The Electric Universe Theory

[Tyger]

You were quite active posting about this topic. Did you lose interest or change your mind about it in some ways? Did you go to the conference?

Very much remain interested. Was not able to attend the conference, however.

New Horizons Update: Pluto and Planetary Origins| Space News

TEXT: "Published on Jul 24, 2015: NASA’s New Horizons mission to the dwarf planet Pluto is attracting international attention to planetary science. And like all recent missions to planets, moons, comets and asteroids, surprising discoveries already abound for scientists on Earth. Giant mountains on the Plutonian surface, and enormous, deep chasms on the Moon Charon, a surprising absence of so-called impact craters on Pluto, and the rich Plutonian atmosphere have all left investigators searching for answers. Today, Wal Thornhill begins a series of reports on the New Horizons mission. We begin by taking a step back to examine the most fundamental concepts about our solar systems origins, and the formation of planets and stars."


BTW, interesting side story to the Pluto Mission - Brian May -


"PhD in Astronomy, updating research and data re: presentation of dissertation on motion of interstellar dust.

"After more than 30 years lapsed since first starting doctoral studies, he earned his doctorate from Imperial College London in astrophysics after a successful thesis defense on August 23, 2007. The thesis is entitled, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud"."

 

[Tyger]

Filamentary Networks of Electric Currents Pervade Space | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Aug 9, 2015: In recent months, numerous scientific discoveries have confirmed a foundational theory of the electric universe -- that is the theory that filamentary networks of electric currents pervade space and are intimately connected to the formation of stars and galaxies. As the space sciences provide greater data across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the electric universe theory moves close to confirmation. Today, professor Donald Scott discusses several recent discoveries that affirm the electrical connectedness throughout the universe."

 

[Tyger]

Pluto Sends Planetary Scientists Back to the Drawing Board | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Jul 26, 2015: Today, physicist Wal Thornhill continues his discussion of NASA’s New Horizons mission to the dwarf planet Pluto. The mission has already provided a number of surprises for planetary scientists. The tiny planet’s geological activity, its apparent age, the stunning features on its moons and more all defy many fundamental ideas in planetary science. As principal investigator Alan Stern recently stated, Pluto is “going to send a lot of geophysicists back to the drawing board.” But are these discoveries surprising from an Electric Universe perspective?

Pluto's atmosphere 5 times larger than models had predicted: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/under-plu...

Giant mountains on Pluto & chasms on Charon: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mountains...

 

[Tyger]

Wallace Thornhill: The Long Path to Understanding Gravity | EU2015

TEXT: "Published on Aug 16, 2015: In the theoretical sciences, it is commonly assumed that the role of gravity is settled. But as Richard Feynman observed, “There is no model of the theory of gravitation today, other than the mathematical form.” The problem is that mathematics will not account for the essential force in question. And yet, when theorists speculate about the big bang one conjecture is followed by another all building on the supposed supremacy of gravity as the driving force of cosmic evolution. In this talk at the EU2015 conference, Wal Thornhill takes us on a forty-year personal journey to understand the role of gravity in the electric universe."

 

[Tyger]

Pluto and Its Moons Refute Nebular Hypothesis | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Aug 4, 2015: Today, Wal Thornhill concludes his initial reports on the New Horizons mission to the dwarf planet Pluto. A fundamental question is, must scientists now reconsider the idea that Pluto and its moons, like comets, are primordial bodies? ERRATA: Created in editing, at 1:23 instead of 'a few times 10 to the 27 TONS per second' it should be 'a few times 10 to the 27 MOLECULES per second.' "

Several of the comments to this video speak to the frustration of many working with this paradigm -

Comment: "EU has had such a strong effect on me that whenever I watch the Science Channel programming with the same NASA hosts dazzling us with their extraordinary footage trying to explain the universe with an OLD story as though they were facts, I get irritated because I feel these intelligent minds could grasp the concepts presented here if only they open their ears to it."

Three Comment from Same Poster: "I see a similar pattern in Protestantism Christian denominations, they give no credit to anybody outside their beliefs. The only belief they see is their belief. In looking at other beliefs they do not look to understand they look to disprove it in order to justify their preconceived ideas. NASA reads their beliefs into the solar system like denominations read their beliefs into the bible.

