2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries/2,000 Greater and Lesser Mysteries.iso/philos/mys01580.txt

Text File | 1994-06-10 | 405.0 KB | 7,286 lines

          John David Rohner, Milwaukee, WI              August 1991


          Comments:

               The purpose of this document: to eliminate primitive
          beliefs, to offer solutions to unanswered questions, and
          to investigate or at least mention interesting
          discoveries and technologies.
               You will find this to be hard reading, disjoint, and
          disorganized.  Remember that this is a compilation of
          many notes I have taken throughout my life.  Also
          whatever new data I come across.  Only through many
          revisions will this be complete and understandable.

               The scientific method for solving problems uses
          deduction.  You observe data and then create theories to
          account for that data.  Your theory is proven when you
          can correctly anticipate future data.  The competing form
          of logic is that of induction.  With induction you start
          with a theory and try to prove it.  This method is out of
          favor because it usually introduces bias.
               Deductive methods attempt to form the universe into
          a pattern that can be easily predicted and understood.
          I feel that this prevents awareness of data.  By working
          from the inductive method you can use more creativity and
          imagination to examine all possibilities.  Then you can
          see what data is available, fill where you can, and
          investigate where you suspect.
               There are real problems in knowing the truth of what
          our senses and instruments tell us.  The field of
          philosophy that deals with knowing and finding things
          that are true has found only one truth:  that whenever
          you say "I think, therefore I am," then you can be sure
          that you, at least, exist.
               We attempt to order the universe in our own minds.
          Unfortunately there is much misunderstanding.  Too many
          people are still "hoping" or "thinking" that the universe
          and its events are a certain way.  I have written this
          continually on-going project in hopes that the whole
          human race can feel the same confidence I have concerning
          our future.  All I ask is an open mind.
               Generally, two opposing theories are both right and
          wrong.  In the end, the result/method/truth is usually a
          combination of both theories.  The same is true of
          inductive logic.  The more diverse the views, the more
          likely all the angles will be found.  The Voyager
          spacecraft is one example of the limits of the scientific
          method.  We sent it out to explore and investigate.
          Their goal was to fill some missing holes of data on our
          solar system and its origins.  What we got were some
          answers and many more questions.  If we had simply put
          down into a list everything we imagined we may see, we
          would have been less surprised.  We could have, perhaps,
          better prepared the spacecraft for answers instead of a
          "go see what is there" approach.  What we saw was the
          infamous, "Why did I not think of that?".
               I believe that to be truly successful with something
          like inductive logic you need to have many opinions
          viewed.  Much like the ideas of a global village or
          distributed democracy.  This will reduce the bias of the
          single person (into a bias of the group--still better
          than one view though).  "None of that majority rules
          stuff."  Computers allow us to merge views from many
          sources than was previously possible.  As an example, I
          feel that I have read so many science fiction storylines
          that I can form what I think the universe is really like.
          Another good example is the Lottery.  We do not know what
          the final numbers will be, but finding the correct
          numbers are inevitable with so many people guessing.
          This is stretching it a bit since other factors such as
          the definitions of the number system also come into
          account.  The more diverse the opinions and views, the
          higher the probability that answers are among them.
               These views can be formed together to create the
          final picture.  My views, I hope, are not totally your
          views.  Where we differ I would like to hear from you.

               This document is not meant to be scientific.  The
          references are sources of ideas--not necessarily hard
          scientific investigation (eg. various journals).

          ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Table of contents

          Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3

          Terms and concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

          TRADITIONAL MYSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
               Mind Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
               Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
               Witches/Warlocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
               UFO'S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
               Psychic Voyages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

          NEW MYSTERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
               Existence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
               Imagination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12

          EVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
               In The Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
               Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
               Homo Sapiens: The Next Generation. . . . . . .  26

          Extraterrestrials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32

          The Universe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38

          Physics of the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40

          Universe notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45

          SPACE TRAVEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  64
               Faster Than Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  64
               FTL possibility(?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  65
               Space Ships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  68
               Miscellaneous Space Travel Stuff . . . . . . .  70

          On Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  71

          Force shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72

          Teleportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  73
               Teleportation via dimensions . . . . . . . . .  74

          THE BRAIN AND THE BODY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  80
               Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  80
               The MultiTasking Brain . . . . . . . . . . . .  99
               ThoughtProcess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   104
               ThoughtSpeech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   105

          The human soul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   108
          Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   110
               Punctuated Gradualism. . . . . . . . . . . .   110
               Miscellaneous Technology . . . . . . . . . .   111

          Battle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   116

          Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   119

          I PREDICT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   152
               Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   152
               Potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   153
               What you can see . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   153

          Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   155

          Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   157

          Final comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   157

          Ok, who am I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   159

          Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   160

          Additional references . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   161

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Terms and concepts:

          A MOMENT OF TIME
               State of the universe, or of some local area, that
               once/had/could exist.  "The present moment is
               eternity and contains all the mystery of the
               universe."

          CRYONICS
               The freezing of meat for later use. . .ah, well,
               the truth.  The freezing of organic matter with the
               expectation of restoring or duplicating the tissue
               into living organic matter in the future.

          CYBERSPACE
               William Gibson's creation, in Neuromancer, of an
               interactive communications protocol.  Using full
               graphics, direct brain sensors, and symbols for
               computers.  If you're into computers you should
               have read it.  If you're young and into computers
               you're required to read it.

          DETERMINISTIC
               Determinism and Free Will are interrelated.  If you
               have determinism then you do not have Free Will.
               Words such as "fate" and "destiny" are
               deterministic.  It is the belief that the future
               was planned and will be unchangeable.
               Environmental Determinism, the idea that the
               environment you grew up in will affect your future
               actions, is a common use of the term.

          FREE WILL
               The freedom to think what you want, without any
               external influences.  Not having someone implant
               your next thoughts into your brain.  Self-
               determinism of thought.  Do not confuse the term
               with freedom or liberty.  If you kill somebody,
               Free Will requires that you take the punishment
               since you did it.  Whereas if things were
               deterministic you could say it was your destiny to
               kill them.  That the future was unalterable.
               Therefore you lacked choice, no way not to do it,
               and should not have to take the punishment.  If one
               allows only moments of free thought in your life,
               you do not have Free Will.
          INFINITY
               Infinity is essentially a level above the Real
               number system (0, 1, 2, 3, ...).  It is more of a
               theoretical tool than something of practical value.
               After all, if you have a zillion apples you are not
               going to say you have an infinite number of apples.
               Infinity marks the point of "unknown many," when
               you have so many that you do not know how many.  If
               the number can be estimated, than that number is
               not infinite.  Example, we have an infinite number
               of atoms in the Universe.  You also could say there
               are an infinite number of atoms in the solar
               system, except that we know the size of solar
               system and the number of atoms in a given unit of
               area.  So while we may break the mathematical
               system trying to calculate the number we would
               eventually get a number, whereas the Universe lacks
               a size limit.

          INFINITY^
               Infinity raised to infinity raised to infinity,
               etc., etc., till infinity (forever).  Infinity
               multiplied by any Real number will still equal
               infinity (for example, 10*Infinity=infinity, or
               1,000,000,000*infinity=infinity,) since any number
               smaller than infinity is insignificant.
               Multiplying infinity by itself (infinity*infinity)
               yields values that are so large that they are only
               theoretical toys.  Since all things in the universe
               together would only equal infinity, it can be said
               that Infinity^ represents nothing.

          INFINITESIMAL
               Does not represent anything.  Even the smallest bit
               of matter is not infinitesimal, since it can be
               measured.  The main use of the infinitesimal is to
               describe immeasurably small distances or times for
               theoretical purposes.  Just as 5/1=5 and 1/5=.2,
               infinity/1=infinity, and 1/infinity=infinitesimal.
               The larger the number under the one, the smaller
               the resulting value.  Example, if  the distance
               between two points had an infinite number of points
               between them, then Zeno's argument would be true
               (that motion is impossible because it requires an
               object to pass through an infinite number of points
               in a finite amount of time).

          INFINITESIMAL^
               Infinitely^ small.

          LOCAL
               Structure of the local area at a current moment of
               time.  The size of this local area can be anything
               from less than a single atom to whole clusters of
               galaxies--it depends on the total area considered.

          PROBABILITY OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF
               As the Universe is infinite, the term "infinite"
               evokes a potential for duplication.  Specifically,
               duplication of ourselves.  Events are what the
               Universe is made of.  At each moment of time there
               are an infinite^ number of potential states the
               Universe can change into.  For example, if each
               atom in the universe could move in only one of four
               directions at each moment of time then; 1 atom
               could go in one of four directions (4 probable
               outcomes), 2 atoms - each capable of going in one
               of four directions - gives 4 probable outcomes for
               each, but together there would be 16 probable
               outcomes (4*4).  An infinite number of atoms
               produces an unimaginable number with a limit of
               only two choices of directions for each atom.  Toss
               in interactions and an infinite number of potential
               directions for each little bit of matter for the
               three-dimensional space it lives in (a sphere of
               potential movement directions) and even infinite^
               may be small.  This extremely high number of
               potential states cumulatively eliminates any
               serious duplication problems.  The more complex the
               required duplication, the less its possibility.
               What I have not really decided yet is whether the
               probability is cumulative or not.  The universe is
               so vast that it simply may not matter.

          SCIENCE FICTION
               Parapsychology is not a part of Science Fiction.
               The majority of science fiction today is a
               Character Role Playing Game (CRPG) adventure.  It
               is a great source of creative thinking.

          STATE
               Structure of the Universe at a current moment of
               time.

          UNIVERSE
               I had considered using something like "Multiverse"
               to describe the Universe but decided against it.
               Just think of the Universe as made up of an
               infinite number of what we now consider to be in
               the universe (not "Big Bang bubbles").  The term
               universe can be most anything (for example, the
               ecology of forest could be thought of a "local
               universe"). Each dimension should be called a
               universe.  Within each of us, our imagination is a
               universe.

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          TRADITIONAL MYSTERIES

          Mind Reading

               No.  While we are developing technology to read the
          electronic activity of brains through receivers attached
          to the skull, the current/voltage is extremely difficult
          to detect.  The brain being 3-dimensional and very fast
          moving just exacerbates the challenge.  Humans cannot
          read each others minds.  There are no "links" between
          humans either to allow mind reading.  In perhaps 30 years
          we will have the technology to put thoughts into pictures
          onto a screen - generated by computer using the same
          algorithms as we do to process the information.

          Ghosts

               No.  By ghosts I mean ethereal former organic
          beings.  We have no invisible souls, we are what we are.
          Incorporeal matter can hardly have very much intelligence
          (unless it has access to some form of database to provide
          the intelligence - but this may eliminate the very
          "being"/existence of the intelligence).  A person is
          better off considering our spirit to be just that.  The
          feeling of happiness, self confidence, etc. that you feel
          at times, in the long term this helps to reduce stress
          and by that give you a longer life.
               Bob Shaw wrote of life: "A personality is a
          structure of mental entities, existing in mental space,
          and it survives destruction of the brain though it
          required the brain's complex physical organization to
          develop."  I suspect this is what many people currently
          think.  Note the flaw, no growth after death.  Static
          life-after-death, that is not life, merely existence.
               Notice the differences between an advanced race at
          the energy level and ghosts.  Both exist in the same
          medium; energy.  Except the race evolved into it, the
          ghosts became it when we died.  The race would use a real
          form of energy, the ghosts use undetectable energy.
          Ghosts and spirits are things those who cannot accept
          death believe.  My efforts will always be constructive
          and real, not imaginary and false.

          Witches/Warlocks

               People with some tricks up their sleeves.  With an
          antigravity belt and a few other tricks I could easily be
          a warlock even in these times.  This cult is now
          concentrating on worshipping nature.

          UFO'S

               Sure, maybe one or two in all history.  Since any
          more would have serious implications: maybe there are
          many alien races nearby watching us, or that they simply
          do not share their data.  A race that can fly through
          space can surely stop our primitive detection equipment,
          so there really is no reason for us to have noticed them
          at all.

          Psychic Voyages

               Definitely yes.  Dreams and drugs now.  Databases
          and interfaces tomorrow.  Just read William Gibson's
          works.


          NEW MYSTERIES

          Existence

               Many things that people typically think may happen,
          such as; instantaneous travel, ghosts, true visions of
          the future, a single being who can do anything.  These
          are all possible, if one accepts that we may be a great
          beings' memory - that we had existed, but no longer
          exist.  Thus our essence and the world around us is
          subject to the beings thinking, as is anyone who can
          access/manipulate the storage area.  By having lived we
          had Free Will, but as a memory we think we have Free Will
          because the events did occur with Free Will.  The key to
          determining the truth involves time, and the "ticks of
          time."  This is not thinking of time in the traditional
          sense, but as the state method.  Since by its very nature
          each tick of time lasts both an infinitesimal amount of
          time and that this amount is always varying.  Maybe some
          type of atomic-based system which only works during these
          ticks - thus if a jump in time occurs we would notice it.
          On the other hand, a jump might be caused by something
          else, or we might be forced to "see" it falsely.

          Imagination

               It seems to me that there is some significance in
          the following, although I am not really sure what:  The
          universe in its purely natural state is raw energy, from
          this we get clumps of matter into inanimate objects.
          This inorganic matter can create organic matter under the
          right conditions, the organic matter then becomes plants
          and animals.  Sentient beings evolve from these animals.
          These sentient beings then develop an imagination.  The
          deal is:  we start with infinity, we shrink it down to
          get humans, but we have an infinity within ourselves
          because our imaginations can imagine anything.  What is
          this link with the universe?  The Universe cannot imagine
          or create things beyond what are "natural," but our
          brains can do both.  We cannot bring those objects we
          think up into this universe--though they do exist in this
          Universe in an encoded form (memory).  We then use our
          bodies to construct the object into the Universe.  There
          seems some logic here, but I cannot pinpoint it.  Perhaps
          its just me making more of nothing.  [The Universe is a
          platform on which life forms.  Life is a platform on
          which intelligence forms.  It took a variety of tiny
          modifications and reactions to produce an infinite
          potential.]

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          EVOLUTION:

          In The Beginning

               God by definition does not exist.  Omniscience; the
          knowing of everything in the universe in the past,
          present and future, and omnipotence; the ability to do
          anything and everything, rule them out, especially if you
          want Free Will.  Higher evolved beings do exist (for
          example, us).  What type of race those higher than us are
          will decide how they treat us (benevolence, slavery,
          leave alone, etc.).  Humans mistakenly pray to gods in
          hope that one of these higher evolved beings will hear
          their call, impressed by such reverence will constantly
          store their current body data so that they may be
          recreated should they die here on Earth.  (See section on
          transportation beams for problem information.)  A
          distinct lack of self confidence in one's own race is
          necessary to believe this stuff.  Without the right
          technology, unknowns scare a species, death being the
          biggest unknown - add to this a desire to both obtain and
          legitimize power and these things catch on.  We have the
          technology to change and evolve ourselves, we must do so.
          In the future evolution will prove to be too slow to
          advance the human race.  Some thought should be given to
          what to change into and what other races have chosen to
          evolve into.  Once we know what to expect, we can locate
          other races.  Once a race evolves beyond the need for
          organic matter it will appear that the race has died out,
          it will look like it was only a flash-in-the-pan and that
          there are fewer races in the universe than there really
          are.

               ". . .For no powerful God would need miracles.
               He would set everything up properly in the
               beginning, and by virtue of His omnipotence He
               would have no need for stage tricks."

               If you desire a god to worship, use Brian Herbert's
          definition: "The Leader of the Universe."

               The only way to know the power of any being--
          including those claiming godhood--is to switch places
          with them.
               Space can apparently form complex molecules - some
          of which lead to life.  These building blocks of life
          land on planets, trying to fashion life under the
          conditions given.

               We are animals.  Animals are life.  Life is the
          ability to think for yourself (plants are biological
          machines).  We started out as little rat-like creatures
          during the dinosaur age.  We then grew to be chimpanzee-
          like.  Resulting finally in our present form.

               Ants, at least, are biological machines.  Working
          from instinct with no self-determination/self-thought.

               DNA structure matching will eventually show the
          whole tree of life on earth.  For now, a chimp's DNA
          matches to 98.4% of that of the human (a gorilla matches
          97.9% to a human).

               It looks like evolution of major lines such as
          humans occur in spurts (punctuated equilibrium) and minor
          changes slowly (gradualism).

               We, for the most part, evolved in eastern Africa.
          Starting sometime between 6 and 10 million years ago we
          see the appearance of two groups who evolved from chimps:
          apes and upright hominid's--little more than monkeys who
          regularly walked upright.  Around 3 million years ago,
          the lineage splits into Australopithecus robustus and
          Australopithecus africanus.  A. robustus died off about
          1.2 million years ago.  Around 2 million years ago A.
          africanus became Homo habilis, the first real humans.
          Around 1.7 million years ago H. habilis became H.
          erectus, who, around 1 million years ago, left Africa and
          spread through most of the Old World (Europe, Asia,
          Africa), as did their descendants.  Those descendants
          appeared around 500,000 years ago with the arrival of
          Homo sapiens.  These last (H. habilis to H. sapiens) was
          straight evolution of a single species.  Around 130,000
          years ago modern Homo sapiens appears and so did
          Neanderthal.  Neanderthal died out about 32,000 years
          ago.  This is too bad, as they were interesting people.
          In many ways more advanced than the Homo sapiens of the
          time, they used fire regularly and took care of their old
          and infirm.  Current thought is that they did not evolve
          technologically like Homo sapiens had.  No innovation,
          for their entire period they always used the same type of
          stone tools everywhere.  They also did not live to be
          very old (not beyond 45).  Homo sapiens evolved better
          weapons and boats during this period.  Also about 35,000
          years modern humans appear (Cro-Magnon/Homo sapiens
          sapiens).  It also thought that Neanderthal were impaired
          by a form of muteness--they could not articulate their
          sounds enough to distinguish them to form/learn a
          language (vocal tract problem, for instance chimps are
          known to have trouble forming most of the commonest
          vowels).  Neanderthal was not stupid though, they had a
          brain case 10% larger than ours.

               "Teach a rat to run an obstacle course and there
               will be a jump in the number of communication links
               between cells in the cerebellum, a part of the
               brain that coordinates movement.  That's been
               fairly easy to prove; researchers just count the
               links and compare them with the number of links in
               rats that haven't had to meet this challenge.  But
               is has been much harder to figure out whether it's
               the physical activity or the mental
               gymnastics--learning the course--that triggers this
               increase.  Neuroscientist William Greenough taught
               a group of rats to negotiate an elevated obstacle
               course of balance beams, seesaws, and rope bridges.
               At first the rats hesitated, but after a month of
               training and the proper reward ('Rats love
               chocolate,' Greenough says) they scampered eagerly
               over pencil-wide dowels and loosely suspended ropes
               and chains, no matter how the course was
               rearranged.  These acrobatic rats got little
               aerobic exercise, however, compared with another
               group of rodents that ran in an exercise wheel
               every day.  These long-distance runners covered an
               average of 12 miles during their monthlong workout.
               A third group spent a month trotting on a
               treadmill, covering seven miles on average.  A
               final group of animals lounged in a cage without
               obstacle courses, exercise wheels, or any other
               chance to learn or get in shape.  The researchers
               then examined slices of brain tissue from each rat.
               The acrobatic animals, it turned out, had more
               connections between cells in the cerebellum than
               did animals in any of the other groups.  But the
               rats that did monotonous, vigorous exercise didn't
               lose out completely; they had the highest density
               of brain blood vessels.  With a lot of exercise,
               Greenough says, their brain cells fired messages
               more frequently across existing cell connections,
               and blood vessels grew to bring the links and cells
               added nourishment.  'With exercise, you can change
               blood-vessel density,' says Greenough.  'You are
               changing the brain so that it is more capable of
               doing the task.  But new connections only form when
               the animals learn new behavioral skills.'"

               "In 1987 biochemists at Berkeley declared that they
               had traced the genetic ancestry of all living
               people back to a single woman who had lived in
               Africa some 200,000 years ago.  This...announcement
               was based on a comparison of the DNA found inside
               the mitochondria--rodlike structures within the
               cell--of 147 women from various racial and
               geographic backgrounds.  Mitochondrial DNA is
               inherited only from one's mother, so any changes
               from one generation to the next are caused by
               random mutations, rather than by a mixing of genes
               from both parents.  The Berkeley team
               claimed...that such mutations accumulate throughout
               the millennia at a steady rate and can be used as a
               molecular "clock."  By identifying the number of
               mutations that separated several populations and
               then using the clock to figure out how many years
               it would have taken for those mutations that
               separated several populations and then using the
               clock to figure out how many years it would have
               taken for those mutations to occur, the researchers
               pinned a date on our last common maternal ancestor.
               And, they reasoned, the population with the most
               DNA diversity--the Africans--must be the oldest.
               'Adam was an African Pygmy,' declares evolutionary
               geneticist Gérard Lucotte of the collège de France
               in Paris.  'Not maybe a Pygmy, not probably a
               Pygmy.  He was definitely a Pygmy.'  Lucotte's lab
               is one of several around the world using the male Y
               chromosome as a lever to dig out information on
               human origins.  Most of the Y chromosome is passed
               intact from father to son (a small section of it
               does exchange genetic material with the female X
               chromosome, but Lucotte excludes this section from
               his analysis).  Just as the changes in
               mitochondrial DNA led back to Eve, mutations on the
               Y chromosome can, in theory, provide a route
               leading back to a common paternal ancestor--not
               Eve's actual mate, but a male who probably lived
               about the same time.  In 1985 Lucotte and his
               colleagues were able to sort a sample of 50
               Parisian men into 16 characteristic Y chromosome
               types.  Using a computer algorithm that seeks out
               the 'master' type from which all the others could
               have derived with the least amount of fuss,
               Lucotte's lab landed on the type known as haplotype
               XIII.  Then Lucotte tested Y chromosomes of ethnic
               groups around the world.  In 1989 he announced that
               haplotype XIII was by far most common in one group:
               the 300,000 Aka Pygmies of the Central African
               Republic.  'The Pygmies are believed to be the
               first inhabitants of Africa,' says Lucotte, 'and
               they turn out to have the ancestral haplotype as
               the dominant one in their population.'  He now
               thinks these genes must have spread throughout the
               world as the people that carried them left Africa.
               With a steady mutation rate, he figures, it would
               have taken about 200,000 years to derive all the
               modern variations from this one ancestral
               template."
          This should knock out those who suspected humans evolved
          where they lived.  Leaving "we took this world" theories.
          Those being that the current generation of Homo Sapiens
          moved into the lands formerly controlled by earlier
          generations.  Whether by force, or if previous
          generations died out earlier, or by mating isn't yet
          known--probably all three.

               "...Primate Report.  The journal is the work of
               Richard Byrne and Andrew Whiten, two psychologists
               at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and
               it is devoted to cataloging the petty betrayals of
               monkeys and apes as witnessed by primatologists
               around the world.  It  is a testament to the
               evolutionary importance of what Byrne and Whiten
               call Machiavellian intelligence--a facility named
               for the famed sixteenth-century author of The
               Prince, the ultimate how-to guide to prevailing in
               a complex society through the judicious application
               of cleverness, deceit, and political acumen.
               Deception is life in the natural world.  Stick bugs
               mimic sticks.  Harmless snakes resemble deadly
               poisonous ones.  When threatened, blowfish puff
               themselves up [like humans?] and cats arch their
               backs and bristle their hair [dogs do this] to seem
               bigger than they really are.  All these animals
               could be said to practice deception because they
               fool other animals--usually members of other
               species--into thinking they are something that they
               patently are no.  Even so, it would be overreading
               the situation to attribute Machiavellian cunning to
               a blowfish, or to accuse a stick bug of being a
               lying scoundrel.  Their deceptions, whether in
               their looks or in their actions, are programmed
               genetic responses.  Biology leaves them no choice
               but to dissemble: they are just being true to
               themselves.  The kind of deception that interests
               Byrne and Whiten--what they call tactical
               deception--is a different kettle of blowfish
               altogether.  Here an animal has the mental
               flexibility to take an 'honest' behavior and use it
               in such a way that another animal--usually a member
               of the deceiver's own social group--is misled,
               thinking that a normal, familiar state of affairs
               is under way, while, in fact, something quite
               different is happening.  [example: baboons:]
               Whiten saw a member of Paul's group, an adult
               female named Mel, digging in the ground, trying to
               extract a nutritious plant bulb.  Paul approached
               and looked around.  There were no other baboons
               within sight.  Suddenly he let out a yell, and
               within seconds his mother came running, chasing the
               startled Mel over a small cliff.  Paul then took
               the bulb for himself.   In this case the deceived
               party was Paul's mother, who was misled by his
               scream into believing that Paul was being attacked,
               when actually no such attack was taking place.  As
               a result of her apparent misinterpretation Paul was
               left alone to eat the bulb that Mel had carefully
               extracted--a morsel, by the way, that he would not
               have had the strength to dig out on his own.  If
               Paul's ruse had been an isolated case, Whiten might
               have gone on with his foraging studies and never
               given it a second thought.  But when he compared
               his field notes with Byrne's, he noticed that both
               their notebooks were sprinkled with similar
               incidents and had been so all summer long.  After
               they returned home to Scotland, they boasted about
               their 'dead smart' baboons to their colleagues in
               pubs after conferences, expecting them to be
               suitably impressed.  Instead the other researchers
               countered with tales about their own shrewd vervets
               or machiavellian macaques.  'That's when we
               realized that a whole phenomenon might be slipping
               through a sieve,' says Whiten.  Researchers had
               assumed that this sort of complex trickery was a
               product of the sophisticated human brain.  After
               all, deceitful behavior seemed unique to humans,
               and the human brain is unusually large, even for
               primates--'three times as big as you would expect
               for a primate of our size,' notes Whiten, if you're
               plotting brain size against body weight.  But if
               primates other than humans deceived one another on
               a regular basis, the two psychologists reasoned,
               then it raised the extremely provocative
               possibility that the primate brain, and ultimately
               the human brain, is an instrument crafted for
               social manipulation.  Humans evolved from the same
               evolutionary stock as apes, and if tactical
               deception was an important part of the lives of our
               evolutionary ancestors, then the sneakiness and
               subterfuge that human beings are so manifestly
               capable of might not be simply a result of our
               great intelligence and oversize brain, but a
               driving force behind their development. [note:
               remember Farley's relationship between creativity
               and crime--type T stuff]  In 1976 Humphrey had
               eloquently suggested that the evolution of primate
               intelligence might have been spurred not by the
               challenges of environment, as was generally
               thought, but rather by the complex cognitive
               demands of living with one's own companions.
               Deception, however, had rarely been reported.  And
               no wonder: IF chimps, baboons, and higher primates
               generally are skilled deceivers, how could one ever
               know it?  The best deceptions would by their very
               nature go undetected by the other members of the
               primate group, not to mention by a human stranger.
               Even those ruses that an observer could see through
               would have to be rare, for if used too often, they
               would lose their effectiveness.  If Paul always
               cried wolf, for example, his mother would soon
               learn to ignore his ersatz distress.  Byrne and
               Whiten's solution was to extend their pub-derived
               data base with a more formal survey.  In 1985 [and
               again in '89] they sent a questionnaire to more
               than 100 primatologists working both in the field
               and in labs, asking them to report back any
               incidents in which they felt their subjects had
               perpetrated deception on one another.  Only the
               relatively small-brained and socially simple lemur
               family, which includes bush babies and lorises,
               failed to elicit a single instance.  This supported
               the notion that society, sneakiness, brain size,
               and intelligence are intimately bound up with one
               another.  The sneakier the primate, it seemed, the
               bigger the brain. [see entry on rat's brain's
               becoming more complex only with mental stimulation]
               All the other species, however, represented a
               simian rogues' gallery of liars and frauds.  Often
               deception was used to distract another animal's
               attention.  Sometimes the deception was simply a
               matter of one animal hiding a choice bit of food
               from the awareness of those strong enough to take
               it away.  Concealment was a common ruse in sexual
               situations as well.  Baboons proved singularly
               adept at a form of deception that Byrne and Whiten
               call 'using a social tool.'  The cases most
               resistant to such officious denials are the
               rarest--and the most compelling.  In these
               interactions the primate involved not only employed
               tactical deception but clearly understood the
               concept.  Such comprehension would depend upon one
               animal's ability to 'read the mind' of another: to
               attribute desires, intentions, or even beliefs to
               the other creature that do not necessarily
               correspond to its own view of the world.  Such mind
               reading was clearly evident in only 16 out of 253
               cases in the 1989 survey, all of them involving
               great apes.  [example:]  One of these chimps was
               alone in a feeding area when a metal box containing
               food was opened electronically.  At the same moment
               another chimp happened to approach.  The first
               chimp quickly closed the metal box, walked away,
               and sat down, looking around as if nothing had
               happened.  The second chimp departed, but after
               going some distance away he hid behind a tree and
               peeked back at the first chimp.  When the first
               chimp though the coast was clear, he opened the
               box.  The second chimp ran out, pushed the other
               aside, and at the bananas.  Chimp One might be a
               clever rogue, but Chimp Two, who counters his
               deception with a ruse of his own, is the true mind
               reader.  The success of his ploy is based on his
               insight that Chimp One was trying to deceive him
               and on his ability to adjust his behavior
               accordingly.  He has in fact performed a prodigious
               cognitive leap--proving himself capable of
               projecting himself into another's mental space...
               It is certainly suggestive that only the great
               apes--our closest relatives--seem capable of
               deceits based on such mind reading, and chimpanzees
               most of all. [our closest dna relative]  This does
               not necessarily mean that chimps are inherently
               more intelligent: the difference may be a matter of
               social organization.  Orangutans live most of their
               lives alone, and thus they would not have much
               reason to develop such a complex social skill.  and
               gorillas live in close family groups, whose members
               would be more likely to punish an attempted
               swindle.  Chimpanzees, on the other hand, spend
               their lives in a shifting swirl of friends and
               relations, where small groups constantly form and
               break apart and reform with new members.  Many
               anthropologists now believe that the social life of
               early hominids--our first non-ape ancestors--was
               much like that of chimps today, with similar
               opportunities to hone their cognitive skills on one
               another.  [note: remember theory of Neanderthal
               speech disability]  Consider too how much more
               important your social wits would be in a world
               where the targets of your deceptions were
               constantly trying to out-smart you.  After
               millennia of intrigue and counterintrigue, a
               hominid species might well evolve a brain three
               times bigger than it 'should' be--and capable of
               far more than deceiving other hominids.  'The
               ability to attribute other intentions to other
               people could have been an enormous building block
               for many human achievements, including language,'
               says Whiten.  'That this leap seems to have been
               taken by chimps and possibly the other great apes
               puts that development in human mentality quite
               early.'"  [dogs--understand some human speech,
               and were able to communicate enough to be able to
               form and utilize the advantages of packs] [this
               could mean that crime is good for society and we
               should lessen the punishment on criminals--they're
               just doing what comes naturally]

               Domestication of animals probably occurred with the
          old among primitive peoples.  After all old people aren't
          likely to have wandered far from food, and had lots of
          boring time on their hands.

               We are developing technologically at the rate on the
          high slope of an exponential curve - super fast.

               What would have happened if we did not have all
          those setbacks:  the downfall of the Greek and Turkish
          empires, or the decline of China?  All who had knowledge
          only again learned in the Renaissance.  The church too,
          responsible for the backward growth during that time, and
          the constant drain on resources (money to operate the
          churches and thoughts desirable toward returning us to
          the past - a simpler time, when they controlled things).
          Ethnocentrism also, not considering all humans equal.

               Evidence for each of us being gods: because nothing
          in the universe matters except our own lives.  We should
          allow nothing to stand in our way.  I am not saying that
          you should be self-centered, just watch out for yourself,
          and help others to help you.

               What if we had lived in a more active sector of
          space--where we would never think of space as merely a
          rotating sphere set up by a god?  What if the people of
          the planet were all one race, and was of generally one
          mind (for example, a military like government).  What if
          it is necessary to develop at an exponential rate to
          avoid some larger (well established) space empires?
               While living in a more active area of space probably
          would lead to a quicker understanding that they are not
          at the center of the universe, it still would require
          that they have a simple orbit on their planet.  Since a
          complex planetary orbit would really screw up their minds
          ("the sky never repeats itself").

               Perhaps a thousand years one way or the other does
          not matter.  There are many Science Fiction scenarios in
          which a planet is invaded and conquered because it was
          unaware of true nature of the universe.  On the other
          hand all could be harmony.

               "In science, truth is a moving target.  The
               knowledge of one generation is merely the
               jumping-off spot for the next generation's
               inquiries."


          Death

               It forms a basis for much of my thinking.
          Extinction of one self.  If the money going to
          defense/war was going into medicine two things would
          happen:  (1) the full knowledge of medicine would prove
          that there are no "souls" that gods can collect, etc.
          Essentially reducing the power of religion.  (2) We could
          be living longer (hundreds of years at least).  Just do
          CAT scans of brains of dying people/animals to see which
          part dies last to find the point to begin the necessary
          research toward longer life.  This type of knowledge will
          not be around for about 20 years (computers need to
          advance).  What of a race who is peoples did not die so
          quickly?  What would physics be like today if all the
          great physics people (Einstein, Newton, etc.) were still
          alive today - playing their mind games on the universe?
          A race who lives a long time also develops at an
          increasingly faster rate (unless it is some race where
          the old power people get to stay in office for life - not
          allowing new ways to develop).  Also, long life would
          allow the imaginative thinkers to develop the skills
          necessary to bring their dreams to fruition.

               We should also be investigating animals like lizards
          and worms--who regrow parts.  Find out why they don't
          live forever.

