Willie Maartens

    Login | Join  

Authors | Books | Stories | Articles | Poetry | Blogs | News | Events | Reviews | Videos | Success | Support | Bookstore

Featured Authors:  Francis Drake, iKim Cox, iJack Pantaleo, iDerek Flower, iWilliam Haynes, iStephen Pollard, iShawn Cormier, i
biography · sitemap · books · articles · poetry · news · short stories · reviews · blogs · success story · message board · contact author

Modern science say that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. Is it really?

 Willie Maartens
• Become a Fan
• 76 Titles
• 152 Reviews
• Share with a Friend
• Save to My Library
• 
Member Since: Jul, 2006
    

I am a qualified Topo-cadastral, Engineering, and Geodetic Surveyor (Geodetic Engineering) and have a doctorate in Business Economics and Management.

In a certain sense, Economics ("Human Ecology") is more of a philosophy than a science, but in another sense it is as hard a science you ever will find. In Paradise, there is no Economics, but the rest of us have to live with it. However, I have always been an Engineer first, and only an Economist as an afterthought.

I have studied Mathematics, and more Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Geodesy, Astronomy, Mining Engineering, Mining Economics, Economics, Business Economics, Logistics, Management, Management Science, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, and Philosophy at certain stages of my life though. I have retired in 2002 because of a very serious heart condition and I keep myself busy now by writing about science, mathematics, philosophy, and religion. Now, I am also a 'qualified' Type 1 Diabetic!

Nevertheless, because of a lifelong, intense interest in mathematics, science, metaphysics, fideism, ontology, and the concepts of faith and knowledge, I have been studying the relationship between science, religion, different philosophies, and the occult for over forty years.

I was born in South Africa, and I grew up on the gold mines of the Transvaal, and worked as a land surveyor, geodetic engineer, business economist, consultant, entrepreneur, university lecturer, and freelance researcher. Both my father and paternal grandfather were mining engineers and I subsequently grew up in a house stacked with topographical, topo-cadastral, and geological maps. In fact, they were my main toys as a child and I love maps to this day. My father later was a mine manager of the biggest mining complex in the world - Vaal Reefs Exploration and Gold Mining Co.

My first encounter with science was with astronomy and geology as a child. A love that also has lasted throughout my life. When you travel through the African bush a first-class knowledge of ‎astronomy and geology is essential – especially if you look for minerals. In ‎those days, there was no GPS, and most times even maps, or roads, were non-existent. ‎We navigated by the use of the Sun and the stars like mariners through the ‎African landscape.

Accompanying my father on exploration surveys all over Africa whenever possible were the highlights of my childhood years. My father had a huge respect and reverence for the Earth and that made a huge impression on me. We would sit around campfires in the African bush discussing life, philosophy, science, religion, and the meaning of it all – trying to figure out Spirit and mind’s relation to matter/energy; and of course the inherent consciousness of our Mother Earth ('Gaia'). It was our own private church, but anyone was welcome. Huge numbers of mosquitoes usually attended and saw us as their communion bread.

*****

As a student, I first got involved with computers in the early 1970s. I started programming mainframes (with the original version of BASIC). Later I owned my own Sinclair ZX 80/81, an Apple 11, and a number of other PCs. I did some programming in machine code, assembler, and later versions of BASIC ‎(The original BASIC was designed in 1963, by John George Kemeny and Thomas ‎Eugene Kurtz at Dartmouth College.)‎, PASCAL, FORTRAN, COBOL, Clipper, C, C++, assembler, and machine code.

In the 1990s, my son studied Computer Systems Engineering at university. I helped him with his mathematics (my strong point) and in the process learned a lot more about computer hardware, digital electronics, software development, and networks.

I assisted him with his projects, for example, building robot cars with different types of sensors and programming the cars’ programmable integrated circuits (PICs).

My son and I then had our own computer business for a number of years – fixing, upgrading, building computers, and installing local area networks.

*****

I believe that humans are psycho-anatonomical organisms and not merely anatonomical ‘machines’. We, like computers, have hardware (bodies, including the brain) and software (minds) part-systems.

However, since the Industrial Revolution, the peoples from Western civilizations had developed an increasingly more mechanistic point of view of reality. As our knowledge of physics and chemistry grew, and with the advent of the steam engine, we started to see the universe and all life in it as a big mechanical machine constructed from chemical elements.

Since then our knowledge has kept on increasing with discoveries about electricity, electronics, information and communication science, computer science and nanotechnology, and especially quantum theory, and holography.

We had a whole paradigm shift, and have since developed tools like general systems theory, cybernetics, and chaos theory that are directing our approach to these new, technological developments. The mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes has become utterly untenable and we have to reconsider our world perspective and probably develop a more holistic and organic view of our world and belief systems.

