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CRITICAL THINKING — THE GREAT MENTAL MODELS Part One

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One trait setting humans apart from other species on this planet is thought. Next to our closest competitors, the octopus and the orangutan, humans far surpass at deep cognitive processing and complex problem solving. Recently, there’s a significant breakthrough in aiding human advancement to understand and know general reality concepts. It’s a four-volume tutorial called Critical Thinking — The Great Mental Models.

Shane Parrish is an internet thought leader and author of The Great Mental Models. Shane also hosts Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project Podcast. His sites’ taglines are Master the Best of What Other People Have Already Figured Out and The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions.

Shane opens the Mental Models series with, “Education doesn’t prepare you for the real world.” He says, “The key to better understanding the world is to build a latticework of mental models.” Mental models, according to Shane Parrish, describe the way the world works in simplicity. They fundamentally, and without complication, shape how we think, how we understand, and how we form beliefs.

Largely subconscious, mental models operate beneath the surface. We’re not generally aware of them, and yet when we look at a problem, they’re the reason we consider some factors relevant and others irrelevant. They are how we infer causality, match patterns, and draw analogies. They are how we think and reason.

A mental model is a compression of how something works. Any idea, belief, or concept can be distilled down. Like maps, mental models reveal key information while ignoring the nonessential.

I’ve subscribed to Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project Podcast for the last six years. The insight and value I’ve received, particularly in creativity, has been far greater than the price of admission. So, it was with great anticipation that I waited for last Christmas when Shane Parrish and Penguin released the four-volume Great Mental Models in hardcover.

For the last three months, I’ve been immersed in the critical thinking concepts loaded throughout the Mental Models pages. And over the years (sixty-eight of them), I’ve developed a research and learning style that (for me) truly pays. I’m able to accurately absorb and retain information, converting facts into useful knowledge, through a simple process that I’d like to share in a two-part post.

Part One is an overview of Shane Parrish’s Mental Models and how my system applies. Part Two, being published two weeks from now on 19Apr2025, will be a much deeper dive into how to work the Great Mental Models and how they can work for you.

Two profound influences on Shane Parrish are Charlie Munger and Peter Kaufman. Munger, who recently passed away at age 99, was the co-founder of Berkshire Hathaway with the famed investor Warren Buffet. Charlie Munger was among the finest thinkers of the past century, and he died a multi-billionaire.

Peter Kaufman is also a wealthy man. Kaufman is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and acclaimed writer. Along with Parrish, he edited many of Charlie Munger’s latticework of mental model essays and assembled them into a book titled Poor Charlie’s Almanac. It’s from these essays that the Knowledge Project took life. Now it’s evolved into The Great Mental Models.

Throughout Mental Models, you’ll see a constant reference to “Latticework”. It’s worth an initial definition:

The latticework concept essentially revolves around building a toolkit of frameworks from various disciplines to help improve decision-making and problem-solving abilities.

The idea is that no single mental model is sufficient to tackle all the complex problems the world presents. Instead, having a broad and interconnected set of models from diverse fields—such as economics, physics, biology, psychology, and more—allows one to view problems from multiple perspectives. This multidisciplinary approach can significantly enhance one’s ability to understand, adapt, and react effectively to different challenges.

Charlie Munger popularized this approach in his famous speech “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment,” where he discusses the importance of these models in helping to avoid cognitive biases and make better decisions. By developing a latticework of mental models, one can better connect the dots between seemingly unrelated information and insights, leading to more effective and informed decision-making.

Simply stated, The Great Mental Models synthesize timeless wisdom from various disciplines to empower readers/thinkers to make better decisions, solve complex problems, and think more clearly. Clarity of thought is a goal even the greatest minds strive for. Although many people use many methods, they all come down to a fundamental reality—the information they seek is available if they apply the foundation of critical thinking.

Before we get into the overall outline of what’s in The Great Mental Models, I want to share two indisputable truths that shaped my worldview and exponentially boosted my thought input and output processes. This change in critical thinking attracted opportunities I never would have found without properly understanding and working with, not against, these two opposing forces. One is compounding. The other is entropy.