"NASA reminds me of Protestant denominations. Rather than questioning their beliefs they explain them away by reading into them & making them more & more elaborate, like the rapture doctrine. NASA starts with a false premise & builds on it. To understand what NASA & modern cosmology is doing there are similarities with Protestantism. Protestantism reads into the bible NASA reads into the universe & solar system.

"The moon has less gravity to begin with & then they would have to free fall from a stationary point above the moon surface. Then it does not explain why there is no larger craters that overlap any smaller craters only smaller craters overlapping larger craters on the whole moon. Then it does not explain the spiral pattern of the craters on the whole north pole of the moon. It does not explain inverted domed craters or rilles & inverted rilles called wrinkle ridges, or rilles that change to crater chains."

Comment: "We need to drill into this culture's thick skulls that we are not being taught "real science". We are being taught "popular science". Popular science is also mainstream science. Mainstream/popular science presents theories as facts and often ignores data in favor of a popular model. They are also funded by large corporations because people like "popular ideas", these ideas are sold in a myriad of ways, through commercials, graphic arts, movies, you name it. We need a new definition of science, because all of the sciences are lumped under "popular science" and people are misled into believing that all the scientists are in agreement where in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. Popular science is also very similar to religions, in that they use a religious zeal to protect their popular beliefs, data be damned."

 

[Tyger]

Ceres: An Electrically Scarred World | Space News

TEXT: "Published on May 27, 2015: In April of 2015, the NASA Dawn Spacecraft began transmitting new, close-up images of the mysterious dwarf planet Ceres. The images to date have only deepened the mystery surrounding the puzzling bright spots on the planet’s surface. However, in addition to this ongoing puzzle, questions remain about Ceres that planetary scientists seem unready to ask. The surface of Ceres is massively cratered, with a variety of types of craters, including so-called bulls-eye craters (craters with central craters), craters with central peaks, and weird hexagonal craters, such as those seen on Mars, Mercury, and the Saturnian moon Mimas. Dawn’s exploration of Ceres is a startling reminder of just how inadequately the modern theory of planetary cratering explains what we actually see on planets and moons."

 

[Tyger]

Ringed Asteroid Stuns Astronomers | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Apr 4, 2014: A team of astronomers is puzzling over an unprecedented discovery--the first ever observed asteroid with its own ring system. The asteroid Chariklo, which is 250 km in diameter and orbits between Saturn and Uranus, displays two rings which are said to be similar in nature to those of Saturn. Wal Thornhill provides EU insight into the discovery."

 

[Tyger]

I know I am re-posting this within weeks but its' important and the previous post is old enough so that I can't edit the post. So....this is a really beautiful theory - 'elegant' is the word. Worth listening to - and posting - again.

Filamentary Networks of Electric Currents Pervade Space | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Aug 9, 2015: In recent months, numerous scientific discoveries have confirmed a foundational theory of the electric universe -- that is the theory that filamentary networks of electric currents pervade space and are intimately connected to the formation of stars and galaxies. As the space sciences provide greater data across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the electric universe theory moves close to confirmation. Today, professor Donald Scott discusses several recent discoveries that affirm the electrical connectedness throughout the universe."

 

[Tyger]

Wish I could have gone to the June EU Conference - the news is EU Theory is gaining attention and serious debate among scientists. Not a surprise, especially given Dr Anthony Peratt's work at Los Alamos on Plasma (and historical evidence of Plasma events). Exciting stuff that last bit (for me), considering the new information we are receiving from space probes.

Anyway - attended or not - they are doing a rebroadcast of the complete conference during a 90-day window. Amazing! Cost is $95 - and that seems reasonable to me. The link to the conference is in the text below for anyone interested.

Capture the Highlights | EU2015

TEXT: "Published on Aug 25, 2015: Join us for a re-broadcast of EU2015: http://liveeventpass.com/E2/live. A preeminent exploration of interdisciplinary science, this event was designed to break the bounds of conventionality. Discover the universal role of the electric force, from microcosm to macrocosm, where virtually every new surprise points us in the same direction. And find your own connections within a movement that will shape the future of science."

