Global warming is the gradual increase in the Earth's Temperature near it's land surface and oceans. Since the 1950’s, scientists have realized that the earth’s temperature has slowly been rising due to an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gases are natural substances that exist in the earth’s atmosphere. They include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases have the ability to absorb solar energy, and work in heating the earth's overall temperature. 

The Earth's Temperature - "A Delicate Balance"

During the process of Nuclear Fusion, the Sun converts its fuel into solar radiation, which travels towards the planet earth. As this radiation approaches the earth, it passes through the earth's atmosphere. 

(a) Approximately ½ of this solar radiation is absorbed by the earth’s surface, including its land and oceans. This radiation is converted into heat by the earth's land and oceans, which increases the the Earth's overall temperature.

(b) The other ½ of this solar radiation reflects off the Earth’s surface, passing through the earth’s atmosphere and back out into space. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere such carbon dioxide absorb much of this reflected solar energy, later re-emitting it back into the atmosphere. This further warms up and increases the Earth’s temperature. 

Although natural substances, Greenhouse gases have been increasing in our atmosphere from human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels. The burning of fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gasoline have produced about 75% of the increase in CO₂ in our atmosphere in the past 20 years. The accumulation of these additional greenhouse gases have accelerated the process of global warming to record levels in recent times.

Evidence for global warming includes observed increases in the earth's air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising sea levels around the globe. The recent floods in Pakistan, Australia, China, Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines, and South Africa reveal the accelerated effects that fossil fuel consumption can have on our planet.

Although the ancient Greeks made tremendous contributions to the modern world in the subjects of Science, Mathematics, Government, Linguistics, and Architecture, their greatest contribution was made in the realm of Philosophy. To them, the study of Philosophy was an ultimate search for truth, and an investigation of man’s role and purpose in the Universe. To pursue philosophy was the endeavor to find meaning in life through the human experience.

The term Philo (Love) Sophia (Truth) literally expresses mankind's innate desire for inquiry, and the inquisitiveness to find universal meaning for 'existence' that is common to all mankind. One of the greatest threats to the ways of philosophers, or "lovers of truth" including thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle during the golden age of Athens were  men called Sophists, scholar-teachers who taught Rhetoric, the art of persuasion through clever argumentation.

Sophists were men who had originally been educated in the knowledge and ways of their native city-states. However, as they traveled to other city-states along the Mediterranean Sea throughout their lifetime, they observed that each place had it’s own unique set of laws, traditions, values, and culture. Returning home, they preached the idea that there is “no absolute truth”, and "all things are relative"! Protagoras, a Sophist from Thrace claimed that all knowledge is merely the relative expression of human experience, a viewpoint summed up in his statement: “Man is the measure of all things.” To him, concepts such as Truth and Justice were no longer absolute for all mankind, but ‘relative’ to an individual’s experiences, which included his time, place, culture, and religion. In fact, what might be considered 'Just' and 'True' for one individual or situation might not be just and true for another.

Through this new understanding, Sophists eventually returned home to become teachers who instructed others in becoming persuasive speakers and Masters of formal debate. They charged expensive fees to educate young Athenian aristocrats to become effective politicians, and taught them to win political positions in government through the power of Rhetoric. To prove to Greek citizens the power of this art, and the fact that truth indeed is relative, Sophists were known to pack an amphitheater with an audience of 5,000 individuals, having them choose the topic for debate in order to prove the seriousness of their skills.

A citizen might randomly choose the topic of ‘Abortion’, yelling it out from the crowd. For the first hour, the Sophist would give a argument for the inappropriateness of abortion: “That in their laws, the Gods have strictly forbidden the liberty for one individual to take the life of another. That the one being aborted really has no control over what pertains essentially to their life, losing the one sacred chance to participate in the human experience. That it is immoral to take away the opportunity for life, and that all beings should be given their God-given occasion for life and the pursuit of potential happiness.” Thus, persuading the audience that Abortion is Unjust!

