My Top 5 Things That Aren't There

I have been doing this blog thing for a few years now. Being that the title of this blog  is “Things That Aren't There” I thought it might be high time to list of the top 5 things that aren't there.

There are plenty of mysterious and fascinating discoveries yet to be made in our world and in our universe. Enough so to supply this blog with subject matter for a good many years. There are threads of non thematic elements however that seem to have been revisited upon again and again.  In the style in which these are presented these elements, drawn from current popular science are described or eluded to often as given facts. In truth the consensus on many of these is  not quite universal. The reason that many of these theories are perceived as being fringe worthy is that they do not jibe well with our everyday common experience. I believe however that there is enough evidence in each case that as this century unfolds and capacity to understand increases, many of these may one day be accepted by the masses as common knowledge. Here presented are my top five presented in no particular order.

The Holographic Universe

  All life on Earth including our primitive ancestors had for eons learned to exploit its environments. For billions of years our single celled ancestors lived exclusively in a two dimensional world. Then some primitive creature had the bright idea to grow on top of its neighbor. Despite its lofty vantage it still could not fathom its universe from beyond this perspective. These cells would eventually coalesce into a unified form. Its senses would then by necessity evolve to be self aware  in the dimensions in which we are all now familiar. It is only now that we are beginning to see that it may just be the tip of the iceberg.

There are a number of dimension that for us exist only in the world of mathematics forever beyond the reaches of our common senses.Nature apparently has not seen fit to prepare us to see any phenomena that are non essential to our survival. The spaces in which we inhabit can be plotted and calculated as a projection of two dimensional perspective. Every point within has it’s corresponding two dimensional value whose perspective is determined by the observer. Much of what we perceive therefore is more or less relative. The only verifiable points of reference are purely numerical. To extrapolate this out to grander scales, the universe can be best described as series of intersecting planes laid out upon a curved manifold. Upon this fabric the mass of an object creates a localized warp  or bubble from which the three common dimensions are a manifestation caused by the effects of gravity. Furthermore some proponents of string theory suggest that all of what we call the universe is in reality two dimensional information structure projected upon a cosmological horizon.

                                                                             

                                                 

 Credit: TU Wien

http://www.relativitybook.com/resources/cosmological_horizons.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_horizon

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150427101633.htm

http://resonance.is/news/computer-simulation-of-quantum-black-hole-supports-the-holographic-principle/

All of time exists as a single dimension

Meanwhile in more classical cosmology what we recognize as time, is according to Einstein only a  part  of a greater four dimensional construct known as Space time. Our experience of this construct is dictated by our relative proximity to given mass and the relative velocity around it.

Again it is our senses that dictate our experience. Although experientially the arrow of time for us points only in one direction science for sometime has characterized it as a dimension that exists all at once as a single whole.  Past, present and future then merely appear to exist independent from one another in what Einstein described  as of persistent illusion.  It is for this reason that within such a closed system that the arrow of time precludes paradoxes.  There is also a possibility that on the far end of this continuum there is another arrow pointing in the opposite direction. To those in such a reality yesterday is the future.

If one were able to view the dimension of time from the outside an individual's perspective within could be characterized as a two dimensional slice which we refer to as the present.The future exists for us only in imagination and the past as a memory. However despite our inability to see them they exist side by side with the mere membrane of the present to separate them.

http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/q411.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime

Heisenberg’s uncertainty

Regardless to any observed event Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that on the quantum level that there is limit to the level of precision one can achieve when plotting the position of any single particle. In that there the ability to determine its momentum is inversely proportionate to the precision in which its position is measured.  In a nutshell this means that the closer you look at an event the the more pixelated it becomes. The implications of this is that there is an inherent uncertainty that is built in to reality that exists independent of an observation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

http://www.quantiki.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Quantum_Theory

https://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08a.htm

Schrödinger's cat

In the realm of quantum mechanics the bizarre is the commonplace.  Perhaps nothing exemplifies this notion more than Schrodinger’s now famous cat in a box thought experiment. In the experiment he asks if a cat were placed in a box with a dose of cyanide  How could we be sure until we opened the box if the cat were dead? Furthermore until the box is opened the state of the cat is undetermined so its potential state is both alive and dead.