When we, for example, look at a modern personal computer (a PC) we see a cabinet, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, speakers, a printer, a scanner, etc. If we look inside the cabinet, we will also see a mainboard with a central processing unit (CPU). Usually there are also video and audio cards, as well as random access memory (RAM) units plugged into special slots. This, including all the wiring, constitutes the computer’s hardware components (its body).

To be operational a computer will need a source of suitable energy (electricity) as well as a hierarchy of interconnected computer programs (software components, its mind) – firmware, an operating system, and applications software programs. Electricity (electrons and ‘holes’) is also a physical component like the computer hardware, but the computer programs and information in the programs, although anchored in hardware, are something completely different from the hardware altogether. If you did not know that there is software involved, you will never find it!

We have moved away from the mere mechanistic machine to an electronic device – a machine with a ghost inside! The modern electromechanical apparatus now has not only memory, but also has enormous decision-making capabilities! It has evolved from a ‘mechanical idiot’ into a ‘thinking android’.

If we compare ‘the anatomy and physiology of a living organism’ with ‘the architecture of a PC’, we will find certain noticeable similarities and not only in the hardware parts (anatonomical and physiological aspects) of both, but especially in the software parts (psychological aspects). Software in both cases is entirely outside the realm of the physical scientists. (The so-called mind-body duality.)

Both organisms and PCs are complex cybernetic systems, where cybernetics is for our purposes the study of self-regulating information, control, communication, and transformation systems in organisms, mechanical and electronic, and electromechanical equipment.

I truly believe that humans consist of spirit ('the Operator/Witness'), body ('Hardware'), and mind ('Software').



Birth Place: Roodepoort, Transvaal,  South Africa

Accomplishments: I have won numerous prizes for best lecturer and researcher through the years.
     



Books

Mapping Reality: A Critical Perspective on Science and Religion by Willie Maartens
Mapping Reality is a critical perspective on science and religion, and specifically on faith (religion and science) and rational thought (science). Science gives us scientific ‘facts’, and religion supply us with religious ‘truths’- however what can we accept confidently as ‘really’ true. Mapping Reality is an endeavour to illustrate (by means of examples) how inadequate human thought and senses a...
  

Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk  Barnes & Noble.com  Kalahari.net  Loot

An Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Spirit: A Holistic Quest to Understa by Willie Maartens
Physical science studies the ‘hardware’ component of nature; mystics contemplate the ‘software’ component. It is now necessary to integrate the two worldviews. ...
  

Amazon.com  Amazon.co.uk  Barnes & Noble.com  Kalahari.net  Loot



Short Stories

EUGÈNE MARAIS: BABOONS, TERMITES, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE
 by Willie Maartens
Where is the soul of a termite, or the soul of man? ...


Consider The Paradoxes And Ironies Of Life
 by Willie Maartens
I finally figured it out that the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. ...


THE GREAT CHAIN OF BEING: FROM LEPTONS AND HADRONS TO THE COSMOS
 by Willie Maartens
About the hierarchy of life....


HUMAN ARROGANCE – NO ONE IS EXEMPT!
 by Willie Maartens
The arrogance of science....


THE BIRDS AND I: A REAL ECOSYSTEMS PROBLEM
 by Willie Maartens
A problem of sustainability. ...


WHAT AILS MOTHER EARTH?
 by Willie Maartens
The disease of too many mouths to feed...


COSMOLOGY AND ZERO HUMOUR
 by Willie Maartens
Am I joking? ...


MAPPING REALITY REVISITED
 by Willie Maartens
How can we recognize reality? ...


THE INADEQUACY OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION
 by Willie Maartens
Do you experience what I am saying?...


TO BE OUTSIDE OR WITHIN THE ACCEPTED ‘SCIENTIFIC’ PARADIGM
 by Willie Maartens
What is ‘scientifically’ acceptable?...


THE RISE AND FALL OF CIVILIZATIONS
 by Willie Maartens
Where are we eventually heading for? ...


INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND HISTORY
 by Willie Maartens
Economic history revisited...


THE URANTIA BOOK – A TRUE ENIGMA
 by Willie Maartens
Strange, amazing, unbelievable, or true? ...


MY LIFE, MY PAIN, MY TRIUMPH
 by Willie Maartens
Life goes on!...



Poetry

Beware
 by Willie Maartens
Life is short - beware....


To be as Heaven and Earth
 by Willie Maartens
The Spirit of Heaven, the Body of Earth....


States of Being
 by Willie Maartens
To Be...


Proven
 by Willie Maartens
Simple theology...


A Sea-fearing Man
 by Willie Maartens
'Love' the Sea....


SOME VERSUS SOME
 by Willie Maartens
On stupidity, arrogance, and narrow-mindedness....


THINK SOME MORE TWO – EVEN IF IT HURTS
 by Willie Maartens
On thinking and faith...


