(1/21/08)
WE'RE MOVING THROUGH CASIMIR:
RESONANTIAL REPLICANTS, TIME TRAVEL,
AND COEXTENSIVE SPATIOTEMPORAL HEMAtics
HEMA Theory is back in action, after a hiatus affording me more time to work on my book-in-progress, dealing with interpersonal strategic planning.... But enough of that, what about LOST!? Like me, you've been heartened by all of the buzz regarding Season Four, not the least of which was the HEMAtically tantalizing 'Orchid' hatch DHARMA film released last July 27th at the Comic-Con International 2007 extravaganza in San Diego.....
If you have not yet seen this film, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTvAUVPyLI
Interesting to observe a fleeting and nearly subliminal frame insertion of Gerald DeGroot with lab-coated DHARMANs, at 0:39 in the above film. Go back and carefully click the play button on and off, and you'll succeed in seeing this shot.
But the money shot really begins to develop at 1:07, when Dr. Edgar Halowax (a.k.a. Dr. Marvin Candle and Dr. Mark Wickmund) states:
"The unique properties of this island have created a kind of Casimir Effect, allowing us to...."
Then, interestingly enough, we see another 'subliminal' insertion, this time a frame with the phrase "God loves you as he loved Jacob."
And then things REALLY get interesting at 1:22, when things start shaking, and a "Rover-Prisoner/small-scale balloon'-like object falls to the ground to the left of Dr. Halowax (his right), and we then hear the following dialogue (EH= Dr. Edgar Halowax; LA= lab assistant in white coat):
LA: "Oh God, it's 15!" (This is a SECOND rabbit with 15 on it's side!)
EH: "What the hell? Don't let 'em near each other! When did you start the shift?"
LA: "Negative 20"
EH: "How long?"
LA: "Nine minutes, but we're still learning from...."
Moving Through Casimir-
Hmmmm... Looks like Season Four will involve a return of sorts to mindful matters energetica, ala HEMA Theory. How does the "Casimir Effect" fit with this theory, and what might we Lost aficionados expect to see in upcoming episodes?
One of the consistent themes in HEMA Theory is the important connections among energy, material, and thought, including insights from quantum physics, relativity theory, and beyond. Consider how my prior musings regarding the importance of resonance (see esp. 4. "Quantum Connections," 12. "Psychic Kids," 18. "Lost Doppelganger," and 19. "Karma Chameleons") strike resonant chords with the "Casimir Effect" implicated in the Orchid hatch film:
"In physics, the Casimir effect or Casimir-Polder force is a physical force exerted between separate objects due to resonance of all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening space between the objects. This is sometimes described in terms of virtual particles interacting with the objects, due to the mathematical form of one possible way of calculating the strength of the effect. Because the strength of the force falls off rapidly with distance, it is only measurable when the distance between the objects is extremely small."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect.)
Hmmmm.... Sounds a bit familiar, especially when we consider what Dr. Halowax said about not letting the 'doppelganger' #15 bunnies near each other.... Let's consider more about this fascinating effect:
"The Casimir effect is an outcome of quantum field theory, which states that all of the various fundamental fields, such as the electromagnetic field, must be quantized at each and every point in space. In a naïve sense, a field in physics may be envisioned as if space were filled with interconnected vibrating balls and springs, and the strength of the field can be visualized as the displacement of a ball from its rest position. Vibrations in this field propagate and are governed by the appropriate wave equation for the particular field in question. The second quantization of quantum field theory requires that each such ball-spring combination be quantized, that is, that the strength of the field be quantized at each point in space. Canonically, the field at each point in space is a simple harmonic oscillator, and its quantization places a quantum harmonic oscillator at each point. Excitations of the field correspond to the elementary particles of particle physics. However, even the vacuum has a vastly complex structure. All calculations of quantum field theory must be made in relation to this model of the vacuum." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect.)
VERY cool stuff going on, here! How interesting to consider what might happen when naturally-occurring Casimir Effects are operating on a particular 'Black Rock' island, with these effects being dramatically amplified by the unique electromagnetic properties of said island AND by technology brought to, and developed on, the island by DHARMA and others (Atlanteans? Or?)
