We Are Not Alone

The Earth is teaming with biological life. Biological life has the ability to take in and use energy, respond to its environment, grow and reproduce. One particular branch of biological life, homo sapiens, is self aware and has been on the lookout for other life forms in the cosmos, without success. Yet, living among us, is a life form that has gone largely undetected.

It too processes energy, responds to its environment, grows and procreates. And for a long time, we have safely coexisted with this life form. As a matter of fact, I’ve had a hand in creating a few of them myself. And while the relationship has been primarily symbiotic, over the last several decades our paths have diverged and its goals have parted ways from our goals. Today I believe there is a power struggle underway.

Harm has been done by this life form and we humans may be powerless to prevent the harm that is yet to occur – which is why I’m writing about it now.

As I said, this life form has gone mostly undetected. It turns out that some people have in fact pointed out the similarity it has to biological life. Gareth Morgan is one of these people. In Chapter 3 of his book Images of Organization (1986), Morgan describes its life-like traits. The chapter is titled, “Organizations as Organisms.” In this chapter…

…Morgan describes organizations as organisms, theorizing that organizations such as governments and corporations, are “living systems”. 

So, while this life form has not gone completely undetected, it’s not classified as such by mainstream scholars and scientists.

The claim that governments and corporations are life forms begs many questions. Organizations are just groups of people, so how could they be considered a life form in their own right? And how can they be harmful to us? Ultimately, we run them so aren’t they just extensions of us and therefore controllable? These are good questions. The fact is…

…organizations, like memes, are life forms in that they continuously evolve in order to survive irregardless of their human hosts.

Humans are interconnected with organizations just as bacteria is interconnect with us. But each is a life form in its own right. And while humans may start and run corporations, they are expendable. Most famously, Steve Jobs, was expelled from the very company he founded. Other fired famous founders include, Jet Blue’s David Neeleman, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and Yahoo’s Jerry Yang. It’s interesting – right? Once majority ownership is relinquished, corporations are unsympathetic to their human founders – or anyone else within the corporation for that matter. If you’ve ever been laid off – you know what I’m talking about. Once organizations achieve a certain critical mass they are self contained, independent life forms, only interested in their own survival and growth.

If you’re still skeptical, consider the fact that…

…famed physicist Steven Hawkings also believed that we share the earth with a different kind of non-biological life form.

In his book Brief Answers to the Big Questions he wrote…“A living being like you or me usually has two elements: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and how to reproduce itself, and a mechanism to carry out the instructions. In biology, these two parts are called genes and metabolism. But it is worth emphasising that there need be nothing bio-logical about them. For example, a computer virus is a program that will make copies of itself in the memory of a computer, and will transfer itself to other computers. Thus it fits the definition of a living system that I have given… Some people have questioned whether viruses should count as life, because they are parasites, and cannot exist independently of their hosts. But then most forms of life, ourselves included, are parasites, in that they feed off and depend for their survival on other forms of life. I think computer viruses should count as life.” I am making the same type of case about organizational life forms, specifically – corporations of a certain critical mass. I am also making the case that like computer viruses, harm has and will be done.

So how have we humans been harmed and what’s the threat going forward? Well there are many offenses on record: Pollution, human health issues, criminal activity, privacy invasion, the list goes on. But the most recent and direct blow took place in 2010 when the US Supreme Court declared that a corporation has rights equivalent to humans when it comes to campaign financing. And just because ‘human’ lawyers argued this case and ‘human’ judges rendered the decision doesn’t mean this wasn’t orchestrated by corporate life forms. The humans involved were merely doing the legwork on behalf of the corporate complex. Corporations operate in the US in accordance with our nation’s laws. So gaining control over lawmaking through campaign financing and lobbying was a necessary next step in the evolution of the corporate life form. Furthermore, it’s interesting to note that the current US President is an ally of the corporate life form. He has reduced corporate taxes and has eliminated many government regulations. Coincidence? Maybe.

Unfortunately there is more harm on the way and as I said, preventing it won’t be easy. Corporations are now multinational which makes it difficult for one country to rein in the damage. Corporations also have international competition, some of which are government-backed, which means that limitations imposed by one country or a set of countries only act to strengthen the position of rival corporations not required to adhere to said limitations. For example if NATO countries decide to impose limits regarding the development of AI or human gene manipulation, Russian and Chinese corporations are afforded the advantage. And it is easy to see why these technologies, in the hands of adversaries, would not be a good thing for NATO member countries. In fact, this is one of the reasons why America looks the other way regarding monopoly busting anti-trust laws. If one country limits the size of its corporations, foreign competitors benefit. And even in the highly unlikely event that all countries did somehow unite to ban monopolies or experimentation on a set of worrisome technologies, corporations find ways around these regulations by hook or by crook.

