Response by Sam Cox to "Cosmic Perspective" by Allen (U.S.A.)

Mr. Allen's abstract is well written, and makes it clear that his views are a new interpretation of recent developments of Physics in a more classical vein. As I read his paper, I almost had the feeling of going down memory lane! I say this not in a critical sense, for time has a way of bringing us back to the profound insights of the past. Moreover, Mr. Allen does have some truly new ideas. However, I must say I do not share Mr. Allen's views on most of the issues he discusses.

There is one notable exception to my general disagreement with Mr. Allen and that is his assertion that essential relationships exist between science, philosophy and even religion, yet that latter relationship is quicksand, beset with traps for the unwary. All this is especially true since we each have a "Philosophical Bias" which inclines us to "see things our own way".

In my response, I will speak to the issues addressed by Mr. Allen's paper in the context of an outline of a possible world-life view implied by General Relativity. I try to do this in a friendly spirit of objectivity. I hope I will clarify my major conceptual differences with Mr. Allen, and at the same time indicate how correct he is in speaking to the necessary relationship between science, philosophy and religion.

Having read Mr. Allen's abstract, "Cosmology Review" readers may be surprised to find that I start my response with a brief lesson in 21st century Geometry! One of the reasons why General Relativity seems so difficult, and experimental data are perplexing to interpret, is that we lack a clear understanding of the boundaries and "shape" of the GR universe! General Relativity doesn't go from out there to out there! It goes from out there to INSIDE ourselves- and everything else. In General Relativity, space is not only curved, it is round, like the Earth. The motion of time, space and energy is circular or periodic, and that means things start and restart forever at the place of origin. We return to ourselves! Yet, it is not quite that simple, for the universe is in eternal free fall, so the circular motions of time, space and energy describe a helix, or spiral. Does that spiral proceed in a direction which influences the universe? I think so, and interested readers can check my response to Mr. Kay!

In an unpublished note to Dr. Crawford some time ago, I spoke of our presence in the universe as being similar to a that of a child playing in piles of plastic balls at a MacDonalds play park. I would imagine these play parks are common around the world, so our international readers probably know what I'm talking about! Children climb into a closed area and play in a "sea" of plastic spheres.

The universe starts everywhere and ends nowhere! This sounds simple, but I'll wager most of our readers are reserving judgment until they hear more? The "Big Bang" started at every frame of reference at the same cosmic "time" (better, coordinate). There are many important reasons for the necessity of this singular event, and I'll discuss the creation of Hydrogen and Helium in the right proportions shortly. Because of the singular origin of the cosmos, we are not really, in any ultimate sense, separated from even the most distant galaxy. We share a most intimate kinship with everything else in the universe. This is related mathematically to the fact that, at the speed of light, time ceases to pass and we would be everywhere in the universe at the same "time".

The idea that the universe began like an explosion from a single place, a geometric point is heterodox to General Relativity, yet how could the universe start everywhere and yet nowhere at the same cosmic time? This is counterintuitive in the extreme, but the fact that in a 7-Dimensional Universe, the new hemisphere is born in the heart of every frame of reference of its symmetrical counterpart gives us a clue to how everywhere and nowhere can be superimposed.

Since my undergraduate days, I have suspected that Endothermic (Chemical reactions requiring the application of heat) and Exothermic (Chemical reactions which release heat) processes are 4-D projections of Thermodynamic Reversibility in a much more dimensionally complex universe. It has been clear for some time that in our 4-D reality, time and entropy reversal are impossible- and the math bears this fact out, for only one time direction is possible in 4-D. However, starting in about 1970, mathematicians began to investigate the possibility that Thermodynamic Reversibility might be possible in universes of higher dimensional configuration. The discovery of Antimatter, entropy problems in a 4-D universe, and glaring conservation of mass and energy problems in a 4-D universe, plus some natural human curiosity prompted these investigations. The pairing of linear dimensions, and the existence of both matter and antimatter in the 7-D model permits inverse mapping and a kind of "time reversal" without an "inverse process".

My conjectures, (and those of many scientists far more important than me!) in the early 60's meant nothing, for science did not yet have the tools to check for the existence of a "Dual universe". Today, work on "Dark Matter" is beginning to indicate neutrons and possible invisible "anti-atoms". In addition, the recent discovery that the universe may be accelerating outward, plus mathematical and particle accelerator discoveries, are adding to evidence for a universe in more than 4-D. Of all the experimental evidence accumulating, none is more astounding than the discovery that the universe, or at least a part of it, may be accelerating outward toward the Big Bang.

