William S. Zwicker is a mathematician known for his contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in topology, set theory, and mathematical logic. His work often explores areas such as set-theoretic topology and mathematical structures. However, detailed information about his specific contributions, research papers, or academic career might not be widely available, as he may not be as prominent as some other mathematicians.

Advait Mat, also known as "Advait Mat," refers to a spiritual and philosophical tradition rooted in Advaita Vedanta, which is a non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes the idea that the individual self (Atman) and the ultimate reality (Brahman) are one and the same, teaching that the perception of duality is illusory. The term "Mat" can denote a philosophical school or a system of thought.

Game-theoretic rough sets combine concepts from rough set theory and game theory to analyze and model situations where uncertainty or indiscernibility exists among different elements of a dataset. Let’s break down the components: ### Rough Sets Rough set theory, introduced by Zdzisław Pawlak in the early 1980s, is a mathematical approach to dealing with uncertainty, vagueness, and indiscernibility in data. It partitions a set into approximations based on available information.

The Square Principle is not a widely recognized term in mainstream literature or fields such as mathematics, science, or philosophy. However, it could refer to different concepts depending on the context in which it's used. Here are a couple of interpretations: 1. **Mathematical Context**: In mathematics, the square principle might refer to concepts involving squares, such as the areas of squares, properties of squares in geometry, or the Pythagorean theorem, which relates to square numbers.

Gunungan is a significant element in Wayang, the traditional Indonesian puppet theater that has deep cultural roots, particularly in Java. The term "Gunungan" translates to "mountain" in English, and it often symbolizes the mystical mountain or the axis mundi, representing the spiritual connection between the earth and the heavens. In Wayang performances, the Gunungan is used as a backdrop or a transition device between scenes.

Perhaps the appeal of Zen is that it stepped away from Mahayana's "God and entities", and went a bit back towards the Buddhist psychology-like/self improvement grassroots?

Psalm 46:10 from the bible:

Ciro Santilli believes it generally hurts more than it helps.

Especially when you can't even mention censored things to criticize them. You have to pretend they never existed. So people will forget about them, and do them again in the future.

And when companies do it just to look good, even though it has absolutely no real impact on the lives of those who are discriminated against.

See: cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/censorship-of-politically-incorrect-speech

Ciro Santilli is actively looking for donations and contracts so he can continue to work full time on OurBigBook.com sustainably, and develop free hardcore university-level STEM education for all ages!

For 400k USD I will quit my job or not get a new job and work on OurBigBook full time for a second year to try and kickstart The Higher Education Revolution. Status: ~44k / 300k USD. At 4M USD I retire and work on open STEM forever. More realistically perhaps would something like 800k USD for four years like the MacArthur fellowship wink.

I first quit my job 1st June 2024 to work on the project for 1 year after I reached my initial 100k goal mostly via a 1000 Monero donation. In this first year I improved project tech, but didn't go and solve university courses to create super targeted content, and didn't obtain a single contributing user except myself, see a summary at Section "OurBigBook Project Update March 2025". My last day job total compensation as of 2024 was about 150k USD/year.

For a followup, it would be an interesting experiment to spend on year full time solving as many courses as I can from a world class university in the city where I live in the UK, and adding that as content to the platform to see if that would attract interest, and reaching out directly to course takers at their university environment to try and help them. I intended to do that in year one but my got distracted by tech. It is quite possible that no one has ever done that before in history: a highly motivated technical person with the time and opportunity to do one single thing: help top university students learn their STEM courses better and have more fun doing so. I have in particular identified one course where this would be particularly feasible: the mathematics course, given that much of their course materials, and also their building are quite open. I do sometimes wonder if doing this would be just a waste of my life. But part of me tells me it could generate big interest and is worth a try. It would also be fun for you to watch me continue to commit career seppuku.

For a second follow up year, I increased my requirement to 400k USD to give me more peace of mind. So the total donation so far is 344k, and if I reach a total of 400k USD, then I'll work on the project for a second year.

At 4M USD I retire and work on open STEM projects forever. At these timelines, I can't guarantee it will be specifically on education technology specifically all the way, but I guarantee that whatever it is it will be open and extremely well explained as usual.

Total donations to date ~244k USD. Donation breakdown:More details: Section "Accounting method"

How to give:And if you have a different preferred payment mechanism not listed above, please contact Ciro, and he will set it up.

Ciro's current ambitions require him to remain in developed countries, because Ciro wants to document advanced science and technology by liaising with top universities, and there is not nearly as much high technology in poor countries. Remaining in developed countries is also a required due to family reasons.

Note to potential anonymous crypto donors: I live in the UK, and after some messy back and forth that included freezing my account at one point, Barclays finally decided that they do not allow me to receive anonymous donations. And I'm pretty sure that the same would happen on any other British bank sooner or later. Therefore, while I continue to accept anonymous donations, they will not count towards my "if I get X I do Y"-type donation goals, since I can't reliably spend that money. If you want to donate in crypto, and clearly give me your real identity and an explanation of how you got the money, then that is fine, it can count. Just be warned that I will need to give that information to my bank and clear it with them beforehand, and if they are still not happy with it, I'll just give it all back. Your identity does not have to be publicly disclosed, only the dates and amounts. But my bank has to know.

