Note: the following four centered lines were copied from the printed book:
With the exception of this note written by me in March 2021, all the other text in this tciy-1st-ed.html file has, in effect, been copied from the first edition of The Computer Inside You, which was self-published by me back in 1993 as a printed book.
The remainder of this note explains why I didn’t have any HTML for the first edition of The Computer Inside You, until I made tciy-1st-ed.html in March 2021; and then explains to what purpose I made tciy-1st-ed.html.
There are 12 editions of my book The Computer Inside You (the last and final edition, the 12th, I retitled as A Soliton and its owned Bions (Awareness and Mind)). All 12 editions have been self-published by myself, Kurt Johmann: The first edition was published in 1993 as a printed book; the second edition was published in 1994 as both a printed book and also as HTML on the internet (back then in 1994, it was still the early days of the World Wide Web, and finding a web host renting space on a server connected to the internet, at a low price, was not an easy task, which is why my first website was rented from a guy living in Canada, who had a server connected to the internet, and I had to go to the post-office once a month to mail a check to him in Canada, which is why roughly a year later, as I recall, and with declining rental pricing by web hosts in general, due to competition by a then growing number of web hosts, I switched to a web host located in the USA). The end result was that only the first edition has, prior to 2021, never been available on the internet, because by the time I got my first website, I already had the printed second edition and its files, and, as I recall, my practice has always been to remove from my website an edition when I had the next edition ready to replace it.
Because I never had the first edition on the internet, I don’t have any HTML for the first edition, until now in March 2021, because also in March 2021 I decided to add to my website (at https://solitoncentral.com) a zip file that contains all 12 editions of The Computer Inside You, with each edition being a single HTML file. Also in that zip file will be my unpublished first attempt—completed and copyrighted in 1988—to “write a book that explains everything” (the quoted phrase is from my own mind at age 17, recounted in section 10.2 in the 12th edition; this unpublished book’s title was and still is A-Space, E-Space, Gaia, and Soul).
The end result of my adding this zip file to my website, will be that anyone curious about the earlier editions (including what could be called the unpublished zero edition, predecessor to the first edition), can find them all, in HTML form, in that zip file. And with that zip file, one can see that reaching that final 12th edition, which I’m satisfied with and is my final edition, has been a long, drawn-out process for me, with many mistakes made by me along the way, spanning about 30 years (beginning in the latter half of 1987 when I began writing that unpublished first book, and ending with the completion of writing the 12th edition which was September 17, 2017).
END of note written by Kurt Johmann in March 2021.Preface
Introduction
How to Read this Book
PART ONE Modeling the Universe
1 Bell’s Theorem
The Philosophy of Particles2 The Computing-Element Reality Model
A Problem in Need of a Solution
Quantum Mechanics
Instantaneous Communication
Overview of the ModelPART TWO The Human Side
Components of the Model
Program Details and Quantum Mechanics
Living Inside the Simulation
3 Biology and Bions
Cell Movement4 The Bionic Brain
Cell Division
Generation of Sex Cells
Development
Neurons5 Human Experience and Experimentation
Parts of the Brain
The Cerebral Cortex
Mental Mechanisms
Psychic Phenomena6 Mind Travels
Obstacles to Observing Bions
Religions and Psychic Phenomena
Om Meditation
Effects of Om Meditation
The Kundalini Injury
Dreams7 Awareness and the Soliton
Lucid-Dream Projections
Bion-Body Projections
The SolitonPART THREE The Caretakers
Solitonic Projections
The Afterlife
8 Three Billion Years of Organic Life
The Early Earth9 Evolution by Intelligent Design
Gaia
Requirements for Self-Reproduction
Odds of a Self-Reproducing Organic Entity Forming Randomly
Evolution10 The UFO Phenomenon
Design by Random Changes
Design by Intelligence
The Caretakers
The UFOGlossary
UFO Occupants
The Abduction Experience
Miracles at Fatima
Identity of the UFO Occupants
Select Bibliography
At the time of Isaac Newton’s invention of the calculus in the 17th century, the mechanical clock was the most sophisticated machine known. The simplicity of the clock allowed its movements to be completely described with mathematics. Newton not only described the clock’s movements with mathematics, but also the movements of the planets and other astronomical bodies. Because of the success of the Newtonian method, a mathematics-based model of reality resulted, and the old model is still widely accepted. However, in modern times, a much more sophisticated machine than the clock has appeared. This machine is the computer. A computer includes a clock, but has much more, including programmability. Because of its programmability, the actions of a computer are arbitrarily complex. Assuming a complicated program, the actions of a computer cannot be described in any useful way with mathematics.
To keep pace with this advance from the clock to the computer, we believe it is time for civilization to upgrade its thinking and adjust its model of reality accordingly. This book is an attempt to smooth the transition from the old conception of reality—that allowed only mathematics to describe particles and their interactions—to a computer-based conception of reality. We believe such a shift in thinking is inevitable for civilization, in spite of the expected strong resistance by the proponents of the old mathematics-only reality model. Just as there was a shift during the 17th century from the theological reality model to the mathematics-only reality model, so too there can be a shift starting in the 20th century from the mathematics-only reality model to a computer-based reality model.
A reality model is a means for understanding the universe as a whole. Based on the reality model one accepts, one can classify things as either possible or impossible. The current reality model of science is the mathematics-only reality model. This is a very restrictive reality model that rejects as impossible any particle whose interactions cannot be described with mathematical equations. If one accepts the mathematics-only reality model, then it logically follows there is no such thing as the afterlife which is widely believed to follow death. The example of the afterlife is one psychic phenomenon among many that the mathematics-only reality model denies and declares impossible.
We do not accept the limitations on reality that the mathematics-only reality model imposes. On the other hand, the older theological reality model is unscientific, because it ignores intermediate questions and jumps directly to an intelligent, super being. For example, the question of the particle composition of the hypothesized super being is completely ignored. To be scientific, a reality model should be able to answer questions about the particles composing the objects of interest. In this book, the primary objects of interest are intelligent beings, including people.
The approach taken in this book is to assume deepest reality is computerized. Instead of, in effect, mathematics controlling the universe’s particles, computers control these particles. We call this computer-based reality model the computing-element reality model. This model is presented in detail in chapter 2, after some groundwork from the science of physics is described in chapter 1.
With particles controlled, in effect, by computers, particles can behave in complicated, intelligent ways. Thus, intelligent particles are provided by the computing-element reality model. And with intelligent particles, psychic phenomena such as the afterlife are easy to explain. In addition, the computing-element reality model allows explanation of various UFO phenomena, including human abductions by UFO occupants.
Of course, one can object to the existence of computers controlling the universe. Compared to the mathematics-only reality model, the computing-element reality model adds complexity to the structure of deepest reality. This is true, but a greater complexity in the structure of deepest reality is called for by the scientific evidence that is presented in chapters 3, 4, and 8. Also, a greater complexity in the structure of deepest reality is called for by the human evidence that is presented in chapters 5, 6, 7, and 10. The evidence is there, and the choice of which reality model to accept is yours.
Regarding the various arguments and ideas presented in this book, we only claim credit for the overall synthesis the book represents. We are not the first to suggest underlying reality is, in some sense, computerized. For example, computer scientist Edward Fredkin has long advocated such a view. In addition, we do not claim novelty for any of the arguments used in this book. For example, the probability argument made in chapter 8 is a standard argument against random design and has had many previous incarnations in the hands of other writers and thinkers.
At the beginning of each chapter is a summary of that chapter’s contents. The science chapters are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8. The rest of the book deals with psychic phenomena and meditation (chapter 5), out-of-body experiences (chapter 6), consciousness (chapter 7), nonhuman intelligent beings (chapter 9), and UFOs (chapter 10). Some readers may want to skip over the science chapters and read only the other chapters.
The term bion appears frequently in later chapters, after its first use in the beginning of chapter 3. A bion is an intelligent particle. Put simply, an intelligent particle is an extremely tiny, point-like object that is intelligent. By understanding the idea of an intelligent particle, the science chapters can be skipped. However, one may want to refer to the glossary. For those who cannot accept the existence of intelligent particles without hard evidence, the science chapters provide the hard evidence.
This chapter summarizes the constraints quantum mechanics places on any reality model of the universe. These constraints are used in chapter 2 where a computer-based reality model is presented. In this chapter we first discuss the idea of particles. We then present a brief history and description of quantum mechanics, and describe experiments that confirm quantum mechanics and place constraints on any reality model of the universe.
The world is composed of particles. The visible objects that occupy the everyday world are aggregates of particles. This fact was known by the ancients, and probably was known by the earliest humans—as a result of seeing large objects break down into smaller ones.
The recognition of the particle composition of everyday objects is very old, but the definition of what a particle is has evolved. It is too late to ask the members of the earliest human culture how they defined a particle, but there are records regarding the teachings of the Greek philosopher Democritus. Another Greek named Leucippus, who lived in the 5th century BC, is credited with the first atom theory. He taught his theory to Democritus, who in turn popularized what became known as atomism.
As expounded by Democritus, atomism states that the particles composing everyday objects are atoms, and each atom has only three properties. These three properties are mass, motion, and shape. In the Democritus system, atoms are tiny bits of matter that exist by themselves independent of everything else, and these atoms cannot be broken down into smaller pieces.
The idea that there are particles that cannot be broken down remains intact in the current thinking of physicists. Such particles are called elementary particles. As a simple philosophical matter, one must grant the existence of elementary particles at some level to avoid an infinite regress.
There is no philosophical necessity for the idea that there are particles existing by themselves independent of everything else. In the 20th century, the science of physics found that the idea of such self-existing particles is wrong. This determination was made in the 1920s, almost seventy years ago. We will turn the clock back, and recount some history of what is known as quantum mechanics.
In the early 20th century, a major effort was made by physicists to explain in detail the experimentally observed absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation by individual atoms. Electromagnetic radiation includes light waves and radio waves. The elementary particle that transports the energy of electromagnetic radiation is called a photon. The radiation of photons is known as electromagnetic radiation, because the radiation is generated by accelerated electrons. Electrons are themselves elementary particles, and both electricity and magnetism are physical effects caused by the movement of electrons. The absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation is the absorption and emission of photons.
The atoms of modern-day science are not the atoms of Democritus, because what today are called atoms are not elementary particles. Instead, modern-day atoms are defined as the different elements of the periodic table, which are the basis of chemistry. The atoms of the periodic table are composite particles consisting of electrons, neutrons, and protons. The neutrons and protons of an atom reside at the atom’s center—in a clump known as the nucleus. Unlike the electron, both protons and neutrons are composite particles, and the elementary particles composing them are called quarks. The proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark, and the neutron is composed of one up quark and two down quarks. The number of protons of an atom determines the place of that atom in the periodic table. In other words, the proton number determines which element an atom is. The simplest atom is hydrogen. Hydrogen consists of a single proton and a single electron. Because of its simplicity, hydrogen was the logical starting point for theoretical explanation of the experimentally observed electromagnetic effects.
The basic layout of the atom was established by Ernest Rutherford in 1911. His famous experiment was to shoot alpha particles against a very thin sheet of gold. An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons. Most of these particles went through the gold unimpeded, but occasionally a particle would bounce back. Rutherford’s interpretation of this experimental result was that an atom has a small, hard nucleus, and the atom’s electrons orbit at some distance from the nucleus. With his notion of electron orbits, one could say Rutherford had downsized the solar system to the scale of an atom. In 1913, building on the Rutherford model, Neils Bohr did his best to make the model with its electron orbits work—by using such non-solar-system notions as electrons jumping discontinuously from one fixed orbit to another. However, the Bohr theory failed to explain all the experimental data involving electromagnetic radiation.
The solution to the problem came in 1925. Werner Heisenberg developed a new mathematical approach called matrix mechanics, and Erwin Schrödinger independently developed a wave function. Heisenberg’s approach presumed particles, and Schrödinger’s approach presumed waves. Both approaches worked equally well in precisely explaining the experimental data involving electromagnetic radiation. The idea of electron orbits was not needed in the new theory.
Heisenberg soon collaborated with Bohr, and in 1927 the two presented an interpretation that is known as the Copenhagen interpretation. This interpretation provides guidelines for understanding the atomic and subatomic realms. The work done by Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Bohr, and others at that time is known as quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics actually began in 1900, when Max Planck proposed that electromagnetic radiation could only be emitted in discrete units of energy called quanta.
Briefly, the theory of quantum mechanics retains the quanta of Planck, and adds probability. The old idea of the continuous motion of particles—and the smooth transition of a particle state to a different state—is replaced by discontinuous motion and discontinuous state changes. The state of a particle is the current value of each attribute of that particle. Examples of common attributes are position, velocity, and mass. For certain attributes, each possible value for that attribute has an associated probability that the particle’s state will assume that value for that attribute. In effect, the mathematics of quantum mechanics allows computation of these probabilities, thereby predicting certain state changes.
It is not only the mathematics of quantum mechanics that denies Democritus’ notion that a particle is self-existing independent of everything else. If one insists on believing the Democritus conception of a particle, then the following experiment cannot possibly give the results it does. The experiment shoots electrons toward two very narrow, closely spaced slits. Away from the electron source—on the other side of the partition containing the two slits—there is a detecting film, or phosphor screen. The structure of the experiment is similar to the classic experiment done by Thomas Young in the early 1800s to show the interference of light. In that experiment, sunlight was passed through two closely spaced pinholes.
In the above electron experiment, by shooting many electrons at once toward the slits, one will see a definite interference pattern on the detector, because electrons have a wave nature similar to light. However, if one does the experiment shooting only one electron at a time, the same result is obtained. With only one electron at a time, Democritus would expect each electron to pass through only one slit and impact somewhere on the detector in a narrow band behind the particular slit through which the particle had passed. No interference would be expected, since there was no other electron to interfere with. However, the results of the experiment are the same whether one shoots many electrons at once, or only one electron at a time. The same interference pattern is observed. The standard quantum-mechanic explanation is that the single electron went through both slits at once and interfered with itself. The same experiment has been done with neutrons, and gives the same results. Such experiments show Democritus’ notion—that a particle is self-existing independent of everything else—is not correct.
The theoretical framework of quantum mechanics was laid down in the 1920s and received assorted challenges from critics soon afterward. One serious point of disagreement was a feature of quantum mechanics known as nonlocality. In a few words, nonlocality refers to instantaneous action-at-a-distance. Albert Einstein, who is famous for his theory of relativity, along with associates Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, offered their objections to nonlocality in 1935. They suggested an experiment, since known as an EPR (Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen) experiment. Their experiment would test the nonlocality feature of quantum mechanics and—they thought—contradict and disprove it. However, the EPR experiment they suggested could not be done at the time, because it involved colliding two particles and making precise measurements that were beyond the technology of the time.
In 1964, John Bell presented what eventually became known as Bell’s theorem. This theorem, and the associated Bell inequalities, opened the door to practical EPR experiments. The new EPR experiment involved the simultaneous emission from an atomic source of two photons moving in opposite directions. The total spin of the two photons is zero. After the photon pair is emitted, the photon spins are measured some distance away from the emission source. The spin of a photon is one of its attributes, and refers to the fact that photons behave as if they are spinning like tops. In the EPR experiments done—first by John Clauser in 1972, and then more thoroughly by Alain Aspect in 1982—the instantaneous action-at-a-distance that happened was that the spin of either photon, once measured and thereby fixed, instantly fixed what the other photon’s spin was. The nonlocality feature of quantum mechanics has been proved by these EPR experiments to the satisfaction of the physics community.
Regarding the EPR experiments, some kind of instantaneous communication is going on, but the physics community does not ordinarily speculate about it. Instead, it confines itself to pointing out how the nonlocality feature of quantum mechanics does not make it possible to construct a device that can communicate with a similar device at a speed faster than light. Therefore, instantaneous communication is confined to the deepest level of the universe, which is beyond human manipulative reach.
At this point we summarize the constraints quantum mechanics places on any reality model of the universe. First, self-existing particles—that have a reality independent of everything else—do not exist. Second, instantaneous communication occurs.
This chapter presents a computer-based model of the universe. We call this model the computing-element reality model. The remainder of this book applies this model to those aspects of life that have been either ignored or denied by the current reality model, which is the mathematics-only reality model, dominant since the 17th century. In this chapter we first describe the computing-element reality model, and then consider how the model supports quantum mechanics. Last, we discuss the consequences of the model, and in particular distinguish between common particles and intelligent particles.
The computing-element reality model borrows heavily from the ideas of computer science. Just as a rigid computing machine has tremendous flexibility because it is programmable, so can the universe have tremendous flexibility by being a vast, space-filling, three-dimensional array of tiny, identical computing elements. Each computing element would run the same large and complex program. Each elementary particle in the universe is a block of information that is manipulated and moved about by these computing elements.
Today, computers are commonplace, and the basics of programs and computers are widely known. The idea of a program is easily understood. Any sequence of intelligible instructions that order the accomplishment of some predefined work is a program. The instructions can take any form, as long as they are understandable to whatever mind or machine will follow the instructions and do the actual work. The same program has as many different representations as there are different languages in which that program can be written. For example, a program that searches a list of names could be written in a language that a human could understand, such as English. The same program could be written in a programming language that a compiler could understand, or written in a binary language that a microprocessor could understand.[1] Any machine that can read a language and follow any program written in that language, is a computer.
A computing element is a self-contained computer connected to other computing elements. Given the hypothesized computing elements at the deepest level of the universe, one probably cannot know their language, or ever alter their program. However, one is free to speculate about them in one’s own language, and perhaps reconstruct portions of their program.
Regarding these hypothesized computing elements, we assume the following. Each computing element is structurally identical, and there is only one type of computing element. Each computing element runs the same program, and there is only one program; each computing element runs its own copy of the program. We call this program the computing-element program. Each computing element can directly exchange messages with at least one other computing element. Different communication topologies are possible and it is not necessary that we pick one. The only requirement is that each computing element can communicate with any other computing element. Communication would be either by direct message exchange, or by indirect message routing, depending on the communication topology.[2] We assume that communication between any two computing elements is instantaneous—in accordance with the nonlocality property of quantum mechanics explained in chapter 1. Since apparent communication is instantaneous, it follows that the processing done by the computing element—at least when running the quantum-mechanical part of its program—is also instantaneous.
Regarding the shape, size, and spacing of the computing elements, the question of shape and spacing is unimportant. Whatever the answer about shape and spacing might be, there is no obvious impact on any other question of interest. From the standpoint of what is esthetically pleasing, one can imagine the computing elements as cubes packed together without intervening space. The question of size is more important. The required complexity of the computing-element program can be reduced by shrinking the size of the space each computing element manages. In this regard, the computing-element program would be most simplified if the space managed by each computing element had room for the manifestation of only a single particle.[3] Assume such a small computing-element size with room for only a single particle manifestation. If one assumes that no two manifested particles can be closer than 10−16 centimeters apart—and consequently each computing element is a cube 10−16 centimeters wide—then each cubic centimeter of space would contain 1048 computing elements.[4]
Although instantaneous communication and processing by the computing elements could mean infinite speed with zero delay, there may be an actual communication delay, and a processing delay. However, these delays could be so small as to be undetectable by any experiment. It is possible to compute lower bounds on computing-element communication speed, and computing-element processing speed, by making a few assumptions. For example, assume the diameter of the universe is fifteen billion light years, and a message can be sent between two computing elements across this diameter in less than a trillionth of a second. With these assumptions, the computing-element communication speed would be at least 1038 meters per second. For comparison, the speed of light is only 3×108 meters per second. Regarding processing speed, assume a computing element only needs to process 100 million program instructions to determine that it should transfer to a neighboring computing element a particular information block. In addition, assume the information block represents a particle that is moving at light speed, and the distance to be covered is 10−16 centimeters. With these assumptions, there are about 10−26 seconds for the transfer of the information block to take place, and this is all the time the computing element would have to process the 100 million instructions. Therefore, the MIPS (millions of instructions per second) rating of each computing element would be at least 1028 MIPS. For comparison, this book was composed on a personal computer rated at 8 MIPS.
footnotes
[1] A compiler translates from a program written in a programming language that a human can understand, into a binary language that a computer can understand. A binary language has only two letters in its alphabet. By convention, the two letters of a binary language are 0 and 1. Each letter of binary-language writing is called a bit. For example, the writing 01101 has five bits.
A microprocessor is essentially a computer on a single chip of silicon. Specifically, the part of a computer that reads binary-language programs and does the actions that the programs call for, is that part of a computer that is typically placed on a single chip and called a microprocessor. To be a complete computer, a microprocessor typically needs supporting chips, such as memory chips.