Compounding and entropy are fully covered in The Great Mental Models. Cleverly, Shane Parrish sprinkled bits and pieces of entropy and compounding details throughout the series. Although he deals with each principle on their own, he’s used compounding and entropy concepts/principles (not laws) as subtext. They are the true takeaways—supported by all the tools in the lattice framework—and he’s left it for you, the reader, to experience your “Ah-Ha!” moment when you understand the constructive and destructive forces of compounding and entropy that govern the universe.

Let me introduce you to a learning and retention system I’ve developed over the years that I use for all topics and projects. I’m not saying it’s perfect by any stretch or that it will change your game. I just (at this age) know myself, and I know what works for me because I’ve been using the system for a long time, and it has a proven ROI—return on investment.

For a project like digesting, understanding, and retaining timeless truths and wisdom found in Mental Models, I shelled out a hundred and twenty bucks US for the printed, hardcovered books—not the ebooks—and at the time of purchase (Christmas 2024) the paperbacks weren’t available. Check Amazon and you might find them on sale for less.

I learned a reading and retention trick from my mother who was an English teacher and avid book devourer. That’s to mark up the pages with underlines and notes. Being a visual learner, this method has the best returns (for me), and I use a process of red underlines, yellow highlights, and black hand-printed notes. Yes, I mark the hell out of the pages.

I also keep a notebook specific to the project where I’ll transpose content as I understand it along with my developing thoughts, questions, and “get-its”. I use an 80-sheet Mead-Cambridge 8 ½ x 11 spiral bound book with wide rules as it’s easy to handle and can be laid flat without the thing wanting to spring itself closed. See pictures.

Besides notes, I also photocopy diagrams, pictures, and passages from the hardcovers then cut and paste them onto the notebook pages. I’m sure that to a stranger sifting through my stuff, they might think I’m doing a ketamine experiment but, hey, it works for me and I’m stickin’ to it.

I also search terms and ideas on the internet as I progress. If I find something useful, I’ll screenshot it and print n’ paste as well. And I’m not afraid to say I constantly use ChatGPT4.5 to clarify matters and bounce ideas off. Did I use Chat to write some of this post? Maybe. Maybe not. 😊

Something extremely useful in the Great Mental Models is the “Conclusion” at the end of each idea. It sums up the concept in clear and comprehensible language. I photocopy each conclusion and then tape it into the notebook. Again, being visual, it makes the material jump right out.

That’s the simple learning and retaining process I use. You’re more than welcome to own it. Now, let’s dive into the overall of what you can find in Mental Models that’s as rich in practical content as it is in intellectual treasure. Here’s what each volume brings to your table:

Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts

The opening act of this series, “General Thinking Concepts,” lays down foundational blocks for building a robust mental toolkit. It’s all about broad principles that apply across various fields. Think of it as the Swiss Army knife in your cognitive toolbox. Key models covered include:

  • Introduction: Acquiring Wisdom
  • The Map is Not the Territory
  • Circle of Competence
  • First Principles Thinking
  • Second-Order Thinking
  • Probabilistic Thinking
  • Inversion—Always Invert
  • Occam’s Razor
  • Hanlon’s Razor

This volume is a powerhouse that prepares your mind to think critically and avoid common, cognitive bias errors like misrepresentations or overly narrow focusing.

Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology

In “Physics, Chemistry, and Biology” the series shifts from general thinking to the specific laws governing our physical world. This volume uses fundamental scientific principles to illuminate ideas that affect our everyday decisions and observations, including:

  • Relativity
  • Reciprocity
  • Thermodynamics
  • Inertia
  • Friction and Viscosity
  • Velocity
  • Leverage
  • Activation Energy
  • Catalysts
  • Alloying
  • Evolution One: Natural Selection and Extinction
  • Evolution Two: Adaptation Rate and the Red Queen Effect
  • Ecosystems
  • Niches
  • Self-Preservation
  • Replication
  • Cooperation
  • Hierarchical Organization
  • Incentives
  • Tendency to Minimize Energy Output

By exploring these foundation models, readers gain insights into how universal principles of physics, chemistry, and biology can guide better decision-making in both personal and professional spheres.

