IK Multimedia's iRig Pro I/O

IK Multimedia's iRig Acoustic Stagem
“Almost all people are hypnotics.
The proper authority saw to it that the proper belief should be induced and the people believed properly.”
— Charles Hoy Fort

Monday, May 03, 2010

Is Time Travel Possible? Analysis by Robert Lamb

I'm thinking the key phrase to all that's said below is ever so likely to be... "as we understand it."

Is Time Travel Possible?
Analysis by Robert Lamb | Thu Apr 22, 2010

It's not glamorous, but it's time travel.

From summer blockbusters to sensational science headlines, modern culture is constantly inundated with tales of time travel. But when you boil down the physics involved, is it possible to travel through time?

To answer this question, I tracked down theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, author of How to Build a Time Machine.

We are all time travelers

"The short answer is that time travel into the future is not only possible, it's been done, and we've known about it for over a century," says Davies. "The reason that the public doesn't seem to know about it is because the amount of time travel involved is so pitifully small that it doesn't make for a Doctor Who style adventure."

A phenomenon called time dilation is the key here. Time passes more slowly the closer you approach the speed of light -- an unbreakable cosmic speed limit. As such, the hands of a clock in a speeding train would move more slowly than those in a stationary clock. The difference would not be humanly noticeable, but when the train pulled back into the station, the two clocks would be off by billionths of a second. If such a train could attain 99.999 percent light speed, only 1 year would pass onboard for every 223 years back at the train station.

But speed isn't the only factor that affects time. On a much smaller scale, mass also influences time. Time slows down the closer you are to the center of a massive object.

"Time runs a little bit faster in space than it does down on Earth," Davies says. "It runs a little faster on the roof than it does in the basement, and that's a measurable effect."

A clock aboard an orbiting satellite experiences time dilation due to both the speed of its orbit and its greater distance from the center of Earth's gravity.

"Both gravity and speed can give you a means of jumping ahead," Davies says. "So in principle, if you had enough money, you could get to the year 3000 in as short a time as you like -- one year, one month, whatever it takes. It is only a question of money and engineering."

Forward, not back?

Time travel into the future is an established and fundamental aspect of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Scientists have tested and retested this in both experimental and practical settings. But what about time travel in the opposite direction?

"Going back in to the past is a whole different kettle of fish." Davies says. "There's nothing in Einstein's theory, which is the best theory that we have about the nature of time, which precludes it. There's nothing in even his general theory of relativity, published in 1915, which precludes travel back into the past, but many scientists are deeply uneasy about it because of all the well-known paradoxes that it unleashes."

For instance, imagine going back in time and killing your own mother. Then she'd never give birth to you, and just how would you have been able to travel back in time to commit matricide in the first place?

Wormholes as spacetime shortcuts

Davies surmises that, given our current understanding of the nature of time and physics, time travel into the past simply isn't possible. But the universe is full of mysteries, and one of them -- the hypothetical wormhole -- might just permit such a journey.

"This is a little bit like a tunnel or shortcut between two distant points," Davies says, "So for example, if I had a wormhole here in my hotel room and I jumped through it I wouldn't come out on Pennsylvania Avenue, I'd maybe come out near the other side of the galaxy."

Scientists have theorized that such a shortcut through time and space could be turned into a time machine.

"If a worm hole could exist and could be traversable, then it would provide a means of going back in time," Davies says. "So it all hinges on whether stable wormholes are a reality or if there's some aspect of physics -- not relativity, because there's nothing wrong from that point of view -- but some other aspect of physics might intercede and prevent the wormhole from forming. That's an open question."

World-famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has proposed that wormholes occurring at a quantum level could theoretically provide a foothold for time travel, but University of California at Santa Barbara physicist Andrew Cleland urges caution on that front.

"I'm an experimentalist, and physics is ultimately an experimental science," Cleland says. "Any predictions that are made based on mathematics or on philosophical or intellectual speculation have to pass the test of experiment, and I am certainly not aware of any experiment that demonstrated the possibility of traveling backward in time."

Cause and effect

Cleland also points out that the fundamental principle of causality stands in the way of travel into the past. The entire universe, as we understand it, is beholden to this rule.

"Something occurs first and the outcome of that occurrence happens afterward," Cleland says, "and there has never to my knowledge been an experiment that came out different from that. I am not aware of any experimental tests of quantum mechanics that have shown any violation of causality, in spite of the fact that many experiments could reveal such a violation."

Still, in the same way that time dilation isn't flashy enough to seem like time travel into the future, the public often overlooks a very common means of "traveling" into the past.

"In a sense, astronomers are always traveling backward in time, but it is in a way that most people are not so excited about," Cleland says. "When we measure the cosmic microwave background, we're looking back more than 10 billion years in time. That's how long it took for the light to reach us."

A number of questions about time travel remain unanswered. Will time tourists from the future ever show up to help us out? We'll just have to wait and see. But if they come here using a wormhole time machine, we'll have to build one first. After all, you couldn't cross a bridge if only one side had been completed, right?

"Theoretically, it would take more than 100 years to create a 100-years' time difference between the two ends of a wormhole," Davies says, "so there's no way that our descendants could come back and tell us we're wrong about this."

***

Hat tip to the Konformist.

Hidden Wisdom: The Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Email: newbooks@disinfo.com
Web: www.Hidden-Wisdom.com

"The best book about the secret tradition I've read for many years.
Tim Wallace-Murphy writes with style, passion and truth. A magnificent achievement."
— Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods

NEW YORK (APRIL 26, 2010) — From Egyptian mythology to Jewish mysticism, Rome and Greece to the Druids and the Gnostics, Tim Wallace-Murphy exposes a fascinating lineage of hidden mysteries and secret societies, continuing through the Templars, Rosicrucians and Freemasons to our modern visionaries. This hidden stream of spirituality and that of sacred knowledge are inseparably entwined to form the single most important continuous strand in the entire Western esoteric tradition.