[2] A message is a block of information that is transmitted from one computing element to another. The communication topology describes how the computing elements are connected in terms of their ability to exchange messages. For example, a fully connected topology would allow each computing element to directly exchange messages with any other computing element. An alternative and more economical topology could connect each computing element only to its nearest neighbors. In this scheme, a message destined for a more distant computing element would have to be transmitted to a neighbor. In turn, the neighbor would route the message to one of its neighbors, and so on, until the message is received at its ultimate destination. In such a message-routing scheme, if the message specifies that its routing is conditional on information held by each neighbor doing the routing, then it is not necessary that the sending computing element know exactly which computing elements should ultimately receive its message. An example of such conditional message routing will appear in the next subsection where the collapse of the quantum-mechanical wave function is discussed.
[3] Throughout the remainder of this book, as a literary convenience, the word particle always denotes an elementary particle. An elementary particle is a particle that is not composed of other particles. In physics, prime examples of elementary particles are electrons, quarks, and photons.
[4] Very large numbers and very small numbers are given in scientific notation. The exponent is the number of times 10 is multiplied by itself. A negative exponent means the number one is divided by the product of tens. For example, 10−16 is equivalent to 1/10,000,000,000,000,000 which is 0.0000000000000001, and 3×108 is equivalent to 300,000,000.
A token, in the computer science sense, is a symbol that is a shorthand representation of something else. Typically, integers are used as the token symbols. The use of integer tokens is common practice in both computer science and programming, and most practitioners take them for granted. Integer tokens have at least three advantages when compared to other token possibilities—such as letters, words, and phrases. First, the number of integers is infinite and there is an endless supply. Second, any given number of integers can be represented more compactly and in less storage space than the same number of any of the other symbol possibilities. Third, by definition, integers are ordered with respect to each other. This inherent ordering is frequently exploited in programs to both simplify and accelerate classification tasks. We assume the computing-element program uses integer tokens wherever tokens are used. Regarding token size, if one assumes binary numbers, a token size of three hundred bits would give about 1090 different integers. As the number of particles in the universe has been roughly estimated by physicists at 1090, it should be apparent that token sizes can be relatively small and still satisfy gargantuan needs.
Chapter 1 explained that self-existing particles—that have a reality independent of everything else—do not exist. This is a natural consequence of the computing-element reality model. Particles cannot exist apart from the interconnected computing elements that manifest them.
In the language of quantum mechanics, a particle does not exist as a particle until an observer collapses its wave function. Quantum mechanics offers no precise definition of what an observer is, but the observer is always external to the particle, and different from it. The wave function for a single particle can fill a relatively large volume of space—until the collapse of that wave function and the consequent manifestation of that particle to the observing system.
A particle in the computing-element reality model is a block of information. A particle’s state information—the current values of the particle’s attributes—would occupy part of the information block for that particle. The information block would include a token that identifies the particle type. For a computing element holding a particle, i.e., holding an information block that represents a particle, additional information could be stored within the computing element as needed. For example, such additional information could include identifying the neighboring computing element from which that information block was received.
Among the information-block tokens for a particle, there could be a simple yes-no flag to indicate whether the particle is active. A computing element that holds an inactive particle could, as determined from running its program, copy the information block for that inactive particle to one or more neighboring computing elements. This would correspond to the spreading in space of the particle’s wave function. A computing element that holds an inactive particle could decide, as determined from running its program, that the held particle’s state should be changed to active. That computing element could then send a message backward along the sequence of computing elements that copied that inactive particle. The message would tell those computing elements to erase their inactive copies of that particle, because the message-sending computing element is going to activate that particle at its location.[5] This would correspond to the wave function collapsing.
Once a computing element has changed a held particle from inactive status to active status, it becomes the sole holder of that particle. That computing element can then run that portion of its program that will determine how that particle will interact with the surrounding information environment found in neighboring computing elements. The surrounding information environment can be determined by exchanging messages with the neighboring computing elements. Information of interest could include what active and inactive particles the neighboring computing elements are holding, along with relevant, particle state information. The actual size of the neighborhood examined by a computing element will depend on the type of particle it is holding, and perhaps also on that particle’s state information. This step corresponds to the role of the observer.
footnotes
[5] Besides sending the message backward along a sequence of computing elements, the same message might also have to be sent forward along other sequences. This would be the case if there were branch points. A branch point would occur wherever a computing element copied that inactive particle to several neighboring computing elements, instead of copying to only a single computing element. To allow sending a message forward, any computing element that copies an inactive particle to several neighbors would have to keep a list of those neighbors. Once the erase message is received at a branch point, the message can be routed forward to those neighbors on the list that have yet to get the message. The list can then be deleted.
For the last few centuries, scientists have often remarked on and puzzled about the fact that so much of the world can be described with mathematics. Physics texts are typically littered with equations that wrap up physical relationships in nice neat formulas. Why is there such a close relationship between the workings of the world, and mathematics? This question is frequently asked. Given the computing-element reality model, the easy and likely answer is that many equations discovered by scientists are explicitly contained in the computing-element program. In other words, the computing-element program has instructions to do mathematical calculations, and parts of the computing-element program compute specific equations. Modern computers handle mathematical calculations with ease, so we assume the computing elements do at least as well.
To some extent, the computing-element reality model explains reality as a vast, ongoing computer simulation. Modern computers are often used to simulate physical processes—such as simulating the deformation of a steel plate during a car crash, to give just one example. However, there is an important difference between modern computer simulations and the ongoing computer simulation run by the computing elements. From a personal perspective, the simulation run by the computing elements is reality itself; the two are identical. Put another way, one inhabits the simulation; it is one’s reality.
We now consider what the computing-element reality model allows as possible within the universe. First, we note that the dominant reality model for the last few centuries has been the mathematics-only reality model. Because equations can be computed, everything allowed by the mathematics-only reality model is also allowed by the computing-element reality model.[6] Also, the mathematics-only reality model disallows particles whose interactions cannot be expressed or explained with equations. By moving to the computing-element reality model, this parochialism of the mathematics-only reality model is avoided.
A computer when programmed can behave in ways that are considered intelligent. In computer science, the Turing Hypothesis states that all intelligence can be reduced to a single program written in a simple language, running on a simple computer. The universe contains at least one example of intelligence which is widely recognized, namely people. The computing-element reality model offers an easy explanation for this intelligence, because all intelligence in the universe can spring from the computing elements and their program.
At this point, we make the distinction between two classes of particles: common particles and intelligent particles. We classify all the particles of physics as common particles. Prime examples of common particles are electrons, photons, and quarks. In general, a common particle is a particle with simple state information. The simplicity of the state information allows the interactions between common particles to be expressed with equations. This satisfies the requirement of the mathematics-only reality model, so both models allow common particles.
Besides common particles, the computing-element reality model allows the existence of intelligent particles. In general, an intelligent particle is a particle whose state information is much more complicated than the state information of a common particle. An intelligent particle would have state information that might fill a book, or many books. The computing-element program changes the state information of a particle as needed whenever the computing-element program interacts that particle with other particles. Consequently, the state information of an intelligent particle could be variable in size, expanding or shrinking when the computing-element program adds to it or removes from it, respectively.
Movement of an intelligent particle through space would involve copying that particle’s information block from one computing element to a neighboring computing element, as happens with the common particles. We assume the communication channel between computing elements is wide enough to move even gigantic information blocks at instantaneous speed.
As already remarked, the state information of an intelligent particle is much more complicated than the state information of a common particle. Similarly, the observer role of an intelligent particle is much more complicated than the observer role of a common particle. We assume the rules within the computing-element program that govern the interaction between an intelligent particle and common particles, or between an intelligent particle and other intelligent particles, are very complicated. In general, because of this complexity it is not possible to express with equations the interactions involving intelligent particles. This explains why intelligent particles are absent from the mathematics-only reality model.
footnotes
[6] Some equations lack a closed-form solution. For example, there are many integrals that cannot be solved in closed form. We assume the computing-element program uses numerical approximation methods where appropriate.
From the science of biology, there is evidence for the existence of intelligent particles. We name the intelligent particle that is associated with biology, a bion.[7] This chapter presents evidence that each living cell is inhabited and controlled by a bion. First, we consider the ability of single-cell organisms to follow a chemical concentration gradient. We then consider cell division, followed by an examination of the steps by which sex cells are made. Last, we briefly look at development.
footnotes
[7] The word bion rhymes with the word ion.
The ability to move either toward or away from an increasing chemical concentration is a coordinated activity many single-cell organisms can do. Single-cell animals and bacteria typically have some mechanical means of movement. Bacteria either use long external whip-like filaments called flagella, or they, in effect, glide. Flagella are rotated by a molecular motor to cause propulsion through water. The larger single-cell animals may use flagella similar to bacteria, or they may have rows of short filaments called cilia. Or they may move about as amebas do. Cilia work like oars. Amebas move by extruding themselves in the direction they want to go.
The E. coli bacterium has a standard pattern of movement when searching for food. The bacterium moves in a straight line for a while, then it stops and turns a bit, and then continues moving in a straight line again. This pattern is followed until the presence of food is detected. The bacterium can detect molecules in the water that indicate the presence of food. When the bacterium moves in a straight line, it will continue longer in that direction if the concentration of the molecules is increasing. If the concentration is decreasing, then it will stop its movement sooner and change direction. Eventually, this strategy will get the bacterium to a nearby food source.
Amebas living in soil feed on bacteria. Although one might not think bacteria would leave signs of their presence in the surrounding water, they do. This happens because bacteria make small molecules such as cyclic AMP and folic acid. There is always some leakage of these molecules through the cell membrane into the surrounding water. Amebas can move in the direction of increasing concentration of these molecules and thereby find nearby bacteria. Amebas can also react to the concentration of molecules that identify the presence of other amebas. The amebas themselves leave telltale molecules in the water, and amebas will move in a direction of decreasing concentration of these molecules, away from other amebas.
The ability of a cell to follow a chemical concentration gradient is hard to explain using chemistry alone. The easy part is the actual detection of a molecule. A cell can have receptors on its outer membrane that will react when contacted by a specific molecule. The other easy part is the means of cell movement. Either flagella, cilia, or self-extrusion are used. However, the hard part is to explain the control mechanism that lies between the receptors and the means of movement.
In the ameba, one might suggest that wherever a receptor on the cell surface is stimulated by the molecule to be detected, there will be an extrusion of the ameba cell at that point. This kind of mechanism would be a simple reflexive one. However, this reflex mechanism is not reliable. Surrounding the cell at any time could be many molecules to be detected. This would cause the cell to move in many different directions at once. The reflex mechanism is further complicated by the need to move in the opposite direction from other amebas. This would mean that a stimulated receptor at one end of the cell would have to trigger an extrusion of the cell at the opposite end.
A much more reliable mechanism to follow a chemical concentration gradient would be one that takes measurements of the concentration over time. For example, every few seconds the moving cell could check its receptors and count how many molecules were detected. If the count is decreasing over time, then the cell must be moving away from the source. Conversely, if the count is increasing over time, then the cell must be moving toward the source. Based on this information, the cell could change its direction of movement as needed. Unlike the reflex mechanism, there is no doubt this count-over-time mechanism would work. However, this count-over-time mechanism requires a clock and a memory, and a means of comparing the counts stored in memory. This sounds like a tiny computer. Such a computer would be extremely difficult to design as a chemical mechanism, and no one has done it. On the other hand, the bion, an intelligent particle, can provide these services. The memory of a bion is part of that particle’s state information.
All cells reproduce by dividing. One cell becomes two. When a cell divides, it will divide roughly in half. The division of water and proteins does not have to be exactly 50-50. Instead, a roughly even distribution of the cellular material will do. However, there is one important exception, the cell’s DNA. Among other things, a cell’s DNA is a direct code for all the possible proteins the cell can make. If the cell is part of a multicellular organism, the cell’s DNA also contains a developmental plan for the complete organism. The DNA of a cell is like a single massive book. The book cannot be torn in half and roughly distributed between the two dividing cell halves. Instead, each new cell needs its own complete book. Therefore, before a cell can divide, it must duplicate all its DNA. Each of the two new cells must receive a complete copy of the original DNA.[8]
All multicellular organisms are made out of eucaryotic cells. Eucaryotic cells are characterized by having a well-defined cellular nucleus which contains all the cell’s DNA. Division for eucaryotic cells has three main steps. In the first step, all the DNA is duplicated, and chromosomes are formed. Chromosomes are distinct and separate groupings of DNA. For a particular type of cell, such as a human cell, there will be a fixed and unchanging number of chromosomes formed. The ordinary human cell always forms forty-six chromosomes before it divides. A mouse cell forms forty chromosomes, a chicken cell forms seventy-eight, a chimpanzee cell forms forty-eight, and a cricket cell forms twenty-two. During the normal life of a cell, the DNA is loosely distributed in the nucleus. During normal life, the DNA is not confined to the distinct chromosomal bodies which only form after the DNA has been duplicated for cell division. Each chromosome which forms during cell division consists of two separate, equal-length strands that are joined. The place where the two strands are joined is called a centromere. Each chromosome strand consists of a long DNA molecule wrapped helically around specialized proteins called histones. For each chromosome, each of the two strands is a duplicate of the other. The information coded in the DNA of one strand is duplicated in the other strand of the same chromosome. For a human cell there would be a total of ninety-two strands comprising forty-six chromosomes. The forty-six chromosomes comprise two copies of all the information coded in the cell’s DNA. One copy will go to one half of the cell, and the other copy will go to the other half.
The second step of cell division is the actual distribution of the chromosomal DNA between two separate halves of the cell. The membrane of the nucleus disintegrates and simultaneously the spindle is forming. The spindle is composed of microtubules which are long thin rods made of chained proteins. The spindle may have several thousand of these microtubules. Many of the microtubules extend from one half of the cell to the chromosomes, and a roughly equal number of microtubules extend from the opposite half of the cell to the chromosomes. Each chromosome’s centromere will become attached to microtubules from both halves of the cell. When the spindle is complete and all the centromeres have become attached to microtubules, the chromosomes are then aligned together. The alignment places all the centromeres in a plane oriented at a right angle to the spindle. At this stage of alignment, the chromosomes are at their maximum contraction. All the DNA is tightly bound so none will break off and be lost during the actual separation of each chromosome. The separation itself is caused by a shortening of the microtubules. In addition, in some cases the separation is caused by the two bundles of microtubules moving away from each other. The centromere, which held together the two separate strands of each chromosome, is pulled apart into two pieces. One piece of the centromere, attached to one chromosomal strand, is pulled into one half of the cell. Simultaneously, the other centromere piece, attached to the other chromosomal strand, is pulled into the opposite half of the cell. Thus, the DNA is equally divided between the two halves of the dividing cell.
The third step of cell division involves the construction of new membranes. Once the divided DNA has reached the two respective cell halves, a normal-looking nucleus forms in each cell half. This means at least some of the microtubules disintegrate. A new nuclear membrane assembles around the DNA, and the DNA itself is unbound from the chromosome strands and is loosely distributed within the new nucleus. Once the two new nuclei are established, a new cell membrane is built in the middle of the cell, dividing the cell in two. Depending on the type of cell, the new cell membrane may be a shared membrane. Or the new cell membrane may be two separate cell membranes with each membrane facing the other. Once the membranes are done and the two new cells are truly divided, the remains of the spindle disintegrate.
footnotes
[8] DNA is an acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid. A single DNA molecule consists of two long complementary chains of smaller chemical units called bases. The two chains are twisted together in a shape which gives the DNA molecule the alternative name, double helix. A DNA molecule is duplicated by splitting the molecule into its two chains. Each chain will have an affinity with the complementary bases found on the other chain. In particular, there are four different bases named adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. The adenine base is the complement of the thymine base, and the guanine base is the complement of the cytosine base. Thus, the two chains of a single DNA molecule are informational duplicates of each other, though they are not chemical duplicates.
When the information content of a DNA molecule is used to construct a protein, the information is read from a single DNA chain, rather than from both chains. Consequently, the alphabet of the DNA language consists of four letters, instead of only two letters. In other words, though there are only four bases, and these four bases have only two different interchain pairings, the sequence of the four bases on either single chain determines the usable information coded by that DNA molecule.
The dividing of eucaryotic cells is impressive in its precision and complexity. However, there is a special kind of cell division used to make the sex cells of most higher organisms, including humans. This special division process is more complex than ordinary cell division. For organisms that use the process, each of the ordinary cells that compose the organism has half its total DNA from the organism’s mother, and the other half from the organism’s father. Thus, within the cell are two different collections of DNA. One collection originated from the mother, and the other collection originated from the father. Instead of this DNA from the two different origins being mixed, the separateness of the two collections is maintained within the cell. When the chromosomes form during ordinary cell division, half the chromosomes contain all the DNA that was passed by the mother, and the other half contain all the DNA that was passed by the father. In any particular chromosome, all the DNA either came from the mother, or from the father.
A type of genetic inheritance known as particulate inheritance requires that every characteristic be represented by an even number of genes.[9] The genes are specific sections of an organism’s DNA. For any given characteristic, half the genes come from the mother, and half come from the father. For example, if the mother’s DNA contribution has a gene for making hemoglobin, then there will also be a gene to make hemoglobin in the father’s DNA contribution. The actual detail of the two hemoglobin genes may be different from each other. But for every gene in the mother’s contribution, there will be a corresponding gene in the father’s contribution. Thus, the DNA from the mother will always be a rough copy of the DNA from the father, and vice versa. The only difference is in the detail of individual genes.
Sex cells are made four-at-a-time from an original cell.[10] The original cell will divide once, and then the two newly formed cells will each divide—thus producing the final four sex cells. The first step the original cell undergoes is a duplication of all its DNA. There will be only this one duplication of DNA. Once the duplication is completed, the original cell will have twice as much DNA as an ordinary nondividing cell in the same organism would have. There will be no further duplication of DNA, even though the original cell will ultimately divide into four separate sex cells. The DNA will be evenly distributed among each resultant sex cell. Therefore, each sex cell will have only half the DNA possessed by an ordinary nondividing cell. And this is exactly what is wanted, because when the male sex cell combines with the female sex cell, the now-fertilized egg has the normal amount of DNA for a nondividing cell.
The whole purpose of sexual reproduction is to provide a controlled variability of an organism’s characteristics. With such variability between organisms of the same species, natural selection has differences to work with, and can thereby optimize that species to its environment.[11] To help accomplish the desired variability, there is a mixed selection in the sex cell of the DNA that came from the two parents. However, the DNA that goes into a particular sex cell cannot be a random selection from all the available DNA. Instead, the DNA in the sex cell must be complete in the sense that each characteristic of the organism is specified. The number of genes used to specify each characteristic must be only half the number of genes present for that characteristic in ordinary cells. Also, the order of the genes on the DNA in the sex cell must remain the same as it was originally—to conform to the DNA format for that species.
The desired mixing of DNA that satisfies the above constraints can be accomplished by randomly choosing from the four strands of each functionally equivalent pair of chromosomes. Recall that a chromosome, formed after DNA duplication, consists of two identical strands joined by a centromere. For each chromosome that originated from the mother, there is a corresponding chromosome that originated from the father and has the same genes. The two chromosomes together are a functionally equivalent pair. One chromosome from each pair is split between two sex cells. And the other chromosome from that pair is split between the other two sex cells. The human has twenty-three functionally equivalent pairs of chromosomes. If four sex cells are formed, and each sex cell gets one chromosome strand chosen at random from each pair, then there would be 223 or 8,388,608 different sex cells possible. This provides the desired mixing and preserves the DNA format for that species. This mixing method is actually used. However, there is still a drawback. The drawback of this method is that there is no way to change the genes on a particular chromosome. Because of the small number of chromosomes and the large number of genes, each chromosome will carry many different genes on it. It would improve the overall variability if at least some corresponding genes on different chromosomes could be exchanged or swapped with each other. This method of swapping corresponding genes is also used. Thus, a random swapping of corresponding genes, along with a random choosing of a chromosome strand from each chromosome pair, provides good overall variability and preserves the standardized format of the DNA for that species.
Following are the details of how the sex cells get their DNA. The original cell, as already stated, duplicates all its DNA. The same chromosomes are formed as would be done during ordinary cell division. For example, if it is a human cell, there will be the same forty-six chromosomes, and each chromosome will be composed of two identical strands connected by a centromere. However, there is a difference in that the chromosomes will be much longer and thinner than they are during ordinary cell division. The reason the chromosomes are stretched out like this is to make the swapping of genes easier.
Once the chromosomes are formed, the next step is amazing—at least to someone trying to explain it by chemistry alone. Each chromosome seeks out and lines up exactly with the other functionally equivalent chromosome. This means the two chromosomes—of each functionally equivalent pair—find each other and unite along their lengths. The two chromosomes of each functionally equivalent pair unite so that corresponding genes are directly across from each other. A random swapping of corresponding genes then takes place.
