A Theory of Everything

I have used the often unreliable World Wide Web for much research concerning the area of quantum mechanics.

In one of my recent searches, I came across the notion that Buckmaster fullerenes, or buckyballs, may well have provided the essential seeds that have created life.

Such a leap of imagination is rather interesting to me. That somebody with probably far more intensive training in this area of knowledge should have even considered this notion is fascinating.

But then this notion is not so far fetched, once examined just a little.

Because on the one hand, the buckminsterfullerene is after all a varietal form of the element carbon, in the same way that diamond or graphite are different kinds of carbon. The name of this particular form is an homage to Buckminster Fuller, quite simply because of its shape similarity to the geodesic domes that he was fascinated by.

It seems likely that this kind of carbon atom does occur naturally, even in space, although it was first created artificially and identified by modern scientists in 1982 or thereabouts.

Interestingly, quantum entanglement is precisely that spooky at a distance relationship that Einstein himself talked about in the early part of the 20th century, when he was theorising about the nature of the universe in his relativity theories.

It seems that this particular form of carbon offers the possibility of faster than light connectivity between buckyballs, since the spooky at a distance collectivity appears to be instantaneous.

If this does hold out the prospect of multiples of the speed of light, which would be the only explanation if some external connection were to be the cause of this relationship, then some extraordinary possibilities seem to open up.

In my understanding, it is additional electrons which appear to be the reason for carbon atoms to be organised in this form.

And since electricity, perhaps particularly that form of electricity which is fundamental to life itself, which requires the movement of electrons, then perhaps quite simply everything that has generated electricity when it once lived might have left its footprint on the world, in some way that might find a spooky connection with other complex life forms.

This might seem unbelievable, if I wasn't virtually quoting Einstein himself.

But whilst all of this is on the surface at least semi-scientific, I have already hinted that my approach to this subject is at least partly motivated by my interest in creative writing.

If there is such a spooky and mysterious action at a distance involved at an atomic level in things, not only does it open up all kinds of scientific possibilities, such as faster than light travel.

And one of the major areas for research in quantum mechanics lies in quantum computing, to provide faster than imaginable computing options.

Yesterday, I watched The Forbidden Planet, a film which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

In the opening sequence, it is clear that the means of motion use by the spacecraft is based on quantum theory, which is the means by which its rate of travel achieves faster than light speeds.

Very little explanation is needed for the story to be compelling, and in the human world, just as in our capacity for sight, our brain will fill in the gaps without any problem.

And of course, interesting to an old cynic like myself, someone that wants dearly to believe but finds it difficult, the existence of such strangeness at a subatomic level does open extraordinary possibilities for a consciousness that perceives everything at all times and all places. And interestingly, it is clear in the story of The Forbidden Planet that belief in God is still essential and central to being human.

Perhaps life is something so special that it has been seeded by an allotropic form of carbon, that exists throughout the universe and can be the catalyst, in the right circumstances, for the development of complex carbon-based lifeforms.

You Have Mail

I am a great fan of film. On an external hard drive, I now have a collection of more than 700 movies, recorded from broadcast, and thanks to the nature of digital recording, with all traces of advertisements removed.

They are simply stored in alphabetical order, although I have occasionally mused about whether they might be placed into separate folders containing different categories of film.

But I have restrained myself from undertaking this kind of exercise, although I do enjoy imagining numerous sometimes unorthodox categories, over and above the obvious ones.

One such category might be the way in which certain films have entertained an audacious approach to American history, almost inventing a history that has never existed. This might include the National Treasure films, and Sahara, but there are as many sub categories as can be identified by anyone with personal predilections for subject matter.

Another exercise that I tend to practice in my imagination is to identify almost genealogical links between films, as if to identify which might have preceded the other and made it possible for a certain story to be told in a certain way.

This is entertaining, for myself, but is not necessarily something that would be of interest to a wider audience.

One of my recent new acquisitions is the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy You Have Mail.

I have only recently viewed it properly, and of course it could form a useful addition to those films that explore the way in which the Internet has become a means of communication in society, and how indeed it is transforming the way that we communicate.

In my own case, it has made me suddenly realise that there is a parallel with the way in which I write this blog on a regular basis, aiming to communicate my thoughts not to one individual, but as it happens to an extraordinarily worldwide audience that is always surprising me as to the range of countries in which English is clearly a shared language.

I am a particular fan of what might be described as ‘chick flicks’, and I am certainly much less interested in violent adventure films and have no interest in horror at all.

I am equally interested in observing the second-hand value of films, although these days I try to minimise my purchase of actual DVDs in cases.

It is always interesting to discover films that have retained an exceptionally high value, often much higher than the original release price for a modern DVD.

Bargains are to be found, and I have a friend who regularly combs the shelves of several town centre second-hand stores to discover where perhaps such bargains can be had.

Film is a fascinating reflection of social and cultural interests, and my interests are definitely those of an armchair anthropologist.

Digital Footprints In The World

Like so many people these days, I am fascinated by my family tree, and as a consequence, I have a subscription to one of those sites through which you can research records and build your tree.

But today, I was able to research something that was as equally fascinating as anything that my ancestors might have revealed.

I have the kind of subscription that enables me to discover any mention within newspapers and other more general media.

And this afternoon, I simply did a search on myself.

I found the results very interesting, in that this simple search made me realise how much we leave traces of ourselves in the modern world.

And since many of the traces of that we leave, are left within that part of the world that is is described as the public domain, we may not realise the full extent of the traces that we leave when we are making them.

In other words, nobody asks permission for certain kinds of data before it is revealed for the whole world to see.

Or at least that part of the world for whom it is a matter of course to be able to access the Internet and to make subscriptions to those kind of organisations that make this data easily available.

It is a sobering thought to discover the extent of these digital footprints, and I suppose in my own case, this has been most obviously through the fact that I have been a Director registered at Companies House on several occasions, almost always as the Director of a charitable company, and this in no way represents me as someone that has had a successful business career.

I suspect that many of us remain blissfully unaware of the extent to which we leave traces of ourselves in all kinds of contexts, not least of all in the United Kingdom through being registered to vote at a particular address.

Simply being on the electoral roll is sufficient for our place of residence to be listed, along with all of those also registered at the same address.

This is good news for anyone wishing to find or locate someone that has no reason to hide their tracks.

And it will constitute an interesting social history record for those in the future, wishing to undertake research as to who was living where and when, at some point in the future.

For I suspect this information will outlive most of us about whom it discourses.

Once a footprint has been made in this digital world, I suspect it is virtually impossible to remove it.