For the second hour, they would give the counterargument to the debate. “That when an individual is considered for abortion, they are already unwanted and unloved by those who will be their guardians, and will lack the necessary foundations for proper upbringing and a good life. To bring them into this harsh and competitive world with such a disadvantage would be unfair to them, since they would not have the proper make-up to participate within normal society, and fellow human beings with advantage. Being uncared and unloved for from birth would only set them up for future failure, and ultimate unhappiness." Thus, now persuading the audience to change their opinion to the viewpoint that Abortion is Just, proving that "Truth is Relative", while expressing the persuasiveness and potency to the art of Rhetoric!

“Man is the true measure of all things, of things that are real, and even of things that are not!” (Protagoras; ancient Greek Sophist)

Rhetoric is a fundamental skill used by politicians in today’s modern political system. When candidates make vows to cut taxes, improve education, increase jobs, build schools, and cut the national deficit all at the same time, they are charismatically appealing to the emotions of those they preach to, and painting a picture of a promise that is not realistically possible. In fact, these vows are impossible to maintain within a logical frame of understanding. By reducing such a speech to it's fundamental principles, a philosopher can easily show the illegitimacy and logical inconsistency within such promises.

Genetics is the study of ways in which biological information is passed from one generation to the next, and how physical characteristics or traits are passed from parents to offspring through reproduction. In this process, the gene is the “unit of inheritance” which holds all the information that will eventually be passed and make up the offspring’s physical characteristics and entire constitution.

Within the nucleus of human cells, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes that act as the carriers of genetic information. Located on the chromosomes are basic units of information called genes, which will be passed on to the offspring during sexual reproduction. Genes contain the blueprint of the offspring, and will determine all the physical traits of the new organism such as eye color, number of limbs, formation of organs, blood type, and even whether the individual can digest milk.

The gene is an arrangement of 4 different nitrogen bases whose mathematical “sequence” determines the physical characteristics of an offspring. They are Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine. The “sequence” of these 4 nitrogen bases will ultimately act as a blueprint, and dictate how proteins are arranged during the making of cells, organs, and all physical differences between human beings. Underneath all the physical differences between human beings is a sequence of the 4 nitrogen bases.

Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine can be arranged in only 24 different “sequential” arrangements.

A G T C          G A T C        T A G C        C A G T

A G C T          G A C T        T A C G        C A T G

A T G C          G T A C        T G T C        C G A T

A T C G          G T C A        T G C T        C G T A

A C G T          G C A T        T C G T        C T A G

A C T G          G C T A        T C T G        C T G A

A single human gene might contain the arrangement of thousands of the 4 basic nitrogen bases in its sequence. All differences in physical characteristics between human beings is merely the difference in the "sequence" of their basic building blocks Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine. Despite all the physical variations  on the planet earth, all that separates humans is a simple mathematical arrangement whose basic language is common to all! 

[Example: Sequence for 'Blue' Eye Color]

A G T C T G T C A C T G C G T A G T A C T C G T G C T A C T G A T C G T .......

[Example: Sequence for 'Brown' Eye Color]

A C T G T C A G T C G A C G T A G T A G T G C T C G A T G T C A T G C T .......

Some of the greatest philosophical thinkers of ancient Greece were Empiricists, men who believed all human knowledge is collected through careful observation of the natural world. To them, human beings are biological creatures who experience reality and obtain information of the external world through the 5 senses. The human mind, which is a "blank slate" at the time of birth, gathers perceptions through experience of the natural world. 

As the individual ages, he learns to put gathered perceptions into categories, eventually forming concepts of understanding. For example, through observing many objects that are nearly equal in the natural world, an individual eventually arrives at the concept of "Equality"; by observing circular objects in the natural world, an individual even forms mathematical concepts such as "Circularity". All knowledge to Empiricists is obtained ‘a posteriori’, meaning after experience.