After the swapping of genes, the next step has the paired chromosomes pull away somewhat from each other. However, they remain connected in one or more places. Also, the chromosomes themselves undergo contraction and lose their stretched-out, long-and-thin appearance, because the gene swapping is over. As the chromosomes contract, the nuclear membrane disintegrates and a spindle forms. Each connected pair of contracted chromosomes now lines up so that one centromere is closer to one end of the spindle, while the other centromere is closer to the opposite end of the spindle. The microtubules from each end of the spindle attach to those centromeres that are closer to that end. The two chromosomes of each connected pair are then pulled apart as they move into opposite halves of the cell. It is random which chromosome of a given functionally equivalent pair goes to which cell half. Thus, each cell half will have a random selection from each pair of what was originally mother and father chromosomes which have since undergone random swapping of corresponding genes.
After the chromosomes have been divided into the two cell halves, there is a delay, the duration of which depends on the particular species. During the delay—which may or may not involve the forming of nuclei and the construction of a dividing cell membrane—the chromosomes remain unchanged. After the delay, the final step occurs. New spindles form—either in each cell half if there was no cell membrane constructed during the delay, or in each of the two new cells, if a cell membrane was constructed—and the final step simply divides each chromosome at its centromere. The chromosomes line up, the microtubules attach to the centromeres, and the two strands of each chromosome are pulled apart in opposite directions. Four new nuclear membranes form. The DNA becomes loose within each new nucleus. The dividing cell membranes form, and the spindles disintegrate. There are now four sex cells, and each of them contains a well-varied blend of that organism’s genetic inheritance which originated from its two parents. Also, the DNA format for that species has been preserved.
As one can see, cell division is a complex and highly coordinated activity consisting of a sequence of well-defined steps. Can cell division itself be exclusively a chemical phenomenon? Or would it be reasonable to believe bions are involved? In general, no one has been able to construct, either by designing on paper, or by building in practice, any computer-like control mechanisms made, as cells are, from loose molecules mixed in water. Among the fundamental obstacles to such a construction is the fact that molecules are extremely shortsighted and dumb, unlike a bion.
footnotes
[9] The exception to the rule and the exception to the rules that follow are genes and chromosomes that are sex-specific, such as the X and Y chromosomes in humans. We avoid further mention of this complicating factor.
[10] In female sex cells, four cells are made from an original cell, but one of these four cells has most of the original cell’s cytoplasm, and is a viable egg. The other three cells are not viable eggs and they disintegrate. We avoid further mention of this complicating factor.
[11] Natural selection is also known as survival of the fittest. The idea is that differences between organisms translate into differences in their ability to survive and reproduce. Assume a species has a pool of available, variable characteristics. Those characteristics that make the organisms of a species less likely to survive and reproduce, tend to disappear from that species. Conversely, those characteristics that make the organisms of a species more likely to survive and reproduce, tend to become common in that species. A species is characterized by the ability of its members to interbreed. It could be argued that if one had a perfect design for a particular species, then that species would have no use for sexual reproduction. However, the problem is that the environment could change and thereby invalidate parts of any fixed design. In contrast, the mechanism of sexual reproduction allows a species to change as its environment changes.
Development from a single fertilized egg cell to a complex multicellular organism is an everyday event. It happens each time a woman becomes pregnant and eventually gives birth to a baby. The baby then develops further and eventually reaches maturity.
Every multicellular organism begins as a single cell. How a single cell can develop into a starfish, tuna, honeybee, frog, dog, or man, is obviously a big question. Much research and experimentation has been done on the problems of development. In particular, there has been much focus on early development. Embryology is concerned with early development from egg to self-supporting organism, or from egg to birth. The biggest puzzle is the embryo stage. The transition from a single cell to a baby is a much more radical step than the transition from a baby to an adult, or from an adult to an aged adult.
In spite of much research on early development, there is no real explanation of how it happens, except general statements of what must be happening. For example, it is known that some sort of communication must be taking place between neighboring cells, but the mechanism is unknown. It is not hard to state what must be happening. The hard part is identifying and describing any of the real cellular mechanisms that must be there—assuming one insists on an explanation that allows only chemistry.
When the development of a large multicellular organism from a single cell is considered—such as the development of a horse from an egg cell—there are many hypothetical chemical mechanisms needed. Science has a principle known as Occam’s razor. The idea is to keep the number of hypotheses to a minimum. There are many different things done by cells that seem to require a computer-like controller. If one says everything a cell does must fit on the Procrustean bed of chemistry, then one presents oneself with many extremely difficult problems to solve. Each time a cell does something that calls for precise, coordinated control, one is forced to hypothesize the existence of some chemical mechanism which no one can imagine or describe. It is precisely for this reason there has been little progress on the question of multicellular development. There is a great mass of data but no explanation of the development mechanism.
Instead of many hypotheses, there is a need for only one hypothesis. By upgrading one’s reality model from the old mathematics-only reality model to a reality model that includes the mathematics of the old model and adds computers, one has available for explanatory needs, intelligent particles. With the availability of the intelligent particle we call a bion, multicellular development is easily explained as a cooperative effort between bions. We assume there is one bion associated with each living cell. To achieve development, the cooperating bions read and follow the master development plan recorded in the organism’s DNA. The likely architects of the DNA are the Caretakers who are the subject of chapters 9 and 10.
This chapter presents evidence that bions give the brain its intelligence. First, we review the basics of neurons and brain structure. We then consider arguments for bion involvement with the brain, and discuss the location of memories.
The brain is the end-bundle of nerves found in the head. Every mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, and insect, has a brain. The brain is at the root of a tree of sensory and motor nerves with branches throughout the body. The purpose of the brain is to provide a command-center for the control of an animal’s movements in its environment. Unlike animals, plants and trees are unable to move, because they are rooted in the ground. Consequently, they lack both brain and nerves. They do not need to control movements they cannot make.
The building block of any nervous system, including the brain, is the nerve cell. Nerve cells are called neurons. All animal life shows the same basic design for neurons. For example, comparing a neuron from the brain of a human with a neuron from a jellyfish would show the same signal-conduction method used.
Neurons come in many shapes and sizes. The typical neuron has a cell body and an axon along which a signal can be transmitted. An axon has a cylindrical shape and resembles an electrical wire in both shape and purpose. Axon length in humans can vary from about a millimeter to a full meter in length. A signal is transmitted from one end of the axon to the other end as a chemical wave involving the movement of sodium ions across the axon membrane. During the wave, the sodium ions move from outside the axon to inside the axon. Within the neuron is a chemical pump that is always working to transport sodium ions to the outside of the cell. A neuron waiting to conduct a signal sits at a threshold state. The sodium-ion imbalance that exists across the axon membrane waits for a trigger to set the wave in motion. Nerve cells with a clearly defined axon can transmit a signal in only one direction.
The speed of signal transmission through an axon is very slow when compared to electrons moving through a wire. Depending on the axon, a signal may move at a speed anywhere from 0.5 to 120 meters per second. The faster transmission speeds are obtained by axons that have a myelin sheath. The long sensory and motor nerves that connect the brain through the spinal cord to different parts of the body are examples of myelinated neurons. Signal speed through these long nerves is important. A myelinated neuron can transmit its signal ten times faster than it could if it did not have the myelin sheath. In comparison to the top speed of 120 meters per second, an electrical current in a wire can move at near light speed, which is 300,000,000 meters per second. Besides speed, another consideration is how quickly a neuron can transmit a new signal. At best, a neuron can transmit roughly one thousand signals per second. One may call this the switching speed. In comparison, the fastest electrical circuits switch at roughly a billion times a second.
There are sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons. A sensory neuron has a specialized sensor structure at one end of its axon, and the other end terminates with many thin branches called dendrites. A motor neuron at one end of its axon terminates with what are called motor end plates, and the other end terminates with dendrites. Dendrites also terminate both ends of an interneuron. Every neuron with an axon has a receiving end and a sending end. The signal always travels from the receiving end to the sending end. A synapse or synaptic connection is where the sending dendrite of a neuron touches against the surface of another neuron. At the tip of a sending dendrite is a concentration of a special chemical called a neurotransmitter. In the human nervous system there are many different neurotransmitters.
One important way neurons differ from each other is by the neurotransmitters they make and respond to. The neurotransmitter is the only real link that connects one neuron to another. The sodium-ion wave is not directly transferred from one neuron to the next. Instead, the sodium-ion wave travels along the axon and spreads into the sending dendrites. This causes the dendrites to release some of the neurotransmitter made by that neuron. The released neurotransmitter quickly reaches whatever part of the other neuron the dendrites are touching. The other neuron touched by the dendrites will respond to the released neurotransmitter. Neurons have three different responses when stimulated by neurotransmitters. First, the neuron could be stimulated to start its own sodium-ion wave. Second, the neuron could be inhibited from starting its own sodium-ion wave. Third, the neuron could have no response.
The human brain is divided into three different parts: the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. The hindbrain consists of the brainstem and cerebellum. The midbrain is the topmost part of the brainstem and connects the hindbrain to the forebrain. The most important part of the forebrain is the two cerebral hemispheres, together known as the cerebrum.
Some small structures that are considered part of the forebrain are clustered around the midbrain. Those structures that comprise the limbic system are concerned with direct regulation of the body. Such things as body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, are controlled by the limbic system. The other small structures of the forebrain are the thalami and basal ganglia. The thalamus is mostly a relay station for incoming sensory signals. Most sensory signals that terminate in the cerebral cortex have connections through the thalami. The basal ganglia are concerned with motor control done in a cooperative fashion with other parts of the brain—such as the cerebral motor cortex and the cerebellum.
There is ample proof the cerebrum’s thin covering layer is the major site for human intelligence. In the human brain, the cerebrum makes up the bulk of the forebrain. The two large, gray, heavily wrinkled hemispheres are the most visible part of a fully exposed human brain. Other parts of the brain are small in comparison. The gray appearance of the cerebrum is confined to the thin covering layer, called the cortex.
Beneath the cortex is the bulk of the cerebrum. This is the white matter, so called because of its white appearance, caused by the presence of fatty sheaths protecting nerve-cell fibers—much like insulation on an electrical wire. The white matter is primarily a volume of space through which an abundance of nerve pathways, called tracts, run. Hundreds of millions of neurons are bundled into different tracts, much as single wires are sometimes bundled into larger cables. Tracts are often composed of long axons that stretch the entire length covered by the tract. As an example of a tract, consider the optic nerve. It leaves the back of the eye as a bundle of about a million axons. The supporting cell bodies of the axons are buried back in the retina of the eye. The optic tract runs into the base of a thalamus. There, a new set of neurons—one outgoing neuron for each incoming neuron—comprises a second optic tract called the optic radiation. The optic radiation connects from the base of the thalamus to a wide area of cerebral cortex in the lower back of the brain.
There are three main categories of white-matter tracts, according to what parts of the brain the tracts are connecting. Association tracts connect one area of cortex with a different area of cortex on the same hemisphere. Commissural tracts connect one area of cortex with a different area of cortex on the opposite hemisphere. All the commissural tracts come together into a single bundle of nerves known as the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum joins the two hemispheres. Projection tracts connect areas of cortex with the brainstem and the thalami. It seems all tracts in the white matter have either their origin, destination, or both, in the thin cortex layer. Altogether there are many thousands of different tracts.
The cortex is a sheet varying from two to five millimeters in thickness. The total surface area is about 1,500 square centimeters. The reason the cortex is so wrinkled is to allow a greater area of cortex than could be had if the surface of the cerebrum were smooth.
The detailed structure of the cortex shows general uniformity across its surface. In any square millimeter of cortex, there are roughly 100,000 neurons. This gives a total count of roughly fifteen billion neurons for the entire human cortex. To contain that many neurons in the cortex, the typical cortex neuron is very small and does not have a long axon. Many neurons whose cell bodies are in the cortex do have long axons, but these axons pass into the white matter as fibers in tracts. Although fairly uniform across its surface, the cortex is not uniform through its thickness. There are six distinct layers when seen under a microscope. The main difference between the layers is the shape and density of the neurons in each layer.
There is only very limited sideways communication through the cortex. When a signal enters the cortex through an axon, the signal is largely confined to an imaginary column of no more than a millimeter across. Different areas of widely spaced cortex do communicate with each other, but by means of tracts passing through the white matter.
As an example of a cortex area, consider the primary motor cortex. This cortex area is in the shape of a strip which wraps across the middle of the cerebrum. As the name suggests, the primary motor cortex plays a big part in voluntary movement. This cortex area is a map of the body. Determining the existence and layout of the map was an easy task for neurologists. The map was determined by touching an electrode to different points on the primary motor cortex surface and observing which muscles contracted. The map represents the parts of the body in the order they occur on the body. In other words, any two adjacent parts of the body are motor-controlled by adjacent areas of primary motor cortex. However, the map does not draw a very good picture of the body, because the body parts that are under fine control get more cortex. The hand, for example, gets about as much cortex area as the whole leg and foot. This is similar to the primary visual cortex where more cortex is devoted to the center-of-view than to peripheral vision.
There are many tracts that carry signals into the primary motor cortex. These include tracts coming from other cortex areas, sensory tracts from the thalami, and tracts through the thalami that originated in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and brainstem. The incoming tracts are spread across the motor cortex strip, and the axons of those tracts terminate in cortex layers one, two, three, and four. Sensory-signal axons terminate primarily in layer four. Similarly, the optic-radiation axons terminate primarily in layer four of the primary visual cortex.
Regarding the outgoing signals of the primary motor cortex, there are the giant Betz cells. Betz cells are big neurons with thick, myelinated axons which pass down through the brainstem into the spinal cord. Muscles are activated from signals passed through these Betz cells. The Betz cells originate in layer five of the primary motor cortex. Besides the Betz cells, there are smaller, outgoing axons that originate in layers five and six. These outgoing tracts connect to other areas of cortex, and elsewhere.
Besides the primary motor cortex and the primary visual cortex, there are many other areas of cortex for which definite functions are known. This knowledge of the functional areas of the cortex did not come from studying the actual structure of the cortex, but instead from two other methods. First, by electrically stimulating different spots of cortex and observing the results, and second, by observing individuals who have specific cortex damage. The study of cortex damage has been the best source of knowledge about the functional areas of the cortex. Localized cortex damage typically comes from head wounds, strokes, and tumors. The basic picture which emerges from studies of cortex damage is that mental processing is broken into many different functional pieces, and these pieces exist at different areas of cortex.
Clustered around the primary visual cortex, and associated with it, are other cortex areas known as association cortex. These association areas receive sensory signals from the primary area. Association cortex areas border each primary, sensory cortex area. The primary area receives the sense-signals first, and from the primary area the same sense-signals are transmitted through tracts to the different association areas. The individual association areas are also getting signals from elsewhere, such as from the thalami. Each association area attacks a specific part of the total problem. Thus, an association area is a specialist. For example, for vision there is a specific association area for the recognition of faces. If this area is destroyed, one can still see and recognize other objects, but one cannot recognize a face.
Some examples of cortex functional areas are Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, and the prefrontal area. When Wernicke’s area is destroyed, there is a general loss of language comprehension. One can no longer make any sense out of what one reads or hears, and if one tries to speak, only gibberish comes out. Broca’s area is an association area of the primary motor cortex. When Broca’s area is destroyed, there is a loss of speech. One can still understand the written and spoken word, and write, but one can no longer speak. Instead of words when one tries to speak, only noises come out. The prefrontal area is beneath the forehead. When this area is destroyed, there is a general loss of foresight, concentration, and the ability to form and carry out plans of action. One loses the sense of a future and becomes a creature of the moment.
There is a great deal of wiring in the brain that is done by the neurons. But what is missing from the description of brain structure is any hint of how the cortex accomplishes its functions. In other words, there is no description of the mental mechanisms one assumes are there.
For those who apply the mathematics-only reality model and confine themselves to a chemical explanation of mental processes, there has been little progress. As with the control mechanisms for cell movement, cell division, and multicellular development, all considered in chapter 3, there is the same problem of loose molecules mixed in water. No one knows how to build computer-like control mechanisms from such poor material.
Alternatively, the computing-element reality model offers intelligent particles. Chapter 3 has already presented evidence that each living cell is occupied and controlled by an intelligent particle which we call a bion. Each neuron in the brain is a living cell, and would therefore be occupied by a bion. To explain the intelligence of one’s mind, it is only necessary to assume that bions in the brain perform mental functions in addition to ordinary cell functions. Brain bions are in a perfect position to read, remember, and process sodium-ion signals moving along their neurons from sensory sources. Brain bions are also perfectly positioned to start a sodium-ion signal in a motor neuron and thereby move a muscle.
Regarding memory, the whole question of memory has been frustrating for those who have sought its presence in physical substance. In humans there is a rich variety of memories. Besides the more obvious memories of sight, sound, and factual data, there are the less obvious memories such as motor memories for walking, driving a car, and such. There has been a determined search for memory in physical substance, by researchers who devoted their entire professional lives to this search. However, these researchers were unable to localize memory in any physical substance. Given bions, the location of memories would be among the state information of the bions that occupy the neurons of the brain. In other words, each memory would exist as part of the state information of one or more bions.
During a certain kind of out-of-body experience bions can be observed as a fluid-like group of particles that fills the body. This observation corroborates the conclusion reached in chapters 3 and 4 that living cells are occupied by bions. In this chapter we first consider how the computing-element reality model allows commonly reported psychic phenomena. We then discuss obstacles to observing bions. Next, we discuss four major religions with respect to experiencing psychic phenomena. Last, we consider in detail an ancient meditation method which promotes out-of-body experiences in some people, and we describe the meditation-caused injury known as kundalini.
Unlike the mathematics-only reality model, the computing-element reality model is much more tolerant of human experience, because much more is possible in a universe with intelligent particles. For example, ESP between two persons is a simple matter of one or more bions in the brain of one person directly interacting with one or more bions in the brain of the other person.[12] Such selective interaction is possible for intelligent particles. Intelligent particles can selectively interact with other particles, by definition.
In contrast to the computing-element reality model, the mathematics-only reality model cannot accommodate ESP. In the mathematics-only universe, the only long-distance communication possible is by electromagnetic radiation between common particles. With such a weak reality model, ESP cannot be explained. Therefore, the mathematics-only reality model states that ESP does not exist, and people who believe they have had ESP experiences are deluding themselves. Such is the harsh judgment imposed by the mathematics-only reality model.
Besides ESP, there are many human experiences that are denied by the mathematics-only reality model. However, these experiences can be explained by the computing-element reality model. For example, commonly reported psychic phenomena such as the afterlife, communication with the dead, out-of-body experiences, psychokinesis, and materialization, are allowed by the computing-element reality model.
Given the computing-element reality model, a brief explanation of each of the above-listed psychic phenomena follows. An afterlife is possible, because the bions occupying the human body and brain are elementary particles. In general, the breakdown of a structure leaves intact the elementary particles that comprise that structure. Since human memories are stored as particle state information, they, too, can survive the destruction of the body. Communication with the dead is possible, because both an afterlife and ESP are possible. Out-of-body experiences are possible, assuming at least some bions in the brain can neglect their cell-care duties for a short time without causing serious damage to the body. Psychokinesis is possible, because intelligent particles can interact with common particles.[13] Materialization is possible, assuming the rules within the computing-element program for the observer role of an intelligent particle include conditions for the generation of new information blocks that represent common particles.
footnotes
[12] ESP is an acronym for extrasensory perception. Most often, ESP refers to the ability to feel what other people are thinking. An example of ESP is the commonly reported experience of feeling when one is being stared at by a stranger. Upon turning around and looking, the feeling is confirmed.
[13] Psychokinesis is the ability to move objects without touching them. For example, young children can sometimes unconsciously cause objects such as dishes to fly about and break. The poltergeist phenomenon—which is characterized by psychokinetic activity—has been linked to children who were experiencing emotional upset at the time the psychokinetic activity was observed. Psychokinesis, as commonly understood, is rare. However, bions are engaged in constant psychokinetic activity as they care for their cells.
Experimentation is an important part of the scientific method. The common particles of physics have been observed with different instruments. Because bions are particles, it would be nice to observe bions directly with some kind of instrument. However, observing an intelligent particle with an instrument made out of common particles is difficult in practice. This is because an intelligent particle picks and chooses how it will interact with common particles.[14] For example, if an intelligent particle chooses to ignore a physics instrument such as an accelerator, then that accelerator will not detect that particle. At present, organic cells seem to be the only common-particle instruments that intelligent particles respond to in repeatable fashion.