               I had to be reminded about mummification.
          Preserving the body without freezing.  The body is frozen
          just before death so that the brain doesn't suffer damage
          from lack of oxygen.  Using a simple storage method, you
          preserve the body but have a period of oxygen deprivation
          if not done before the moment of death.  Still, this is
          the way to go.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Lenin
          still sitting in a vacuum air-tight coffin in Russia,
          perfectly preserved.
               Summum Corporation (Salt Lake City):  the only
          mummification company.
               "[One] gets dipped in secret sauce, covered
               with polyurethane, wound with linen, encased
               in resin, hermetically sealed for eternity in
               a mummiform of bronze or stainless steel.
               Mummification can easily cost $35,000.  In all
               the tests. . .nothing has decomposed.  [Still
               perfect after years.]  You can still move the
               skin. . .and. . .eyes look [excellent].  [In
               normal funerals, the body still decomposes
               even when embalmed.]  [They] began studying
               body-preservation techniques of the ancient
               Egyptians, whose afterlifestyle depended on an
               undecayed body in which the soul could dwell.
               Since 1979 [they've] done exhaustive
               laboratory and field tests, experimenting with
               how different types of salts reacted to
               cellular structures.  The Egyptians dehydrated
               and thus preserved the body with natron, a
               naturally occurring mineral salt, but [they]
               use a wet method.  If [they] dehydrated the
               body, it wouldn't be viewable at the
               traditional funeral.  They body will be
               embalmed so there can be a funeral service,
               then shipped to [them], where [they'll] place
               it in a stainless steel vat of fluid that's a
               combination of salts, oils, alcohol, and other
               chemicals, as well as natural substances,
               similar to the aloe plant, that inactivate the
               tissues.  The body breaks down through two
               processes--its own chemistry, powered by
               oxygen, and bacteria.  By saturating and
               inactivating every cell, driving out the
               oxygen and replacing it with our formula,
               we've eliminated both processes.  The Summum
               method preserves the internal organs in situ,
               [except] the brain, which is removed through
               an opening in the skull, embalmed, and then
               replaced."  [There's more, but already I think
               this process is just as destructive as
               decomposition.]  "[They] evacuate all the air,
               replace it with inert gas, and weld the
               mummiform shut.  As long as no one opens it
               nothing can corrupt the body." [I think this
               is all that really needs to be done!]

               Probably suspended animation will be a form of
          death, preservation, and then being brought back to life.

               Perhaps the problems of death can be solved as so:
          when a species dies in it is natural habitat, a
          ready-scanned duplicate is created in a safe place of
          existence (electronic).  Then, maybe, give it brains, and
          an environment where only the brain controls things.
          Thus the species has its own personality (its "self") and
          has equality with the other species (the environment is
          some place, somewhere).  Perhaps.  It could be self
          contained/self running.  I do not immediately see the
          growth potential, and there are still ethical questions
          concerning whether it would be proper to interfere.
          However, all life really should be preserved.  Perhaps a
          "reincarnation" in which the controllers bring you back
          as creature slightly higher on the evolutionary scale.
          A less advanced race would start at the most sentient
          beings (going from top to bottom you might say) and as
          their abilities grew stronger they would go to the next
          level.  An intelligence incubator.  Why is not the
          universe more obviously populated with all sorts of life
          if this has been going on for infinity?

               I have been assuming very powerful beings.  Less
          powerful should at least encode the life-info until they
          decide what is correct and how to implement it.  We
          should not be murdering our own people by allowing their
          brains to decay--since once destroyed it is very unlikely
          the mind exists.  We must assume non-existence after
          brain destruction, since the cost of being wrong is
          everyone in the past.  When we have the technology to
          create artificial human shells (that is, make skin,
          bones, muscles, etc. in mass production and put them
          together to form humans) there is going to be much blame
          about why we could not have preserved the important parts
          of those people.  Einstein's brain is preserved (for
          study purposes).  On this:
               "Some . . . slices were encased in celloidin,
               a plastic; then all the pieces were preserved
               in formaldehyde.  Pickling brains in
               formaldehyde is still done, but few truly
               revealing investigations can be done on them
               after a certain period because the chemical
               nature of the brain changes."
               Note that brain damage occurs usually upon death
          just as it would if the brain suffered a lack of oxygen
          while alive.  So besides total knowledge of the brain, we
          also will need to develop techniques for repairing them.

          Alcor Life Extension Foundation
          12327 Doherty Street, Riverside, CA.
               A non-profit organization in which members pay
          $100,000 to have their bodies put in cryonic suspension.
          $35,000 for storage of the head only.  An insurance
          policy may be taken out to cover the costs upon your
          death.

               Coming out of hibernation: after being dormant for
          3 weeks, the arctic ground squirrel (a mammal) shivers a
          few hours to bring its temperature back to normal.
          During its dormant hibernation-like periods, its body
          temperature is near the outside temperature of the snow
          it burrows into (just below freezing of water).  It
          doesn't get frostbite despite this.  They don't have an
          "antifreeze" in their blood.


          Homo Sapiens: The Next Generation

               I'd be interesting to see which "model" of current
          human is the fast evolving one now.  Based on the notion
          that "societal interaction" is what leads to brain
          development, would hint at the Japanese.  However, their
          homogeneity would seem to be an inhibiting factor--at
          least in the short run.  This leads back to when chimps
          became hominids.  It had to be a tight group--crowded
          area--and a period of rapid growth--a punctuated
          (equilibrium) point--had to occur.  So at some point,
          most likely, a variety of "proto-humans" must have
          existed--which, it is my guess, helped further to propel
          the process.  Russians?  Worlds best theoreticians--but
          this is due to their methodology (little experimental
          science).  Americans:  while Farley's type T suggests
          that we're the most creative nation, we're also a melting
          pot--too many types, one would have to further break up
          and divide the country to form/identify sub-groups.  I
          would recommend a study of engineers and computer
          programmers--future thinking creative individuals.
          Interestingly, most countries suffer the homogeneity
          problem.  Central Europe to the mediterranean looks best
          to me--right mixture of mixing while still maintaining
          areas of (stable) homogeneity.  You see, too much
          instability leads to confusion: new improved models get
          sublimated by other models that can target their specific
          weaknesses.  But areas of stability offer the model a
          chance to go somewhere and succeed.  So I suggest that
          that is the trick to finding the next "version" of
          human--parse groups and sub-groups looking for
          differences, going by countries alone will most likely
          prove unreliable.  I do have my suspicions--I think it's
          the Germans, but I wish to investigate their history more
          thoroughly to see how the Germanic tribes developed and
          spread--and yes, I am.  The germans seem to have come out
          of the NW Europe area (Netherlands/etc.) and an old
          empire is only now being discovered that controlled the
          areas up and down the west european coast (including
          Britain I think)--which may be the impetuous--that is, an
          isolated society--after dying the "new models" it
          produced were able to set up shop and influence without
          much more competition.  [prior to 4th cent AD]
          Interesting--it was they who created Odin and those Gods,
          and in a rarity among ancient religions--did not endow
          their Gods with immortality.  Although they also believed
          in fate (for the gods also).  But otherwise it was a
          "down-to-earth" very creative religion--one that probably
          helped keep rulers in line (versus providing legitimacy
          for whomever was strong enough to take the post).  Look
          at Japan and China--china the age-old stable empire, and
          japan a people who adopted change.  But japan only became
          modern recently--they were a better china but not a
          better western culture.  Look at countries/regions that
          were taken over much by larger empires: egypt, ottoman,
          greek, roman, etc.  Europe is best bet--look at some of
          the laws,  which country/region passes "enlightened"
          laws.  Demographics is the key--especially if you can it
          viewed over time.  Now, this opinion is slightly
          biased--so until I hear from others we'll see what shakes
          out.  And no, I don't shave my hair and haven't learned
          a particular salute.  Perhaps I'm only a
          cheerleader...cheering on my genetic makeup.
          Demographics is the key.  History, and now DNA testing,
          has shown us that new "models" of human spread out from
          a point.  As we map these "points" and the pattern of
          spread, we ought to have a better idea of how evolution
          works.  Indeed, the very homogeneity of various countries
          shows that the "point then expand" system is in effect.
          Previously this had solely been considered due to
          environmentally based changes--the "common human"
          changing according to environmental needs of the region.

               Since going from bio->electronics is tricky.  I
          recommend the brain be connected then slowly convert all
          the functions to electronics (memory, speech, etc.)  Must
          emphasize humanity over robots--feeling, touch, etc.
          until artificial biological bodies/robots can replace
          them.  We should perhaps concentrate on improving
          humanity biologically and adding electronics.

               AI robots: problems of self realization and
          questioning.  Creating a robot with the intention of it
          growing like a human requires that it have a good
          heuristic system.

               What are the status of space empires now?  Few
          empires last, since there is so much room to expand that
          control eventually takes it toll and the large empire
          crumbles into smaller empires. Eventually dying out when
          they no longer grow (technologically, emotionally, power,
          etc.).  Any good empire probably would only watch over
          us.  We are approaching a time, though, when we will no
          longer be considered barbaric (after we put our own
          house/troubles in order).  At this time races who are
          only at the level of technology where they travel through
          space learning and making contacts with other races
          (about the level of Star Trek).  This type of empire will
          want to contact us.  Of course, there probably are bad
          empires out there also, empires who need slave labor.  We
          have some good options:  (1) They may not know about us.
          Despite our transmissions we are still in a somewhat
          isolated corner of this galaxy.  (2) We have no central
          government - nobody to take over, no control here.  When
          a government falls apart or goes out of favor here - we
          are ready to become an anarchy (for example, Lebanon,
          many other recent situations when government loses
          legitimacy, causing riots and looting by every-day
          people).  (3) We are militaristic.  We will fight for
          this planet, leaving the enemy with many casualties.  Our
          huge supply (which we must mostly eliminate to resolve
          our own troubles) could do serious damage to any attacker
          (we could even wipe out ourselves making all their work
          a waste).  For what we could be up against read
          Battlefield Earth.

               As medical technology advances farther we start
          seeing (and using) drugs that will keep our brains
          active.  This might allow us to have the same brain power
          as we did when we were in our prime (15-25 or so)(for
          example, Nimodipine.)  This also might lead to an
          evolution expanded head/brain.

               A race can advance to no longer need mechanical
          devices to do various things.  Doing things with their
          mind.  This can be done via:  genetic restructuring,
          device implant, etc.  To do:  find these "keys" and tap
          them.  One key is, I suspect, a matter --> energy and
          vice-versa ability (small and powerful, where powerful =
          amount advanced).

               While we are not an extremely advanced race we can
          still consider ourselves far evolved from the rest of the
          life on this planet.  That gives us the same
          responsibilities an advanced race would have.  It is
          these responsibilities that keep human kind children for
          now.  Some questions of an advanced race:
          1)   Do you make lower life forms comfortable, safe,
               secure, and happy (control their world), or do you
               just give them their natural habitat and leave them
               alone?  I take the position that once you have
               domesticated them you should give them a happy
               comfortable life, but animals in the wild should
               stay wild since applying your will to them will
               only make them feel trapped, they are happy now.
          2)   Do you try to advance lower life forms?  For
               example, give a monkey the knowledge of a human
               (with any necessary biological enhancement).  If
               so, at what point do you stop.  With what species
               do you draw the line (bugs?).  If we gave cats
               human brains, how would they feel - they have the
               knowledge but cannot do much with their limited
               body, and to change the body is to change the
               species.  I take the position of leave the species
               alone, let them develop themselves, and when they
               have invented genetics they can evolve themselves.
          3)   Do you give them a "good death."  Provide a place
               to die happy.  Would not this interfere with their
               rights to challenge death?

               Mixing of ideas reduces the value of individual
          society distinctions, therefore we should observe unless
          think alike and are similar technologically.  Although
          duplication of research could be reduced.  The mixing of
          ideas can lead to new ideas and solutions also.  It
          probably isn't a good idea to have races who are
          biologically incompatible (one breathes air, the other
          nitrogen, etc.) try to live together--as the natural
          tensions of survival may become dominate.

               "Halfway to the center of the galaxy.  The
               screen showed a scarcely-broken carpet of
               stars in all colors.  The star-scene, like a
               hoard of jewels, thrice-ransom for an emperor,
               spread out before him.  It was inevitable and
               necessary that they finally come here.  But
               that did not lessen the dangers inherent in
               their coming.  They were like the members of
               some primitive tribe, descending from their
               bare and starving mountaintop into the richer
               valley lands below.  On the mountaintop they
               had gone hungry, but also they had gone
               unchallenged.  Here, they should not go
               hungry, but no sensible man could believe they
               could go forever unchallenged--where there was
               so much richness to dispute."

               I imagine most races go through three stages; 1)
          those who think they're alone, 2) those who help, or get
          help from, other races, and 3) those who are smart enough
          to know not to help.  While all three can occur in
          sequence, they may also occur individually.  Space is so
          big that others may not be found by a particular race.
               At what point do you interfere and let a race know
          you are there (no matter your level of advancement)?
          Definitely when they are beyond their childhood.  Do you
          help them?  Probably. How?  Depends on level of
          advancement - only way I can think of is
          "insights/revelations" we have--but this is iffy since it
          is very hard to do.

               A race (including this one) evolves to the point
          where it totally understands itself (biologically) - once
          done, it can defeat death through better repair (or
          replacement) of worn body parts.

               When the race has advanced technology to the point
          where the computing machines can model a simulated brain
          as well as a brain of the race (accuracy/fuzzy logic,
          etc.) that race has taken the next step.  After
          successfully modeling a single brain, each individual can
          be modeled, so that when they die they live on in the
          computer.  As the computers increase in speed so does
          the computer-beings.

               The next step is when the go through the energy
          spectrum; electronic, light, whatever.  Eventually
          existing without their mechanisms (free energy) (perhaps
          "multi-dimensional"/interfaced with space itself).

               Purpose of life; to experience: feeling, touch,
          smell.  These cannot be obtained after death (if you go
          electric).

               I can see no step after this, except expansion.
          Note that as a being expands in all areas it may
          eventually be possible to memorize every aspect of a
          section of the universe.  If evolved so far, that can
          perfectly memorize the section of space - then things
          really can happen.  A race in this section can be
          "recalled"/remembered repeatedly - each time the being
          "remembers" this section of space the ancient dwellers in
          this section will not realize it - thus thinking they
          have Free Will, when actually they HAD Free Will.  Other
          things are also possible: time travel (since all events
          will be recalled as they had occurred nothing can be
          changed), instantaneous travel (since your (a dweller)
          time can be stop/started by the thinking being (or anyone
          who can resurrect these thoughts).  Essentially all
          things are possible.  When discussing such advanced
          beings it is useful to remember:  infinite time -->
          infinite power, but only in certain areas.  We need to
          think of these limitations, what they are not infinite
          in, also their ethics.

               On imaginative existence: [the brain's dreams] what
          happens when our brains are so finely tuned that we can
          produce an EXACT duplicate of ourselves in our
          imagination?  [Or does probability/motion of atoms rule
          this out?]

               William Gibson's books are important reading.  While
          ignoring the potential of preserving the brain, he does
          push both medical and technological developments.  To
          construct his visions requires two things: full knowledge
          of our biology, and a method of integrating
          electronics/etc. with our bodies without rejection.

               There seems two paths available: internal growth and
          external growth.  Internal growth is creating our own
          evolution - designing improved bodies.  External growth
          is expansion into space.  For us to survive requires
          both. Expansion into space will allow us to find other
          races and advance our own technology.  Which in turn will
          allow us to advance ourselves. The real threat: ourselves
          - what I call "human entropy."  When one thinks of living
          simpler times, one is thinking of death. When one is
          thinking of utopia, one is thinking of death. When one
          thinks of gods, one is thinking of death.  The hope of a
          relaxed life, in which peace is everywhere, is nice.
          When that leads to no technology development ("we have it
          all why find more") then one is thinking of death. This
          can affect whole races.  Without challenge, only death
          exists.  The challenge: ourselves.  The universe is so
          massive we cannot hope to explore it all.  It makes one
          think of empires, thousands of planets big, that collapse
          in time (all do).  For its individual challenge supported
          by the whole that will allow survival.  One need not
          control the whole universe to obtain the abilities and
          eternal existence of a truly advanced race.  The size of
          the universe provides infinite diversion for those
          without death.

               I suspect that higher evolved beings cannot change
          the fundamental structure of the universe.

               In the early days people lived in tribes.  This can
          be imagined as a bunch of clustered circles.  Nowadays we
          use networks both with people and information.  These
          networks can be imagined as connected singular circles.
          What is the next step?  Unconnected singular circles or
          maybe one clustered circle (totally interconnected).

               Something the Neuromancer series didn't mention: a
          microstuff bus--where you can load multiple programs into
          your brain.  Also that these program and data modules
          interface with the short-term memory of the brain, this
          would provide faster access than long-term memory
          links.


          Extraterrestrials

               For lack of a better word.  Essentially this section
          will try to merge and organize my thoughts about them.

               It doesn't matter whether we think of other races or
          ourselves in the future.  We both face and must answer
          similar, if not identical, questions.  To this end, in
          this document you can often find me substituting either
          when I discuss potential developments.  It doesn't even
          matter if advanced races don't exist or we don't really
          have a future.  What matters is that we can imagine it.

               What I think is that problems can be solved with
          reverse-engineered logic.  That is, when faced with the
          problem:  what actions/attempts/solutions did other races
          do.  ID these, then we know what road to concentrate on.
          To facilitate this, I emphasize practical implementations
          to problems.  For instance, assume that most races are
          neither coldly logical or deadly brutal.

               Examples of similar alien problems:  travel in space
          without getting killed by micro-meteorites.
          Navigation/cartography of the universe, knowing where you
          are.

               I won't go into physical structure of races.  All we
          need really concern ourselves with is societal makeup's.

          Some interesting races:

               Dweenlee [from StarFlight II] a race chronically
          depressed beings who are highly suicidal and don't mind
          being slaves--but make bad slaves.  This type of scenario
          could develop with races that over produce and thus live
          in abhorrent conditions.
               Spemin [from StarFlight] a race who always talk war
          and threaten you, but are incredibly weak militarily.  An
          unstable society.
               Thek [from Sassinak and The Death Of Sleep] a rock
          race.  Perhaps silicon, but also perhaps another type of
          rock with an internal radioactive heater that keeps some
          of it fluid to provide change.
               NgKherArla [from StarFlight II] a race of
          personality changers.  When in the Ng state, they war
          with all.  In the Kher state they war easily.  In the
          Arla state they are peaceable.  What's interesting is
          that they believed they shouldn't travel too much into
          space for fear of being in someone else's space when they
          changed personalities.  A cyclic race.
               A robot/machine race.
               A race of clones.
               A society where everyone conforms to a rigid
          standard.  Considering any deviation bad.  This society
          would not evolve--but may last a very long time if their
          belief structure isn't overly shaken.  This would,
          perhaps, especially include a computer directed race.
               An engineered race.  Designed to attack and destroy.
          Created to, perhaps, attack an enemy.  Could be
          "programmed" to live without changing and last a long
          time.  Or a created slave race.  You know, biological
          robots of the type advanced races are likely to do when
          desperate and under the threat of attack when they've
          given up war ages earlier.  A race genetically
          engineering a species of itself for space travel and then
          having them return as conquerors.  Because the conquerors
          were built upon the races tech development and history
          and evolution, the race is instantly in decline and would
          die out.

               The earth can be imagined as a giant bowl of water
          with organic matter in it.  The moon as the mixing stick.
          For it's the moon that causes tidal action, causing
          erosion.  Causing a mixing up of organic matter, may even
          cause most of the weather.
               But what about earth-like planets without a moon.
          Then you've got a "steady state" planet.  Organic matter
          grows and decays without mixing. What you've got is a
          hot, cloudy planet covered in swamps.
               I suggest that the moon makes us "less than common"
          in regards to how life evolves, and that on a dominant
          number of planets it evolves in the swamp-planet like
          atmosphere described.  I therefore conclude that the most
          numerous type of organic sentient life is reptile.
               These beings probably take a long time to evolve,
          and then another long period to first discover, and then
          decide to try for, the stars--since the atmosphere would
          mostly be fog.
               So, next step, how does the universe, and others in
          the universe appear to these beings.  And what can we
          expect by the way of technological growth and direction.
               What I was thinking: there is a range in the size of
          moons, from non-existent to very large.  The larger the
          moon, the moon "activity" the planet goes through--the
          more stirring of water, more erosion.  And that with
          smaller moons this is reduced--ultimately leading to a
          "greenhouse effect" (for wont of a better word).  Since
          very large moons (like ours) are probably rare (eg.
          scientists still haven't figured out how we got one).
               I agree that they'll develop the same technologies,
          etc.  But I think that they'll develop different ones at
          different speeds--as there is no reason to suppose their
          priorities would be the same as ours.  Imagine living in
          the amazon, what would the priorities be?  Dry land,
          clean water, who knows?  But they wouldn't have the
          diversity of climate like we do, the whole planet would
          be varying degrees of hot swamp.  Indeed, they may never
          develop into air-livers (stay aquatic) if there is too
          much water.
               We see too much of the "close encounters of the
          third kind" type of alien--white with big eyes and small
          body.  The body is the type you could develop evolving in
          space.  But certainly the brain cases are too small.  I'd
          guess that space-based sentient life de-evolve first into
          massive heads with small bodies.  I'm glad to see that
          the makers of MegaDeath's Hanger 18 video showed, what I
          thought to be, all highly probably aliens.
               I'd expect a planet with a larger moon (up to about
          half the size of the planet, anything more would tear
          them both into asteroids) would produce strong tectonic
          activity, leading to a violent planet with lots of land,
          crevasses, strong winds, etc.  But the sky's would
          usually be cloudless, and if any lifeforms did develop,
          they're likely to be very tough.
               When I said reptiles earlier, I really mean "cold
          blooded".  "Reptiles" brings up images of scales/etc.
          And while this is entirely likely, shells/water and air
          breathing/no claws/etc. are all possible.  Another reason
          to suspect they may be the most prevalent: should their
          planet decay into desert, they would still be well
          adapted.  Only when the planet became really cold would
          they run into trouble.
               Swamps, jungle, and rain forests all produce
          incredible amounts of life, and diversity among life.
          So, interestingly, while the planet may take longer to
          develop sentient life, it probably develops life a lot
          quicker than our planet did.

               Do we have an innate suspicion of artificial
          intelligence?  Races without one would be more
          susceptible to domination, and/or prefer dictators to a
          democracy.

               Knowledge transference is also important.  For
          instance, teaching is one way.  Another is full instinct
          transference (like ants).  Partial instinct while the
          rest is "normal" (like pets).   Direct instinct-like
          transference of real knowledge [idea from The Death Of
          Sleep.]  Such as a "race memory" in which if a member
          of a race learns medicine than all it's offspring could
          "inherit" that knowledge.  Unless their brain sizes is
          ever-increasing, some knowledge will get filtered out.
          The whole race could store everything ever learned (taken
          as one-brain).  A limitation of this, as noted in  The
          Death Of Sleep is that it would be like an instinct, in
          that much of a similar situation would have to reoccur
          (you pass on medical knowledge, but if the diseases or
          tools change overmuch you'll need a refresher).  The race
          could easily become robot/factory like; "We will have our
          next child when the council deems that another citizen
          with the skills our child will have is needed."

               Gordon R. Dickson solved the problem of
          communication with races who don't speak the same
          language.  His book used a device that projected on a
          screen what the users expected.  That is, if they wanted
          the other race representative to follow; the image would
          show them moving away with the representative following
          them.  This can be done by simply manipulation of images.
          The image of the representative's actions can be modified
          versions of recent recordings.  One would input the type
          of moves and whatever into a computer, the computer
          generates the animation and figures of the known race,
          and inserts the alien race appropriately.  The
          representative understands through the pictures what they
          are trying to say and what is expected to happen.  They
          would know, for example, to avoid following if the image
          shows them being court-martialed and put in front of a
          firing squad.

               ZZ Top's Rough Boy video has some interesting ideas.
          The group is shown as holograms appearing from flat TV-
          like devices.  Interesting if you assume that they are
          stored within the devices and then can use the holograms
          to appear to the real world.  A bit like living pictures.
          Also interesting was the space station, it was portrayed
          as a high-tech car wash.  Nobody's really given much
          thought to the maintenance of space-only vehicles.
          Perhaps have a "car wash" in which all the little dinks
          from micro-meteorites are filled in.

               An interesting problem: discovering a race of
          backward humans.  Typical of empires that rise and fall,
          isolated groups may regress.  Or it may simply be the
          case of another human-like race.  Either way the question
          arises: do you intervene to advance them to your level?
          On one hand this comes under the rules of non-
          intervention.  On the other the humans may resent you for
          not doing it.  Obviously we can go by history to aid us
          here.  Slavery though shouldn't be an option.

               Any sufficiently advanced technology is
               indistinguishable from magic.
                                    --ARTHUR C. CLARKE

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          The Universe

               The Universe is infinite.  A lot is automatically
          assumed when you mention infinite.  Since the very word
          implies anything is possible.  It says, for example, that
          there may be two identical people in this Universe and
          therefore we have no Free Will (which would lead to a
          potentially known future - which is impossible). One must
          remember what a Universe creates: events.  At every
          infinitesimal point of time an infinite number of choices
          are available.  As the amount of time increases the
          probability of events matching exactly goes so far beyond
          infinity itself (infinity^) that the size of the Universe
          is small in comparison with the Universe of events.

               The Universe is made-up of universe's.  The big bang
          theory is a joke as it casually does not count what the
          matter expands into as also being space, it also has a
          chicken and egg problem with its initial particle.
          Imagine the expanding universal bubble as white (space
          would be mainly white if light was not being blocked by
          dust particles), imagine this on a black canvas (space).
          Reduce it to just a spot of light.  What I see is a spot
          of light (like a star) on a black canvas - a very tiny
          spot on a very large black area.  No matter how much the
          universe expands, one can always imagine it as just an
          infinitesimal spot of light in an infinity of darkness.
          The picture looks a lot better when there are lots of
          spots of light.

               The theory of creation (a super-advanced being/race
          creating/developing our Universe) probably would require
          too much energy, and would only be useful for studying
          how life evolves.  There just are not any good arguments
          for this theory.

               The universe is probably steady-state, with changes
          occurring on what we consider the universal level still
          being local.

               Within the solar system other planets may exist if
          conditions are right.  If other planets do exist, then
          one may be in an orbit allowing for life to come into
          existence and thrive.  Probably there is a black hole in
          each galaxy (logically - since old big stars can become
          black holes).  Black holes are of course not holes,
          merely matter so dense that the light cannot escape the
          force of gravity, massive bodies, such as suns, can warp
          light rays with their gravity.  As you approach the
          center, the atoms become more densely packed.  I suspect
          that there are other forces there besides
          pressure/heat/etc. that somehow ignite the whole thing
          causing it to explode into a giant cloud of gas.  This
          exploded star would then form into either
          huge/medium/small stars depending upon how much available
          gas there is--perhaps the gas is attracted by a dead
          neutron star, or something (like many of them) causing a
          "rebirth."

               The universe is at 3 degrees kelvin.  Kelvin is when
          molecular action ceases?  Does this imply that 0 degrees
          kelvin the universe would stop?  Is the 3 degrees kelvin
          temperature or radiation and is there a difference?
          Perhaps the uniform microwave background
          temperature/radiation is the base-level of natural matter
          in the universe (much like the speed of light being the
          highest speed of any natural thing in the universe).
          Perhaps there is something special in the extra cold 3
          degree area that could be useful.

               The theory that everything we see exists only for
          us, and that it does not exist when we do not see it, is
          garbage.  Merely an extension of the question "how do we
          know we are not dreaming everything."  Which is
          essentially an extension of the omniscient god.  Point:
          someone or something is projecting the vision, I exist,
          if everything I do not see does not exist then that
          person/machine also does not exist, since I see the
          visions and I do not see the person/machine when I wish
          it, I conclude there is no person/machine and what I am
          seeing is not put into existence for me.  This type of
          theory is merely an attempt to legitimatize a god.

               I am not espousing a steady state theory of the
          Universe.  All I am saying is that it is a lot bigger
          than we think and that what we imagine as grandiose
          workings of the universe through big bangs/etc. is really
          just a local effect.  A steady state universe may exist,
          as may many other types of universes (since changing only
          a few universal variables can have drastically different
          effects on the outcome).

               While the universe may be against life, it is a
          continuum of size from very small to very large.  One
          could ask why it isn't mostly dust, or mostly
          galaxy-sized stars.  Probably because, like fractals, no
          matter how you look at, no matter from which orientation,
          no matter from what size, it will always look the same.
          Little things forming into big things.

               Light.  It shines from stars and reflects from
          planets.  It permeates the universe.  A ray of light
          could beam across the universe if it wasn't interrupted.
          Unfortunately they are interrupted.  Thought history
          stars have been shinning and planets have been echoing
          light.  Low level light must be doing all sorts of
          collisions in the universe.  What are the effects?  When
          light from planets x, y, z, ..., n constantly vie for the
          same piece of space surely the loser goes somewhere.
          Where?

               All energy flows within a continuum (the energy
          spectrum).  All matter is just a different combination of
          atoms.  Question: is matter energy at rest?  If so, then
          all matter is energy, which makes sense since they are
          convertible.  If matter and energy are the same.  Then in
          the universe only force influences.  This suggests a
          continuum of force.  "Gravity"/magnetism and at a small
          level: electro weak/strong and nuclear.  What I'm
          suggesting: "space" is forces, all in space is
          energy/matter and is influenced by space.  Energy/matter
          do not influence each other, and do not influence space.
          No...that's wrong, matter does influence space at least
          on the atomic scale.  Well, I need to think about this a
          little while.  Basically picture the universe as two
          parts: the topography and the stuff on/in/around/within
          this topography.


               Nothing can come out of nothing, nothing can
               go back to nothing.
                                                  --PERSIUS

               Only the fantastic has a chance of being real
               in the cosmos.
                                                  --HAWKWIND


          Physics of the Universe

               When an atom decays (beta decay) the atomic number
          of the nucleus (the number of protons it contains)
          increases by one.  Also the electron will fly off at
          different speeds sometimes fast, sometimes slow.  The
          neutrino is responsible for the speed.  A neutrino and an
          electron is emitted off a neutron when beta decay occurs,
          and the amount of energy each gets (the more energy the
          faster the speed of departure) is random.  Neutrinos are
          particles that have no charge, and little or no mass.
          The nucleus of the atom recoils against the departing
          neutrino's motion.  Neutrinos travel and rarely hit other
          particles (they easily pass through all matter).  This
          neutrino is known as the electron neutrino.  There are
          two other forms of neutrinos: the muon neutrino and the
          tau neutrino. Only the muon neutrino has been produced
          and detected in the laboratory.  When a neutrino strikes
          an atom of chlorine it turns it into argon 37
          (radioactive), when it strikes a gallium atom it turns it
          into a form of radioactive germanium.  Inverse beta decay
          is when a neutrino strikes a proton yielding a neutron
          and an antimatter electron (a positron).  The positron
          flies off and should strike an electron quickly and
          annihilate each other.


               "[Antimatter is] just matter with its electric
               charge reversed--an anti-proton, for example,
               is merely a proton with a negative
               charge--it's unknown in the natural universe.
               And when created in a laboratory it has a
               tendency to vanish in a blaze of elementary
               particles as soon as it comes in contact with
               matter [its positive form, not some other type
               of matter]."
               Conceivably an anti-matter universe could develop.
          When this universe hits a matter universe what happens?
          Maybe matter and antimatter destroy each other--perhaps
          leaving a tiny repelling force or merely a lot of energy
          that can become a repelling force (through volume area
          filled?), building up, until large enough that both
          galaxies move away (not necessarily directly opposite
          courses?).  This could go on forever until the universe
          shrink to nothing?  - so what would be a universal
          building/expansion part of this?

               Perhaps black holes (or more appropriately, black
          stars) act like galactic signposts/nodes in a galactic
          map/net for traveling via some trans-light method.  In
          which normal matter doesn't matter.

               Does a universe, by being anti-deterministic, allow
          things like tachyons to exist?

               Edwin P. Hubble found in 1929 that the more distant
          a galaxy the faster it recedes (from us).  On space
          expanding causing all objects to fly apart from all other
          objects:  Garbage.  There would be all sorts of
          distortions on the quantum level, experiencing
          distortions of our own matter--which sensors would
          notice.  The galaxies are probably moving, but by the
          laws of gravity.  The galaxies are falling through curved
          space like all matter does.  We should be looking for
          forces that distort space.  If for some reason empty
          space expands while space with matter does not, this
          creates some intriguing ideas; including:  crumpled space
          where empty space meets space dominated by matter, empty
          space pushing matter space, empty space containing all
          sorts of distortions providing quicker or slower matter
          travel (light apparently is not affected, but maybe
          matter is).

               In two billion years, the Milky Way galaxy will
          collide with the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest neighbor.

               Recent reports have it that the Milky Way galaxy is
          a bar-spiral galaxy (versus a full, more pure spiral,
          spiral galaxy).  That is, it has a prominent axis.

               Note, breaking the speed barrier by changing the
          form of matter itself.  For example, changing electrons
          to tachyons.

               Q: does anything ever disappear from existence
          totally?  Or do they just become increasingly
          infinitesimal (energy/speed/mass/etc.)?

               Keep watch for information on Supernova 1987A.  It
          has become a very fast and interesting pulsar in the last
          two years.  The star released a ring-shaped puff of
          gas as much as 10,000 years before it exploded.  The
          debris from the explosion itself will eventually overtake
          the gas ring.

               Space curves around everything (for example,
          planets, us) (space is curved by everything).  While
          planets can move and tables stay still, only life can
          move where it wants.  This ability also gives us
          minuscule control of space around us--as we warp space
          wherever we are.  Q: can this be enhanced?  The minute
          warping of space is enough to cause a slight pull on
          objects--but is vastly pulled toward earth so it is
          unnoticeable.  What is space?  How is it curving around
          me? Or through me?  Does space curve around an object, or
          does the body absorb the space that is right on target,
          reflecting it back out like a barrier to deflect things?
          Note, non gravity space attracting gravity may lead to a
          collapsed universe, until encountering another universe's
          gravity zone?