"The Casimir force is the most famous mechanical effect of vacuum fluctuations. Consider the gap between two plane mirrors as a cavity.... All electromagnetic fields have a characteristic "spectrum" containing many different frequencies. In a free vacuum all of the frequencies are of equal importance. But inside a cavity, where the field is reflected back and forth between the mirrors, the situation is different. The field is amplified if integer multiples of half a wavelength can fit exactly inside the cavity. This wavelength corresponds to a "cavity resonance". At other wavelengths, in contrast, the field is suppressed. Vacuum fluctuations are suppressed or enhanced depending on whether their frequency corresponds to a cavity resonance or not. An important physical quantity when discussing the Casimir force is the "field radiation pressure". Every field - even the vacuum field - carries energy. As all electromagnetic fields can propagate in space they also exert pressure on surfaces, just as a flowing river pushes on a floodgate. This radiation pressure increases with the energy - and hence the frequency - of the electromagnetic field. At a cavity-resonance frequency the radiation pressure inside the cavity is stronger than outside and the mirrors are therefore pushed apart. Out of resonance, in contrast, the radiation pressure inside the cavity is smaller than outside and the mirrors are drawn towards each other." (Source: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/9747)
Hmmm.... Very interesting and relevant points regarding relationships among electromagnetism, resonance, and pressure, especially the latter in terms of pressure differentials (inside/outside) as they produce attraction or repulsion between objects, depending on how the pressures are configured. Of course, a figurative reading of these aspects of the Casimir Effect could implicate the effect as a physical correlate to mirror-twinning as observed by J. Wood and others. A literal reading raises the possibility of unleashing actual/physical mirror twins, potential dark/light side resonantial replicants. But young grasshopper, did not the bunnies have the #15 on the same (not opposite) side? What else may be going on, here....?
"The Casimir effect can also be computed using the mathematical mechanisms of functional integrals of quantum field theory, although such calculations are considerably more abstract, and thus difficult to comprehend. In addition, they can be carried out only for the simplest of geometries. However, the formalism of quantum field theory makes it clear that the vacuum expectation value summations are in a certain sense summations over so-called 'virtual particles'..... More interesting is the understanding that the sums over the energies of standing waves should be formally understood as sums over the eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian. This allows atomic and molecular effects, such as the van der Waals force, to be understood as a variation on the theme of the Casimir effect. Thus one considers the Hamiltonian of a system as a function of the arrangement of objects, such as atoms, in configuration space. The change in the zero-point energy as a function of changes of the configuration can be understood to result in forces acting between the objects." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect.)
So where is this heading? And what might this mean for Lost?
Lost Doppelgangers: Resonantial Replicants-
What the Orchid hatch film discloses is that DHARMA was experimenting with the Casimir Effect, ostensibly as part of an overall scheme to leverage the island's unique electromagnetic properties in the service of finding a way to stop the end of the world as predicted by the Valenzetti Equation.
So what, in particular, did these experiments entail? The Orchid hatch film inadvertently shows DHARMA appearing to have successfully 'sent a copy' of a living organism (in this case, the white rabbit #15) through Minkowskian space-time, resulting in a least a temporary coexistence of two rabbit #15s, in the same localized space-time region, with intriguing implications should these rabbit twins touch. Perhaps more intriguing are the implications for space-time travel through leveraging large-scale Casimir Effects, amplified through the island's unique electromagnetic properties, yielding results on the macroscopic plane (pun intended....)
But I strongly suspect this was neither the intended result nor the purpose of the DHARMA Casimir Effect experiments, which in reality may have actually been focused on seeing if it were somehow possible to change the nature of living organisms (ultimately Homo sapiens) through altering or filtering an original specimen's harmonic resonance patterns, such that the 'copy' is free from undesirable subpatterns. The general form of this idea not altogether unprecendented: Consider the concept of using the transporter in Star Trek to 'filter' out unwanted cancer and other diseases and debilitations, and groundbreaking work on harmonic resonance by Nikola Tesla, interpreted with force and style in the motion picture "The Prestige," with copies of top hats and Hugh Jackman, instead of silly wabbits.... Maybe tricks are not just for kids, after all!
But instead of simply generating a 'resonantial replicant' or doppelganger with a waveform pattern stripped of unwanted resonances, DHARMA may have inadvertently unleashed a powerful technique for leveraging the Casimir Effect as a means of traveling through relative space-time. And, unlike a more straightforward interpretation of a Minkowskian effect, DHARMA found that multiple copies COULD exist in the same 'localized' space-time, albeit with dire consequences when/if two (or more) copies of the same living organism were to touch, i.e., to close the distance between them, unleashing dangerously powerful forces.