Some time later this thought experiment was tested in the equally famous double slit experiment. In which photons are fired at a target of material bearing two  Identical slits. It was discovered that when unobserved photons behaved as both particles and waves, fixing their states only upon measurement.  The same is true of the cat he is both alive and dead until we observe the opened box. In some interpretations both versions of the cat exist in their own branch of reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat

http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_quantum_superposition.html

The Quantum Mind

There is little doubt that one of the longest standing questions one could ask not only in science but also in philosophy is where within our fragile bodies does the seat of consciousness exist. Its a thorny question fraught with controversy. However though many purport that no evidence exists for anything beyond a purely biological process some have inferred the possibility of the mind existing beyond the physical body. I'm not talking about a spirit in the traditional sense but a measurable phenomenon. Currently there are no tools sensitive or sophisticated enough to detect such phenomenon. This does not rule out the possibility of there someday being a method in which it is discovered how the brain may access a quantum process inherent to the universe that is currently invisible to us. There however can be no doubt that classical physics has most certainly failed in this quest.

(image from Scientific American, September 1992, article by Gerald D. Fischbach, Mind and Brain, page 52)

http://phys.org/news/2014-01-discovery-quantum-vibrations-microtubules-corroborates.html

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-consciousness/

Check out my other web sites

http://www.johnfaherty.net/

  Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/johnfaherty

 Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/johnfahertytheauthor

Google Plus
https://plus.google.com/u/0/116390413015015046074/posts

John F. Faherty Science Fiction Author Site
                                                                
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108515010909038121689/108515010909038121689

The Anti Science Bullies/ Fools Paradise

The Anti Science Bullies/ Fools Paradise

Full disclosure-  l along with many like minded folks have from time to time been a critic of the science establishment. I am probably in the minority though when I say that its system of institutions, of masters and subservient  journeymen has changed little since the days of the alchemists. However, despite these criticisms, since the days of Darwin from these systems have come the most rational outlook on the world and how it works. No other currently available belief system  approaches its propensity toward discovery and ability to predict and describe nature.  

                          http://cdpow.blogspot.com/2008/05/evolution-of-man.html

For better or worse now more than ever we live in a world ruled by technology. To  those in the business of discovery or of getting things done, this has been nothing short of a revolution. Science can look now onto a constant flow of data and statistics on any subject of research that one may desire to investigate, virtually in real time. These changes to the way things get done has afforded new levels of openness and increased cooperation among once diverse and disparate fields of study. This has lead  to  a  general hastening to the pace of advancement in many fields of endeavor including engineering technology, medicine and the study of our environment. We may be on the threshold of a new age of discovery. There is a point however to which we are swiftly approaching where these advances may ultimately be of little consequence.

 One obvious side effect of this information glut is the increased availability and reach of misinformation and out and out lies.  It has always been true that smaller minds always endeavor to subjugate those more enlightened. Whether it be for fear that new perspectives may somehow usurp the powers that be, or merely a fear of change it is they who would stand in the way of progress.
Perhaps in their heart of hearts they suspect that their well worn image of the world may merely be an illusion. Their agenda then is to undermine reason at all costs. It is in this kind of fear, bred from ignorance that could  ultimately prove to be the greatest threat to human survival.

Science is the only belief system that will tell you things that you don’t want to hear. People at first did not want to know that the Earth was not the center of their universe. Over time through experiment and observation, these truths were accepted as such. The same could be said for the current state of the world. Though  groups of well funded anti science thugs, and religious zealots would rather you believe otherwise, we may potentially be on the cusp of an extinction event in which we play the starring role. Despite this,there are those among us either through delusion or deceit  who then choose to perpetuate the mindset of a  consumer centered culture. Unfortunately we live in a world that is increasingly less able to sustain it.

Whether we choose to believe it or not we may very 
well be standing collectively on the edge of a new era. The nature of this new era, more so than in any other time in our history depends mostly on the things we choose to do today.  Though these things may never come to pass, to deny the mounting evidence is to live in a fools paradise.

                                    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aralship2.jpg

  http://www.businessinsider.com/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-is-already-happening-2014-7

Moving forward then is made more difficult by the plain fact that whole portions of this nation  are now caught up in a deep running culture of denial. This phenomenon, fueled by misinformation and an outdated fundamentalism is by no means new. This new wave however is coming at a most inopportune time. For these people have become victims not only of their own beliefs but  by a class that subjugates working people and culture of greed that demonizes reason as being anti business. The problem with these arguments is that people find themselves struggling against their own interests. And worse yet what solutions could be available are being dismantled one by one by groups of conservative bullies whose power to intimidate those more moderate grows daily..

