THOTH
-A Catastrophics Newsletter-
VOL II, No. 6
March 31, 1998
EDITOR: Amy Acheson
PUBLISHER: Michael Armstrong
LIST MANAGER: Brian Stewart
CONTENTS
SHAMELESS PROMOTION OF PET PARADIGMS. . . . . . . Mel Acheson
Letter to the Editor
ON THE RELIABILITY OF HUMAN WITNESSES. . . . . . Dave Talbott
FALLACIES OF GRAVITATION. . . . . . . . . . . . Wal Thornhill
GEOMAGNETIC FIELD AND DAY¹S LENGTH . . . . . . . Wal Thornhill
Questions and Comments by Dwight Christensen
Postscript from NASA
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SHAMELESS PROMOTION OF PET PARADIGMS
By Mel Acheson
The orthodox paradigms are not just shifting, they're falling off
their pedestals. The faithful worshippers are headed for a
crisis of belief of astronomical proportions. The big concepts
of modern science are failing to explain the flood of new
observations they have generated‹as big as they are, they are
proving to be too small. A switch to a new way of seeing is
needed: not just a new paradigm for certain disciplines, but an
interdisciplinary unifying paradigm.
Like the "gestalt switch", where you see a duck in the lines you
previously saw as a rabbit, a paradigm shift changes perception.
But this time the requisite switch will result in the mass
extinction of the big conceptual populations of the present
universe and a re-population with entirely new species.
For example, the domain of validity of the familiar universal
gravitation (F=GMmr^-2) has shrunk to the confines of the solar
system. Stars in the Milky Way more nearly obey F=GMmr^-1. And
with the discovery of intrinsic redshifts, galaxies in clusters
obey F=0. Gravity is going extinct! The universe is losing its
"essential vertigo": Instead of falling apart in a Hubble
recession, galaxies simply hang in space like some analogue of
ball lightning. A truly universal theory is needed to replace
the provincial and fundamentally occult idea of gravity.
Perception, contrary to popular opinion, is not the opposite of
conception, but a unity of concept and sensation. Without a
concept, sensory impressions are meaningless, a stimulation of
nerve cells. Together, concept and sensation form a meaningful
perception. But change the concept and the meaning changes. The
perception is different. Enlarge the concept, and the perceived
universe gets bigger.
The perceptual universe of modern science is both small and
fragmented. We're becoming aware of a lot of sensations that are
excluded from perception because existing paradigms provide no
meaningful framework for understanding. Mythology has long been
a morass, written off as superstition and fiction. Electric
phenomena have simply gone unseen.
The Saturn model provides the conceptual framework in which to
perceive a global intelligibility. Myth becomes admissible as
evidence. Our ancestors were not superstitious idiots but
another generation of a species that has always used its
intellectual capabilities to perceive order in the universe.
Ancient and modern people become united in their common humanity
under a sometimes-catastrophic sky.
Compared to the ad hoc tumors bloating the body of established
science, the electric universe model provides a simple framework
in which to perceive order in physical phenomena from the atomic
scale to the cosmological. The large-scale structure of the
universe becomes intelligible. The dearth of neutrinos from the
sun makes sense. The highly non-uniform features of planets and
satellites are expected.
And the two models intersect. Expected features of the electric
universe become the objects of mythic descriptions otherwise
lacking referents. Together, the two models enable the perception
of a scheme of order that encompasses atoms, galaxies, and an
enlarged history.
It's the Electric Saturn Super Model!
Mel Acheson
thoth@whidbey.com
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ON THE RELIABILITY OF HUMAN WITNESSES
By David Talbott (dtalbott@teleport.com)
In THOTH II:5, Amy Acheson wrote: "But will we cultivate the
necessary discipline to find the EVENT which first gave meaning to
the symbols?"
Finding the event behind archaic symbols is indeed the challenge.
Could any lines of reasoning be dependable, when the "evidence"
includes such enigmatic sources as myth, magical rites, and cultic
symbols? Many specialists in the hard sciences will find
abhorrent our claim that myth points to unusual natural events.
And particularly objectionable to them will be our insistence
that, under certain circumstances, human memories can give us
considerable detail about events unknown to science (Of course
the limitations of scientific knowledge come into the equation
as well.)
When reports by more than one person imply a shared experience,
issues of logic and probability arise. We deal with such issues
all the time in judicial proceedings--and in fact we do not
hesitate to send someone to the electric chair based on the
memories of three people. But the principles for assessing
testimony are generally ignored when it comes to the patterns of
ancient memory.
