Monday, January 08, 2007

Dark, Dark, Dark

Add Dark Energy, Dark Matter, and now Dark Force to your physics plate and the world as you knew it returns to the mysterious "dark ages." Recent and on-going speculation of a scientific and imaginative nature seem to indicate the whole palette of cosmic flavors exist from anti-matter to dark matter to ....... whatever.

What does this mean for us earth-bound trolls? Not much on a daily basis. However, just as the first satellites around the earth meant not much for us earth-bound trolls, we now use satellites in many ways and would not like to return to the non-space age. It is entirely possible that "dark" physics will bring forth many new inventions and methods to benefit humans (and those portions of nature we think we want to keep) along with the typical new inventions and methods for killing each other. Yes, we have the unfortunate propensity to cruelty to each other and certainly cannot be termed "humane" when dealing with our territorial instincts. Prometheus brought fire and was punished (well, still is punished) for the great hazard to mankind and the "giant leap" toward godhood fire represented. I bet the first thing "man" did after getting warm was to seduce the females with promises of "warm" and then torture (with that same fire) those who didn't fall into the "warm" bed properly. Reminds me of the invention of the camera. First make sure it works and then bring up Betty the Maid to take off her clothes for a photograph. Makes one wonder what use we will make of dark physics. Will Betty the maid get a new opportunity? The satellites are doing their job. Much of the internet is bounced off them and much of the internet is filled with modern "Betty the maid" photos. I wonder what a nude in dark matter would look like?

Much as with electricity, dark matter might require a proverbial kite in a dark matter storm to show it's proper existence. Once found and "cornered" dark physics will take off like the man who ran out of the bar, jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions. Just as with the speed of light in a vacuum, much of dark physics will be "constant" and difficult to work with. Well, the speed of light in a vacuum is constant IF you don't subject it to unusual electromagnetic fields, high gravitational fields, and a lot of other variables. I suspect the "speed of light" is much like the freezing point of water which must be defined with many variables, one of the simplest being pressure. We will find this dark physics and bring it to the light of day. For now, we're like Ben Franklin, flying kites in a storm and wondering what will come of it.

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