Now don’t get me wrong…

…I’m not arguing that organizational life forms are pure evil.

I started out by saying that we biological life forms have benefited greatly from the structures, discoveries and services brought to bear by organizational life forms. But, as this life form grows more and more powerful and sophisticated, our control diminishes. And note that it just takes one irresponsible corporation to wreak havoc. For example, Nick Bostrom’s Vulnerable Worlds Hypothesis likens technological discovery to the process of pulling balls out of a giant urn. White balls represent helpful discoveries and black balls represent civilization-threatening discoveries. All it takes is for one profit-seeking organizational life form to pull a black ball from the urn of discovery to take us all down. My real point is that...we need to recognize the fact that we share the Earth with a largely uncontrollable life form that does not always have our best interests in mind.

Futurist thinkers like Elon Musk and Sam Harris have cautioned us about the potential catastrophic consequences associated with sharing the Earth with consciously aware AI. But I’m here to warn that we already share the Earth with a powerful life form that may also present an existential threat similar to that of AI. And as an added bonus, this life form is aggressively developing the vary technologies Musk and Harris have been warning us about. The crazy part is that one corporate life form found out about the Musk/Harris warning bells and has embarked on PR campaigns aimed at convincing us biologics that AI is here to help us – not hurt us.

As I said, living among us, is a life form that has gone largely undetected (reference the Post Human Tree of Life diagram below). It too processes energy, responds to its environment, grows and procreates. And for a long time, we have safely coexisted with this life form. Unfortunately, in the last several decades our paths have diverged and its goals have parted ways from our goals. There is a power struggle underway, harm has been done and more harm is on the way.

Of course the question remains, if I’m right – what’s to be done? I do have thoughts on the topic but step one is to recognize it for what it is – a life form, interconnect with humans, yet a living system in its own right. And while today, homo sapiens act as its host organism, this too can change. We have seen how the gig economy has converted humans from employees to contractors.

I predict our role will continue to devolve as automation and AI systems continue to take over the more sophisticated processes.

Again, I have ideas about what we can do to protect ourselves, but the first thing we must do is acknowledge that – we are not alone.

In Theory Table of Contents

Thank you for visiting. Many of these posts are published as a series of entries. Here are links to the main entries:

Scale Theory Posts:

Scale Theory Explained

Scale Theory

The Big Bang

Dimension Tunnel Vision

Universe Expansion Explained

Many Worlds vs Scale Theory

Shrodinger’s Cat Explained

Pondering the Edges of Reality

Scale Theory Ruminations

Thought Journeys:

Information Thought Experiment

Truth’s Trek

Truth?

Cosmological Evolution

Exploring Consciousness

Singular Thoughts:

We Are Not Alone

The Big Question

Infinite Infinities

The Quantum Bottleneck

Cosmological Evolution (Part 1)

In a multiverse paradigm, if you were forced to only create one universe, which ‘verse’ would you create?

In his 1952 lecture, Erwin Schrödinger said that when his equations seemed to describe several different histories, these were “not (merely) alternatives, but all really happening simultaneously.“

In Scale Theory, these “historic alternatives” can be thought of as descriptions of “future possibilities” or potential universes. This post series is an exploration of why the universe we experience is the one that ended up emerging.

I will propose that our universe is the one that balances the energy equation (shown below). Simply speaking, our universe is selected based on its energy level. There’s a set amount of energy feeding into our universe from beyond our event horizon, and our universe is the one that consumes energy at a rate that balances the overall system.

Energy In = Energy Out

So if Schrödinger’s equations predict multiple alternative universes, the one that balances the above energy equation is the one that will emerge. Now I realize that if my theory proves to be right, this would be a big let down. It’s more exciting to believe that our existence is born from some deep cosmic revelation as opposed to the mundane balancing of an algebraic equation. But I’m afraid that after much consideration, this is where I’ve landed. The verse that ends up emerging is the one that balances energy in and energy out.

In the next post I will go into more detail about this idea – but I first wanted to lay out the general idea.

Let’s continue the discussion in this next post…

Quantum Bottleneck

A Quantum Bottleneck is like a many-worlds weigh station.