               Momentum, it's the force of a moving object that was
          imparted to that object externally.  When you hit a
          baseball with a bat, for instance, the bat imparted
          energy onto the ball (the bat lost the energy) and the
          ball was able to take off.  Without forces of resistance
          the ball would go forever at the same speed.   The ball
          acts as though it was constantly being pushed by the bat
          at a constant rate of speed.  Each second the object (the
          ball) thinks it's being pushed, although nothing is
          pushed, it's just moving forward due to its momentum.
          The ball doesn't have this energy that is momentum.  The
          energy was released with a bang at the moment it was
          imparted to the ball.  It gave the ball direction and
          speed for its full amount of energy.  The ball just
          continues due to lack of sufficient resistance (until
          gravity and air resistance takes over).
               Momentum doesn't warp space.  It rely's on the
          object (eg. planet) to do that job.  It's the actual
          warping of space that slows down speed (the effect of
          momentum)--since you're literally pushing away space to
          move through.  This warping alters the two factors of
          momentum: speed and direction.  If gravity curves and
          warps space then it must be short range because if a
          planet had curved-space to flow in for it's orbit,
          momentum wouldn't keep it straight--if gravity came off
          the warping would be gone too--and momentum would take it
          straight as it is warping.  That is, each object in space
          warps space around it.  The warping isn't like ripples in
          a pool, but a smooth pattern more like a crater.  Space
          nearest the object is curved toward the object most, as
          you move farther away from the object space becomes less
          curved (diminishing returns).  A planet rotating the sun.
          Each has space curved toward itself, each is drawing the
          other closer.  What keeps them apart?  Momentum.  The
          planet's momentum wants it move straight (tangent to the
          sun), the sun want's the planet to collide, you end up
          with an orbit.
               Q: shouldn't this mean that space in solar systems
          and especially close to the sun and first few planets is
          thinner than "normal" (empty) space because the area is
          so constantly used?  Wouldn't this then mean that speeds
          of travel would be slower, take longer, in normal space?
          If they did, then objects would appear farther away,
          proportional to their distance, than they do now.  On the
          other hand, most used space (eg. that occupied by things
          like: planets, tables, chairs, us) have highest rate of
          active use, but are "thicker" space.  More compressed,
          more compact.  Relation: compact space = active space.
          Relation: spacial density : spacial activity.  Empty
          space = no activity.  Full space = lots of atomic
          activity.  As a light (ray, beam) atom goes through
          space: 1) space where that atom is at contracts, 2) then
          atom is forced onward into empty space, 3) repeat 1.  At
          a point of max compression (for this atom) the atom's
          center is just past the point of maximum influence (or
          perhaps atom is warped/squashed) so that it is forced
          through the next infinitesimal point on and on--movement
          through space.  Movement through momentum.  Logically the
          process of warping space should either draw energy from
          the planet or draw energy from speed (momentum).  This
          may reduce speed and suggest a denser space.  Perhaps:
          imagine/picture visualize: a round atom in empty space,
          with a decreasing halo of light around it.  The light
          represents the density of space near this atom, as space
          was drawn to and warped by the atom.  Remember space
          itself had to move to allow this atom to be put there.
          Space isn't like water where you add objects and watch
          the level rise.  It's like an enclosed box of sand, pump
          air into a balloon that is in the sand, and the sand
          immediately around the balloon compresses.  This is an
          object at rest.  Add in motion and the effect looks more
          like that of a comet.  The increased compression of space
          in front of a moving adds more compression potential to
          the object.  This makes the space farther in front of the
          object the direction of choice because while the
          influence of the object is the same in all directions the
          influence of the warped space is mostly toward the front
          (the direction of travel).  Perhaps the initial extra
          frontal spatial warping is what is imparted to the ball
          when the bat hits it.  This would give it both speed and
          direction simultaneously, by simply adding to it's normal
          warping of space a "cornea" which warps space in a
          specific direction with a "cornea size/effect" to cause
          the speed.

               If an atom exists in empty space, and another exists
          in crowded space than each of these have a different
          effect.  The lone atom's effects won't be felt.  The atom
          that is part of a group will interact with other atoms
          until the group as a whole has an effect that all the
          atoms, if isolated, couldn't produce.  More of a
          universal truth than anything else.

               "Modern physicists are accustomed to seeing
               new particles materialize out of energy in
               particle accelerators.  Near a black hole a
               similar process should happen; gas falling
               toward a black hole should heat up to such a
               high temperature that particles colliding with
               each other would create other particles.  In
               fact, so great is the gravity around a black
               hole and so high the density of light that two
               light rays could behave the same way: photons
               could collide with each other just as gas
               particles do, each collision producing an
               electron and its antiparticle, the positron.
               Eventually the electron and positron would
               annihilate each other, releasing a burst of
               energy that could, in theory, be detected from
               Earth.  An interesting consequence might
               follow from this exotic reaction: the creation
               of new matter could deflate the envelope of
               hot gas surrounding the black hole.  If the
               intensity of light were to exceed a critical
               level, the photon collisions would run rampant
               and the creation of new electrons and
               positrons would ultimately  drain all
               available energy reserves.  The gas, having
               spent all its heat and pressure, would
               collapse.  Once collapsed into a thin disk,
               the gas closest to the black hole could
               receive new gravitational energy from other,
               more remote gas being drawn in.  This infusion
               of new energy could cause the disk to
               reinflate and start the process anew.  The
               accompanying changes in radiation from the gas
               as it deflates and inflates would help
               astronomers locate the black hole and measure
               its mass.  Predicted only in the past couple
               of years, this "matter-creation catastrophe"
               has not yet been observed.  Astronomers are
               searching for evidence of such events mostly
               in the high end of the spectrum--X-rays and
               gamma rays--since only these rays have enough
               energy to create particles."
               This may support a steady-state universe.  As the
          black holes wouldn't be getting ever-larger.  They reach
          a certain point, and then matter approaching gets
          converted into energy and sent back out into space, to
          re-coalesce into solar-systems/etc.


          Universe notes:

               These are quoted from articles.  They have some
          bearing but I have not had time to incorporate their
          substance into the document yet.  They are not
          necessarily my opinion.

               "This is radiation left over from the
               primordial fireball, which was ten billion
               degrees Kelvin at one second after the Big
               Bang. Today, after ten billion years of
               expansion and cooling, it's only 2.7°.
               Astronomers can't actually measure the age of
               the universe directly, but they can measure a
               quantity called the Hubble constant (denoted
               by H), which is the current expansion rate of
               the universe.  In the Big Bang theory, the age
               of the universe is approximately the inverse
               of the Hubble constant (1/H), so H isn't
               really constant but is always getting smaller.
               Numbers happen to be dimensionless--this is,
               they lack units of measurement.  (Plane 5 is
               dimensionless; 5 m.p.h. is not.)  Why is our
               universe so isotropic and why is it so flay?
               (A flat universe is one that lies just at the
               borderline between "closed" and "open," the
               former indicating a universe that will
               eventually stop expanding and recollapse, the
               latter a universe that will expand forever.)
               The standard Big Bang model doesn't answer
               these questions other than to assume the
               universe started that way--isotropic and
               flat--which strikes many cosmologists as
               highly improbable." [Note:
               isotropic=ordered, non-isotropic = chaotic]

               "To drive chemical reactions you need some
               form of energy, usually heat, and in
               interstellar space there's not much heat: the
               temperature there is typically around -440 to
               -425 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 to 35 degrees
               above absolute zero.  One possible source of
               energy, though, is cosmic rays.  If a cosmic
               ray were to knock an electron off, say, a
               carbon atom (thereby converting it into a
               positively charged ion), the carbon would be
               much more prone to react with, say, a hydrogen
               molecule.  Such ion-molecule reactions are
               thought to explain much of the chemistry in
               interstellar clouds." [Note: as may
               ultraviolet light.]

               "Every astronomer know how stars form: from
               collapsing clouds of interstellar gas and
               dust.  They've found what appears to be a ring
               of massive young stars, surrounded by gas
               rushing into the ring at a speed of roughly
               45,000 miles per hour.  The cloud, called
               W49a, lies 45,000 light-years away, on the far
               side of the galaxy.  The ring of a dozen or so
               stars at the center of W49A was extraordinary:
               it was large (about six light-years across),
               massive (including the gas inside it, about
               50,000 times as massive as the sun), and
               spinning madly (at about 30,000 miles per
               hour).  The sheer size and brilliance of the
               ring enabled Welch and his colleagues to
               observe gas motions in W49A by means of the
               familiar Doppler effect.  As a tracer the
               researchers used the molecule HCO+, which
               emits and absorbs radio waves at a frequency
               of precisely 89.1 gigahertz.  In the bright
               radiation coming from the ring, the absorption
               by HCO+ gas in front of the ring was plain to
               see--but not at 89.1 gigahertz.  Instead the
               absorption was Doppler-shifted to a slightly
               lower frequency, indicating that the gas is
               falling away from Earth and into the ring.
               Conversely, the radiation emitted by excited
               molecules behind the ring was shifted to a
               higher frequency, because the gas there is
               flowing toward the Earth and, again, into the
               ring. Since gas seems to be flowing into the
               central ring from all sides, Welch and his
               colleagues conclude, W49A must be collapsing
               under its own gravity.  Actually, gravity may
               not be the only force at work in W49A; the
               cloud's magnetic field may also have played a
               crucial role.  The collapse, say the
               researchers, is proceeding from the inside out
               and has been going on for only about half a
               million years--not nearly enough time for
               gravity to suck 50,000 suns' worth of material
               into the center of an unmagnetized cloud.  But
               if the cloud were stiffened and supported by a
               magnetic field, a lot of gas could have
               collected at the center before the
               gravitational collapse even began.
               Furthermore, within the cloud, the "news" of
               the collapse would travel at the speed of
               sound, and it would be transmitted faster
               through a magnetically stiffened cloud (just
               as sound moves faster through water than
               through air, because water is stiffer).  That
               would allow gas to be drawn into the center
               faster.  Yet even with a magnetic field, says
               Dreher, the outside of W49A probably still
               doesn't know that the inside has caved in
               underneath it."

               "Three astronomers at the University of
               Arizona say they have found a couple of
               galaxies that are at least 17 billion
               light-years away--well beyond the farthest
               quasar.  Because their light has been en route
               for 17 billion years, we are seeing them
               during the era when all galaxies were born,
               shortly after the Big Bang.  The only things
               that existed before galaxies formed--and thus
               the only things that might be farther
               away--are dim and probably unobservable clouds
               of gas.  The newly detected "primeval"
               galaxies may therefore mark the edge of the
               observable universe.  The reason primeval
               galaxies have not been found is simple.  As
               the universe expands, the most distant objects
               move away from Earth at nearly the speed of
               light--a motion that stretches out and
               therefore reddens their light, shifting most
               of it into the infrared range.  The
               sophisticated infrared detector chips needed
               to observe such faint radiation were
               originally developed for the military, and
               have only recently become available to
               astronomers. "We had an array of 4,096 such
               detectors," said Elston, "which meant we could
               gather in one night what would have taken
               4,096 nights as recently as 1985, when
               single-chip detectors were state of the art.
               Elston and his colleagues started using their
               array last spring, before anyone else.  They
               found the two primeval-galaxy candidates
               almost immediately, in the same swath of
               southern sky. Unless they were incredibly
               lucky, that means the heavens must be peppered
               with similar objects--just on would expect, if
               they really are primeval galaxies.  The size
               and apparent brightness of the objects are
               also in line with what theorists have
               predicted."

               "He was particularly interested in the
               conditions 10^-35 second after the Big Bang,
               when temperatures in the embryonic cosmos were
               dropping below 1,000 trillion trillion
               degrees.  That was the moment when grand
               unification came to an end; when forces and
               particles, formerly indistinguishable, assumed
               their separate identities.  New observations
               have shattered the old doctrine that the
               universe is homogeneous, with galaxies and
               clusters of galaxies scattered uniformly
               through space like a mist.  Today's
               astronomers are discovering that galaxies are
               distributed in a curious pattern:  they seem
               to sit on the surface of huge, nested bubbles.
               Inside the bubbles are enormous voids, as much
               as 250 million light-years across, where few
               if any galaxies are found."
          [note:  what we really should be studying is why those
          few stars/galaxies left in the darkness are still there
          - perhaps an advanced race?]

               ". . .the [big bang] model is based on general
               relativity, Einstein's tremendously successful
               theory of gravity.  Relativity positively
               requires an expanding universe to have started
               off with a pointlike bang--provide certain
               assumptions are true. One crucial assumption
               is that gravity is the dominant force in
               shaping the cosmos.  Another is that the
               universe today is smooth; that is, that the
               distribution of matter of the large scale is
               everywhere the same.  That second assumption
               has always been problematic.  At most levels
               the universe is clearly not smooth; it is
               clumpy. Matter is clumped in stars, stars in
               galaxies, galaxies in superclusters as much as
               100 million light-years long.  Even though
               such clumps have long been troublesome for the
               Big Bang theory--it cannot yet fully explain
               how they formed--they are not a fatal flaw.
               The theory requires only that the universe be
               smooth at the largest scale, over distances of
               billions rather than millions of light-years.
               Now, however, it appears that even that
               assumption may be wrong. In the past few years
               astronomers have discovered still larger
               clumps: huge aggregates of matter that span a
               billion light-years or more, stretching across
               a substantial fraction of the observable
               universe.  If such clumps exist, Einstein's
               equations do not require the universe to have
               once been confined to the head of a pin.  But
               there is an alternative to the Big Bang, one
               that isn't well known.  It is an entirely
               different view of the nature and evolution of
               the universe.  It is not based on general
               relativity because, unlike conventional
               astrophysics, it does not see gravity as the
               dominant force in the cosmos.  Starting from
               the observed fact that the universe, stars and
               all, is 99 percent plasma-- ionized gas that
               can conduct electricity--the alternative
               cosmology holds that the universe is
               criss-crossed and sculpted by titanic electric
               currents and vast magnetic fields.  In this
               electrically engineered plasma universe, the
               Big Bang never happened; instead the universe
               has existed for infinite time, without a
               beginning and with no end in sight.  The
               plasma universe is a vision created not by
               cosmologists or astrophysicists but by plasma
               physicists.  Its intellectual progenitor is
               Hannes Alfvén, an 80-year-old Swedish Nobel
               laureate.  Trained as an experimenter in
               electrical phenomena, Alfvén began in the
               1930s to apply his work to astronomy--in
               particular, to the problem of why the universe
               is clumpy.  In photographs of the Veil and
               Orion nebulas he noticed that glowing
               astronomical clumps often take the form of
               delicate, lacy filaments.  He saw similar
               filaments in the sky over his Swedish home: in
               the aurora borealis, or northern lights.  Most
               important of all, Alfvén saw the same luminous
               threads in laboratory plasmas. 'Whenever a
               piece of vacuum equipment started to
               misbehave,' he recalls, 'these filaments would
               be there.'  Many investigators had analyzed
               the laboratory filaments before, and so Alfvén
               knew what they were: tiny electromagnetic
               vortices (Alfvén calls them ropes) that snake
               through a plasma, carrying electric currents.
               The vortices are produced by a phenomenon
               known as the pinch effect.  A straight thread
               of electric current flowing through a plasma
               surrounds itself with a cylindrical magnetic
               field.  This field attracts other currents
               flowing the same direction.  Thus the tiny
               current threads tend to 'pinch' together,
               drawing the plasma with them.  The converging
               threads are twined into a plasma rope, much as
               water converging toward a drain generates a
               swirling vortex.  The plasma rope, or
               filament, then gets pinched further by its own
               magnetic field.  [Alfvén] proposed that
               gravity alone was not responsible for the
               clumpiness of the cosmos.  Instead, vast
               magnetic vortices, operating through the pinch
               effect, drew plasma together in space--forming
               planets, stars, galaxies, and galaxy
               clusters--just as small vortices do in the
               lab.  Indeed, according to Alfvén, magnetic
               pinching, working with gravity, is much better
               at concentrating matter than gravity alone.
               Unlike gravity, the magnetic force on a plasma
               thread increases with the velocity of the
               plasma.  That leads to a positive feedback: as
               threads get drawn into a vortex, the plasma
               moves faster, which increases the force on the
               threads and pinches them even tighter.  In
               addition, a contracting mass tends to spin
               faster and faster, and the spin generates a
               centrifugal force that resists the
               contraction.  Magnetic filaments can carry
               away this excess spin, or angular momentum.
               Thus they allow a much greater contraction.
               For a long time Alfvén didn't get far with
               these ideas: astronomers just didn't believe
               the tenuous plasma of space could carry giant
               electric currents.  But things began to change
               in the late 1960's, as space probes explored
               the solar system.  The probes showed that
               Alfvén was right: electric currents and
               magnetic filaments are present in space.  They
               were first detected near Earth, where currents
               flow along the lines of the geomagnetic field.
               (The aurora is light given off by atmospheric
               atoms that have been struck by particles in
               these currents.) Later the Pioneer and Voyager
               spacecraft detected currents and filaments
               around Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.  The space
               probes "completely changed the preexisting
               theories about the magnetic fields and
               surroundings of all three planets," says Alex
               Desler, a Rice University space physicist who
               was the first person to recognize the currents
               near Earth.  Currents and filaments are now
               known to exist throughout the solar system--a
               point that even vocal critics of plasma
               cosmology don't dispute.  "No on today denies
               the importance of magnetic fields and currents
               in the solar systems and in its formation,"
               says Peebles.  "This is now completely
               accepted." For example, everyone agrees that
               Alfvén's filaments explain why the sun is a
               slowly rotating sphere, rather than a rapidly
               rotating disk (as it would be if gravity alone
               had shaped it). Filaments connected to the
               young sun slowed it down by transferring spin
               to the planets and thereby allowed it to
               contract into a sphere.  For Alfvén the
               acceptance of his ideas about the solar system
               is only the first step.  "If we can
               extrapolate from the laboratory to the solar
               system, which is a hundred trillion times
               larger in extent," he asks, "then why
               shouldn't plasma still behave the same way for
               the entire observable universe--another
               hundred trillion times larger?  Why should
               gravity alone dominate the largest scale?"
               Indeed, there is already good reason to
               believe that electromagnetic filaments are
               important at the next scale up from the solar
               system: the scale of a galaxy."

               "When Albert Einstein completed his general
               theory of relativity 65 years ago, he made an
               intriguing prediction: experimenters would
               discover that time passes more slowly on earth
               than in outer space, where gravity is weaker.
               The stronger a gravitational field, Einstein
               said, the slower a clock would run.  This
               aspect of relativity has since been proved
               many times in the lab.  Now researchers from
               the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
               Astrophysics in Massachusetts and NASA's
               Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama have
               tested Einstein's prediction by timing a clock
               in space.  They did it by lofting a 90-pound
               atomic clock 6,200 miles above the earth
               aboard a Scout rocket.  After lengthy analysis
               of the data radioed back to earth, they report
               in Physical Review Letters, they were able to
               measure the relativistic effect to within .007
               per cent, almost 200 times as accurate as any
               previous measurement.  Their conclusion:
               operating in a weaker gravitational field, the
               clock speeded up.  Had it stayed in space, it
               would have gained one second every 73 years,
               just as Einstein's theory predicts."

               "Released during the fusion process are fast
               neutrons that can induce radioactivity in the
               walls of the plant by a process known as
               neutron activation.  After a relatively short
               exposure to energetic neutrons, many materials
               weaken and fracture.  But a Fusion Materials
               Test Facility is being Built at Hanford,
               Washington, to find materials that will stand
               up to neutron onslaught."

               "A magnetic field does not pass through a
               superconductor, but instead flows around
               it."

               "[The microwave beams, called masers, that are
               emitted start] with the birth of massive blue
               stars that are 100,000 times as bright as the
               sun and dozens of times as big.  As the star
               fires up its thermonuclear furnace for the
               first time and its surface temperature reaches
               50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, atomic particles
               are driven off the star into space, becoming
               an intense stellar "wind" that drives away the
               surrounding dust and gas left over from the
               star's birth.  This placental cloud speeds
               outward at hundreds of miles a second, but not
               smoothly.  some of the gaseous molecules in
               that violent flow begin to form clumps.  It is
               those clumps, each of them bigger than the
               earth's orbit around the sun, that absorb the
               star's energy and re-radiate it as intense
               microwave beams.  At any one time, a hundred
               of these giant masers can surround the newly
               born star, like fireworks heralding its birth.
               Because it takes up to a million years for the
               dust to blow completely away and reveal the
               stellar glow itself, a cosmic maser is often
               the first announcement of a newborn star."
               The masers themselves last for just a couple
               of years or at most tens of thousands of
               years, as they gas slows down respectively.
               Useful for determining distances to stars.
               Masers have also been found in the twilight
               (death) of red giants.

               "Within a volume about the size of the solar
               system, a typical quasar produces the energy
               of 1000 galaxies, or 10 trillion stars.  Some
               are more than 10 billion light-years away . .
               . many of them have tiny bright cores from
               which long jets of matter stream in opposite
               directions--a feature characteristic of radio
               galaxies (so called because they emit
               prodigious amounts of energy at frequencies
               that radio telescopes can detect).  Radio
               galaxies are less energetic than quasars, but
               most of them are not nearly so distant . . .
               theory that quasars are actually galaxies in
               their violent infancy.  Says [Jeffrey Puschell
               of U. of CA at San Diego] 'My own feeling is
               that the largest galaxies start up quietly, go
               through a quasar stage, and then die off.'
               Astronomers think that the quasar's radio jets
               could be produced by hot gas squeezed out of
               the top and bottom of a thick doughnut of
               material that is swirling around a
               supermassive black hole at the center of a
               young galaxy.  As this material is swallowed
               into the black hole, the galaxy's energy
               output gradually declines from quasar levels
               to that of a more ordinary radio galaxy, or
               shuts off entirely.  Still, the centers of
               many galaxies, including the Milky Way, are
               believed to retain bizarre traces of their
               quasar ancestry--black holes."

               "Conducts experiments that take only one ten-
               millionth of a second to run:. . .fires
               electron beams into high-energy plasmas and
               studies the radiation that emerges.  Plasmas
               are gases in which the electrons have been
               liberated from the atoms; the type [of plasma
               used] are so hot that the freed electrons zing
               through the gas at nearly the speed of light.
               Plasmas make up about ninety-nine per cent of
               the matter in the universe.  The work helps
               astrophysicists understand how plasmas
               function in nature, as in pulsars and quasars.
               For applied physics, we have to find ways of
               producing high-power electromagnetic waves in
               the high-frequency ranges of the spectrum [one
               use would be for better radars]."

               "The recipe for [life] is simple: Take a flask
               of methane gas, add water vapor, nitrogen,
               ammonia, carbon dioxide, perhaps a pinch of
               sulfur, a hunk of clay, liquid water--all
               thought to have been abundant on the primitive
               earth--and stir with lightning, or ultraviolet
               light.  The result is a brownish sludge, full
               of organic compounds often including amino
               acids--the building blocks of proteins.
               Nature has spread organic molecules through
               comets, the clouds of Titan, Jupiter, and
               Saturn, the frosty dust clouds of space, and
               earth itself.  Life began on earth, biologists
               think, when the first self-replicating strand
               of DNA formed out of those materials in the
               primordial soup.  [When] the earth was a
               billion years old, blue-green algae were
               already flourishing, and scientists believe
               that it and all the forms of life that
               followed descended from that first DNA
               molecule."

               "Shrouded by clouds of dust, the center of the
               Milky Way has long been a mystery.  Now the
               veil is lifting.  Using the world's largest
               radio astronomy facility, scientists have
               discovered a huge plume of ionized hot gas
               escaping from the heart of the galaxy.  The
               fiery arc is unlike anything observed before
               in the Milky Way.  It rises from the galactic
               plane and curls around for perhaps 600 light-
               years, or 3,500 trillion miles.  Each of its
               filaments of gas is a few light-years wide.
               The whiplike shape of the filaments suggests
               that they may be formed by an incredibly
               intense magnetic field at the galactic core.
               The question now is:  What giant dynamo lies
               hidden there?"

          Measuring the Doppler shifts of light from different
          parts of the galaxy determines the velocities of stars.
          "If a rotating galaxy is edge-on to our line of sight,
          for example, stars on one side will be coming toward us
          and their light will be shifted to shorter, bluer
          wavelengths; on the other side, stars going away will be
          red-shifted.  Most galaxies are found in groups, large or
          small, called clusters.  The clusters in turn seem to
          form associations with each other called superclusters.
          On the large scale, these form a distinct pattern.  The
          galaxies, that is, the luminous objects in the universe,
          are ganged up, it seems, in clumps and chains, with dark
          deserts of night--voids--in between."  Largest clump
          found by 1983 went on for 700 million light-years.  The
          Milky Way galaxy seems to be about 15 billion years
          old.

               Globular galaxy M-87 (spherical).
               "Emissions extend over many frequencies--from
               radio to x-ray--and most of them derive from a
               compact source embedded in the core of the
               galaxy.  One of the best candidates for a
               galaxy with a supermassive black hole in its
               nucleus (or if not a black hole, some other
               prodigious engine worth decoding).  Moreover,
               its location at the center of a nearby rich
               cluster of galaxies makes it an excellent
               study for astronomers trying to fathom the
               dynamics of galaxy formation and interaction.
               Significant amount of M-87's radio emission
               comes from the jet.  The jet's optical
               emission was strongly polarized.  This
               polarization was thought to be caused by
               'synchrotron radiation,' in which high-energy
               electrons spiral along magnetic field lines in
               the jet at relativistic velocities.  As the
               electrons are accelerated, they emit
               radiation.  The wavelengths at which this
               radiation occurs depends on the energies of
               the spiraling particles.  The jet is emerging
               from the 'north' polar axis.  In contrast to
               the amber glow of M-87, the jet shines with
               the bluish-white light of synchrotron
               radiation: its total luminosity is that of 10
               million suns.  Lumpy filament approximately 20
               arcseconds in apparent length.  At an
               estimated distance 17 megaparsecs the apparent
               length of the jet corresponds to a projected
               length of about 2 kiloparsecs (6,500 light-
               years) from the outer tip to the nucleus of M-
               87.  Astronomers estimate that the jet is only
               about 15,000 years old, and yet it has already
               reached a length of 2 kiloparsecs.  It must be
               moving at near relativistic velocities, but
               because the dynamics of the jet are not yet
               fully understood, astronomers  cannot be
               certain what that velocity is.  Many of the
               estimates of the jet's velocity stem from
               models, which place the velocity somewhere
               between 10,000 and 30,000 kilometers per
               second (although given the length and age of
               the jet, at a distance of 17 megaparsecs the
               velocity works out to about 129,000 kilometers
               per second--43 percent the velocity of light).
               However, even this may be too slow.  Some
               astronomers point out that many radio galaxies
               exhibit 'lobes' of strong radio emission on
               both sides of visible object.  They suggest
               that M-87's jet is visible to us because it is
               moving more or less in our direction at speeds
               close to that of light.  Relativistic effects
               cause the emissions from the jet to be
               preferentially beamed toward us.  If there is
               a jet on the opposite side, it would be
               invisible to us because it is beaming its
               emission away from us in the same manner.
               Almost without exception astronomers agree
               synchrotron radiation produces the jet's light
               and radio emissions.  Unlike thermal
               radiation, in which electrons in interstellar
               gas are energized by hot incident radiation,
               the synchrotron process energizes electrons by
               accelerating them through a magnetic field.
               Because synchrotron emission is not dependent
               on the temperature of the gas medium but on
               the energy of the particles and the strength
               of the magnetic field, synchrotron radiation
               is said to be nonthermal.  In M-87 the
               synchrotron process begins when electrons are
               captured in the powerful magnetic field
               created in the core of the galaxy.  The
               magnetic field accelerates these electrons to
               relativistic velocities in a spiral path
               around the magnetic field lines parallel to
               the polar axis of M-87.  As the electrons are
               accelerated, they emit electromagnetic energy.
               Because the electrons are moving in a
               direction perpendicular to the field lines,
               the radiation is polarized.  Through
               [synchrotron radiation] answers our questions
               about the kind of radiation we are detecting,
               it presents us with another problem: How can
               electrons continue emitting energy as they
               travel the length of the jet?  As energetic
               electrons emit radiation, they lose energy,
               and the more energetic they are, the quicker
               they lose that energy.  Typical lifetimes of
               electrons producing radio energy are a few
               hundred years, while those generating optical
               radiation may last twenty or thirty years.
               Electrons so energetic they emit x-rays last
               only a few days.  The lifetimes of these
               electrons are far too short for the electrons
               to survive the journey out from the nucleus to
               the end of the jet, even if they travel near
               the speed of light.  What, then, is re-
               energizing the electrons?  Suggestions range
               from shock waves generated when newer plasma
               collides with older, slower-moving plasma to
               turbulence forming between the plasma and the
               interstellar medium surrounding it.
               Astronomers are fairly certain, however, that
               the same regenerating process probably occurs
               throughout the jet because structures evident
               in radio maps made of M-87 coincide with those
               in optical and x-ray emissions.  Photographs
               of the jet made with large optical telescopes
               reveal a lumpy protuberance that resembles a
               bowling pin.  These are only areas that are
               brighter and fainter, observations suggest the
               jet emissions may be coming from the surface
               of the jet rather than from inside.  The jet
               may be a flow of hot gas out from the nucleus,
               but the part that is lit up may be a thin
               layer on the boundary of the jet between the
               hot gas and the external interstellar medium.
               And one hypothesis is that the zone of
               interaction [that is, the boundary between the
               jet and external medium] is what's actually
               producing the particles that are lighting up
               the flow.  Most jets in active galaxies,
               astronomers agree, lead to their sources, and
               the source at M-87's core is bright, too
               bright to be a typical nucleus.  In any
               telescope the galaxy's starlike nucleus
               appears to burn right through the haze of the
               surrounding disk.  In that locus of light
               resides the secret of M-87's incredible power.
               Astronomers want to know what that secret is.
               The brightest x-ray emitting region
               corresponds to a diameter of about 200
               kiloparsecs, it gets fainter and fainter, and
               the edge has never been seen.  It smoothly
               falls off.  Spectra of the cluster's gas
               consists of excessive amounts of heavy metals
               like iron, neon, and oxygen (besides helium
               and hydrogen).  And what about the center of
               the center of the galaxy cluster--M-87's
               mysterious core?  Something is relentlessly
               drawing the gas into the very middle of M-87.
               It is believed that in the inner 10
               kiloparsecs of M-87, the gas is cooling.  If
               the center is cooling and it has less pressure
               and a lot of gas on top of it, that means gas
               is flowing inward.  But it is flowing in very
               slowly, over billions of years.  The estimated
               rate is between 1 and 100 solar masses a year.
               It's conceivable that a small amount of it
               might power and feed a black hole in the
               middle.  But one shouldn't give the idea that
               all of the gas goes in the black hole
               [speculative] because there's no way to get so
               much mass into such a small area.  As you look
               farther and farther in toward the core of M-87
               along the jet, it's like looking at a thin
               cone.  It ends up being opaque out to some
               distance along the jet at any given frequency.
               At higher frequencies you can see farther into
               the core."

               "Tachyons' most obvious transgression is that
               they go faster than the speed of light.  On
               the face of it, that would seem to disqualify
               them from existing.  But even tachyon-hating
               physicists know there is a loophole in the
               theory of relativity.  Einstein showed that no
               material object can reach the speed of light.
               Nothing in his equations says that the object
               can't go faster.  But since no object can get
               to the speed of light in the first place, it
               certainly cannot exceed it.  But what if an
               object were already moving faster than light
               from the moment of its creation?  Then it
               would never have to cross the forbidden
               barrier at all.  And that is just the idea
               behind tachyons.  Of course, since tachyons
               have to follow the same rules as everything
               else, they could never reach the speed of
               light, either.  It's just that for them light
               speed would be impossibly slow.  The second
               problem with tachyons is that they have what
               physicists call imaginary mass.  That means
               that when the number representing the mass of
               a tachyon is squared, the result is a negative
               number.  That's an acceptable state of being
               in higher mathematics, but it isn't supposed
               to turn up in real life.  Worst of all,
               tachyons can violate time order, so that two
               observers might disagree on which of two
               tachyonic events came first.  That can lead to
               so-called causality problems.  If, for
               example, one observer sees a tachyon fired
               from a hand-held tachyon gun at point A and
               disintegrate at a target at point B, another
               might see it leave in reverse, with the
               tachyon leaving point B and entering the gun
               at point A.  How, ask physicists, could the
               observer explain such a nonsensical chain of
               events.  No one has ever found any evidence of
               a tachyon's existence.  In the late 1920s the
               British physicist Paul Dirac created the Dirac
               equation, which predicted with uncanny
               accuracy how electrons should behave.
               Unfortunately, it also pointed to the
               existence of particles with negative energy.
               Then, in 1932, Carl Anderson discovered the
               positron--identical to the electron in every
               way, except that it carries an opposite
               electric charge.  Tachyons keep popping up in
               the mathematics that are at the heart of the
               theories that physicists do take very
               seriously.  When that happens, theorists tend
               to roll up their sleeves and hack away at the
               equations until the last of the tachyons is
               banished, at whatever cost to the theory.  On
               theory holds that all the elementary particles
               we know of in our three-dimensional universe
               become tachyons when they are examined from a
               four-dimensional point of view.  He proposes
               that even the slowest of elementary particles
               whip through this extra spatial dimension at
               faster-than-light speeds.  Unlike classical
               tachyon theory, Davidson's ideas don't require
               a tremendous leap of faith into forbidden
               territory; rather, the equations that describe
               these higher-dimensional tachyons fall out
               neatly from the much-loved theory of general
               relativity.  Even better, Davidson has found
               that higher-dimensional tachyons provide a
               sway of deducing certain properties of the
               fourth dimension that physicists are normally
               forced to just assume.  Einstein's theory of
               general relativity predicted an expanding
               universe, and he, horrified at the thought,
               reworked the equations until that prediction
               had been expunged--an exercise he later
               referred to as the greatest mistake of his
               life.  Part of the causality problem is how
               could observers tell whether a tachyon gun was
               hooting or swallowing tachyons."

