Sandor Balogh

I was born in Hungary in 1931. In my youth, I was interested in math and science subjects. Then in my teens, I read an article that mentioned William Ogden, developer of the cultural lag theory which suggests that social culture lags behind technology, and it takes decades for society to fully appreciate, adjust, and be able to successfully deal with the new inventions and technologies. This turned my attention to the humanities, and in communist Hungary the only opportunity for a non-communist humanities education was the seminary where youth prepare for the priesthood. So I joined the Seminary of Veszprem.

In my third year, I became editor of the seminary’s bulletin board newspaper, where we put up news items and articles written by the students. In the middle of the year, several of us were arrested for articles in the paper, including a picture of Cardinal Mindszenty, who was imprisoned by the Communists. I spent three years in prison. In the meantime they closed the seminary, and after my release I could not go back, so I got married. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, we escaped and ended up in the U.S. Here I completed my education, received a Ph.D. at NYU, and obtained a teaching position in Troy, NY at a community college.

After the collapse of Communism in Hungary, many Hungarian scholars abroad were recognized by the Hungarian Academy of Science and were named External Public Member, Hungarian National Academy of Sciences. My rank in retirement is Professor emeritus.

I was teaching social science and Introduction to Philosophy courses since I had a solid background in philosophy from my seminary years. In the 1980s a new textbook stated that it could not discuss free will and consciousness because since they cannot be experienced with the senses; they were “scientifically not available.” I got upset and felt that something must be wrong with science if it can study only things that I can touch, and that items like consciousness, which I know with an internal certainty exists, cannot.

This first led me to raise philosophical, i.e., epistemological issues. These then led me to study dimensions, quantum physics, and several other disciplines. I have developed a library of close to 100 books on the subject and have given lectures both to American and Hungarian audiences, including a group of doctors and at my old seminary that re-opened in the 1980s (where my above picture was taken).

After my retirement and several years of study, I hit a stone wall with higher dimensional space, and only Einstein’s surprising essay led me in the right direction. By this time I had several hundred pages written, but after my Einstein discovery I had to rewrite several chapters.

I was working on this rewriting when I received the invitation from BestThinking to join this website. Was it a coincidence, or might there be a design or purpose here?

You be the judge.

I should add that as a philosopher, my interest extends to many other fields, in addition to philosophyy and science.