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My Reality

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Preface................................................viiAcknowledgments........................................ixPrologue...............................................xiChapter 1: Who Are We?.................................1Chapter 2: Where Did We Come From?.....................57Chapter 3: Where Did We Come From?.....................63Chapter 4: Where Did We Come From?.....................79Chapter 5: Where Did We Come From?.....................87Chapter 6: Where Did We Come From?.....................103Chapter 7: Where Did We Come From?.....................155Chapter 8: Where Did We Come From?.....................249Chapter 9: Where Are We Going?.........................402Epilogue...............................................425Endnotes...............................................427References.............................................433Index..................................................443

Chapter One

What is science? A simple answer is that it is the development of a set of rules and laws based on our sensory input, or alternatively, the verification of a set of rules and laws by comparing these against our sensory data, both human and machine. The sensory data used is checked rigorously, using a procedure known as the scientific method, in order to minimize the errors caused by our senses or those of our machines. Science continuously questions its own premises. Note that the three pillars of modern science—the theory of evolution, relativity theory, and quantum theory—all contain the word theory. These propositions are labeled as theories even though there has been no significant credible challenge to or conflict with these concepts since they were proposed. All scientists are always trying to find exceptions and contradictions to these theories, since this would ensure that they would become one of the significant scientists of their generation. Thousands of scientists have attempted to topple these pillars; however, not one has succeeded, although new generations are continuously devising experiments or checking data with the hope that they will be able to level one of them.

Western science had its beginnings in ancient Greece. Greek scientists were among the first to question the world around them and use their sensory information in an attempt to determine the workings of nature.

Thales of Miletus, who lived in the seventh century BC, and whom many consider as the progenitor of Greek science, was active in mathematics and astronomy. In mathematics he postulated that:

• An isosceles triangle is defined as a triangle that has two equal base angles.

• Alternate interior angles of intersecting lines are equal.

• A right triangle can be completely expressed by the length of one side and the acute angle that it forms with its adjacent side.

Based on these simple postulates, Thales was able to determine the distance of a ship from the shore and, by using the length of their shadows, the heights of various structures on land. His main contribution to astronomy was in realizing that eclipses of the Sun were a natural and not a supernatural occurrence. He, however, was not aware that the Earth was a sphere.

Anaximander expanded on Thales's work by inventing and/or popularizing the sundial. This would at first glance seem to be a trivial occurrence in Western science; however, it should be pointed out that science cannot exist without an accurate means of measuring the passage of time, since this is the only way that events can be placed in a precise chronological order.

The concept that the Earth was round and moves through space was first proposed by Pythagoras (570-495 BC). He may have been led to this idea partially by his belief that a sphere was the perfect geometric object. Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two remaining sides.

The Greek astronomer Anaxagoras realized that the Moon was illuminated by the light from the Sun and proposed that eclipses of the Sun were caused by the Moon's shadow on the Earth. He also proposed that the Sun was a conglomeration of burning iron and conjectured that all animals breathe and that fish respire by extracting air from water using their gills. Not the first and certainly not the last scientist to be misled by his senses, he assumed the Earth was flat and calculated its distance to the Sun at four thousand miles, and the Sun's diameter at thirty-five miles. Ignored by Anaxagoras was the suggestion by Pythagoras, made a hundred years earlier, postulating that the surface of the Earth was shaped like a sphere.

Empedocles, who was born around 494 BC, observed that the pressure of air supported the weight of water contained in an inverted tube and also theorized that light actually moved through space. He could also be looked on as the first "evolutionist" as he is said to have stated: "Hair and leaves, and thick feathers of birds, are the same in origin, and scales too on strong limbs.... But on hedgehogs sharp-pointed hair bristles on their backs."

Democritus, who was born in the year 460 BC, postulated that all matter was built up from unique single entities, which he called atoms. Unfortunately, most subsequent ancient Greek scientists did not pursue this line of thought further.

Hippocrates (460-370 BC) is considered to be the father of medical practice. He was the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine, which established medical practice as a separate discipline from other areas of science and philosophy. He is best known for being the author of the Hippocratic Oath, which serves as the basis for the practice of Western medicine.

Socrates (469-399 BC) is considered to be the gadfly of Ancient Greece. While being primarily a moralist and an ethicist, he contributed to science by his probing questioning and thinking, which he passed on to his most outstanding disciple, Plato.

Plato (about 429-347 BC), considered by many to be the world's greatest philosopher, contributed to ethics, political systems, morality, and metaphysics. He is also known for mentioning in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias that a huge island empire, Atlantis, existed around 10,000 BC. Plato noted that Atlantis was a naval power beyond the Pillars of Hercules that had dominated a large part of the known world. (The Pillars of Hercules were rock formations that marked the entrance to the Straight of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean side.)

However, and most importantly, his writings in the seventh book, The Republic, form the basis of modern science, for it is his allegory of prisoners chained in a cave and determining reality from shadows cast on a wall that indicates that the data we are capable of accumulating using our senses or our machines must always be suspect. Unfortunately, many scientists throughout history have ignored or forgotten this basic fact.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) became the symbol for Greek science. He accepted the fact, as postulated by Pythagoras, that the shape of the Earth was spherical and gathered observational evidence to support this. He stated: "As to the figure of the Earth it must necessarily be spherical. If this were not so, the eclipses of the Moon would not have such sections as they...