"Exotic matter with negative energy density is required to stabilize a wormhole. Morris, Thorne and Yurtsever pointed out that the quantum mechanics of the Casimir effect can be used to produce a locally mass-negative region of space-time, and suggested that negative effect could be used to stabilize a wormhole to allow faster than light travel." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect.)
Hmmmm... I may be imputing more forethought and foresight to DHARMA than they deserve.... What if they were simply exploring macroscopic results of large-scale Casimir Effects amplified by the island's unique electromagnetic properties, further augmented and channeled by DHARMA technology, and they unwittingly unleashed a small wormhole that was contained by the Casimir Effect's mass-negative space-time region, opening a portal for "faster than light travel", i.e., time travel. A second important result was the coexistence of more than one 'copy' of a single organism or object exposed to the contained wormhole, as shown in the two #15 white rabbits and the attendant danger of allowing them to be near to each other, since at some point the attraction would be so great as to unleash....
Coextensive Spatiotemporal HEMAtics-
In my "Lost Doppelganger" and "Karma Chameleons" pieces, I speculated about different conditions in which two copies of the same organism/person might coexist. Here I wish to extend this discussion by proposing that what DHARMA may have unwittingly unleashed-- and we will see whether or not this is true during the next three seasons-- is a terrifying portal to phenomena involving: (1) space-time travel and (2) dangerous implications of confronting a 'copy' of yourself in the same space-time region.
Coextensive Spatiotemporal HEMAtics (CSH, hereafter) is simply a lens that extends HEMA Theory to include implications of two or more copies of the same organism or object coexisting within the same boundaries and limits ("coextensive"), at least in the case of a relatively confined, localized space-time region. To wit, the two #15 bunnies in the Orchid hatch film. One may have been the original, and the other the copy, or they may have both been copies of an original bunny #15, several iterations removed. Of course, the whole notion of an 'original' and a 'copy' is rendered problematic when/if space-time travel is opened through a large-scale Casimir Effect containment of a localized wormhole. Problems associated with wormholes as a means of travel are legion. But there ARE potentially viable alternatives suggested by research on the Casimir Effect:
"Casimir realized that between two plates, only those unseen electromagnetic waves whose wavelengths fit a whole number of times into the gap should be counted when calculating the vacuum energy. As the gap between the plates is narrowed, fewer waves can contribute to the vacuum energy and so the energy density between the plates falls below the energy density of the surrounding space. The result is a tiny force trying to pull the plates together – a force that has been measured and thus provides proof of the existence of the quantum vacuum... This may be relevant to space travel because the region inside a Casimir cavity has negative energy density. Zero energy density, by definition, is the energy density of normal " empty space." Since the energy density between the conductors of a Casimir cavity is less than normal, it must be negative. Regions of negative energy density are thought to be essential to a number of hypothetical faster-than-light propulsion schemes, including stable wormholes and the Alcubierre warp drive. There is another interesting possibility for breaking the light-barrier by an extension of the Casimir effect. Light in normal empty space is " slowed" by interactions with the unseen waves or particles with which the quantum vacuum seethes. But within the energy-depleted region of a Casimir cavity, light should travel slightly faster because there are fewer obstacles. A few years ago, K. Scharnhorst of the Alexander von Humboldt University in Berlin published calculations showing that, under the right conditions, light can be induced to break the usual light-speed barrier. Under normal laboratory conditions this increase in speed is incredibly small, but future technology may afford ways of producing a much greater Casimir effect in which light can travel much faster. If so, it might be possible to surround a space vehicle with a " bubble" of highly energy-depleted vacuum, in which the spacecraft could travel at FTL velocities, carrying the bubble along with it." (Source: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/Casimir.html)
So although we may find that DHARMA's Orchid hatch experiments succeeded in unleashing a Casimir-Effect-contained wormhole, these experiments may have produced other means of traveling through relative space-time. Whether through creating a contained wormhole, or producing a 'bubble' surrounding the focal organism or object, one effect of the DHARMA experiments may have been to unleash a wake of 'resonantial replicants', 'moving through Casimir,' i.e., organisms and objects traveling through space-time. So one possible explanation for the two Flight 815s-- one resting on the bottom of the ocean, and one splitting apart and landing on the island-- is that when the 'original' Flight 815 was hit with the 'purple rain' EMP/macro-Casimir Effect wave, the result was a resonantial replication yielding twin planes and occupants, each heading toward a different outcome. (Was one of these planes engulfed by a Casimir Effect 'bubble' and, if so, which one...?)
