. For those who confused my usage of language in the present description, I am portraying a whole different kind of animal. For the present, with respect to our "see" voyage, we can call it a mermaid, unless you prefer a three-humped Lochness "Monster". In other words, give the perceiver the benefit of the doubt instead of trying to compete for a top dog herd mentality award.
...But then the small light of the torch can't be seen because it is overwhelmed in luminosity by the light of a campfire. And then it too becomes a hidden shadow when the whole forest is set alight... which then becomes swallowed by a black hole when looking into the Sun. Then when one becomes blinded, they begin to see shadows of light and dark. After which, along with two other "blind" searchers, we are each asked to describe a creature called an elephant that we've never seen before. We three, like my aforementioned counterparts, give different descriptions of the same thing from our perspective using our own "Empirical Method" approaches.
But let's not momentarily leave this particular sojourn without making the comment that periods of introversion, long moments of boredom, seemingly endless days, and windless moments can arise on a ship using sail power only. Arguments amongst crew and passengers can arise as well as long periods of needed rest, reading, and research. So don't expect every leg of our journey into this unknown to be filled with the New, Fantastic, and unbelievable each time we get underway.
Posting Update: Friday, April 25, 2014
HTMl (4.01) update: Sunday, May 26, 2019... 10:03 AM
Your Questions, Comments or Additional Information are welcomed:
Herb O. Buckland
herbobuckland@hotmail.com