ILLUSIONS OF KNOWLEDGE – WE BELIEVE THAT WE KNOW
 by Willie Maartens


NATURE LOVES YOU – BE AVERAGE
 by Willie Maartens


TO BE FREE
 by Willie Maartens
Freeform poem on freedom....



Articles

The Chicken and Egg Dilemma
 by Willie Maartens
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?...


Nothing, Nothingness, and Zero
 by Willie Maartens
Where did everything started?‎...


The Speed of Light: Was Einstein Misguided?
 by Willie Maartens
Is it true that Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was one of the great geniuses of our time, or was he just misguided?...


Mind, Nature, and Evolution: Is it Matter or Spirit?‎
 by Willie Maartens
What drives the evolution of life?‎...


Read All About 'It From Bit': Do We Need Information?
 by Willie Maartens
What exactly is information? And why should information not be confused with matter-energy?...


The Nature of Energy: The Universe is a Huge Steam Engine, or so They Claim
 by Willie Maartens
Can we realistically compare the Universe to a steam engine? ...


The Origin Of Life: Are We All Aliens?
 by Willie Maartens
Perhaps the most fundamental and at the same time the least understood ‎biological problem is that of the origin of life. It is central to many religious, ‎scientific, and philosophical pr...


Is it Normal, Paranormal, or Supernatural: What is the Difference Anyway?‎
 by Willie Maartens
What is normal, paranormal, or supernatural?...


Mithras And Jesus: Is This The Same Old Story Over-And-Over Again?‎
 by Willie Maartens
Here is something to ponder over the Festive Season.‎...


Maya, Ignorance, and Illusion: The Sources Of Evil
 by Willie Maartens
Where does evil come from?...


The Magic of Gravity: An Unsolved Mystery
 by Willie Maartens
What is gravity, and what causes it?...


The Constituents Of The Universe And God’s Guitar‎
 by Willie Maartens
Let us for a moment consider the convergence of the view of modern physics ‎with that of ancient mystics worldwide. This topic has become very popular ‎and many books have been written abo...


Who Created What?
 by Willie Maartens
The Enigma of Human Life...


A Balanced View of the Universe
 by Willie Maartens
‎When you consider reality, you must consider everything... ...


The Creation Equation: About the Normal and the 'Paranormal'
 by Willie Maartens
In the beginning ......


What Does It Matter: What is Matter
 by Willie Maartens
A very simple question: What is matter?...


Spirit, Mind, Matter-Energy, and Information
 by Willie Maartens
This essay was written exclusively to answer the question of Jeno Miklos with allusion to a previous essay of mine, i.e. The Basic Elements of Nature: Matter, Energy, and Information. ...


The Noösphere, The Internet, And Other Related Concepts: An Interlinked Sys
 by Willie Maartens
The Noösphere and the Internet....


Nothing about Everything
 by Willie Maartens
How to get from the Big Bang, abiogenesis, neo-Darwinism, and economics to starvation....


Mathematics: The Language of Numbers
 by Willie Maartens
Do you talk the talk? Do you understand the semantics of mathematics? ...


Entropy and Teleology: A One-Way Street?
 by Willie Maartens
Where are you going? Do you have enough energy?...


Evolution 101: Are You a Descendent of Plesiadapis?
 by Willie Maartens
What is evolution, Darwinism, or neo-Darwinism? ...


Questions About Human Wealth
 by Willie Maartens
The force behind human progess....


South Africa: Wealth and History Engraved in Rock
 by Willie Maartens
A superficial canter over the South African landscape from the Hadean to the early Mesozoic....


The Mind-Body Duality Solved
 by Willie Maartens
What do we know that the old philosophers and mystics did not know? ...



News

Monthly Radio Talk Show
 by Willie Maartens
RADIO TALK SHOW – MONTHLY FEATURE...


Radio Interview on July 1
 by Willie Maartens
Radio Interview in July. ...


Radio Interview in July
 by Willie Maartens
Radio Interview on my Second Book....


Radio Talk Show
 by Willie Maartens
Radio talk show...


My Second Book is at the Publishers now
 by Willie Maartens
Book on God, reality, life, spirit, soul, mind, memory, body, and consciousness....


MY SECOND BOOK
 by Willie Maartens
Announcement....


MY FRIEND ‘THE INVISIBLE PINK UNICORN’ AND I
 by Willie Maartens
Referred - Wikipedia...


Mapping Reality Website
 by Willie Maartens
Creating an official website....


Links

My Official Blog


My Photos

My Son's Website

Google Book Search
 
Contact Information

Self-employed
99 Zondereind Rd HARMONY
Virginia     9430   South Africa
Fax: +27866728905
biography · sitemap · books · articles · poetry · news · short stories · reviews · blogs · success story · message board · contact author
      

Login | Click here to join AuthorsDen
New to AuthorsDen? | Advertise with Us | Add AuthorsDen to your Site | Share AD with your friends | Need Help? | Company