Theory of an Idea
What is an Idea?
"To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books." ~ Manly Hall
We could sit here for the rest of the century and debate the structures in the brain and what happens when we think but we would only be where we are right now. To explore the ideas in the rest of this book the reader must open the mind open to endless possibilities. An idea is the very essence of everything the individual experiences. ideas explode into existence bringing about something from nothing. Ideas are often inspired by previous ideas. Most ideas can be traced back much like a scientist would trace back a family genealogy or an anthropologist would trace back the different species in a family tree. Ideas have a starting point but are infinite within this infinite universe.
Ideas are only worth the value they carry. This being said, what and is value? How is it added to an idea? The initial idea is worth nothing and has no value. It is hard to determine the value of an idea. Its easy to determine the value of a tangible thing because it can be quantified. Intangible ideas can not be quantified through proprietary methods.
Most thoughts fly through the sub-conscience with out ever being recognized or understood by that of the individual. When the individual comes to a mental capacity high enough to process and recognized these original thoughts they have tapped into the ability to create something from nothing. The idea still has no value as a thought in the head of the individual. the individuals must act and bring the idea to life through application of effort. Applying effort to an idea will increase the value of said idea. Effort or work can be applied to newly formed idea through writing the thought down, by drawing, or by trying to recreate the thought with the creative mediums available to the individual.
The wheel is an idea that has a lot of value. The wheel is used in about every mechanical device homo sapiens have created. The wheel is an idea that every homo sapiens understand at an early age because of the exposure and wide spread use of the idea. The wheel is an idea that not a single homo sapien benefits from but an idea that was brought to life and now benefits every single human. The patent system has been an integral part in the capitalistic super economy of the world, but moving forward it may be the biggest issue. Locking idea ownership to a single individual or organization only benefits the individuals involved. Ideas should be able to benefit everyone as well as have 'ownership' or 'individual stake'.
The individual is constantly trying to express itself. Ideas are essential to this expression. Ideas prove the individuals existence. Ideas give the individual the ability to live beyond the physical body.
Idea mutations take place and are essential to the evolution and growth of ideas. Ideas have a beginning but no end. Ideas are infinite. Ideas have no limitations.
Singular
The world is a weird place. As I open my eyes in the morning light begins pouring through my iris towards my retina. I process the millions of photons hitting the retina in real time and produce a vivid picture of the world around myself. The colorful reality I create is an illusionary mask generated solely so I can better understand the complicate realm in which I reside. This realm will be called 'reality'. Reality never rests. Reality is in a constant chaotic state of motion and change. The subtle shifts and changes in the direction of these chaotic motions determines the experiences.
I would like to introduce a school of thought i like to refer to as 'singular'. Singular thought requires the individual to dissolve and become one with everything it is surrounded by. Singular thought is not thought about how can I better myself but how can i better my fellow individuals. Bettering those individuals around us with unique and original ideas is the key to forward movement. Lets dive into singular thought.
I must come to understand three truths. I live in reality. Reality is I. I am reality.
I live in reality. The experiences generated by the image engine I like to call imagination make up what I come to understand as the reality I currently reside within.
Reality is I. The reality created by ingesting an experience via my image engine is the same reality that makes up the physical biological mechanisms that ingest and generate said reality.
I am reality. I am every potential possibility. The reality which the individual experiences is only a fractional subset of the potential possibilities this universe has to offer. The individual experiences only a single instance of these potential possibilities.
"We are the gods of the atoms that make up ourselves but we are also the atoms of the gods that make up the universe." ~ Manly Hall
I am an aperture made up of the universe, pondering and thinking about what the universe actually is. The individual is an observer observing itself. The recursive nature of this relationship is what drives the observer to do the things it does. To question the universe around itself. To make art. To make music. To write. To try and express itself in anyway possible to get this insanely recursive idea out of itself. By the very nature of trying to expressing itself through the genesis of ideas does the observer, the self, the individual, the universe actually make possible everything around itself.
World Views
The universe is a chaotic mess of energy within which emerges all the order we experience on a day to day basis.
Ancient Chinese thought recognizes that chaos and order are related. Yin and Yang, the female and male principles represent the ancient views of creating order within chaos.
Most people would agree that the world has changed more over the past twenty years than the past one-hundred years for better or for worse.