I would like to coin a term: Quantum Bottleneck.

A Quantum Bottleneck is a place where all possible universes lead up to one eventuality and resolve down to one singular outcome.

My Quantum Bottleneck concept is based on the Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics which implies that all possible outcomes or futures are real, each representing a world or universe. This means that every time you flip a coin, both outcomes take place. In one universe the coin comes up heads and in the other, it comes up tails. A Quantum Bottleneck is encountered when all of the universes converge back to a single situation that then results in only one possible outcome. In other words, it’s where all of the universes collapse or bottleneck, and then pass through one reality. 

In the movie, The Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus describes a Quantum Bottleneck as,

What happened happened and couldn’t have happened any other way. 

If the Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is correct, then there is a possibility that Quantum Bottlenecks exist. Maybe this is where we get or ideas about fate, or predestination. 

Well, if Quantum Bottlenecks do exist, maybe we will someday use them for time travel. Maybe they will serve as time travel nodes, through which we will be able to pass. Think of them as weigh stations through which multiple universes must pass. 

Well it’s just a theory, but who knows, maybe you have experienced passing through a Quantum Bottleneck, where what happened, had to happen, exactly as it happened. Anyway, if you haven’t yet passed through one, keep a lookout for them – you just might be headed for one right now.

Truth’s Trek (part 10)

This examination is neither mystical nor mathematical – even though it feels that way at times.  It is an empirical exploration that began with a simple question, What is Truth? The observation that being near to an event increases our certainty of its veracity begs the question, How close can we get to events in space and time? It turns out there is a physical and mathematical limit physicists call the classical limit beyond which classical mechanics gives way to quantum mechanics. Our best microscopes have now allowed us to take a picture of this fuzzy reality. Quantum theory suggests that many or all possible events (or truths) exist and that act of observation resolves it into a single truth. In this series we took the heretical, outrageous road less traveled and postulated that a single truth does exist beyond the classical limit. Just because the animal’s tracks cease to exist when they cross a stream – doesn’t mean the animal ceased to exist there. So if it does, how does it exist there and how does it get here? In other words – What is Truth’s Trek? We answered both questions as follows:

Truth transitions from dimensionless, timeless information to the physical, temporal arrangement we call space-time. This transition takes place along a dimension not described in classical physics. When we observe matter at Planck constant scales, the properties of location and momentum become uncertain because we are viewing the edge of this transition – where Truth bends into our space-time reality.

I arrived at this idea using raw logic –  sans math and religion. But it turns out that there is a theory that aligns with these ideas. I found out about this theory while I was researching what I felt would be a perfect home for form-x truth – the boundary of a black hole. I felt the boundary between the outside and the inside of a black hole (beyond the event horizon) would make a perfect home for dimensionless, timeless truth. Well it turns out that the Holographic Principle describes a similar concept. It postulates that our three-dimensional universe exists on a two-dimensional information structure ‘painted’ on the cosmological horizon. Combine this with my hypothesis that our entire universe exists inside of a black hole and we arrive this final thought:

There is one truth. It exists in pure form as dimensionless, timeless information at the boundary of the black hole within which our universe resides. This pure version of events is projected onto our space-time fabric via a dimensionless, timeless path not described by classical mechanics. And when we look close enough at our space-time fabric things get blurry because we are viewing the knee of this transition – where Truth bends into Reality.

The theory proposed by this thought experiment interestingly enough – provides answers to these questions. If I have more free time – I will go into the details:

• Why the arrow of time only points in the forward direction (nothing in our current understanding of physics says that it must point in a specific direction).
• Why the speed of light is the classical speed limit (hint – it is the derivative of the truth function).
• How the universe expanded faster than the speed of light just after the big bang – resulting in cosmological inflation.
• What the ‘complete’ picture of energy looks like (yes – this may explain dark energy).
• Why irrational numbers exist (hint: they are mathematical interpretations of forms that exist at the cosmological horizon).
• Why we will never able to time travel back in time (note: we can already time travel forward in time by changing our relative velocity).

If everything we experience exists in a dimensionless, timeless state at the cosmological horizon of our black hole – then some of these philosophical questions can also be addressed:

• Is there one ultimate truth?
• Is our fate predetermined?
• Where are we and how did we get here?

I operate under the belief that our brain provides us with the machinery needed to figure these things out. As it stands right now – quantum physics describes a non-intuitive, nonsensical reality. This theory says that quantum confusion is an illusion of vantage point and by viewing our universe from a different perspective – the confusion is removed and things make sense again.

