(Conspiracy Nation, 07/09/05)
-- Ancient and medieval natural philosophers posited four basic
elements: earth, air, fire, and water. We moderns tend to smile and
say, "How quaint." But think again. For "earth," substitute "solid";
for "air" substitute "gas"; for "fire" substitute "heat"; for "water"
substitute "liquid." Their four basic elements thus become, solid, gas,
heat, and liquid.
The old-timers posited a fifth basic element as well: The Ether,
also spelled Aether. Until Albert Einstein proposed his special and
general theories of relativity, The Ether was an essential part of
scientific theories. (See "Ether Abandoned!" http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Ether.html)
Einstein later regreted abandoning The Ether. (See "Insipid
Realities," http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Insipid.html)
Almost 400 years ago, Isaac Newton was born. His birth marks the
dawn of the Industrial Revolution. (See "Insipid Realities," op. cit.)
Previously, so-called civilization had been predominantly rural and
agricultural. As Adam Smith explains in Wealth Of Nations, before
the Industrial Revolution, something as simple as a pin used in sewing
represented a significant expenditure of labor. With industrialization,
however, pins could be mass-produced and became inexpensive and
commonplace.
The Industrial Revolution encouraged factory methods of farming:
"agri-business." Schools sprouted up, partly to warehouse now-surplus
labor and partly to condition future factory workers to respond to
bells appropriately.
Factory farming tremendously boosted crop yields, in turn raising
the earth's "carrying capacity." Population soared, from about 1
billion people to about 6 billion people. Greater farm output was
increasingly powered by fossil fuels. This included pesticides and
fertilizers. (See The Long
Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. Also consult his website, http://www.kunstler.com)
Ripple effects occurred consequent to Einstein's theories of
relativity. The money became "relative," not grounded by gold or silver
but having value relative to other currencies. (See http://www.xe.com) Postmodernism came to
the fore: the Truth was (supposedly) relative.
In "Collapsing Reality" (http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Collapse.html),
Conspiracy Nation wrote, "When
realities collapse, someone must invent a new fantasy. What will it be?
Will it be a re-invention of an old fantasy? Or will the next fantasy
really be new?"
Respected science author Isaac Asimov notes, regarding scientific
zeitgeists dominant in different eras, "In science, it is not
all-important to be Right (it may even be that there is no way of ever
determining what is Right); it is merely necessary to be right enough
for the times..." (Understanding
Physics, Vol. III, ch. 1, footnote)
Newton's reality slowly collapses under a surfeit of materialism.
Einstein's reality leads to chaos, with only the hole in the doughnut
remaining. A new fantasy, The Ether, is both a re-invention of an old
fantasy and a new fantasy as well (since Einstein eventually proposed a
New Ether.) Traditionalists and progressives are thus reconciled.
Think of the Republicans as Newtonians: "the party of business
(industrialism)."
Think of the Democrats as Einsteinians: "tolerant and multicultural."
The nation is said to be "polarized." The Ether "reinvented" could be a
soothing balm, lessening divisiveness.
Isaac Newton had proposed, "Jesus is The Ether." (See "Newton:
'Jesus is The Ether,'" http://www.shout.net/~bigred/JesEther.html)
The world is now intensely factionalized, based largely over a dispute
about the nature of Jesus Christ. This has resulted in terrorism and a
war on terror. Revisiting The Ether could reconcile religious
polarities, which originated in 325 A.D. (See "Evolution Of
Christianity," http://www.shout.net/~bigred/EvolChrist.html)
The Ether could be a reasonable compromise between hostile religions.
What is The Ether? Sir Oliver Lodge explains as follows:
"The name Aether suggests a far
more subtle or penetrating and ultra-material kind of substance. Newton
employs the term for the medium which fills space -- not only space which appears to be empty,
but space also which appears to be full... now I [Lodge] am able
to advocate a view of the Ether which makes it not only uniformly
present and all-pervading, but also massive and substantial beyond
conception..." (The Ether of Space, Kessinger Reprints. http://www.kessinger.net)
A foundational hymn to help ground the Ether zeitgeist comes from
T.S. Eliot's poem, "Choruses from 'The Rock'":
"Light. Light. The visible reminder
of Invisible Light.
And we must extinguish the candle, put out the light and relight it;
Forever must quench, forever relight the flame.
Therefore we thank Thee for our little light, that is dappled with
shadow.
We thank Thee who hast moved us to building, to finding, to forming at
the ends of our fingers and beams of our eyes.
And when we have built an altar to the Invisible Light,
we may set thereon the little lights for which our bodily vision is
made.
And we thank Thee that darkness reminds us of light.
O Light Invisible, we give Thee thanks for Thy great glory!
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Conspiracy Nation
http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html