Thesis:
Discoveries in the fields of self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence, and rationality find no advanced adoption in society over time as measured by the percentage of the general population.
Important note: non-physical phenomena, in the context of this paper, is most specifically in reference to knowledge of the aforementioned fields such as self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence, rationality and their associated skill sets such as emotional management and mental models. Non-physical phenomena are not in reference to knowledge of or belief in spiritual entities, paranormal entities, ghouls, demons or anything of the sort.
Introduction:
Over time, the pool of knowledge for humans has grown and with it the ubiquity of that knowledge. One generation makes a discovery, soon thereafter that discovery becomes the base knowledge for the mass populace in following generations.
This is very true for knowledge of the physical phenomena type such as the knowledge and field of physics. To emphasize the previous point, consider the general awareness to the concept of gravity. Discovered in 1609, gravity was new to the world knowledge having been acquired by 0% of the population unto that point. In present day 2017, with 400 years of maturation, the concept and knowledge of gravity is universally known by 99.99% of the population
This newly discovered knowledge has grown in acquisition when measured via percentage of the general population.
The thesis, however, posits that the acquisition of knowledge of the non-physical phenomena type such as self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence, and rationality has NOT grown over time by percentage.
In other words, if 2% of the population in 100 A.D. was "self-aware", we then find that in 2017, still only 2% of the population is "self-aware" despite the millennia of educators who have sought to raise levels of acquisition through seminal, far-reaching works such as the Bible, Meditations by Aurelius, and many many more.
The positioning for this thesis is based on subjective conclusions that derive from the readings of many great philosophers, thinkers, writers, and academics, who have consistently over the span of millennia shared congruent opinions towards the general populace and their display of self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence, and rationality.
Motivations for Research:
The motivations for this research derive from two well-researched beliefs and theories that argue an improved existence of the human race if knowledge of the non-physical phenomena type were to find greater levels of adoption in society.
The theories:
The first theory and assumption is that a quality life of joy, fulfillment, tranquility, and contentment is a product of the mind. The mind, more specifically, reaches that state of thought and mental state through the adoption of skill sets such as self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence, and rationality.
The second theory posits that a vast majority of geopolitical conflict and the misuse of resources are the result of individuals and imagined human entities who live with a lack of emotional management and untapped awareness to self-ego, identity, and personal biases. Therefore, driving the acquisition of these skill sets to influential decision makers would assumptively lead to a reduction in conflict and overall improvement to the effectiveness of species-wide problem-solving.
Three intended outcomes from this research:
With the two theories in mind, the intentions of this research are first an attempt to discover with a definitive nature whether or not knowledge of non-physical phenomena such as self-awareness, identity awareness, emotional intelligence and rationality and their ensuing skillsets truly sees increased levels of acquisition within the general populace when measured via percentage. Additionally, we here take note of our personal bias towards a disproven thesis.
Second, the intentions of this research is to discover what attributes of knowledge of the non-physical phenomena type cause it to find none or reduced levels of acquisition in society over time when measured via percentage. Consider here an investigation on what characteristics about emotional intelligence lead to it’s none or reduced levels of acquisition as compared to knowledge of the physical phenomena type such as gravity.
Third, based on the findings, the hope is to uncover the perceived barriers of acquisition for knowledge of the non-physical phenomena type, design alternative methods of education and present the new strategies to the academic and political communities, ultimately initiating a movement towards effective acquisition of knowledge of non-physical phenomena in early education that tactfully bypasses previous barriers towards acquisition in the general population.
Strategies & Methods:
Intermediate Roadmap:
Establish clear definitions of:
How a mind with knowledge of non-physical phenomena operates
How a mind without knowledge of non-physical phenomena operates
Operational definitions of knowledge of non-physical phenomena over time
Self-awareness
Identity-awareness
Emotional Intelligence
Rationality
Investigate modern strategies of measurement for knowledge of non-physical phenomena within humans
Develop strategies historical analysis and measurement of general populace knowledge of non-physical phenomena within humans
Scan and analyze historical documents, artifacts, and events for insights on knowledge of non-physical phenomena, specifically searching for:
Evidence of mass populace knowledge of non-physical phenomena over time to establish historical baseline
Evidence of growth by percentage in mass populace knowledge of non-physical phenomena
Evidence of cyclical trends of growth and eventual declines of mass populace knowledge of non-physical phenomena
Evidence of growth by depth of knowledge of knowledge of non-physical phenomena in percentage of mass populace who showed advanced pre-existing knowledge of non-physical phenomena
Understanding of what the causes were for growth of depth of knowledge of non-physical phenomena in segments of the population who had shown advanced, pre-existing knowledge of non-physical phenomena
Understanding of barriers that prevent equal growth of knowledge of non-physical phenomena within population segments who showed little to no knowledge of non-physical phenomena
Scan and analyze modern strategies for the acquisition and education of knowledge of both physical and non-physical phenomena
Review educational practices and effective channels of acquisition of knowledge of physical phenomena as compared to the educational practices and effective acquisition knowledge of non-physical phenomena to draw understanding of points of weakness for knowledge acquisition of the non-physical phenomena typpe
Draw comparisons, make judgments, determine future steps
Based on findings consider the investigation of new research, new avenues of insight acquisition or make final considerations and move forward.