Rules of evidence need to be clarified, and perhaps we can work
upward from a couple of simple examples. The first question is
whether the occurrence of contradictory versions of an underlying
story excludes the possibility of a reliable reconstruction. On
this issue, common opinion is almost never correct. There are
rules for finding reliable testimony in a sea of contradictions.
Imagine an experiment involving a dozen groups with a dozen
members in each group and no communication permitted between the
groups. From each group, one individual is allowed to witness a
newly-written play, then asked to convey the story verbally to
another individual in his group, recalling as much detail as
possible. The second individual then reports to the third, and so
on until the story reaches the last person in each group, who will
then report the story to you.
>From this exercise you would likely receive many different ways of
telling the story, with many contradictions between versions. But
to come as close to the original as possible you would give
greatest weight to those story elements retained in several
accounts. And despite horrendous errors in transmission within
various groups, if you follow this simple principle, your
reconstruction will be generally reliable. Even if it lacks the
full texture of the original, you can be confident in the basic
structure.
To see why comparison of accounts can produce a reliable
reconstruction, you only have to recognize what a mistake in
transmission will do to a remembered event or story It will
introduce a contradiction to the way the story is told by others.
It is typically much easier to make mistakes than to make the
SAME mistakes others have made. So in the cross-referencing of
stories, the first key is to follow the points of agreement.
More significantly, there is a common paradox which even the
experts in comparative study frequently ignore. One might think
that when two groups share an improbable story element, it
becomes more likely that the two groups made the same error of
transmission. But actually the reverse is true. The more
unusual or bizarre the points of agreement, the more likely it is
that they speak for the original story. Here's why: it's much
easier to make a mistake on matters of routine background, than
on unexpected or startling detail. How many chairs were in the
room when the protagonist died? Well, there were five, but who
was counting? Here, not just mistakes, but similar mistakes would
be predictable. Consider, however, that when the protagonist
died, a dove leapt from his chest and flew away. The recurrence
of that particular element in just three of the accounts will
create a virtual certainty that the motif was part of the
original story, even in the unlikely event that the nine other
accounts failed to mention it. Short of cross contamination of
our storytelling groups, it is simply too dramatic and too
unusual to have been injected into the story by more than one
storyteller, either through a mistake or through deliberate
deception.
Now these principles are extremely relevant to the cross-cultural
comparison of human memories. But there is still much more to
consider here. It is often noted that human witnesses are
notoriously unreliable. In judicial proceedings this
unreliability is properly noted--and demonstrated--all the time.
But commonly overlooked is a further consideration. In certain
circumstances the accounts of UNRELIABLE witness can produce
ABSOLUTELY RELIABLE conclusions.
To make this point I have concocted an episode called "The
Unfortunate Peter Smith"--
On Tuesday morning, a man robbed the bank down the street,
escaping with about $12,000. When the police arrived they faced a
dilemma. The man was seen rushing from the bank toward a blue
Honda, jumping in, and speeding off. But the car was too far away
for anyone to catch the license plate.
Inside the bank, the police found only three witnesses, and as it
turned out all were highly unreliable. One had a history of lying
relentlessly. Another was a schizophrenic, often hallucinating.
And the third was dyslexic.
Immediately on their arrival, the police had separated the
witnesses and interviewed them. There seemed to be general
agreement that the robber was wearing a ski mask, a black leather
jacket, and blue jeans. But there were more discrepancies than
points of agreement. This was partly because the known liar
freely made up details as he answered police questions, the
schizophrenic described things seen by no one else, and the
dyslexic could not even get the name of the bank right.
Nevertheless, when the police compared notes they immediately sent
out a bulletin, and it wasn't long before a fellow officer stopped
a blue Honda, driven by a man named Peter Smith. When the officer
looked inside the car, he did not see a ski mask, and he did not
see any money. But the moment he observed the driver, he made an
arrest. And he was certain he had nabbed the robber.
How did he know?