Why would the universe accelerate toward the place of its origin? In 4-D this observation is completely counterintuitive! In 7-D, this is behavior we would expect. In a dual universe, one hemisphere is departing the "Big Bang" and flying apart, while its sister hemisphere of reversed polarity is at the same time accelerating toward what to it is not a "Big Bang", but a "Black Hole". Since light is common to both hemispheres, and it is the tool Astronomers use to make most measurements, we can, in a 7-D reality expect to find evidence for both expansion and contraction in the 7-D Einsteinian Hyperspherical Universe. From our frame of reference, acceleration away is really contraction toward the "Black Hole" (what we observe as a "Big Bang") by the antiverse. The observation relates to the changing proportionate universal/antiversal volumes of space/time, as observed from a distant frame of reference where the "size" of each of the two hemispheres seems to be unbalanced.

When we use a common plunger in the bathroom, the wood handle pushes the pole of the rubber hemisphere along the axis to the center, and the outside surface on the top becomes the inside surface on the bottom. This is not a bad 4-Dimensional projection of a dual 7-D universe turning itself inside out and reversing polarity. My Physics students are always impressed when I turn my shirt inside out and show them the hem side and the pocket side, or when we make a Mobius strip.

Our existence lies, from our frame of reference, midway between everywhere and nowhere. The reason, of course, is that space is "round". As we change position or coordinates, half way around is still, half way around to the "other side". If we look anywhere, and start from anywhere in the universe, by symmetry, we have the sensation of "being in the middle"...and we ARE...the reality of the eternal present. We feel we are at the center of our own little "unique" sphere. Spheres farther away are smaller from our frame of reference. We "see" conditions as they existed "there" in the "past". If we travel there, we find worlds unknown, each different in some way from our own. At the "Big Bang", there are no spheres, only a 360 Degree Black Hole...non-existence. If we could continue to the other side of the "Big Bang" we would emerge into a universal hemisphere in the final throes of collapse. If we continued further, we would return to ourselves, in exactly the same way as we can go to London by traveling around the circumference of the Earth.

Mr. Allen does not accept a Big Bang as a practical reality of the universe, yet, so far as I can determine, there is no other way to create Hydrogen, the cornerstone of the universe. One of the problems involved in trying to create Hydrogen by "other processes" on a massive scale, is the violation of the laws of thermodynamics which is required. As topologists would say: such action requires a different direction of topological evolution from that found in a 4-D universe. Were Mr. Allen to accept a 7-D universe, and I see no evidence he considers the idea, two distinct directions of topological evolution would become possible, heavy elements could become hydrogen- and the Titanic disaster would "undo" itself.

Little Bangs, or Black Holes are part of the universal picture- not universes to themselves, for only the "master universe" has the critical mass, 10⁵³ Kg which can call forth life and the conditions of reality.

Lets trace an atom of Carbon over the history of a Universal cycle, and see where Hydrogen comes from, and the role it plays in a 7-D universe. The Carbon atom, and every other frame of reference in the universe, "stays in the same place" in a GR universe, for the entire 100-200 billion year cycle of its existence. From the point of view of the Carbon atom, and for that matter, any other frame of reference, only conditions in its immediate environment change...it goes nowhere.

Right "now", that Carbon atom is in my body and plays an important part in my life functions. The carbon atom may be excreted from my body, or be returned to the Earth by my death. In either case, environmental conditions change and the Carbon atom may be separated from other atoms to which it is linked in chemical combination, or be recombined in any number of chemical processes over the next 5 billion years. Eventually, as the Sun burns out, the Earth is vaporized, and the Carbon atom becomes part of the Sun, which becomes a white dwarf. After eons of silence and increasing chill, the Carbon atom experiences a polarity change in a bean shaped, time-like singularity on the hypersphere. After that time, the environment begins to warm up, and the Sun comes to life again, this time as a Hydrogen creating machine. The sun absorbs vast quantities, (5,000,000 tons per second) of energy and uses this energy to "rebuild" itself. In this process, our Carbon atom finds itself first in a gaseous cloud surrounding the Sun and then back on the surface of a reviving Earth. Eventually, this Carbon atom finds its identical coordinates in my body, but my consciousness now is of a different kind than I experienced on the other side of the hypersphere. Everything works out OK. There is no death, only a "younging" process.