              

 Read more on extinctions and climate change and why we should care.

http://climate.nasa.gov/
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/july/sixth-mass-extinction-072414.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events
http://www.mysterium.com/extinction.html
http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-5145


  

The golden age of planetary science

Dawn & New Horizons      The golden age of planetary science

Despite the recent announcements regarding cuts to certain high profile programs in the 2016 budget, NASA keeps plugging methodically along. Hopefully with the buzz surrounding some of its other programs in the news of late, the public’s imaginations will again be fixated on space, and this trend may reversed.

With the launches of both Dawn and New Horizons in  2007 and 2006 respectively, NASA quietly heralded a new era in planetary exploration and science. Though both destinations have since been re-categorized as a dwarf planets. In the case of Ceres it was an upgraded from asteroid status. Despite the nomenclature everything about these two missions is big news and here's why.  Firstly, new technologies are allowing these craft to do more with less and by less I mean fuel. Both craft are powered by ion plasma propulsion.  This new application of legacy technology allows a ship for the first time to maneuver in two new key ways.  Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit more than one celestial object in a single mission. (Ceres & Vesta)  The demands of such a mission requires the ship to change course in ways that would be impossible under more conventional means. Secondly these technologies allow for payloads manned or otherwise to move far farther and faster than ever before.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/spacecraft/index.html

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/pressroom/pdf/Dawn-Ceres-presskit_20150227.pdf

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/139889main_PressKit12_05.pdf

The technology as awesome as it is,must however take second place to the discoveries that await on these never before seen worlds. We will literally be having the a true first look at them. Both destinations have historically been too remote to observe with any amount of detail.

           

So It is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty what we will find. This uncertainty and subsequent risk taking, is however why we do it. It is part of our  human legacy.  in a relatively short time since having emerged from the cave we  have traversed and explored every environment we have come in contact with. With each step our technologies have grown in sophistication. Now despite our problems we find ourselves stuck on the edge of space.

These are however merely our first fledgling steps beyond the nest of our birth. There is no doubt in my mind that one day we shall set our feet on these worlds. The question remains, when after fifty years of stagnation will we again venture forth beyond low earth orbit.? We know evidenced by these recent mission that all of this is possible. When will the space establishment adopt an aggressive strategy toward this end. There is a point when caution becomes cowardice. Have we gotten to that place where we are paralyzed by fear? In times of war men and women are sent to their deaths without question. As evidenced by the interest generated by the Mars one project there would be scores of volunteers who would give their all for such  a chance. 

I don’t know if Mars one will, or even can succeed. I do however disagree with the scores of Space scientists whose say its impossible. Dangerous, you bet but not impossible. These same space experts have continually pushed back a theoretical mars landing, time and time again, saying we are not ready. We should have in the last fifty years had feet on most if not all of  the rocky bodies in our solar system. Instead we fly around tethered to the Earth.  I would like remind them that safety is not guaranteed to any of us. The early explorers knew this. why is it that we have forgotten?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/19/that-one-way-flight-to-mars-could-keep-you-waiting-for-decades/

Below I have attached links to plans from the past that  for one reason or another were either mothballed or never came to fruition.

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/constellation/Constellation_Program_Brochure_NP-2008-11-010-JSC.pdf

http://pbhistoryb1b3.grc.nasa.gov/assets/history/B%20NERVA/NERVA%20Nuclear%20Rocket%20Program%20%281965%29.PDF

http://news.discovery.com/space/private-spaceflight/icarus-interstellar-nerva-nuclear-fission-propulsion-space-exploration-130130.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

Groundhog

   

Here in America February 2nd is Groundhog day. Though its origins are said to have sprung from the fraternal order practices of  nineteenth century German settlers, to what secret and ancient meaning this may of once held is probably lost.Today, to some modern observers it is more akin to the thousands of other  roadside attractions that line back-country USA. While for others it is quaint little observance that roughly marks that two thirds of winter has passed.

Each year on that date in several locations around the country thousands of people will gather together  well  before dawn in the bleak winter air. They are there for a celebration in the groundhogs honor. Dressed up in suits and top hats  they wait in anticipation that spring may that year come a bit early. On the appointed hour they  witness as the groundhog is roused from his den. There it is coerced from hibernation to peer into the rising sun. It is then by his perceived reaction of his own shadow that the creatures is to divine from these clues how the remainder of winter will unfold.  A formal pronouncement is then made of whether there will be six more weeks of winter or if spring will come in six weeks. In modern times it is meant to be a light hearted occasion. There is however hidden within this ritual a symbolism that pays homage to the inevitable rebirth of Spring from winters darkness to which the groundhog is the harbinger.