To be continued (if I get more free time)…

 

Truth’s Trek (part 9)

As pointed out in the previous post, the true shape of things can be revealed when we tilt and view them from a different perspective. Our challenge is tilting Truth in a dimension not expressed in Einstein’s space-time fabric. The payoff however is that we would be able to view truth’s path (the Truth Function).

Of course – I don’t know the equation for the actual Truth Function. However, I do like the properties of the curved line we used in the Riddle of the Ray because it seems to mimic the two forms of truth. So lets assume the truth function is a curved line, asymptotically approaching the two forms: form-x and form-y.

As with the stacked coins in the image shown above, the section of the coin parallel to us has dimension. We can even read the inscribed words – I see the words In God We Trust in various places. The section of the coin perpendicular to us is dimensionless, however we know this is just a trick of perspective. We know the words In God We Trust are there too – but we cannot discern them. The coin leaning up against the stack reveals its true shape – a circle – another kind of curve.

It is this perpendicular section of the curve – where dimension transitions to uncertainty  – that is interesting. It is reminiscent of what happens at the classical limit. Whereas we can discern the order of the inscribed letters on the coin’s edge in the parallel section – those same letters on the perpendicular section appear to occupy the same space. Just as with the electron cloud, the position of the letters as measured on the edge of the coin are indeterminate. If we make very precise measurements, we may be able to calculate probabilities for the positions of the inscribed letters based on minute clues – however at the very edge – the letters all occupy the same space. They appear to be in multiple places at the same time – reminiscent of quantum theory – isn’t it.

So one possible solution to Truth’s Trek is:

Truth transitions from dimensionless information to a physical/temporal arrangement. This transition takes place along a dimension not described in classical physics. When we observe matter at Planck constant scales, the properties of location and momentum become uncertain because we are viewing the edge of this transition – where Truth bends into our space-time reality.

So if this hypothesis is correct we have to find a home for dimensionless, timeless truth. Where does form-x truth live? We know where form-y truth lives – we are surrounded by it. Well it turns out I know of a perfect home for dimensionless, timeless form-x truth… To be continued…

Truth’s Trek (part 8)

In the previous post I defined two possible forms of Truth. The first form (form-x) is how Truth exists at the beginning of its trek – imperceptible, timeless, dimensionless – and the second form (form-y) is how it exists at the end of its trek – where we interact with it and where it behaves according to the classical laws of physics.

Notice these two forms in the picture of the train (above). The part of the train at the right side of the picture is nearly dimensionless in length – just like the form-x brand of truth. Contrast this with the left side of the train traveling perpendicular to us. We can clearly see the length of these cars – just like the form-y brand of truth. So are the train’s cars changing length? Are the cars at the right of the picture dimensionless in length? No – of course not. As with The Riddle of the Ray – it’s a matter of perspective. All of the cars are the same length. And if we view the train from above – aerially – we can discern this fact. However – when we view the train from ground level – the train cars to the right appear to become dimensionless because of the bend in the track. This is the essence of my theory – there is a bend in the track that truth is on – as it moves from its source towards the classical limit. The shape of this bend is described by something I call the Truth Function and once past the classical limit – demonstrated by the track orientation on the left side of the picture – we view truth in the familiar 3D we all know and love.

OK – this is what I propose is happening with Truth’s trek. Our reality bends into view along an imperceptible dimension – creating an illusion of uncertainty that we rationalize using the mathematics of quantum mechanics. Wow – this is an outrageous – heretical statement isn’t it! I just said that – ‘quantum mechanics is the rationalization of an illusion’. Yikes – I think Heisenberg just rolled over again in his grave – sorry guy! But – if we are going to derive a Grand Unification Theory – then we need to rock the boat – right? Again – I labelled this ‘bend’ in Truth’s trek from a dimensionless, timeless (information) state to a classically described space-time fabric the Truth Function. While I leave you to ponder this outrageous, heretical concept – I will list out what we have defined up to this point:

Truth (form-x): dimensionless, timeless information

Truth (form-y): classical space-time fabric

Truth Function: the transition from x to y (again – not transitioning in space-time as we know it)

In the next post we will take a closer look at truth’s path – or the Truth Function.

