Thanks for stumbling to my cozy little corner of the internet!
This website was created as a space for me to categorize and investigate my various interests, primarily focusing on those in the academic sphere with a smattering of detours in my less serious artistic pursuits. My primary interests lie in the applied physics relevant to systems in the defense industry, but I have a taste for all varieties of knowledge, really. A notable exception to this (sorry, I lied about the whole loving all knowledge thing) is biology, although I have an avid interest the various fields surrounding biology, including the study of evolutionary biology, chemical biology and psychopharmacology.Though, I typically attribute this dislike to a lackluster introduction to the subject and I will likely grow to appreciate it more sincerely in the future.
Perhaps that is a little besides the point.
I, the person who maintains this site (or perhaps the figment of your imagination that does such a thing), am Jason Wilkening, currently an undergraduate studying Chemistry and Physics (as majors) and philosophy and mathematics (as minors). As I don’t want to update this page very often, I won’t discuss my professional occupations here, but you can find out what I’m currently up to on my LinkedIn (found here). When I’m not spelunking Wikipedia, reading or frantically emailing one of my professors about something interesting I found doing the two previous things, I can be found practicing the guitar, working on my music production or attempting to engaging with some new obscure hobby that satiates my hunger for intellectual novelty.
While to some the enumeration of interests and hobbies can be a meaningful activity, I do harbor some philosophical qualms with the notion that such a list can (and ought to be) finite. In fact, I believe that my opinion on this matter is best expressed in this quote by John Dewey (one my my favorite pedagogical philosophers):
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself”
Given this brilliantly succinct quote, it should seem apparent that one’s list of skills and interest should be perpetually growing. At least, this is something that I strive to conduct my life by and I find that it imbues a profound sense of meaning to this mortal plane. As such, I would ask that one peruses the content of my blog to get a general sense of my interests, rather than referring to this very post.
Rambling about the nature of life itself aside, I am also an enthusiast of the Chinese and Russian languages and culture. As some point in the future, I would like to pursue postdoctoral positions in these countries to not only sharpen my skills, but also to gain a broader sense of the world and the people that inhabit it.
While it is likely that I will come back and update this post when inspiration beckons, if happen to not do such a thing, I wish whoever is reading this a pleasant morning/afternoon/evening and do sincerely hope that you enjoy reading the things I post. I am always looking to begin new, fruitful discussions, so if you have something interesting you would like to shoot the proverbial shit over, feel free to email me at jwilkeni@iwu.edu.
Cheers!