Being partly composed of intelligent particles, it is possible for a person to be his or her own instrument to observe bions. Meditation is a potential means to observe bions directly. Unfortunately, there is a good reason people are unable to directly observe bions without some kind of assistance, such as by meditation. Human beings are composed of both common particles and intelligent particles. To preserve the fragile common-particle body, one must be constantly aware of the common particles around oneself. The possibility of damage to one’s bion part seems to be minimal. But there is the constant possibility of damage to one’s common part. The common part is the organic body composed of common particles. Because of the common part, one’s body requires constant attention and maintenance. Therefore, the reason one does not normally perceive bions is that time spent perceiving bions is time during which the common part of one’s body is being neglected. Neglecting one’s body and its needs is a sure way to lessen one’s chances of survival, and lessen one’s breeding prospects. Therefore, natural selection will work against human perception of bions.
footnotes
[14] Of course, the computing-element program decides all particle interactions, and all particles are blocks of information manipulated by the computing elements that run the computing-element program. However, as a literary convenience, intelligent particles will sometimes be spoken of as having their own volition. Doing this will avoid excessive repetition of the details of the computing-element reality model.
Of the major world religions, there seems to be only one that is seriously concerned with experiencing psychic phenomena while one is still alive. This religion is Hinduism. The ancient books of Hinduism are collectively known as the Vedas. It is not known with any certainty when the Vedas were written, but typical estimates are that the oldest books were written about 1,000 B.C. The Vedas had many authors and were probably written over a period of several centuries. Hinduism was already an established religion at the time of Gautama, who founded Buddhism, and Gautama died in 487 B.C.
To become established, a religion must have some sort of promise that will attract people. It must offer something people want. In practice, different promises are used. First is the promise of eternal life. Second is the promise of a paradise after death. Third is the promise of freedom from the wheel of rebirth. Fourth is the promise of access to a powerful god who will listen to one’s needs and provide help. Fifth is the promise of knowledge and experience of psychic phenomena. Of the five promises listed, the first three offer some advantage after death, and the last two offer some advantage before death. It is an easy task to identify which promises are used by each of the major religions. Christianity uses the eternal-life promise, and the helping-god promise. Mohammedanism (Islam) uses the paradise-afterlife promise, and the helping-god promise. The strong resemblance between Christianity and Mohammedanism in terms of the promises they use is no coincidence. Mohammed was familiar with Christianity and was influenced by it. Hinduism uses the knowledge-and-experience promise. Buddhism uses the escape-the-wheel-of-rebirth promise. Just as Mohammedanism was influenced by Christianity, Buddhism was influenced by Hinduism. Part of the knowledge of the Hindus is that the essential part of man is subject to rebirth without any definite end. This is termed the wheel of rebirth. It seems Gautama did not like this idea of endless rebirth, and he was not alone in his dislike, as the spread of his religion shows.
Of the four major religions mentioned—Christianity, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism—only Hinduism has the scientific spirit of seeking knowledge. Among the Vedas are the Upanishads, a collection of ancient writings that embody the philosophy of Hinduism. The promise of Hinduism includes gaining knowledge of psychic phenomena, but how is the individual to gain this knowledge? One sure way is to directly experience psychic phenomena. This is the approach taken by Hinduism. But how does one experience psychic phenomena? It can be argued that Hinduism developed and prospered because it had a specific and powerful means for an individual to directly experience psychic phenomena.
The Upanishads speak clearly about the means to experience psychic phenomena. It is an amazingly simple method. Briefly stated, mentally repeat over and over the sound Om. The sound Om rhymes with the words Rome, and home. The o sound is short, and the m sound is typically drawn out. The discovery of Om was the beginning of Hinduism. Robert Hume, in his book The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, translates from the original Sanskrit:
The word which all the Vedas rehearse,
And which all austerities proclaim,
Desiring which men live the life of religious studentship—
That word to thee I briefly declare.
That is Om!
That syllable, truly, indeed, is Brahma!
That syllable indeed is the supreme!
Knowing that syllable, truly, indeed,
Whatever one desires is his!
That is the best support.
That is the supreme support.
Knowing that support,
One becomes happy in the Brahma-world.[15]
This verse is from the Katha Upanishad. In this verse one sees the praises heaped upon Om. There is also a promise of desires fulfilled and happiness attained. The word Brahma is a technical term which occurs frequently in the Upanishads and refers to the experiences one can have as a result of using Om. The effects of using Om are described later in this chapter.
Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
One should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation.
Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,
Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.
The mystic syllable Om is the bow. The arrow is the soul.
Brahma is said to be the mark.
By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated.
One should come to be in It, as the arrow [in the mark].[16]
This verse is from the Mundaka Upanishad. The syllable Om is identified as the bow in the fifth line, and in the first line the bow is called the great weapon. By this bow-and-arrow analogy, the power of Om is expressed. A straightforward interpretation of this verse is that the use of Om will launch the awareness into an out-of-body experience.
As the material form of fire when latent in its source
Is not perceived—and yet there is no evanishment of its subtle form—
But may be caught again by means of the drill in its source,
So, verily, both are in the body by the use of Om.
By making one’s own body the lower friction-stick
And the syllable Om the upper friction-stick,
By practicing the friction of meditation,
One may see the God who is hidden, as it were.[17]
This verse is from the Svetasvatara Upanishad. It uses a now- outdated analogy, as did the previous verse. Before matches and lighters, people started fires by such means as rapidly spinning a stick of wood called a drill, the end of which was pressed against a stationary block of wood. The beginning of the verse is scientifically inaccurate; it is saying fire exists in wood in some subtle form. This is not true, but excusable, since the Upanishads are prescientific writings.
The meaning of this verse starts with the fourth line. The first three lines make the claim that fire has both a visible form, and a subtle, hidden form. The remaining lines make the claim that there is something similarly hidden in the human body. Normally this something is hidden, as the writer of the verse supposed fire is hidden in the stick. But by using Om one can draw out this hidden something and make it known to one’s own awareness. Referring to the computing-element reality model, this hidden something would be the bions that inhabit the living cells of the body.
Whereas one thus joins breath and the syllable Om
And all the manifold world—
Or perhaps they are joined!—
Therefore it has been declared to be Yoga.[18]
This verse from the Maitri Upanishad gives a definition of yoga as involving the use of Om.
From such a simple beginning—the learning of Om meditation—Hinduism over the centuries has undergone a substantial change. Since Hinduism’s founding, there has been an endless parade of innovators on the Om meditation method. The yoga practices of today are testimony to this. Perhaps the best-known innovator was Patanjali, who wrote a book about yoga. Patanjali’s book is roughly two thousand years old, and his yoga has eight parts: righteous living and thinking, daily performance of religious rituals, correct posture during meditation, correct breathing during meditation, correct subjugation of the senses during meditation, correct concentration during meditation, correct timing of meditation, and correct emotional state during meditation. Notice the additions to the original Om meditation method. Patanjali’s yoga is called Raja yoga and is the principal yoga taught in India today.
With Raja yoga, the use of Om recedes into the background. For many meditators, the syllable is not used. Or if it is used, it is used in combination with other sounds. The success of Om has spawned countless attempts over the centuries to introduce new mantras, as they are called. The Transcendental Meditation fad that swept the US in the 1970s was based on personalized mantras. A different approach to mantras is the singing mantra used by members of the Hare Krishna sect. The usefulness of such alternatives is questionable.
footnotes
[15] Hume, Robert. The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, London, 1934. pp. 348–349.
[16] Ibid., p. 372. The bracketed note on the last line is by the translator, Robert Hume.
[17] Ibid., p. 396. The word subtile on the second line is an obsolete synonym of the word subtle.
[18] Ibid., p. 439.
The founders of Hinduism had somehow learned about Om, probably from the Caretakers who are the subject of chapters 9 and 10. By repeating Om many times, the founders obtained impressive results. If one wants to meditate using Om, and risk the injury described in the next section, we recommend the following: lie down comfortably on a bed—preferably at night before sleeping. The room should be quiet. Then, close the eyes and mentally repeat the sound Om, over and over at whatever seems like a normal pace. Do not say the sound aloud. Avoid stray thoughts and try not to feel the body. Although movement should be avoided, move if it will correct any physical discomfort. During the meditation, the attention has to settle somewhere, so a good place to focus the attention is the center of the forehead.
There is no guarantee that the use of Om will produce results. The results of Om meditation have a high threshold. A single sounding of Om is useless. Instead, it must be repeated many times. Many hours of using Om, spread over many days, may be necessary before there are any results. If it turns out individual responsiveness to Om is genetically determined or influenced, then at least some people may be immune to its effects. The following are some effects that may be experienced as a consequence of Om meditation. There will be a better and more frequent recall of dreams. The use of Om enhances dream remembrance upon waking from sleep. Another effect is that during sleep there will be lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is where one is conscious and more or less mentally normal during the dream. At least some lucid dreams are out-of-body experiences. Another effect is that during sleep there will be an onset of consciousness and a direct perception of a nonphysical body. Often this bion body, which is a body composed solely of bions, is either pulling out of, or reentering, the physical body. This tangible, nonphysical body—which is capable of motion and movement independent of the physical body—convinces those people who experience it that they are truly exterior to the physical body. Another effect is that something is felt in the body during the Om meditation. This may be a vibration, or a loss of sensation in the limbs, or a shrinking feeling.
Of the four effects mentioned, three of them occur after or during sleep, and not during the actual Om meditation. If one is going to have unusual perceptions, the best time for them is when one is asleep. When asleep, the body has the lowest need for the services of the mind. If part of the mind were to wander off and leave the body alone, then hopefully the body would not miss it. The limitation on out-of-body experiences and their duration is the extent to which the bions involved can neglect their cell-care duties.
Although Om meditation has the potential to promote unusual perceptions, it also has the potential to cause a very painful injury. Both Om meditation and meditation in general can—after long use—cause the devastating injury known as kundalini. This injury happens during the actual meditation, and not during sleep. Briefly, the cause of the injury is too much meditation. Perhaps the injury is a genetically specified response whose purpose is to put a stop to excessive meditation. Alternatively, the injury may be to the bion body, analogous to an athlete pulling a muscle or having cramps from too much exercise. Regardless of the true reason for the kundalini injury, it is something to be avoided.
The details of the kundalini injury are as follows. At some point during meditation, without any warning, there will be a strong sensation at the spine in the lower back, near the end of the spine. There will then be a sensation of something pushing up the spine from the point of the original sensation. How far up the spine this sensation gets is variable. Also, it depends on what the person does. He or she should immediately get up, move around, and forswear future meditation. Besides the strange sensations along the spine, there is no pain, yet. The onset of the pain is also variable, but seems to follow the kundalini injury quickly—within a day or two. Typically, the pain of the kundalini injury is a burning sensation across the back—or at least a burning sensation along the lower spine—and the pain may also cover other parts of the body such as the head. The pain is sometimes intense. It may come and go during a period of months or years and eventually fade away, or it may burn incessantly for years without relief.
The common reaction by the sufferer to the kundalini injury is bewilderment. He or she stops meditation once the pain has started, and may never return to it. Apparently, continued meditation aggravates the kundalini injury, so the typical sufferer develops a strong aversion for meditation.
The Indian, Gopi Krishna, suffered the kundalini injury in December 1937 at the age of thirty-four. He had a habit of meditating for about three hours every morning, and he did this for seventeen years. Apparently, he did not practice Om meditation. Instead, he would just concentrate on a spot centered on his forehead. He was a practitioner of Raja yoga and apparently had no history of out-of-body experiences. In his case, the sensation rose all the way up his spine and into his head. The pain he suffered lasted several decades.
The Indian, Krishnamurti, who had been groomed as the World Teacher of the Theosophical Society, suffered the kundalini injury in August 1922 at the age of twenty-seven. He had been meditating. His suffering lasted several years and the pain would come and go. In one of his letters of 1925, Krishnamurti wrote “I suppose it will stop some day but at present it is rather awful. I can’t do any work etc. It goes on all day & all night now.”[19] Such are the hazards of meditation.
footnotes
[19] Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. Avon Books, New York, 1983. p. 216.
In this chapter we consider two different kinds of out-of-body experiences, namely lucid-dream out-of-body experiences and bion-body out-of-body experiences. First, the difference between internal dreams and external dreams is considered, followed by a consideration of two classics of the occult literature. The first classic is the book Astral Projection, by Oliver Fox, which reports Oliver Fox’s history of lucid-dream out-of-body experiences. We use this as a source book on lucid dreams. The second classic is the book The Projection of the Astral Body, by Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington. This book reports Sylvan Muldoon’s history of bion-body out-of-body experiences. We use it as a source book on the bion body.
Dreams need no introduction, because dreaming is an experience most people have. However, there has long been the question as to the location of dreams. Some past human cultures believed there is a separate dream world which exists around the dreamer. Thus, when a person dreams, the mind of that person is moving about in the dream world. We call this kind of dream an external dream. The alternative is that dreams are spatially confined to the dreamer’s head. We call this kind of dream an internal dream.
The mathematics-only reality model cannot explain external dreams, and according to that model, all dreams are internal. In contrast, the computing-element reality model allows both internal dreams and external dreams. The human record seems to support both kinds of dreams—meaning some dreams are internal and some are external.
Assuming an internal dream, the imagery and sounds of the dream are generated by some of the brain bions without using substantial sensory input. That the mind can generate high-quality images and sounds without sensory input is a certainty. First, most people can imagine or recall low-quality images and sounds while awake. Second, hallucinogens, such as LSD and DMT, can provoke a torrent of high-quality images while the person is awake. Thus, the human mind is fully capable of internal dreaming. For people in general, we assume internal dreams are the rule, and external dreams are the exception. However, it is always possible that a given internal dream incorporates information gained from ESP communication with other minds. Therefore, even an internal dream could have an external component.
Assuming an external dream, the imagery and sounds of the dream are generated using substantial sensory input—by some of those brain bions that have collectively left the body for a short time. For convenience, we call a mind-piece those brain bions that have collectively left the body for a short time. The word piece is used, because some brain bions are necessarily left behind with the body.
The sensory input for an external dream comes from the interaction of the roving mind-piece with its surroundings. These surroundings could include other minds, other mind-pieces, and common particles. The common particles normally observed during an external dream are different from those observed when one is awake. In other words, the common particles observed during an external dream are a different class of common particles than the electrons, quarks, photons, and other elementary particles of physics. For convenience, we call the common particles of physics, p-common particles. And we call the common particles that are observed during an external dream, d-common particles. In general, d-common particles do not interact with p-common particles, and the properties of d-common particles are very different from the properties of p-common particles.
Regarding out-of-body experiences, many good accounts have been written in Europe and the United States during the 20th century. Many people have had isolated out-of-body experiences, and some of these experiences have been collected and published by researchers. However, the best records are the handful of books written by individuals who have had many out-of-body experiences, and have done so spontaneously without the aid of meditation, drugs, or other means. They are called projectors, because they are self-aware while projected away from their bodies, and they remember their experiences long enough to record them.
In 1920, the personal account of Hugh Calloway, writing under the pseudonym Oliver Fox, was published in the British journal, Occult Review. About two decades later, Fox, as we shall call him, wrote Astral Projection which recounted his experiences more fully. Fox was a lucid dreamer.
Fox had his first lucid dream at the age of sixteen in 1902. He dreamed he was standing outside his home. In the dream, the sun was rising and the nearby ocean was visible, along with trees and nearby buildings. In the dream, Fox walked toward his home and looked down at the stone-covered walkway. Although similar, the walkway in the dream was not a replica of the real-life walkway that it imitated. During the dream, Fox noticed this difference and wondered about it. The explanation that he was dreaming occurred to him, and at that point he became self-aware. His dream ended shortly afterward.
After his first lucid dream, lucid dreaming became a frequent occurrence for Fox. He would be asleep and dreaming, and at some point, he would become self-aware in the dream, that is, conscious and aware he was dreaming. Fox noted two interesting things about his lucid dreams. First, he could move about within the dream—such as by gliding across an apparent surface. Second, the substance that formed the objects in the dream could be molded by thought.
Fox’s lucid dreams were typically short, and he did his best to prolong them. Oddly enough, he claims he would feel a pain in his dream-head, and this pain signaled the need to return to his body. As this initially weak pain grew, he would then experience a dual perception, consisting of his dream sensations and his body’s sensations. A sort of tug-of-war resulted, with the body winning. These experiences took place during the first year after the first lucid-dream experience at age sixteen.
Fox had wondered what would happen if he were to resist the signal to return to his body. Unlike Fox, most lucid dreamers never report having a choice, since at some point the lucid dream ends without advance warning and the dreamer awakes. Since Fox had a choice, he decided to experiment. About a year after his first lucid dream, he became self-aware in another of his walk-around-the-town dreams. He felt the warning pain and ignored it. The dual perception occurred, and he successfully willed to retain the dream perception. Next, there was a growing pain in his dream-head which peaked and then disappeared. At this point Fox was free to continue his dream.
As Fox’s lucid dream continued, he soon wanted to awaken, but nothing happened; his dream continued. Fox then became fearful and tried to concentrate on returning to his body. Suddenly, he was back in his body, but found himself paralyzed. His bodily senses were working, but he was unable to make any movements. Fortunately, this condition did not last long and he was soon able to move again. However, immediately afterward he was queasy, and he felt sick for three days. This experience deterred him for a while, but a few weeks later he again ignored the return signal during a lucid dream and the same pattern resulted. He says the sickness was less this time, and the memory of the dream was lost. After this second experience, Fox no longer fought against the return signal.
Fox remarks that years later he learned that if he had only relaxed and fallen asleep when he was paralyzed in his body, then the subsequent sickness would have been avoided. That Fox’s body was eventually able to move, after the initial paralysis, shows there was no permanent damage. The delay in reestablishing physical motor control may have been due to some loss of immediate-reconnect ability of the mind-piece, because Fox had stayed in his dream too long. Perhaps the initial warning pain occurred because immediate-reconnect ability was about to be lost. Perhaps if the mind-piece is away from the brain for too long, then some time is needed for it to reestablish its connections and control over the brain neurons that it normally inhabits. Putting pressure on the reconnection process might well be the cause of the sickness Fox experienced.
At the time, Fox was still a teenager and a student at a technical college. The world seemed full of promise, and Fox remarks that his lucid dreaming made him feel special, like an explorer discovering new territory for humankind. During his teens and twenties, Fox continued having lucid dreams, and he noticed a pattern. Often, his lucid dreams never reached the warning-pain stage, because he would do something that would cut the dream short and cause him to awake. Fox gives some examples of what he means. He mentions ordering a meal in a restaurant and then eating it. Trying to taste the food he was eating caused him to awake. While watching a play in a theater, a growing interest in the play would cause him to awake. If Fox encountered an attractive woman, he could converse with her, but when he thought of an embrace or such, he would awake. To prolong a lucid dream, Fox suggested the following projectionist’s motto: “I may look, but I must not get too interested—let alone touch!”[20]
A typical end to a lucid dream is when the dreamer tries to react to the dream in some personal way. Although the reason for this was perplexing to Fox, a clear explanation is available. The mind-piece of a lucid dreamer is not the complete mind available to that person when awake. This absence of the complete mind can cause the end of a lucid dream. When the lucid dreamer tries to think or act in a way that requires involvement of the missing mind part, the two mind parts are automatically rejoined to fulfill the functional request. The two mind parts are the mind-piece, and the remainder of the mind left behind with the brain. A rejoining, of course, means a return to the body where the other mind part remains by necessity, and the lucid dream is over.
Sight and hearing are the two senses of the lucid dreamer that work as well in the dream as they do in the body. The typical lucid dreamer sees clearly in color, and can hear and talk by means of telepathic communication. Telepathy is communication between two minds without using physical speech, or other physical means. Although conversation during a lucid dream is infrequent, it does happen. In contrast to sight and hearing, the other senses are noticeably absent. The lucid dreamer has no sense of taste, touch, or smell. Any attempt to use these senses during a lucid dream causes an automatic rejoining of the split mind. Also, apparently absent from the mind-piece is the ability to understand writing. Fox remarks on how he always had trouble reading any writing he might encounter. He could see the writing, and he knew it was writing, but he could not read it, except occasionally and with difficulty. Fox says other people told him they had the same problem reading dream writings.
