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Mathematics takes inspiration from all forms with which life interacts. Perhaps that is why, recently, mathematics has taken inspiration from that which itself perceives the world around it; the brain itself. What we’re talking about are neural networks. Neural networks have their origins around the time of automated computing, and with advances in hardware, have advanced in turn. So what is a neuron? How do multitudes of them contribute to structured thought? And what is in their future?

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Frank Salas is an statistical exception, but far from an irreplicable result. Busted on the streets of Albuquerque for selling crack cocaine at 17, an age where many of us are busy honing the skills that we've chosen to master, and promply incarcerated in one of the myriad concrete boxes that comprise the United States penal system. There, he struggled, as most would in his position, to better himself spiritually or ethically, once even participating in a prison riot. After two stints in solitary confinement, he did the unthinkable: he imagined a better world for himself. One where it was not all him versus the world. With newfound vigor, he discovered what was there all along: a passion for mathematics and the sciences. After nine years of hard time he graduated to a halfway house. From there, we attended classes at community college, honing his skills using his second lease on life. That took him on a trajectory which developed into him working on a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Michegan. We're talking, of course, about Frank Salas; a man who is living proof that condition and destiny are not forced to correlate, and who uses this proof as inspiration for many in the halway house that he once roamed. So who is he? What is his mission? And who is part of that mission? And what does this have to do with Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism?

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Humanity, since its inception, has been nebulously defined. Every technological advancement has changed what it means to be a person, and every person has changed what it means to advance. In this same vein, there is a concept called “transhumanism”, which refers to what it will mean to be a person. This can range from everything from genetic engineering, to artificial intelligence, to technology which is beyond our current physical understanding. So what does it mean to be a person? And is transhumanism compatible with our natural understanding, if it exists, of being?

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Computation is a nascent science, and as such, looks towards the other sciences for inspiration. Whether it be physics, as in simulated annealing, or, as now is popular, biology, as in neural networks, computer science has shown repeatedly that it can learn great things from other sciences. Genetic algorithms are one such method that is inspired, of course, by biological evolution. So what are genetic algorithms used for? What have they taught us about the natural process of evolution? And how can we use them to improve our world?

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