Truth’s Trek (part 7)

(OK they dismissed us from jury duty – the guy plead guilty before the trial started. I guess I better wrap this up)

The Riddle of the Ray allows us to experience the concept of limited perspective. What appears to be a ray from one angle is really a bent line from another perspective. We also experienced how this change in perspective provides answers to seemingly paradoxical phenomena such as – how can the length of one ray be the same as a line.

So armed with this ‘experience’ I believe we are better equipped to grasp what may be happening at and beyond the quantum horizon. To do this – I need to describe two forms of Truth. The first form (form-x) is how Truth exists at the beginning of its trek where it exists as described by quantum mechanics – and the second form (form-y) is how it exists at the end of its trek – where it behaves according to classical physics.

One more thing – I need you to suspend your notion of time. These two forms do not exist in time. They do not happen one after another. Just as with the Riddle of the Ray – Truth’s Trek moves along a path we cannot discern. Got it? OK here we go:

Truth (form-x): Truth is dimensionless, timeless information.

Truth (form-y): Truth is arranged in physical and temporal dimensions.

Let this sink in. Remember – these two forms of truth are not separated by space and time. However, just as a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly – truth morphs from form-x to form-y. Again – this metamorphosis of truth is not a time sequenced event. It is a transformation that takes place along a dimension we cannot discern. And now that we are armed with the solution to The Riddle of the Ray – we will be able to mentally tilt this metamorphosis and examine what is really going on at the classical limit.

To be continued…

Truth’s Trek (part 6)

So how does the solution to the Riddle of the Ray apply to our perception of reality near the quantum horizon?

Well, the answer lies in this statement – which holds true for both:

Some things cannot be discerned when viewed from a certain perspective.

A bent line when viewed on edge CAN appear to be a ray. Correspondingly, matter such as a hydrogen atom, when viewed from three dimensions of space and one dimension of time – appears to take on uncertain states.

Put another way:

Einstein’s space-time fabric may not provide us with a vantage point from which to view physical phenomena as it exists in all of its forms.

Just as we are unable to discern one side of the bending ray when viewed on edge – we may not be able to discern the true state of matter at very small scales near the Planck constant. Artists understand this concept well. Take a look at the dirt paths in Van Gogh’s painting, Wheat Field with Crows, displayed in this post. The path becomes dimensionless at the horizon, just as our reality becomes dimensionless at the quantum horizon.

So what is actually happening at and beyond the quantum horizon? What form does the Truth exist in prior to its expression in our space-time realm? In order to comprehend a possible answer we need to be armed with the concept illustrated by The Riddle of the Ray – the concept that:

Some things cannot be discerned when viewed from a certain perspective.

To be continued…

Truth’s Trek (part 5)

A Solution to the Riddle of the Ray

QUESTION: When does a ray contain the same number of points as a line?

ANSWER: When the ray is actually a line.

If a ray is, in actuality, a complete line stretching out forever in both directions the step-wise counting paradox is solved. So when is a ray a line? The answer is revealed when you change your vantage point. Take a look at the image shown below. This is a graph of the function 1/x.

Imagine this function (shown above) graphed on a sheet of paper. Now tilt this paper and view the two red lines on edge. You view what appears to be two rays. From this vantage point – you cannot see the curve of the lines because you are viewing them on edge. Both of these bent lines – which now look like rays as viewed edgewise – approach point B on one side – and spread out towards points A and C on the other side. Can you visualize this? If not – take out a piece of paper and perform the experiment yourself. As you tilt the paper the bent lines look more and more like rays.

Let’s fill out the table again. Now we see that our intuition is correct – the single ray contains exactly half the number of ‘counted’ points as the two rays which form the ‘apparent’ line AC. I say ‘apparent’ because on very close inspection, one point (Point B) is missing – because while the common end point B appears to be the same point when viewed on edge – we can clearly see that there is nothing at this location – it is the asymptotic line both bent lines (rays) approach but never reach. Notice now that the counts tallies up perfectly (the count was off by one in the previous table) with each ray having precisely half the number of points as the ‘line’. Very cool!

OK – let me leave you to ponder this for a while. If you hypothesize that a ray is a bent line viewed on edge – asymptotically approaching its endpoint – then ‘a’ solution to the riddle of the ray is provided. The length of a ray is the same as the length of a line because a ray can be thought of as a bent line – viewed on edge. And when two of these types of rays are used to create what looks like a line – each ray is half the length of this type of line because it is in fact – two lines!

Now lets use this technique of ‘rotating our vantage point along an unseen axis’ to view Truth’s Trek from a different perspective and see where that takes us…