Welcome to the Human Knowledge project!
This website is a curated library of science and mathematics. This website has grown from a mere repository for saving my notes, to a reflection of my ideal of knowledge itself: a liberating force in its power to transcend individual circumstances to form the building blocks of the human rationalization of the Universe.
About.
# Mission Statement
At its core, Human Knowledge is a project that is meant to safekeep knowledge at a time when freedom of information has come under attack. Increasingly, scientific knowledge, and more broadly knowledge as a whole, is being placed behind barriers that prevent universal access, to the profit of private corporations. (For more information, read the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto).
I believe that while knowledge is priceless, it only has value when it is free, when it can be analyzed and expanded upon as a universal construct. It is upon these ideals that I work to make the Human Knowledge project an all-inclusive library of scientific knowledge, providing resources for those new and experienced in such fields as Mathematics, Physics, and Cryptography, and being incorporative of the neglected areas of research and the concepts many consider too 'abstract' for understanding.
I applaud the work of organizations such as OpenCourseWare and Archive.org in furthering the cause of open knowledge. These platforms, along with the great non-profit advocacy companies like Wikimedia and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have been instrumental in obtaining the information that has comprised this project, and in enabling me to do so.
Apart from availability, accessibility is the greatest equalizer in knowledge; with every concept, I elaborate and describe the concept until I can comfortably understand it, and rest assured, I am no great mind - I must work very hard, learning from examples and testing myself with my own examples, to understand more difficult concepts before I feel I have totally grasped them.
The notes on this site are only as good as my ability to understand them - it is with this necessity that I strive to make the contents of the website, the "knowledge" as it were, as complete with explanations and intelligible as possible. With the ability to relearn a particular concept through consulting the vast archives of my personal library, I gain access to the greatest teacher I could have, tailored to my exact needs: my past self. To further my ends of accessibility, I have mirrored the project onto both GitHub and Neocities, as frequently I find that one will be blocked by school district censors (such as LAUSD), while the other will remain available.
What Human Knowledge is not:
While this project is fully supportive of increasing knowledge accessibility, it will not incorporate information from subjects other than the sciences. It is simply a matter of priority: There is an extreme wealth of scientific and mathematical information that is yet to be incorporated into the website, and this is to remain the focus of the website forever.
# Personal Biography
My name is Jonathan Lacabe, and I am the founder of the Human Knowledge project. I am a Junior at Chatsworth Charter High School in Southern California who is studying/experimenting with advanced Cryptographic Systems (lattice-based and post-quantum) and Quantum Physics/Computing.
I am also an award-winning member of my school's Model United Nations delegation, pictured below is me at U.C. Riverside MUN 2024.
# FAQ
What are the sources for the information present on your site?
There are a variety of sources that I studied from in gaining the information present in the project, from the readings my teacher's gave me in school (and their own videos) to online learning repositories like OpenCourseWare, where I was able to learn directly from M.I.T. and Yale professors (with included practice problems and tests!).Of course, I incorporated dozens of one-off sources into my notes as well, in any area that I felt my main source was leaving confusing and incomplete. Out of respect for the privacy of my teachers, I do not link my sources directly, but in every case my goal was to transmute all information present in my sources into my comprehensive and organized note-system, where I can access any knowledge or anything knowledge very quickly, without having to search for it in an hour long lecture. (I found the bulk of my sources by just googling "x lectures" or "fundamentals of x", where I was able to access educational content. This, in my opinion, is what gives the internet its greatest worth).
Tl;dr, the knowledge present in the Human Knowledge project is a synthesis of multiple sources, not least of all the MIT OpenCourseWare courses, of which I have partaken in (and incorporated the knowledge of into this website) several. ([[[[[)
Why do you study? What is your purpose behind your note-taking?
The Humanities have little interested me, because I've considered them to be very self-indulgent as subjects solely concerning attributes of the human race, which, to me, is much less interesting than the inner workings of the world outside it. An Afghani proverb states, "When you separate the container from the contents, then you will have knowledge." With the Universe and Physics, Physics continues to not be able to explain nor directly observe every phenomenon occurring in a rational Universe. If the Universe is the container and Physics is the contents, how can humanity learn about the container from the inside? The goal of Physics has been to create the laws and theories that can create governance in the Universe, to explain and predict that which occurs. The goal of Physics is to be the container - to completely understand and to produce the laws that control the eternal Universe.I prefer Physics most strongly over all other subjects, because it focusus the least out of any subject on life on Earth and humanity in particular (except for the more esoteric topics, of course, like the "quantum mind"); Physics focuses entirely on the science that governs the Universe, moreover than any earthly phenomenon that only concerns humans. The study advancement of Physics, I believe, is the greatest affirmation of human existence possible, proof that the human even has the ability to formulate and understand the immensely complex universe (which still remains in question). As the saying goes, "You can't teach a dog Calculus" - it would be another example of human-centric hubris to assume that there is no "dark knowledge", knowledge beyond the limitations of the human brain, that exists, the very imagining of which is beyond human capabilities.
# Special Thanks
Disclaimer: The individuals and organizations acknowledged in this section have provided valuable assistance in obtaining information or resources. However, they bear no responsibility for the opinions, interpretations, or conclusions expressed on this website, which are solely those of the author.
Individuals:
Shoaib Pasha - Fellow student at Chatsworth, created all of the logos (masterpieces of modern graphic design) present throughout the project.Mr. Cooper - Teacher at Chatsworth, who taught my AP Calculus AB and BC classes while I was a student. Most of the knowledge present in the Single Variable Calculus pages are directly derived from his videos (alongside those of Mr. Kim, seen below).
Mr. Kim - Teacher at Chatsworth, who taught my Algebra II and Precalculus (which I took combined as 'Advanced Math') class while I was a student. Most of the knowledge present in the Algebra II and Precalculus pages are directly derived from his videos. Furthermore, I consulted his videos on many occasions while learning Calculus.
Flipping Physics - A teacher who produces the best beginner-level Physics videos. Taught me everything I know.
Organizations:
OpenCourseWare, MIT - For producing and making available the countless high-quality courses that made work on this project 5000% easier and more enjoyable. See this page for the specific courses that I have incorporated into this website.Archive.org - For providing the endlessly valuable WayBack Machine, and for providing many textbooks that were invaluable as research material.