This tradition exerted a seminal influence on the thinking of the builders of the great cathedrals, leading teachers in ecclesiastical schools, on philosophers, playwrights and poets such as Shakespeare, Goethe, Blake and W. B. Yeats, on artists and renaissance giants such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. It is also the root from which sprang alchemy and modern science.

Now, as more people than ever are looking to find information on the alternatives to the dominant dogmas that have told us what to think and how to behave, as faith has been questioned by religious scandals, economic meltdowns and an environmental catastrophes, Wallace-Murphy reveals the secrets of the masters, including invaluable spiritual insights to everyday life that have been hidden throughout the ages. He shows us who kept this spiritual tradition alive despite appalling persecution, so that we in the 21st century might benefit from its accumulated fruits and ennoble our lives by emulating their example.

For review copies, or to interview author and Freemason Tim Wallace-Murphy please send an email to newbooks@disinfo.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Wallace-Murphy is an international bestselling author known for his deep knowledge of Rosslyn, the Knights Templar, Sacred Geometry and Rex Deus.

The Disinformation Company Ltd. is active in TV production, book publishing and home entertainment. It is most widely recognized for its distribution of books and videos on subjects not usually covered by the traditional media. Recent DVD exclusives from The Disinformation Company include Danny Schechter's Plunder: The Crime of Our Time, Robert Greenwald's Rethink Afghanistan and the Disinformation-produced 2012: Science Or Superstition.

# # #

Title: Hidden Wisdom: The Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition

Author: Tim Wallace-Murphy

Category: History / Mind-Body-Spirit

ISBN: 978-1934708-48-4

PUB DATE: MAY 2010

Brilliant thoughts, comments, or a story suggestion? Go to www.disinfo.com.

***

Hat tip to the Konformist.

Socialism vs. Corporatism by Ron Paul

Ron Paul clears up some of the confusion...

Socialism vs. Corporatism
By Ron Paul
04/27/10

Lately many have characterized this administration as socialist, or having strong socialist leanings. I differ with this characterization. This is not to say Mr. Obama believes in free-markets by any means. On the contrary, he has done and said much that demonstrates his fundamental misunderstanding and hostility towards the truly free market. But a closer, honest examination of his policies and actions in office reveals that, much like the previous administration, he is very much a corporatist. This in many ways can be more insidious and worse than being an outright socialist.

Socialism is a system where the government directly owns and manages businesses. Corporatism is a system where businesses are nominally in private hands, but are in fact controlled by the government. In a corporatist state, government officials often act in collusion with their favored business interests to design polices that give those interests a monopoly position, to the detriment of both competitors and consumers.

A careful examination of the policies pursued by the Obama administration and his allies in Congress shows that their agenda is corporatist. For example, the health care bill that recently passed does not establish a Canadian-style government-run single payer health care system. Instead, it relies on mandates forcing every American to purchase private health insurance or pay a fine. It also includes subsidies for low-income Americans and government-run health care "exchanges". Contrary to the claims of the proponents of the health care bill, large insurance and pharmaceutical companies were enthusiastic supporters of many provisions of this legislation because they knew in the end their bottom lines would be enriched by Obamacare.

Similarly, Obama's "cap-and-trade" legislation provides subsidies and specials privileges to large businesses that engage in "carbon trading." This is why large corporations, such as General Electric support cap-and-trade.

To call the President a corporatist is not to soft-pedal criticism of his administration. It is merely a more accurate description of the President's agenda.

When he is a called a socialist, the President and his defenders can easily deflect that charge by pointing out that the historical meaning of socialism is government ownership of industry; under the President's policies, industry remains in nominally private hands. Using the more accurate term -- corporatism -- forces the President to defend his policies that increase government control of private industries and expand de facto subsidies to big businesses. This also promotes the understanding that though the current system may not be pure socialism, neither is it free-market since government controls the private sector through taxes, regulations, and subsidies, and has done so for decades.

Using precise terms can prevent future statists from successfully blaming the inevitable failure of their programs on the remnants of the free market that are still allowed to exist. We must not allow the disastrous results of corporatism to be ascribed incorrectly to free market capitalism or used as a justification for more government expansion. Most importantly, we must learn what freedom really is and educate others on how infringements on our economic liberties caused our economic woes in the first place. Government is the problem; it cannot be the solution.

*****

Hat tip to the Konformist.

18 Veterans Commit Suicide Each Day, By Rick Maze

Shocked? You should be... and this is right from "the horse's mouth." It's awful how they now just use people up and throw them away... not like the old days, that's for sure. No, more than awful... more than repulsive, even.

18 Veterans Commit Suicide Each Day
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Monday Apr 26, 2010

Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.

Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don't succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.

The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.

Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.

A key part of the new data shows the suicide rate is lower for veterans aged 18 to 29 who are using VA health care services than those who are not. That leads VA officials to believe that about 250 lives have been saved each year as a result of VA treatment.

VA's suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 calls a month from current and former service members. The number is 1-800-273-8255. Service members and veterans should push 1 for veterans' services.

Dr. Janet Kemp, VA's national suicide prevention coordinator, credits the hotline with rescuing 7,000 veterans who were in the act of suicide — in addition to referrals, counseling and other help.

Suicide attempts by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans remains a key area of concern. In fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, there were 1,621 suicide attempts by men and 247 by women who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, with 94 men and four women dying.

In general, VA officials said, women attempt suicide more often, but men are more likely to succeed in the attempt, mainly because women use less lethal and less violent means while men are more likely to use firearms.

Suicide attempts among veterans appear to follow those trends, officials said.

*****

Hat tip to the Konformist.