His confidence came from certain details the police had noted in
their interviews with the witnesses. While much of what the
congenital liar reported was self-serving and almost certainly
invented, one thing he had said was most unusual, and was
remembered by the police interviewer. He had laughed about the
robber wearing two different running shoes. On his left foot he
was wearing a Nike, and on his right foot he was wearing an
Adidas, the man said. The second witness said nothing about the
shoes, and seems to have heard strange voices and seen things
reported by no one else. But he did mention that when the robber
started to leave the bank, several bills fell from the paper bag,
which the robber bent down to pick up. That was when the witness
noticed that the tag on his tee-shirt was on the outside; his
shirt was inside out. He could even read the label. The third
witness, the dyslexic, also had noticed the tag up close, but said
he couldn't read it. Additionally, he reported the robber wearing
two different running shoes--a Kine and a Daddies.
So the police drew a conclusion--formulated a "prediction," if
you will--that the bank robber was driving a blue Honda, wearing
two different running shoes and a shirt inside out. And when they
found Peter Smith, they had every reason to be confident. Short
of a conspiracy to deceive them, this WAS the robber, beyond
a shadow of a doubt. THE WITNESSES DO NOT EVEN HAVE TO BE
DEPENDABLE!
In this example the confidence of the police relates directly to
THINGS OUT OF PLACE. A liar, a schizophrenic, and a dyslexic may
create havoc in their contradictory accounts, and yet the force of
agreement on highly unusual details is far greater than the burden
of contradictions. In fact, the convergence of testimony on the
two cited details is simply inconceivable--astronomically
improbable--unless Peter Smith was the robber. The police would
not need DNA tests, lie detector tests, fingerprints, or any other
wonders of modern science and technology to draw a reliable
conclusion.
So the moral of this story is that in certain situations a simple
comparison of human testimony can achieve exceptional reliability,
even though the witnesses are not inherently trustworthy.
And how does all of this apply to the patterns of more ancient
human memory--those distinctive, archetypal complexes referring us
back to the mythical age of the gods? In this series of
explorations we will illustrate the following principles--
1) Cultures around the world, using quite different words and
symbols, describe remarkably similar experiences;
2) These points of agreement consistently include unique, but
well-defined forms in the sky;
3) The recurring forms have no relationship to things seen in our
sky, or to any natural experience today;
4) Granting the presence of these extraordinary forms will make
possible a unified explanation of myth, removing hundreds of
contradictions and anomalies left unexplained by prior theories of
myth.
In seeking to reconstruct ancient memories through cross-cultural
comparison, we will discover a substructure of remarkable depth
and coherence. The power of human memory is incomparably greater
than scholars have typically assumed.
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FALLACIES OF GRAVITATION
By Wal Thornhill
DEDavis asks Wal Thornhill:
Here's some of Velikovsky¹s' "empiric evidences of the fallacy of
the law of gravitation"...Any thoughts on how these stand up
today?
" No.12: Because of its swift rotation, the gaseous sun should
have a latitudinal axis greater than the longitudinal, but it
does not have it. The sun is 10^6 times greater than the Earth,
and its day is 26 times longer than the terrestrial day; the
swiftness of its rotation at its equator is over 125km per
minute; at the poles its velocity approaches zero. Yet the solar
disk is not oval but round: the majority of researchers even find
a small excess in the longitudinal axis of the sun [
Comp.Ch.L.Poor, Gravitation versus Relativity, 1922, p98] The
planets act in the same manner as the rotation of the sun,
imposing a latitudinal pull on the luminary.
³Gravitation that acts in all directions equally leaves
unexplained the spherical shape of the Sun. As we saw in the
preceding section, the gases of the solar atmosphere are not
under a very strong pressure, but under a very weak one.
Therefore, the computation, according to which the ellipsoidity
of the sun, that is lacking, should be slight, is not correct
either. Since the gases are under a very low gravitational
pressure, the centrifugal force of rotation must have formed
quite a flat sun.
³Near the polar regions of the sun, streamers of the corona are
observed, which prolong still more the axial length of the sun.²
...
[WT] This fact remains a mystery for astronomers. If the Sun
weren't spherical we would not be able to have total solar
eclipses. However, if the Sun is defined in all of its important
attributes by its electrical charge and electrical environment,
then that includes its apparent mass and "gravitational" field.
So, calculations about the degree of oblateness to be expected
from Newton's laws and a universal constant, G, are meaningless.
Importantly, the discovery that the Sun's magnetic field lines
are not crowded together at the poles like a normal dipole
magnet, but spaced out evenly, suggests that the Sun is the focus
of a spherically symmetrical discharge (also to be expected from
its appearance). In that case, the shape of the photosphere of
the Sun will be defined and dominated by electrical forces far
more powerful than gravity.