Though many among us pay little mind toward such  traditions there is perhaps at least a subconscious recognition on such occasions to the cycles of life and death that had once in more desperate times had so easily mocked us.

Today we are for the most part blinded  to the fact that what we call existence in its most basic sense takes place within the boundaries of a thin set of lines between the things that will kill us and the things that give us life. Despite the danger we have made a comfortable home here in this narrow existential DMZ.  There upon the leading edge between where we can and cannot exist we are balanced within a tenuous zone of safety.  Most of us therefore no longer fear the ravages of time and blind fate. We are fortified in mind and body by the illusions of health and safety. We consume nutritious low cost diets. We are vaccinated against the ancient plagues of mankind and  treated with all manner of antimicrobial in the promise long lasting life and health. It is a fact that life expectancies have risen dramatically in the last century.

     http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html

Though we seem to be constantly making adjustments to keep the opposing forces in balance, these are for the most part done unconsciously. In the subsequent ages since we and our kind had stood up erect from the primordial slime we unlike our animal cousins have grown numb to living in proximity to the margin. There in that part outside our static bubble of balance the opposing forces continually test our abilities to endure. It is there however, where creation and the vital restructuring of energy takes place. Without these dynamic opposing forces our bodies like the universe itself would fall into a static state of dissolution.

 

http://www.calpoly.edu/~rbrown/entropy.html

Despite these strong pressures aligned against it, since the very beginning of life on earth the code of  evolution has summoned this creative force again and again to manifest its unfolding forms in pockets of complexity from virtual nothingness. Simple multi celled organisms had evolved from two dimensional free floating individuals that needed only to make a perfect copy of it self. The move from the micro to the macro then must complicated this process by unmeasured orders of magnitudes.

Radiolaria

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/radiolaria.html

Though it might seem logical that riotous cellular growth in living organisms should be a chaotic process. Nothing as it turns is farther from the truth. If one were able to read the code aloud it would be shown how these sustaining forces life are kept in delicate check by the forces of programmed cell death. How the processes of death, acting as architect of form should be so important to life is a philosophical enigma. however for all its power its merely a line of form delineated in code.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9922/

Amazon rank\ mathematics of biology

Amazon rank\ mathematics of biology

Sorry It's been a while. A new year is upon us. The holidays are over and its time to get back regular time.

In 1936  Alan Turing famed code breaker and mathematician published his now famous paper, "Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungs problem." In it he lays the groundwork for all future computers by introducing the idea of data formatted into a binary code.   He laid out in theory how by using a simple switching device and a counting machine or processor  problems of great complexity could be quickly and easily calculated. Few of us born in the 1960’s could have foreseen the changes brought upon society by the revolution born of this technology. Everything from our cars to toasters  now possess some level of calculating ability. The age of complex mechanization is dead. For all but the most rudimentary of technologies is so to speak on the grid.

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Turing_Paper_1936.pdf

It is true that with each passing year we grow more dependent upon our personal devices. So much so that they are becoming more like appendages than the tools they were originally intended to be. This is not to say that it is such  bad thing. For in the past other life changing technologies have had their opponents. Who among us would consider indoor plumbing, automobiles and airplanes to be inherently detrimental.Though some problems from each over time have been identified, all have in their own way tended to improve the overall quality of each of our lives. Despite this each in its time had drawn the ire of vocal detractors.

                                                                                     

I am among other things an artist and a writer. For those like myself who feel the urge to create the burgeoning changes have offered both challenges and opportunities. For those who in the past who had been rejected by the traditional arbiters of culture for reasons of either of taste or content have discovered new avenues of expression.  Some categorize this changing landscape as a democratization for its ability to be inclusive. Others are less convinced and feel that these entities have to some extent have for better or worse taken the place of more traditional productions. Still others on the fringe believe that the artificial intelligence behind the likes of Amazon and Google have far more ominous consequences for our future. Regardless however how one might feel In the age of amazon  those who aspire to make a literary name for themselves must contend with the algorithms of rank. This system designed to reflect the hidden desires of those about to purchase has emerged as the king of the digital media marketplace.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLI4ZPQ