Most homo sapiens are living longer healthier lives.
From the standpoint of an American citizen from a small suburban town, everything seems to be just fine. I have access to fresh air and clean water. What more could I ask for? The harsh reality of our world is that fresh air and clean water are not available to everyone. Why is this the case? Why with all of our technological resources, do we still have people around the world starving and in need of vital resources? The question is one that may at first seem simple to answer. Yet the further the individual travels down the rabbit hole trying to conjure an answer the more the individuals realizes that there is really no reason why some areas are still struggling. We have the ability to help those in need but lack the propensity. We are not motived to help our fellow sapiens because why would I put myself in an uncomfortable position? Someone else will probably do it. Thats too much work. I'll do it later. These are the statements holding us back from what could be. Only by supporting and bringing up those around us, regardless of race or religion will we be able to move forward.
Geopolitical differences arise over years of dispute and discomfort between local communities and nations. The rate at which communities and individuals evolve and change happens today at much faster rates and the differences are only an illusion to some forgotten dispute.
The past cannot be changed but can the past be reimagined? And if so are we changing the past? Everything that is possible has the potential to happen. This means that if something in the past could have happened, we have the ability to make it appear as if it did happen. Reimagining the past the way you wish it could have happened builds mental illusions. these mental illusions if used correctly will assist the individual in the task they are trying to accomplish. A common example of this is conspiracy theorists trying push the false narratives whether its a faked moon landing or terrorist event. They are attempting to rewrite history to push their personal agendas and encourage distrust in agencies and people involved in those events. The reason their efforts are not successful is because they lack the support of the majority. If the majority of the world believed that NASA faked the moon landing, you would be considered a conspiracy theorist if you said otherwise. Universities and primary schools have been the primary reason we do not have people running around spewing false histories.
Education
While the university system has been an integral part in the intellectual evolution of our species as well as creating and molding minds to prevent the false rewriting of history, it has become a central power that controls a majority of the worlds information.
Universities incite competition so fierce that intellectuals resort to mind altering drugs to keep up with the competitive nature. Beyond the competitive nature inside the institution just getting accepted to a top rated university takes an extraordinary amount of effort as it should to encourage only the best. Yet often times some of the effort goes unnoticed due to filtering by the universities based on a large set of variables used to describe a person intellectual accomplishments, often void of any creative variables. Race and test scores variable filters create hyper inflated vacuums of unoriginal minds. Universities selects brains based on certain characteristics and determining those characteristics will determine an individuals success in attaining acceptance into a university.
College provides a foundational layer of knowledge and the opportunity to further the field with higher levels of research. The high level research professors are the cutting edge of intellectual evolution. Dissemination of information from these professors to the generations of intellectuals further down the educational ladder takes place at different rates. Much like how a hot coal radiates heat but doesn't immediately heat the air around it to the current temperature. the professors radiate this information through lectures and classes to students. Students ingest, digest, and process this information through the process of testing and class work. Grades are given for said work and by completing a certain criteria of class work and classes the individual student receives a diploma from the university. This paper certifies by the stamp of the university and all it stands for that the individual named completed said classwork and reach a level of mental capacity through standardized testing methods for the said major sub category. College is a pillar in the educational parthenon.
Self education stands as a cornerstone opposite of college on the education parthenon. Self education is the pursuit of knowledge guided by inspiration and intuition. When an individual pursues knowledge and lets the mind run free the path may not be know by the individual but each choice and decision along the way plays into the macroscopic picture of potential possibilities.
Imagination
Inspiration leads this journey. Imagination runs free and the individual looks inward. The mental image appears not on the physical reality the individual experiences via the eyes but within the minds eye. The image engine. The imagination. Imagination is an engine similar to that of any other engine. Like an electric engine that requires a current, or a combustion engine in a car that requires gasoline, the image engine, the imagination requires ideas to operate.
Inspiring ideas illuminate individual imaginations.
