“How exactly is it that a man in his eighties, who quite frankly, I had never heard of, in a very short time, emerged from obscurity with a new theory of everything, that is so compelling. It’s remarkable. It’s unbelievable.” The BBC science commentator went on to share a brief life story of Abel Jennings.
Then there was footage of Roy Sussman doing an interview. “Once you accept the notion that energy is not matter and matter is not energy. At least at the level we have always assumed, then the concept changes. And new ideas and theories are possible.”
“They’re now calling this the theory of everything. Do you really believe that? That this is the theory of everything?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I, I don’t think a theory of everything can be knowable. Once you believe you have arrived at such a theory, you realize that in fact it is not everything. Every question you answer, just poses a new question. But I do believe that in some limited way, according to some classical definition of everything, that we have now explained what we can observe, ranging from the subatomic scale to the cosmological scale. In other words, the old conundrum between quantum mechanics and general relativity is no longer the obstacle. More important, we have ideas not only about how things behave, but also why. The concept of why has always been the illusive part. But as I said, it just raises new questions.”
“Such as?”
“Well, for one, we don’t know if this next level down is really the end of the line. And because wave theories are now regarded as more or less just statistical approximations of smaller particles, then what about space? I mean truly empty space. Where does the universe, at the smallest dimensions, truly become a quantum affair?”
“Fascinating. Dr. Sussman, let me switch to a different angle. How do you explain this accomplishment, the fact that you and Dr. Jennings and others, came to this point at uh… well to put it delicately, you two gentlemen are not young men.”
“Haha, well put. A lot of people say that but it’s really not so remarkable. What people tend to ignore is the fact that this development was really the brainchild of Ms. Villasenor. I really find it astounding that people are skeptical simply because she never attended college or had any formal training. We more or less just had to make sense of what she already proved using real experimental data. That alone is what I would call the real accomplishment. What I have learned from this, is that science is not exactly what we thought. It’s not all about rigor and method and structure. What happened here was pure imagination and the courage and conviction to find the truth.”
“Yes, I would like to ask you about Ms. Villasenor. Has her imagination led to many new developments and will the two of you work together on any new concepts?”
“I think the concepts that she has already given us are really a gift and quite enough. But to answer your question, we are working on some new ideas. It’s a little early to get into that, but this new line of thinking is not a dead end. There are many paths to follow and there will be lots of teams following all of those paths, both in terms of theory and even some possible technological breakthroughs.”
“Can you share anything? I think there is a real desire to know more. About what else might be imagined, or discovered.”
“I guess I could say that there are possibilities, with our new understanding, to manipulate gravity. Another exciting area of study, and you might not see immediately why it has anything to do with our theories, but it is the study of consciousness and intelligence.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t see the connection but that’s very interesting. Why would our better understanding of the subatomic world and gravity lead to ideas regarding consciousness?”
“You have to ask yourself, what is the common driver in the universe as we now understand it? It’s the pursuit of energy. All living things share this pursuit, along with the very building blocks of matter from which we are made. It’s curious that complex, emergent life forms such as ourselves, act in a way that is similar to a quark for example. We don’t know that there is really anything to it, but there are strong philosophical arguments to support the notion that this is likely meaningful. It’s a lot to discuss, but I just wanted to give you the basic idea.”
“Is Abel Jennings in agreement on this concept? Or, for that matter, how about Ms. Villasenor or Juan Hernandez?”
“Yes, absolutely, especially Abel. But I won’t speak for him. You should ask him though. People would find his ideas on this rather fascinating.”
The scene then switched to Abel Jennings, seated and engaging with the same interviewer. “Dr. Jennings, I recently spoke to Leroy Sussman and rather than opine on your views regarding consciousness, he suggested I ask you directly. Thank you very much for this opportunity.”
“It’s my absolute pleasure, please fire away.”
“First, I have to ask. What’s it been like to experience this resurgence in your career as a theoretician, at such a point as this.”
“You mean because of age?”
“Well…”
“Yes, well it’s been rather surprising even to me. I still have to pinch myself occasionally to make sure I didn’t just doze off at the pub and dream it all up, you see. Remarkable, really.”
“Is it fair to say that you were somehow inspired by people like Roy Sussman and Ms. Villasenor?”
“Oh absolutely. I was essentially headed nowhere until they found me. A stroke of luck that was. And it’s been so amazing to continue working with this group, like a virtual research team spread all about, video conferences and whatnot. There’s Professor Hernandez, his talented young nephew, Javier and many others. Why, I even have Angel’s son, Sevy. Bright young man. He and I are working on something of great interest.”
“And does that work have to do with consciousness?”
“Yes it does, in fact. But I’ll not go into that particular one. Too early, you see. Still speculative.”
“Then how about the new theory of everything? That’s what people are calling it. What do you call it and can you explain what it is?”