I keep getting questions from our readers about this "younging" process, and the experience of consciousness in the antiverse. The best prose I can find is in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures; (Isaiah 60:19and 20) "The Sun shall no more be thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God, thy glory. Thy Sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself (go through phases); for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended."

The Carbon again leaves my body and enters the bodies of countless other organisms, until there are no organisms on Earth. The Earth becomes a cloud of gas and dust. Our Carbon atom finds its way into interstellar space. Sooner or later, it reaches the place where it began to exist as Carbon. It fragments into 3 Helium nuclei, some of which go back to the Big Crunch. Others absorb further energy and break into Hydrogen atoms. Gradually, the forebears of our Carbon atom are joined by other Hydrogen and Helium atoms- in exactly the right mass and proportion necessary to re-create the universe.

Temperatures increase. Atoms disassociate. Silence. Nothingness. As fast as the lights go out, they go on again. Photon fluid (singularity) finds itself in a new hemisphere of the SAME UNIVERSE. All the forms are there, preserved in the still existing hemisphere. Random photons reform the same Hydrogen and Helium atoms, at the same coordinates as they went in. The universe, in reversed polarity, reorganizes. Hydrogen and Helium atoms, the forbears of our Carbon atom appear. Eventually, in the nuclear furnace of a Supernova, our Hydrogen atoms combine to Helium. Three Helium nuclei form our Carbon atom AT THE SAME COORDINATES at which it disintegrated! How could such a ridiculous thing happen? How could each part of the universe find itself? Finding itself was NO PROBLEM for our Carbon atom BECAUSE IT STAYED IN THE SAME PLACE THE WHOLE "Time". NO FRAME OF REFERENCE IN THE UNIVERSE MOVES! How can anything get lost if it doesn't GO anywhere? All this "time", only the conditions of the universe around our atom have changed. Frames of reference are forever. Everything in the universe exists permanently, interacting with changing conditions, forever. As we say in English: "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

Here is something to "reward" our mathematician readers. I said, in another response, that in all likelihood, the universe has a photon based frame of reference system. Sharpen your pencils and listen to this. At the speed of light, a photon is everywhere in the universe at the same time. What is the mathematical relationship between being everywhere in the universe at the same time, and not moving at all?

I just said that frames of reference are eternal, and they don't move. Why is it necessary for a photon, which is already everywhere, to move anywhere? It isn't! If a photon is the basic unit of frame of reference, it really doesn't move at all...it just seems, from every other frame of reference relative to it, to move at 300,000KPS. This is not only a problem in Topology, it tells us that photons may be the key to the eternal nature of a GR universe!

For readers who are NOT mathematicians, what I have just said may sound obtuse, but it means that you, I and everything else in a GR universe in NO WAY can EVER be lost. Our names are written in eternity. The chances we could get lost in THIS universe are about the same as the chances that a great pyramid in Egypt could raise from the ground on its own, flip over, and remain perfectly balanced on its point, without props- forever.

I'm reminded, when confronted with this kind of stability, in a seeming instable world, where the pyramid seems to be poised, upside down, with only the tiniest prop, of the verse in the Judeo-Christian scriptures (Isaiah 54:10) which says: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

If we have ever worried that God might have forgotten us, that we might be lost in the universe, an insignificant, passing cog in the wheel of creation, we should forget it! In an Einsteinian Hyperspherical Universe, we are unique, an eternal part of everything. We have our own special time and place for eternal being. There is no need to feel insignificant. When we awaken from death we are still here, in fact physical "death" we find, is something only to be feared from certain frames of reference, and is a part of the scheme of things. "Death" permits us and the universe to go on.

Einstein understood this WELL. He not only conceptualized General Relativity- he lived it. The calmness with which he approached death reflected his confidence that death, like time itself is an illusion. I've lived inside the GR model so long, I can understand how Einstein felt. To truly learn and understand, is I think, the ultimate accomplishment in life, for we find that fear is gone. Gods presence notwithstanding, the understood universe is no longer so mystical- and we are no longer children. In the words of Arthur C. Clarke; "We have reached Childhood's End".