Volume 3: Systems and Mathematics

The third volume, “Systems and Mathematics”, brings a holistic view, emphasizing core ideas like the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This volume is about understanding complex, mathematical systems and navigating them effectively such as:

  • Feedback Loops
  • Equilibrium
  • Bottlenecks
  • Scale
  • Margin of Safety
  • Churn
  • Algorithms
  • Critical Mass
  • Emergence
  • Irreducibility
  • Law of Diminishing Returns
  • Compounding
  • Sampling
  • Randomness
  • Regression to the Mean
  • Multiplying by Zero
  • Equivalence
  • Surface Area
  • Global and Local Maxima

A quote from Mental Models says it well. “In spite of what you majored in, or what the textbooks say, or what you think you’re an expert in, follow a system wherever it leads. It will be sure to lead across traditional disciplinary lines.”

Volume 4: Economics and Art

Finally in Volume 4, “Economics and Art”, we move from the theoretical to the practical. This is solid, real-life information that just may change your perspective on many things in life like:

  • Scarcity
  • Supply and Demand
  • Optimization
  • Trade-offs
  • Specialization
  • Interdependence
  • Efficiency
  • Debt
  • Monopoly and Competition
  • Creative Destruction
  • Gresham’s Law
  • Bubbles
  • Audience
  • Genre
  • Contrast
  • Framing
  • Rhythm
  • Melody
  • Representation
  • Plot
  • Character
  • Setting
  • Performance

This volume, with fascinating insights on economics and art (fiction writing included), wraps up the series by empowering readers to see beyond individual elements and appreciate the interconnectedness of all things—physical and metaphysical.

Each of The Great Mental Models books builds on the previous, crafting a comprehensive guide designed to sharpen your analytical abilities and decision-making skills. By the end, you’re not just equipped with theoretical knowledge, but with practical tools applying across your personal life, professional practice, and beyond.

Shane Parrish put a tremendous effort into producing this latticework frame. Reading and absorbing Mental Models might transform how you critically think about the world—and how you interact with it. It certainly did for me, and the three months of immersion in Mental Models were the most cerebral exercises in my life.

Watch for Part Two of Critical Thinking — The Great Mental Models on Saturday 19Apr2025 at 8:00 am PST on DyingWords.net where we’ll do a deep-end dive into each of the fundamental concepts. It’s gonna be a long one.

HOW A PLANTED BRITISH CORPSE HOAXED THE NAZI WAR MACHINE

In April 1943, the body of Royal Marine Major William Martin washed up on the Spanish shore. With him were top secret documents confirming the Allies planned invasion of Italy via Greece and the Balkans rather than through Sicily which the Axis expected. This critical information caused Hitler to change strategy and redeploy forces leaving Sicily practically undefended. But it was a trick, a brilliant and resourceful scam conducted by British Naval Intelligence, and it worked. The body was not Major Martin, rather a homeless derelict—a planted British corpse that hoaxed the Nazi war machine.

This elaborate ruse was perhaps the most ingenious fraud ever perpetrated in a global conflict. It was a shrewd and crafty gambit that took incredible preparation and was flawlessly executed. With Sicily wide open as the soft underbelly of Europe, the Allied forces took the land much sooner and with far fewer casualties than earlier anticipated, thanks to a sacrificed body. As a British intelligence officer who helped mastermind Operation Mincemeat said about the repurposed cadaver, “The man was a bit of a ne’er-do-well. The only worthwhile thing he ever did came after his death. He was possibly the most unlikely hero of the entire Second World War.”

We’ll get into who this dead drifter really was and how he came to con the Nazis as well as how the British organized the deceit. First, though, let’s look at history and what was going on in the Mediterranean in the spring of 1943 that required such an elaborate fake.

By January 1943 the Allies had nearly secured victory against the Axis in North Africa. British and American planners set their sights on an Italian invasion to take down Mussolini and drive their way up Italy and into the heart of Europe with the end goal of destroying the German forces. The obvious route was from North Africa and through Sicily. The Axis planners knew this too and were well prepared to stop it.

“Everyone but a bloody fool would know that it’s Sicily,” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said at the time. “We must find a way to divert this obvious strategy. We need Hitler to believe it’s going to be Greece and the Balkans.”

That task fell to the British Office of Naval Intelligence and was code-named Operation Barclay. The disinformation campaign was overseen by Admiral John Godfrey and assisted by Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming who would later go on to be the famous spy novelist, creating James Bond. It was Fleming who came up with the idea of planting a dead body carrying highly classified but completely false documentation that would find its way straight to the Nazi top.