Are lucid dreams adventures in a dream world that is external to the body? Typically, the lucid dreamer comes to the conclusion that the seeming adventures in an external dream world are just that. The frequent motion or movement of the dreamer within the dream, is one obvious clue for the lucid dreamer that supports the dream-world interpretation. Instead of being an idle spectator watching the world go by, the lucid dreamer is frequently in motion. He or she may be moving slowly by walking or floating, or more quickly by a kind of flying. However, the most spectacular motion for the lucid dreamer is sudden acceleration to a great speed. He or she may be at a relative standstill, or flying, when the sudden acceleration begins. As the acceleration quickly builds, the sight goes black, and there may be a loss of consciousness. The next thing the lucid dreamer is aware of is a change in the location of the dream. One explanation is that the sudden acceleration happens when a large distance has to be traveled. The occult literature has many lucid-dream stories in which transcontinental or transoceanic distances are quickly traveled by the lucid dreamer. Thus, there is reason to believe the projected mind-piece can quickly accelerate to a speed of roughly several hundred kilometers per second.
Although the motion of the lucid dreamer is an impressive clue that there is an external dream world, the most decisive evidence comes from encounters with people known to the dreamer. These dream encounters are sometimes independently confirmed when the awakened dreamer later talks with the people in question. For example, Fox tells the following story. He had been discussing dreams with two friends. The three of them agreed to meet together that night in their dreams. Fox remembered meeting only one friend in a dream that night. The next day the three friends compared experiences. The friend whom Fox met in the dream also recalled meeting Fox. Both Fox and this friend agreed they never saw the third friend. The missing friend claimed to have no memory of his dreams that night.
The experience that most convinced Fox there is an external dream world involved a girlfriend of his when he was nineteen, in the summer of 1905. Fox had talked about his lucid-dream experiences with the young woman, and her attitude was such things were wicked. Fox tried to overcome her objections by claiming she was ignorant and he could teach her. Her reaction was that she already knew about such things, and could appear in his room at night if she wanted to. He doubted her claim and she became determined to prove it. That night, Fox had what he calls a False Awakening—where he becomes self-aware very close to his body. In the False Awakening, he has his dream-vision and dream-hearing. While he was in this condition, the girlfriend made a sudden, dazzling appearance in his bedroom. She appeared fully formed, wearing a nightdress. A large ovoid of colorful light surrounded her. She said nothing, but looked about the room. After a while, Fox tried to speak to her, but she disappeared and at the same moment Fox awoke.
The following day, Fox met with his girlfriend to compare experiences. She greeted him enthusiastically with the news of her success. Without having been in his room before, she successfully described both its appearance and contents. The description was sufficiently detailed to convince Fox of the reality of her visit. Fox remarks that his girlfriend said his eyes were open during the visit.
In describing his projections, Fox often shows an apparent confusion between dream-world objects and physical objects. For example, he seems to think his girlfriend saw his physical bedroom, and that is why he makes the remark about her saying that she saw his eyes open during the visit. He is quite sure his physical eyes were closed. He finally concludes she probably saw the open eyes of his dream appearance. It seems to be a rule that the things seen during a lucid dream are objects composed of d-common particles. When Fox’s girlfriend visited his room, she was having a lucid dream, and she only saw a d-common replica of his room. The replica occupied the same space as the physical room.
In a lucid dream, d-common objects often duplicate the shape and coloring of physical objects. For example, the appearances of other people seen during a lucid dream are typically imitations of the physical appearances of those people. When Fox’s girlfriend made her appearance that night, probably the only thing in that room that was her, was the mind-piece. Presumably, her mind-piece occupied a smaller volume of space than the volume of her brain. If Fox had seen only the real her that was present, he would have seen a small, oddly shaped object which he would never have recognized as his girlfriend.
A valid question is what causes the d-common particles to assume these shapes and colorings that imitate physical objects? We assume what shaped, colored, and clothed Fox’s girlfriend during her visit was the girlfriend’s mind-piece. Specifically, the bions—of the girlfriend’s mind-piece that was present in the room—constructed the appearance that Fox saw out of d-common particles. The replica room was probably part of a larger replica house or building. We assume these replicas are constructed by the bions of people that are associated with the physical structures in question. The replica of Fox’s room was probably done by Fox himself. The actual manipulation of d-common particles is normally an unconscious procedure. However, sometimes a lucid dreamer consciously orders a change in some nearby d-common object, and sees the change happen. Once made, a d-common object seems to remain in the same location and retain its form—until one or more intelligent particles move, change, or destroy it.
In spite of often similar appearance and location, there is no linkage between d-common objects and p-common objects. For example, an experiment often reported by lucid dreamers is that they successfully move some d-common object they think corresponds to a familiar physical object. However, once they are awake and check the physical object, they always find it unmoved.
Fox mentions the existence in the external dream world of an entire city—an imitation London which he visited and explored. By analogy with Fox’s replica room which shared the same space as his physical room, we assume the imitation city of London which Fox visited shared the same space as the physical city of London. Besides imitation buildings which looked familiar, there were also buildings and monuments that Fox knew had no equivalent in the real city of London. Fox says it was his experience that his repeated trips to the same dream-world town or city, showed the same buildings and monuments—including those that had no counterpart in the real town or city. These observations suggest two conclusions. First, the imitation city is not molded by the physical buildings themselves, because the imitation city has some structures in it that have no physical equivalent. Second, once made, d-common objects, such as an imitation city, can retain their form and persist over time.
Besides having frequent lucid-dream projections, Fox also had occasional bion-body projections. The starting point for Fox was his False Awakening. The False Awakening would occur during sleep, and was often preceded by either an ordinary dream, or a lucid dream. Fox would then become conscious in what seemed to be his physical body. However, his mind-piece was not reconnected to the physical body. Instead, the mind-piece was connected to a bion body.
In July 1912, when Fox was twenty-six, he had what seems to be his first bion-body projection from a wakened state. In this occurrence, Fox realized he was in a condition similar to the False Awakening. He sat up in bed, then got off the bed and walked around the room. Instead of his physical body, he was in a bion body. When he tried to leave the room, the projection ended suddenly and he found himself back in his physical body.
Ultimately, Fox had two ways of having a bion-body projection. In the first way, he had to wait until he found himself experiencing the False Awakening, during sleep. Once in this condition, he was sometimes able to have a bion-body projection. The second way was to have something similar to the False Awakening—while he was awake. Once in this condition, he was sometimes able to have a bion-body projection, especially by actively willing it.
Fox remarks that during his early experiences of the False Awakening, he would sometimes feel a hand pressing against him, or grabbing hold of him. In one instance, he was given a painful bear hug. Fox found these experiences frightening; he was still in his physical body when these events happened. He had not yet learned that once he was experiencing the False Awakening, he could willfully leave his physical body behind and have either a lucid-dream projection or a bion-body projection.
Overall, Fox was primarily a lucid dreamer. His bion-body projections seem to have been very infrequent. A much better source of information about the human bion-body is Sylvan Muldoon, whose story will be covered shortly. In general, the projected bion-body can vary in its mass and substantialness—depending on how many bions are withdrawn from the physical body. Unlike Sylvan Muldoon, it seems Fox never had a bion-body projection in which his bion body felt substantial. During his bion-body projections, Fox was unable to directly sense physical objects. Instead, the few times Fox was projected in his bion body, it always seems to have been a flimsy bion body, and his senses were lucid-dream senses.
Fox summarizes his own bion-body projections and compares them with lucid dreaming. He says bion-body projections are more real than lucid dreaming. This is to be expected, because the standard of realness is being fully awake. The closer one comes to being like oneself when fully awake, the more real the projection will be judged. Having a bion body is closer to the waking experience than a lucid dream is. Therefore, a bion-body projection seems more real than a lucid-dream projection.
Fox remarks how the memories of his projections were fleeting. To counter this, he would often write down an account of his projection as soon as he was awake. In his book, Fox wonders why these memories are not more permanent. Of course, for most people the memory of ordinary dreams is very fleeting, too. Occasionally, a projection or dream makes an impression on long-term memory. But this is the exception, not the rule.
footnotes
[20] Fox, Oliver. Astral Projection. Citadel Press, Secaucus, 1980. p. 44.
The next subject of interest is Sylvan Muldoon who was born in America in 1903, and spent his life in the Midwest. In November 1927, he sent a letter to Hereward Carrington, who was a well-known writer on occult subjects. Muldoon had read one of Carrington’s books. He wanted to let Carrington know that he, Muldoon, knew a lot more about the projection of what we call the bion body, than did the sources Carrington had used in his book. Carrington was so impressed by the letter, he wrote Muldoon back and invited him to write a book which he, Carrington, would edit and write an introduction for. Because Carrington was already an established writer on occult subjects, this fact must have encouraged Muldoon to accept the offer and write a book about his own experiences. The result was The Projection of the Astral Body, published in London in 1929.
Muldoon was even more unusual than Fox. In the general population, lucid dreams are more common than bion-body projections. Muldoon had only bion-body projections. He apparently never had a lucid dream. His projected bion body was also much more substantial than in the case of Fox and similar projectors, who often have lucid dreams and only occasionally have bion-body projections. As far as the bion body is concerned, Carrington knew he had struck gold with Muldoon. Muldoon’s very first experience is a treasure-trove of information.
Muldoon was only twelve when he had his first projection. His mother had taken him along with her to a camp of gathered spiritualists in Iowa because she was interested in spiritualism. Muldoon slept in a nearby house that night, along with other people from the camp. He had been asleep for several hours when he awoke slowly. At first he did not know where he was, and everything was dark. Eventually, he realized he was lying down on the bed, but he could not move. Muldoon soon felt his whole body vibrating, and felt a pulsing pressure in the back of his head. Also, he had the sensation of floating.
Muldoon soon regained his sight and hearing. He then realized he was floating about a meter above the bed. This was his bion body floating, although he did not yet realize it. Muldoon still could not move. He continued to float upward. When his bion body was about two meters above the bed, his rigid bion body was moved upright and placed onto the floor, standing. Muldoon estimates he was frozen in this standing position for about two minutes, after which the bion body became relaxed and Muldoon could consciously control it.
The first thing Muldoon did was turn around and look at the bed. He saw his physical body lying on it. He also saw what he calls a cable, extending out from between the eyes of his physical body on the bed. The cable ran to the back of his bion-body head, which is where he continued to feel some pressure. At that moment, Muldoon was about two meters from his physical body. His bion body was not firmly held down by gravity, and it tended to sway back and forth, in spite of his efforts to stabilize it.
Not surprisingly, Muldoon was both bewildered and upset. He thought he had died, so he resolved to let the other people in the house know what had happened to him. He walked to the door of the room, intending to open it. But he walked right through it. Muldoon then went from one room to another, and tried to wake the people in those rooms, but was unable to. His hands passed through the people he tried to grab and shake. Muldoon remarks that in spite of this inability to make contact with physical objects, he could still see and hear them clearly. Muldoon says that at one point during his movements in the house, he both saw and heard a car passing by the house. Muldoon also says he heard a clock strike two. Upon looking at the hands of the clock, he verified it was two o’clock.
Muldoon gave up trying to wake the other people in the house. He then wandered around in the house for about fifteen minutes. At the end of this time, he noticed the cable in the back of his head was resisting his movements. The resistance increased, and Muldoon soon found himself being pulled backward toward his physical body, which was still lying on its bed. He lost conscious control of his bion body and it was automatically repositioned, as before, above his physical body. The bion body then lowered down, it began vibrating again, and it reconnected to the physical body. Upon reconnection, Muldoon felt a sharp pain. The projection was over. Muldoon concludes his story by saying “I was physically alive again, filled with awe, as amazed as fearful, and I had been conscious throughout the entire occurrence.”[21]
Over the years that followed, Muldoon says he had several more projections similar to this first one, in which he was conscious from the very beginning of the projection until its end. In addition, Muldoon says he had several hundred other projections where he was conscious for only part of the time during the projection. Typically, he would become conscious after the bion body had moved into a standing position, a short distance from the physical body. Always the order of events, established by his very first experience, was maintained—as far as he could tell. His situation, in terms of his sight, hearing, bion body, cable connection, and such, was the same from one experience to the next.
As already stated, it seems Muldoon never had a lucid dream. He had dreams, but not lucid dreams. Muldoon comes down hard on lucid dreamers, and claims their experiences are not conscious projections. This is an ironic position for him to take, because he elsewhere complains about the difficulty of getting people to believe his own projection experiences. Muldoon argues only his kind of projection is possible. He says lucid dreams are confined to either one’s physical head or bion-body head. Muldoon’s mistake on this point is understandable.
The cable that connects the bion body with the physical body is more commonly called a cord, and has been noticed by other bion-body projectors. What is this cord and what does it connect to? The cord is more bions. Back at the physical body, the cord is connected to the bions that are still with the physical body. In a sense, the cord does not exist as a separate structure. Instead, there are two body-shaped masses of bions which are joined by still more bions in the shape of a cord. We assume the number of bions is conserved during a projection. And at the end of a projection, all projected bions are reassociated with the physical body.
During a bion-body projection, it often happens that the bion body will briefly return to the physical body at regular intervals. During the brief return, a kind of pumping sensation is sometimes felt. The bion body will quickly reenter the physical body. During the brief period of a few seconds when the bion body is with the physical body, the projectionist may feel the whole bion body pumping. Muldoon and other projectionists have interpreted these brief returns as a recharging and reenergizing of the projected body. This is the fuel-is-low and batteries-are-run-down kind of explanation. Actually, the reason for the brief return of the bion body to the physical body, is the need of at least some bions in the bion body to get back to their cells. The reported pumping sensation is probably caused by bions leaving and joining the bion body—synchronously, in droves. During the brief return, those bions whose time is up can leave the bion body and reassociate with their cells. Simultaneously, some bions currently associated with their cells can leave and join the bion body. In other words, a swap of used for unused bions takes place. If during a return, there are not enough unused bions to replace the used ones, the whole projection experience would probably end at that point.
The consistent shape of the bion body suggests its origin. The bion body is always a match of the physical body in terms of its general outline. No projectionist ever reports an incomplete bion body, or a bion body that alters or transforms its shape. This is different from what is possible during a lucid dream. Lucid dreamers have much more flexibility in their apparent bodies. The apparent body of a lucid-dream projectionist is constructed on the spot out of d-common particles which have no connection to the projectionist’s physical body. Lucid dreamers sometimes report having no body—or an incomplete body, or a nonhuman body. Also, lucid dreamers sometimes report seeing someone else undergo a transformation of their apparent human form. However, this kind of variability is never reported for the bion body. Instead, the bion body is always shaped like the associated physical body.
The typical bion-body projectionist finds himself or herself in a flimsy bion body. These projectionists make no connection between physical health and bion-body projections—unless to claim good health promotes projection. Muldoon, of course, was not the typical bion-body projectionist. His bion body was consistently dense, and his projections were often long lasting. It is interesting that Muldoon takes a very decisive position on the relationship between physical health and projection ability. He claims sickness promotes projection, and health has the opposite effect. His basis for this claim was his personal experience. Muldoon was often sick. According to Carrington, Muldoon wrote his book from his sickbed.
Muldoon’s identification of sickness with projection ability may be accurate in his case. Muldoon’s opinion was sickness comes first and then the projections follow. However, Muldoon’s projections kept many bions away from their cells for a long time. Therefore, it seems more reasonable to suppose the projections came first—followed by sickness.
Regarding the vibration of the bion body, the bion body is known to vibrate at times. The occult literature of the 20th century has a standard explanation for the vibration of the bion body, which is that there are different invisible planes of existence. The phrase planes of existence is a figure of speech used in the occult literature to suggest separateness. According to the standard explanation, these planes of existence operate at different frequencies. Also, the vibration rate of the bion body can match these different frequencies. Therefore, the vibration rate of the bion body determines which of these invisible planes becomes visible and accessible to the projectionist. There are three reasons why this occult explanation came about. First, bion-body projectionists note that when they feel the vibrations increasing in frequency, then separation of the bion body from the physical body will happen. Conversely, when they feel the vibrations decreasing in frequency, then reassociation of the bion body with the physical body is likely. Thus, they argue there is a correlation between low frequency and the physical plane of existence. Second, projectionists often report experiences that are very different from each other. To some people, this suggests different planes of existence. For example, lucid dreams would be happening on one plane, and bion-body projections would be happening on a different plane. Third, vibrations are easily described with mathematics. Thus, a vibrational model of reality appealed to occultists who were influenced by the mathematics-only reality model.
Perhaps the vibration of the bion body is part of a process that keeps the bion body together when it is away from the physical body. The vibrations have nothing to do with tuning in alternate realities—as though the bion body were a radio-tuner or television-tuner switching stations and channels. The correlation of decreasing frequency with physical reassociation, and increasing frequency with physical disassociation, suggests the following: when the bion body is separated from the physical body, and the projectionist does not feel any vibration, then the bion body is nevertheless vibrating—but at a frequency too high to be felt or otherwise noticed.
After the onset of the vibrations, Muldoon felt himself floating. As he was floating upward, his senses of hearing and sight became active. That Muldoon could see and hear physical objects is unusual. Most bion-body projectionists see and hear physical objects either poorly or not at all. Instead, they see either darkness, or d-common objects. Also, they can see their own bion body—typically as a darkness-enveloped, grainy, gray-looking, wispy body—when they look at it. To try to understand what Muldoon’s senses were like, we quote him:
When the sense of hearing first begins to manifest, the sounds seem far away. When the eyes first begin to see, everything seems blurred and whitish. Just as the sounds become more distinct, so does the sense of sight become clearer and clearer.[22]
As is often the case, everything at first seemed blurred about me, as though the room were filled with steam, or white clouds, half transparent; as though one were looking through an imperfect windowpane, seeing blurry objects through it. This condition is but temporary, however—lasting, as a rule, about a minute in practically all conscious projections.[23]
Once you are exteriorized, and your sense of sight working, the room, which was dark to your physical eyes, is no longer dark—for you are using your astral eyes, and there is a ‘foggish’ light everywhere, such as you see in your dreams, a diffused light we might call it, a light which seems none too bright, and yet is not too dim, apparently sifting right through the objects of the material world.[24]
What makes Muldoon different from most bion-body projectionists is the high density of his bion body. There were many more bions in Muldoon’s projected bion body than most bion-body projectionists have in theirs. Since bions constantly interact with the p-common particles of one’s cells, we assume some bions in Muldoon’s projected bion body were collectively sensing p-common particles. By sensing photons and the atoms and molecules of the air, sight and sound perceptions of physical objects were provided to Muldoon. Apparently, the greater density of his bion body meant there were more bions available to do the sensing. Although Muldoon does not exactly say so, his vision, when projected, is different from his vision when awake. For example, his ability to see physical objects in an otherwise dark room, indicates either an extremely sensitive light sensor—or a sensor that measures another portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Nowhere does Muldoon say he sees in color when projected. There is an absence of color from his descriptions, and perhaps he always saw physical objects in shades of gray. Alternatively, he may have been able to see in color, but only under good lighting conditions. Because Muldoon typically projected at night, good lighting conditions may have been infrequent.
The cord that Muldoon noticed during his first projection, was a common feature of his later projections. He often studied this cord when he was projected. At least some bion-body projectionists never notice any cord connecting between their bion body and their physical body. However, perhaps every bion-body projection has some sort of cord connection, whether noticed or not. We have already said the cord itself must be composed of bions. Muldoon’s opinion was that the cord is made of the same substance as the projected body.
Muldoon describes what he calls cord-activity range. The cord remains thick out to a somewhat variable distance of a few meters from the physical body. As long as the cord appears thick, the bion body is strongly influenced by the physical body. Within cord-activity range, Muldoon felt happenings to the physical body reproduced in the bion body. For example, once a pet dog jumped on the bed and snuggled against Muldoon’s physical body—while he was projected within cord-activity range. He felt the dog as though it were pressing against his bion body. Muldoon would both feel his physical body’s sensations and he could even control its breathing when he was within cord-activity range.
The cord-activity range was affected by the thickness of the cord. As Muldoon would move further away from his physical body, the cord would at some point become very thin, like a thread. Once the cord was thin, happenings to the physical body were no longer felt. Muldoon claims the cord would keep its threadlike thinness out to whatever distance he might move to—even to a distance of many kilometers. Perhaps the cord is like a life line, guaranteeing that the bion body can get back to its cells. However, there is no evidence there is any kind of cord during a lucid-dream projection. Therefore, the necessity of the cord is questionable.
One might wonder if there is a limit on how far away a bion body can move from the physical body, because of the trailing cord. There is good evidence lucid-dream projectionists can move thousands of kilometers away from their bodies. There is no good evidence a bion-body projectionist has ever moved such a distance away from his or her body. It is probably safe to say the range of the bion-body projectionist is substantially less than the range of the lucid-dream projectionist.