As "Adults" living in an EHU, we must never forget that our frame of reference is real. Because we exist forever, what we do and decide is significant, and in a way we do not understand, plays a role in the continued existence and "future eternal" conditions of reality. People who seem important in our world may be useless or worse than useless in the other world- and universe as a whole. People who seem insignificant in our world can make a significant and useful contribution to what the universe is becoming. Even the most incredibly evil and stupid people have a part to play in the structure of the universe. If they were removed, we might suddenly cease to exist! Key people, essential to giving a proper direction to reality would not be there- and the universe would drift toward increasing entropy and destruction. A part of the cathedral of the sky would collapse.

The Earth and other life-giving planets function as the "Cockpit" of the universe, the infinity inward of a General Relativity universe. Communication is instantaneous via light, for time ceases to pass at light speed, and each photon affects the other instantaneously, connecting the universe in a manner not appropriately described in terms of "Time".

Because we are limited by our frame of reference, and lack both experience and a sense of direction, we begin the process of learning by understanding how little we know. We learn to trust those who know more than we and have been down the road of life ahead of us. We contribute our skills. Others contribute theirs. We learn to work as a team to make things happen. One scientist conceptualizes. One scientist works the math. Another scientist dedicates his or her life to fieldwork. Comparing notes, we begin to see the truth about the universe and ourselves. We model our religious beliefs according to our knowledge of the truth in the cosmos- and, in an IMPORTANT feedback process, are astounded to find that, to a large extent, we confirm the intuition of our forebears.

Beyond our parents, our teachers and our mentors, we learn to trust and seek guidance from the ultimate conscious presence, God who loved us so much he made us a part of his eternal plan and gave us an eternal place in the universe. Realizing that the Universe is not in a "free fall to nowhere" in a poised General Relativity universe, we do not feel trapped, but have confidence that through coincidence, and a variety of subtle effects the events of our lives will gradually change for the better over eternity, and that we will become what God wants us to be, now and forever.

I'll bet the readers of "Cosmology Review" never believed a brief Geometry summary could so quickly become philosophical- even religious! I did this to show that what Mr. Allen says is true; the Mathematics, the Physics, the Biology and the Chemistry lead directly to the philosophical, metaphysical, and religious, however each metaphysical assertion must be directly related to a key scientific idea, must not violate the context of the concept and must conform to the holistic view.

Our holistic view, our scientific concept of reality is important, FUNDAMENTALLY important, and if it is wrong, brother are we in philosophical trouble! We would be well advised, in such a circumstance to retreat to "The Faith of Our Fathers"! In fact, one very good reason for keeping science and religion separate, is that the universe is eternal and can be depended on to respect honesty, objectivity and humility, while trusting science, for all its achievements, can be like trusting the shifting sands!

I only allowed a little metaphysical digression on the theme of General Relativity because GR is in a high state of experimental verification...and I was more than a little curious!

Some readers may be incredulous at my seeming inability to "pick up" characteristics of the Einsteinian Hyperspherical Universe which they take to imply a lack of a need for God. If the universe is eternal, and we repeat ourselves forever, why is God necessary? To answer this objection, lets start here on Earth, infinity inward. Where do we come from? If we take the frame of reference of eternity, that question is meaningless. However, where is reality found in the universe? AT EACH FRAME OF REFERENCE. We live in a real dynamic world where we must act and react to survive. Quantum Mechanics is REAL, and so are all the physical principles which accurately describe the cosmos. From our reference frame, do complex orderly systems emerge in a universal hemisphere where the Second Law of Thermodynamics reigns supreme?

Yes, they most definitely do! Even if life in the antiverse, working via light, chance, natural selection, and chaos theory works to bring us about, this higher order must be called "God" and assigned consciousness- for we are conscious at lower levels of order. Needless to say, our definition of God is important in an EHU, and perhaps I'll touch on that subject in a later response.

If the universe exists forever, and there is nothing outside it, where does "God" come in? Does religion teach that God is not eternal, or that there is anything outside him? If the universe is created and re-created endlessly, does this fact justify the assumption that God is not involved? Is it not true in a quantum reality that intelligent observation brings (collapses) reality into existence? My point of course, is that everything man has ever believed about God may be true, but as we scientifically investigate, we may see things differently as we understand the cosmos better.

Lastly, God, like General Relativity must be logically precise and consistent. God cannot deny himself, (the realities of his own being) even if from our frame of reference we think he has. Our frame of reference is enough to enable us to infer the nature of "Ultimate Reality", but there is no way we can see the end from the beginning and even begin to understand the logic behind and profound nature of what is going on around us.