 

[Tyger]

I love the Ancient Astronaut Theory stuff - not because I think it's accurate on all points, but because it 'plays' with ideas. It's having fun with the anomalies - and suggesting alternate explanations. It's just plain fun.

There is no getting around that the Electric Universe Theory bore in it's inception a stimulus from the cosmological ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky. I read those works as a young university student and was intrigued - not that he was right, but that he was thinking 'outside the box' in a big way. In a time of crushing orthodoxy - the late 40's into the 50's and 60's, with the Red Scare and McCarthyism, such splendiferous expansion in thinking was not acceptable. The theory of plate tectonics was openly denigrated in university Geology classes in the early 70's. What chance had a Velikovsky? Precious little.

Anyway, Velikovsky was only a jumping off point. Wal Thornhill - in conjunction with the work being done by Anthony Peratt with Petroglyphs - is developing his own surmises regarding the 'ancient sky' that I find more than very interesting. I find the extrapolations stirring and exciting - and vaguely 'familiar'.

The following video gives some of that work - all below videos have the following as text - "The subject of this video series by Dave Talbott is the ancient experience of towering celestial forms that are no longer present. [Saturn, Venus with streaming cometary tail and Mars - all 3 illuminated by the sun - in a line of sight - Saturn being far nearer the Earth. It's a breath-taking imagination.] From a single snapshot of the configuration, we can work backwards to the first appearance of these bodies out of an undifferentiated cloud or sea of dusty plasma. We can then follow the configuration’s evolution through phases that range from quasi-stability to earth shaking catastrophe."

Discourses on an Alien Sky #11 | The Turning Crescent of Heaven

TEXT: "Published on Apr 18, 2015"

Discourses on an Alien Sky #12 | Turning Crescent & Pillar of the Sky

TEXT: "Published on Apr 28, 2015"

Discourses on an Alien Sky #13 | The Bull of Heaven

TEXT: "Published on May 14, 2015"

Discourses on an Alien Sky #14 | Twin Peaks of the World Mountain

TEXT: "Published on Jul 22, 2015"

Discourses on an Alien Sky #15 | Revolving Ship of Heaven

TEXT: "Published on Aug 1, 2015"

 

[Tyger]

Discourses on an Alien Sky—Preface | The Meaning of Ancient Myths

TEXT: "Published on Aug 22, 2015: The subject of this video series by Dave Talbott is the ancient experience of towering celestial forms that are no longer present. From a single snapshot of the configuration, we can work backwards to the first appearance of these bodies out of an undifferentiated cloud or sea of dusty plasma. We can then follow the configuration’s evolution through phases that range from quasi-stability to earth shaking catastrophe."

Discourses on an Alien Sky #16 | The Ship of Day and Night
Discourses on an Alien Sky #16 | The Ship of Day and Night
TEXT: "Published on Aug 8, 2015"

Discourses on an Alien Sky #17 | The Inverted Ship of Night
Discourses on an Alien Sky #17 | The Inverted Ship of Night
TEXT: "Published on Sep 2, 2015"

 

[Tyger]

Hope this isn't a repost, but if it is, it's worthwhile. It's mind-bending fun.

Wal Thornhill: An Electric Cosmology for the 21st Century | EU Workshop

TEXT: "Published on Jan 17, 2015: This talk by Wal Thornhill at the EU Workshop Nov 14-16, 2014 offers a compendium of the things that scientifically curious people need to know in order to see the electric force in its dynamic role from microcosm to macrocosm."

 

[Tyger]

New Surprises at the Heliospheric Boundary, Part 1 | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Aug 20, 2013: The NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 has provided scientists on earth with a series of theory-shattering surprises. The probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are now exploring the outer boundary of the Sun's domain, called the heliosphere. What the probes have encountered are not what the astronomers expected. Through a series of surprises, the astronomers have openly expressed their complete bafflement over the Voyager data. LINK to Wired.com piece including quote cited in this piece: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/201...

 

[Tyger]

New Surprises at the Heliospheric Boundary, Part 2 | Space News

TEXT: "Published on Sep 3, 2013: Here we continue the discussion of the Voyager 1 spacecraft's astonishing discoveries at the boundary of the heliosphere, revealing more surprises about the Sun's magnetic field. Do charged particles from the Sun carry the Sun's magnetic field out to remote regions as present solar theory claims?"