During Muldoon’s first projection, he tried to make contact with the other people in the house. He saw their physical bodies lying in bed. But his bion-body hands passed right through them. There seems to be a fair-play rule involved here. The normal bion body, under conscious control, can contact other bion bodies, but it cannot contact the bions within physical bodies, and it cannot contact physical objects. Muldoon remarks how frustrated he was that he could never make contact with physical objects. In the many projections he had, his bion body never made contact with a physical object while he was consciously in control. However, there were a few instances where Muldoon knew his bion body had made contact with a physical object while he was unconscious. Because the bion body is made of bions, and bions manipulate physical cells, it is reasonable to suppose the bion body could touch and apply pressure against a physical object. However, normally, it does not.
On the night of February 26, 1928, Muldoon had a serious stomach sickness which caused him great pain. At close to midnight he was overcome with pain and called out to his mother for help. She was asleep in an upstairs bedroom and did not hear him. Muldoon struggled out of bed, still calling, and he fainted from the pain and effort. He regained consciousness, only to struggle and faint again. The next time he regained consciousness, he was projected in his bion body. His bion body was moving without conscious control up the stairs, through a wall, and into the room where his mother and small brother were sleeping. Muldoon saw both of them sound asleep on the bed. At this point, Muldoon lost consciousness for a brief period. Upon regaining consciousness, Muldoon saw his mother and small brother excitedly talking about being rolled out of bed by an uplifted mattress. After witnessing this scene, Muldoon’s bion body was drawn back and reconnected to his physical body. Back in the flesh, Muldoon called to his mother again. This time she heard him and came downstairs. Ignoring the fact that he was lying on the floor, she excitedly told him how spirits had lifted the mattress several times. And she was, of course, frightened by it.
That the bion body is restricted from physical contact, and from contact with other bions in a physical body, is obviously for the common good. It is not hard to imagine the chaos possible if there were no such restriction. After all, who wants to be touched or otherwise disturbed by “spirits.” And imagine the abuse possible if the bion-body projectionist could make contact with physical objects at will. It would not be long before all sorts of crimes and disturbances were committed invisibly.
Apparently, the only contact allowed is what may be called fair contact. The only fair contact for a projected bion body would be contact with other projected bion bodies, or with bion bodies that have no physical-body association. Because they are meeting on equal terms, the two bion bodies can make contact with each other. Most bion-body projectionists eventually have encounters with other bion bodies. Struggles and fights are often reported. These encounters can be both frightening and painful. Muldoon gives one example of this kind of encounter.
In 1923, Muldoon listened to a conversation between his mother and another woman who lived in town. This other woman described what an awful man her husband had been. Her husband had just died. Because of the stories the woman told, Muldoon became angered against the man. That night, Muldoon was asleep when he had a conscious projection. Upon turning to look at his physical body, Muldoon was shocked to see the bion body of the man who had been talked about earlier in the day. Muldoon describes the man as having a savage look and being determined to take revenge. This man quickly attacked the projected Muldoon. There was a fight. Muldoon was getting the worst of it—as well as being cursed at. However, the fight soon ended when Muldoon was drawn back into his physical body. Once reconnected with his physical body, Muldoon no longer felt or heard the attack of his enemy. Muldoon remarks how his attacker clung to him and continued his attack while Muldoon was being slowly drawn back toward his physical body. However, the attacker was completely powerless to prevent Muldoon’s reconnection.
In this chapter we have considered in detail both lucid-dream projections and bion-body projections. A third kind of projection is covered in the next chapter, chapter 7. The likely architects of the fair-play rule are the Caretakers who are the subject of chapters 9 and 10.
footnotes
[21] Muldoon, Sylvan, and Hereward Carrington. The Projection of the Astral Body. Samuel Weiser, New York, 1980. p. 53.
[22] Ibid., p. 233.
[23] Ibid., p. 255.
[24] Ibid., p. 204.
An age-old mystery is one’s own awareness. Under the computing-element reality model, awareness is associated with an intelligent particle. We name the intelligent particle, with which one’s own awareness is associated, a soliton. In this chapter we describe the soliton, and then describe a type of projection that evidentially supports the existence of the soliton. Last, we describe the afterlife.
We explain the separate, solitary awareness each person experiences as follows. There is an intelligent particle called a soliton, and each person has a single soliton. Unlike bions, which interact with both intelligent particles and common particles, we assume the soliton interacts only with intelligent particles. In particular, we assume the soliton interacts only with bions. The computing-element program, in effect, can make a soliton the ruler over a cooperating population of bions. Each adult human has a cooperating population of roughly ten trillion bions—assuming one bion per living cell. The bions of the brain that collectively form the mind are like a government—where the governed is the body. This government reports to and receives orders from a soliton ruler. The role of the soliton ruler is to be the final decision maker—to set goals for the government and approve its results.
Although the soliton ruler is intelligent, so are the bions that form the subject population. The intellectual work of one’s mind is done by bions. For example, the bions of the brain store memories. Also, they provide all processing of sensory input, including all recognition work such as recognizing a face. In addition, they provide all language operations such as parsing and constructing sentences, and they provide all motor control and coordination of the body. Moreover, they provide all problem-solving and creative services—and so on. The total amount of intellectual product generated by the bions of the brain is much greater than the amount of intellectual product that is brought to the attention of the soliton ruler.[25]
Regarding the reports received by the soliton ruler, there is a filtering process that takes place between the bions of the brain, and the soliton ruler. This filtering process is a two-way street. The soliton ruler can express preferences about what reports it wants to see. Also, the bions can decide on their own what reports are important and demand the attention of the soliton ruler. Examples of reports are image reports, sound reports, and thought reports. The conscious act of seeing involves a continuous stream of image reports sent to the soliton ruler. The conscious act of hearing involves a continuous stream of sound reports sent to the soliton ruler. The conscious act of thinking involves a continuous stream of thought reports sent to the soliton ruler.
As an intelligent particle, the soliton particle can store its own memories as part of its state information. In general, no two solitons will be identical, because there will be differences in their state information. For a human, the state information of the soliton ruler is one component of personality. The cooperating population of brain bions that collectively form the mind is the other component of personality. This bionic component of personality could be directly shaped by genetics—assuming there are genes that specify personality traits. However, the solitonic component of personality cannot be directly shaped by genetics, because the soliton cannot interact with common particles. Genes are composed of common particles.
footnotes
[25] It is well known from psychology that the activities of the unconscious mind are not always brought to awareness. For example, one is never aware of the algorithmic steps taken by one’s mind to solve problems. An example of a problem is to understand the meaning of a sentence. As the problem is solved, the algorithmic steps are hidden from awareness. One becomes aware of only the finished product.
The existence of a solitary particle of awareness, the soliton, is evidentially supported by a rare projection experience. In this projection experience, the soliton ruler is largely cut off from the accompanying bion population, during an otherwise conventional projection. We call this a solitonic projection. It sometimes happens to ordinary people without a history of the more common projections. But this seems to be rare. A solitonic projection is more likely to happen to experienced lucid-dream projectionists and bion-body projectionists. The use of Om meditation has the potential to elicit a solitonic projection, besides eliciting the more common lucid-dream projections and bion-body projections.
The comparative rarity of solitonic projections is indicated by a reading of the principal Upanishads. There seems to be confusion when most of the Upanishads talk about the awareness, called the soul in the verses that follow. However, the Katha Upanishad appears knowledgeable on the subject:
Know thou the soul as riding in a chariot,
The body as the chariot.
Know thou the intellect as the chariot-driver,
And the mind as the reins.[26]
This verse from the Katha Upanishad portrays awareness as separate from the mind, just as the soliton is separate from the bions.
Though He is hidden in all things,
That Soul shines not forth.
But he is seen by subtle seers
With superior, subtle intellect.[27]
A certain wise man, while seeking immortality,
Introspectively beheld the Soul face to face.[28]
These two verses from the Katha Upanishad are probably talking about a solitonic projection.
During lucid-dream projections and bion-body projections, the awareness is a part of the projection experience. Therefore, we assume the soliton ruler accompanies the bion population that is projected. The normal starting point of a solitonic projection is either a lucid-dream projection or a bion-body projection. What happens is the accompanying population of bions stops sending sensory reports to the soliton ruler. In other words, the awareness is cut off from all sensory input. At the same time, the awareness remains conscious instead of becoming unconscious.
Once all sensory reports cease, and yet the awareness remains conscious, the following is experienced by the awareness. One finds oneself existing as a completely bodiless and mostly mindless awareness—residing at the center of a sphere. All sensory inputs are gone. But it is typically still possible to think to oneself, in which case thought input is still occurring. Most of the mental inputs are gone. However, one could not report a solitonic projection unless it were remembered. Therefore, we assume any reportable solitonic projection always involves some interaction, albeit minimal, between the soliton ruler and the accompanying bion population.
The perception of a surrounding spherical shell—around the point-like awareness—appears to be a common feature of a solitonic projection. Perhaps this apparent shell is analogous to an event horizon. In other words, the apparent shell may be the limit of the soliton’s direct perception when it is in the solitonic-projection state.
Solitonic projections are typically short in duration—lasting less than a minute, or perhaps only a few seconds. Given a lucid-dream projection, the solitonic projection typically begins during the sudden acceleration that occurs for long-distance travel. In contrast, a solitonic projection that occurs during a bion-body projection, typically begins when the bion body is stationary.
Based on scanty reports of solitonic projections scattered in the occult literature, the awareness is separate from the mind. Besides the separateness of the awareness, the point-like quality of the awareness, as experienced during a solitonic projection, is compatible with the awareness being associated with a single particle.
Everyone experiences episodes of unconsciousness. There is no doubt awareness ceases at times—such as during sleep. The soliton ruler is a consumer of external reports provided by the mind (or mind-piece in the case of projections). This suggests unconsciousness will occur if all external reports are cut off. A complete isolation from the mind (or mind-piece) will cause the awareness to cease and become dormant. In this view, the solitonic projection experience is close to being a state of unconsciousness.
footnotes
[26] Hume, op. cit., p. 351.
[27] Hume, op. cit., p. 352.
[28] Hume, op. cit., p. 353.
The computing-element reality model allows an afterlife, as was discussed in chapter 5. A brief outline of the stages of the afterlife follows. Upon death, the entire population of bions abandons the physical body. Of course, the fleeing population takes its ruler with it. In other words, the soliton ruler accompanies the bion population that abandons the p-common, physical body.
Thus, the first stage of afterlife is roughly equivalent to the bion-body projection experiences of Sylvan Muldoon, described in chapter 6.[29] However, the afterlife bion body is even more dense than the bion body Sylvan Muldoon had, because all bions are included. By analogy with Muldoon, this greater density of the bion body means the newly dead can see and hear physical objects. However, the fair-play rule will prevent them from disturbing anything.
Upon death, most of the bions have lost the purpose they had when they occupied the physical body. Without cells to manage and care for, most of the bions in the afterlife bion body are severely underutilized. The only exception to this would be the former bions of the brain that collectively form those parts of the mind that are not body focused. These former bions of the brain still have their soliton ruler to serve and interact with. However, the loss of purpose for most of the bions is probably the reason for the short duration of the bion-body stage of afterlife.
The average duration of the bion-body stage is uncertain, but it seems to be a few weeks or months. Perhaps the average duration of this stage shortens with physical age. In other words, the older one is when one dies, the shorter the bion-body stage. There is some evidence for this inverse relationship. There is also evidence that a violent or sudden death will tend to prolong the bion-body stage.
It is just as well the bion-body stage has a short duration, because the feeling of pain in the bion body is a real possibility. A related possibility is the bion body being attacked by other bion bodies—such as when the projected Sylvan Muldoon was attacked by a recently deceased neighbor. In general, because the bion body can cause feelings of pain, the bion-body stage is the unpleasant stage of afterlife. However, we assume fights can be avoided during the bion-body stage, just as they can be avoided during ordinary life.
One way or another, the person is soon freed from the bion body. We assume the liberated bions will wander off, more or less independently, and find suitable reemployment elsewhere.[30] Upon separation from the bion body, the person is not as complete as he or she once was. What remain intact are the soliton ruler and those bions that collectively form those parts of the mind that are not body focused.
After the bion-body stage, the next stage is roughly equivalent to the lucid-dream projection experiences of Oliver Fox, described in chapter 6. It seems the lucid-dream stage of afterlife can continue unbroken for many years, even centuries. In general, there is no pain or suffering during the lucid-dream stage. Instead, one leads a benign and possibly enjoyable existence. However, at some point the lucid-dream stage ends. Then, both the soliton ruler and the remaining bions wander off, more or less independently, and find suitable reemployment elsewhere.
footnotes
[29] This first stage of afterlife should not be confused with the many published accounts of NDEs (near-death experiences). By definition, during an NDE the person has not yet died, so by necessity most of the bions are still associated with the physical body—which is not the case once death has occurred.
[30] The typical ghost story has sounds and/or apparitions. However, as a rule, the ghost never speaks telepathically. This silence, combined with the boring, repetitious behavior of the typical ghost, suggests the absence of the soliton ruler. Thus, a ghostly manifestation that occurs long after a person’s death, is probably caused by the liberated bions acting on their own, without guidance from the departed soliton ruler.
This chapter examines the credibility of the explanation that organic life is the product of chance. First, we look at the early history of the Earth and the transformation of its atmosphere by organic life. Next, we describe the Gaia Hypothesis and consider the current atmosphere and its maintenance. We then discuss the theoretical requirements for a self-reproducing machine, describe the molecular structure of bacteria, and compute the odds that the first self-reproducing organic entity developed by chance. Last, we discuss the reaction to such odds by scientists.
Shortly after the Earth had formed 4.6 billion years ago, both the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere were very different from what they are today. For one thing, there was no solid ground. The whole Earth was molten from the heat generated by radioactive decay. It was roughly 500 million years before a solid crust could form. Besides being molten, the surface of the early Earth was pelted by meteorites, both large and small. The atmosphere of the early Earth came from the buildup of gases that were released from the molten surface. These gases were more or less the same as the gases released by volcanoes today. Major gases from volcanoes are mostly water vapor, as well as chlorine, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulfide.
Sometime before 3.8 billion years ago, the surface temperature of the Earth dropped below the boiling point of water. Until that time, there were no oceans, and the water was steam in the atmosphere. With a drop in temperature due to a continuous falloff in the heat generated by radioactive decay, the steam was able to condense. Over a period of time the water left the atmosphere and formed the oceans.
Besides radioactive decay, carbon dioxide in the early atmosphere helped to keep the surface temperature of the Earth relatively high. Carbon dioxide is important to planetary temperature. The gas absorbs infrared radiation and converts that radiation to heat. The heat is then transferred by collision to the other gases in the atmosphere. Most of the infrared radiation comes from planetary matter that absorbs sunlight and then radiates the energy as infrared. Instead of letting the infrared energy escape into space, the gaseous carbon dioxide traps this energy and heats the atmosphere.
At present, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere seems minuscule. Only 0.03% of the atmosphere by volume is carbon dioxide. However, this small amount makes a big difference. It has been calculated that if all the carbon dioxide were removed from the atmosphere, the oceans would freeze solid. The early atmosphere had much more carbon dioxide than the present atmosphere. Carbon dioxide was a major component of the early atmosphere. The total mass of the early atmosphere was probably several times the mass of the present atmosphere. The great mass of carbon dioxide helped to keep the early Earth much warmer than it is today—even though there was less energy from the sun. The sun has been steadily increasing its energy output since it formed. Four billion years ago, the output of the sun may have been as much as 30 percent less than it is today. However, the smaller influx of solar energy was more than compensated for by the abundant carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The oldest known organic life is bacteria. The fossil record shows they first appeared at least 3.5 billion years ago. The removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere probably started with the first appearance of bacteria. The first organic life lived in the oceans. Gases dissolve in water. A part of the atmosphere will always be dissolved in the oceans. When cells living in the oceans remove dissolved gases from the water, the effect is the same as removing the gases directly from the atmosphere. Atmospheric gases will be absorbed by ocean water as quickly as these gases are removed from the water by bacteria and converted into nongaseous compounds. There are bacteria living today that make their food, which is glucose, by reacting carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide with sunlight. The first bacteria may have used this reaction, because both carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were present in the early atmosphere.
Photosynthesis is another reaction used by the early bacteria. In photosynthesis, six molecules of carbon dioxide, six molecules of water, and sunlight, give one glucose molecule and six oxygen molecules. Today, bacteria known as blue-green algae use this reaction, as do all plants and trees. Unlike carbon dioxide, oxygen is a very reactive gas. Although carbon dioxide was being removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis starting roughly 2.8 billion years ago, there was not an immediate parallel buildup of atmospheric oxygen. Instead, the oxygen was reacting with iron and other elements. After some hundreds of millions of years of oxygen production by bacteria using photosynthesis, the Earth had its first known glacial episode roughly 2.3 billion years ago. The carbon dioxide level must have been low for this to happen.
Bacteria were the only organic life until the eucaryotic cell appeared. All multicellular life is made from eucaryotic cells. The first simple multicellular organisms for which there is fossil evidence made their appearance roughly 800 million years ago. The so-called Cambrian explosion of complex multicellular life began some 200 million years later—roughly 600 million years ago.
Not only did the current atmosphere originate from life processes, it is actively maintained by life to suit its own needs. This assertion that organic life actively maintains the atmosphere to suit its own needs is known as the Gaia Hypothesis. The Gaia Hypothesis was developed by atmospherics scientist James Lovelock. While working as a NASA consultant during the 1960s, Lovelock noticed that Venus and Mars—the two nearest planets whose orbits bracket the Earth—both have atmospheres that are mostly carbon dioxide. As a means to explain the comparatively anomalous Earth atmosphere, Lovelock formulated the Gaia Hypothesis.[31]
The current atmosphere of the Earth is not self-sustaining. It is not an equilibrium atmosphere which would persist if organic life on the planet were removed. Instead, the atmosphere is a product of life, and is actively maintained in its present condition by life. The composition of the atmosphere by volume is roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, and 0.03% carbon dioxide. Other gases are present, but in smaller amounts. If life on Earth were eliminated, the oxygen would slowly leave the atmosphere by such routes as reacting with the nitrogen to form nitrates that would dissolve in the oceans. After a million years or so, the Earth would have its equilibrium atmosphere. The argon would remain, and there would be more carbon dioxide. But the oxygen would be gone, along with much of the nitrogen. However, instead of moving to this equilibrium state, the atmosphere is maintained in disequilibrium by the coordinated activities of the worldwide ecosystem.
One of the more interesting examples of precise control over the atmosphere by organic life is the production of ammonia. About a billion tons of ammonia are produced by bacteria each year. Ammonia is a chemical base. The presence of ammonia in the atmosphere counteracts the acids produced by the oxidation of nitrogen and sulfur. Lovelock estimated that without ammonia production by bacteria, rainwater would be as acid as vinegar.[32] Instead, there is just enough ammonia made by bacteria to counteract the acids and keep the rainwater close to neutral. Besides ammonia production, there are many other Gaian processes.[33]
The mathematics-only reality model would have one believe that the entire history of organic life—including the transformation of the early atmosphere to the current atmosphere, and the active ongoing maintenance of the current atmosphere in a state of disequilibrium—was accomplished in its entirety by common particles moving about randomly. Intelligent processes are too complicated to be explained by mathematical equations. Therefore, the mathematics-only reality model denies there is any intelligence at the deepest level of the universe. By a process of elimination, this means the mathematics-only reality model has only common particles and random motion with which to explain the entire history of organic life.
footnotes
[31] Margulis, Lynn, and Gregory Hinkle. “The Biota and Gaia: 150 Years of Support for Environmental Sciences.” In Scientists on Gaia, Stephen Schneider and Penelope Boston, eds. MIT press, Cambridge, 1993.
[32] Lovelock, James. Gaia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1982. p. 77.
[33] Shearer, Walter. “A Selection of Biogenic Influences Relevant to the Gaia Hypothesis.” In Scientists on Gaia, op. cit.
At present, the simplest organic life form is a virus. However, a virus is a parasite that requires a host cell for it to be able to reproduce itself. Because in the beginning of organic life there were no host cells, the first life form could not have been a virus. A fundamental requirement of the first organic life form is that it be able to reproduce itself. Without an ability to reproduce, an organic life form would quickly disappear without leaving a trace of its brief existence. The simplest organic life form in existence today that can self-reproduce without the need to parasitize other life forms is the bacterium.
Any self-reproducing machine in the physical universe must meet certain theoretical requirements. The self-reproducing machine must have a wall to protect and hold together its contents. Behind the wall, the self-reproducing machine needs a power plant to run its machinery. Machinery is needed to bring in raw materials from outside the wall. Also, machinery is needed to transform the raw materials into the components needed to build a copy of the self-reproducing machine. Then, machinery is needed to assemble the components. The transport, transformation, and assembly machinery requires some sort of guidance mechanism. For example, there must be some coordinated assembly of the manufactured components into the new copy of the self-reproducing machine. The guidance mechanism cannot be too trivial, because its complexity must include a construction plan for the entire self-reproducing machine.