The fake body sub-project of Barclay was named Operation Mincemeat. It was approved by Prime Minister Churchill and Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, it was a calculated risk for if the Axis detected a ploy, it might have cemented a conviction that Sicily was the true target and the eventual invasion could be a disaster for the Allies.

Godfrey and Fleming assigned the job to intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley). Montagu and Cholmondeley started their body search on February 4, 1943, by contacting the London coroner service. There were some strict parameters to have the cadaver fit the role of a highly trusted messenger—male, Caucasian, mid-thirties to early forties, in reasonable physical shape, recently deceased with limited decomposition, not autopsied, and with a cause of death being consistent with exposure to water and drowning. Also, that the dead man had no close relatives or anyone who would claim the body as this operation had to be kept vitally secure.

They quickly found their man. Welshman Glyndwr Michael, age 32, died on January 24, 1943, and was stored in the London morgue. Michael was a homeless man with no relatives to claim him. He’d been found unconscious in a vacant warehouse, presumably after eating bread scraps laced with rat poison, and died in hospital from pneumonia complications. As the cause of death was clear, the coroner did not autopsy Glyndwr Michael and had him cold stored awaiting a legal disposal.

Glyndwr Michael was the perfect fit. His remains were still in good shape, and the effect of pneumonia and fluid on the lungs would be consistent with appearing to be drowning after an airplane crash over the Atlantic waters off western Spain. The coroner, whose delightful name was Bentley Purchase, released Michael to Cholmondeley and Montagu who moved the cadaver to a truck loaded with dry ice.

Now it was time to build a detailed and credible backstory, knowing full well that German intelligence would have a microscopic look to see if Major Willam Martin was real or not.

William Martin was a common and unassuming name. He was given the rank of Captain, Acting Major in the Royal Marines and outfitted with the appropriate uniform and insignias. His military identification was carefully forged with a dead-ringer, look-alike photo and his “pocket fodder” was meticulously built. Major Martin’s effects included:

  • Two dated ticket stubs to a London concert.
  • A receipt for the purchase of a diamond engagement ring.
  • A bank demand for repayment of an overdraft note.
  • A photo of his finance “Pam”.
  • A love letter from Pam.
  • A contentious letter from his father citing family troubles.
  • Stamps, coins, and bills.
  • A metal identity band.
  • Saint Christoper’s medal.
  • Wristwatch and keys.

These items were corroborative to the normal life of a person like Major Martin. While they were convincing of his identity, the prize and purpose of this ruse sat inside a black attaché case chained to his belt holding an explicit document—an official dispatch from Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye, vice chair of the Imperial General Staff, to General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the 18th Army Group stationed in North Africa. Part of the letter read:

We have recent information that the Bosche have been reinforcing and strengthening their defences in Greece and Crete and C.I.G.S. felt that our forces for the assault were insufficient. It was agreed by the Chiefs of Staff that the 5th Division should be reinforced by one Brigade Group for the assault on the beach south of CAPE ARAXOS and that a similar reinforcement should be made for the 56th Division at KALAMATA.

To add further credibility, the attaché case contained an introductory letter for Major Martin addressed to Admiral of the Fleet Sir A.B. Cunningham who was in Algiers. It was personally signed by Lord Louis Mountbatten.

It was now trap setting time. Major Martin’s dressed and outfitted corpse was loaded into the British submarine HMS Seraph. At night, on April 30, 1943, the Seraph surfaced 1/4 mile off the coast of Huelva, Spain. The body, fitted in a military flotation device, was set into the sea. Given a pull by an incoming tide and a push by the submarine’s propellers, the floating corpse washed up on the Spanish shore where it was found around 9:30 am by two Spanish fishermen.

This was an intentional and calculated offloading site. Allied intelligence was fully aware of an active spy well connected to the Nazis living in Huelva. They also knew the operations of the Huelva authorities who recovered the body. As per their death investigation protocol, Major Martin’s body was autopsied. A later obtained report concluded the death was drowning after exposure to sea water with his identity confirmed by the effects he was carrying. The Martin remains were released to the local British consulate, and he was formally buried in a Huelva cemetery where he still lies today.

So, what became of the secret messages? This is where the story gets interesting. After Major Martin was reported missing and presumed dead, the British authorities began a “frantic” search for him and with an “obsessed” interest in recovering the sensitive material. Their communication with the Spainards was intercepted by Nazi intelligence who now knew what was in those documents.