Faith is the bottom line. We ultimately have to have faith, and look to higher order because we know higher order exists, and have no choice but to assume on the basis of the magnificence of creation, that God does know what he is doing. Our single frame of reference, along with our biological and environmental heritage, as individuals makes us human and gives meaning to our existence, but it is also a leash!

And so we find control in the universe! In a GR universe, making us human was a way to attain universal objectives (in ways we can at present only partly understand) while controlling our destructive inclinations; our arrogance and pride. Our being "human" is, among other things, the means by which the divine presence keeps us at arms length! Yet looking a "gift horse" in the mouth is very unthankful! I would imagine that this matter of understanding Gods concern for our being as betrayed in the nature of the GR universe must be related to the concern of God that we be reconciled to and reunited with him. My best estimate of the GR universe is that a lot of water has already gone over the dam, and the place is definitely a benevolent monarchy!

I must say that I disagree at the most fundamental level with many concepts Mr. Allen puts forth. Yet, as we have seen, there is a point on which Mr. Allen and I strongly agree. So far as can be scientifically determined, we live in a (7-D and up) Einsteinian Universe, pure and simple. To Mr. Allen, Relativity SEEMS counterintuitive, but Einsteinian logic is precise and powerful. The predictions of relativity have been verified in the most awesome way- at the cost of billions of dollars. The contrary "evidence": Mr. Allen puts forth can be interpreted in other ways, fully consistent with the Special and General Theories of Relativity.

I also don't really feel that Mr. Allen is discussing "New Physics", although I will be quick to point out, I have read but a portion of his quite comprehensive work. Quite to the contrary, it seems to me, that most of what he discusses is quite classical. Yet, Mr. Allen has a fine intuitive sense, obviously is scientifically trained and makes points that it would be well for the scientific world to consider.

If we live in a minimum 7 dimensional General Relativity universe, and I strongly believe we do, it would be most wise for all of us to be kind to each other. We are going to keep each other company for a very long time!

Human intuition has led us to believe in eternal life by faith. Proving the existence of eternal life scientifically however, is a completely different matter. Factually knowing that we are all eternally and individually important, adds a dimension to our lives and is a turning point in world history.

We must redouble our efforts to secure the blessings of liberty for all people. We must work to eliminate human ignorance and misery. We must train our children to deeply care about, and protect the rights of others. We must educate humanity to recognize tyrants and demagogues and develop peaceful ways to promptly displace them from positions of power and influence in human society. We must induce talented, caring and decisive people to take positions of leadership. We must develop our science in a spirit of humility, and discover more about our God given roles and responsibilities in the cosmos.

It is hard to believe the world we know could become truly free, peaceful and just. Yet, as we have just seen, anything can happen in a General Relativity Universe. Somehow, unbelief in a GR universe seems out of place. Yet to a very large extent, if the 7-D and up Einsteinian Hyperspherical Universe is scientifically proven, skepticism will have been the key to our success! In this fact, we learn that tolerance, rooted in respect for our individuality is a pillar of the GR universe, essential to success in engineering, science and above all, religion.

Sincerely,

Samuel A. (Sam) Cox College of Micronesia May 16, 2000 fd5

Postscript

After I wrote this response stressing frames of reference, the following GR item was posted. Mathematically it is shown that the 43 Arc seconds of precession per century in the orbit of Mercury can be predicted equally well if the Sun orbits Mercury, rather than Mercury orbiting the Sun! Frames of reference in a GR universe are at the center of everything, as I have just said. My point is that frames of reference, around which the entire universe orbits can be as small as the Photon itself...quite a bit smaller than Mercury! This is a quality of an ulta-complex, ultra-stable, eternal and multidimensional universe.

gr-qc/0005040 [abs, pdf] :

Title: Advance of Mercury Perihelion Explained by Cogravity
Authors: C.J. de Matos, M. Tajmar
Comments: 13 pages

The theory of General Relativity explains the advance of Mercury perihelion using space curvature and the Schwartzschild metric. We demonstrate that this phenomena can also be interpreted due to the cogravitational field produced by the apparent motion of the Sun around Mercury giving exactly the same estimate as derived from the Schwartzschild metric in general relativity theory. This is a surprising result because the estimate from both theoretical approaches match exactly the measured value. The discussion and implications of this result is out of the scope of the present work. (74kb)