The requirements of a wall, power plant, transport machinery, transformation machinery, assembly machinery, and a guidance mechanism—all working together to cause self-reproduction—are not easily met. Consider that there are no human-made, self-reproducing machines. The bacterium is only simple when compared to larger organic life forms. When examined as a self-reproducing machine, it is extremely complex.
Under the mathematics-only reality model, the guidance mechanism for a bacterium is its DNA. As described in chapter 3, each molecule of DNA is a long molecule composed of chemical units called bases. The bases are strung together like links on a chain. There are four different bases used in DNA, so there are four different choices for each link of DNA. The sequence of the bases in an organism’s DNA is very important, because the sequence codes the structure of proteins, among other things. A bacterium will typically have many strands of DNA, containing altogether hundreds of thousands or millions of bases.
Besides the DNA, the most prominent class of organic molecules is protein. The proteins are the machinery and power plant of a cell. A protein is a long, folded molecule. Just as DNA is composed of a sequence of smaller building blocks, so is a protein composed of a sequence of smaller building blocks. However, whereas the building blocks of DNA are four different bases, the building blocks of proteins are twenty different amino acids. Although a protein has more choices per link than DNA, a protein rarely exceeds several thousand links in length. A very short protein of less than twenty links is called a peptide. A bacterium typically has dozens of different peptides. Of the longer proteins, a bacterium has several thousand different proteins. The average length of these different proteins is somewhere in the hundreds of links.
The wall of a bacterium is a membrane made of chained sugars. Behind the wall is the DNA, proteins, and other molecules—including many water molecules. About two-thirds of a bacterium’s mass is water.
Having taken a brief look at a bacterium, which is the simplest self-reproducing organic entity known, one can do some meaningful calculations as to the odds of a self-reproducing organic entity forming randomly. Imagine a rich soup consisting of the four different bases and twenty different amino acids, and whatever other raw materials a self-reproducing organic entity might need. The odds against getting an exactly specified DNA chain of 100,000 links are roughly 4100,0000 to one, or roughly 1060,200 to one during a single trial of allowing a DNA strand to form randomly to a length of 100,000 links. The odds against getting an exactly specified set of one thousand proteins, of one hundred links each, are roughly 20100,000 to one, or roughly 10130,100 to one during a single trial of allowing a thousand proteins to each form randomly to a length of one hundred links. Of course, there would be many more DNA sequences than only a single DNA sequence that would adequately code for a self-reproducing organic entity. So, one can be generous and assume only a short DNA strand of 10,000 links is needed. In addition, assume that at any link, two of the four different bases are acceptable as that link. With these assumptions, the odds against getting a DNA chain that meets these generous criteria are only roughly 210,000 to one, or roughly 103,010 to one during a single trial of allowing a DNA strand to form randomly to a length of 10,000 links. We will use this smaller number. We do not need the higher numbers of 1060,200 and 10130,100. And we do not need to consider that a DNA strand by itself, even in a rich soup of raw materials, does not make a self-reproducing organic entity. To see this, review the list of theoretical requirements for a self-reproducing machine given in the previous section.
To put the low number of 103,010 in perspective, one need only compare it with a few cosmic numbers. There are only about 1090 particles in the universe. If instead there were ten times the number of particles, then that would only make the number 1091. The age of the universe is only about 1016 seconds. Assume an experiment in which the atoms of the universe make 1080 flasks of soup. In addition, assume for each flask there are a million trials per second for the entire age of the universe. These assumptions give one 10102 chances to get a DNA chain that meets whatever criteria one sets. The criteria set for the short DNA chain need roughly 103,010 trials before they have an even chance of being satisfied. Having 10102 trials could get one just about any exact DNA sequence of fewer than 170 links. However, no one believes there theoretically exists a DNA chain of less than 170 bases that could support a self-reproducing organic entity. Such a tiny DNA chain could only code for one small protein, or a few peptides.
Comparing 10102 (which overestimates the available trials for random creation) with 103,010 (which probably underestimates the DNA complexity required by a self-reproducing organic entity, especially when compared to the DNA requirements of a bacterium) gives an effective zero of likelihood. Specifically, the odds of the experiment succeeding are roughly 102,908 to one, against. In other words, there is no chance that a self-reproducing organic entity was created by randomness, even when allowing tremendous resources and time.
As if to add insult to injury, scientific opinion of early Earth conditions holds that the soup never existed, at least not in any large amounts. For example, hydrogen cyanide is needed for synthesis of amino acids and DNA nucleotides, but plausible mechanisms for massive production of hydrogen cyanide in the early atmosphere are lacking.[34] Overall, the prospects look exceedingly dim for there having been a rich, abundant soup on the early Earth. One could also add that in spite of the impossible odds and lack of soup, the first bacteria did not waste much time making their appearance once the surface of the Earth was sufficiently cool.
Confronted with the hopeless odds, lack of soup, and the quick appearance of bacteria, scientists have reacted in different ways. Many have simply denied there is a problem. They use a backwards reasoning based on a leap of faith in the mathematics-only reality model. They say that because there is life, and life can only have a cause rooted in the mathematics-only reality model, then there must have been a soup and the odds were beaten. Because life exists now, then these other things must have happened. The obvious flaw in their reasoning is that they are not questioning the completeness of their reality model.
Richard Dawkins, in his book The Blind Watchmaker, admits that the origin of organic life presents a difficulty: “But cumulative selection cannot work unless there is some minimal machinery of replication and replicator power, and the only machinery of replication that we know seems too complicated to have come into existence by means of anything less than many generations of cumulative selection! Some people see this as a fundamental flaw in the whole theory of the blind watchmaker.”[35] Dawkins immediately answers this difficulty by setting up the theological reality model as his straw man, declaring it “a transparently feeble argument.”[36] Thus, Dawkins presents an either-or choice: either the mathematics-only reality model or the already obsolete and discredited theological reality model. However, the computing-element reality model is a third choice.
To improve the odds for the creation of organic life by randomness, some scientists have embraced an extraterrestrial origin for organic life. Both the famous astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, and the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Francis Crick, have advocated this. However, the odds do not improve much, even when the whole universe is thrown in, as was shown.
footnotes
[34] Kasting, James. “Earth’s Early Atmosphere.” Science, Vol. 259, pp. 920–926, 1993.
[35] Dawkins, Richard. The Blind Watchmaker. W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 1987. p. 141.
[36] Ibid.
In this chapter we consider the explanation offered by the computing-element reality model, that the first bacterium and other organic milestones arose from intelligent direction. First, there is a brief explanation of evolution, followed by a discussion of randomness as a designer versus intelligence as a designer. We conclude that intelligence designed organic life. Last, we consider and describe the intelligent beings that designed organic life, whom we name the Caretakers.
Biological evolution simply states that new organic life forms are derived from older organic life forms. Often, the derivation involves an increase in complexity, but this is not a requirement of evolution. The idea of evolution is very old. A theory of evolution, such as Darwin’s theory, offers an explanation of the mechanism of evolution.
In more general terms, evolution is a process by which something new is created by modifying something old. This kind of evolution is so common throughout human activities that one takes it for granted. Almost every product created by humankind is at least partly derived from knowledge already used to produce one or more preexisting products. For example, if a group of engineers is asked to design a new car, they do not throw out everything known about cars and reinvent the wheel.
Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, was first published in 1859. Darwinism is a theory of how biological evolution has happened. The theory states that the production of a child organism introduces random changes to that child organism’s characteristics. Then, if the random changes are a net benefit to that organism, that organism is more likely to survive and pass on the new characteristics to its children. Darwin’s theory has two parts. The first part identifies the designer of organic life as randomness. The second part, called natural selection, is the means by which good designs are preserved, and bad designs are eliminated. Natural selection is accomplished by the environment in which the organism must live.
As was discussed in chapter 8, randomness is the only designer the mathematics-only reality model allows. Thus, Darwinism is nothing but the logical application of the mathematics-only reality model to the question of how organic life has come about.
Actually, for sexually reproducing organisms, randomness does play an important role in fine tuning a species to its environment. As was described in chapter 3, the production of sex cells has steps where the genetic inheritance from both parents is randomly mixed to form the genetic inheritance that is carried by each sex cell.
Although sexual reproduction uses randomness—as part of the total sexual reproduction process—that does not mean the process itself was produced by randomness. There is no logical connection between the two assertions. For example, in computer science there are many optimization problems whose solutions are most efficiently approximated by randomly trying different possibilities and keeping only those tries that improve the quality of the solution. This is a standard technique. However, because a computer program uses randomness to find a solution, that does not mean the program was itself produced by randomness. Quite the contrary, the programs of computer science were produced by intelligent designers—namely computer scientists and programmers.
The computing-element reality model allows randomness as a designer. However, the computing-element reality model also allows intelligence as a designer. Thus, the computing-element reality model offers a choice between randomness and intelligence. Given the analysis in chapter 8 about the inadequacy of randomness as a designer of organic life, the correct choice is obvious. Intelligence is the designer of organic life. The question then becomes, where does this intelligence—that designed organic life—reside?
Regarding the residence of the intelligence that designed organic life, there are two possibilities. The first is that the computing-element program itself explicitly programs the details of organic life. For example, the computing-element program could include the details of the DNA, proteins, and other molecules found in the first bacterium. The second possibility shifts the burden of designing organic life onto intelligent particles. So far, we have introduced two different intelligent particles, namely the bion and the soliton. Humankind is itself a prolific designer of a broad range of complex objects—such as all the factories and the products these factories make.
It is easy to demolish, on rational grounds, the suggestion that the objects humankind has designed, or will design, are explicitly programmed in the computing-element program. Similarly, it is easy to demolish, on rational grounds, the suggestion that the computing-element program explicitly programs organic designs. Briefly, the basic argument is that it is redundant, unnecessarily complex, and inelegant, for a system to provide a general-purpose design mechanism, and also provide a detailed set of plans for objects that could alternatively be designed by the general-purpose design mechanism. The general-purpose design mechanism is one or more populations of cooperating intelligent particles—such as the large bion population with soliton ruler which is found in the human. We conclude that organic life was designed by the general-purpose design mechanism. This means organic life was designed by one or more populations of cooperating intelligent particles.
Having identified cooperating intelligent particles as the direct cause of organic life, there are several questions one can ask. How many populations of cooperating intelligent particles are involved in the design work? Humanity’s design work often involves hundreds or thousands of individuals working together in teams. By analogy with human experience, we assume there are many separate populations of cooperating intelligent particles involved in the design of organic life. For convenience, we refer to these populations as the Caretakers.
A second question involves the particle composition of the Caretakers. Because the general-purpose design mechanism does not include common particles, we assume the Caretakers are composed solely of intelligent particles. Thus, the Caretakers do not have common-particle bodies. With regard to intelligent particles, we assume each Caretaker follows the basic pattern one finds in oneself. The basic pattern is a single intelligent awareness particle ruling a large, cooperating population of intelligent unaware particles. This basic pattern is probably also found in the larger and more intelligent animals—such as dogs, cats, elephants, and dolphins, to name just a few. We assume the computing-element program does not allow association of an awareness particle with a population of intelligent unaware particles, unless that population meets minimum requirements. Since the work done by the Caretakers is mentally demanding by human standards, most likely they meet the minimum requirements and consequently are self-aware.
Although we assume the Caretakers conform to the basic pattern found in humans, there is no reason to assume each Caretaker is specifically composed of a soliton and bions, as are humans and probably certain other animals. The computing-element reality model allows more than a single type of particle in each particle class. Therefore, besides the soliton, there may be other awareness particles with properties somewhat different from the soliton’s properties. Similarly, besides the bion, there may be other intelligent unaware particles with properties somewhat different from the bion’s properties.
This chapter surveys what is known about UFOs by describing the UFO, the UFO occupants, the abduction of humans by UFO occupants, and the promotion of religion by UFO occupants. After the survey, we consider how well the survey data support the idea that the UFO occupants are the Caretakers described in chapter 9. The Caretakers are responsible for the design of organic life.
Starting with the flood of American UFO reports that occurred in 1947, the U.S. Air Force established an official investigation in September 1947. This official investigation existed under different names, until December 1969, when it was shut down. For most of its life, the investigation was lightly staffed, and had an express policy of debunking and dismissing each one of the thousands of UFO reports that accumulated in its files. An astronomy professor named J. Allen Hynek was a consultant to the investigation from 1952 to 1966. He quit in disgust after being subjected to public ridicule for his infamous “swamp gas” explanation of the March 21, 1966 UFO sighting on the Hillsdale College campus in Michigan. On the night of March 21, a civil-defense director, a college dean, and eighty-seven students witnessed the wild maneuvers of a car-sized, football-shaped UFO. Keith Thompson, in his book Angels and Aliens, summarizes: “The curtain came down on this four-hour performance when the mysterious object maneuvered over a swamp near the Hillsdale College campus.”[37]
Hynek started out believing all UFO reports were bunk. However, he underwent a conversion during the 1960s as he was overcome by the weight of evidential UFO reports. He had personally investigated many of these reports by interviewing UFO witnesses as part of his role with the Air Force as a UFO debunker. In a 1975 conference paper quoted by Leonard Stringfield in his book Situation Red, Hynek summarized the UFO phenomenon as follows:
If you object, I ask you to explain—quantitatively, not qualitatively—the reported phenomena of materialization and dematerialization, of shape changes, of the noiseless hovering in the earth’s gravitational field, accelerations that—for an appreciable mass—require energy sources far beyond present capabilities—even theoretical capabilities—the well-known and often reported E-M effects, the psychic effects on percipients, including purported telepathic communications, the preferential occurrence of UFO experiences to the “repeaters”—those who are reported to have so many more UFO sightings that it outrages the noble art of statistics.[38]
The statement about materialization and dematerialization refers to reports where the UFO appears, or disappears, while being stationary. The statement about shape changes refers to reports where a UFO undergoes a major change in its apparent shape—such as when two smaller UFOs join to form a single, larger UFO. The statement about E-M effects refers to electromagnetic effects, such as the bright lights and light beams that often emanate from UFOs. Also, there is the effect that UFOs can have on electrical machinery. For example, a UFO in proximity to a car typically stops the car’s engine. The typical car engine uses electric ignition to keep the engine running. However, a UFO in proximity to a truck typically does not stop the truck’s engine. The typical truck engine—a diesel engine—does not use electric ignition to keep the engine running.
UFO sightings are not evenly distributed over time. Instead, the sightings tend to clump together in what are called waves. During a UFO wave, the number of reported sightings is much higher than normal. Waves are typically confined geographically. For example, France experienced a giant wave in 1954 which included landings and occupants. Sweden and Finland experienced a wave beginning in 1946 and lasting till 1948. In that wave, the UFOs were cigar-shaped objects which were termed at the time ghost rockets. More recent was the wave in Belgium that began in November 1989 and lasted through March 1990. The American waves include those of 1897, 1947, 1952, 1957, 1966, and 1973.
UFO sightings are not confined to modern times, but extend far back in history. The total number of available UFO reports from early times is not large, but there are several mitigating factors, including the smaller number of potential observers, low literacy rates, the general unavailability and expense of paper, and poor communications in general. Computer scientist Jacques Vallee, in his book Anatomy of a Phenomenon, summarizes some earlier sightings:
Their attention, for example, should be directed to the ship that was seen speeding across the sky, at night, in Scotland in A.D. 60. In 763, while King Domnall Mac Murchada attended the fair at Teltown, in Meath County, ships were also seen in the air. In 916, in Hungary, spherical objects shining like stars, bright and polished, were reported going to and fro in the sky. Somewhere at sea, on July 29 or 30 of the year 966, a luminous vertical cylinder was seen.... In Japan, on August 23, 1015, two objects were seen giving birth to small luminous spheres. At Cairo in August 1027, numerous noisy objects were reported. A large silvery disk is said to have come close to the ground in Japan on August 12, 1133.[39]
Over time, the volume of UFO reports increased with the technical improvements of human communications, such as the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. The total number of UFO reports from the 20th century dwarfs the number available from prior times. This is due to the larger human population, and the vastly improved means of communication.
There is no standard size, shape, or coloring for UFOs. Reported sizes, as measured along their widest dimension, have ranged from less than a meter to more than a thousand meters. However, most reported UFOs whose size was observed from the ground at close range, were roughly between a small car and a large truck in size. The shapes of UFOs vary greatly. In modern times, most UFOs have resembled spheres, cones, cylinders, saucers, or triangles with rounded angles. Sometimes, the observed UFO has a distinct dome, and sometimes the UFO has what appear to be windows or portholes. In general, roundness seems to be the only constant for the current crop of UFO shapes. When viewed as solid objects, UFOs often have a shiny, metallic finish, although dark colors are also reported. When viewed as lights, or as flashing lights on a UFO body, typical colors seem to be white or red, with other colors, such as yellow, blue, and green, reported less frequently.
The observed shape of a UFO is at least sometimes deliberately adjusted to meet the needs of human tolerance and expectation. For example, in earlier times, some UFOs actually appeared as boats or ships in the sky. Jacques Vallee, in his book Dimensions, describes how sometimes the “ship” would throw out an anchor, as reportedly happened in Ireland about the year 1211:
There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday, while the people were at Mass, a marvel. In this town is a church dedicated to St. Kinarus. It befell that an anchor was dropped from the sky, with a rope attached to it, and one of the flukes caught in the arch above the church door. The people rushed out of the church and saw in the sky a ship with men on board, floating before the anchor cable, and they saw a man leap overboard and jump down to the anchor as if to release it. He looked as if he were swimming in water. The folk rushed up and tried to seize him: but the Bishop forbade the people to hold the man, for it might kill him, he said. The man was freed, and hurried up to the ship, where the crew cut the rope and the ship sailed out of sight.[40]
A more recent example of an anchor incident occurred during the American UFO wave of 1897, when the observed UFOs had the appearance of cigar-shaped dirigibles. These “dirigibles” moved about slowly. When observed at close range, the “dirigible” occupants typically appeared as ordinary Americans speaking English. The anchor incident involved a farmer near Sioux City, Iowa, who was hooked by an anchor from one of these craft, and dragged a little way along the ground.[41]
During the 1897 wave, the “dirigibles” were seen over a number of cities in the West and Midwest, including Chicago. Newspaper stories written at the time comprise much of the available source documentation about the wave. The first human-made dirigible was constructed in France in 1852, and was powered by a steam engine. In more recent times, UFOs that looked like helicopters have been reported. For example, Keith Thompson describes a witness who in September 1980 saw what he thought was a helicopter. However, “soon the craft had become a silver, ball-shaped object dangling a long ‘fluttering’ appendage from its side. Eventually the object shot straight up until it disappeared.”[42]
footnotes
[37] Thompson, Keith. Angels and Aliens. Addison-Wesley, New York, 1991. p. 81.
[38] Stringfield, Leonard. Situation Red: The UFO Siege. Fawcett Crest Books, New York, 1977. p. 44.
[39] Vallee, Jacques. Anatomy of a Phenomenon. Ace Books, New York, 1965. p. 21.
[40] Vallee, Jacques. Dimensions. Ballantine Books, New York, 1988. p. 42.
[41] Ibid., p. 38.
[42] Thompson, op. cit., p. 131.
The UFO occupants come in different humanoid shapes and sizes. It seems the appearance of the occupant is as plastic as the appearance of the UFO. Depending on the circumstances of the observation, a UFO occupant may appear as a normal human, a dwarfish human, a large humanoid monster, a dwarfish humanoid monster, or a small alien. Apparently, the only appearance constant is that the occupant follows the basic humanoid shape of having two legs, two arms, a head, and bilateral symmetry. Often, the occupant is small, ranging in height from about a meter to one-and-a-half meters. One advantage of the small occupant’s size is that the fright of the human observer is reduced. It is typical for a human observer to assume he or she is stronger than the small occupant. In the case of occupants that look human, the human observer is even more at ease.