As we saw in the Orchid hatch film, potentially dire consequences emerge when an organism or object 'splits away' one or more 'copies' of itself through exposure to a massive EMP/Casimir Effect (EMP/CE) burst. If the copy is sent forward or backward in time, or sideways in space, these dangers dissipate as a function of distance between the two organisms or objects not simply in terms of spatial distance, but also temporal distance.
This is the Fundamental Law of Coextensive Spatiotemporal HEMAtics: Danger is inversely related to spatiotemporal distance between two or more 'copies' of the same organism or object.
When 'copies' come into close proximity, especially when they touch, watch out.... We DON'T want the twin bunnies to rub their noses together, lest they unleash one BIG-BADDA-BOOM! As Dr. Edgar Halowax said, "Don't let 'em near each other." (Yes, this brings new meaning to that old Divinyls song....!)
Hmmmmm.... What happened to Dr. Candle/Wick/Halowax's arm? Perhaps he took the next logical step in the experimental protocol by exposing himself to the Casimir Effect, augmented by the island's hyper-magnetic field. What might happen if he confronted and touched a copy of himself? What might have happened to his arm? And what if he touched the field surrounding the Casimir generator? Might the arm be subject to harmonic deresonation/deresolution? (Derezzing ala Tron, anyone?!) And maybe we should NOT be so quick to assume that there is only one Doctor. Maybe there are multiple copies of him, resulting from Casimir Effect experiments, producing a Dr. Candle, a Dr. Wick, a Dr. Halowax....? What's the real meaning of his last name variations? Maybe it's an obscure reference to the 'LOST wax' process of making copies of a sculpture....
So CSH may help us to explain how it might be possible for there to be a 'real' Flight 815, with its complement of dead/drowned passengers at the bottom of the ocean and, at the same time, how another 'real' Flight 815 split apart and crashed on the island. Which is the original, and which is the copy? Does it really matter? (Maybe it does, if the copy inadvertently filtered out and filtered in some harmonic resonance subpatterns, per the DHARMA experimental protocols....)
From this perspective, adding the Casimir Effect into the equation yields not simply a large electromagnetic pulse (EMP), but rather an EMP producing the 'purple rain' of a reverberating large-scale Casimir Effect, rippling outward from the island, opening a contained space-time rift and enabling multiple copies of organisms and objects to coexist in the same localized space-time region, in its primary blast path.
Thus we can see how two Flight 815s resulted from the EMP/CE blast when Desmond failed to input the numbers in the Swan hatch at the proper time, with one of the planes entering the ocean and taking rest on the bottom, and the other one splitting apart and landing on the island.
And thus we can see that the 'original' Desmond may have been ripped apart and killed during the Swan hatch EMP/CE burst, with a naked 'copy' of Desmond sent careening into the jungle underbrush....
What about the effects of continued exposure by Lost survivors to residual or lower-level EMPs/CEs? How about this... Troubled pregnancies... Why? If the Casimir Effect may help in making copies of a living organism, it may also be accompanied by deleterious effects such as hampering the development and viability of 'original' versions of living organisms, prior to entering the world. DHARMA and the Others have been working on the means to combat or offset this harmful by-product.
Hmmmm.... Is it possible to 'live forever' in Ponce de Leon-like fashion? Ask Richard Alpert. Or, at least, ask the current copy of Richard Alpert, who has undergone multiple trips to the quantum fountain of youth through 'Casimir Effect' treatments, enabling harmonic resonance retunings/repatternings, helping stave off the effects of aging and illness.... Of course, this a targeted, higher-power application of the effect-- Alpert's periodic rejuvenation-- which explains why others on the island are still aging....
And how interesting that Amelia Earhart may have found her way to the island, appearing, like Richard Alpert, to have found the veritable fountain of youth.
**** Are the two dead bodies in the cave the 'original' copies of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, with the present live versions produced through EMP/CE exposure? ****
Perhaps most curious of all is the ability of the effect, when channeled through and augmented by the island's unique electromagnetic properties, to sustain what may be the ultimate in HEMAtic phenomena.... namely, the manifest existence of pure thought, consciousness, and soul, intersecting our space-time plane, as we have observed in the disembodied whisperings in the jungle, and most powerfully in the ephemeral yet forceful presence known as Jacob.... (See, in this regard, Carlton Cuse's comments to the effect that they are figuring out how to depict-- manifest --Jacob, in forthcoming episodes....)
Copyright 1/21/08
by Dr. Todd J. Hostager
Email= thostager@LostHEMAtheory.com