               "According to quantum theory, empty space is
               not empty at all; it is suffused with
               fluctuating fields of energy.  And although
               physicists can't decide whether the total
               energy in the vacuum should be positive or
               negative, they agree on one thing: the energy
               out to be huge--80 figures to the left of the
               decimal point, in the units in which such
               things are measured.  Since energy is
               equivalent to mass, the energetic vacuum
               should be exerting a gravitational force.  If
               the cosmological constant is large and
               negative, it should be supplementing the
               gravitational attraction of ordinary matter;
               and the universe, instead of continuing to
               expand in the aftermath of the Big Bang,
               should be collapsing toward a Big Crunch.  On
               the other hand, if the cosmological constant
               is large and positive, it should be generating
               a kind of antigravity, a repulsive force that
               would cause matter to fly apart so fast that
               it could never clump together to form
               galaxies, including our own.  Clearly neither
               of these cases is true, and thus the
               cosmological constant, be it positive or
               negative, is not large.  In fact, measurements
               of the expansion rate of distant galaxies
               suggest that it is exactly zero, and that
               quantum theory--the most successful theory in
               physics--is in this instance, at least,
               spectacularly wrong.  What's more, even a
               relatively small constant would noticeably
               slow or speed the rate at which distant
               galaxies move away from us.  Apparently
               physicists have missed something fundamental
               about the universe, some process that ensures
               that all the different components of the
               cosmological constant, positive and negative,
               add up precisely to zero.  [Einstein]
               described gravity as a curvature of space-time
               induced by mass-energy.  But when he tried to
               apply his theory to cosmology, he ran into the
               same problem that had bedeviled Isaac Newton:
               the gravitational attraction of matter should
               cause the universe to collapse.  Although
               Einstein's equation also allowed. . .for the
               universe to be expanding.  Hubble discovered
               that the universe really is expanding:
               galaxies at the farthest reaches of the
               universe are receding from our own at
               near-light speeds.  [See stuff about spaceship
               and light elsewhere is this document.]
               Uncertainty principle.  In its most familiar
               form, the principle states that the position
               and velocity of a particle cannot be measured
               simultaneously with unlimited precision; the
               more precisely you determine one, the more
               indeterminate the other becomes.  Significant
               only at the subatomic scale.  But the
               principle also applies to other pairs of
               variables--in particular, to energy and time.
               What it says in this case is that the
               precision with which you can measure the
               energy of any system, such as a piece of empty
               space, is limited by the duration of the
               measurements; the shorter the time, the
               greater the imprecision.  And this
               indeterminacy can never be resolved simply by
               more accurate measuring instruments; it is
               inherent in the system itself.  Over a short
               enough time the system can assume just about
               any energy--and it does.  In a world ruled by
               quantum mechanics, the energy of the system in
               any fleeting instant can be seen only as a
               wavelike fluctuation.  As a consequence, the
               vacuum of empty space is not empty; it is
               pervaded by fluctuating fields of energy that,
               when large enough, manifest themselves as
               particles--individual photons, for example, or
               particle pairs consisting of an ordinary
               electron or quark and its antimatter twin,
               which burst into existence and then
               annihilate.  The vacuum is thick with these
               short-lived 'virtual' particles.  It looks
               empty only because each particle's visit to
               existence, according to the uncertainty
               principle, is so infinitesimally brief as to
               be undetectable.  But the effects of these
               virtual particles en masse may be detectable.
               Virtual particles ought to have one effect in
               particular: their energy ought to warp space.
               [Perhaps large tracts of empty space provide
               FTL travel?]  Depends on how often virtual
               particles appear in a given volume of space,
               and it also depends on the types of particles.
               Virtual quarks and electrons have much the
               same effect their 'real' counterparts: they
               cause space to contract.  But virtual photons,
               or any other force-transmitting particles,
               have the opposite effect: they cause space to
               expand.  The [wormhole] concept emerged from
               mathematical tinkering with the equations of
               quantum cosmology, which represent modern
               physics' tortured attempt to apply the
               uncertainty of quantum mechanics to gravity
               and to the universe as a whole.  [To me, this
               is another indication that gravity does not
               rule the universe.]  Just as quantum mechanics
               says there is a certain probability that
               particles can appear from nowhere in a vacuum,
               quantum cosmology says there may be a certain
               probability that a small chuck of space and
               time will suddenly pop into existence.  [No
               doubt inversely proportional to the odds that
               this part of the theory is wrong.]"

          ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          SPACE TRAVEL

          Faster Than Light:

               Faster than light is possible.  How I do not know.
          Such a big universe makes the mere light speed seem
          extremely slow - it is not pretty, so I suspect there is
          a way.  Possibly though, this does not occur naturally.
          Possibilities:  cracks in the structure of space (the
          curving of space is what causes the appearance of gravity
          - we ourselves curve space, but it is so small few things
          attract to us (maybe just a little on their way to the
          ground). The key seems "what is space itself?"  I suspect
          it is some form of radiation layers (like magnetism). Or
          perhaps it is considered multilayered like including
          gamma rays, magnetism, gravity, etc.  "What was the
          material that the universe expanded into?" is not a
          question since the big bang theory has been eliminated.
          A possibility is that what appears to us as space and
          distance may be changed dramatically if can change our
          dimensionality.

          If you had a space ship of the type:
                -----------------------
                |                     |/|
                |-]                <-=| |    engine
                |                     |\|
                -----------------------
                 ^detector         ^emitter
                   |----- X ------|

               If the ship wasn't moving, and you sent a beam of
          light from the emitter to the detector, the distance
          traveled by the beam would be X, and the speed would be
          300,000 kilometers per second (the speed of light).  If
          the ship was moving forward, the speed of the beam
          remains the same.  The distance traveled by the beam has
          increased.  It increased by the distance the whole ship
          moved in the time it took the beam to get from the
          emitter to the detector.  The real space the beam covered
          was greater than X, but the actual space the traveled was
          the same, after all, it had only to go from the emitter
          to the detector.  If the ship was going the speed of
          light it would move ahead X, the light beam went X
          distance in the ship.  In reference to the ship's space
          the beam of light traveled 1.5X.  If the ship was going
          in reverse at the speed of light, the beam would get to
          the half-way point (in ship space) when the detector
          arrived.  This assumes the inside of the ship isn't
          affected by the speed of the ship.  If the beam is
          affected you need to consider such things like light
          leaving the emitter at light speed won't go anywhere with
          a ship moving forward at light speed.

               Isn't the solar system, and Milky Way galaxy, moving
          spaceships in space?  Is the speed of light as we know
          it, the same outside the solar system, or outside the
          galaxy?

               Imagine, if you will.  You are the captain of an
          interstellar space ship.  Your technology level has not
          advanced to the point where you can convert yourself and
          your ship to energy and still maintain coherence.   The
          old trick of scooping hydrogen (or whatever) from large
          tracks of space in front of you never supplied the energy
          you need for FTL.  The scientists have discovered that
          they can use the fabric of space for energy (not the
          fabric itself - but what the fabric is made of).  This
          frees up energy and makes an envelop of truly empty space
          (possible?).  Possibilities: either the ship whisks it's
          way through this null space because it is null and in
          front of it, or the ship uses the energy to move itself.

               Possibilities: The null space behind the ship closes
          up, or it is necessary to recreate the space (consider it
          borrowed and that the ship probably requires no energy to
          move).

               Logical growth relations: larger engines to produce
          more speed - logical under normal circumstances, perhaps
          bigger null envelope = more speed.  Smaller ships yield
          more speed - logical since would provide logical
          transport growth with technology (ie. you would have
          trouble sending a large army unless you could shrink the
          ships, use single-man engines, etc.), this also allows
          for growth when energy conversion and coherence is
          discovered - it provides a reward since a single beam (of
          first direct energy conversion, then compressed energy
          conversion later) probably is the maximum speed with this
          type of technology.  Then the technology moves onto using
          the fabric of space itself--which is wholly energy based.

               Options also point to potential 1d single point type
          transfer methods.


          FTL possibility(?):

               I suspect three items that make up the universe:
          energy, force, and space.  Energy produces force that
          alters space, and space produces forces that move (and in
          the process mold/contain) energy.  Energy follows "space"
          (force) and bends space.
               Although "space" may just be force, leaving only
          two.  Matter is probably energy at rest.  Rest being
          contained by force.
               I've dubbed this the "B B Bomb" theory.  Since to
          imagine it: picture a space ship, out a front launch bay
          it shoots little (1 foot round or so) nuclear bombs.
               It launches a bomb.  As the bomb travels through
          space, it's momentum provides energy to move through
          space.  It's mass causes space to move towards it.  It
          travels from the launch bay at the speed it's designers
          wanted.
               It reaches a point in space.  Nothings changed, the
          balance of forces to provide movement keep it going.
               Boom.  It's ordered to explode.  Suddenly space that
          was being brushed aside by momentum and pulled inward by
          mass no longer finds mass pulling it in--but forces
          shoving it away.  And so, for a short time (as long as
          the energy lasts), space is pulling away from the
          exploding bomb.  Space at the point of explosion is a
          little more stretched out than it normally would be.
               Boom.  The ship's been launching these bombs every
          second.  With each explosion space in that area is
          stretching out--the key is to cause continual explosions
          to stretch this space further and further out--timing
          such that the space doesn't have time to contract.  Like
          a balloon as you blow it up, or a slab of metal as the
          blacksmiths hammer hits it.  Thinner and Thinner the area
          of space becomes.
               What happens then?  I've no idea.  I suspect that in
          that little area you've created a zone of very thin
          space.  Should you run a beam of light through it, it'll
          go faster than usual.  I'm not saying you're "tearing"
          space and will get some magical door to an area 100 light
          years away.  I'm saying a little are of space is now much
          more devoid of the forces of cohesion.
               I suspect that a ship using this process could move
          faster than light.  Except you don't want to do it this
          way.
               It's not the bombs that move space.  It's the
          timing.  You're pushing space back before it has time to
          regroup.  Therefore, any oscillator should work.  My
          guess: something like a high speed proton beam projector
          that causes the beams to exit with maximum impact just at
          the tip of the front of the moving ships, as well as some
          farther away to make the "hole" big enough for the rest
          of ship.  It's not a hole--but a bubble--that the ship
          moves through.  See the section of medical uses of proton
          beams for their workings.  What's tricky is that you
          don't want the effects effecting the space that makes up
          your ship, but unlike a bomb which has no source, a
          proton beam would, which just might make all the
          difference needed.  One emitter at the point of the ship,
          and several smaller ones to help keep space from
          collapsing along important points.
               I further suspect that if you use this trick in a
          directional manner, space on the other side of the
          created bubble falls toward the source of the beam.  That
          is, since the space in the bubble is so thin, and the
          force causing the effect is highly directional, that
          space opposite it (other side of bubble) is drawn towards
          it.  I suspect this because then you could build a
          stationary transmitter.  It's one thing to keep moving
          through bubbles, it's another to transmit.  Just as radio
          transmitters can be unidirectional (outputing in all
          directions) or directional (producing a cone-like signal
          along the direction), so should these beams.  The reason
          I suspect space along the line of the beam ahead of the
          bubble would comes toward the beam is because space
          outside the bubble will have more mass than usual (it's
          getting compacted) and this should have the effect of
          forming a "tunnel" (along the edges of the bubble in the
          direction of the beam) that tugs on the space at which
          they all meet.  I mentioned I suspected a similar effect
          elsewhere in this document.
               This is important, because as space is drawn, it is
          pulled apart, as it is pulled apart more is drawn in.  At
          some point you reach whatever you're aiming at--
          preferably a receiving antenna.  Since you need only send
          a tight laser communication beam.  Probably not that much
          energy is needed.
               The beauty of this method: it's technology based.
          The better you're technology, the better the systems you
          can build.  You start by only being able to produce tight
          beam-based communication, then you advance to small hard
          material objects, then to bigger and bigger objects.
               To test this: since any oscillating device should
          produce spatial distortion effects.  We need to look at
          oscillating devices.  Strobe lights, fans, propellers,
          (although with the last two best effects may be if the
          prop's weren't attached and only the generator's bar was
          spinning), electricity perhaps.  Actually another key may
          be high speed switching.  Any way, effects should always
          be there, extremely tiny for "klutzy" implementations
          like fans, and much better as the power and cycles
          increases.  Actually pulsating is a better word for the
          methods to use to get the desired effects.
               After all, this method has to have some effect on
          space.  Space that doesn't give depending on energy
          provided would be a universe of constants (eg. nothing
          ever moving).
               Perhaps this stretching produces thin areas of space
          and the key is to always follow the path of least
          resistance.
               Potential problems: maybe at some point energy and
          cycles don't produce enough force to keep pushing apart
          that area of space (Einstein's energy approaches infinity
          problem/diminishing returns)--but then again, we've got
          Zeno's "no infinite distance between points" as a
          potential solution.
               Maybe this will answer some of the questions about
          pulsars as well.  It's "natural", after all, everything
          in the universe is based on rotating--either spinning in
          place or rotating around something.  Wouldn't it be wild
          if in order to travel really long distances or with
          really large forces you needed a setup producing power
          like a pulsar--thereby announcing to the universe what
          you're doing.
               I view space as a rubber ball, push on it and it
          compresses, release it and it bounces back.


          Space Ships:

               NASA is working on ion engines.  They work by
          striping the electrons off of a substance (like fuel) and
          then sending the positive and negative electrons down
          different paths.  They meet alternately in the engine
          nozzle.  The ship is pushed at a slow constant speed,
          that is always building upon the old speed.  Versus
          chemical engines that burn until they run out of fuel and
          then continue at a constant speed.  Ion engines are
          considered electricity based engines.

               "It looks like a shovel turned upside down, and it
               has a name befitting a surfboard.  Yet a waverider
               is in fact an experimental design for a space
               vehicle, and the waves it catches are acoustic, not
               aquatic.  The conventional solution has been to
               take advantage of another planet's gravitational
               pull.  Using a slingshot maneuver called a gravity
               assist, a spacecraft approaches a planet and is
               held by its gravity long enough to absorb some of
               the planet's orbital momentum.  Then the craft is
               hurled off into space again.  Unfortunately, such
               maneuvers provide only limited control over the
               angle of deflection.  So mission planners trying to
               bounce a craft in the right direction are, to their
               chagrin rather like astrologers--waiting for the
               proper alignment of the planets before acting.  And
               their ricochet shots often require tortuous routes
               that add years to the travel time.  Life would be
               much simpler if engineers could only control the
               degree of bend in a gravity assist.  The waverider
               would come much closer to the planet than would a
               conventional craft, close enough to dip into the
               atmosphere.  Like any craft traveling though the
               atmosphere faster than the speed of sound, it would
               create a shock wave, which is a buildup of pressure
               in the surrounding air.  But unlike other
               hypersonic craft, waveriders keeps this wave
               attached to the bottom of the vehicle.  Lewis and
               other enthusiasts have come up with waverider
               models that could fly upside down in orbit so the
               force of the wave would press down on the craft,
               holding it in the atmosphere in the same way that
               an airfoil holds a car against the road.  the craft
               could stay in orbit until it pointed in the desired
               direction; then it could beat a hast exit via
               rocket thrusters.  The concept may seem like
               pie-in-the-sky stuff, but James Randolph of NASA's
               Jet Propulsion Laboratory is willing to stake one
               of NASA's space probes on it.  Randolph is the
               manager of the Solar Probe program, which aims to
               launch an observational outpost in 2010 that would
               be placed 1.3 million miles from the sun's surface.
               The trip would take six years using plain old
               gravity assists.  But with aerogravity assists at
               Venus and Mars, Randolph says, a waverider could
               make the journey in nine months.  The usefulness of
               the wave rider design could go even further.  With
               similar help from Venus and Mars, Randolph says, a
               planetary probe could get to Pluto in 5 years
               instead of 15, or to Saturn in 2 years instead of
               4.  A Mars-bound waverider whipping around Venus
               could cut the travel time to the Red Planet from a
               year or more to 130 days.  [4 months]  That is, of
               course, if waveriders work as promised.
               Atmospheric friction will make the leading edges of
               the craft hotter than the surface of the sun, and
               materials that can withstand that heat for long
               periods haven't been made yet.  In addition,
               far-flung missions will require speeds ranging from
               25 to 80 times the speed of sound, and that's more
               than Lewis and other engineers can coax out of wind
               tunnels now used to test waverider models.  What
               Lewis and Randolph would like to see is an actual
               waverider test flight at those speeds in Earth's
               atmosphere.  McDonnell Douglas may be able to
               squeeze a model waverider onto a delta or Pegasus
               rocket launch within the next three years."


          Miscellaneous Space Travel Stuff:

          Moon water:

               Just heat up moon rocks and one can make water (you
          can get a pint of hydrogen from each pound of moon dirt).
          Since the moon has much oxygen already, you get water.

          Navigation:

               Travel through space probably requires a similar
          system to what we have now.  That is, you program a
          system with what you know, and it does the work of
          getting you from one point to another.  This needs a
          reference system, gravity/space warping provides the
          system.   Logical, as it allows finer tuning via
          determining smaller and smaller disturbances.  Question
          is, whether this fine tuning can be done as you go along
          or whether you need to do it first - like mapping.  Can
          a ship jump from x to y without any information about y?
          Can it navigate a course through the universe without
          having prior knowledge of the area to pass though.  We
          can, maybe, assume that sensors would be too slow - but
          perhaps all could be done using computer models of
          predictability.
               Whatever; the system: low race relies on massive
          clusters and black holes (massive gravitational
          disturbances).  Only able to travel between galaxies with
          this method.  Then over time, refine it down to massive
          stars, then all stars, then planets, then asteroids, etc.
          A system of progressive improvements.
               If land somewhere you didn't expect, you would need
          to have the computer generate all possible locations,
          etc. to figure out where you are - must be a better way.

          Space engines larger for more speed?

               Engines that are extremely powerful but can't be
          used in atmosphere/solar system/etc. will need protective
          system for the engines' power.  Ie. a shield around the
          engine to reduce it's power in atmosphere/etc.  That way,
          need only on powerful "engine that can be always used
          instead of specific task-oriented engines.
               Logical to look for ships coated in
          reflective/silver/mirror surface if their main concern is
          laser weapons?  Telling a race's technology by the ships
          they drive.

               Secret of long-term space life is the ability to
          synthesize food and materials.  Both in usable forms, for
          parts; something like the new "growing" technique
          recently developed to make plastic parts from CAD files.
          This means an advanced race would send a small probe and
          use these abilities to form whatever larger things it's
          users may have wanted it to create.  Such as: probes,
          miners, battleships, bases, and people (alien people).
          Maybe an alternative to teleportation?  A necessary trick
          would be to avoid consuming life forms for construction
          material.


          On Time:

               Time is merely a reference tool.  A yardstick by
          which we measure other things.  Einstein understood this
          also:
               In a famous letter after the death of his
               oldest friend, Michele Besso, Einstein wrote
               to Besso's sister:  "Michele has left this
               strange world just before me, This is of no
               importance.  For us convinced physicists the
               distinction between past, present, and future
               is an illusion, although a persistent one."

               Time is measured in infinitesimal^ states.  An
          infinitesimal^ state is when something changes somewhere
          in the Universe (say an electron on an atom somewhere in
          the Universe moved slightly). When the Universe has moved
          from one state to another time has changed.  By
          definition, if nothing changes time has stopped -
          presumably for only an infinitesimal^ second. Therefore,
          one can say that time has stopped, but it carries no
          meaning as it is just the same as the present
          [time/state].  Also nothing can be done in this period as
          any change would lead to the next state [of time].
               The present is the current state.
               The past was a previous state and no longer exists,
          there is no past-time (as it had existed but no longer
          exists).  In sum, there is no past because the past no
          longer exists.
               The future is the next state the Universe is about
          to enter. Once the universe enters that state, it is in
          the present.  Since the future is not yet in existence,
          it does not exist.  In sum, there is no future because
          the future is not yet in existence.
               Therefore, there is no past or future, only NOW, the
          present [state].

               The Universe can never repeat a cycle of states
          without leading to a known future and to no Free Will.
          To prevent cycles one must call upon the probability of
          the Universe itself.  A cycle of states are possible on
          an extremely local level (like having your computer scan
          the keyboard until you type a character).  Much
          higher/larger things (such as a single human) become
          harder and as the size/complexity increases the
          probability of determining the future reduces quickly.
          Lets say a highly evolved being/race stored a cycle of
          states of some Universe.  If they could recreate the
          initial state, and prevent outside interference, they
          could run these events/states repeatedly.  Anything
          within that universe has lost all existence of self - it
          is not free, since it cannot change anything about its
          future.  If a being cannot change its own future it is
          not free (lacks Free Will), and is merely a slave or
          machine - an object in the universe, not a self.  This
          is, of course, on the arguments against any omniscient
          God.

               Time is usually measured using some oscillating
          event--such as a pendulum did.  It was confirmed that the
          farther from gravity you are, the faster time is.
          Probably because atoms and other atomic interactions
          happen faster with less gravity, or maybe the wave just
          propagates faster (speeds up in weaker gravity--the
          signal changes, but not the Universe).


          Force shields:

               Magnetic shields, or barriers, probably can be made
          by using multiple electromagnets aligned along the same
          way as an electromagnetic-gun.  (nsnsnsnsns etc.)
          Rapidly reversing the polarity should produce a strong
          magnetic repelling field along the magnet.  More power =
          more field --> more shield.  Perhaps done with some sort
          of rotating/spinning nsnsns system, or just computer
          controlled electromagnets.  Q: can magnetic fields repel
          anything? Even non magnetic objects?  Also examine other
          forces (electroweak, etc.) to see if can enhance it.  You
          also could put such a system inside metal, providing
          protection for such things as shocks (from bumps,
          weapons, etc.) without loosing advantages of skin (for
          example, armor).  Maybe levitating fields for air cars.
          It is based on speed changes, outward magnetic field is
          getting n/s layers changing faster than the previous n/s
          layer has a chance to expand too far out.  Note that it
          seems this will need extremely fast RPM's.
          Force screens:
          Mag = primitive
          Spacewarp (ship size) = middle
          Spacewarp (implanted or just hand held) = advanced
          Spacewarp (bio) = highly advanced


          Teleportation:

               I consider this possible using the concept of
          transportation beams.  Transportation beams are
          teleportation--except teleportation carries with it the
          connotation of instantaneous transportation.  To teleport
          you need to encode the object, transmit the object, and
          decode the object.  Exactly what we do with data
          communications today.

               Encoding:  a x-ray laser should be able analyze each
          atom (?) and tell what it is.  Problem: moving things
          (like blood) [all things are moving at the atomic level].
          If done fast enough, the encoding process need not be
          concerned with moving things.  So expect to be
          transmitting only unmoving objects long before can
          transmit moving objects.  Use a laser mixed with x-ray to
          encode three-dimensional space occupied by object.  Use
          laser beams to define locations of particles (like with
          holography now).

               Transmitting:  easy, just send the encoding along an
          energy beam.

               Decoding:  based on the transmitted data,
          reconstruct the object (using e=mc^2).  Problem: life,
          life at encoding stage could still exist.  Problem:
          energy, massive amounts to create an object.  Solution:
          create object and destroy the atom as created, so
          transmit encoding and energy from conversion
          simultaneously, rebuilding the object particle by
          particle.

               Now, should energy be abundant, you can use a
          recorder and start creating duplicates of the people you
          send.  Is this philosophically possible?

               Note:  Battlefield Earth used teleportation devices
          to drop bombs suddenly into other peoples laps.  Since
          this does not seem to happen very much I suspect there is
          a natural solution:
          1)   For long distances, knowledge is so complex race
               becomes so intelligent that such a thing would be
               beneath them and they would never do it.
          2)   Such distance that only normal radiation (such as
               light beams) can be used.  Making long distance
               "High there!" bombs impractical.  This would
               suggest a non-energy method to travel faster than
               light.
          3)   A receiving station is needed.

          Teleportation via dimensions and space tearing:

               Note: a hologram is three-dimensional in two-
          dimensional in three-dimensional (our world), can a
          hologram be broken into smaller and smaller pieces until
          it is infinitesimal and therefore 1 dimension (and
          retains its three-dimensional thus having three-
          dimensional in one-dimensional in three-dimensional)?
          Can one-dimensional exist in three-dimensional?  Since
          you cannot move in one-dimensional space (it is a point
          only.)  Once you enter the point you must come out the
          same way, right.  Wrong.  By entering at an angle you can
          figure out where you will come out.  Note that 1
          dimension must be interconnected to all space--thus
          allowing transport via dimensions.  Also note that if can
          create a way to convert matter into energy you can beam
          the energy smaller and smaller thus reaching
          infinitesimal (picture an oscillating string that gets
          longer and longer cycles until it is a straight line).
          Also note, the space/frame of reference created by
          imagination, could this be used?  What dimension is
          imagination--in what space do we create.  What is
          infinite dimensions?  If we imagine a n-dimension space,
          is it created?  (Since everything we imagine comes into
          existence.)  Yes, perhaps black holes and their very core
          are one-dimensional points--this would allow the
          matter/energy to be transported.  The immense gravity
          strings the energy out so it can go through the one-
          dimensional "door."

               Instead of bringing space toward you--compress space
          in front of you (and do it along a very thin line--lest
          you disrupt space too much).  Then you stop, move a bit,
          and let space (along that line) snap back to where it
          was.  Better on energy than pulling space toward you, and
          letting it snap to get to your destination.

               What is the one-dimension?  Seems an ideal method of
          travel.  I know it cannot be represented in three or two-
          dimensional space (sphere, circle) but as we approach
          infinitesimal sizes do we cross a barrier to the one-d?
          Perhaps a black hole at its core can breach this barrier
          and send through some energy?

               To get from one place to another w/o speed
          limitations one must "tear" three-dimensional space.
          This cannot be done (and move you), therefore, "space" is
          actually the form of a different dimension.  I assume
          infinite dimensions.  Is it possible infinite dimensions
          is the same as zero dimensions?  Maybe math 0=infinity,
          since on either side is nothing (think
          oscillations/cycles/circles)?  Infinite dimensions:
          therefore, from any point you can instantly (or near
          enough) get to any other point (it can be done at a
          constant rate not matter the three-dimensional structured
          distances).  What about movement of the points?  Is a
          case of squeeze the moved ones into the new location, or
          some form of space-swapping?  Maybe one has to convert to
          infinite dimension from three-dimensional (fractal like).
          Einstein: space (in three-dimensional) bends around
          everything. Therefore: you must "tear" into space to take
          advantages.  Space is like a fabric.  Center of black
          hole = point singularity = 1 point of space?  What
          happens when you create a solid box?  Is the inner space
          cut off from the outer space, or does three-dimensional
          not matter to space?

               We live in three-dimensional space.  If we could
          convert our spatial molecules to four-dimensional, we
          would be living in four-dimensional space (with its
          advantages of shrunken distances?)  Take this out onto
          near infinity - being able to move to any other point in
          the universe.  There probably is a smaller dimensionality
          that will do the job.

               Can this be used to make the case of an infinite
          universe?  What are the implications?

               An object can only consider to be in a n-dimension
          within a frame of reference (for example, a line on a
          two-dimensional surface).

               A point in three-dimensional space will always be a
          sphere.  So points do not exist in three-dimensional.  A
          line in three-dimensional space will appear as a point
          from its ends--from this perspective it is no longer a
          line.  So lines cannot exist in three-dimensional space
          but they can exist on a two-dimensional photo (frame of
          reference) that is in three-dimensional space.

               Since anything we imagine will come into existence
          (in our imagination) it should then be possible to
          imagine the necessary frames of reference, perhaps as
          higher numbered dimensions are created something will
          happen?

               "The field around the ship would be like an
               object in a transporter room, converted to
               transmissible energy.  It would slide away
               from the pattern of the ordinary universe, and
               only dimensionless hyperspace would be left.
               The ship would go with it."

               As light approaches an object with gravity; it
          speeds up in proportion to the amount of gravity
          influenced on the light.  In proper terms; the mass of
          the planet warped space such that light could cross
          distances at higher speeds.  This implies that if we were
          to define a set distance (x) and say this is uninfluenced
          (no energy/no mass affectations).  We then create a
          universal grid made using this coordinate system.  We
          would see the nodes compress toward gravitic sources.  If
          we set x to be the minimum distance possible (don't know
          what, but we know there is one--see note on Zeno's
          theory).  Since x is finite (not infinitesimal), would we
          still see compression around masses?  I think yes, after
          all, there is an infinity of space between any two
          points, but limits probably exist due to maximum mass of
          the source.  This would suggest that masses are energy
          stores--as energy is awaiting as the compressed x lengths
          are waiting to expand.  It probably takes an equal amount
          of energy to hold the structure together, although it
          also could be that when surrounded by a similar shell of
          compressed space no additional energy is required to
          maintain the store within (which seems likely).

               "The spark that drives the system is a single,
               powerful laser pulse.  The flash of light
               originates in a projector at the front of the
               room as a pair of different laser frequencies
               combined into a single beam.  At first, the
               beam is a weak one, about as big as a pinpoint
               and barely strong enough to scorch a piece of
               paper.  Mirrors then bounce the beam through
               an array of amplifiers that boost it to 10,000
               times its original power.  At this stage the
               laser packs a considerable energy wallop, but
               it is dispersed energy, spread across a beam
               with the circumference of a volleyball.  The
               laser gets down to scientific business only
               after it is bounced through a maze of six
               mirrors and focused back down to one-fiftieth
               of an inch.  Now, intense and dangerous, the
               beam is fired through two centimeters of
               hydrogen gas confined in a sealed chamber.
               Plowing through the gas, the laser pulse rips
               the hydrogen's electrons right off its atoms,
               creating what is known as a plasma-gaseous
               nuclei with no orbiting electrons.  Because
               the two laser frequencies alternately magnify
               and cancel each other, they create a repeating
               wavelike pattern of very high and very low
               light intensity.  These areas, which can be
               thought of as a passing series of peaks and
               valleys, segregate the oppositely charged
               particles: As the high-intensity peak passes
               through the gas, it pushes away some of the
               lightweight, negatively charged electrons.
               Left behind in the low-intensity valleys is a
               higher concentration of heavier, positively
               charged nuclei.  As the peak passes, the
               electrons start rushing back toward the
               positively charged nuclei.  Because they are
               moving so fast, they actually overshoot the
               nuclei, but they are soon met by the next
               high-intensity peak and given another shove.
               With each successive peak the electrons are,
               in effect, set vibrating back and forth like a
               plucked guitar string.  Thus the laser begins
               to create band after band of electrons and
               nuclei, alternating down the entire length of
               the pulse.  As the thousands of peaks and
               valleys  in a single laser pulse [billionth's
               of a second] pass through any given region in
               the plasma, more and more electrons in that
               region are recruited into this back-and-forth
               movement, and the more completely the
               electrons and nuclei are separated.  Thus, the
               farther back the band is from the leading edge
               of the laser pulse, the greater the overall
               magnitude of the vibration, and the greater
               the charge of the band--the effect is that of
               a steadily increasing wave of charge, moving
               through the plasma along with the laser.  At
               nearly the same instant the beam enters the
               gas, an injection gun fires a cluster of
               high-speed electrons into the wake of charged
               bands that follows.  The electrons are aimed
               to land directly behind a band of protons and
               directly in front of a band of electrons.
               Attracted by the protons and repelled by the
               other electrons, they ride along on the wave,
               following the laser at near-light speed,
               picking up energy." [[picture: p. 80]]
               "A dielectric is simply an insulating material
               like glass or plastic or ceramic.  What makes
               dielectrics useful to particle physicists is
               that in the presence of a rapidly moving
               charged particle, the material will radiate
               electromagnetic energy.  [Jim] Simpson and his
               colleagues use dielectric materials in the
               shape of a long, thin tube.  When they fire a
               short pulse of electrons--known as the drive
               beam--down the tube at near-light speed, the
               particles cause the atoms in the tube walls to
               become polarized and radiate electromagnetic
               energy.  The energy converges in the center of
               the tube as an electric field, which follows
               along after the drive beam, matching its
               velocity.  The physicists then inject a
               smaller bunch of electrons--called the witness
               beam--into the moving field; these particles
               ride along with the field, also following the
               drive beam and also attaining near-light
               speed.  As they go they pick up energy from
               the drive beam and from the dielectric
               material and convert it into mass."

               A hurricane can shove a piece of paper into a tree
          edge on.  Perhaps a similar event happens when mass (how
          much?) moves at or faster than the speed of light.

               Multi-state existence.  Existing in reality, virtual
          reality, and as energy can be done by constantly
          teleporting you.  That is, you exist in reality for a
          second.  Then the scanners read you into memory and
          convert you to energy.  Then you get read from memory and
          converted to matter again.  Thus you spend time in
          reality, in virtual reality (memory), and as energy.  You
          could then use algorithms on your "memory self."  Use
          transmission methods on your energy self (the energy from
          your matter transmitted with the information about who
          you are and how it should all be put back together - your
          memory self).  The only real question is that of growth.
          The process must allow for intellectual development.

               What if made a ship of electricity.  I don't know
          how, but this is an alternative to conversion to
          electrons and then transmitting as a signal.  I suppose
          what I'm thinking about is a material that acts like
          electricity, or another form of energy.  Perhaps
          superconducting materials could be useful?  Although if
          we could find a way in electricity itself forms a wall
          this too could be used.  Perhaps with magnetic fields?

               Removing a 3d chunk of space.  Effects? <-logical
          growth->single pt (1d)?

               Maybe need engines only large enough to
          remove/process 3d area, then ships zips through area and
          space (eventually?) reseals that area.

          ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          THE BRAIN AND THE BODY

          Miscellaneous

               "Why do animals grow old and die?  Molecular
               biologists have an answer: they say that
               gradual deterioration and death is an
               intrinsic (although still mysterious) property
               of cells."

               Possible theory on how memory works:  when an action
          occurs--the brain has a "wave" of stimulation. Our memory
          does not remember the event, but the points that are
          stimulated.  Recall probably just SIMULATES stimulation
          of these points.  This would allow our memory to save
          stuff with just on/off signals.

               Data in the brain may be stored in chunks and
          clusters (with boundaries and  borders the same as those
          read initially into the brain).  Output can be pulled off
          the brain in the same way as you pull printed pages off
          a tractor-feed printer.  It feels like a rubber-type of
          paper that had been laid down.  Moving and then pulling
          it (and everything that makes you up) goes - you feel
          yourself moving as if both part of the material, and
          seeing the material pass you by - as if a confirmation
          process about what is being processed - note that you see
          this "close up" as well as the whole image (the "rubber
          paper" being pulled from the distance [toward me?  When
          I shifted angle I then saw the close up?  Yes I think so.
          - saw nothing of where I going, but It just looks gray
          and brown of where myself and my memories were coming
          from.  This was part of a dream in which a being could
          suck "yourself" out of you and make you one of their
          zombies, I had just been caught by their zombies, I
          figure I tried to simulate the transference process.  I
          really did see borders, such as a word heading like
          "science" bracketed by black lines across the top of the
          page to
          mark the subject (for example, "...======== science
          =======...").  I really did see black lines of the same
          width around small blocks of text also, for example:
                    ____
                   |text|
                   |text|
               ____|text|
              |texttextt|
              |texttextt|
              -----------

               The text did not originally have these blocks when
          I read it in, I suspect that this is a form of emphasis
          the brain assigns text - perhaps the border represents an
          increased resistance to erasure.

               After a little more thinking, which probably less
          resembles memory than analysis of the few images I have
          left of the experience: I have decided that the borders
          were like road bumps--that you could go over, but you
          would have literally to climb over (road slow-down bumps
          seen from ground level), whereas you could rover around
          the enclosed area examining the information in the area
          for whatever you had been looking for.

               It is interesting that plenty of science fiction
          novels and other literature suggest that we (or aliens)
          would want to colonize other planets.  That we must
          colonize for population purposes.  Obviously the
          declining populations of the developed western countries
          shows that this need not be so.  It is possible a race
          would still produce like rabbits and need to expand--this
          would most likely be a warring species.