 

[Waller]

Enjoy this thread, Tyger, thank you!

 

[Tyger]

Enjoy this thread, Tyger, thank you!

Many thanks, Waller. Good to know it's being enjoyed.

 

[Tyger]

Quite a drama unfolded, but of the best kind: scientific debate regarding the Electric Universe Theory.

Panel: When Radical Ideas Challenge Conventional Science | EU2015

TEXT: "Published on Oct 7, 2015: At the EU2015 conference this past June, the well known “skeptic” Michael Shermer participated in a panel discussion on the topic, "When Radical Ideas Challenge Conventional Science." Wal Thornhill and I also participated, along with Dr. Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona. Subsequently, Dr. Shermer’s dismissive review of the conference appeared in Scientific American, October 2015. But now Dr. Shermer’s review itself is the subject of critical analysis, including comments from Dr. Donald Scott and mathematician Stephen Crothers. You can be certain that others will add to the discussion in coming weeks.

"Left to right: Gary Schwartz, Dave Talbott, Michael Shermer, and Wal Thornhill. Moderated by Andy Bartlett."

 

[Tyger]

Sci American article: The Difference between Science and Pseudoscience http://www.scientificamerican.com/art...

The Difference between Science and Pseudoscience:
Discerning science from pseudoscience By Michael Shermer | Sep 15, 2015
LINK: The Difference between Science and Pseudoscience

TEXT: "Newton was wrong. Einstein was wrong. Black holes do not exist. The big bang never happened. Dark energy and dark matter are unsubstantiated conjectures. Stars are electrically charged plasma masses. Venus was once a comet. The massive Valles Marineris canyon on Mars was carved out in a few minutes by a giant electric arc sweeping across the Red Planet. The “thunderbolt” icons found in ancient art and petroglyphs are not the iconography of imagined gods but realistic representations of spectacular electrical activity in space.

"These are just a few of the things I learned at the Electric Universe conference (EU2015) in June in Phoenix. The Electric Universe community is a loose confederation of people who, according to the host organization's Web site (thunderbolts.info), believe that “a new way of seeing the physical universe is emerging. The new vantage point emphasizes the role of electricity in space and shows the negligible contribution of gravity in cosmic events.” This includes everything from comets, moons and planets to stars, galaxies and galactic clusters.

"I was invited to speak on the difference between science and pseudoscience. The most common theme I gleaned from the conference is that one should be skeptical of all things mainstream: cosmology, physics, history, psychology and even government (I was told that World Trade Center Building 7 was brought down by controlled demolition on 9/11 and that “chemtrails”—the contrails in the sky trailing jets—are evidence of a government climate-engineering experiment).

"The acid test of a scientific claim, I explained, is prediction and falsification. My friends at the nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for example, tell me they use both Newtonian mechanics and Einstein's relativity theory in computing highly accurate spacecraft trajectories to the planets. If Newton and Einstein are wrong, I inquired of EU proponent Wallace Thornhill, can you generate spacecraft flight paths that are more accurate than those based on gravitational theory? No, he replied. GPS satellites in orbit around Earth are also dependent on relativity theory, so I asked the conference host David Talbott if EU theory offers anything like the practical applications that theoretical physics has given us. No. Then what does EU theory add? A deeper understanding of nature, I was told. Oh.

"Conventional psychology was challenged by Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona, who, in keeping with the electrical themes of the day, explained that the brain is like a television set and consciousness is like the signals coming into the brain. You need a brain to be conscious, but consciousness exists elsewhere. But TV studios generate and broadcast signals. Where, I inquired, is the consciousness equivalent to such production facilities? No answer.

"A self-taught mathematician named Stephen Crothers riffled through dozens of PowerPoint slides chockablock full of equations related to Einstein's general theory of relativity, which he characterized as “numerology.” Einstein's errors, Crothers proclaimed, led to the mistaken belief in black holes and the big bang. I understood none of what he was saying, but I am confident he's wrong by the fact that for a century thousands of physicists have challenged Einstein, and still he stands as Time's Person of the Century. It's not impossible that they are all wrong and that this part-time amateur scientist sleuth is right, but it is about as likely as the number of digits after the decimal place in Einstein's equations accurately describing the relativistic effects on those GPS satellite orbits.