No.20: ³Unaccounted for fluctuations in the lunar mean motion
were calculated from the records of lunar eclipses of many
centuries and from modern observations. These fluctuations were
studied by S.Newcomb, who wrote: ŒI regard these fluctuations as
the most enigmatic phenomenon presented by the celestial
motions, being so difficult to account for by the action of any
known causes, that we cannot but suspect them to arise from some
action in nature hitherto unknown¹
[S.Newcomb, Monthly Notices, R.A.S., January 1909]
³They are not explainable by the forces of gravitation which
emanate from the sun and the planets.²
[WT] The last statement is only true if the assumption that G
is constant, is true. In the electric universe model it is not.
Anything that transfers charge to or from the Moon or Earth, such
as coronal mass ejections or the brushing past of the plasma tail
of Venus, will change G from its mean value. In a fixed G
cosmology, all such fluctuations will appear inexplicable.
No.22 ³The tails of comets do not obey the principle of
gravitation and are repelled by the sun. ŒThere is beyond
question some profound secret and mystery of nature concerned in
the phenomenon of their tails¹;¹enormous sweep which it [the
tail] makes round the sun in perihelion, in the manner of a
straight and rigid rod, is in defiance of the law of gravitation,
nay, even of the recorded laws of motion¹ [J.Herschel, Outlines
of Astronomy, p406]
ŒWhat has puzzled astronomers since the time of Newton, is the
fact that while other bodies in the sidereal universe, as far as
we are aware, obey the law of gravitation, comets' tails are
clearly subject to some strong repulsive force, which drives them
away from the matter composing them away from the sun with
enormously high velocities¹ [W.H.Pickering].²
[WT] Cometary phenomena are subject to the laws of plasma
physics associated with electrical discharge. It is the last four
words of that sentence that cause astrophysicists to choke on
their self-congratulatory cigars and result in their inability to
sensibly explain the non-gravitational forces plainly evident in
the behavior of cometary tails. Sunward pointing ion tails have
been seen and explained away as being an illusion (rather in the
manner required to explain superluminal motion associated with
some quasars). Not only the tails but also the nuclei of comets
fail to obey Newton's laws. In that case we see some priceless
ad-hocery where the jets emanating from the comet are called upon
to act like rocket engines in any way necessary to save
appearances. But the jets themselves are not explained by boiling
away of surface material through ad-hoc vents. They are simply
plasma beams which machine ions from the surface indiscriminately
- as discovered recently when the ice required to blow off the
dust seemed to be missing.
As Prof. Emeritus R A Lyttleton so aptly described the state of
play with respect to accepted comet theory: "It is not realised
by these would-be theorists that the need for special assumption
after special assumption in order to 'save' the theory is simply
nothing more than indication after indication that the original
hypothesis is incorrect, whereas the long list of assumptions are
perversely and proudly regarded by them as 'discoveries' of
actual properties of comets. The resulting fairy-story theory
provides a typical example of what [Irving] Langmuir has termed
Pathological Science, or 'The science of things that aren't so'.
(Speculations in Science & Technology, Vol 8, No 5, p. 346).
Wal Thornhill
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GEOMAGNETIC FIELD AND DAY¹S LENGTH
By Wal Thornhill
Questions and comments by Dwight Christensen
While I was searching for the references to Gentry's work on
radiohalos, I came across an old news item from New Scientist of
31st March, 1977, titled "How the geomagnetic field mimics the
day's length".
It relates to an earlier thread on the subject of changes in the
number of days in a year, which I proposed could be explained by
a change in the electrical environment of the Earth. I have also
proposed in The Electric Universe that the solar activity cycle
is driven externally by the Sun's galactic environment. More
specifically, it traces the Sun's passage across the giant
Birkeland current threads which energise and define the arms of
our spiral galaxy. This interesting report seems to support all
of these inter-connections:
"Two American workers have recently demonstrated that there is
indeed a very remarkable link between the fluctuations in the
length of the day taken from a sample over the years 1865 to
1961, and the small variations in the strength of the Earth's
dipole between 1901 and 1960 (Journal of Geophysical Research,
vol 32, no 5, p.828)."
The fluctuations show the usual 11 and 22 year periodicities
associated with solar activity. In fact the full spectrum shows
harmonics stretching up to 66 years. "Surprisingly these exact
values (of the harmonics) appear in the power spectral analysis
for the variations in the length of the day. The two Florida
researchers say that their result indicates that, '... either the
cause of both phenomena is the same, or one is the cause of the
other."