               Q: Why is there more positive matter than negative
          matter (which is immediately annihilated with a positive
          brethren)?  Is it just our number system, that our
          positive matter may really be negative matter, that we
          just cannot tell?  Presumably somewhere there is much
          negative matter, where is it and what is protecting it?

               The nervous system.  Myelin, a fatty substance that
          insulates (sheaths) healthy nerve fibers.  When a virus
          attacks this sheath and replaced with scar tissue, that
          nerve fiber can often cause spurious problems, such as
          numbness, weakness, prickling, paralysis, or uncontrolled
          movements.  HLA antigens, protein molecules on the
          surface of a cell that identify it to the immune system
          as friend or foe.

               More thanks to Battlefield Earth: thinking about
          repairing ageing skin I thought of how it is just an
          overlay and under was just blood/etc. and bone.  If you
          could hold it in place--then you could do wholesale
          operations.  Merely pressurize the area around the body
          at the same pressure as in the body and one can remove
          skin and do surgery (etc.) without loss of blood.  See
          Battlefield Earth's section on repairing auto consoles.

               Death is when the brain is no more.  Not when your
          body dies.  If you duplicate your brain into a machine,
          and destroy the body, you are still alive, in the
          machine.

               Note: thanks to William Gibson:  Do not create
          humans via "clones w/o brains"--too slow, too many
          problems.  Instead build the bodies from parts grown and
          created.  Build a body and put the brain in it.

               Asimov's race of long-lived humans for some reason
          only lived 400 years or so.  He goes into great detail
          about some problems of long life; boredom, extended
          feuds, overpopulation, old power guard, lack of
          communication within fields of study, slow progress,
          emphasis on enjoyment, etc.
               If one is immortal they are likely to get bored
          after a while.  When bored they may become violent, just
          to stimulate themselves.  The time may come when they
          always bored and always violent.  The only way to stop
          someone like this is to lock them up.  That would be
          cruel in itself.
               If a race of immortals know all there is to know,
          and are starting to get bored.  A solution will need to
          be found.  Possible solutions: erase memories, find a way
          to excise the part of the brain that has to do with
          boredom, implant addictions in the brain (a lock-up
          technique), give them a "universe" (virtual) to run, and
          no doubt others I can't think of.  Using reverse-logic I
          therefore conclude that the universe cannot be boring
          because there is no acceptable solution to an immortal
          becoming bored.  We may not know what the universe is,
          but we know it will never be boring.
               These are probably likely to occur when we ourselves
          extend our life-spans.  Being aware of the dangers is
          probably not enough, we will need a system in which
          progress continues.  A constant goal of making a life-
          span both longer and with fewer accidents is a good
          general goal.  It should help avoid some traps (the
          danger of death gives fear and drives to the living).  To
          keep progress truly progressing can only come by
          exploring space.

          On Dianetics:

               Hubbard came up with an interesting idea; he felt
          that the brain equated everything with everything else.
          That is, he felt that A=B=C=D=E=F... in the memory, that
          all memory's were equal.  After reading this, I
          recognized something important; that this was how the
          immune system's attacking cells worked to identify
          counter measures for its enemy.  It checks for an
          identical pattern, then attacks.  That's why AID's is
          such a problem, it changes.
               A little more thought:  The brain gets inputs:
          sensory system (eyes, ears, feel, taste, etc.) and neural
          (self generated, autonomous).  These can be thought of as
          data lines.  What does the brain do with the data
          received?  It stores it molecularly.  How does it store
          it?  How about one molecule on top of another?  Yes, A
          STACK.  Maybe to search the stacks you must first create
          a facsimile of what you wish, then the search system
          compares the facsimile's structure with what's along the
          stacks, if a match is found then it sends the data to the
          intelligence.  Or maybe: IF match THEN operate muscles as
          stored instructions say to.  Also, short term memory acts
          like a cache.
               The short term memory is a cache/filter.  After all
          the human brain does not have an infinite capacity for
          expansion.  Most of its "learning" is done using a
          variety of neurotransmitters and new connections.  If
          anything the access channels are more like that of a bus.
          Since you access using a combination of the various
          neurotransmitters.  Perhaps the amount of determination
          about getting at a certain memory enhances the effects of
          the search order by spreading it further throughout the
          brain and using a higher dosage of whichever combination
          of transmitters is needed (the coded facsimile?).
               Brings up question of when memory is analyzed by the
          brain (to "learn").  Does the data first go through a
          filter (as seems probably)--but doesn't this distort
          memory?  Or is it read after it is stored?  Or does it
          get sent down two (both) paths?
               The main thing I'm searching for by reading this
          book is the promise of full perfect memory recall.  When
          you think about it, maybe you need to just "tune up" the
          search system to not avoid a certain level "neural
          thickness."  That is, now the search skips over the less
          used neurons to speed the search.  A threshold level.
               "Stoic: a member of a Greek school of
               philosophy, founded by Zeno about 308 B.C.,
               holding that human beings should be free from
               passion and calmly accept all occurrences as
               the unavoidable result of divine will."[p. 44]
               "The analytical mind is that portion of the
               mind which perceives and retains experience
               data to compose and resolve problems and
               direct the organism along the four dynamics.
               It thinks in differences and similarities."[p.
               55]
               "The reactive mind is that portion of the mind
               which files and retains physical pain and
               painful emotion and seeks to direct the
               organism solely on a stimulus-response basis.
               It thinks only in identities."[p. 56]
               "The somatic mind is that mind which, directed
               by the analytical or reactive mind, places
               solutions into effect on the physical
               level."[p. 56]
               "Interesting part of the standard memory banks
               is that they apparently file the original and
               hand forward exact copies to the analyzer.
               They will hand out as many exact copies as are
               demanded without diminishing the actual file
               original."[p. 65]
               "The amount of material which is retained in
               the average standard memory banks would fill
               several libraries.  But the method of
               retention is invariable.  And the potentiality
               of recall is perfect."[p. 65]
               "Inductive: of or using induction, logical
               reasoning that a general law exists because
               particular cases that seem to be examples of
               it exist."[p. 70]
               "Only things which are poorly known become
               more complex the longer one works upon
               them."[p. 4]
               "Thalamus: the interior region of the brain
               where sensory nerves originate."[p. 20]
               "Present time: the time which is now and
               becomes the past as rapidly as it is
               observed."[p. 21]
               "Man is to be regarded as a sentient being.
               His sentience depends upon his ability to
               resolve problems by perceiving or creating and
               understanding situations.  This rationality is
               the primary, high-echelon function of that
               part of the mind which makes him a man, not
               just another animal.  Remembering, perceiving,
               imagining, he has the signal ability of
               resolving conclusions and of using conclusions
               resolved to resolve further conclusions.  This
               is rational man."[p. 24]
               "Self-determinism: is the state wherein the
               individual can or cannot be controlled by his
               environment according to his own choice."[p.
               26]

               What I've found is that the human mind generally
          thinks in two forms, I've labeled these 2D and 3D.  2D is
          analytical thinking; when you worry, when you analyze,
          general day to day thinking.  3D is a dream type
          thinking; it takes place in dreams, its so spatial you
          can feel like you're there, etc.  The difference is
          spatial, 2D is like a piece of paper, 3D is like a room.
          Example, if you don't listen to music for a couple of
          months (or just don't pay attention/enjoy it) you find
          that you lose the feel for music when you try to recall
          it.  You can get the words and the beat but not the full
          stereo sound.  When you put on a walkman for a few hours
          (submersion) you find that you can recall music in
          stereo/3D again--not just the songs you just heard but
          most.  This suggests a recognition based memory recall
          system.  Which is logical considering most if not all
          basic memory is built upon stimulus/response patterns
          which is recognition.  Recognition is being able to
          recall a fact only after given a related fact, the other
          type of memory is simple recall--you recall it without
          needing the relational "reminder."  Besides music the
          same seems true for general memory.  That it is usually
          recalled in 2D until some stimulus sets it into 3D.  So
          best memory recall is probably done by physically
          returning to the place of the memory rather than simply
          going back through the mind's time track.  There may be
          potential here though.  Such as instead of actually
          returning to the house of your childhood you could form
          the house in your mind and then, perhaps, that would
          stimulate the more intensive 3D memory of that time.  For
          instance, I've found that thinking spatially will put me
          to sleep faster at night.  I doubt whether mentally
          returning will ever be better than physically returning.
          After all, this is how skills work, you forget something
          after a long period of not doing it, then you return and
          the skill returns--because you've immersed yourself again
          bringing back the old memories.
          I've also noticed that "reheard" music (in the mind) is
          from the same source as dreams are.  Both "distant"--not
          in the fore-conscious of thought, deeper.

               I remember a report where some tests were done on
          college basketball players.  They were broken into three
          groups.  One group told to practice free throws, a second
          group to imagine practicing free throws repeatedly, the
          third group told not to practice.  The results: the first
          group improved it's accuracy, the second group improved
          it's accuracy almost as much, the third group didn't
          improve.  Proving to me the significance of spatial
          understanding when learning or improving something.  Also
          the value of image rehearsal.

               I've also noticed that I can improve seeing of
          visual detail by paying attention to colors.  When
          driving, constantly notice the colors ("the sign is green
          with white letters, that car is blue, etc. (to
          yourself)") and you'll see things sharper.

               The brain's internal clock:  It ticks.  It's a lot
          like a dog's stimuli/response. system.  Events that are
          random, the brain is constantly expecting (so as not to
          be shocked).  This includes such things as the phone
          ringing, or an alarm clock going off.  Thus, when a brain
          "tick" or "clock cycle" is executed, part of the brain
          power is dedicated to preparing for these "expected
          unexpected's."  These known, and to be reacted to,
          events.  This may include such things as avoiding
          tripping or bumping into objects.

               Hubbard also suggests that your memory works better
          when someone does the asking of questions.  This is both
          interesting and frightening.  I don't know whether it's
          true or not, unfortunately I think it is.  After all, it
          explains peer pressure.  There are control and abuse
          possibilities if this is true.  External speech
          influence.

               "Flu victims succumb, at least in part, to
               [their] overreacting immune systems.  Normally
               certain immune cells engulf and destroy
               invaders.  Among their weapons is a negatively
               charged molecule of oxygen known as
               superoxide, one of a class of highly reactive
               substances called free radicals.  In fluids,
               free oxygen radicals break down and oxidize
               proteins.  This process, which can be though
               of as the biological equivalent of burning, is
               a good means of combat in close quarters.
               When the body is attacked by flu, immune cells
               start to mass-produce superoxide.  Soon other
               sources kick in as well, bringing on a flood
               of the lethal substance.  These immune
               responses are concentrated in the lungs, the
               seat of infection from airborne droplets.  The
               general conflagration destroys the virus, but
               in delicate tissues, such as mucous membranes,
               oxygen radicals can cause bleeding, excessive
               swelling, and lesions that open the way to
               bacterial infection--all events that get
               described under the collective label
               pneumonia.  Researchers. . .have come up with
               an antidote using superoxide dismutase, an
               enzyme that sops up and destroys superoxide.
               Mammals routinely produce this enzyme, but it
               breaks down rapidly in living tissue; it seems
               designed for spot-cleaning rather than massive
               spills.  So the researchers shackled their
               enzyme to a sturdier organic polymer.  In
               tests on mice they found that the synthetic
               combination remained active in the circulatory
               system for more than five hours; without its
               polymer protector the enzyme disappeared
               within 30 minutes.  The new therapy did not
               help the mice get rid of the actual [flu]
               virus and was in fact not designed to attack
               the bug.  What it did. . .was restore normal
               body chemistry after the victim's own immune
               system threw it off balance.  Free radicals
               are thought to play a harmful role in many
               other diseases, including cancer."

               "In response to stress the body produces high
               levels of natural opiates call endorphins.  A
               closely related opiate, morphine, might act on
               a certain region of the brain to temper the
               immune response.  The researchers found that
               when they injected morphine into this region
               of the brain in rats, the drug triggered a
               dramatic drop in the activity of natural
               killer cells, the immune-system agents that
               kill cancer cells and cells infected by
               viruses.  In fact, the killer cells' power
               against cancer cells was reduced by more than
               half.  [Injecting morphine in other parts of
               the brain did not cause the dramatic drop in
               protection.][The damn article goes to lengths
               to avoid saying what region of the brain got
               the morphine.]  Now that they've located a
               brain region where opiates act to depress the
               immune system, the researchers hope to begin
               tracing the lines of communication between the
               two.  [A link between brain and the immune
               system.]  [They're] trying to see what nerve
               circuits and chemical messengers do the
               talking."

               "Experiments. . .demonstrate that the brain
               sorts out the noises it hears by grouping
               together sounds that appear to come from the
               same direction, and that it accomplishes this
               by listening for high-pitched notes.  Because
               high notes don't travel as far as low
               ones--which is why the bass drum of an
               oncoming marching band can be heard long
               before the piccolos--the brain assumes that
               the ear hearing the highest notes is closest
               to the musical source.  Yet studies of music
               from around the world suggest that despite the
               ear's ability to make minute discriminations
               of sounds, most cultures divide the vast range
               of audible sounds into musical scales of only
               about five to seven notes.  As with many
               mental processes involved in music, the
               brain's willingness to trade precision for
               generalization may help people adapt in other
               arenas:  It explains, for example, why people
               can understand a person's speech even though
               it is heavily accented or recognize the aged
               face of a long-lost acquaintance.  The brain's
               willingness to choose generalizations over
               precision is largely responsible for its
               uncanny ability to remember melodies.  While
               few can rival Mozart, who is said to have been
               able to remember an entire symphony after
               hearing it only once, most everyone carries
               around dozens of tunes that have been learned
               effortlessly.  Studies by Jay Dowling of the
               University of Texas at Dallas show that one
               key to remembering a melody is that instead of
               learning the exact sounds that make up a tune,
               the brain remembers only the relationship
               between the notes.  The brain's quest to find
               overall patterns in the seemingly random world
               is evident in experiments by Deutsch that show
               that the mind will rearrange a jumble of notes
               it hears into familiar patterns.  The brain's
               effort to tease out general patterns often
               takes place without a person even being aware
               of it.  Psychologists have long known that as
               children develop they gradually construct a
               'great chain of being' by which they divide
               objects in the world into such categories as
               inanimate and alive, mythic and real.
               Similarly, people learn their native tongue
               without explicitly learning the rules that
               govern that language."

               "In rats it's been shown that even if 85
               percent of the liver is removed, the remainder
               can completely replenish itself.  Humans have
               an equal potential."
               "Smell is the most evocative of the senses,
               because it's so intricately connected to the
               brain's limbic system, the area associated
               with emotion.  Experiments in Japan with 13
               keypunch operators, monitored eight hours a
               day for 30 days, showed that the average
               number of errors per hour dropped by 21
               percent when office air was scented with
               lavender (it reduces stress) and by 33 percent
               when laced with jasmine (it induces
               relaxation); a stimulating lemon scent reduced
               errors by 54 percent.  Even when the scent was
               below conscious levels, they reported feeling
               better than they did without it. You don't
               have to deliver fragrance all the time.
               Further research has shown chamomile, Japanese
               cypress, orange, peppermint, and eucalyptus to
               be soothing, while scarlet sage and rosemary
               are stimulating.  The trigeminal nerve, one of
               two nerves in the nose that receive signals
               from smells.  The olfactory nerve is the one
               that allows you to tell the difference between
               oranges and roses.  The trigeminal nerve
               detects irritations, like smelling salts, or
               temperature, like the cooling effect of
               menthol.  There's a tendency for aromas with a
               low trigeminal component to calm people and
               odors with a high trigeminal component to
               serve as pick-me-ups.  That's because
               trigeminal stimulants. . .increase blood
               levels of adrenaline.  Odor is. . .mediated by
               the area of the brain that also mediates
               sexual behavior, survival, and appetite."

               "A certain type of nerve cell--the neurons
               that produce luteinizing hormone-releasing
               hormone, or LHRH.  This hormone, among other
               things, sets puberty in motion: it stimulates
               the pituitary gland at the base of the brain
               to release gonadotropins, which in turn
               trigger the maturation and function of the
               testicles and ovaries.  The cells [originated
               in the nose] and. . .then traveled along nerve
               pathways to the brain during embryological
               development.  Found that in the area known as
               the olfactory pit, which is the precursor of
               the nose, LHRH cells begin to appear 11 and a
               half days after conception [in mouse embryos].
               By the thirteenth day the calls, now numbering
               in the hundreds, have begun to creep along the
               arching pathway of the terminal nerve and its
               neighbor, the vomeronasal nerve, heading out
               of the nose toward the brain.  By the
               sixteenth day, at the end of gestation, all
               but a few stragglers in the nose have
               completed their trek to the forebrain.  [When
               this doesn't happen, all the nerves from the
               nose to the brain are blocked (including
               olfactory nerves, so no smell).]  Pheromones
               are one of the major forms of sexual
               communication in such lowly creatures as
               insects.  Researchers believe, pheromones
               latch onto receptors in the nose and transmit
               their. . .signals to the brain via the
               vomeronasal nerve.  That's one of the nerves.
               . .that helps to steer the LHRH cells so
               crucial for sexual development on their trip
               to the embryonic brain."

               Eating foods/drugs with Serotonin in them reduce
          compulsions.  This study done for people with compulsive
          disorders.  It may have potential for reducing peoples
          will as well however.  Since the drug (a product of the
          brain) naturally reduces the brains desire to repeat (do)
          an act.

               Neurologists have been able to grow a form of the
          brain's nerve cells.
               "[Brain] nerve cells cannot divide or
               regenerate.  After about six months of
               gestation in the womb, the brain's 10 billion
               neurons, or nerve cells, cease growing.  It
               was. . .finicky, slow-growing cells that [they
               were] able to cultivate.  Eventually, the new
               cell line will be made widely available,
               allowing investigators to answer a host of
               biochemical questions about the brain.  The
               neurons appear normal except for the growth
               abnormality that allows them to proliferate in
               the lab.  [Neurologists] can coax them into
               developing the elongated, branched shape of
               mature nerves."

               "[Umbilical] cord blood, which is usually
               discarded after a baby is delivered, is a rich
               source of blood cells.  It was long suspected
               to contain stem cells, the immature cells that
               after birth reside only in bone marrow and
               give rise to all blood cells.  Finally the
               blood from his sister's cord was slowly
               dripped into his veins.  Her stem cells did
               the rest; they found their way to the marrow
               cavities inside his bones and gradually
               multiplied into a new blood-cell population.
               A year later [the patient] had a new,
               functioning blood system."

               The all crucial blood-brain barrier seems about to
          open up to drugs.  The potentials are outrageous, as
          we've been able to get few chemicals into the brain.
          It's a necessary development and it looks to be
          progressing.  The barrier is made up of endothelial
          cells, whose job it is to sort out blood and prevent
          unwanted materials from getting through.  However, many
          drugs already breach this barrier: narcotics, nicotine,
          alcohol, etc.
               "At a few spots in the brain the barrier does
               loosen up a bit, allowing the nerve fibers in
               those places to sample the bloodstream
               directly.  Robert Katzman, a neurologist at
               the University of California at San Diego,
               points out that capillaries are permeable
               right atop the brain stem region called the
               area postrema--right where the vomiting center
               is located.  'The nerve cells there must be
               able to monitor the blood for the presence of
               deadly poisons,' he explains, 'in which case
               it would induce the body to start vomiting.'
               Still, as researchers now know, even an intact
               barrier can be penetrated.  Because
               endothelial cells have membranes made of
               lipids, or fat molecules, there is one class
               of compounds--fat-soluble ones--that will
               skate through the endothelium every time.
               That's why nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, and the
               like get into the brain so quickly: these
               fat-soluble substances just dissolve through
               the endothelium's fatty membranes.  Drugs that
               have turned out to be useful for mental
               illness, such as tricyclic antidepressants and
               the sedatives Thorazine and Valium, are also
               lipid-soluble.  [The brain] demands a steady
               infusion of glucose--the brain's sole source
               of energy--and will lapse into unconsciousness
               if completely deprived of the sugar for more
               than a few seconds.  It also needs amino acids
               to build proteins within neurons, and small,
               carefully controlled amounts of iron to aid
               cell metabolism."

               "The mind-driven controls, developed over the
               past three years, are 'almost embarrassingly
               simple,' says [a pilot].  Two fluorescent
               lights flanking the screen flicker 13 times a
               second, causing nerve cells in [the] visual
               cortex to fire at the same frequency.
               Electrodes attached to his head feed his brain
               waves into an amplifier and a filter.  The
               system easily picks out the
               13-cycle-per-second waves, measures their
               power, and displays this information below the
               screen on a bar scale.  To maneuver, [the
               pilot] consciously changes the strength of his
               light-evoked brain waves.  If he enhances
               them, his cab banks right, up to 45 degrees;
               if he suppresses them, it banks left.  [Only
               two steps available?]  If his mind remains
               alert but unengaged, the cab stays level.
               [The pilot] can't explain how people change
               their brain waves.  He just knows that they
               watch the bar scale as it registers changes,
               and that the biofeedback works.  'The subjects
               figure out their own ways to do it,' he says.
               'Some say that singing in your head raises the
               power.'  Although other researchers have
               attempted such mind-links, they've had little
               success.  But they were trying to program a
               computer to decode a jumble of brain waves.
               [The] research team is the first to evoke a
               simple brain wave with a steady signal, then
               train that response through biofeedback.

               Statistics of a study show that there is a dramatic
          drop in death rates just before an anticipated date and
          a dramatic rise (both with regard to the average death
          rate) after the day.  This suggests that those on or near
          their deathbed hold off death until after the anticipated
          day (or event).  Whether through sheer force of will or
          an adrenalin rush or something else isn't known.  But
          this does look like proof of a link between ones
          conscious desires and the body's various systems
          (subconscious, immune, etc.)  Where you're invoking will
          and desire to overcome impending death, then dying when
          you relinquish the desire (completed the task, celebrated
          the event, etc.)

               The rostral ventromedial medulla is the area of the
          brain known to govern pain perception.  Pain perception
          is relative to individuals (eg. when is warm water too
          hot, etc.)  Researchers found two cells, those that fired
          when there was pain, those that fired when there was
          none.  They also found that morphine turned the Pain
          cells off and turned the No-Pain cells on.  These Pain
          cells are being called On-Cells.  The No-Pain cells seem
          to turn off when there is pain, and On-Cells seem to be
          used to hurry (to booster) the message about the pain
          down the thought path.  In both cases it was a group of
          cells that are represented - so we don't have just one
          pain cell for each part of the body, we have a group
          (probably overlapping in functionality) for each little
          part.  In times of stress, endorphines suppress pain -
          probably by suppressing the on-cells or keeping the
          No-Pain cells on.  Naloxone reverses morphine's effects.
          Lidocaine is a local anesthetic.

               "When a pathogen--an infectious bug such as a
               virus or bacterium--invades the body, it is
               the immune system that first sounds the alarm:
               the invader is promptly grabbed by a large
               scavenger cell called a macrophage.  The
               macrophage in turn presents the bug to a
               helper T cell, which signals that the noxious
               foreigner is indeed worth getting excited
               about.  The macrophage then sets off a chain
               of events culminating in the activation of
               killer T cells that attack the intruder.  This
               cascade is referred to as cell-mediated
               immunity.  Meanwhile, a second form of
               defense, known as humoral immunity, is also
               set in motion: they help T cells stimulate yet
               another type of white blood cell--B cells--to
               divide, differentiate, and ultimately produce
               antibodies to the intruder.  These in turn
               will grab hold of the infectious organism and
               immobilize it.  To communicate with far-flung
               members, the immune system uses cytokines,
               chemical messengers that travel in the
               bloodstream and lymph fluid.  Among the best
               known of these messengers are the interferons,
               which activate a type of white blood cell that
               fights viruses and cancer, and the
               interleukins, which are central to the T cell
               cascade.  The interleukin of greatest interest
               to us here is called IL-1; its principal job
               is to carry the alarm message from the
               macrophage (where it is made) to the T cells.
               But we begin to feel crummy because that is
               not all that IL-1 can do; it can also
               influence the brain.  Most dramatically, this
               interleukin alters temperature regulation.
               [causes fevers]  A part of our brain called
               the hypothalamus functions much like a
               thermostat.  Normally it is set for 98.6
               degrees.  If body temperature drops below
               that, you shiver to generate heat, divert
               blood from the periphery of your body to vital
               organs, and pile on the blankets.
               Temperatures above 98.6 cause you to sweat and
               breathe faster to dissipate heat.  What IL-1
               does is cause the set point to shift upward.
               In other words, you begin to feel cold at
               98.6, the various warming responses kick in
               and a new equilibrium is reached at a higher
               temperature.  You are now running a fever.
               [corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)]  This
               substance runs the body's hormonal response to
               stress by initiating a cascade of signals
               going from the hypothalamus to the pituitary
               gland, and from there to the adrenal glands,
               which prepare you for an emergency.  CRF
               blocks energy storage: it inhibits the process
               by which the body stores fat as triglycerides
               and sugar as glycogen.  Dampens appetite,
               sexual drive, and reproductive processes.
               There are nerve pathways coming from various
               outposts in your body--from the surface of
               your skin to deep within your muscles and
               tendons--that carry pain messages to your
               spinal cord; these messages are then relayed
               to the brain, which interprets them as
               painful.  Subtle stimuli will not cross a
               pathway's activation threshold.  They will not
               be perceived as pain unless the threshold is
               lowered.  And that's exactly what IL-1 does;
               it makes the neurons along the pathway more
               excitable, inclined to react to things they
               would normally ignore.  Suddenly, your joints
               hurt, old injuries ache again, your eyeballs
               throb.  Biologists have learned a bit about
               just how IL-1 triggers these crummy symptoms.
               The chemical binds to receptors on the
               surfaces of those neurons that play a role in
               perceiving pain, regulating temperature, and
               releasing CRF.  That, in turn, switches on the
               synthesis of prostaglandins, compounds that
               act as signals inside the cell to change
               temperature set points and sensitivity to pain
               messages.  As it happens, one of the most
               effective drugs for blocking prostaglandin
               synthesis is aspirin.  CRF also causes stored
               energy to be released, returning fuel in the
               form of fat and sugar to the bloodstream.
               When a noxious agent is first spotted in the
               body, macrophages secrete a second cytokine
               along with IL-1.  In addition to its role as
               an immune system messenger, this cytokine
               blocks the ability of fat cells to store fat.
               This chemical has been dubbed cachectin.  The
               immune system works better when you are
               running a fever.  Studies show that T cells
               multiply more readily and antibody production
               is stepped up.  A fever puts many pathogens at
               a disadvantage.  A wide variety of viruses and
               bacteria multiply most efficiently at
               temperatures below 98.6 degrees.  But as a
               fever is induced, their doubling time slows.
               In some cases the pathogens stop dividing
               entirely."
          I've noticed that the immune system seems weakest during
          change in temperatures.  Example, you are most likely to
          get colds at the start and end of winter.  As if the
          immune system is in the process of shifting gears and is
          reorganizing itself.  Although most likely it's just a
          case of readjusting to the virus's that appear in the
          different seasons.

               Brain physiological development.  Does all life have
          the same type of basic brain building blocks.  Are our
          brain cells more efficient, ie. has then been any
          evolution of the basic structures of the brain (neurons,
          etc.)  If so, we can probably predict future development
          and anticipate how that type of brain would think.

               Brain tissue regeneration with chemicals or
          biologicals are not serious.  Little machines doing
          repairs may also not be serious.  Serious: growth of
          duplicate, or growth of standard and molded to duplicate.
          Brain cell replacements.  - again the question of "human
          soul".

               Brain is not effected by growth hormones.

               "The Mind knows how the mind operates."

               Perhaps repeating a thought over and over allows
          access to forgotten memory on that thought subject.  Like
          blowing up one of those long thin balloons.

               "Every cell in a plant, unlike the cells of humans
               or other mammals, retains the ability to produce
               anything that the rest of the plant can produce.  A
               vanilla plant cell doesn't have to be in a bean to
               produce vanilla; it just has to receive the right
               chemical signals to tell it to do so."

               "At the end of 1982 a team of Japanese researchers
               had reported that a toxin in the venom of a spider
               native to Japan--the Joro spider--blocked the
               effects of the chemical glutamate in squid nerve
               cells.  Glutamate is an amino acid and an important
               excitatory neurotransmitter.  These transmitters
               are fired from one cell to another in the central
               nervous system.  The second cell receives the
               glutamate signal with molecular receptors, and as
               it does so channels in the cell wall at these
               receptor sites are prompted to open.  The channels
               are like canals, and when they open, electrically
               charged atoms, or ions, flow in, causing the second
               cell to fire its own chemical signal.  Glutamate is
               quite abundant in the brain, so researchers have
               been extremely interested in how it works.
               ...researchers know that glutamate plays a major
               role in causing cell death after stroke.  A stroke
               occurs when a blood clot blocks oxygen from getting
               to a part of the brain.  Immediately after a stroke
               the cells that have been deprived of oxygen are
               weakened.  Then they are overwhelmed by a cascade
               of biochemical events, including a flood of
               glutamate.  The glutamate opens up a bunch of
               channels, admitting ions that send the weakened
               cell into a frenzy of activity.  The stress on the
               already-damaged cell is too much; it exhausts
               itself and then dies.  If response to this
               glutamate flood could be blocked, however, weakened
               cells would have a chance to recuperate before
               being bullied by the neurotransmitters' demands
               they get back to work.  A similar excess of
               glutamate seems to cause certain hard-to-control
               epileptic seizures.  Again, these seizures are
               produced by overactive cells.  some experimental
               drugs that block glutamate receptors have proved
               effective in reducing these seizures in lab
               animals.  Several years ago, with the help of a
               funnel-web spider's toxin, neuroscientist Rodolfo
               Llinas of New York University medical Center was
               able to identify a new type of calcium channel.
               Llinas has spent 20 years studying the Purkinje
               cell, a key nerve cell found in the cerebellum.
               The cerebellum is the part of the brain responsible
               for coordinating muscle movements; it keeps the
               swing of a tennis racket or the glide of a dancer's
               step smooth and fluid.  In the mid-1970s Llinas and
               his colleague Mutsuyuki Sugimori discovered that
               calcium is essential for a Purkinje cell to
               function normally.  They also found that calcium
               entered the Purkinje cell through dendrites, the
               spiny filaments that fan up and out like tree
               branches from the Purkinje cell's body.  But the
               researchers couldn't say precisely how the calcium
               entered or exactly where in the dendrites it
               slipped though.  Jackson discovered almost
               accidentally that certain funnel-web spider venoms
               contained toxins that block calcium channels.
               Llinas heard about Jackson's work and decided to
               test one of these venoms on Purkinje cells.  First
               Llinas placed guinea pig Purkinje cells in a bath
               of calcium ions.  As he expected, calcium ions
               rushed into the cells.  The he introduced a
               fragment of the venom to the bath.  Suddenly
               calcium could no longer enter.  The fragment did
               exactly what Llinas hoped--it blocked the new
               Purkinje calcium channel like a stopper plugging a
               bathtub drain.  In 1987 Llinas named the new
               channel the P-channel.  After running the venom
               fragment through a chemical sorting system and
               dividing it into its component toxins, Llinas and
               his colleagues were able to zero in on the toxin
               that blocked the calcium channel and then identify
               the toxin's chemical composition.  Such drugs could
               help prevent the kind of cell death that follows
               injury to the cerebellum and leads to loss of
               muscle control in accident victims."

               "Enzymes are the mob enforcers of the biochemical
               world.  They are big, brutish protein molecules
               that grab hold of other molecules and give them a
               chemical beating to loosen up their components.
               Like all proteins, enzymes are composed of various
               arrangements of molecular building blocks called
               amino acids, which are themselves composed of
               various arrangements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
               sulfur, and oxygen atoms.  Every enzyme is designed
               to fit snugly around a particular molecule, which
               may be another protein, a carbohydrate, a nucleic
               acid, or any other type of molecule that's found in
               living organisms.  When an enzyme encounters its
               target molecule, it partially engulfs it, then
               bends and twists it in an electrostatic bear hug
               that weakens its bonds enough that it can form new
               bonds with yet another molecule and create
               something new in the process.  Sometimes the target
               is more than twisted--it's shattered, and its
               components give rise to two or more new molecules.
               The enzyme, having little affinity for these new
               molecules, then drifts off in search of another
               victim."

               "'Retinoic acid is well known to have striking
               effects on cell differentiation,' says Degos.  It
               is the active ingredient in acne treatments such as
               Retin-A, which work in part by speeding up the
               maturation of skin cells, thus encouraging the
               replacement of inflamed cells with healthy ones.
               When Degos added a synthetic retinoic acid called
               all-trans to leukemic cells in test tubes, he found
               that it did indeed cause some cancerous cells to
               differentiate and die.  The most striking results
               were with acute promyelocytic leukemia, so-called
               because it attacks young white blood cells called
               promyelocytes.  Impressed by the test-tube results,
               Wang returned to Shanghai, obtained all-trans pills
               from a local pharmaceutical factory, and began
               giving them to his promyelocytic leukemia patients.
               part of his motivation may well have been hope: in
               a country where medical resources are limited, such
               a treatment is appealing in its modesty.  Not even
               Wang, though, could have dared hope for such
               results.  This type of leukemia is usually
               devastating: in the United States 1,500 people are
               afflicted each year, and only one in three
               survives.  But according to Wang's first report, 23
               out of 24 patients getting all-trans enjoyed
               complete remission.  'Wang called and told me the
               news,' Degos recalls.  'So in 1987 I went to China.
               He gave me some of his pills, and i returned home
               to treat my own patients.'  (The pills were easier
               to get in China than in the West; because all-trans
               pills are not patentable, drug companies here were
               reluctant to make them.)  Dego's results were
               hardly less astonishing: 75 percent of his patients
               on all-trans showed no signs of cancer within three
               months.  Some patients who seemed cancer-free have
               relapsed after 2 to 18 months.  For unknown
               reasons, Degos says, 'cells seem to develop a
               resistance to retinoic acid.'  What's more, it's
               still not clear why the drug works only with
               promyelocytic leukemia, or even precisely how it
               works in the body, although Degos is convinced that
               it forces the cells to grow up, just as in his test
               tubes.  'We can clearly see the diseased cells
               mature,' he says.  'Once that happens, they die and
               the cells are replaced by normal cells.'"

               "Human brains must dream to reorganize, to get rid,
               periodically, of knots and snarls."


          The MultiTasking Brain:

               L. Ron Hubbard suggested that various detrimental
          emotional stimuli reduced the brains' functioning.  This
          was the point on which his entire belief structure was
          based.  It was the seed for the ideas of this section.