"The EU folks I met were unfailingly polite, unquestionably smart and steadfastly unwavering in their belief that they have made one of the most important discoveries in the history of science. Have they? Probably not. The problem was articulated in a comment Thornhill made when I asked for their peer-reviewed papers: “In an interdisciplinary science like the Electric Universe, you could say we have no peers, so peer review is not available.” Without peer review or the requisite training in each discipline, how are we to know the difference between mainstream and alternative theories, of which there are many?

"In his book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe quotes Merry Prankster Ken Kesey: “You're either on the bus or off the bus.” It's not that EUers are wrong; they're not even on the bus."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S): Michael Shermer is publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com). His new book is The Moral Arc (Henry Holt, 2015). Follow him on Twitter @michaelshermer

This article was originally published with the title "The Electric Universe Acid Test."​

 

[Tyger]

Dr. Don Scott's Response: Comments on Michael Shermer’s Article in Sci. Americanhttps://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2015...

Comments on Michael Shermer’s Article in Sci. American By Dr. Donald Scott ~ October 5, 2015
LINK: Comments on Michael Shermer’s Article in Sci. American | thunderbolts.info

TEXT: "All authors published in Scientific American should be rigidly bound by the editors to stay within the constraints of science. In science any and all claims must have clear bases in fact. In the event editors allow baseless opinion to appear in the guise of factual reporting, it reflects poorly on the journal’s reputation. Michael Shermer’s denigrating review of his attendance at the Electric Universe (EU) 2015 conference in Phoenix is “chockablock” (Shermer’s word) full of unsupported claims and slurs masquerading as unbiased observations.

"The EU conference speakers presented evidence that mainstream astrophysics is remiss in its refusal to consider electrical causation in the cosmos. Newtonian physics is perfectly fine in areas in which it is valid. But it is not necessary to plug a coffee maker into a wall outlet higher than the appliance so that gravity can pull the electrons down into it. When an experiment requires an electrical explanation, gravity can usually quietly take a back seat in importance.

"For several decades after K. Birkeland proposed that Earth’s auroras are caused by flows of electrically charged particles from the Sun, established astrophysics belittled his idea as nonsense. Only after space probes were sent into the ionosphere after WWII, were Birkeland’s ideas (called “crazy” by Sydney Chapman) shown to be correct.

"In a 1920 debate, another representative of “established astronomy”, H. Shapley, attacked the notion that the entire universe was anything other than our Milky Way galaxy. After his performance in this debate he was hired as director of the Harvard College Observatory. He also incorrectly opposed Edwin Hubble’s observations that there are additional galaxies in the universe other than the Milky Way. Shapley vehemently censured Hubble and regarded his work as junk science. With hindsight, authoritarian scientists (such as Chapman and Shapley) have a far from immaculate record.

"Shermer scorns S. Crothers as being a “self-taught” mathematician, yet seems to honor Newton even though he (Newton) was clearly self-taught in the physics that now bears his name. Being self-taught does not imply someone is wrong. It is the essence of cutting-edge research. But Crothers is much more than self-taught. Shermer admittedly does not understand Crothers’ critical deconstruction of some of Einstein’s assumptions. Shermer says (shamefully in my opinion), “I understood none of what he was saying, but I am confident he’s wrong by the fact that for a century thousands of physicists have challenged Einstein, and still he stands as Time’s Person of the Century.”

"So, we are to believe the editors of Time should now be the arbiters of what is and is not “true, accepted science”?

"True scientific results are not (or at least ought not be) arrived at by a vote of “the experts” – let alone the editors of Time magazine – with the proponents of the minority view relegated to obscurity and ridicule. If science were conducted in this way, then Phlogiston theory, Phrenology, and bloodletting as a medical cure would still be with us. “Crazy ideas” such as plate tectonics and communication using radio signals would have been laughingly banished into obscurity.

"Shermer also says that during the EU conference, “I was told that World Trade Center Building 7 was brought down by controlled demolition on 9/11 and that ‘chemtrails’—the contrails in the sky trailing jets—are evidence of a government climate-engineering experiment.” Neither of these claims was ever made by a speaker at the conference, neither overtly nor by innuendo. His inclusion of this unsupported hear-say is a measure of the unethical extent to which he is willing to go in order to denigrate the conference, its organizers and its speakers. He was not able to comment on the many other presentations at the Conference because he only attended for part of one day (the day he was to speak). I know. I was there.

"Scientific American has a responsibility to its readers and to itself not to continue to allow Shermer’s baseless, disparaging misrepresentations to be published with its imprimatur."

Donald E. Scott, PhD, Assoc. Prof. EE, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Retired)​

 

[Tyger]

Steve Crothers' response: Michael Shermer - Pseudosceptic Extraordinairehttp://www.sjcrothers.plasmaresources...

Michael Shermer - Pseudosceptic Extraordinaire by Stephen J. Crothers
LINK: Michael Shermer - Pseudosceptic Extraordinaire

TEXT: "Michael Shermer is a self-proclaimed sceptic and an Adjunct Professor of Economics. His scepticism is however somewhat selective since he is evidently sceptical only of those who are sceptical of the Authorities of whom he is not himself sceptical. It seems that he is only sceptical of sceptics. The question arises as to whether or not a self-proclaimed sceptic is actually a sceptic when he is only sceptical of sceptics of Authorities that he is not sceptical of. Perhaps that is one for linguists to answer, or maybe a sceptic of a persuasion different to that of Shermer.

"In any event, Shermer's scepticism is short on facts and long on unsubstantiated allegations, as his recent article in the October 2015 issue of Scientific American attests. Shermer reports there on his attendance at the Electric Universe Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in June 2015, and in his fashion is sceptical of people he heard speak there. Shermer presented an invited talk at that conference, in the morning session on Monday 29th June. I too presented an invited talk on the same day as Shermer, in the afternoon session. In his article in Scientific American Shermer singles me out for particular mention. He also 'sceptically' reported on conversations he said he had with Wallace Thornhill and David Talbot, two other speakers at the conference. However, in my case, he reports without evidence. For instance, he says:

Quote: "A self-taught mathematician named Stephen Crothers rifled through dozens of PowerPoint slides chockablock full of equations relating to Einstein's general theory of relativity, which he characterized as 'numerology.' Einstein's errors, Crothers proclaimed, led to the mistaken belief in black holes and the big bang. "

"What evidence does Shermer present in his article for his charge that I am a "self-taught mathematician"? None! Shermer might just as well have told his readers that I am a self-taught brain surgeon since it's no less unreasonable and no less unsubstantiated than his allegation. Despite having, it seems, sat through my presentation, he did not speak to me at any time. How does he know if I am a "self-taught mathematician" or not? Why did he not ask me if I am a "self-taught mathematician" when he had the chance? Apparently it is too much to expect of a sceptic of Shermer's ilk to actually gather some facts before putting his eager pen to paper. So instead he conjured his claim without any substantiation whatsoever, whereas in my conference talk I presented evidence for my arguments. One can only wonder as to what Shermer's motive is for making such an unsubstantiated allegation. Shermer apparently got his training in conjuring from the same school as Professor Gerardus 't Hooft, Nobel Laureate for Physics, as 't Hooft, before Shermer, also pitifully resorted to the same unsubstantiated allegation, under the misconception that it carries scientific weight. Perhaps Shermer and 't Hooft have some kind of furtive telepathic phase locking ability to communicate with one another; or is that something we should be sceptical of?

"Shermer goes on to say about me: "It is not impossible that they are all wrong and this part-time amateur scientist sleuth is right, but it is about as likely as the number of digits after the decimal place in Einstein's equations accurately describing the relativistic effects on those GPS satellite orbits."

"What evidence does Shermer present to substantiate his additional allegation that I am a "part-time amateur scientist"? None, of course! Heaven forbid that he present evidence for his charges. Shermer's likelihood has no substantiation either; after all he has not presented his calculation of likelihood. How many decimal places precisely is Shermer invoking? He doesn’t say. Maybe it's of the order of the trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the big bang that the BICEP2 crew claimed they had sampled with their contraption at the South Pole, mentioned in my talk. But then for comparision Shermer would need one of those very accurate Swiss clocks, which are very difficult to acquire. The Economist also reported on the BICEP2 crew's incompetence. What did Clem Pryke, BICEP2 scientist from the University of Minnesota plead? That too I mentioned in my talk: "If we are to be criticized, it should be for over-interpreting the signal, rather than for being wrong." Clem Pryke

"Cosmologists, it seems, are never wrong - they might only overinterpret their signals! So should we ever be sceptical of cosmologists? Shermer admits that he did not even understand my talk (it seems on account of the "chockablock" equations): "I understood none of what he was saying, but I am confident he is wrong by the fact that for a century thousands of physicists have challenged Einstein, and still he stands as Times's person of the century. "

"Without even understanding my talk he nonetheless argues from his ignorance that I must be wrong, and he says so with 'confidence', because of "thousands of physicists". Shermer, rather than being a true sceptic using his own brain, thoughtlessly appeals instead to the very Authorities he is not sceptical of in order to uphold the demonstrable falsehoods of those Authorities. That's not a scientific argument let alone a proof that I am wrong. Time magazine's anointing of Einstein is not a scientific argument or a proof either. Shermer's method is very far from rational. He employs those old and stale methods of politicians; fails to actually address the issues I raised in my conference talk and invokes Authorities; Authorities he presumably does not understand either, on account of their "chockablock" equations. And he certainly had the chance to understand some things in my talk as they were not all mathematically complicated. All he had to do was pay attention. For instance, as I pointed out in my talk, the cosmologists assign to their black holes the schizophrenic property of having and not having an escape speed simultaneously at the same place: "some objects are so massive that the escape speed is basically the speed of light and therefore not even light escapes." Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn, University of Sydney.

"Since it is in fact impossible for anything to have and not have an escape speed simultaneously at the same place, the black hole is a fallacy. I also pointed out that Einstein and his followers assert that matter is both present and absent by the very same mathematical constraint in Einstein's field equations. That's impossible too, and so the black hole is again a fallacy. No sums are involved in these simple arguments.

"Here are a few recent short and simple articles precipitated by my talk in Phoenix. Very little knowledge of mathematics is required: e.g. can you square a real number?
1. A Few Things You Need to Know to Tell if a Nobel Laureate is Talking Nonsense
2. A Nobel Laureate Talking Nonsense: Brian Schmidt, a Case Study
3. A Few Things You Need to Know to Tell if a Mathematical Physicist is Talking Nonsense: the Black Hole - a Case Study
4. Black Hole Escape Velocity - a Case Study in the Decay of Physics and Astronomy
5. To Have and Not to Have - the Paradox of Black Hole Mass

"I wonder if Scientific American would publish any one of them in the interests of science, to balance the unsubstantiated and quite irrational scribblings by Shermer in its pages. I wonder if Shermer would publish any one of them in his magazine Skeptic (he is its Editor-in-Chief). Such a prospect is not worth holding one's breath over as the Authorities that Shermer is not sceptical of do not have a good track record in handling the truth or engaging in reasoned discourse. People who believe in ghosts assign the action of ghosts to that which they don't understand. In like fashion, cosmologists and pseudosceptics assign the action of black holes and big bangs to that which they don't understand.

"Reading this report what would you conclude about Michael Shermer? I conclude nothing because evidence has not been presented to substantiate the allegations. In similar fashion Shermer presents no evidence whatsoever for his allegations about me in his article in Scientific American. Neither has he adduced any scientific argument in attempt to refute my proofs that black holes, big bangs, and Einstein's General Theory of Relativity are the products of irrational imagination, invalid physical principles, and invalid mathematics. But then, he admits that he did not even understand my conference talk, and does not know the relevant mathematics. How could he therefore know what he is talking about? He doesn't! It is the ignorance and thoughtlessness of the likes of Shermer* that have turned astronomy and physics into an expensive circus freak show. It is no wonder that the cosmologists are now spending $100 million or more, looking for aliens, in the guise of science: Hawking and his friends looking for aliens with Milner's money. "​