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." ~ Albert Einstein
Ideas are what make humans individuals. Ideas are the essence of life. Ideas inspire revolutions good and bad. Everything originates from ideas. Everything within the field of view of the reader is an idea. The paper this document is printed on was one day in the distant past an idea. The invention of paper and writing in gave humans the ability to live beyond their physical bodies in the form of writing history and stories. This information could be passed to the next generation and the next in the absence of the individual who generated the information. Every great idea has a beginning. Everything has a genesis. A singular point where what ceased to exist, exists. This idea genesis is the underlying reality of the realm in which we experience. The individual navigates and makes sense of the universe around itself but will only ever experience a fractional subset of potential possibilities within the infinitely possible universe. Immortalization of an individual takes place in the form of ideas genesis. Individuals who genesis original ideas stand a chance against the entropy engine our universe.
How Did I Get Here?
The universe in which we reside began roughly 13.8 billion years ago with the explosion of a singularity. The explosion is often referred as "The Big Bang" and this book will leave refer to it such. It took the universe about 9.3 billion years from the big bang to form the earth but this was not the planet we experience today. The earth was a hot mess of volcanoes and rock. Roughly 3.8 billion years ago the rise of single celled organisms began in the primordial soup. The rise of life is one of the deepest questions we ask ourselves. We seem to know more about the big bang than we do about how life started but this is not the topic of this book so we will move on. Homo sapiens came into the picture about 6 million years ago being a very close relative to the chimpanzees we have around today. It took homo sapiens about 4 million years to begin to start using the environment to our advantage though the use of crude and basic stone tools. Three-hundred thousand years ago we discovered fire and we used it for cooking and lighting. About seventy-thousand years ago our species made a cognitive leap and invented fictive language. Our species gained the ability to dream about the future and what could be. This cognitive revolution allowed us to imagine well beyond what was possible at the current moment. The agricultural revolution took place about twelve-thousand years ago and so began the rise of civilization and society. With society came challenges and we sought creative solutions to these challenges using our imaginations. Since the cognitive revolution we have always looked for answers to the big questions we still ask ourselves to this day. How did the universe begin? How did life start? Why are we here?
Religion
We looked to religion to give us the answers to our impossible questions in the lack of scientific understanding. Religion gave hope and guidance to us in our times of need and still does to this day even with out deeper understanding of the world around us. Religion plays a major role throughout history and in some cases serves as the history for many cultures. We have used religion to provide an understanding for that which we could not provide a valid explanation. Cultures all across our vast history have placed Gods in the place of supernatural events such as the rising and setting of the sun and moon. The Egyptians used religion as an explanation for everything that happened in the natural world. There are countless examples across history of humans overcoming the binds of religion and providing explanations to the unexplainable. Hawking paints a picture of one the first instances of a human providing proof behind previously thought religious phenomenon in his book Brief Answers to Big Questions:
"In about 300 BCE, a philosopher called Aristarchus was fascinated by eclipses, especially eclipses of the Moon. He was brave enough to question whether they really were caused by gods. Aristarchus was a true scientific pioneer. He studied the heavens carefully and reached a bold conclusion: he realized the eclipse was really the shadow of the Earth passing over the Moon, and not a divine event."
As children we tend to take up the religion of those around inspiring us as we develop. If you are born into a christian family like myself you will most likely define yourself as a christian. Over the past few years as I have grown up and began to pursue studies of my own, particularly in the field of science, my religious views have shifted from monotheistic christian views to pantheistic views. Einstein summarizes my views perfectly in his statements to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein in 1929:
"I believe in a God, who reveals Himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God that concerns Himself in with the fate and actions of men."
Another example from ancient Hindu texts:
"When the wise realize the omnipresent Spirit, who rests invisible in the visible and permanent in the impermanent, then they go beyond sorrow."
The later quote is from the Upanishads. The Upanishads are ancient writings from Indian civilizations and are included in the the sacred scriptures of the Hindu religion and they are yet another example of my pantheistic views. I give these as an example to say that we can find religious content in a variety of sources. This is not to say that I discount or do not listen to the teachings of orthodox religions, but I view them in a different light. Christianity is the grounding religion in which my ethics and moral understandings of the world were formed as a child. All of the stories and teachings going to church as a kid filled the mental gaps I may have had about certain aspects of life.
Science
The year is 1609, Johannes Kepler is viewing the night sky came the realization that something made the planets stay in orbit around the sun. He was a religious man and inspired by explaining something unexplainable he called the something "holy spirit force". The force he noticed would be described by Sir Isaac Newton in his Pricipia Matimatica work and later to be know as gravity. This clockwork rotational fast moving model of the solar system gave rise to a scientific revolution in the late 17th century, early 18th century.