               The human brain.  Actually, the human mind.  What
          Hubbard didn't know about was multitasking--a computer's
          ability to do multiple tasks concurrently.  It is how our
          brain works.  This multitasking as I like to call it has
          also been called parallel processing.  I don't like the
          term parallel processing because it suggests that all
          processes get the same amount of execution resources.
               Why do I think the human brain is multitasking?  Yes
          we have many thoughts, but the brain could just be
          breaking up it's time between thoughts (ie. thinking
          about A for a second, then about B for a second, then
          about A for a second, etc.).  My belief is based on the
          evidence we have so far concerning such things as the
          autonomous system (controls the hum-drum aspects of the
          body) and the various illnesses that lead to lack of
          control of various body and/or thought processes, that
          is, total control isn't lost.
               We think of things, but mostly one thought is
          dominant, but always the others are there.  Some of these
          other "waiting" thoughts we are aware of, some we aren't.
          Simple examples include worrying/planning about the near
          future while doing some current task.  The way I picture
          it is as a "tunnel of thought."  In which all input
          (senses/conclusions/etc.) goes through the entire tunnel.
          The conscious is only aware of the major "holes" in this
          tunnel.  Smaller thoughts are laced along the sides--
          ready to expand to fill a large portion of the tunnel
          should the conscious suddenly demand it's attention.
          Example, the brain is thinking about X, Y, and Z, and the
          conscious is thinking about A.  The tunnel of thought
          would have something like a 90% sub-tunnel for A and 3%
          each of X, Y, and Z.  X, Y, and Z can be many things
          (covered later) including the autonomous functions.  This
          cross-width of these sub-tunnels (eg. 90%) should be
          thought of as percentage of brain processing power and
          resources dedicated to the thought.
               Pattern recognition is a fundamental part of the
          brain.  I believe one's spatial abilities (ability to
          view objects in space) account for the strength of one's
          pattern recognition.  Note that I am saying nothing about
          memory here.
               The eye sees an object, the brain analyzes the
          object, identifies it, and if the conscious or
          subconscious requests the information, provides
          information about the object.  We don't consciously name
          every object we see, it just "pops into our brain."  Only
          if it involves wonderment or curiosity do we do an
          analysis of what we are seeing ("trying to figure it
          out").  Whether it be a type of car or the controls of a
          VCR, it's all spatial analysis.  The same skills are used
          in problem solving, like figuring out what an object is
          we also consciously create objects in our mind that we
          call problems.  Just like rotating a chair in "mind
          space," we rotate problems to work out their solutions.
          Problems "hover" before us, begging for our attention.
               What happens when we can't solve problems?  They get
          shoved off to the side, BUT ARE STILL THERE!  What
          happens is that they get a greatly reduced percentage of
          processing capabilities, but they still get all the input
          (as do all of the sub-processes ("sub-tunnels" from
          before).  Lay back and relax. . .notice how thoughts
          slowly crowd each other out for the conscious' attention,
          with little or no conscious effort on your part to do so.
               The solving of problems involves pattern
          recognition.  As input comes in, each sub-process is
          examining it looking for a fuzzy match.  When it finds
          one, it announces itself to the conscious.  At that
          point, you "suddenly realize" or "had an insight" about
          the problem.
               It's not a subconscious that solved the problem
          using the brains' resources.  Just a simple pattern that
          happened to meet some old thought requirements.  An
          example: remembering a previous thought you had about a
          place or a person that you suddenly recall when you see
          the place or person.  Until that moment, you lacked
          realization about a question or note (questions and notes
          are both unmet desires) about the subject.  While you
          could say that the brain had stored the thought
          previously in that person or place's "memory file" and
          that the subconscious drew it out because the object was
          recognized and prepared to give the conscious the data
          and that since it was an unmet desire it had the highest
          buildup "connect tissue" (whatever the brain uses to
          emphasize thoughts and connections, that speed up
          chemical mentioned elsewhere).  The fault with this is
          the problem solving.  Just as a person's or place's data
          suddenly announces itself, so does solutions to problems.
          Memory doesn't work independently on problems, it's a
          storage only area.
               Advertisers use this.  They don't hope you'll rush
          out and buy their product when you see the ad.  They hope
          that next time you're shopping you'll think about their
          products and perhaps buy it.  That is, the goal of
          advertising is to keep a tiny fraction of your brain
          thinking about their product--which it does.  The same
          applies to desires, "gee I would like a stadium-type
          hotdog" long after you forgot the desire your brain is
          still pattern matching--looking for either the hotdog or
          an alternative.
               An analogy:  A large company in which the dedicated
          employees are all in sync with the boss.  When he wants
          something done, they all work on it.  At the same time
          each employee is also trying to please the boss.  So one
          hot day, while everyone is working on a major project,
          the boss announces on the loud speaker, "it sure is hot,
          wish I had a soda."  Immediately everyone is thinking
          about pleasing the boss by getting a soda.  The boss
          notices the work slowdown, and announces "get back to
          work."  So they return to work--except [perhaps] a few
          [0...n] already made it out the door and are looking for
          a soda for the boss.  Repeatedly/recursively.
               One of the secrets, I think, of doing the type of
          analyzing and guessing I do is related to spatial
          ability.  For instance, when I'm trying to solve a
          problem I imagine myself in the situation.  Then a small
          fraction of my brain continues to imagine itself there as
          I go through life--this small fraction of the brain is
          comparing and looking at what I see and refitting it into
          the imaginary I created.  Looking for familiarities and
          things that "belong."  It's one of those bothersome
          things, answers to questions popping in my head long
          after I forget [to think about consciously] the question.
          Like remembering what you did on an exam question long
          after you've graduated and forgotten the course.
               These unsolved patterns build up.  They wear on the
          brains' resources.  They probably go away after a while,
          but I don't know what would be the "after a while"
          factors, perhaps simply because they aren't looked at
          (the brain decays brain cells that aren't used, just like
          RAM or magnetic media--but not in the sense that the more
          you use it the more it's quality declines, quite the
          opposite).  Getting rid of this was Hubbard called
          "clearing."  You got rid of old worry's that wore on the
          resources.
               The way to excise these excess users is to solve
          them.  Note-takers, notice that feeling of
          accomplishment/etc. when you can crumple up a note, the
          brain feels it's the same for any conclusion that has
          been sitting around, including those waiting in the
          brain.  For things like commercial riffs or sayings that
          just seem to keep popping up, I've found that Hubbard's
          idea of thinking it repeatedly seems to work.  As if that
          satisfy's the brains desire for it.  We seem to "get our
          fill" of things after a while that this suggests some
          sort of basic design feature (to protect against getting
          into a rut/depression?).  Or perhaps part of the
          multitasking time is needed to memorize and this is what
          is going on.  Yet this also doesn't satisfactorily
          explain why song riff's from songs (new and old) seem to
          just pop-up.  They aren't problems that needed solution
          (although if an emotional factor does play a part this
          might be where it comes in.  This may suggest a spatial
          music link?)
               Concentration is probably the ability to expand the
          conscious thought of something to use more of resources
          ("expand the cross-section").
               What's interesting is that it seems one can't recall
          some puzzles the brain is also working on.  Perhaps the
          conscious has priority during the day, and the
          subconscious reviews and passes though the unanswered
          questions the days input while the conscious sleeps.  I
          doubt it.  More likely the conscious (when sleeping) gets
          squashed down into a smaller cross-sections and the
          others expanded.  Then all is mixed and the brain's
          imagination creates things that are run though as input
          to see what happens.  When a close match appears, a dream
          is born.  This doesn't explain why some dreams repeat
          themselves though.  This document tosses everything
          together and waits for patterns to match also.  When a
          match is found, a tiny paragraph can expand into a dozen
          pages.
               We are parallel processing beings.  While the
          cognitive part of our brain is worrying about something,
          another part of our brain is concentrating on walking.
          There is yet a third part--the subconscious brain; I
          suspect that this is the part that gives entertainment
          while we sleep.  This part of the brain has the same
          access to everything just as the cognitive part does.  It
          thinks, solving problems/etc., while our consciousness
          works on another thought.  As evidence it often makes
          itself known by a sudden rejection.  For example, once
          while watching tv, a person on tv says something about
          something, instantly I KNOW they are wrong.  A gut
          feeling of major order, the information about why they
          are wrong is not yet in the cognitive part of my brain.
          In these situations I have trouble calling up the proof
          of why the remark was wrong (so perhaps data is not
          parallel accessible).  The feeling is both strong that I
          am correct in my response and that the reasoning behind
          it is also sound--that there simply is not any doubt.
          With realization I also can analyze the periphery of the
          argument (that is, it would be true, if this and that
          conditions were met).  Usually I do not care to review
          why its wrong (rechecking whether anything conflicts with
          it), the feeling is strong and usually pointing in the
          direction (for example, philosophy) to which both their
          argument applies and solution found.  A little complex,
          a closer example.  When told that a governor can rewrite
          laws sent to him into anything he wants.  Instantly I
          realize that he can become a dictator.  I then realize
          that he can become a dangerous dictator if he is evil.
          Then the brain kicks in with the logic: no matter what
          the present governor is like, a future governor will
          undoubtedly be evil, therefore he must be stopped now,
          his new-found powers must be eliminated.
               At this point let's review my belief's in the mind's
          functioning:  I believe in the subconscious (it solve's
          problems that I have and "pop's" the answer at me when it
          comes to a conclusion).  Neural connector's are made
          "thicker"/"stronger" with use.  That is, the more you use
          a neural link the faster and more durable it is.  Such as
          skills, athletics, etc.  After all, muscles get finer
          tuned by doing an action repetitively, but still requires
          the increasingly better coordination the brain gives with
          practice.


          ThoughtProcess:

               This section will try to figure out the methodology
          the brain uses in thinking, and how to improve it.

               "Fuzzy Windows."  A term used to describe how the AI
          program Cyc sees and analyzes information.  Each window
          is a descriptor block of data describing some
          object/concept/etc.  The article I got this from was
          about Doug Lenat's Cyc project.  What I thought of
          when I read Fuzzy Windows was your standard advertisement
          of a program, with windows all over it (like desqview
          ad's).  And said, "Aha", fuzzy = % of overlay between 2+
          windows.  These windows aren't picture windows, they're
          data windows - so what is actually overlaid (and
          contained in the "windows") are the data structures of
          the objects (the descriptor fields).  Sticking with the
          visual image; when you put up LOTS of windows of various
          sizes you get a mess.  Visualize it in 3D, instead of
          windows use 2D boxes in 3D space (imagine depth on your
          computer screen).  Routes of commonality or analogic when
          connected by a line would appear (could appear)
          remarkably like lines in space of a galactic trader's
          trade route (the path their ship needs to take).  What
          I'm talking about is how to view commonality of
          knowledge.  We have all this information, and we link it
          with "threads" when looking for connections.  At each
          node (data area) is a vector that points to the next
          thread - via fuzzy logic probably.  Example, you own a
          Ford Taurus, you think "car"; your brain locates the data
          area that contains "car," from there are links (vectors)
          to Ford, GM, etc. as well as brand names, and probably
          much more.  The strongest link will be to something like
          Ford Taurus, Taurus, or My Car--it will be the first
          thing that comes to your consciousness.  It's the
          turning/spinning/rotating of this 3D space, with all it's
          boxes, that help us find new or existing connections.
          All part of the brain's pattern recognition heuristics.
          Another interesting point this article made is that all
          objects are events.  They have a start time, an existence
          length, and a leave time.  It also suggests that rather
          than working holistically on information, the brain has
          hundreds of specialized areas where data and specific
          (task related) functions are stored (perhaps to reduce
          number of "ticks" conscious and subconscious need at
          every moment?)  This document for instance is for the
          most part holistic--bits of related data are scattered
          all about.  It's a trade-off.  The more compartmentalized
          the easier to read.  The more holistic, the easier to
          find interrelations.

               The brain polls the rest of the brain via a wave of
          question.  This "wave of question" is a pattern of
          neurotransmitters, in which a match is sought.  Each
          neuron is asked, "what do you know of/about/relating to
          this."  They send back a fuzzy response.  The polling
          results are prioritized according to their fuzzy level.
          Then the consciousness is sent info about those neurons.
          From which we make the selection about which neuron to
          follow.  As the wave washes over the brains receptors,
          those receptors do a similar fuzzy scan of their data
          areas (the scan is a pattern--the fuzzy response is a
          percentage of match).

               Perhaps better access to memories is due to the
          concentration your brain uses while talking to others.

          The brain's pattern recognition abilities are based on
          the templates you've built up through experience.  New
          studies and questions create their own templates to be
          compared against in the future.


          ThoughtSpeech:

               For lack of a better word, I've merged two.  This
          section deals with understanding how the brain
          communicates with itself--it's language.  The purpose is
          to eventually use your brain to understand itself and to
          improve your conscious level processing speed.
          Or at least better eavesdrop on what's happening.  Eg. if
          code is binary and think binary?

               Jack Womack has an interesting book, Terraplane, he
          uses a writing style that could be a good basis for what
          "thought-speech" might sound like.  [[examples]]

               Running words together like German.


          Robots and Artificial Beings:

               Robots are devices such as factory arms and the
          Voyager series.  Artificial beings are made also, but are
          more sentient and can be made of either metals,
          silicates, or synthetic organic-like structures.

               The questions are: When is a robot a human?  Should
          we put controls on human-like robots?

               Since artificial beings probably will have a longer
          life span, its possible races abandon their organic form
          for their newly created one.

               Robot evolution is simple to predict.  The basic
          robot design will continue to improve in smarts and
          ability.  At some point we will want them to look like
          humans.  At some further point we will give them emotion-
          like responses, since a robot without a face is, as a
          Doctor Who episode put it, "you never know what they are
          thinking behind that face."  Robots probably should not
          be given control of their facial expressions when it
          comes to reactions.  They should exhibit surprise,
          curiosity, fear, etc.  After a time we will start to ask
          about their rights.  Then those rights will be granted.

               A problem in this is that we would never tolerate a
          superior race (let alone one created by us).  We would
          want to be at least equal.

               So, at what point should we stop and say no to
          robots?  As I stated though, an artificial body is
          greatly desirable if yours is failing.  This alone may
          promote the growth of robots.

               The direction to the robot race may not be as such
          though.  It is possible that we
          "cyberneticize"/"cyborgnetize" ourselves until we are
          essentially like robots would be.

               The best solution I can see is the obvious one, we
          limit robot technology to the level of the
          biological/electronic limits of the time.  If we develop
          a super smart "phase-tronic" brain (or something), then
          that brain must have no self-awareness and no imagination
          until we can enhance our own brains to the same
          computational level.  In an increasing communication and
          computer operated society, super smart electronic beings
          that can undermine it all cannot be allowed.

               Remember RoboCop.

               Isaac Asimov came up with these four laws that
          robots were to obey:
               0)   A robot may not injure humanity or,
                    through inaction, allow humanity to
                    come to harm.
               1)   A robot may not injure a human
                    being, or, through inaction, allow a
                    human being to come to harm, except
                    where that would conflict with the
                    Zeroth Law.
               2)   A robot must obey the orders given
                    it by human beings except where such
                    orders would conflict with the
                    Zeroth or First Law.
               3)   A robot must protect its own
                    existence, as long as such
                    protection does not conflict with
                    the Zeroth, First or Second Law.
               I have my doubts about these laws.  You would really
          need a being with intelligence to interpret these laws.
          They may provide a basic symbolic pattern to begin what
          will surely be the difficult task of creating an
          intelligent being.

               I can never think of intelligent robots as anything
          other than another being (much like animals).  Either we
          make "things" with computers to make them smart or we
          make human-like robots with smarts.  To make an
          intelligent robot for nothing more than servitude is
          essentially slavery.  [And what about a TV set with an
          incredible AI?  Similar to problem of human brain in
          dog?]

               Asimov's books go into great depth concerning
          robots, unfortunately he puts these robots in ideal
          situations.  They are an excellent place to start when
          considering what a life of an intelligent robot
          could/should be like.

               AI's not in robot form, but in portable form, are
          explained well in The War Machine  In the book, AIDs
          (Artificial Intelligence Devices), contain a personality
          and are mainly used as a portable telephone to access
          information--but also as recorders, etc.  They are
          programmed to inform the police when the user attempts
          something illegal.  They also have programming concerning
          their survival.  Since each unit contains a 'scram'
          button that 'kills' the AID when pressed, the AID must
          take this into account when deciding whether to be a
          blabbermouth.  The cheap ones always complained to the
          police (much to the disgust of the overworked police).
          The more expensive ones realized the police tended to
          ignore the AID squealing and decided survival was more
          important.

               Does the no-two-clones at once rule apply for these
          AI devices or intelligent robots?  They will no doubt
          have questions about themselves, but since they can't do
          anything without us maybe we shouldn't consider them an
          intelligence.  Of course, on the other hand, people will
          become attached to them like they do their pets.
          [Technological parasites.]


          The human soul:

               We have a soul.  You cannot make a perfect duplicate
          robot body and then transfer your mind, kill your body,
          and call the robot you in a new form.  Since you both
          were alive.  This goes all the way.  You can create an
          artificial body with memory, autonomous system,
          language/math/skill sections, etc.  But you will always
          need one crucial part from the original body.  I don't
          know what that part is, but some part of the brain is
          absolutely necessary.   This part can't be subdivided to
          create multiple robots.  Cloning should be avoided.  You
          don't want a duplicate, you want a true new body.  Just
          because you've created another you, doesn't mean you'll
          exist after the true body is dead.  You're still just as
          dead.

               If cloned, you may ask, what does it matter if the
          original body died?  After all, your personality, goals,
          beliefs, feelings, etc. survive in the new body.  In
          which you still think you're you.  So, cloning will
          continue "you" in others eyes.  The original "you" died.
          Example:  If you draw a line on a paper, you have a line.
          You erase the line, and redraw the line so it is
          identical.  If a viewer doesn't know that the original
          line was erased, they think the new line was the original
          line.  In fact it isn't.  It's a new line.

               It's a point of imperfection.  It is almost
          impossible to make a truly exact duplicate.  If you die,
          or are destroyed, and some hyper-advanced being comes
          along and reproduces you to exact perfection.  You are
          again.  If some hack comes along and clones you, you
          might just as well accept the new life, but realize that
          you aren't the person you were before.

               [Note, need to cross this with teleportation.]
               Yes, brain matter must first be installed in robots
          to extend life this way.  What about when we can so
          thoroughly understand the underlying structure that we
          duplicate it perfectly?  Then it becomes a philosophical
          matter and the rule still applies.  The main part of the
          brain must be kept with a new structure, therefore there
          is a soul.

               What about transference of robotic intelligences?
          On one hand it could be considered an upgrade or the
          transference of a file.  On the other, there may be a
          form of rejection.  I guess it's just a matter of how
          they're programmed, and whether their brains evolve
          physically or "software-ally."

               Death should be thought of as the extinction of a
          unique being.

               Problem with this soul:  If a person is frozen when
          they die, and their original brain cannot be restored
          (via micromachines or biological machines), but their
          brain can be cloned to produce a living, perfect,
          replica.

          Technology:

          Punctuated Gradualism:

               It's interesting that previously mostly my thinking
          was built around common sense, logic, and philosophy.
          Lately, it's becoming evolutionary, incremental, and
          developmental based.  That is, "That in all systems there
          exists a logical path to growth, and that at various
          points along that path extreme modifications are
          necessary to continue development."  A punctuated
          equilibrium of systems.  Problems with this include
          implied determinism, and perhaps a confusion with the
          ideas of development on my part.  Examples include my
          expectations of human development: natural evolution
          dead, gene/bio-electronic/robotic development next, then
          energy.  Look at output systems: LED's/LCD's to CRT's and
          back to LCD's again (flat screen).  LED's/LCD's led to
          computers that led to improved CRT's that led to advanced
          LCD development.  Same goal, varying between two
          technologies, each show evolutionary change, but the
          swapping between the two is punctuated.  Categories with
          full evolutionary-type developments within them, but
          complete shifts to obtain the next level.

               Example: Holograms created using a single fiber
          optic wire--works because light comes out at same angle
          goes in (therefore know how it will come out), number of
          beams is technology based (a beam for each pixel, an
          evolutionary development for the future: more beams=>more
          pixels), output relies on light fade (after a certain
          distance (probably based on power input, but possibly on
          next arriving light pushing) the ray dissolves into a
          fuzzy ball (a pixel), logically and expectedly (for a
          hologram) the center (closest to source) will be clearest
          and the farthest will be fuzziest (dispersion you know).

               Simulated Future History/Virtual Technology:  One
          reason for this document is to encourage skipping
          intermediary steps in technologic development.  If we can
          "virtually" investigate technology's and their effects
          through modelling we can go beyond that point.  The real
          sticking point is confidence of the model and
          conclusions.  Like automobile modeling, we know what
          future cars will be like, but we can't build them
          cheaply--because the necessary technique's are either
          unknown or too expensive.  So I advocate taking the next
          step, model the techniques' development until the whole
          system is understood.  Then build the future car, rather
          then building all the intermediary cars (eg. one brand
          has 4-wheel drive, another 4-wheel steering, another...).
          To some extent the US does this with jet fighters, while
          USSR evolves fighters, we prefer to make risky
          technological leaps.  The key is to reduce the risks
          though computational power--in itself something that is
          evolving.  Part of the solution is to be able to envision
          what a "future" version will look like.  Anyone can
          design a car that looks like a rocket, but what about a
          car that looks like a sphere?  Another example, a peace
          treaty.  While being prepared someone notices that, "if
          events x, y, and z occur then something bad could happen
          some day."  So they add a special clause to fix x.  Then
          someone notices events y, z, and w leading to risk.  So
          they fix that, and so on.  Until finally they have
          something to sign.  It's mostly experience that has made
          agreements more than simple "I promise not to invade
          everybody."  Future history is the thing to hurdle.


          Miscellaneous Technology:

               It seems Optoelectronics will be the next stage of
          electronics.  They are circuits and chips that use light
          instead of wires to transmit information.  Much like the
          fiber optic telephone connections that are replacing the
          old copper wire.  IBM has come up with 8,000 transistor-
          like opto-based devices on a Gallium-arsenide based chip.
          The chips have miniature lasers, photodetectors, and
          optical pathways.

               New advanced materials?
               "A computer program that predicts the
               properties of proposed designer molecules
               before they are created.  After testing the
               program with known materials, Cohen and his
               graduate students are searching for materials
               with valuable new properties.  Two that are
               particularly interesting":  A new
               superconductor made from hydrogen, and a
               carbon-nitrogen material that may be harder
               than a diamond.  "Manufacturing the hydrogen
               superconductor would require pressures beyond
               what is now practical, but they may be
               possible in a few years.  Superdiamonds,
               though, could theoretically be made now with
               so-called diamond anvils--squeezing the raw
               materials between two diamonds while a laser
               is fired through them.  The program also
               predicts that it should be possible to harden
               diamonds.  Next, Cohen hopes to prove his
               theory by making the superhard material, and
               three research laboratories, including
               Berkeley's, are interested in pursuing the
               project."?

               Kodak has a 14 inch optical disk that can hold 6.8
          Gb.

               "Discovered that laser beams can. . .be
               'photon glue' to hold tiny objects together.
               The scientists speculate that the process may
               be used to create materials with new
               properties for optical communications devices
               and even drugs.  [Physicists] exposed tiny
               plastic beads to an intense laser beam.  To
               their surprise, they saw that the light energy
               caused the spheres to suddenly reorganize and
               stick together in a layer a scat 1.5 microns
               thick.  'I don't think anyone suspected that
               you could organize random matter into material
               structures using only light,' says [a
               physicist].  The strength of the bonds between
               the atoms is controlled by the intensity and
               wavelength of the laser light.  Even though
               the assembled material falls apart once the
               light is turned off, the scientists speculate
               that the technique might be developed to align
               molecules in novel ways, then apply chemistry
               to bind the molecules permanently."

               "Worn like a second skin, life suits were
               designed to be powered by the electrical
               charge inherent in the human body.  In order
               to most effectively capture this current and
               use it to power the life-support systems, the
               entire suit was lined with a fine mesh made of
               gold wires no thicker than a human hair,
               separated by a space of one tenth of a
               millimeter."

               Eric Kotani and John Maddox Roberts Delta Pavonis
          has an interesting idea: building with foam.  They talk
          of "extruded foam construction" for buildings.  You would
          have to take advantage of trapped air for rooms--and
          drill between the rooms for hallways.  But other than
          looking exceeding ugly it is very practical.  Extremely
          fast construction time.  And naturally air-tight--making
          it ideal for space-based structures.

               "The key to physical attraction on its most basic
               level, claims physicist Arthur Freeman, is dancing.
               'The dancers are spinning electrons that travel
               around atoms,' he says.  'Ordinarily they dance in
               pairs, spinning in opposite directions, one up and
               one down.  But sometimes you get an electron
               spinning by itself, without a partner.  Just like a
               guy or a girl on a dance floor dancing along, the
               oddball electron is very attractive to another one.
               And that attraction is magnetism.  He has proved
               that a one-atom-thin layer of iron--a metal with a
               lot of lonely electrons--can have a more powerful
               magnetic pull than a piece of iron four times
               thicker.  Freeman had developed a way to simulate a
               thin film of iron on a subatomic level.  To do it
               he'd had to rely on the enormous power of a Cray
               supercomputer: every iron atom is surrounded by 26
               electrons, and simulating their interactions--the
               dance--required solving several of what Freeman
               calls 'horribly, horribly complex equations' that
               describe the movement of electrons through a solid.
               These equations had to be solved over and over
               again for each electron on a multitude of atoms.
               But in the end the calculations told Freeman that a
               thin layer of iron actually had more magnetism than
               a thicker one.  The strength of iron's magnetic
               field depends on how many of its unpaired electrons
               are spinning in the same direction.  If there are
               five unpaired electrons spinning up and four
               spinning down, for example, the electrons spinning
               up create a small magnetic field that pulls on the
               fewer number of electrons spinning down.  The field
               has to flip these electrons over so they too spin
               up, or they will generate their own field pointing
               in the opposite direction and the two fields will
               cancel each other out."  [perhaps use electron
               guns for "magnetic" force shields?]

               "Polarizing is an optical trick that takes
               advantage of the peculiar anatomy of a light beam.
               Light moving through space is made up of countless
               individual waves; although all the waves move at
               the same speed and in the same general direction,
               they do not normally move in the same plane.  One
               wave may speed ahead oriented parallel to the
               horizon--essentially lying on its side--while
               another racing alongside may be perpendicular to
               it.  Other waves moving with them may assume a
               limitless number of angles in between.  As light is
               concentrated to create a laser beam, however, all
               the waves end up squeezed into the same
               orientation; this is known as polarized light.  One
               of the things that can change the polarity of light
               is magnetism.  The new disks are made of a metal
               allow that, when heated, becomes especially easy to
               magnetize.  Ordinarily the atoms in the alloy are
               arranged in one direction--say, with their north
               magnetic poles facing up.  To record information on
               the disk, a laser beam heats a tiny spot on the
               alloy to about 360 degrees.  While the beam is on,
               a nearby magnet reverses the orientation of the
               heated spot, pointing its north pole downward.
               When the laser is shut off, the alloy cools and the
               new orientation is frozen in place.  The laser then
               moves to the next tiny spot, then the next, either
               heating it and flipping its pole down or skipping
               it and leaving its pole pointing up.  Ultimately
               the entire disk is covered with these up and down
               spots, which can information just like the pitted
               and unpitted on an ordinary disk. [CD music/laser
               video disk]  To play back this information, the
               laser is turned to a cooler setting and scanned
               back over the disk.  When the beam hits a spot
               magnetized in one direction, it reflects back at a
               slightly clockwise angle; when it strikes a spot
               magnetized the other way, it reflects back
               counterclockwise.  Detectors then read these shifts
               in polarity the same way they read the on-off
               binary code of an ordinary disk.  'It sounds like a
               lot of work to program information this way,' says
               Alan Bell, a physicist at IBM's Almaden Research
               Center in San Jose, California, 'but each spot on
               the disk takes only a few ten-billionths of a
               second to record.'  To erase the disk and record
               new information, all you have to do is reheat the
               alloy and reorient its atoms in the same direction.
               It's then ready to be reprogrammed with a new
               pattern of up and down spots.  So far,
               magneto-optical disks (MOs for short) aren't
               available in stereo shops, but they do exist--at
               hefty prices.  Pioneer has developed an MO video
               disk system that sells for $38,500.  Ediflex, a
               California company, offers an audio model for
               recording studios for $99,000.  [note: this is
               video and audio systems--not data]  The
               technological obstacles to making these products
               affordable for a mass market would not be difficult
               to overcome..."

          Virtual reality: first "extensions" (guns, suits) then
          electro-detect of muscles then electro-detect of brain.
          Culminating w/computer like creative/design functions.

          Battle:

               I've come across some interesting battle techniques
          and would just like to note them here.

               To fight a computer: swarm it.  The more objects
          attacking a computer, computer based defense, or AI, the
          slower these systems work.  Basic ideas of multitasking.

               Nuclear dampers:  Idea from Hammer's Slammer's
          series by David Drake.  Emit some pulse that either
          damages the triggering mechanism or the process of a
          nuclear bomb.

               To fight logic (eg. computers) use confusion.  Non-
          logical acts ruin calculated plans and force
          unpredictability to be considered (which isn't logical).

               Walter Jon Williams book Hardwired has convinced me
          that planetary life may be extraordinary hazardous.  It
          seems that a single spaceship with a rail gun, and good
          sized projectiles, could easily devastate the target
          planet.  The position of being in space also offers the
          advantage of more space for maneuverability and wait
          defensively for attackers from the planet to arrive.  The
          advantages seem so staggering high that I doubt even a
          space base of interceptors offer much improvement.  So,
          until a defensive parity can be found I must conclude
          that all really advanced races live in space and use
          planets only for supplies.  By not packing a planet, a
          race that is scattered throughout the solar system has a
          much better chance of survival, simply by the number of
          places to hide or the extra time to detect and flee any
          attackers.  The current popular theory for the
          destruction of dinosaurs is...

               I seem to recall that the best way to break down a
          material is to send the force/beam/whatever at it in
          oscillations (eg. launch a rocket every 30 seconds)
          versus random attack.  The oscillating actions of the
          attack causes internal oscillations in the structure
          which has a detrimental effect (like hitting it from two
          sides at once.)  I guess you try to set it up so that as
          each new wave hits, the internal waves should return at
          the same time.

               When two sides have similar technologies, the
          defense will have the advantage weapon-wise.  That is,
          defense will have shorter supply lines.  The attacker
          must come mostly prepared while defense can strengthen
          spots that weaken.  Another example, if both sides have
          a laser weapon that can shoot x shots per charge.  Then
          defense could re-rig it to produce x/2 double strength
          shots per charge (or somesuch).  They can afford to do
          more bang with each charge, whereas the attacker must
          worry about supplies and limit their wasteful usage.
          Simply because defense can resupply so much faster.  This
          is effective for planetary bases--but not for distributed
          space bases (unless at mining/manufacturing facility for
          weapons ingredients).  This planetary advantage does not
          overcome the disadvantages of being on a planet.

          While not really battle, computers losing or corrupting
          data is always a possibility.  Therefore, never entrust
          your life to a computer that's been running a long time.
          Since the longer it runs, the higher the accumulation of
          bad data, as well as faulty parts.  It seems logical, but
          many SF stories have been done about computers that run
          everything.

               Geodesic spheres may be a perfect defense if they
          can work like the C60:
               "They found that the C60s were hard to damage:
               only one small C2 molecule broke off at a time.
               C60 would become C58 and a little C2 molecule
               would go bugging off into space.  If you
               pumped more light at it, that C58 would spit
               out C2 and become C56 and so forth.  This C2-
               popping, however, continued only as far down
               as C32, at which point the molecule inevitably
               shattered.  Concluded that the laser was just
               managing to evaporate a C2 molecule from the
               surface of the fullerene, which would then
               reseal itself to make the next smaller
               fullerene cage.  When it got down to 32 atoms,
               the fullerene was under too much strain."
          The key is that when the geodesic sphere lost 2 carbon
          atoms (a molecule), it restructured itself to create a
          smaller geodesic sphere--maintaining complete coverage
          and maximum strength.  The molecular sphere would break
          earlier if an atom was inside the sphere (depended on the
          atom).

               There is a device under development to study comets.
          It is called the Comet Penetrator.  It both looks and is
          the first space missile.  It is launched from a
          spacecraft.  Once the Penetrator does its job the defense
          department can just retrieve the plans and specs and
          declare that it has the first space missile.

               "Rather than blocking or conducting current,
               the mirrors could absorb or reflect light.
               The binary code would remain the same, but the
               information would be carried by photons, not
               electrons.  The problem was designing a mirror
               that would either reflect or absorb light on
               command.  Discovered that if you hit very thin
               layers of semiconducting materials like
               gallium arsenide with an electric charge or
               with laser beams of specific energies, they
               become briefly transparent. [about S-SEED
               transistors (Symmetric Self-Electro-optic
               Effect Device)--basically micro-laser based
               electronics.]"

               "...when the first missile reached the edge of
               the dense mesh that surrounded Rama.  At the
               moment the missile made contact, the impacted
               part of the mesh yielded, cushioning the blow
               but allowing the missile to penetrate deeper
               into the netting.  Simultaneously, other
               pieces of the mesh wrapped themselves rapidly
               about the missile, spinning a thick cocoon
               with amazing speed.  It was all over in a
               fraction of a second.  the missile was about
               two hundred meters from the outer shell of
               Rama, already enclosed in a thick wrapping,
               when its nuclear warhead detonated."  This
               to protect a ship.

          Miscellaneous:

               The authors of the Robotech books have some
          interesting ideas concerning a "machine mind".  At first
          I thought this was a cyberspace copy but it is both
          original and interesting.  It has to do with linking
          brains with computers which intern enter "electronic
          space"--not just the simulated cyberspace.  You travel
          the paths of electronics/communications/energy.  What you
          are in is essentially a real alternate universe.  In
          which you're conscious energy/electricity/etc.  Sort of
          like a "machine space".  It's also interesting because
          it's one of those things we couldn't have imagined
          without progressing this far technological-wise.  After
          all, being surrounded by electronics could one day make
          us wonder if we hadn't fallen into a machine space.

               Laser boring system--like idea on how atoms travel
          through space.  But laser bore makes ship act like atom.
          Uses space itself to pull you along, therefore no need to
          buildup energy to infinity.  Perhaps a laser (bore)
          diffuses through space and causes something behind the
          atoms of space it just went through--causing an
          attraction.  Thus clearing space for a ship (or with a
          tight laser beam, a atom).

