How Information Works

I wonder if a good way to illustrate how my theory of information works, as described in the compound posting on this blog "The Theory Of Complexity", is just to use a few examples that everyone will be able to relate to.

There is information in everything. This theory is not the same thing as the cosmology theory, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", or the theory of how information flows through the universe, from the lowest to the highest levels, "The Flow Of Information Through The Universe". The primary points of this theory are as follows:

1) Energy and information are really the same thing because we cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it, and we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it. Another way we see that energy and information is really the same thing is how we can make our lives physically easier, meaning less expenditure of energy, by way of technology, but only at the expense of making life more complex. We can never, on a large scale, make life both physically easier and also less complex. This shows that energy and information (complexity) is interchangeable, meaning that they must be different forms of the same thing.

2) The complexity of a number is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. Whole numbers are all equal in complexity because 48 and 2 are really 48 / 1 and 2 / 1, the denominators are both 1.

3) Surface area is information. A sphere has the lowest surface area per volume of any three-dimensional geometric form, this means that it is the lowest information state. It is also the lowest energy state, which is why planets and stars tend to form spheres. But this should not be surprising, because energy and information is really the same thing.

Here are ten examples, that will be familiar to just about everyone, which show how this theory of information works.

1) GEARS

Distance is information because it has the potential to hold information. If you define a line and then put a marker somewhere on that line, then that is information based on the pattern that I refer to as "The One And The Many". The longer the line is, the more potential places on that line the marker could have been placed. Since the position of the marker on the line is information, the longer the line the more information there is.

We can apply this concept of distance being information to a set of two interconnected gears. Suppose that we draw a line across both gears at the point where the two intersect. Then we begin turning a handle on one of the gears so that both gears turn. There is information in how long we have to turn the gears before they get back to the starting point, with the mark that was originally drawn across the two gears lining up again.

This arrangement of gears illustrates my concept of the complexity of a number, which is the same as the information within it, being equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. The angular distance, which is information, that the gears have to turn before they get back to the original line-up depends on the value of the denominator in the ratio of the two gears, reduced to it's lowest form.

If the two gears are identical, with the same number of teeth, this will be the lowest information state because the two will pass the original line-up on every turn.

If one gear has twice as many teeth as the other then this will be the next lowest information state, with a ratio of 1 / 2. The larger gear will have to turn once and the smaller one twice to reach the original line-up.

If the two gears have a tooth ratio of 7 / 15, that will give us the 15th lowest information state, which we could just call a value of 15. The smaller gear will have to turn 15 times to reach the starting point again, while the larger one will have to turn 7 times.

But if we use a ratio of 9 / 15, that will be a lower information state due to divisibility. 9 and 15 can both be divided by 3 so that the ratio of the gears is really 3 / 5, for a value of 5.

2) THE CIRCLE

A circle, in two dimensions, or a sphere, in three dimensions, is defined as a polygon with an infinite number of sides. Since my definition of the complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or a ratio. That would make it seem as if the circle was of infinite complexity, since it has an infinite number of sides.

But this is a reflection of the two-dimensional circle, compared with a one-dimensional line. If we wanted to get perfectly accurate, there would indeed be an infinite number of different diameters by which a line could cross a circle. This is reflected in the value of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter.

Pi can indeed be taken to an infinite number of decimal places. Computers have calculated it into millions of digits. I can remember it to 3.1415927.

But if a circle has an infinite number of infinitesimal sides, how do we express that as a ratio, since my information theory defines the complexity of a number as the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or a ratio?

There is one simple way to express infinity, and it is as a ratio. Just have a denominator of zero and a whole number, 1 will do just fine, as the numerator. Infinity then is simply 1 / 0, since an infinite number of zeroes can fit into 1.

But since the complexity of a number is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio, and infinity is expressed as 1 / 0, that means that infinity must have a complexity of zero.

Indeed it does, simply because it is a descriptive term that doesn't really mean anything. If someone asks how high numbers go, and we answer to infinity, that is not really giving a definitive answer.

But what that means is that a circle, once it has been defined as a circle, and it's diameter or circumference is not relevant, actually has zero complexity or zero information. The reason that a sphere is the default gravitational state of matter in the universe is that it is the lowest energy state of all geometric forms. Since energy and information is really the same thing, that must mean that it has the lowest information state.

Of all geometric forms the circle, in two dimensions, or the sphere, in three dimensions, does have the lowest surface area per are or volume. Surface area is information because it has the potential to hold information. If it holds no information then that information is simply zero.

