Code42

Step 1: Get born to English-speaking parents in the United States. Step 2: Get raised in the English-speaking world. Step 3: Done! No, but seriously, I have no advice. My mind can't even fathom the concept of conjugating verbs in Spanish, so I'll stick with English. Learning a new language requires more brain plasticity than I've got.

Forget about income for now. It's by far not the most important thing for me. I'm more worried about how to get from where I'm at now (an average to mediocre community college student) to becoming PhD program material in the next couple of years. I'm also more worried about finding the right field for me. I know it's somewhere in biology/evolution, or in some computer science field relating to biology.

I will be finishing a degree in bioinformatics within the next two years. I have been wanting to pursue a PhD in evolutionary biology for sometime now, but whether or not I felt I was capable of doing so has been suspect. I have a general idea of what a PhD involves, but I'm not very familiar with the process, from trying to get accepted into a PhD program to completing a PhD. I was hoping someone here could enlighten me. I have good grades now, but I had a pretty shaky experience at my first university. I'm not exactly sure that ecology and evolution is the path I want to take. I mean, it is the subject I am most interested in, but I'm not sure if it will lead me to lucrative career paths. I was hoping the people here could help me sort some of this stuff out, and help inform me in making some of these decisions. Currently, I am a computer science major at a really good community college. I will be transferring to a four-year school to get a bachelors in bioinformatics after I graduate this fall. Aspects of both computer science and biology interest me, but I always find myself enjoying learning about evolution in biology more. However, I'm not sure if I would enjoy the careers that a PhD in evolutionary biology would lead to. Is there anywhere in which a PhD in evolution could be applicable to, say, artificial intelligence, or any other aspect of computer science? That's probably a stupid question. I'm just kind of lost.

I guess you could say math is like technology. We use it to help us do science, but it is not itself science. Science is the method itself and nothing more.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2017/05/23/7-2-million-year-old-pre-human-remains-found-in-bulgaria-greece-show-first-pre-humans-developed-in-balkans-not-africa/ Sketchy facebook page posted this, but not sure about the legitimacy of the link. Discuss.

The things you think are useful which you don't think have applications actually do have applications. If you do something merely because it brings you joy or pleasure, that's an application. To say something is "useful" is, by definition, to say that it has an application.

What use would there be for mathematics if not for it having applications?

Even many physicists don't understand quantum mechanics on a practical level. They understand it mathematically, and can run the equations. But it's very hard to understand how the quantum world is.

Well, we would be about three centuries behind where we are now in scientific knowledge without mathematics. So I would say that math is unavoidable in science. In most physics, you can only explain concepts so far until you have to get into some serious mathematics.

I will. Thanks. It's going to be more for show than a sophisticated robot. Just want to practice basic programming on an original project. Python will probably do the job. I've never used it, but my C++ knowledge should help me adapt quickly.

Well, I was thinking I'd use lights for effect, and leave the bot sort of crude-looking.

Probably an r2d2 type rover. Not quite, but that's at least what I'm shooting for.I raced r/c cars for years, so I do have some technical/hobby know-how. I'm also about to graduate with a degree in computer science this fall, so I know some coding too.

I'd like to try to build a robot using a raspberry pi. Any help or information with getting started, what to buy, and how to go about this project would be appreciated.

I guess "belief in gods" would be more what I'm addressing here. The end of religion doesn't necessarily entail the end of fantastic beliefs in supernatural entities.

When will religious belief, or belief in gods become a thing of the past? 100 years? 300 years? Never? Do you think most of humanity will ever drop superstition and embrace scientific and secular worldviews?