World-Building Pod Edition by Stephen L. Gillett

As far as I’m concerned, you are on your own with this one. I’m reminded of the movie, “Men in Black”, where our universe existed within a universe inside a sphere, in which aliens used in a game of marbles. Musser goes on to suggest our “Local” universe might be alike a holographic image projected from a “Non-Local” higher reality. To refine the explanation, you can read Musser’s interview here. Non-Locality suggests the universe is composed of very different stuff, which allows for entangled particles from opposite ends of the universe to affect each other, and can certainly flout the light speed limitation, possibly using mini-wormholes to do it. To paraphrase in simple terms, Locality is what we can see and measure in Einstein’s, nothing-is-faster-than-light universe. According to Gribbin, the premise of Musser’s book takes Quantum Field Theory into new territory with the concept of “Locality” versus “Non-Locality”. Poke one particle, in the right quantum-mechanical way, and the other particle jumps, instantly, even if it is on the other side of the universe.” “… Particles that have once interacted with each other seem to remain in some sense ‘entangled’ even when they are far apart. And who can resist the use of Spooky in science literature? He cliff-notes in simpler language complicated theories to spare me a WTF glaze-over in chapter one. And holy solar flare, Einstein’s theories are actually in question with discovery of particles traveling faster than light.Ī recent review by WSJ’s John Gribbin, “ The Loose Ends of the Universe“, summarized a book by Scientific American’s George Musser, with a title coined by Einstein to describe entangled particles, “ Spooky Action at a Distance.” I like Gribbin’s reviews. Fermions, bosons, black holes, wormholes, dark matter, dark energy, multiverses … neat stuff … though I’m sure astrophysicists have better descriptors than neat. What makes current quantum theory so much different, are recent discoveries that theoretically explain things we once made-up for fun. So why do I torture myself? Because writing with science fiction elements today, one must be familiar with terms used in quantum theory 101 (or in my case, just “one”). Stephen Hawking’s, “Briefer History of Time”, a rewritten version of his earlier publication so nimrods like me might understand it, still sits partially read on my nightstand, mocking me for being a wuss. Reading Brian Greene’s, “The Elegant Universe”, and Richard Panek’s, “The 4% Universe”, took more than one sitting per chapter. Physics and advanced mathematics had me shaking during exam time, but that was a hundred years ago. When I read articles and references about the universe and quantum theory, I have to tread lightly (loosely interpreted as, I’m way out of my league).

World-Building Pod Edition by Stephen L. Gillett