If you would like public acknowledgement for your support, Ciro will very gladly give it, just let Ciro know how you'd prefer it. Due to Ciro Santilli's campaign for freedom of speech in China, many supporters have chosen to be anonymous, and that is totally fine, not everyone is interested in politics, or has a situation where going public is acceptable, so we don't have a standard setup yet, let's build it together. A acknowledgement section at the bottom of this page would be a minimum, but I for larger donations we could add a your advertisement in a locations such as:

So that he can work full time on OurBigBook.com and revolutionize advanced university-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics eduction for all ages.

Donating to Ciro is the most effective donation per dollar that you can make to:

Ciro's goal in life is to help kids as young as possible to reach, and the push, the frontiers of natural sciences human knowledge, linking it to applications that might be the the next big thing as early as possible. Because nothing is more motivating to students than that feeling of:rather than repeating the same crap that everyone is already learning.

To do this, Ciro wants to work in parallel both on:

Ciro believes that this rare combination of both:produces a virtuous circle, because Ciro:

As explained at OurBigBook.com and high flying bird scientist, Ciro is most excited to make contributions at the "missing middle level of specialization" that lies around later undergrad and lower grad education:But on that middle sweet spot, Ciro believes that something can be done, in such as way that delivers:in a way that is:

Ciro believes that today's society just keep saying over and over: "STEM is good", "STEM is good", "STEM is good" as a religious mantra, but fails miserably at providing free learning material and interaction opportunities for people to actually learn it at a deep enough level to truly appreciate why "STEM is good". This is what he wants to fix.

The following quote is ripped from Gwern Branwen's Patreon page, and it perfectly synthesizes how Ciro feels as well:

In addition to all of this, financial support also helps Ciro continue his general community support activities:

Ciro Santilli is a UK resident. He will register as a "solo trader" (slightly funny legal term) and treat donations that he uses for projects as grants, which pay regular income tax:The rates are given at: www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates and are as of writing:

National insurance is also likely going to be paid: www.gov.uk/self-employed-national-insurance-rates:

Fortunately however VAT does not need to be paid.

The amount that will be declared is the same as he grant amount that was requested, e.g. if 100k USD is requested for 1 year, then 100k USD will be pro-rata declared on that year.

Any remaining donations that don't yet meet specific grant goals will be initially treated as cash gifts which pay no tax. If in the future they are used as grant money after further goal amounts are reached, then they will taxed as grants.

Note however that if the donor is UK-based and dies within 7 years of the gift being given, inheritance tax has to be paid on them as per: www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts, at a maximum of 32% and going to to 0% at 7 years, so let me know from the afterlife.

The anonymity of the donation is mind blowing.

The first sensation Ciro Santilli got was as if God himself had come down from heaven to toy with an unsuspecting human being. God running an experiment. Or perhaps an AGI that had already secretly taken over. Not very different.

Like with God, this was the answer to Ciro's prayers on Twitter. A one way conversation that leaves you uncertain of the details.

Whichever the case, Ciro is going to put on the best show he possibly can for your money, documenting every step along the way in usual fashion!

Besides the awesomeness however, anonymity is a risk.

Ciro ran this over and over in his head, and the only big risk of anonymity is that if this money is ever proven to be from the proceeds of crime, he would have to give it back to the government and "lose one year's salary he would have otherwise gained".

However, that worst case scenario is not bad enough. If anything, it was a great excuse to quit his job for his family and wife is already worth it. Ciro could do it and survive, though situation would deteriorate slowly. But he was a coward previously.

Ciro does however feel that there is good chance that it is legitimate.

Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions are exceptional, he's amazing right! He deserves this! Of course, there is danger in this rationale which scammers could exploit. But bro, if scammers are going to send 100k USD to me, then please continue to do so!

Also which criminal would be stupid enough to donate proceeds of crime to a highly public person who is going to clearly announce it?

Just be warned, if you come with a baseball bat trying to get the money back by force, I will call the police immediately and by God you will not get it!!

Given this, Ciro just keeps thinking about the likely profile of the donor:

But the "why anonymous if not criminal" question remains. Generally rich people want recognition both for:Two options that come to mind:

Big companies like Google are able to publish white papers as peer reviewed papers just due to their reputation, e.g. without giving any source code that is central for the article.

It is insane.

E.g.: AlphaGo is closed source but published as www.nature.com/articles/natnure16961 in 2016 on Nature.

Not the usual bullshit you were expecting from the philosophy of Science, right?

Some notable quoters:

Nothing makes the fact that your life is an illusion clearer than animations of molecular biology processes. You just have no idea what is going on inside your own body right now!

And don't get Ciro Santilli started on the brain and the impossibility of free will.

And yet, we live, oblivious to all of it.

Amazing creators:

Ciro Santilli has sometimes wasted time with low impact projects such as those listed at Ciro Santilli's minor projects instead of doing higher impact projects such as those mentioned at: Section "The most important projects Ciro Santilli wants to do".

But maybe "Everything you did brought you where you are now." applies, maybe it is during the "low impact activities" that one gets the inspiration and experience required for the "high impact ones".