History proves the Nazis obtained copies of all material that was in the case connected to Martin’s belt. The sealed envelope was steamed open and resealed after immersion in salt water. Promptly, all of Martin’s effects, including the “never opened” case, were given to the consulate and returned to England.

Cleverly, the Operation Mincemeat team knew the Nazis had swallowed the bait. They’d placed an eyelash inside the sealed envelope when it left with Major Martin. Now the eyelash was gone.

History also proves the Martin documents reached German High Command in Belin and to the Fuhrer himself. After the war, a British officer in charge of examining the captured German naval archives uncovered a file especially prepared for Admiral Karl Donitz and Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel prior to a meeting with Hitler dated 14 May 1943, fourteen days after Martin’s body was discovered. In it were copies of all the Martin documents and a notation from Donitz that “The Fuhrer does not agree that the most likely invasion point is Sicily. He believes that the discovered Anglo-Saxon order confirms that the attack will be directed mainly against Sardinia and the Peloponnesus.”

The Allied invasion on Sicily began on July 10, 1943. It met with light resistance due to Hitler being convinced that “the authenticity of the captured documents is beyond dispute”. He moved most Sicilian defense forces across to the Balkans, and the rest is history. A planted British corpse truly hoaxed the Nazi war machine.

Exerpt from the book The Man Who Never Was written by Ewen Montagu:

INTERCONNECT — FINDING YOUR PLACE, PURPOSE AND MEANING IN THE UNIVERSE

This piece is downloadable in full-length PDF format by clicking the blue bar button at the screen’s top or as a Kindle eBook and PDF through links at the end.

Once upon a time, a youth lay on their back and gazed in awe at the starry sky. The moon waned as a dim crescent—God’s Thumbnail, some call it—which let the universal brilliance of consciousness resonate in the youth’s eyes. Billions of fireballs blazed above, and countless more stars couldn’t be seen. The cosmos had cracked its coat. Like a galactic exhibitionist teasing eternal entropy, the universe flashed a perfect picture of order defying chaos and displayed an unbashful interconnection with all its occupants, including the star-gazing youth.

If you remember… that youth was you. Regardless if your years are still young, you’ve reached middle-age or are now advanced in time, the wonder of universal questions remains etched in your mind. Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going? And what is your interconnected place, purpose and meaning in the universe?

These are timeless queries people like you’ve asked since humans first consciously observed the heavenly heights. Long ago, your ancestors used their emerging awareness to question universal curiosities. It’s a natural thing for humankind to look for simple answers to straightforward questions and, no doubt, you’ve queried them many times during your earthly existence without receiving any clear response.

For centuries, sages and scientists pondered the meaning of existence within the universe. They’ve debated scientific theories and proposed philosophical solutions to deep puzzles boldly presented in the macro and micro worlds. You’ll find narrow common ground on who’s right and who’s wrong which leaves you to wonder what nature’s realities truly are.

Albert Einstein equated that science without philosophy was lame and philosophy without science was blind. That great scientific sage also spent the second half of his life looking for the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that interconnects everything in the universe. That includes your place, purpose and meaning.

As wise and astute as Einstein was, he didn’t complete his mission of tying the universe into a nicely packaged bow. It’s not that he didn’t believe all parts of the universe were intrinsically interconnected. Einstein knew in his gut that all physical laws and natural processes reported to one central command. That, ultimately, is the universal dominance of consciousness that allowed your creation and will one day destroy you through eternal entropy.

This isn’t a religious treatise you’re reading. No, far from it. It’s simply one person’s later-in-life reflection on three interconnected and universal curiosities. What’s your place? What’s your purpose? And, what’s the meaning in your life?

To find sensible suggestions, it’s necessary to dissect what’s learned (so far) of universal properties and what’s known about you as a human. You’re a conscious being housed in a physical vessel and controlled by universal principles. You had no choice in how you came to be here, but you certainly have choices now. Those include placing yourself in a safe and prosperous environment, developing a productive purpose and enjoying a rewarding meaning from the limited time you’re granted to be alive.

At the end of this discourse you’ll find a conclusion about your place, purpose and meaning in the universe. It might be one person’s opinion, but it’s based on extensive research and over six decades of personal experience. However, for the conclusion to make sense you need to take a little tour through the universal truths.

