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Welcome to the blogpost of Geoff and the Michaels. It matters not from whence you have come, but here we hope that kindred spirits may arise from the sharing of observations both frivolous and academic. The modern world is a place of information overload, one in which the limits of human physiology is put to the test daily against strenuous tasks of the seemingly unavoidable nature, and one where a person’s senses are subjected to a ceaseless onslaught of stimuli in every waking hour. Although the advent of natural science has provided us with higher living standards, and the rigour of modern life has ensured the continued prosperity of our societies, we believe that there are things which were once integral to humanity that are now lost in the relentless work schedules and distracting social media which dictate the ways in which many people live their lives in the current century. Most of us have been taught since birth to pursue a life of pragmatism, immersing ourselves in the material world whilst casting aside or diminishing the spiritual realm which resides within each of us. In the age of internet and netflix, rarely do people look upon the serene and lightless dome of the night sky and ponder what stories the dying stars once told our forebears. Too often we are deprived of our own free will and independent thinking by the opinions of others, masquerading as facts propagated by media endowed with political, social, and financial agendas. Here we hope that we may contribute in our own small yet meaningful way to the preservation of individual intellectualism and build a forum in which the fruits of meditation, observation, and scholarly research could be shared in an environment of respect, tolerance, and passion.

As for the specifics of what you could expect from this blogpost, we have already begun several collaborative and individual writing projects that will span the vicissitude of our many diverse areas of interest. For the history section, Michael Li is currently writing a series of alternative history scenario which seeks to uncover new insights by depriving us of the power of hindsight. What if Antony and Cleopatra defeated Augustus and became masters of the Roman Empire? What if Constantinople was taken by the Arabs in 817 AD? Would history really have developed in a divergent trajectory, or would the major events have remained the same? There is no real way for us to know the truth, but there are much to learn from trying. He has also written a book on early Roman history, titled “Alexandros and Caesar”, from which he plans to post excerpts. Another series of articles focused on the relationship between Islam and Christianity in the early Middle Ages are also in the works. Similarly, for the history section, Michael Jiang is currently working on a series of posts that examines meritocracy in ancient and modern society, from the humanist, economic, as well as historical perspectives. With regards to mathematics and philosophy, he will be posting a separate series that focuses on a historical analysis of mathematical truth, investigating the seemingly certain axiomatic foundations of pure mathematics. In a more modern context, with natural language processing becoming increasingly prevalent and useful with the advancement of information processing, you can also expect several blogposts to examine the science of such technology and reflect on its impacts on society throughout post WWII history. Geoffrey Yang, the architect of the website, is creating a series on economics, and how knowledge of history and human behavioural pattern could provide exclusive insights of the market. He will be examining the Bridgewater hedge fund as the premier example of how understanding of the humanities are applied in the current financial world with billion-dollars success.

For our collaborative projects, we have envisioned a grand series on the effects of geographical events on history, tracing the relationship between nature and humanity—one of both parasitism and symbiosis—and how forces far beyond our control determine the story of our species. From the earliest river civilisations, to the Roman Climate Optimum, Justinianic Plague, Eurasian ice ages, the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Flu, and at the present Covid-19, great geographical events have sundered empires which spanned from this end of the earth to another, brought down gods from the heavens and raised from the dirt nations which would have never been. Human ideologies, religions, politics, economics, ethics, and philosophy are also greatly influenced, if not entirely decided, by the environment in which we live.  By combining our expertise and overlapping all of our areas of interest, we seek to synthesise a new argument which exposes the reality of the intimate relationship shared by humanity and the earth upon which we live, both with the hopes of providing new perspectives on history and raising awareness for climate change.

Interviews with experts in the relevant fields of academia should also be expected. Truth is found not always through rigorous academic research and philosophical meditations, but can be begotten from human interactions in which divergent perspectives and disparate knowledge conjoin to elucidate the mysteries of life. Our belief in this philosophy hence compels us to invite you to partake in this same communion, whether by commenting, sharing, or emailing, so that intellectual discourse and casual conversations alike may flourish.

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