It is hard to imagine how orthodox theories could tie these
observations together. I would suggest that the cause of both
phenomena is the same - a cyclic change in the electrical plasma
environment of the solar system. It causes the sunspot cycle on
the Sun, and by altering the charge on the Earth it changes both
the geomagnetic field strength and day length in concert. I also
predict that the value of the gravitational "constant", G, would
be found to change in sync too, if sensitive enough measurements
were taken over an extended period.
Wal Thornhill
>To Wal:
>
>Wow!!! Amazing information! This is something which I had been
>thinking about, and bingo--you send this email! So, it does
>appear logical that the intensity of the charge of the space
>plasma (Birkland Currents) does exhibit variations, and that
>these variations possibly cause solar flares and the actual spin
>velocity of Earth! As a result, earth's magnetic field strength
>and gravity would also be affected --- amazing!
>
>What do you think is the cause of this variation of intensity?
>Do you think the Gravity Probe B upcoming experiment by NASA
>($600,000,000+) will be able to measure fluctuations in earth's
>magnetic field along with space plasma charge - it would be good
>if a solar flare just happens to occur while they are doing
>their "frame dragging/Lense-Thirring effect" measurements.
>(I suppose they will not extend another long t(eth)ered wire
>this time, right?!)
>Bye...Dwight
Dwight,
The change in the plasma environment of the solar system could
come about because of the cross-sectional variation in plasma
density and the helical magnetic field of each giant Birkeland
current "thread" along the axis of our arm of the Milky Way. If
you imagine that the solar system cuts across a "thread", the
current density will rise as you near the centre of the circle
and the magnetic field will switch direction as you pass by the
centre, or from one thread to another.
The complexity of the Sun's plasma interactions at the heliopause
with galactic currents is unknown. We are also ignorant of
possible mechanisms for a stellar plasmoid doughnut to drive the
photosphere rotation, the sunspot cycle, and provide the stored
energy source for coronal mass ejections (CME's). It will take
considerable laboratory experimentation to help unravel that.
When that is done, the solar cycle and those of nearby stars,
when combined with their relative motions, should help define the
structure of the neighbourhood galactic Birkeland currents.
I don't think any satellite is able to measure the "space plasma
charge", as you put it. We have no means of detecting one more
proton or electron (on average) per cubic metre. That's the kind
of capability you would need. It would certainly be very
interesting to see the results of gravity measurements if those
figures encompassed a CME event which struck the Earth.
Wal Thornhill
Postscript: more orbital variations
EL NINO SLOWS EARTH DOWN
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - El Nino, the phenomenon
disrupting the weather in the Pacific and the Americas, has made
the days longer than usual, the U.S. space agency said Wednesday.
Feb. 5 was the longest day of all, about 0.6
milliseconds above normal, and the cumulative increase since El
Nino began late last year amounts to about a tenth of a second --
the time it takes to blink.
The extra day length has since slipped back to about
0.4 milliseconds and the Earth will eventually speed up again as
El Nino dissipates, said a statement from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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PLEASE VISIT THE KRONIA COMMUNICATIONS WEBSITE--
http://www.kronia.com/~kronia/
Other suggested Web site URL's for more information about
Catastrophics:
Subscriptions to AEON, a journal of myth and science,
may be ordered at the I-net address below:
http://www.ames.net/aeon/
http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/sis/
http://www.flash.net/~cjransom/
http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovskian/
http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/Catastrophism.html
http://www.grazian-archive.com/
http://www.tcel.com/~mike/paper.html
Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered, 10 Pensée Journals may be
ordered at the I-net address below:
http://www.e-z.net/~mikamar/default.html
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The THOTH electronic newsletter is an outgrowth of scientific and
scholarly discussions in the emerging field of astral
catastrophics. Our initial focus will be on a reconstruction of
ancient astral myths and symbols in relation to a new theory of
planetary history. Serious readers must allow some time for
these radically different ideas to be fleshed out and for the
relevant background to be developed. The general tenor of the
ideas and information presented in THOTH is supported by the
editor and publisher, but there will always be plenty of room for
differences of interpretation.
We welcome your comments and responses.
New readers are referred to earlier installments in issues of
THOTH posted on the Kronia website listed above. Go to the THOTH
page and click on the image titled "Thoth: the Egyptian God of
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