Ahead are a layman’s look at the origin of the universe, classical and quantum physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, neuroscience and the life-changing principle of entropy. It’s also a dive into what’s not known about the biggest scientific and philosophical mystery of all—how consciousness manifests through the human brain and how entropy tries to kill it. Now, if you’re ready to interconnect with the universe, here’s what your place, purpose and meaning truly are.

The universe is enormous. It’s absolutely huge. There aren’t proper adjectives in the English language to describe just how big the universe really is. Perhaps the right word is astronomical which means exceeding great or enormous.

People often use the word “cosmos” interchangeably with “universe”. That’s not correct. Cosmos refers to the visible world extending beyond Earth and outward to the heavens. The universe incorporates all that’s in the macroscopic or outward realm, but the term also drills down and incorporates everything within the micro-regions of molecules, atoms and then into sub-atomic realities where quantum stuff gets seriously strange.

In Chemistry, Biology and Physics 101, you learned you’re created of energized matter built of complex material formed by atomic and molecular chains. So is every set-piece in the micro and macro universe. All visible matter contains material made of atomic structures that strictly obey standard operating procedures set down during the universe’s birth.

How that happened is explained by a few different theories. Religious accounts, depending on the flavor, hold that an omniscient supernatural power created the universe at will and for a vain purpose. Current scientific accounts dismiss all supernatural contribution and exchange it with a series of natural orders called the laws of physics and non-tangible processes of the universe.

Most scientists don’t attach an intentional purpose to the universe. They leave that to philosophers who tend to argue with abstract thoughts that aren’t backed by hard evidence. Then, there are those who think the universe is simply a grand thought.

No matter who’s right and who’s wrong, there are a few facts you can personally bank on. One is that you exist in a physical form and use consciousness to be self-aware. That includes knowing you have a place in the universe, a purpose for being here and there’s a meaning to your life.

As said, this isn’t a religious paper. Religion can be a matter of faith but, then, so can science. The difference is that science relies on direct observation, proven experiments and the ability to replicate results. Science also depends on building hypothesizes, turning them into theories and then certifying them as facts.

No particular physicist claims sole authorship of the Big Bang Theory. Currently, the Big Bang Theory is the leading account for the universe’s origin, and it’s generally accepted throughout the scientific community as being the best explanation—so far—of where your structural matter originated. It goes something like this.

In the early 1900s, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble (the space telescope guy) was busy measuring galactic light and came upon his profound realization that the observable universe was expanding. Not only was the universe growing, Hubble exclaimed, but it was also accelerating its expansion rate. That led to a logical conclusion that the universe must have started in a singular place and at a specific time.

Some of science’s brightest folks worked on mathematical extrapolations and built the theory postulating that all matter and energy in today’s observable universe must have been once compressed in a singularity that exploded. That big bang started the time clock, created space, released energy and formed matter. It’s been growing ever since and, along the journey, you were created as an interconnected part.

This sounds like a pretty big undertaking. It also sounds pretty far out to think everything in the known universe was stuck in the space smaller than an atom where it was exceedingly hot and heavy. Well, guys like Einstein and Steven Hawking accepted the Big Bang Theory as fact, although Einstein famously quipped, “God knows where that came from.”

Without any other scientific direction to go on, what you see in the universe got started from a single point and is enormously here in its present form and place. The best-educated guesses place the universe’s age at about 13.77 billion years, give or take a few hundred thousand. This rough age-estimate comes from measuring Cepheid Variable Pulsating Stars (CVPS) with the Hubble Space Telescope which has proven to be quite useful once NASA got its foggy lens fixed.

The size of the observable macro, or outer, universe is impressive. Current measurements find the most distant visible electromagnetic radiation to be 46 billion light-years from Earth. That’s in every direction where the radio telescopes pick up the Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR) signal. Astronomers believe the CBR is a leftover mess occurring about 300,000 years after the Big Bang. If the true universal distance radius is 46 billion light-years, then the entire trip across occupied space is around 92 billion light-years in diameter.

That is a massive distance. It’s gigantic, humongous and colossal. Light, which is electromagnetic radiation, travels at 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second. That means that in one year a light particle can travel 5.88 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion kilometers. Multiply that by 92 billion and you’ll see that it’s a long, long way across the visible universe.