For centuries we have looked at the pursuit of science as uncovering the hidden truths in the form of mathematical proofs in which our universe is built upon. These laws being the fundamental base layer of reality in which everything exists. This idea was expressed by Rene Descartes and Spinoza:
"It is God who has established the laws of nature, as a King establishes laws in his kingdom ... You will be told that if God has established these truths, he could also change them as a King changes laws. To which it must be replied: yes, if his will can change. But I understand them as eternal and immutable. And I judge the same of God"
~ Descartes, 1630
"Now, as nothing is necessarily true save only by Divine decree, it is plain that the universal laws of nature are decrees of God following from the necessity and perfection of the Divine nature ... nature, therefore, always observes laws and rules which involves the eternal necessity and truth, although they may not all be known to us, and therefore she keeps a fixed and immutable order."
~ Spinoza, 1670
Science has followed a theological model for the laws of physics. We view these laws as the rules that govern our universe. We designed and carried out experiments to test and refine our understanding of the universe. Science has come a long way since the days of Kepler and Newton with this world view.
Einstein's Theory of Relativity introduced an idea that changed the world and the
scientific community. He got rid of the idea of absolute rigid space and time and instead placed the focus on the observer. The distances and time that the individual observer experiences are relative only to that observer. An individual in another location watching the same event unfold will have a different experience of what unfolded.
This theory rips the old rigid universe apart and creates a universe in which nothing is in agreement about what is an isn't. What is and what is not is subjective the to individual observer whom observes a specific event. This ground breaking theory sent ripples through the scientific community as it began to be applied to the old models of the universe. What scientists began to realize was that Einstein's new universe was one of many more possibilities than that which was previously described.
With each new theory about the universe we have set ourselves up for even more and more potential possibilities. Is this because we are gaining a deeper understanding of the universe in which we live or is it us creating those possibilities? Einstein's theory was formulated by him but it was inspired by all of the previous scientific work that came before him. Without the work done by Thomas Young on light waves dismissing Isaac Newton's light particle theory Einsteins universe would not have came to fruition, or at least not in the way that it did. This being said, theres an interesting correlation in the advances in science and the capabilities we give ourselves. Could it be that by spending most of his energy towards the theory of relativity that Einstein shifted the course of the universe by creating these laws?
Einstein's theory sought to give an explanation to the world in which we experience by means of mathematical relationships between the light, energy and mass which information could be extrapolated by the observer. The traditional relationship between mathematics, physics and information goes as follows:
Mathematics > Physics > Information
According to this view, mathematical relationships are the fundamental underlying aspects of existence where information is something that must be extrapolated from the individuals experiences though the use of mathematical equations. An inverse view has emerged and gained popularity in which information is the primary entity from which physical reality is built (Davies, 2010). This inverse relationship is as follows:
Information > Laws of Physics > Matter
This inverse relationship is very interesting because it points to the fact that we actually my be creating these laws and theories. We obviously do create them in a sense but we view that creation in the classical sense of uncovering a fundamental truth about the universe in which we live but in fact we are bringing about those fundamental truths. How this may be possible is well beyond my expertise but thats not the point i'm trying to make. Throughout history as we have brought new ideas into existence we have given ourselves a platform higher than the platform set before us. As previously stated without the work of the many scientists before Einstein his theory of relativity would not have been possible. Ideas build on top of each other and with each step along the way we have been able to ask even more and more complex problems about the universe around ourselves.
Experiences
Present thoughts shape future actions.
The invention of the smart phone gave rise to the international individual. This globally connected species now has the ability to see and hear low resolution versions of 'experiences' captured by other individuals. Social media gave the individuals a medium to share and curate these experiences for others. No longer is there a need for an individual to travel to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. The internet is covered with media and captured experiences. The internet gives the individual super powers. Tt is honestly not fair. The internet gives the individual the ability to consume and vicariously experience experiences captured and shared by other individuals. Social media platforms banked on this idea of sharing thoughts and ideas and experiences in
the form of pictures and videos.