               If non-space was all vacuum then you would have Big
          Bangs all over the place--since space itself causes
          matter to be pulled apart in vacuum.

               Mass and volume displaces space, whereas only volume
          displaces water.

               Could an FTL ship drop out of FTL, release a bomb
          going 99% of light, then go back into FTL?  It seems that
          there must be some natural barrier against this kind of
          destruction.  Probably anything falling below the speed
          of light drops down to a "normal" speed extremely
          quickly.  How I don't know, perhaps near light warps
          space really bad.  But should this be true, then the
          reverse is also true--that at some point you get to and
          past the speed of light rather rapidly.  Or maybe you
          just exit FTL near masses, and that after a short while
          it drops down to something more "natural".

               FK-506 (anti-rejection drug), cuts rejection rates
          by 90%, fewer complications, works better than the
          others.
               "All NASA armor designs are based on something
               known as a Whipple shield.  At present the
               [satellite(s)] shield is a two-layer swathe of
               aluminum that completely covers a spacecraft.
               Between the outer and inner layers is a space
               ranging from four to 12 inches.  When a piece
               of debris strikes the bumper, the impact
               causes the projectile to shatter.  The
               shrapnel generally retains enough oomph to
               break through the outer layer, but when it
               enters the space beyond, it disperses, then
               bounces off the inner layer.  Studies suggest
               that future Whipple shields may be improved by
               using as many as five thin layers rather than
               two thicker ones.  Experiments show that if a
               projectile is made to blast through four
               separate layers, the repeated shocks often
               cause it not only to shatter but to
               liquefy."

               We're starting to see a lot of "body input devices".
          Such as Nintendo's glove.  Gloves and body suits that
          detect movements.  Various devices for projecting 3D or
          "in-space" computer images.  What we will see in the
          future is people spending lots of time in these things.
          It'll be an addiction, just like a drug.  We get addicted
          to games now, when we become part of the game we'll be
          even more "into it".  To the world we'll look like
          vegetables; hidden in a body suit, perhaps moving around
          a room, more likely jerking on a chair.  It'll be an ugly
          sight.  We should prepare, they'll suffer the same
          malady's drug addicts do (emaciation/etc.).  This, of
          course, was "simstim" in Neuromancer.  Another name being
          bantered around is "virtual reality".  A book ends, a
          computer game has an end, but increasingly games are
          becoming universes, where you could literally play
          forever.  Some recent games include StarFlight II and
          Ultima VI--both of which allow you to set up a business
          and just keep operating it.  People in "Happy Machines"
          as well, in which they're constantly fed their addiction.

               Can something be random if it contains a path to it,
          any path?  Eg. I want to kill a person.  But that person
          escaped to another city via the airport.  He chose his
          destination (city) randomly.  But because there are a
          finite number of routes (paths), one of which was his, I
          could eventually locate him without randomness.

               What's wrong with the word Hacker?  It seems to be
          changing.  You pick;  Cyberpunks, Cybernauts, Comic-
          crazed Compjockeys.

               In the future DNA criminal analysis may be able to
          ID a person by his DNA if his parents DNA are on file (if
          person is unknown).  And vice-versa, know DNA of an old
          crime, might be able to study other's DNA and find
          descendants DNA, leading to who the original criminal
          was.

               Aerogel's.  Neat cloud like material that hold
          hundreds of times their own weight.  [[picture to get]]
          Been around for 60 years.
               "They look like patches of thick fog that have
               been frozen for easy handling."  Some uses
               include insulation in refrigerators and
               double-pane windows, and possibly to catch
               micro-meteoroids in space.

               Note: DO NOT sign over rights to use body
          parts/blood/etc. for use in medical research while you're
          still alive unless compensated.

               Powerful electronic gadgets are what watches will
          become.  They just came out with the watch pager.

               With technology will come people who always look the
          same through the many years.

               Parallel universe = refection of the universe in
          each of our minds?

               "Copper deficiency [may be] to blame for
               cholesterol accumulation and heart disease. .
               .[by raising] levels of high density
               lipoprotein, or "good" cholesterol, in the
               blood--which in turn prevents low density
               lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, from
               clogging up your arteries.  Americans, who get
               a lot of heart disease, typically don't ingest
               enough copper (found in foods such as beef
               liver and nuts).  Rats fed a low-copper diet
               are unusually prone to heart disease.  Fed
               rats a copper-poor diet and gave them either
               [water, beer (not low alcohol), or pure
               alcohol.]  The beer-drinking rats lived nearly
               six times longer--nine months instead of a
               month and a half--than their. . .counterparts.
               They also had lower blood cholesterol and
               fewer enlarged hearts.  The small traces of
               copper found in beer were by no means enough
               to counteract the rat's dietary deficit.  Some
               other ingredient in beer enhanced [the] rats'
               ability to absorb more copper from food.
               Their livers, where the mineral is normally
               deposited,. . .found that the beer-drinkers
               had three times more copper than the water-
               drinkers."
          [Note: compare heart disease rates and ages of death
          between Americans and West Germans, and Milwaukeean's vs.
          general US population over time.]

               Two books: Blood Music, and Down The Stream Of
          Stars produce a good idea.  Down The Stream Of Stars
          talked about "specks", micromachines (sand size) that
          built structures as well as did medical modifications.
          The interesting thing was that these machines would work
          together to produce macro structures such as space ships.
          Blood Music, while using bio-logic molecules, did a great
          job of pointing out how massive groups of miniature
          workers would work together.  Down The Stream Of Stars
          also did (I thought) an excellent job of presenting the
          "evil aliens", it was done through the eyes of an
          innocent dog-like being--very well done.  Blood Music
          might be Neuromancer for the microbiologists.

               Don't think I mentioned it before, but math is just
          a model of the universe.  A potential predictor, but by
          no means something you rely on as facts.  What results
          would "fuzzy math" yield?  Such as: 1+1=3 to 5, 1+2=3 to
          6, etc.  In which the "to's" themselves would be fuzzy
          (and perhaps fractal/random based).  Make the "to" range
          a normal random curve--which depends on the factors
          producing it.  Maybe instead of 1..infinity which the
          right-of-decimal numbers getting smaller by degrees, we
          used an absolute minimum--width of an electron, quark,
          etc.  I recommend whatever is smallest, after all, the
          goal is to model the universe.  It also "fits;" without
          computers we wouldn't have been able to try something
          like this.  I think it's time to computerize mathematics.

               As far as the laws of mathematics refer to
               reality, they are not certain; and as far as
               they are certain, they do not refer to
               reality.
                                          --ALBERT EINSTEIN

               It seems IBM has created the world's smallest
          advertisement.  Using their scanning-tunneling
          microscope, they wrote "IBM" using 35 xenon atoms onto a
          nickel crystal.  It's the first structure built one
          atom at a time.  It measures 660 billionths of an inch in
          width.

               The C60 carbon molecule is thought to be a geodesic
          sphere with the ability to hold other atoms within this
          stable structure.  Perhaps without interacting at all
          with the carbon atoms.

               "DIBs--diffuse interstellar bands.  Since the
               1930s astronomers have noted the existence of
               unusual features in the light spectra from
               distant stars: up to 50 dark lines indicating
               that something is absorbing certain
               frequencies of light as it passes from the
               star to Earth.  This something, however, does
               not correspond to the spectral lines of any
               known element or molecule.  Whatever it is,
               there's a lot of it, all over the place.  It's
               an all-pervading material in the space between
               the stars, and we've never been able to figure
               out what it is."

               Idea of stimulating the brain to regrow the body.

               "Hearing specialists have long stressed the
               dangers of rock concerts, but it's not the
               moral fiber of America's youth they're worried
               about.  What concerns them are the fine,
               upstanding tufts of hair that stick up from
               the sensory cells of the inner ear.  When
               exposed to prolonged, intense sound, these
               hairs can flop over like stalks of wheat
               pummeled by hail.  Until recently, however, no
               one knew exactly why they collapsed.  Using an
               electron microscope, Harvard physiologist
               Charles Liberman examined the sensory hairs of
               cats that had sustained mild but potentially
               reversible hearing loss, then compared them
               with the sensory hairs of cats with permanent
               hearing loss.  'With temporary loss, you can't
               see a heck of lot wrong with the hair cells,'
               Liberman says.  but in the permanently deaf
               cats the hairs had keeled over.  The hairs'
               rootlets--the small, narrow structures
               connecting them to the rest of the cell--were
               broken.  Liberman thinks of the damage to the
               rootlets much like a stress fracture.  When
               sound enters the ear, he explains, the hairs
               rock back and forth in response to the
               resultant vibrations.  The rocking causes the
               sensory cells to release a neurotransmitter
               that stimulates auditory nerves, leading to
               the sensation of sound in the brain.  The
               hairs themselves, however, are rigid; they can
               bend only at the flexible rootlet.  If the
               rootlet is overstressed, forced to rock too
               hard and too long, it can eventually break.
               With the collapse of the sensory hairs, the
               whole cell becomes useless, as does its
               associated nerve, and some hearing is lost
               forever."

               "The cream-colored flesh of his cerebellum,
               criss-crossed by bright red capillaries, rises
               out of a clear pool of cerebrospinal fluid.
               The cerebellum is a baseball-size object that
               sits at the base of the brain toward the back
               of the head.  It plays a vital role in
               coordinating voluntary movements such as
               walking and speaking.  Jannetta is looking at
               the front edge of the cerebellum's left side.
               beneath it, hidden from view, is the part of
               the brain he needs to get to: the stem, where
               the 12 pairs of cranial nerves emerge and
               branch out through the body.  All the
               autonomic functions of the body (breathing,
               the senses, the workings of the major organs)
               are regulated the brain stem.  So, of course,
               is the heart.  And in the medulla, the lower
               part of the stem, are groups of neurons that
               regulate blood pressure by telling the heart
               how hard to beat and blood vessels how much to
               constrict.  The neurons in the medulla get
               signals from nerve cells in the walls of the
               aorta and the carotid artery, the great
               vessels leading from the heart.  These nerve
               cells use the stretching of vessel walls as an
               indication of blood pressure.  Their signals
               travel up to the medulla along the ninth and
               tenth cranial nerve pairs, called the
               glossopharyngeal and the vagus, respectively.
               Neurons in the medulla respond by sending
               signals back down to the heart along the
               vagus.  Other neurons send signals along
               sympathetic nerves to blood vessels throughout
               the body."
          The article goes on about how blood vessels impinging on
          nerves cause medical problems.  Wouldn't it be weird if
          a cure is to route these vessels through a plastic tube--
          just think of all those science fiction movies where the
          villain lackey's have tubes of liquid coming out from one
          part of the head and going into another.

               Another Zeno story:
               "...no matter how close a runner is to his
               destination, he must always run half the
               remaining distance first, then half the
               remaining half, and so on; because there are
               an infinite number of half distances, the
               runner never arrives at the finish line."  "In
               1989 physicist Wayne Itano and his colleagues
               at the National Institute of Standards and
               Technology in Boulder became the first to
               unambiguously observe the quantum Zeno effect.
               The group trapped 5,000 beryllium atoms in a
               magnetic field and exposed them to radio
               waves, which, from a quantum mechanical point
               of view, gradually transform the atoms until
               they are in an excited state.  To determine
               how many atoms had actually made it to the new
               state at any particular time, Itano's team
               looked at them with a short pulse of laser
               light.  The pulse had no effect on excited
               atoms, but those atoms still making the
               transition instantly absorbed and re-emitted a
               small amount of the light.  Thus, by measuring
               the amount of light re-emitted, Itano's group
               could calculate how many atoms had made the
               transition.  As it turned out, when the team
               waited a quarter second before turning on the
               laser, they found that nearly all the atoms
               had made it to the excited state.  If,
               however, the researchers preceded that
               quarter-second pulse by a pulse sent in
               halfway through, after one-eighth second, they
               found that by the end of the quarter second
               only half the atoms had made the transition.
               If they sent in four pulses over the quarter-
               second interval, the final proportion of
               excited atoms dropped to a little more than
               one-third.  With 64 pulses, scarcely a single
               atom made the transition."
          Answering these Zeno questions just might solve
          Einstein's "not enough energy to go faster than light"
          problem.  It appears that a contradiction exists:
          normally you could solve the problem by saying that math
          deals with infinitesimal distances but in the real world
          there is a limit--that of the smallest particle that
          makes up the universe.  In actuality we are dealing with
          distance--and the universe isn't made of tiny particles--
          it's made up of empty space with tiny particles.  This
          suggests that space itself is not continuous.

               "The ultraviolet spectrometer [still working
               on Voyagers 1 and 2] is sensitive to
               wavelengths between 500 and 1,200 angstroms,
               which are absorbed by the earth's atmosphere
               and are not being observed by any other
               currently operating instrument.  Although
               these wavelengths also tend to be absorbed by
               interstellar gas, the spectrometer has
               detected radiation from very hot white dwarf
               stars, like 'light coming through the fog'...
               The implication is that there are holes in the
               tenuous clouds of hydrogen that lie between
               the stars.  Perhaps the biggest surprise has
               been the discovery of strong ultraviolet
               emissions from globular clusters, indicating
               that these ancient objects somehow maintain a
               population of young, hot stars.  A continuous
               stream of charged particles, the solar wind,
               creates a huge, bubblelike structure known as
               the heliosphere.  The solar wind carries the
               sun's magnetic field with it, keeping the
               solar system relatively free of interstellar
               matter and hindering the entry of cosmic rays.
               At some point, the solar wind bumps into
               denser but slower moving currents of material
               in interstellar space, forming a boundary
               called the heliopause.  The Voyagers have also
               detected an unanticipated fourth component of
               medium-energy particles.  ...These probably
               are atoms from interstellar space energized by
               turbulent processes occurring near the
               heliopause.  These atoms constitute the first
               direct samples of the interstellar medium."

               On destroying tumors:
               "Like X rays, protons can destroy tissue by
               splitting apart DNA molecules or forming
               reactive oxygen free radicals from water
               molecules.  But X rays, on entering the body,
               deposit most of their ionizing radiation in
               the first few centimeters--and do not stop
               once the reach the tumor site.  Protons, in
               contrast, give up most of their energy only
               when they slow to a stop, allowing higher-
               radiation doses while leaving nearby tissue
               intact."

               "Some species avoid freezing through
               biochemical changes in their bodies.  But,
               remarkably, the answer for many other animals
               is that they freeze solid and survive.  While
               frozen, all these animals [various reptiles]
               show no movement, respiration, heart beat or
               blood circulation, and our latest experiments
               show barely detectable neurological activity.
               Ice accumulates in all extracellular fluid
               compartments and fills the abdominal cavity
               and the bladder; crystals run under the skin
               and in between muscles.  These animals have
               mastered the tricks of organ cryopreservation-
               -the freezing of live tissue for storage and
               subsequent use...  ...Freezing is lethal for
               most cells.  Ice crystals rip through cell
               membranes and damage subcellular organelles;
               cell contents spill out, and the discrete
               localization of individual metabolic processes
               within the cell becomes scrambled.  [If can't
               control ice formations] ...two alternatives
               exist.  The first--and most familiar--strategy
               is to avoid exposure to temperatures below the
               freezing point of body fluids.  Animals simply
               'choose' relatively warm hibernation sites
               under water or deep underground.  Numerous
               insect species overwinter as aquatic larvae,
               and many types of frogs and turtles hibernate
               at the bottom of ponds, where they are safe
               unless the body of water freezes completely.
               On land, toads may dig into the earth to
               remain below the frost line, and snakes may
               congregate in underground communal dens.  The
               second alternative to freezing is to use
               specific adaptations that stabilize the liquid
               state at subzero temperatures.  All water
               solutions, including body fluids, have an
               equilibrium freezing point, or the temperature
               at which an ice crystal placed in the solution
               will begin to grow.  But all water solutions
               can also be supercooled--that is, they can be
               chilled will below the equilibrium freezing
               point before the water crystallizes
               spontaneously into ice [not spontaneous--need
               to move it slightly first].  Human plasma, for
               example, has a freezing point of -.8 degree C
               but, if chilled in a controlled manner, can be
               supercooled to -16 degrees C.  The presence of
               nucleators, however, limits the extent of
               supercooling.  Nucleators are compounds that
               seed ice growth by providing binding sites
               that can order water molecules into the ice-
               lattice structure.  Ice itself is the best
               nucleator, but plasma proteins, foreign
               bacteria and food particles  also act as
               effective nucleators.  To stabilize the liquid
               state, then, animals must eliminate nucleators
               or prevent the nucleators from triggering
               widespread crystallization--in effect, animals
               must lower the supercooling point of their
               body fluids.  ...The same molecular actions
               that enabled anti-freeze proteins to block the
               growth of embryo ice crystals were equally
               effective in blocking the recrystallization of
               existing crystals.  Together, then, the two
               proteins control ice structure: ice-nucleating
               proteins seed the formation of extracellular
               ice, and antifreeze proteins stabilize the ice
               crystals at a small, harmless size [keeping
               ice out of the cell--by promoting the growth
               of small individual ice crystals around the
               cell, but far enough away as to not damage the
               cell--using an anti-freeze and cryoprotectant
               (such as sugars, salts, or alcohols) to act as
               separator of the crystals and an internal
               preservative, Trehalose and proline is used to
               preserve the cell's borders against collapse].
               Key enzymes involved in the synthesis of these
               compounds respond uniquely to low
               temperatures.  Whereas the activity of most
               enzymes and other metabolic processes lessens
               with decreasing temperature, temperatures
               between zero and five degrees C actually raise
               the activity of an enzyme called glycogen
               phosphorylase by stimulating it to convert
               from its inactive to its active form (the
               enzyme chops hexose sugar units off glycogen
               to begin synthesis).  In addition, low
               temperatures inactivate other enzymes,
               resulting in a redirection of the flow of
               carbon from the normal routes of carbohydrate
               catabolism (used to produce cellular energy)
               to special pathways that lead to
               cryoprotectant synthesis.  Cyroprotectants
               persist throughout the winter, and then as
               spring begins they are converted back into
               sugars to fuel the continued development of
               the insects through the pupal and adult
               stages.  glycerol, sorbitol and related
               compounds represent excellent choices of
               cryoprotectant in biochemical terms.  Not only
               do these compounds provide the osmotic actions
               needed to regulate cell volume during
               freezing, but they also remain nontoxic to
               cells even at very high concentrations.  They
               do not crystallize spontaneously from aqueous
               solutions at low temperature, and they pass
               freely across membranes.  In addition, these
               polyhydroxy alcohols stabilize the structure
               of proteins and enzymes and protect them from
               the denaturing effects of low or freezing
               temperatures."

               "Researchers at Bellcore have developed a new
               laser-based system that represents a
               breakthrough in using holograms as computer
               memory and holds promise for dramatically
               faster information access.  The researchers
               have built a laser semiconductor array for
               retrieving holographic images, stored on a
               glass crystal, at speeds up to 1 gigahertz.
               Bellcore's research, aimed at changing the way
               holograms--recordings of light patterns that
               represent an image--are retrieved, has yielded
               a chip the size of a thumbnail that contains
               an array of over 1000 semiconductor lasers.
               The laser array replaces the single scanning
               laser beam currently used for retrieving
               holographic images.  Single scanning laser
               beams require large and expensive optical
               equipment such as lenses, beam deflectors, and
               optical tables [the typical lab laser set-up].
               Bellcore has tested its laser array by
               retrieving holographic images from a
               photorefractive crystal made from lithium
               niobate and gallium arsenide.  A single
               crystal, measuring 1 centimeter on a side, can
               store [1 trillion bits].  Each 'micro-laser'
               in the array is associated with a single page
               of information and can retrieve it in less
               than a nanosecond.  The information is
               recorded by dividing the light emitted from
               the laser into two beams of light and
               recording the phase and amplitude at their
               intersection in the photorefractive crystal.
               Only one beam from the laser, called the
               'reference beam,' is needed to retrieve the
               information from the crystal.  Each laser
               measures 40-millionths of an inch across,
               allowing arrays to contain thousands of
               lasers.  Although the researchers have
               demonstrated the retrieval of several images
               with high fidelity, they have not been able to
               retrieve more than a few.  They hope to
               retrieve 500 to 1000 images from a single
               crystal while maintaining high fidelity.
               Bellcore has not developed a way to store
               these images, but Microelectronics and
               Computer Technology...is using crystallite
               arrays rather than single crystals for storing
               holographic data.  These crystallites
               eliminate crosstalk and signal weakening
               problems associated with large photorefractive
               crystals."

               "The formula was for the first synthetic
               organic molecule that reproduces itself--a
               molecule that [may be] a primitive form of
               life.  [The] molecule is made from building
               blocks different from the amino acids, sugars,
               and phosphates we're used to.  What's more, it
               reproduces in a chloroform solution, whereas
               life on Earth evolved in water.  As a result
               researchers are expanding their concept of
               what raw materials might be needed for an
               organic primal soup elsewhere in the cosmos.
               [The] replicator is a two-part, J-shaped
               molecule dubbed amino adenosine triacid ester,
               or AATE.  The J's long stem is an amine, a
               compound containing nitrogen.  The molecule's
               shorter tail is an ester, a compound made from
               an acid and an alcohol.  Placed in a solution
               of like esters and amines, the synthetic
               molecule's ester will seize a free-floating
               amine.  Meanwhile the molecule's amine will
               grasp a free ester.  The loose ends of the two
               captured compounds will then fuse, forming a
               J-shaped copy of the parent molecule that
               brought them together.  Because the copied
               molecule is held to the original only by
               hydrogen bonds--the same weak bonds that unite
               the two long, helical strands of a DNA
               molecule--the parent and its offspring are
               easily parted by...normal thermal jostling.
               The two J's then proceed to make two more;
               those four make four more; and so on.  In a
               solution with optimum concentrations [the]
               molecules can copy themselves up to a dizzying
               million times per second."

               Alan Dean Foster had an interesting idea in Cyber
          Way.  He postulated a temporal computer, that was always
          there and everywhere.  It responded to a combination of
          voice and body motions to activate it.  If you can
          manage to manipulate the actions of individual atoms over
          a distance you can create this computer--just have it use
          ever other millionth atom to do it's work.  If quantum
          physics' uncertainty work proves true, then so may this
          idea.  It may also be possible to do it with a part of
          DNA--again, linking us all [to each other or something
          else].  Hologram techniques might also prove to be useful
          for ideas for this area.

               I think we ought to re-work mathematics.  Throw out
          everything except the real number system (things like
          fractions, negatives, imaginary numbers, etc.).  Convert
          everything to base units: such as the know weight, the
          shortest known length.  If we had 1 apple we could say "1
          apple" or "it weights 10 trillion atoms" or whatever.  If
          we had 1 and 1/2 apples, rather than say we have "1.5
          apples" we would say "we have 1500000123134 atoms of
          apple".  Similarly for length.  Then when use shorter
          notation (such as 1 thousand instead of 1023) we will be
          actually working with a fuzzy number system.  Computers
          can handle the number crunching.  There is no need for us
          to be using inexact numbers when we don't need to.  For
          daily "people" stuff, fuzzy numbers are fine.  For
          computers and records always use the large numbers.  Part
          of the reason computers have such trouble with numbers
          now is their inability to fractions correctly.  As a
          solution they are now leaning towards representing the
          numbers as "1/2" rather than "1.5".  But really, all that
          extra processing this requires--just multiply it by a
          million or so and then do the math.

               The brain stores data in two forms: single image and
          script.  It stores a detailed image in high res of as
          much of an object as it, well, remembers.  Script is
          events, what happened when.  When recalling motion
          events, the brain, using the images and following the
          scripts, literally draws/designs the memory recalled
          event.  This is also how imagination works--you design
          the script (sometimes as you go), then the brain takes
          the images it can supply and plugs them in, it does a
          fuzzy "can supply" so that everything gets something if
          possible.  I suspect this script generated design may
          also be lower res than the actual memorized images.  Very
          simple, yet very flexible--memory is words or images, but
          not film.  One part makes the scripts and images, another
          reads and plays them.  Might also explain why designed
          imagination can be hard to recall after it leaves short
          term memory.

               "The universe around us consists of three
               fundamental particles.  They are the 'up'
               quark, the 'down' quark and electron.  The
               known particles can be classified either as
               fermions or as guage bosons.  Fermions are
               particles of spin 1/2, that is, they have an
               intrinsic angular momentum of 1/2h, where h is
               the Planck unit of action, 10^-27 ergsecond.
               Fermions may be thought of as the constituents
               of matter.  Guage bosons are particles of spin
               1, or angular momentum 1h.  They can be
               visualized as the mediators of the forces
               between the fermions.  In addition to their
               spins, these particles are characterized by
               their masses and by their various couplings
               with one another, such as electric charges.
               All known couplings, or interactions, can be
               classified into three types: electromagnetic,
               weak and strong. (A fourth interaction,
               gravity, is negligible at the level of
               elementary particles, so it need not be
               considered here.)  Although the three
               interactions appear to be different, their
               mathematical formulation is quite similar.
               They are all described by theories in which
               fermions interact by exchanging gauge bosons.
               The electromagnetic interaction, as seen in
               the binding of electrons and nuclei to form
               atoms, is mediated by the exchange of photons-
               -the electromagnetic gauge bosons.  The weak
               interaction is mediated by the heavy W+, W-
               and Z bosons, whereas the strong interaction
               is mediated by the eight massless 'gluons.'
               The proton, for instance, is composed of three
               fermion quarks that are bound together by the
               exchange of gluons."

               "For years it has been known that when an
               animal or a person sniffs an odorant,
               molecules carrying the scent are captured by a
               few of the immense number of receptor neurons
               in the nasal passages; the receptors are
               somewhat specialized in the kinds of odorants
               to which they respond.  Cells that become
               excited fire action potentials, or pulses,
               which propagate through projections called
               axons to a part of the cortex known as the
               olfactory bulb.  The number of activated
               receptors indicates the intensity of the
               stimulus, and their location in the nose
               conveys the nature of the scent.  That is,
               each scent is expressed by a spatial pattern
               of receptor activity, which in turn is
               transmitted to the bulb.  The bulb analyzes
               each input pattern and then synthesizes its
               own message, which it transmits via axons to
               another part of the olfactory system, the
               olfactory cortex.  From there, new signals are
               sent to many parts of the brain--not the least
               of which is an area called the entorhinal
               cortex, where the signals are combined with
               those from other sensory systems.  The result
               is a meaning-laden perception, a gestalt, that
               is unique to each individual.  For a dog, the
               recognition of the scent of a fox may carry
               the memory of food and expectation of a meal.
               For a rabbit, the same scent may arouse
               memories of chase and fear of attack.
               [Cortical neurons] continuously receive
               pulses--usually at projections known as
               dendrites--from thousands of other neurons.
               the pulses are conveyed at specialized
               junctions called synapses.  Certain incoming
               pulses generate excitatory waves of electric
               current in the recipients; others generate
               inhibitory waves.  These currents--'dendritic
               currents'--are fed through the cell body
               (which contains the nucleus) to a region
               called the trigger zone, at the start of the
               axon.  There the currents cross the cell
               membrane into the extracellular space.  As
               they do, the cell calculates the overall
               strength of the currents (reflected in changes
               in voltage across the membrane), essentially
               by adding excitatory currents and subtracting
               inhibitory ones.  If the sum is above a
               threshold level of excitation, the neuron
               fires."

               "Thrombin, a substance essential for clotting.
               Thrombin is a protease, an enzyme that eats
               away at other proteins; it transforms the
               large protein fibrinogen into threads of
               fibrin, which mesh together to make a
               clot."

               "Nerve terminals--the ends of the nerve cells,
               which release chemical messengers called
               neurotransmitters--were swollen to more than
               30 times their normal size. [effects of old
               age.]  The autonomic nervous system controls
               basic bodily functions such as blood pressure,
               heart rate, and the movement of food through
               the intestinal tract.  Old age can bring on a
               wide rage of autonomic malfunctions; some
               elderly people faint when they stand up too
               quickly, others lose bladder control.  The
               nerve clusters...--known as ganglia--are
               important relay stations involved in many
               basic digestive functions.  Nerves feed into
               them from many locations and pass messages on
               to [nerve] cells that are embedded in
               abdominal organs.  The damage appeared in the
               terminals of the incoming nerves.
               ...Determined that these bloated terminals
               were packed with huge numbers of
               neurofilaments, a type of internal scaffolding
               that gives normal nerve cells their shape.
               Ordinarily neurofilaments are broken down and
               recycled in the terminals, but these terminals
               weren't doing the job.  ...People younger than
               60 had very few swollen terminals, but in
               people aged 60 and up the number of damaged
               terminals increased dramatically.  Not all the
               nerve terminals in each ganglion were swollen.
               The majority, in fact, were unaffected.  Each
               ganglion has roughly a dozen different types
               of terminals, and each type releases a
               different neurotransmitter or combination of
               neurotransmitters.  To see which terminal
               types were most susceptible to aging damage
               [they] stained them with ten molecular probes
               that bind to different neurotransmitters.  To
               their surprise the damage affected only one
               terminal type--the terminals containing a
               neurotransmitter called neuropeptide Y.
               Elsewhere in the body, neuropeptide Y
               stimulates the contraction of blood vessel
               walls."

               COBE is finding uniform 2.7535 degrees kelvin
          radiation background.  Has anybody every asked if nature
          simply can't go below this point.  That in nature 0
          degrees kelvin might be our 2.7535.  And if this is true,
          what is the significance of the "unnatural" 0 - 2.7535
          degree zone.  What happens to space or matter at 2.7535
          that is different from 0 degrees?

               A neat address extension I've seen: after name,
          address, city, state, zip; "U.S.A., Earth, etc."  Very
          cute, think I'll use it too.

               "Mitochondria are, essentially, tiny
               powerhouses, designed to take oxygen and
               nutrients and transform them into usable
               energy.  A cell with large energy
               requirements, such as a heart-muscle cell, can
               be packed with hundreds of these little
               sausage-shaped packages.  Inside each
               individual mitochondrion is a complicated maze
               of tightly folded inner membranes.  Oxygen and
               nutrients brought to the cell by the
               circulatory system shuttle back and forth
               across these membranes and are processed by
               teams of enzymes in a complex, multistage
               operation known as the respiratory chain.  The
               importance of this oxidation process is
               abundantly clear.  It produces the chemical
               adenosine triphosphate, the fuel that powers
               all the activities of the body's cells.
               Twenty-five years ago...several
               researchers...discovered that mitochondria had
               their own DNA.  All other parts of the
               cell...are orchestrated by the DNA inside the
               cell's nucleus.  Mitochondria, however, by
               carrying some of their own genes, evidently
               maintain a measure of control over their
               destiny.  Mitochondrial DNA has several other
               idiosyncrasies.  First of all, it is passed to
               a child by the mother's egg only, and not by
               the father's sperm.  A sperm carries its
               mitochondria wrapped around its tail, which is
               jettisoned at the time of fertilization.
               Second, although like nuclear DNA, it isn't
               bundled into rod-shaped chromosomes but rather
               forms a small looping chain, like bacterial
               DNA.  Third, mitochondrial DNA is
               comparatively tiny, comprising 16,000 chemical
               building blocks instead of the 3 billion
               contained in its nuclear counterpart.  But
               whereas a cell has only one copy of nuclear
               DNA, it can have from tens to hundreds of
               mitochondria, each equipped with its own DNA.
               Finally, in another show of independence,
               mitochondria reproduce on their own.  But
               their DNA can be slipshod when it makes copies
               of itself.  if a mistake is made, the flawed
               copies are handed down along with the good DNA
               through ensuing generations as part of a
               family's total mitochondrial inheritance."
          [DNA is a lot like a collection of files compressed into
          an archive.  Mitochondrial is an additional archive file
          within the DNA archive of files.]

               "A patch of dried mud near Clarkia, Idaho,
               preserved this leaf for 17 million years; in
               fact, when the mud was cracked open, the leaf
               was still green.  Researchers were then able
               to extract and analyze the leaf's DNA."

               "A lot of the decline in function that old
               people experience in our society is due not to
               aging but to physical inactivity.  In the long
               run researchers expect to find genetic bases
               for most of the specific plagues of old age,
               from bone loss to an impaired immune system.
               There may even be genes responsible for the
               whole process--genes for just plain getting
               old.  'Senescence genes' have already been
               identified in cultures of human skin cells;
               they seem to hinder the proliferation of the
               cells."

               Asimov's Isaac's Universe Volume One hints at
          creation via near collisions of black holes.  I thought
          this was indeed interesting.  What happens when two black
          holes come near each other?  Could the cause the creation
          of a galaxy?  Could they be the cause of new galaxy
          creation?  Two supermassive bodies each trying to pull
          each other toward itself.  I imagine all sorts of
          potentials exist here.  I saw a show recently (April
          1991) on PBS called The Astronomers that concluded with
          them guessing that a small black hole was orbiting a
          larger one at the center of some galaxy.

               "And there had been epidemics of this sort of
               thing on other worlds, sudden and
               unaccountable die-offs, when beleaguered
               portions of the general population suddenly
               gave it up.  We have seen the future and it is
               not us."
          This is an interesting threat.  To my knowledge nobody's
          really studied why tribes die out.

               "Handed over a pair of decoded flimsies.
               ...Laid the first of the shimmering, gauzy
               message films over my head.  Immediately, the
               gossamer fabric wrapped over my face, covering
               eyes and ears and leaving only my nostrils
               free.  At once it began vibrating, and after a
               momentary blurriness, sight and sound
               enveloped me."
          An interesting communication medium, an invention I hope
          won't come about.