Challenges & Measurements:
The greatest challenge of this research project is to provide strong enough evidence to make accurate enough determinations on the acquisition and capacity of knowledge of non-physical phenomena at a societal scale through a historical lens.
We find that the most accurate forms of modern measurement for the measurement of one's knowledge of non-physical phenomena require active, extended observation of single individuals or small groups, which is unobtainable in a historical context. This, therefore, creates a large disparity in the accuracy of measurement over time when attempting to draw insights through documents, artifacts, and cataloged events.
Entering the research, the base assumption is that historical conclusion will be drawn upon through evidence that is one, two and three-degree factors away from our suggested information.
Hypothesized Data Points to be Used in Benchmarking Societal Knowledge of Non-Physical Phenomena Overtime:
Here, I am presenting three preliminary methods that will be used to draw gentle insights onto the societal knowledge of non-physical phenomena in history over time.
The team intends to draw conclusions between historical events and correlating societal states of emotion that must be required for such an event to occur. I.e. reviewing historical events for clear rises in nationalism, nationalistic movements generally require a society to endure ubiquitous and consistent feelings of fear. Studying historical written text to understand emotional states alongside both significant and non-significant moments in history will potentially afford us an opportunity to identify moments in history where fear rose and led to a rise in nationalism or was conversely suppressed with clarity.
The team intends to draw conclusions through the volume and percentage of artistic works over time that shows clear requirements for creator knowledge of non-physical phenomena. Additionally, the study of artistic expression and stories that depict the mass populace of that time in their natural operative and drawing light inferences upon societal behavior at the time. I.e. books or paintings that depict indirectly depict the general populace in manners that allow for the measurement of knowledge of self-awareness, emotional intelligence or rationality.
The team intends to study shifts in societal morals and ethics that were perhaps the heavy influenced by the opinion of the mass populace rather than a dictatorial decree. I.e. coups and rebels of the mass populace that took over and instituted new a moral code which allows for the measurement of knowledge of non-physical phenomena.
These three methods of measurement represent early and light ideations for historical measurement of knowledge of non-physical phenomena. It is our assumption each specific data points will have flaws, levels of inaccuracy and built in bias to the creator of the historical artifacts. However, as shown in the roadmap, we intend to outline more clear methods of measurement, which collectively, may be able to present a historical trend line of moderate certainty.
Additional challenges & predictable holes in data:
As mentioned, there are clear challenges in the historical analysis of knowledge of non-physical knowledge. The acquisition of knowledge of this type is measured on a scale rather than a binary platform, therefore, historical analysis and its lack of information and scale of competing influences to documents, artifacts and events make pinpointing knowledge of non-physical phenomena a major limitation.
First, second and third degree inferences drawn from historical artifacts will, at best, provide weak to moderate conclusions due to te complexity of societal events.
Much of history and its information is not representative of the mass populace. Lack of education, writing, and societal oppression leads to massive bias into the created and remaining documents and artifacts.
Materials:
Historical literature and artifacts, specifically art, architecture, manufacturing, tools, attire
Historical documents cataloging societal design, historical urban planning, general labor, lifestyles & cultures, religions, ethics & moral codes, historical events
Present educational practices, lifestyles & cultures, ethics & moral codes, political events, societal design
Present literature, art, architecture, tools, attire
Initial Topics of Investigation:
The admittance of ignorance within European Elites circa. 1500 A.D. that led to the Scientific Revolution.
The development and rise of Buddhism and its effects on behavior
Political movements and their correlating emotional states
Correlations between rationality, self-awareness, and societies adoption to the knowledge that Earth was not the center of the universe. Additionally, investigating how this knowledge spread and how it may compare to self-greed.
The d.school at Stanford and how they are measuring and training creativity into students
Using and studying symbolic systems to understand historical communications and context
Discussing present K-12 attempts at teaching the knowledge of non-physical phenomena and its successes. Note: Angela Duckworth + The Character Lab