UFO occupants assume normal human form when they want to be mistaken as human. There seems to be a standard ruse that a single occupant, masquerading as an ordinary human, likes to play on the selected human observer. The ruse is to approach the human and ask for help of some kind—such as requesting food or water. This ruse has three advantages. First, it gives the occupant a believable excuse for approaching the human. Second, it puts the human at ease with the occupant, because the occupant is claiming weakness and the need for help. Third, it prolongs the time the occupant has with the human, because the human will be busy getting the food or water. For example, Jenny Randles, in her book Alien Abductions, recounts an incident on the Drakensteen mountain in South Africa during the spring of 1951. A British engineer was driving his car up the mountain late at night when he encountered a strange man who said he needed water:
Collecting water in an oil can, the engineer drove the mysterious stranger back to the pick-up point. Here he now saw a disc-shaped craft hidden in the shadows of the mountain. He was invited inside and shown a table or bed, on which lay one of the entities. He had supposedly been burnt—hence the need for water. For the man’s kindness, the aliens allowed their benefactor to ask questions. Naturally he wanted to know how their UFO worked, but the reply was not helpful: ‘We nullify gravity by way of a fluid magnet,’ they explained. So where did they come from? They looked at the sky, pointed and said melodramatically, ‘From there!’ [43]
UFO occupants assume dwarfish human form under two different conditions. First, occupants assume the form when they are engaged in activities on the ground that may cause them to be inadvertently observed by humans who come along by chance. There are many reports, both old and recent, of people coming across this kind of occupant while the occupant is collecting rocks, soil, or plants. There may be several occupants so engaged at once, and there always seems to be a UFO parked nearby. When surprised by a human observer, the standard scenario is that the occupants quickly take whatever they are carrying at the moment, return to their UFO, and leave the area. Depending on the actions and proximity of the observer at the time his or her presence is detected, one of the observed occupants may aim a short wand at the observer. The wand causes the observer to become effectively paralyzed and unable to move until some minutes after the occupants and their UFO have departed. For example:
On December 19, [1954] Jose Parra, an eighteen-year-old jockey from Valencia [Venezuela], who was doing some night-training, during the early hours, suddenly saw six little men pulling boulders from the side of the highway and loading them aboard a disc-shaped craft which was hovering less than nine feet from the ground. Parra started to run away, but one of the little creatures pointed a small device at him, which gave off a violet-colored light and prevented Parra from moving. [44]
The second condition under which UFO occupants assume dwarfish human form has apparently become obsolete in modern times. In premodern times, when UFO occupants wanted to abduct a human, they typically appeared to the abductee as dwarfish humans. These occupants would then play a ruse on the abductee. They invited the abductee to come with them to provide help of some kind, or to participate in their celebrations. Some such excuse would be made, to win the abductee’s initial cooperation in his or her own abduction. The humans at the time believed these occupants to be members of an advanced race which lived on mountains, or in caves, or on islands. In other words, the humans at the time believed these occupants to be a different race of humanity which lived nearby, but in places not normally inhabited by ordinary humans. This deception became obsolete when it became unbelievable, because of improved human communications and improved land surveys. It seems the deception was used in Europe by the UFO occupants until as late as the 19th century when the practice died out completely. Jacques Vallee, in Dimensions, quotes Walter Evans-Wentz, who wrote a thesis on Celtic traditions in Brittany, and a book in 1909 titled The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries:
The general belief in the interior of Brittany is that the fees once existed, but that they disappeared as their country was changed by modern conditions. In the region of the Mene and of Erce (Ille-et-Vilaine) it is said that for more than a century there have been no fees and on the sea coast where it is firmly believed that the fees used to inhabit certain grottos in the cliffs, the opinion is that they disappeared at the beginning of the last century. The oldest Bretons say that their parents or grandparents often spoke about having seen fees, but very rarely do they say that they themselves have seen fees. M. Paul Sebillot found only two who had. One was an old needlewoman of Saint-Cast, who had such fear of fees that if she was on her way to do some sewing in the country and it was night she always took a long circuitous route to avoid passing near a field known as the Couvent des Fees. The other was Marie Chehu, a woman 88 years old.[45]
Although UFO occupants have been seen collecting rocks, soil, and plants, in recent times almost no one has reported seeing UFO occupants collecting farm animals. However, UFOs have been sighted in farm areas where shortly afterward the carcasses of biopsied farm animals, typically cattle, have been found. In particular, there was the recent wave of so-called cattle mutilations that took place in America during the 1970s:
There is no doubt that in the mid to late 1970s, something of an epidemic of animal mutilations in states including Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Texas took place. By May 1974, more than 100 cattle had been found dead and gruesomely mutilated in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska alone. In case after case, ranchers and farmers reported that an unknown person had killed the animals, and removed with surgical precision body parts including sex organs, tongues, ears, eyes, or anuses. “I’ve yet to see a coyote who can chew a straight edge,” said the organizer of a patrol to protect the animals. The killers were elusive, leaving no footprints or other evidence of their presence. Often the mutilations were committed in what should have been plain sight or within hearing distance—close proximity to a farmhouse, for instance—but no sights or sounds were reported.[46]
UFO involvement with animal collection is not confined to America, nor is it confined to recent times. Jacques Vallee, in his book Messengers of Deception, describes an incident that happened in the Natal midlands of Africa during the 1960s as two men were walking down a hill:
They saw “an eerie reddish glow” on the farm runway, about 200 yards from them. The flock of sheep in the runway paddock were all standing in two one-third circles on opposite sides of the glow, looking toward it. “From our elevated position,” wrote Anton Fitzgerald in the aviation magazine Wings over Africa, “the sheep reminded me of iron filings on a piece of paper around a magnet.” The pinkish glow started rising vertically without a sound. Fitzgerald inspected the area, and noticed that one old sheep was missing. He was reminded of the Zulu legend of “the Red Sun that rises straight up into the sky after devouring some of the tribe’s cattle.” The Cherokee Indians have a similar legend of the Sun that rises straight up.[47]
Regarding monsters, UFO occupants that appear monstrous are comparatively rare. Perhaps there are times when the UFO occupants want to deliberately frighten the human observer. However, there is too little data to draw any conclusions.
footnotes
[43] Randles, Jenny. Alien Abductions. Inner Light Publications, New Brunswick, 1988. p. 153.
[44] Vallee, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, p. 201.
[45] Vallee, Dimensions, pp. 70–71.
[46] Thompson, op. cit., p. 129.
[47] Vallee, Jacques. Messengers of Deception. And/Or Press, Berkeley, 1979. p. 165.
In recent times, UFO occupants assume the small alien form when they are abducting humans, examining them, performing procedures on them, and returning them. Around the world, at least some abductions are reported to be conducted by UFO occupants that look like ordinary humans. However, in present-day America, abductions are carried out by occupants that have assumed the small alien form. Perhaps this small alien form, which is observed during the abduction experience, is close to the form the UFO occupants assume among themselves.
Detailed reports of the abduction experience come from abductees who undergo hypnosis to learn the truth of what has happened to them. It seems to be standard practice that the UFO occupants do something to the abductee that prevents conscious recall of the abduction experience. This action by the UFO occupants, of placing a mental block, is not new, because “the mind of a person coming out of Fairy-Land is usually blank as to what has been seen and done there.”[48] However, this mental block which is placed by the UFO occupants is not perfect, and it can be circumvented by hypnosis.
Historian David Jacobs, in his book Secret Life, states that he “had more than 325 hypnosis sessions with more than sixty abductees.”[49] We summarize Jacobs’ description of the UFO occupants involved in abductions: The aliens do not wear clothes, although sometimes the coloring of clothing appears to be “painted” on their bodies. The aliens lack any visible sign of a circulatory system. In other words, there is no sign of veins on their bodies. The alien skin is completely smooth and there is no sign of surface or color irregularities. For example, there is no hair, bumps, or wrinkles. There is no noticeable aging of the aliens. There are no signs of bones or muscles in the alien body. In other words, there is no visible sign of subsurface supporting structures. The alien eye is large, solid black, and fixed without visible movement. There is no visible structure to their eyes, such as pupils and irises, and there are no eyelids. The alien mouth is a slit which never seems to move or open. The alien neck has a narrow tube shape. Also, their arms and legs have a narrow tube shape. In spite of such apparently flimsy structure, motor control by the aliens is excellent. They move about and manipulate tools with speed and precision. Regarding bodily needs, Jacobs remarks “they do not appear to breathe or to ingest food and water.”[50]
We now summarize the basics of the abduction experience in which the physical body is abducted. These basics are described by David Jacobs in Secret Life. There are other books by different authors that say essentially the same thing, although not necessarily in as much detail.
The abduction experience begins when several small aliens appear to the abductee. The aliens typically choose a time for the abduction when the possibility of detection is minimized—such as late at night or when the person is alone. If the abductee is in a bedroom, for example, the aliens will either walk through the wall or float through a window. At some point, the abductee is aware of the presence of the aliens. Fear is the normal human reaction. At least one alien will quickly move alongside the abductee. This alien calms the abductee. If there is someone near the abductee—such as a mate—that person is deactivated for the duration of the abduction.
The next step is that one or more of the aliens grab hold of the abductee. The entire party then floats upward and out of the abduction site. If the abduction site is a room, standard procedure is for the party to pass through a window to leave the room. The aliens do not bother opening the window. Instead, the aliens, including the abductee, pass through the closed window. The flight of the party through the air, up to the UFO that is typically hovering close by, is never witnessed by passersby. Jacobs concludes that the entire party is invisible to outside observers during the transit to and from the UFO.
As the UFO is approached by the party, the size of the UFO—as estimated by abductees—is somewhere between ten meters and one hundred meters in diameter. Depending on the size of the craft, the abductee may enter directly into the examination room. Or if the UFO is very large, the abductee enters first into a waiting room.
Once the abductee is in the craft, the next step is the undressing of the abductee, assuming the abductee was wearing something at the time of the abduction. If the craft is very large, the abductee is soon brought to the examination room in which there are typically many examination tables. Some, or many examination tables, may already be occupied by other humans who are undergoing the examination process.
Throughout the abduction experience, all communication from the aliens is by telepathy. Typically, they say to the abductee only words of assurance that everything is all right, that the abductee will not be harmed, and so on. When the aliens are asked questions about why they do what they do to the abductee, the typical reply is that it has to be done, followed by the usual assurances. In general, the aliens do not volunteer information, and as a rule, they evade direct questions.
The abductee is placed on an empty examination table. And a very thorough physical exam—by human standards—is conducted by several aliens working together. At the end of the physical exam, a tiny object may be implanted in the abductee. This implant is typically placed in the head, up the nose. According to Jacobs, “someone might expel a tiny metallic ball from their nasal passage, although this has not happened to the abductees I have worked with.... In the cases where they have been recovered, analyses have so far been inconclusive about their origin.... To date, no operations have been performed to remove the suspicious masses because the risks and problems inherent in surgery outweigh recovery considerations, or the object mysteriously disappears.”[51] The standard comment that abduction researchers make about this implant, is that it is analogous to the way humans tag animals, and perhaps it is done for the same reason.
Once the physical exam is over, a specialist alien, who is noticeably taller than the other aliens, may become involved with the abductee to conduct an advanced physical procedure—using hand-held tools. When working on women, this specialist does egg and fetus removal, and presumably other things—such as fertilized egg implants. A pattern that sometimes happens to a woman who has been abducted is that the woman learns—soon after her abduction, and much to her surprise—that she is pregnant. Then, sometime within the next few months, she is suddenly not pregnant, because the fetus was removed during a follow-up abduction. Besides collecting eggs and fetuses, the aliens also collect sperm, but sperm collection is a comparatively easy task which does not require the specialist.
Another specialist—perhaps the same specialist who does the physical procedures—sometimes does psychological examinations. If the abductee is given a psychological exam after the physical exam, the psychological exam is variable. Some of these tests involve emotional responses. For example, a woman abductee might be placed in a comfortable-looking room. Shortly afterward, a man whom the woman knows and is attracted to, suddenly enters the room. While this is happening, the specialist remains close to the woman and “stares” at her, watching her response. Later, it turns out the man, who the woman thought she recognized, is actually an alien who had assumed that appearance.
One of the strangest psychological tests—perhaps testing maternal instincts—involves a nursery, or alternatively, a kind of orphanage. The abductee, typically a woman, is brought into a room that looks like a nursery. The nursery is filled with small, sickly, abnormal babies who are typically in transparent boxes. The woman may be told one of the babies is hers. She may be given one of the babies to hold, along with encouragement about how good the baby is. While this nursery charade is going on, the woman’s reactions are closely watched by the specialist. A variation on the nursery is the orphanage, where the woman is presented with a frail child that looks like a cross between an alien and a human. As with the baby, the woman is encouraged to hold the child and give it affection.
Once the scheduled agenda for the abductee is completed, it is time for the abductee to leave the UFO. If not already there, the abductee is taken to his or her clothing. The abductee is then encouraged to dress and helped if necessary. The abductee is then escorted out of the UFO, and returned to the place from which he or she was originally taken. Once returned, the abduction experience is over—having lasted, usually, “from one to three hours.”[52] The typical abductee is abducted first in infancy or childhood, and then abducted several more times over the remaining course of his or her life. Women seem to be abducted more than men.
footnotes
[48] Vallee, Jacques. Passport to Magonia. Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1969. p. 87. Jacques Vallee is quoting Walter Evans-Wentz.
[49] Jacobs, David. Secret Life. Simon and Schuster, New York, 1992. p. 24.
[50] Ibid., p. 228.
[51] Ibid., p. 240.
[52] Ibid., p. 50.
Regarding UFOs and religion, many UFO researchers have suggested that UFO occupants have played a major role in the formation and maintenance of at least some historical religions. The evidence for this claim includes the widely cited miracle at Fatima, Portugal, which occurred on October 13, 1917.
The Fatima miracle of a “dancing sun,” was a carefully staged miracle witnessed by roughly 70,000 people. The large number of witnesses was the direct result of a methodical sequence of ever greater miracles. These miracles occurred at regular intervals during 1917, beginning on May 13, 1917. The miracles occurred at the same location, which was a pasture named Cova da Iria, 2.5 kilometers from the village of Fatima. The sequence of events had the following dates and approximate attendance: May 13 attended by three; June 13 attended by 50; July 13 attended by 4,500; August 13 attended by 18,000; September 13 attended by 30,000; October 13 attended by 70,000.[53]
Three children who worked as shepherds are the centerpiece of the Fatima story. At the time, the girl, Lucia, was ten years old, the boy, Francisco, was nine, and the girl, Jacinto, was seven. Francisco and Jacinto were brother and sister, and they were both cousins of Lucia. On May 13, these three children met and conversed with a UFO occupant. The occupant appeared as a woman who floated on top of a tree. The woman wore radiant clothing including a white robe fastened by a gold band, and a cloak with gold trim which covered her head. The children assumed the occupant was the Virgin Mary, since Portugal was a strongly Catholic country at the time. Among other things, the UFO occupant told the children to return to the same spot each month, on the 13th day of the month. That is how the pattern of miracles occurring on the 13th was established.
The grand finale of the Fatima happenings was the so-called dance of the sun on October 13, 1917. On that day, at the Cova da Iria site, at the appointed time of noon, there was rain and heavy cloud cover which hid the real sun. Suddenly, beneath the cloud cover, appeared a giant, radiant UFO, which had a flat, disc shape. Many people thought the UFO was the sun. This UFO maneuvered about for roughly ten minutes, changing colors, spinning, and sometimes dropping closer to the ground, which frightened the audience greatly. The witnesses of this event were not confined to the Cova da Iria site, since people some kilometers distant from the site, also reported seeing the spectacle.
Jacques Vallee, in Dimensions, describes the Fatima happenings in greater detail and lists the many reasons the entire episode should be classed as a UFO phenomenon.
footnotes
[53] Vallee, Dimensions, p. 177.
We now consider how well the survey data support the idea that the UFO occupants are the Caretakers described in chapter 9.
In contrast to people, the UFO occupants—like the Caretakers—are, it seems, composed solely of intelligent particles. Thus, without the burden of common particles, the UFO occupants are free to pass through walls, as during an abduction, and to shape-shift and assume the many different appearances found in the survey data. This shape-shifting ability includes the ability to form the appearance of clothing.
The ability of the abductee to pass through solid objects, such as a closed window, could be due to a masking action by the bions that fill the abductee’s body.[54] Normally, one’s bions never take such masking action, because of the fair-play rule described in chapter 6. However, we assume the Caretakers who imposed the fair-play rule in the first place, can, in effect, order a population of bions to temporarily waive the fair-play rule and mask the particles in question. This masking action would also account for the apparent invisibility of the abductee during the transit to and from the UFO.[55]
The ability of a UFO occupant to become solid to p-common particles is a consequence of the intelligent particles that compose the UFO occupant deciding that they will interact with p-common particles. Thus, the UFO occupants can become solid to the physical world, such as when they conduct the different examinations of the abductee.
That UFOs are described in old historical records is consistent with the UFO occupants being the Caretakers, because the history of the Caretakers extends into the distant past. The collecting of rocks and soil by UFO occupants may not appear, at first glance, to be a Caretaker function. However, such collecting can be a Caretaker function, because various biosphere-related chemicals, bacteria, and sometimes other organisms, are found on rocks and in soil.
The biopsies done on lower animals—such as the cattle that were dumped after having parts of their anatomy removed—are consistent with the UFO occupants being the Caretakers. A likely reason for such sampling of animal parts is to monitor the animals’ well-being as a species and/or to support planning for further changes or improvements to that species. Fortunately, the UFO occupants do not treat humans the same way they treat the lower animals. There are no reports of humans getting fatally biopsied, and then dumped. Better treatment for humans is to be expected, because humans are much closer to the UFO occupants in mental terms than the lower animals are. In general, as the abduction data show, the UFO occupants go out of their way to minimize the trauma of the abduction experience.
The abduction experience—with its focus on human fitness and reproduction—is consistent with the UFO occupants being the Caretakers. The human species is a relative newcomer to the family of organic life. Because of the newness and mental complexity of humans, the attention humans as a species have been receiving from the UFO occupants is understandable. The manipulation of human religious belief by the UFO occupants can be understood as part of their creative design activities with regard to the human species. In conclusion, if one assumes the UFO occupants are the Caretakers, then all the survey data can be explained.
footnotes
[54] Specifically, the p-common particles of the abductee’s body and clothing would be masked from interacting with any p-common particles that have not been similarly masked. The computing-element reality model allows such masking, assuming the computing-element program gives that capability to intelligent particles such as bions.
In algorithmic terms, masking could be accomplished by assuming each p-common particle in the visible universe has the default value for a certain state-information attribute. And the computing-element program only interacts p-common particles that have the same value for that attribute. Thus, by changing a p-common particle’s value to a non-default value, that particle would, in effect, disappear from the visible universe.
[55] In effect, photons striking the abductee would pass through the abductee without interacting with the abductee’s p-common particles. However, a complicating factor is that the abductee can apparently see physical objects during the masking action. A possible explanation is that visible-light photons that enter the abductee’s eye lens would be masked using the same value (referring to the previous footnote) used to mask the abductee’s p-common particles, thereby making those photons visible to the abductee.
Such selective masking would also, presumably, be done for air molecules, thereby allowing the abductee to breathe and experience normal atmospheric pressure. This could be done by masking each air molecule just prior to impact with the abductee’s masked body, and then unmasking that air molecule just after impact. Any air molecule absorbed by the abductee’s body would remain masked, and any air molecule desorbed by the abductee’s body would be unmasked.
This glossary defines two different reality models, namely the mathematics-only reality model and the computing-element reality model. For the computing-element reality model, particles are either common particles or intelligent particles. For common particles, there are at least two classes, including p-common particles and d-common particles. For intelligent particles, there are at least two types, including bions and solitons.
An intelligent particle associated with biology. Presumably each living cell is inhabited and controlled by a bion. Bions interact with both intelligent particles and common particles. Each adult human has a cooperating population of roughly ten trillion bions—assuming one bion per living cell. The bions of the brain collectively form the mind, and the mind is guided by a soliton.
A particle that has simple state information. The simplicity of the state information allows the interactions between common particles to be expressed with mathematical equations. Prime examples of common particles are electrons, photons, and quarks.
The computing-element reality model states that the universe’s particles are controlled by computers. Specifically, the computing-element reality model states that the universe is a vast, space-filling, three-dimensional array of tiny, identical computing elements. A computing element is a self-contained computer connected to other computing elements. Each of these computing elements runs the same large and complex program—called the computing-element program. In effect, the computing-element reality model states that one is living inside a gigantic computer simulation.
The common particles observed during an external dream, which is a dream that occurs outside the head. In general, d-common particles do not interact with p-common particles.
A particle whose state information is much more complicated than that of a common particle. In general, because of this complexity it is not possible to express with mathematical equations the interactions involving intelligent particles.
The mathematics-only reality model is the current reality model of science. This is a very restrictive reality model that rejects as impossible any particle whose interactions cannot be described with mathematical equations. Because equations can be computed, everything allowed by the mathematics-only reality model is also allowed by the computing-element reality model.
The common particles of physics—specifically the electrons, quarks, photons, and other elementary particles of physics.
An intelligent particle that has an associated awareness. Each human being has a single soliton which is the location of the separate, solitary awareness that each person experiences. The soliton in each person interacts with the bions of the brain that collectively form the mind.
END OF BOOK