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EC705M

In 1952  attempting to explain the phenomenon morphogenesis Alan Turing again published another revolutionary  set of equations that in time came to be the basis of modern mathematical biology. In essence Turing by trying solve the riddle of how a tiger got  its spots,  created a logical model to describe the process through which patterns arise in biological systems.

http://vagueterrain.net/journal14/jonathan-mccabe/01
http://www.wired.com/2011/02/turing-patterns/
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/92463?sid=21105633002693&uid=3739864&uid=4&uid=3739256&uid=2

In a sense by using algorithms similar to those used in mathematical biology, entities such as Amazon and the like are trying to predict the purchasing pattern of millions of  their paying consumers.  Is it possible that hidden within the nature  from which springs our complex behavior that there exist patterns akin to that of spots on an octopus or the stripes on a cat. Despite how fiercely we defend the concept of each of us possessing a unique individuality our behavior patterns as it turns are highly predictable. From a roughly homogeneous set the buying public will seize, and their attentions coalesce upon a particular product, song, film or book. Hidden in this behavior as in all things there must be patterns. At first glance one might surmise that these patterns appear randomly. There is however in both  instances  a hidden structure that can only be realized in highly evolved computer systems.

So then as these systems continue evolve there will no doubt that there should be corresponding effects be them good or bad upon our everyday lives. I for one see no reason why one should not feel optimistic about the societal changes wrought by these burgeoning technologies. May I recommend however that we retain the off switch just in case. For as these technologies advance and their deployments become ever more seamless, could we one day find ourselves being exploited in ways we can't now imagine?

An Accumulation of Errors

This week I read an article which described how Astronomers at observatory high in the Andes had for the first time visualized with their telescopes the clearest images yet available of the formation of a solar system similar to our own. In this haunting image in concentric bands of blank space are seen as the proto planets are caught in the act of clearing away from their own region of space of the vast clouds of cosmic debris. It was in a manner similar to this our own Earth came to be.

http://www.newsweek.com/image-captures-planet-formation-striking-detail-282793

It had not always been so. Long ago in a relative instant all that was to become the universe was set in motion by a singular chain of chaotic events. In an incalculable release of energy one by one the laws of nature unfolded from the singularity to form all that we know and see.  Space itself from some infinitely small point expanded into the void. To some it may seem that our existence from that point was merely a matter of consequence. All however is not as it would seems for this planetary system in which you and I exist is anomalous to the vast majority of this violent and chaotic universe. There had been no uniform means of creation its is by laughing chance that we find ourselves here on this island of relative stability, by chance a kind of order had arisen and where the laws of nature tend to make a kind of intuitive sense. Perhaps it is due to the favorable nature that stability provides many a grand and mysterious set of circumstances have since evolved. Chief among these of course, is life itself. 

 If we examine this closely there we may be some comparative analogies drawn. Though life and consciousness have for eons continually driven from chaos the creation of temporary pockets of complexity these however hand remained in the context of time as fleeting as a spark from a flame. From a perspective within the sphere of influence of these sparks time is marked out in the scale to which we are all familiar. Entire lives are lived and generations pass and our inheritance like a string are drawn out from the past through the present into the future. This inheritance being the sole survivor of this experience exists then simultaneously in all three. The fire itself is order from disorder.

 From this chaos here in the relative calm of our stable celestial neighborhood a fragile balance has then existed for eons. It is well known that in any sufficiently complex system there the cumulative effects of entropy will over time become apparent.  In respect to the human body it is through an accumulation of errors in our genetic code where this tendency toward degradation and our own individual mortalities are made evident.

http://gifsoup.com/view/4580486/dna-replication.html

It would seem logical that through the accumulation of these errors that this process would in due course cause all to turn ultimately to dust. However this has proven to not be the case for therein a contradiction exists. During the duplication a genetic trait’s code an error on occasion will occur during the process of transcription where in an advantage in survivability can be bestowed into a line of inheritance. 

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/genetics_show_how_earliest_europeans_weathered_the_last_ice_age-148658

Is it thereby through this accumulation of errors that both dissolution and rebirth are mitigated?  It would seem that by these means that despite the obstacles that life muddles on in an ever evolving pageant. 

....................................................................................................................................................................

 Free Book Offer>>  

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLI4ZPQ

 Hello
If You've enjoyed my Blog You may also enjoy my latest Novel

"A Paradox in Retrograde" 

A Kindle version is available for a five day period  beginning 11/14/1014  free of charge on my Amazon site. If you enjoy it please leave some feed back. Thanks for the support.












http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLI4ZPQ