Given that the circle or sphere exists, from that point a smooth sphere or a perfect circle can be said to have zero information because it does have the potential to hold information. Information and complexity are the same thing, complexity is the volume of information. This shows my concept that the complexity of a number is equivalent to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. A circle is defined as a polygon with an infinite number of sides and infinity is defined as 1 / 0.

3) HOT AND COLD

The temperature of two objects in contact tends to even itself out, seeking one consistent value. If a hot object and a cold object are brought together, the hot object will become colder and the cold one hotter, until they reach the same temperature. In terms of energy, heat energy flows from the hot to the cold object until an equilibrium is reached.

Having the two objects at different temperatures is a higher information state than having them at one temperature. That is simply because two pieces of information contain more information than one piece. Since the universe seeks the lowest energy state, and we know that energy and information is really the same thing, heat energy will flow from the hotter to the colder object until they reach the same temperature.

Even though the overall energy state of the two objects remains the same presuming, of course, that the energy lost to the air by the hot object was exactly equal to the energy absorbed by the cold object from the air, the information state does not. One value is less than two so the universe seeks not only the lowest energy state, but also the even distribution of that energy.

4) EQUILIBRIUM

We know that the universe seeks the lowest energy state, because there is not enough energy to go around for all that could happen to happen. But if energy and information are really the same thing then it should also seek the lowest information state.

This is why the universe seeks to come to an equilibrium, because it is a lower information state than a disequilibrium. The complexity of a number is defined as the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. An equilibrium would be represented by a ratio of 1 / 1. A disequilibrium would be represented by a value of 1 / (something other than 1).

Thus the universe prefers an equilibrium because it is the lowest information state that can be reached. A star is such an equilibrium between the outward pressure of the energy released by nuclear fusion and the inward pull of gravity.

5) A SHARP KNIFE AND A DULL KNIFE

It takes less energy to cut something with a sharp knife than it does with a dull knife. But a sharp knife is a higher state of information than a dull knife. Remember my concept that the complexity of a number is not the value of a whole number but the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a fraction or ratio. A higher whole number does not have a higher complexity than a lower one simply because the denominator of any whole number is really 1. The number 45 is actually 45 / 1.

On a sharp knife, the edge of the blade may be only 1 / 500 the overall width of the blade. On a dull knife, the edge of the blade may be 1 / 100 the overall width of the blade. This means that a sharp knife actually holds more information than a dull knife because there is more possibilities of where the edge of the blade could possibly have been located.

When we cut something, the edge of the blade of the sharp knife likewise represents a higher ratio to the scale of the object or material being cut than the edge of the blade of the dull knife.

This higher ratio of the sharp knife is complexity, and thus information, because complexity is the volume of information. My information theory has energy and information really being the same thing. Since the sharp knife starts out with more information than the dull knife, and that energy and information is really the same thing, that is why it takes less energy to cut something with a sharp knife than it does with a dull knife.

6) COMMUNICATION

One thing that is special about humans, and other species that have the ability to communicate, is that, with energy and information really being the same thing, we can communicate the information in something with far less energy than that which is equal to the mass-energy equivalence and other energy within the object.

In the universe of inanimate matter, there is no such thing as communicating information. Everything that exists is information, but the only place that information is located is in the object itself. The information in a planet, for example, is equal to the energy in the planet, both the mass-energy equivalence of the planet, as well as any other inherent energy such as gravitational kinetic energy.

But humans can describe the planet, or any other object, with far less energy than what is in the object itself. This is done by such means as words, illustrations or, photographs.

Part of the reason that we can do this is that we can generalize and see patterns in the object that is the subject of the communication. We do not need to describe every atom in the object, only what material it is made of. All of the information about the object does not have to be conveyed, only that which is relevant and necessary.

The universe of inanimate matter has no ability to do any of this. Energy is really the same thing as information but the only source of that is the energy in the object itself. There is no way to separate the energy from the information in the object.

But humans are far more complex than the inanimate matter in the universe that they inhabit. Humans are made of the same kind of matter, but with far more information per energy than inanimate matter. This extra information exists in the extremely complex organization of matter in the human body and brain.

The result is similar in nature to the example of the sharp knife requiring less energy to make a cut than with the dull knife. Since humans contain far more information per energy than inanimate matter to begin with, we can describe the universe around us with a far higher rate of information per energy, that is a reflection of our own higher complexity.

The factor that makes the difference is how much more complex human beings are, relative to an equivalent mass of inanimate matter. Remembering that information and energy is really the same thing, it is not actually that humans need much less energy to communicate an equivalent amount of information then inanimate matter, it is just that the information, which is really the same thing as energy, is within us already.