That’s just the macro universe that astronomers can see with current technology. Most scientists agree they’ve only explored something like four to five percent of the visible universe, and there’s far more out there than known today. This is an ongoing search with exciting discoveries emerging all the time.

To get a feel of where your physical place is in the macro universe is, you’re on the surface of a planet called Earth. Your home base is 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers from the sun which is a common-type star. It takes eight minutes for light to leave the sun and meet your eyes. To put this distance in perspective, a light particle can circle the Earth seven and a half times in one second.

The solar system extends a long way out. Pluto, which has returned its classification into the planet family, is seven hours distant from the sun via light speed. Going further, your planetary arrangement orbiting the sun is in one part of your home galaxy called the Milky Way. The sun is approximately 30,000 light-years from the big black hole at the Milky Way’s center, and you’re actually closer to the nearest independent galaxy than you are to the Milky Way’s core.

No one knows how many stars there are in the Milky Way. It’s a countless number. The current consensus is there may be a trillion stars in your home galaxy. Some astronomers feel there could be a trillion or more galaxies in the visible universe.

The Milky Way is part of a galactic bunch called the Local Group. These 54 assorted-shape star arrangements form part of a larger galactic collection known as the Virgo Supercluster. This is a big, big crowd but nowhere near what’s really going on out there.

Recent astronomical observations confirmed that beyond the Virgo Supercluster lies a monster called “Laniakea” which is Hawaiian for “Immeasurable Heaven”. This stupendous structure sits in a part of space called the “Zone of Avoidance” where the clouds of dust and gas are so thick that visible light is impossible to perceive. Astonishingly, Laniakea and the Virgo Supercluster are being pulled together across space and time by a behemoth force nicely titled the “Great Attractor”. No one knows what that force field is, but it’s powerful.

As you lay on the Earth’s surface and gaze at the starry sky, you’re not seeing reality. You’re only seeing light that left its emission point a long time ago. If you spot Andromeda, the only independent galaxy visible with your naked eye, you’re seeing that structure as it was two million years ago. For all you know, Andromeda may no longer exist.

The universe can play a lot of tricks on an observer. But one thing the universe never does is change its basic operating rules. Space, time, energy and matter follow strict laws that apply everywhere throughout the universe. Whether you’re on Earth, in Andromeda or around Laniakea, all fundamental forces behave the same way.

There are four fundamental forces in the entire universe—both in the macro and micro worlds. Those are electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. Space, time, energy and matter all adhere to these four forces from which many physicists have tried to find a common denominator to frame the Grand Unified Theory (GUT).

So far, no luck. Einstein spent the second half of his life working on a unified theory. His intuition told him unification lay in an infinite pool of information which is the non-visible and non-tangible factor that gives space, time, energy and matter its direction. This information or intelligence principle certainly seems to be real, and it’s captured in the acronym STEMI for Space, Time, Energy, Matter and Information or intelligence. It might also be universal consciousness.

Information permeates the entire universe. It somehow laid down the four forces emerging from the Big Bang and then made other rules or laws of physics which carried throughout the entire regions of reality. However, what the rules say about operating the outward cosmos are not exactly the same rules as those governing sub-atomics.

What directs your existence in the macro world adheres to classical or Newtonian physics. Down in the microcosm realm, though, your matter and energy have different masters. The wee parts of you behave according to quantum physics which are somehow interconnected back into classic physics and STEMI.

*   *   *

To read the rest of Interconnect and find the conclusion of what your place, purpose and meaning in the universe really are, follow these links for a free, full-length download. It’s a relatively short piece at 11K words and you might just find it quite worthwhile.

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(You can also click on the button in the blue bar at the top of the screen for a quick PDF download of Interconnect.)

For a FREE Amazon Kindle/Mobi eBook of Interconnect – Finding Your Place, Purpose and Meaning in the Universe, please click here: Interconnect Manuscript Amazon Kindle/Mobi

(This link will take you to my Amazon sales page where Interconnect is temporarily available as a FREE promotional Kindle eBook. I’d appreciate if you’d get a Kindle copy as this drives my Amazon ranking up. Thanks!)

If you have any difficulties downloading any efile type, please email me at garry.rodgers@shaw.ca and I’ll ship you an attached copy. Also, please feel free to share Interconnect. It wasn’t written as a money-maker. Rather, it’s a personal letter to myself in an attempt to figure it all out. Here’s one of the principle take-aways: