“I don’t get you. How in the world did you ever get the idea that elasticity is a property of energy? I can go along with you that quantity is one of the fundamental properties. But I’ve never ever heard or read anything about elasticity having anything to do with the evolution of the universe. I mean, yeah, a rubber band is elastic, or a baseball, but that’s about all you ever hear about elasticity.”

“Yes, well, I’m not surprised. But, we can talk about it later if you want. And if we have time. Right now, though, I just want to make the point that there are two properties of energy. The first one is energy’s quantity, which controls and governs the behavior of energy. The second one is energy’s elasticity, which drives the universe’s energy to react to forces the way it does in the first place. Therefore, remembering that the entire universe is composed of two types of helically propagating E waves--traveling waves and standing waves--it’s these two properties which form the universal conscience that is everywhere in the universe, causing all the different types of energy and matter everywhere to behave the way they do.

I see from the look on you face you’re not totally thrilled with what I’ve been saying. So let me just quickly review what we’ve been talking about here.

First of all, I said I was going to call the properties of any particular state or type of energy its mechanical conscience, since, after all, they do cause the energy to behave the way it does. And, that being the case, I could then go on to call the fundamental properties of energy that existed at the beginning of the universe the conscience of the entire universe, since they are ultimately responsible for the behavior of all the energy in the universe, and therefore the universe itself.

Second, I proposed that there are two of these most fundamental properties, which I’m calling quantity and elasticity. Now I know, because they seem right now to be so new to you, these ideas are bound to be difficult for you to accept without some sort of evidence to support them. But, like I said, I don’t really think we have time to get into it here. About all I can say is, by assigning these two properties to energy, along with the helical propagation of E waves as a third initial condition, I can explain most of the behavior of the universe from the beginning of the big bang right up to the present time. At least, what I know of the behavior of the universe.

As further evidence, though, I would point out that the explanation of the universe that comes from these two properties, and the explanation of the behavior of the universe that physicists have attributed to the first and second laws of thermodynamics, are actually very close to each other. That’s because, as I said earlier, these two properties have a great deal in common with the first and second laws. As a matter of fact, if you’ll accept the idea I’ve proposed of replacing entropy increase with equilibrium increase, the first and second laws can be seen to derive precisely from these two properties, respectively, as long as we’re just talking about inanimate forms of energy. Which is a pretty good thing in itself, since physicists have never been able to figure out up to now where the first and second laws of thermodynamics really come from.

Now, if you’ll remember, all of this discussion about fundamental properties, and the conscience of the universe, and the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and so forth, came about because we got off the subject of special relativity and on to the subject of why mathematics does such a beautiful job of modeling the physical universe. Right?”

“Yeah, and, to tell you the truth, I’m kind of sorry I brought it up.”

“Actually, if I haven’t bored you to death with the telling of it, what we’ve just talked about gives you considerable insight into what I think it’s going to take for physicists to finally figure out the universe. So we really haven’t wasted any time.

However, be that as it may, let’s get back to the subject of why mathematics is so powerful. Keeping in mind, then, what I’ve just said about the two fundamental properties of energy being the conscience of the universe, let me just say that mathematics is as powerful and illuminating as it is because it has already built into it, unlike all the other languages, part of the conscience of the universe.

To explain what I mean, if you think about all the other languages like English and so forth, they are, one could say, transparent to the conscience of the user. By that I mean, assuming the language is sophisticated enough, and the user has sufficient command of it, the user can communicate any idea he or she desires. Properly used, then, the language has no impact on the idea. To put it another way, the language simply passes on the conscience of the user.

However, that’s not the case with mathematics. It has its own conscience. More specifically, one could say it has built into it the first law of thermodynamics.”

“How do you figure. So to speak.”

“Ha. What is the most fundamental law or principle of mathematics?”

“I’m not sure. Right now I’m pretty confused.”

“OK. I understand. The most fundamental principle of mathematics is that 1+1=2, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Would you also agree with me that 1+1=2 is a mathematical model or analogy of the first law of thermodynamics?”

“If you say so.”

“Let me put it this way. If energy didn’t possess the property of quantity, which is always conserved, the universe wouldn’t make any sense, would it? I mean, the universe would just take off in any and all directions, right? Let’s say you’re watching a baseball game and there’s a runner on third. The batter lines a single to left. The left fielder runs over to field the ball, but on the first bounce he finds maybe twelve balls coming at him. And the runner, racing home from third, ends up being three runners crossing home plate. Or maybe the runner disappears and doesn’t get there at all. Tough to keep score in a universe like that. Right? So you see, without the property of quantity the universe doesn’t make sense. By the same token, because the language of mathematics has built into it this same conscience, that 1+1=2, as long as you keep to the other rules of mathematics when you’re modeling some part of the universe, you ought to be able to predict a lot of things about the universe just from what your mathematical models tell you. Even things you can’t measure or see. And that, to me, is what really makes the language of mathematics so much more powerful than all the other languages. The evolution of the universe has a governor built into it. Energy’s quantity. Mathematics, the language scientists use to model the evolution of the universe, has this same governor built into it as well.”

“Like I said, I never thought about it that way. I guess now I’m sounding like a broken record, aren’t I?”

“Maybe a little, but that’s to be expected here. But, having said all this about mathematics and the two properties of energy and so forth, and getting back to our discussion about time and special relativity, when a clump of matter is in motion, whether an individual standing wave particle or a complex array of such particles, as in the case of, say, an alarm clock, Newtonian time passes slower for the clock when it’s moving than it would if the clock were not moving. Thus, you see, since the dimension of time clocking the internal speed of rotation of the standing wave has not changed, because the speed of light cannot change, there has to be two different and distinct dimensions of time at work here. The one we just talked about which clocks the internal speed of light, which never changes, and one clocking the external spin cycle of the particle, which does change when the particle is moving. Now this second one, Newtonian time, we’re familiar with. It’s the first one that mathematical physicists are not familiar with, but just might be seeing with their mathematical models.”

“But where does this other time dimension come from? And why is it the speed of light never changes?”

“To answer those questions we have to start looking at the theory of general relativity, which is far more complicated than special relativity. And which I haven’t got completely straightened out yet in my own mind. After all, with general relativity we’re talking about explaining the origin and nature of not just Newtonian time, but Newtonian space as well, and the relation between the two, and gravity, and so forth. I think I’ve got some pretty good ideas trying to sort themselves out in my head, but I’ve got a ways to go yet.”

“Maybe so, but the way you’re talking, it sounds to me like you think you’re at least on the right track. So I’ll ask you again, whether anyone will listen to you or not, what makes you think you’re right?”

“OK, OK. You’re pretty persistent. The thing is, without getting into an explanation of the whole universe, how it works, what makes it work the way it does, and, most important of all, why it works the way it does, which it looks like we really don’t have time to get into here, it’s going to be difficult to answer that question. But, even though we’re already starting our descent into Denver, I think there’s time to at least leave you with some thoughts of what this theory I’m working on will do for us as far as answering some pretty important questions about the universe.

First of all, (he reaches into his back pocket and, from his wallet, removes a folded sheet of paper (Fig. 4), and hands it to the young man) I like to carry this list around with me so I can remind myself what I’m doing here. From time to time I add to it or change it as I see fit. Which reminds me. I need to add the mechanics of magnetism to it. Which I still haven’t figured out yet. Anyway, it’s a list of questions that a good, sound theory of the universe should be able to answer. So let me ask you a question. Is there anyone in the scientific community who can answer these questions? Even most of them?”

• What about energy?
  • What is it and where does it come from?
  • How does it propagate through space?
  • Why does it travel at the speed of light?
  • What properties of energy cause it to always behave the way it does?
• What about the horizon problem?
• What about the smoothness problem?
• What about the boundary problem?
• What about time? What is it and where does it come from?
• What about space? What is it and where does it come from?
• Can the mechanics of the quantum be explained?
  • The electron cloud?
  • The double slit experiment?
  • The Copenhagen Convention?
  • Charge?
• Can the mechanics of relativity be explained?
  • Special Relativity?
  • General Relativity?
  • Gravity?
  • Mass?
• What about chaos? Can it be explained?
• What about entropy?
  • What is it and where did it come from?
  • Why does it always increase except in the formation of living cells?
• What drove energy and the big bang to its present state?
• What are the mechanics of life? How did it come to exist here on earth?