               I'd like to take a few minutes here and review
          "probability of the universe itself" again.  Lets start
          off with an infinite number of stars.  Of these stars,
          lets say half have planets (.5*infinity).  And lets say
          10% of the planets are earth-like (.1*.5*infinity).  Then
          lets say 100% of them have sentient human life
          (.1*.5*infinity).  Continuing: 1 in 6 billion is
          identical in looks, and further the same 1 in 6 billion
          is also identical genetically
          (.000000001*.1*.5*infinity).  Another 1% probability (for
          we are dealing with probabilities here) that the age is
          the same (.01*.0000000001*.1*.5*infinity).  So we've got
          a probability of .01*.000000001*.1*.5*infinity that
          another identical person exists as yourself does.  The
          really low probabilities come now:  at every instant
          since you were first formed there were a variety of
          different things that could have happened to each and
          every one of your atoms (or cells if it helps).  So, we
          need to multiply time of existence times atoms in the
          body.  Divide this number by 1 and then add it in.
          .00000...01*.01*.000000001*.1*.5*infinity.  Raw math
          would break down into infinity/infinity or 1.  But this
          isn't math, it's probabilities.  The resulting numbers
          are incredibly (impossibly?) small.  And remember, that
          number of atoms and their probabilities gets multiplied
          in at each moment of time.  And that's the key, that so
          many events happen each moment of time, that it is
          unduplicatable.
               I don't think the human body will be allowed to
          change much from it's present shape.  Some of the
          "evolutionary" changes mentioned are much larger heads,
          much smaller bodies, six fingers, etc.  Bigger brains
          supposedly because we'd use our brains more--yeah, right.
          With computers and databanks we run more risk of losing
          intelligence.  Six fingers stems from keyboards--
          hopefully we'll see the elimination of these limb-
          destroying devices over the next 10 years.  Body changes
          to artificial stuff would probably only be as people get
          older, and even then they'll probably prefer organic-
          based materials.  While competition could drive a few
          into making changes to enhance their competitiveness,
          this would be rare.  We don't see much difference in the
          really driven versus the average joe now.  Although job-
          specific enhancements could easily become popular (eg.
          butchers would probably enjoy knife-proof skin on their
          fingers).

               "...the probes are coated with chemicals that
               adapt to the local chemistry at the
               implantation site.  In other words, once the
               probe arrives at its destination, it
               noninvasively samples its ambient biochemical
               environment and then exudes a thin coating for
               itself that is designed to be consistent with
               the chemistry of the host and thereby avoid
               rejection."
          Described an idea for an internal medical sensor, but the
          technique can be universal for lots of things.

               "...much of your future is already programmed
               by your genes."

               [Clarke quoting Pascal]
               "There may or may not be a God; I may or may
               not believe in Him.  The only way I can lose
               is if there is a God and I do not believe in
               HIm.  Therefore I shall believe in Him to
               minimize my downside risk."

               "Your skeleton is undergoing constant
               remodeling.  Every week you recycle 5 to 7
               percent of the bone in your body.  This
               remarkable feat is made possible by a
               reservoir of stem cells in the bone's
               gelatinous marrow.  When needed, these cells
               mature into specialized bone-making cells
               called osteoblasts."

               "For two weeks this past summer two African
               green monkeys sat rigid in a lab at Johns
               Hopkins, unable to feed or groom themselves.
               The monkeys were afflicted with the symptoms
               of Parkinson's disease, a degenerative brain
               disorder.  On the fifteenth day neurologist
               Mahlon DeLong and his colleagues injected a
               minute amount of acid into each of the
               animals' brains, forming a tiny lesion in a
               corn-kernel-size structure known as the
               subthalamic nucleus.  Then the researchers
               watched.  And waited.  DeLong had a hunch that
               this procedure would reverse the symptoms in
               these monkeys and eventually help the millions
               of people who suffer from Parkinson's disease.
               Parkinson's victims are missing the
               neurotransmitter dopamine, a crucial chemical
               that carries messages between nerve cells in
               the brain.  For years researchers had thought
               that this loss led directly to the
               underactivity in the brain that made it nearly
               impossible for advanced Parkinson's sufferers
               to move their muscles.  DeLong, however, was
               basing his study on a new theory: that
               Parkinson's symptoms are triggered by
               overactivity in the brain.  DeLong's idea was
               that the subthalamic nucleus, a part of the
               brain involved in controlling movement, is one
               of the biggest neurological dominoes tipped
               over by Parkinson's in a complex series of
               events.  The first dominoes to fall are the
               cells that produce dopamine.  Dopamine can
               either stimulate nerve cells or inhibit them;
               that is, it can either increase or decrease
               nerve-cell activity.  In a normal brain
               dopamine appears to inhibit cells in the
               subthalamic nucleus.  But in a Parkinson's
               brain the dopamine-producing cells die off;
               without enough dopamine the subthalamic
               nucleus becomes hyperactive and starts firing
               off signals wildly.  These signals, in turn,
               overstimulate another brain region, one that's
               responsible for curtailing voluntary muscle
               movements.  As a result, people with
               Parkinson's are often frozen in their tracks.
               By destroying part of the subthalamic nucleus
               in a monkey, DeLong hoped to see if he could
               set the dominoes that come after it upright
               again.  His first step had been to inject the
               monkeys with MPTP, a neurotoxin that produces
               symptoms very much like those of the human
               disease.  After animals had developed the
               unmistakable signs of Parkinson's, the
               researchers injected the acid into the
               subthalamic nucleus on the right side of each
               monkey's brain.  Every brain has two
               subthalamic nuclei, one on each side.  Since
               the right brain controls the left side of the
               body, a right-side lesion allowed DeLong's
               team to compare any movement on the left side
               of the body with movement on the unaffected
               right side.  The researchers' vigil was a
               short one.  DeLong was astonished to find that
               the monkeys regained their ability to move
               less than a minute after the injection.  'The
               first movement we saw was in the left arm,' he
               recalls.  'One monkey brought its hand up to
               its face.  At first, we thought it was
               involuntary movement.  But soon it began
               reaching for objects, such as bits of fruit.
               It became clear that a single small lesion had
               almost immediately reversed the symptoms.  I
               thought there would be an effect, but somehow
               I wasn't prepared for its being so dramatic.'
               DeLong's work points to a new way to treat
               this crippling disease.  For many years, the
               standard treatment for Parkinson's has been a
               drug called L-dopa, which replaces dopamine in
               the brain and reverses many of the Parkinson's
               symptoms.  Unfortunately, the beneficial
               effects of L-dopa tend to diminish after a few
               years on the drug, and its side effects, such
               as jerking movements and hallucinations,
               become worse.  'Now we have shown that you can
               achieve a great deal of recovery, even without
               replacing the dopamine, by canceling out the
               effect of the deficiency further downstream,'
               says DeLong.  He wouldn't recommend making
               these lesions in a human brain, however, for
               the subthalamic nucleus is in a delicate area.
               but it might be possible to find a drug that
               simply inhibits the subthalamic nucleus's
               activity."

               "Astronomers have long known that when a very
               large cloud of interstellar gas collapses it
               may spawn an entire generation of stars.  As a
               result, massive stars are often not scattered
               randomly across a galaxy but almost always
               born in litters called associations.  A single
               galaxy can contain hundreds of associations;
               any single association can contain hundreds of
               supergiants.  Although the stars are all born
               together, they don't all die together.  The
               most massive ones can go supernovas in as
               little as a few million years; the longest-
               lived can last perhaps 30 to 50 million.  As
               each star detonates it sends shock waves
               outward, pushing the surrounding gas and dust
               into an ever-expanding shell of matter, Heiles
               and other radio astronomers reported that they
               had detected such enormous shells, with
               diameters of 1,000 light-years, in our own
               galaxy.  They called them superbubbles.
               Heiles also mentioned a phenomenon related to
               superbubbles called galactic chimneys...  In
               Ikeuchi's scenario a superbubble expands until
               it breaches the galactic disk, then bursts
               outward.  Without the surrounding galactic
               material to restrain it, the bubble erupts
               violently, sending a fountain of 1.8-million-
               degree gas jetting hundreds of light-years
               away.  No one has ever directly observed a
               galactic chimney: the gas flowing from its
               mouth would be so hot that most of its
               radiation would be in the form of X-rays,
               which are blocked by both interstellar gas and
               Earth's atmosphere.  However, Heiles remarked
               that other astronomers had observed what
               appeared to be gaping holes in the disks of
               face-on spiral galaxies.  They had also
               detected hints of vast streamers extending
               from edge-on spirals, perhaps the cooler
               material at the periphery of a chimney.  The
               curious formations would be like tunnels into
               the heart of a galaxy; supernovas shining from
               deep within such a cavity would be visible
               only when the chimney was pointed toward
               Earth.  ...Chimney theories are already adding
               to astronomers' suspicions that they are
               seeing only a small fraction of the supernovas
               that occur.  McClure and Van den Bergh
               themselves believe that supernovas may be up
               to three times more common than previously
               thought.  If this is true, our entire
               understanding about the intergalactic
               environment might have to be re-thought.
               Supernovas act as forges in which heavy
               elements are formed, and thus if more stars
               are detonating, more heavy elements are being
               manufactured."

               An article on cancer developments in Discover,
          has convinced me that cancer is about to undergo
          tremendous advances and may be something to not worry
          about.  So until the current "cancer curve of discover"
          ceases or leads to interesting stuff, I'll be curbing/not
          covering any of the new cancer developments.

               "...Thrombolytics, or clot-busting drugs,
               break down newly formed blood clots anywhere
               in the body.  Most heart attacks, it's
               believed, are precipitated by tiny clots that
               lodge in the narrowed arteries of the heart,
               cutting off blood flow to a part of the organ.
               by eliminating such clots, doctors can now
               restore oxygen-bearing blood to otherwise-
               doomed regions of the heart before the cells
               there have quite died--thus aborting a
               disaster in the making.  Chest pain is a
               signal that heart tissue is starved for blood
               and the oxygen it brings; it is a cry for help
               from cells that are dying but still
               salvageable.  Once the heart attack is
               completed and the muscle has died, the pain
               vanishes.  But that portion of the heart is
               then forever scarred, unable to contract, and
               useless for propelling blood through the body.
               The pumping capacity of the heart drops
               accordingly, resulting in a range of symptoms
               from fatigue at the smallest exertion to life-
               threatening shortness of breath.
               ...Nitroglycerin tablets...improves blood flow
               in the coronary arteries by slightly
               increasing their diameter.  If a blood vessel
               is narrowed but not entirely blocked, the drug
               may succeed in opening the passage a bit, thus
               bolstering the trickle of blood flow to the
               region it feeds.  ...Beta-blocker, which
               slowed her heart from 80 beats a minute to 70
               beats and finally down to 55.  If we couldn't
               improve the blood flow to the region under
               attack, then we could perhaps reduce the
               heart's overall energy demands by chemically
               reining in the work it attempts.  The
               thrombolytic most commonly used in the United
               States--called TPA for 'tissue plasminogen
               activator'... [usually needs to be given
               within the first 24 hours of a heart
               attack]"

               Two possibilities for non-standard gravity-based
          flight:  1) stop the effects of gravity/control the
          percentage of effect.  Problem: won't allow you to rise?
          2) turn the force acting on the ship against itself.
          This can be done via a device that first stores the
          force, and then rotates and releases the force (maybe
          needing to merely slow it down).

               "The powerful magnetic fields that confined
               the singularity opened a small but carefully
               calculated pathway."  [a method for FTL]

               To confirm/start communications with aliens:
          transmit a signal and see if part of the return signal
          was what you sent.  Or, from their view, after receiving
          their signal, send it back with something like "hello"
          and a copy of what they originally sent.  That way you
          both know you're at least communicating correctly--even
          though neither understands what the other said.

               I've said previously, "insects and plants are
          machines".  Think of it's significance.  We're a mote of
          dirt, floating in the universe, and waited on by little
          robots.  It is, therefore, not improbable that these
          creatures were created elsewhere, deposited here to
          terraform the planet, and then "life" set down to
          grow--not being able to eat rock, they could nonetheless
          eat the 'robots'.  I consider microbes to be too small to
          be machines, like virus's, you can make them, you can
          make them do stuff, but they really just building blocks.
          Without these 'robots' we would revert to 'moonbase' type
          conditions.


          --FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ACTUALLY READ THIS, I'VE BEEN VERY
          BUSY.  THE ONLY CHANGES FROM 0691 ARE LISTED BELOW, TO BE
          FULLY (AND PROPERLY) INTEGRATED IN THE NEXT VERSION.
          --THANKS.

               For many years I've had a fan going next to me when
          I sleep.  I've always known it gave me a better, deeper,
          sleep.  A few years ago I learned that what I really had
          was a white noise device--which provides a filter
          blocking out numerous minor noises.  Recently, I was "in
          between" sleep and wake.  The fan sounded like the roar
          of a propeller-driven plane.  My conscious felt it had a
          direct link with the ear also.  This suggests to me that
          a direct link is 1) possible, and 2) probably the norm
          when we sleep.  Probably nothing new here, I just now
          believe the "barriers/filters" we use when hearing can be
          bi-passed consciously.  One question this does raise:
          does the subconscious act as a filter (as seems probable
          when the conscious is sleeping (since the subconscious is
          active then)), or whether the conscious multi-tasks the
          filter at night.  And either way, it raises the question
          of how the filtering is done during waking periods.
          Filters are necessary, since without them a person using
          "super" hearing could be stunned helpless with a loud
          sudden noise, or lose concentration due to numerous minor
          "don't care about" sounds.

               I've been thinking more about how the brain stores
          images.  It's almost impossible for it to store "raster"
          images (like photographs).  While I do think it uses
          vector techniques to store animation, I now suspect it
          uses similar techniques to store single images.  Not
          ordinary vector images, but more like 16 or 32 bit--where
          each "node" can have a variety of data depending on the
          "bits" set (each bit, also, may not be 0/1
          on/off--probably has a whole range of values (including
          on/off for some, perhaps 64 for others (depends on how
          many chemicals make up a "bit" and what it can do)).  But
          the number doesn't vary depending on the type of image
          (part of animation or solid picture)--rather those extra
          bits that are needed for animation can't be used for
          higher resolution/better color--at least 50% of the bits
          (although I suspect it's more like 90%) of each "node"
          can either be used for animation or better color--not
          both(?--the brain is analog, not digital).

               So, you've just captured a picture of an alien
          spaceship.  What to do next?  Well, obviously the goal is
          to reverse engineer the ship.  Step 1: build a mock-up of
          the ship--to as exact parameters as you can get.  Step 2:
          gather whatever information you can about the
          capabilities of that ship.  Step 3: tell your engineers:
          "here are the specs, squeeze this capability into that
          frame, and it can be done".  Eventually, it will be.
          After all, the ship was designed to meet it's parameters
          by experts--providing a guide for all others.

               Of course, if aliens wanted to protect themselves,
          then deception would be best--and they'd probably use a
          solid sphere--can't tell much about it.  (Except that
          whatever it uses can either be unleashed inside the ship
          and let out through an opening, or can be set to effect
          an area beyond where it's stationed (since it needs to
          effect the area outside the ship, but not the ship
          itself(?)).

               We have a tendency to think all writing must be
          situtated such that it can be read "across the line".
          Yet, written text is merely a bunch of small images.
          There is no reason, for instance when wishing to enhance
          a display, that text can't be set to be "read sideways
          and down" or "read sideways and up" or even in reverse or
          any other numerous positions.  All it takes is a little
          practice with the interface--and the advantages may be
          much greater.  For instance, given the right 10 columns
          to display text, a lot of interfaces would be forced to
          put one word on each line (well, two at most).  Leaving
          a lot of unused space.  By taking 10 lines of text and
          "rotating" it 90 degrees, you can fit far more data into
          the same space (240 characters max with method one,
          800 characters with method two)--however, method two does
          require graphics.

               After the optical drives, I expect the next
          revolution to occur with devices that (unobtrusively)
          detect your movements.  It's another cross-market
          product, not just useful in computers, but in lots of
          industries.

               In some cases (in space) couplings may be superior
          to welding.  Since they'd be easier to put together and
          take apart--while providing the same holding strength.
          I am not talking about large modules, but simple stuff
          like walls.  Using a sealent--that lasts, say 5 years,
          would be just as effective as welding, and a lot cheaper
          in the inital construction.  The parts can be welded
          together (before the sealant's life is up) slowly--using
          energy from the sun, etc.  The people in space will have
          lots of time--this will give them something to do, as
          well as provide a sense of security in what can be a
          dangerous environment (they'll know they can fix the
          "house" if it cracks/etc.).

               Starting motivation differs from continuing
          motivation.  Compulsion = Addiction

               What language (human) can best get across the
          "future concepts" as well as "conceptualization" of the
          concepts (eg. spatial abilities)?  This would offer an
          evolutionary advantage or at least a chance for change.
               After more thought, and an understanding of how we
          can thank ice ages for any drastic evoltionary changes,
          I now think women are the most likely to change.  They
          have the pressure and the need.  Nowadays, they are under
          tremendous pressure from such things as: being a wife, a
          mother, a worker, managing the house, and many other
          stuff.  Yet, as a whole, they are "realistic" thinkers--
          caring overmuch about the here and now, not utilizing
          imagination or spatial capabilities.

          ---
          A Summary of my primary beliefs:
          1. Concept of self.
            a) Start off by saying: I am <state your name>!
               Say it a few times.  Now say: I am <state your
               first name>!
               Get used to saying this.  Eventually you'll be able
               to say: I am!
               And eventually you'll just "feel it".
            b) "I am the most important being in the universe."
               Who is more important than you?  Nobody.  When
               you're gone--what does the rest of the universe
               matter.  You can't do anything in it, you can't
               enjoy it, it's worthless.  A person holding a gun
               at you, holding your life in his hands, is not more
               important than you.  Sure, he's in a better
               position than you, but given time, you to will
               obtain that position (please extrapolate this
               example as far as you are able).
          2. Purpose of life.
            a) The purpose of life is to survive.  Simple as that.
               There is nothing after your body decays, so it's
               best you do your best to survive.  Nothing else
               matters.  If need be, sacrifice the rest of the
               universe to keep yourself alive.  If another being
               threatens your existence, it is your moral duty to
               eliminate the threat.
            b) What are you.  You are a single being in the
               universe.  A dot smaller than an atom.  There are
               unlimited numbers of other beings, of all shapes
               and designs, thoughout the universe, and throughout
               time.  You're just another one.  Nothing at all
               special about you.  Nothing at all special about
               any of the others.  All beings, given time, can do,
               be, or have, whatever any other being does, is, or
               has.
          3. Concept of others.
            a) The purpose and reason for the existence of other
               beings: to aid you in your struggle to survive.
               Yes, all others are worthless in comparison to you,
               to be sacrificed should they be endangering your
               existence.  But you should be sure to know that
               they're efforts at survival can aid your own.
               Therefore, a cooperative effort is usually
               best--but never forget you are the most important.
            b) Aliens share the same purpose and drives you do.
               They of course exist, assume it.  Having said this,
               I can only recommend a prolonged and careful
               "dance" to develop proper relations.  In first
               meeting, you will have more success running and
               hiding behind a fort, rather than confronting and
               trying to make friends (which, without
               preparations, understanding, and knowledge, could
               easily backfire and find the two cultures at war).
               But they may contain the secrets as well to your
               survival.
          ---

               It really is like some damn game.  Planets towards
          middle of galaxy get to space faster, and have shorter
          distances to go to other planets.  Planets on the rim
          take longer to get to space.  And because other planets
          are so far away, they need to develop long distance
          technology first--whereas the near planet could evolve
          into it (or not develop it at all).  The near planet
          would therefore be more likely to have war's with it's
          neighbors.  (Leading to decay or faster advancing
          technology--need to think about these implicatations).

               Definition of sentient: given time you could learn
          all there is to know.  The decision will be technology
          based.  Something along the line "this species has
          no capactity to learn'.  Also there will be a need to
          find ways to communicate (effectively), if you wish to
          teach that species.

          The next evolution, I've seen two names: Homo Supierior
          and Hyper Sapien.  Homo Supierior (sp?) comes from Marvel
          Comics--it's what mutants called themselves.  Hyper
          Sapien is what I saw as a name on a Disney channel show.
          It, probably, refers to an advanced, but human, race
          living on another planet.

               The brain isn't really meant to memorize movies.
          It's not a naturally evolved feature.  Over time you
          forget most of all movies (the older the time, the more
          you forget).  Now we have "refreshers" known as
          VCR's--this could provide brain growth.
          Also, Stimulation by rediscovery -> less growth/stagnant
          Or, Stimulation by frustration to remember -> more
          growth.  Think about.  On one hand there is pressure for
          the brain to evolve better animation handling (to recall
          movies) on the other we're developing technology to
          better refresh whatever brain cells do remember the
          movie.

               The mere fact that there are "universal constants"
          suggests a steady-state universe.

          From The Beserker Throne, Fred Saberhagen:  Notes that
          for large "doors" in space, a forcefield is best.  Idea
          of creating an escape plan.  Even you think you'll never
          want to, try to, or be able to, it would still be useful
          in an emergency.  The book says this from a prisoner's
          point of view--but that needn't always be the case.

               Quark, etc. testing may be not be concrete--as they
          aren't taking  into account the "space" at that point.
          That is, we don't have an accurate view of what "space"
          really is--especially when there's no matter in it.

               Idea from Fred Saberhagen's Beserker Attack (Smasher
          story):  besides computer time, fight computers by
          occuping their sensors--keeping it busy chasing
          ghosts/etc.

               Dogs can't take alchol--they know not how to make
          it, therefore are not at fault when they do. (same
          w/humans?)

               From space, a single planet looks extremely small in
          the universe.  Perhaps there aren't any protects from FTL
          stuff.

               Use last memories to determine if two people are
          clones or not.  More recent memories = older version.
          From the movie: The Clone Master

               The 750,000 - 100,000 (?) years ago european ice age
          caused a draught in the desert areas of (now) africa
          (sahara, etc.).  Thus the old ("first" human evolved) who
          followed to the north to withe regress of the glaciers,
          were separted from the original homeland of where man
          first formed, by a vast desert.  And the cold may have
          utimately killed them.  Left to isolation, those in
          africa again evolved, and moved north, again, when the
          ice age left.  Eventually the race that was trapped
          became Neanderthal's--only to be wiped out again when the
          ice age ended, and the "current" model of human swept out
          of southern africa.  During the ice ages, those in the
          south had no where to expand in africa.  The clustering
          and limited domains forces civilization and thought,
          which led to isolated devlopment.  They also cooperated,
          which, along with better technology, were deciding
          factors in wiping out the "primative" models who evolved
          (also, but more slowly) on the other side of the ice-age-
          formed desert barrier.
          --A&E Journey's "The Birth Of Europe"

               Black holes/etc. "lock down" space at that point.
          Fits w/my mapping view of space.  Then two rotating black
          holes must really produce some interesting effects.  If
          they're revolving around each other--say one smaller and
          one larger, like planets.  Could really stretch and
          deform space.

          Yonda N. McIntyre's Transition, 1990, NY, Bantam
          Doubleday Dell Publishing Group:
          Idea that maybe our "neighbors" in the galaxy would
          prepare earth like planets and leave them near us.
          Saying, "here, this is for you, lets be friends."
          Dividing up areas of the galaxy, giving each inhabited
          planet a "zone" of uninhabited planets/solar systems they
          can call their own.  (Actually a really good idea for
          peace).
          Idea that if our region of space was more active (or the
          moon spinned) then the first civilization to develop
          printing would go on and develop space ideas and
          literally dominate the planet through technology.
          "Sentience always evolves.  it just needs time.  Someday
          human beings will terraform some other lifeless world for
          some other people.  For beings who have not yet come into
          existence."  Using "Meercat's" to represent that any
          intelligent life should be saved (a Meercat was a weasel
          like creature--representing our cat's no doubt).
          Idea of making ships out of rock.  Like asteroids/etc.
          Sure, I've seen it everywhere, but I never really thought
          of them as ships--bases, yes, but not ships.
          If animals and stars "bloom" like punctuated eq. then so
          should civilizations  (especially in that "blooming"
          sector).

               One's current body position influences the spatial
          imagination system.  For instance, when you're sleeping
          and you decide to dream about driving--"driving" while
          sitting is rather hard--you keep wanting to lie down.
          It's also been well known that you have better recall if
          you can duplicate the environment in which you learned
          (whatever) in the first place.

          A movie, "Message From Space", had humans floating around
          in space and on planets with no apparent protection.
          Now, imagination says I should their technology had some
          of protective field about them at all times.  However, it
          raised an interesting thought; how hard would it be to
          bring an entire solar system to "earth normal" oxygen
          levels?  Also, from this movie, they had an invasion
          force attacking Earth.  To set an example of their power,
          they blew up the moon.  I would expect other conquering
          races to think along similar lines.  Therefore, we have
          an important delaying "example" in the form of the moon.
          Without it, they may choose a continent instead.

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          I PREDICT

          Trends:

               The 1990's will be the decade of the loss of the
          traditional office.  Thanks to scanners, optical drives,
          faster computers, most everything stored in file cabinets
          will be scanned and stored.  The key:  store the data in
          two forms; a complete image of a paper, and a note-file
          containing the text on that paper.  Those who have set up
          systems already are using terms like "can do more things
          with the data than before" (American(?) Airlines), and "I
          don't know how we did without it" (a talent agency).
          That's the exact thing they said about spreadsheets.
               When portable computers can record sound, it will be
          an excellent recorder for notes--then you later run it
          through a voice convert to get text of the talk.
               Voice computer interfaces will become popular.  It
          will save on keyboard wrist injures and allow the hiring
          of people who can't type for Data Entry jobs.
               Ultrasonic testing of machines (like aircraft, cars)
          will become popular.  Eventually for quality control on
          things like home electronics.
               I saw the team Battletech/Robotech simulator story
          on Beyond Tomorrow. For $6/30 min. you and others (4
          total?) get to play against another team.  Each person
          has their sit-down working arcade-like simulator.  It
          looks great and if they decide to allow us to access it
          over the phone it could really become something.  The
          simulator is somewhere in Chicago.  It really would solve
          a problem of computer games--we can't usually play
          against humans, since the really good games take too
          long.  Current BBS games just don't have good enough
          graphics.
               "Derms" will be greatly used.  Especially by the
          drug addicts.
               TV walls will become popular.
               Around 2000 we'll see credit card optical drives.
          In which a little optical disk is contained in a plastic
          credit card like package.
               Future w/digital TV:  end of news:  "we now take a
          minute to 'download' the newscast at high speed so you
          may record it to optical disk (versus analog now)."
               The twenty-first century will be the century of
          medicine.  Gibson got it right when he said body parts
          will be grown in vats.  The only thing keeping us from
          doing this is that we do not know how a baby develops
          given only the genetic code.  Once we break this code,
          and understand the biomechanics's of the process, it will
          be simple to duplicate.  It is, after all, just a
          biological device.
               Fetal tissue will also be greatly used.
               Evolution for the human race is dead.  Genetic
          engineering and biomedicine will create/modify us.
          Evolution is just too slow now.  Mutation may still occur
          (evolution on a single person).  Only in a regressed
          society from where we are now will it occur.
               Holographic will become a way of life.  Want a
          meeting: send your holograph to the theater then receive
          the holograph of what your holograph would see.  3D real
          life gaming.  All sorts of problems with handling
          reality.  Although wall TV's could cause similar
          problems.

          Potentials:

               If somehow either a higher baud could be handled by
          the phone lines, or a better compression technique is
          found, then Gibson's Cyberspace will become a reality.
          Although it can be imitated now.
               If a color scanner can be created and sold at a low
          price, then images to will follow the path of regular
          office files.  We can already print out onto film with
          the computer, we just cannot read it in right now.
               If we ever do develop faster than light travel,
          there will be a short(?) period in which everyone will be
          greedy wanting their own world--to create their own
          utopia's.

          What you can see:

               Movies often touch on a part of the future, while
          getting other parts wrong.  They are still an excellent
          source for visualization, some of the best are:

               Max Headroom Story.  The hypermedia, computer
               hackers, cartographic displays, and scanned brain -
               -> AI is correct.  The nuclear war part is false.

               Runaway.  Life with little robots running around.

               THX 1138.  Life in institutions will be similar to
               the life in general seen here.

               Aliens.  All but the terraforming is possible.  The
               terraforming takes too much time for their level of
               technology and would not be worth it.

               Dark Star.  The day-to-day life of people stuck
               with each other in space is accurate (without
               discipline).

               2010.  Again, the day-to-day life, and the work
               environment in space.

               A Boy and His Dog.  A robots life.

               Terminator.  Through the eyes of a robot.

               Blade Runner.  Mostly true.  Only the regular
               people and the appalling living conditions were
               probably false.

               Predator.  The defense system of the alien is
               nearly perfect.  The visual distorter, the eye-
               following blaster, the suit itself.  Only the idea
               of a miniature nuclear reactor was way off (too
               advanced for that level of technology).

               Total Recall.  The good and the bad of implanted
               memories.  As well as the technological
               implementation of the process.

          ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Questions:

          (1)  To any doctors reading this:  What is the policy
               regarding highly dangerous drugs and dying people?
               If a person is on their deathbed and a drug comes
               along that will cure them.  This drug will then
               give them intense pain, paralysis, and probable
               death in six months.  Is this drug given?

          (2)  Can CD-ROM data be transferred off the ROM disk?
               Erasable CD's will have an impact on us perhaps
               greater than that of the microcomputer.  Since it
               will quickly become the media storage standard of
               all forms of data.  We know it will supplant the
               current magnetic storage systems, what seems to be
               getting ignored is the effect on the traditional
               filing systems.  It takes about one MB to store a
               perfect color duplicate of a sheet of paper.  Even
               the current erasable drives can do 600 MB--a file
               drawer's worth of storage.  What I'm curious about
               is the current storage methods.  Do they use a DOS
               standard method or some unique proprietary system?

          (3)  Intel is in an admirable position with its super
               risc and the image compression technology.  Do any
               other companies, such as Sony, have plans to
               develop similar image compression electronics for
               erasable optical drives?

          (4)  When chess computers finally destroy all human
               opponents should we modify/expand the game or
               abandon it as obsolete?  Personally I prefer to
               abandon it and have the chess masters create a
               similar but much larger and harder game.  It should
               involve spatial strategy, combatants, and generally
               be hard for computers to play using only brute
               force.  Or maybe three-dimensional chess?  I have
               never tried it.  Fist tic-tac-toe, then othello,
               and now. . .

          (5)  Asimov had an interesting weapon in one of his
               books: a microwave gun.  It spewed microwaves at a
               living object and would literally cook it to death.
               If I took apart and modified my microwave oven
               could it be so dangerous?

          (6)  What are some examples of conversion of energy to
               matter?

          (7)  Would civilization collapse without radio and
               Television?

          ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Conclusion

               What I really want the reader to get out of this
          paper is the following:
               1)   Gravity does not exist.
               2)   Time does not exist.
               3)   Math does not exist.
               4)   One God does not exist.  All gods should not
                    exist.
               5)   One's own life is the most important.
               6)   Convergent evolution among advanced races is
                    probably the norm.
               7)   While not strongly pointed out here.  Both
                    science fiction and computer games provide
                    vivid truths about the rise and fall of life.
                    All life (like empires and governments) go
                    through a long struggle to survive, and then
                    at some future point go into a state of decay.

               Too many things are created by us and then thought
          to exist.  Our perceptions become tainted by our
          expectations.  Little thought has been directed to the
          fact that we control our own destiny's.  It is the denial
          of this single thought that causes the fear of death,
          leading to hope that something must save us from death.
          We all choose to live or die, each moment opportunities
          exist for us to kill ourselves should we really want to.
          Many people are members of the living dead, longing for
          the past, or some better life--too scared to kill
          themselves, but still thinking that they are alive.  If
          you are not going to change and help change then when you
          die you will have had X years of no change, once dead you
          cannot change anything, therefore you had died X years
          earlier.  On the other hand, while you are alive the hope
          that you will experience change and growth is always a
          possibility.

          Final comments

               My immediate plans are to release a new version of
          this document every two-months or so.
               I also would like to see William Gibson's ideas of
          Cyberspace begun.  It can start with a simple autodialer
          that looks like a three-dimensional grid with boxes on
          it--in which each box represents some BBS (the grid
          should be overlaid on a state and LATA map).  Then you
          just "fly" to the box you want--hit it, and the
          autodialer dials it.  Eventually we can extend this to
          some BBS and a communication programs.
               I also would be interested in finding about
          companies that are preserving organic matter.
               This document was not meant to challenge your
          reading skills, but to challenge your imagination.  I
          want you to find flaws in my arguments and tell me.
          Constructive comments, any "I liked it" or "I hated it"
          will just get thrown out.

               I can be reached via:

                    IMMORTALITY, modem: 414-643-1576
                       -my BBS, one of the best.

                    Exec-PC, modem: 414-789-4210
                       -national archive, the best.

                    Mail: PO Box 15218, Milw., WI 53215


                                   John Rohner


               Death is murder.

               . . .how do you establish a possibility?  By
               finding it impossible to eliminate a
               possibility, a beginning is made at
               establishing one.

               When you have eliminated the impossible,
               whatever remains, however improbable, must be
               the truth.
                                   --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
                                   The Sign of Four

               Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to
               be known.
                                                --CARL SAGAN

          Ok, who am I.

               26 years old.  Attended Walker Junior High and
          Washington High here in Milwaukee.  I am currently living
          in Milwaukee.
               I've a BS from the University of Wisconsin
          (Madison).  My major was Cartography.  I consider myself
          a Cartographer/Programmer.  I enjoy, and hope to
          specialize in, Geographical Information Systems.
               I am a hacker.  I own five computers: a 12.5 AT
          w/SVGA, three turbo XT's, and a TRS-80 Model I.  I've
          been programming since 1979.  A dozen languages and a
          dozen systems and I'm quite bored by it all.
               I am a collector.  An elite as well.  I find
          "conquer the universe" strategy games to be most
          interesting, including CRPG's.
               I believe in direct action.  Earth First!,
          Greenpeace, animal rights, the anti-fur people, freedom
          of all forms of information, full space
          exploration/development, etc.  If it's good I support it.
               I loath religion and those who believe anything is
          more important than themselves--your religion should be
          the sum of YOUR beliefs.  My goal is immortality.
               I have complete faith in my own conclusions, but I
          am not so concrete that I wouldn't change them given
          sufficient counter-arguments.
               This document started out, and continues to be, an
          external memory source for me.

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Index:

          ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

          Additional references:


               William Gibson, Burning Chrome, (Ace Books/The
               Berkley Publishing Group/Charter Communications:
               New York, 1986).

               William Gibson, Neuromancer, (Ace Books/The Berkley
               Publishing Group/Charter Communications: New York,
               1984).

               William Gibson, Count Zero, (Ace Books/The Berkley
               Publishing Group/Charter Communications: New York,
               1986).

               William Gibson, Mona Lisa Overdrive, (Bantam
               Doubleday Dell Publishing Group: New York, 1988)

               L. Ron Hubbard, Battlefield Earth, (St. Martin's
               Press: New York, 1982).

               Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn, Robots and
               Empire, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second
               Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and
               Earth, (in the order I think they should be read)

               Doctor Who, Star Trek, Space: 1999, Battlestar
               Galactica, Blakes 7, etc. television series and
               movies.

               Marvel comics.