Experience is the driving force behind intellectual evolution. An individual must experience experiences to enlighten the inner individual. The individual must be awakened within the individual. Religion is most effective way to awaken the inner voice or inner individual. By living through an experience the individual is forced to process information and react. The reactionary methods taken will be different for each individual for each given experience. Every individual is different and has gotten to where they are at by a different sub set of choices. The choices we make everyday and every second determine the path we end up on. Previous individuals may try to impress themselves on malleable young minds and these influences can be good or bad.
Where am I Headed?
"Logic will take you from A to B; imagination will take you everywhere" ~Albert Einstein
People often talk about the singularity and the rise of machines. The singularity is something entirely different from machines taking over the lives of humans. We are already experiencing the inward spiral of the singularity. How is this so? Technology provides means of communication between individuals. This communication first came in written form with the invent of writing. As the universe matured the communication became even more high resolution with the invent of cameras. The ability to capture moments in time and pass them on. It is often said that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and this is very much true depending on the picture. With videos we now can rewatch moments and relive them through low resolution medium such as computer or phone screens. These forms of communication have grown very popular and many platforms exist to display and capitalize on the sharing and creating of moments and experiences ie. Youtube, Netflix, Social Media. What all of these platforms have in common is that they allow agents whether being a single person or agency
to create and publish their experiences for all to see.
Teleportation is possible. We teleport around the globe and around our countries all the time. FaceTime and Skype video calling are low resolution version of teleportation. being able to see and communicate with a person instantly across vast distances is the essence of teleportation. Granted these are two dimensional and very low resolution so we seem to count them out as if teleportation does not exist but it very much does. With the rise of virtual and augmented reality we have seen the resolution of teleportation rise significantly. There are startups racing to deliver collaborative workspaces and meeting rooms with lifelike digital avatars. The technology is fascinating and making the former two dimensional options seems like they will not matter in the near future. As we push forward in this space and collect more and more data about the world around us we will so have very high resolution teleportation to anywhere on our planet and hopefully the moon and mars as well.
Time travel is possible in the same view that at the moment it is very low resolution. We live in an informational universe. The rise of information technology has giving us abilities far beyond our wildest dreams. We have created tools that create tools. Time travel or the act of going back or forward in time exist in a few different fashions. Weather simulations are a simulated version of reality in which we look into the future for potential possibilities. Not everything is exactly the way it happens but this is the case because we lack the computing resources to correctly simulate the future. Now on the other hand going back in time our resolution is much higher as we have already seen whats happened and if we capture the moments with high resolution measuring devices such as cameras we can view them at future times and relive those moments. These are mostly two dimensional representations of a three dimensional world so really experiencing them is very low resolution. when scientist talk about time travel the butterfly effect often comes up and right now we have no means of triggering such events because we can only merely experience and not interact with the past experiences. The future may hold the answers to these problems or it may not. only time will tell.
I garuntee that when this is released that someone will be like "thats not teleportation! teleportation requires encoding all of the atoms in a body of object and transporting them across space and reassembling them" and to that person i will say "you are missing the point". Cameras can capture and encode visual data and transport it across vast distances using the internet. Achieving one hundred percent resolution teleportation down to the molecular scale at the moment is science fiction and a very long ways away but achieving external resolutions with high definition cameras and sensors and high resolution augmented or virtual reality headset is not very far away. This technology already exists. Companies have been dumping major sums of money in to mixed reality technology for years and the capitalistic engine has generated some very cool and innovative products. It is only a matter of time before this technology becomes more mainstream than it is at the moment.
In my opinion snapchat revolutionized the AR space with face filters. They did not necessarily develop something new and ground breaking but they delivered technology to the masses and did it in a way that everybody enjoyed. They gave any person with a smart phone the ability to augment their reality. The face filters have taken off and people develop new ones everyday. Instagram also has a foot in the space with custom filters and people create some very interesting and unique filters. This tech has began to emerge through the platforms we love and use everyday and will only continue to advance as we move forward.
The takeaway from all of this is that even we originally thought teleportation and time travel to be these defined concepts that seemed very far of, they have in fact been brought to life in very elementary forms. As time goes on we will expand the capabilities of these ideas and make them even more accessible. As the ideas grow and change we will have a better understanding of what it takes to make them even more real. Our universe is very informational and capturing the information and change of information over time will be our challenge in delivering high resolution version of teleportation and time travel.