“Well, I can most certainly try. It’s quite simple, really. The need for energy in the form of electromagnetic energy, is universal and it manifests itself differently at different scales. So things appear very different, such as gravity or nuclear forces or electromagnetic forces. But it’s all really the same thing, once you consider the ramifications on different scales. Everything from a galaxy down to the tiniest electromagnetic particle is simply looking for balance and sustenance. The balance is between energy oversupply which causes repulsion, and undersupply which causes attraction. The medium of space itself seems to behave in particular ways that also misleads us.”
“Professor, can you be more specific? For example, how should we think about gravity now, as opposed to gravity according to Einstein, or Newton?”
“Perfect! Yes, gravity, historically the most elusive property, is actually the easiest to understand. Newton and Einstein had predictive models but rather sketchy explanations of the underlying mechanism involved. As time progressed, more and more physicists have doubted the notion that there is a thing called warped space-time. But mathematically, that concept is rather well tested for it’s predictive capabilities.”
“But to accept warped space-time as a separate thing, leaves this impossible divide between the macro and the nano scale as it were. Einstein also set the table on another topic, this one less debated, which is the relationship between matter and energy. Here again he was right about there being a relationship, but unclear as to the very nature of it.”
“Sorry. Now I’ll get to my simple view of gravity. I thought some background would be good. But here it is. Matter and energy are related and the relationship is that matter consumes energy in the form of what we have historically referred to as the quantum vacuum. Space is another word for it. Space is not empty and it is loaded with energy. Electromagnetic energy to be precise.”
“Space is normally uniform but as matter consumes space, space is literally sucked in. Now take the Earth as an example. It is a sphere as we well know. And if you compare two spheres of different sizes. The larger sphere has a greater volume compared to its surface, than does the smaller sphere. This is basic geometry whereby surface area is proportional to the square of the radius, while volume is the cube of the radius. So the contents of the larger sphere, assuming both spheres are the same material, pulls more space inward per unit area to supply itself with energy.”
“Is that gravity then? The earth pulling in space and we are somehow caught up in that flow? Like being sucked in by a whirlpool?”
“Well, roughly yes but the curious part is why that happens. Because if I’m floating way out in space and I have a rocket pack. I can take off in any direction as fast as I like and space won’t resist me. It won’t slow me down. So how is it that space can pull me down to earth on the one hand but it won’t slow me down out in space? Well, here is your answer. You see, the acceleration of gravity is to us, simply the material in our own body, accelerating toward equilibrium in terms of the energy supply that surrounds us. If I fall to earth, I will achieve that energy balance, as will any body of matter. For the Earth, when we accelerate at thirty two feet per second, per second, we are at an energy equilibrium. It’s all due to an electromagnetic attraction.”
“It sounds simple yet somehow strange to think of it that way.”
“Believe me. When Einstein or Newton shared their views, it also felt very strange to people. I may look as though I was there to witness it first hand. Haha. No, but I have studied the history of science my whole life. This is not so strange. Really.”
“So what do think are the implications of this theory. When Einstein equated matter and energy, we soon had the nuclear age. Do you see any potential consequences? Good or bad.”
“I do see a few things. Gravity. And, whether this new understanding can be tested and later even mastered for the benefit of mankind. Imagine being able to affect or even control gravity. The amount of saved energy, the possibility to make space more accessible.”
“Another area is understanding space and it’s make-up. There is a hint that we have seen a new layer in the hierarchy of nature. This is at the Planck scale. Now, what lies beyond that? The medium below that may not have light speed as a limitation, which might explain phenomena like entanglement. Perhaps we could find this sub vacuum in a way that allows us to see so much farther into the distance, thus into the past.”
“Lastly, I would say that philosophically, the pursuit of energy and resulting behavior strike some of us as life-like. Which is to say that there are open questions about deeper consciousness, something other than simply our everyday human consciousness. This is an area that fascinates me.”
Angel sorted through her email inbox as she sat on the bus headed toward Stanford. That much hadn’t changed. But she wasn’t working in facilities this time. She was attending classes, working toward an undergraduate in Physics. It was thrilling that Severino was also there. Meanwhile, Lola was now a high school freshman and the email that caught her attention was from Lola’s math teacher.
It read, “Dear Ms. Villasenor, it is my pleasure to inform you that Lola has qualified for a special, advanced math track based on her test scores and demonstrated interest in advanced mathematics. Please let me know when you can come in for a briefing. We want to make sure you and Lola agree and you can ask any questions at that time……”
Ay Dios mio. Not another one, thought Angel. She beamed a great big smile and felt thrilled by her good fortunes.
Weeks later, Lola asked herself, do I want to live forever? The question surprised her as much as did her answer. Yes. It was an unusual question to pop into her mind. She never recalled having internal conversations like that. That same evening, just after dinner, Lola was once again caught off guard by a compelling desire to call 911. Without hesitation, Lola raised the phone and punched in the digits.
A terrible tragedy had just taken place a few houses away - a man, highly intoxicated, attacked another man, fatally stabbing him. Lola didn’t hear it, didn’t see it, yet she knew about it the moment it happened. Lola was the very first one. She was becoming one with the universe, opening up to new possibilities but it was still a bit fuzzy. She was adjusting to a new sense of herself and the world around her. It was at once both marvelous and terrifying.
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