Since a human being is so much more complex, containing more information, than an equivalent amount of inanimate matter, the human being is like a sharp knife while the inanimate matter is like a dull knife. Since we already contain more information, we have to expend less information to convey information to another human being than inanimate matter does.

But this can only be done by way of codes that we use, such as language or mathematics, which inanimate matter cannot use. With inanimate matter, the only information about something is the thing itself. Humans have to be able to use codes to convey information to each other, with far less energy than with inanimate matter, because of the higher complexity of humans. The missing energy, of which information is the same thing, is already present in humans, just as the higher information of the sharp knife is already present in the higher denominator of it's ratio.

It doesn't really take less energy for humans to convey information by language than by inanimate matter. It is just that energy is really the same thing as information and the higher level of information is already present in humans.

But if we use physical strength to move inanimate matter then we are not making use of this higher complexity and must "play by the same rules" as inanimate matter.

7) FUEL

Hydrocarbon fuels consist of long chains of molecules primarily hydrogen and carbon, hence the name. Each molecule is a system of atoms. What I mean by that is each atom in the molecule has an electrical relationship with each other atom. These interrelationships between atoms in the same molecule are information.

When hydrocarbon fuel undergoes combustion, the long molecules are broken apart by heat into many smaller molecules. Since the atoms in each molecule have an electrical relationship with one another that is information, that must mean that there is less information in the many small molecules that are the products of the combustion than there were in the original large molecules.

There are the same number of atoms in the product molecules after the combustion as there were in the original larger molecules, but fewer total electrical interrelationships between atoms in the same molecule.

Suppose that there is a molecule with 8 atoms, with each atom having an electrical interrelationship with every other atom in the molecule. This means a total of 56 interrelationships.

Now suppose that we split the molecule in half, so that we get two molecules with four atoms each. Even though we still have the same number of atoms as before we now have only 24 interrelationships, 12 in each molecule.

These interrelationships between atoms in a molecule are information. When a large molecule is split, the information cannot just be lost. Remember that information is really the same thing as energy, because we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it and cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it.

So the information of the interrelationships between atoms in the molecule are released as energy, and that is why we burn fuels for energy.

8) STATES OF MATTER

Hydrocarbon fuels consist of polymers, which are large molecules composed of long chains of atoms. There is energy in these molecular bonds and that energy is released when the molecule is broken apart by heat.

But that brings us to a question. Water also consists of long chains of molecules. Each water molecule is individual, consisting of one hydrogen atom and two hydrogen atoms. But the way the hydrogen atoms bond to the much-larger oxygen atom leaves the water molecule with a polarity. This means that one side of the molecule is more negatively-charged and the other side more positively-charged.

The result is that many water molecules line up, negative to positive, in what is known as hydrogen bonding. The result of this is liquid water. Individual water molecules will form a gas, water vapor.

This is what causes weather. Water is actually lighter than air, by molecule. But when many water molecules join together by hydrogen bonding the result is liquid water which, at sea level, is 800 times as heavy as air. This makes it so that water evaporates as vapor but falls as rain after the molecules have bonded together on condensation nuclei in clouds.

These differences are known as states of matter. Ordinary matter has three possible states: solid, liquid and, gas. The difference is in heat. Molecules move around faster when there is more heat. That makes it more difficult for them to bond together by hydrogen bonding and the heat can break existing hydrogen bonds. if the temperature gets cold enough, cross-link bonding can form between atoms in adjacent lines of water molecules. That turns water into it's solid form, which is ice.

But why is there such a difference between the polymers of hydrocarbon fuels and the long lines of water molecules in liquid or solid form? Both require heat to break the bonds but the water molecules, unlike the fuels, do not release any energy when the bonds are broken. That is why we cannot use water for fuel.

The answer lies in how information works. Even though the water molecules held in a line by hydrogen bonding have an electrical interrelationship between them, there is no information because the molecules are identical. The water molecules are identical and repetitive so that the only information is that of their position.

Remember that my theory of how information works stipulates that repetition is not complexity, meaning that it is not information. The complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. Since the water molecules are identical, no matter how many are in a line the denominator is always 1.

But that is not the case with the polymers of the hydrocarbons that are used for fuels. There is information because these are genuine molecules with an interrelationship between the electrons of adjacent atoms, which is not the case with the simple hydrogen bonding of water molecules.

Since energy and information is really the same thing, when the bonds between atoms in these hydrocarbon molecules is broken by the heat in an engine that information is released as energy.

9) DISTANCE

A simple way to see how distance is information is by surface area. We know that information and energy is really the same thing, because we cannot apply energy to anything without adding information to it, and cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it.

We also know that a sphere is the default gravitational form of matter in the universe because it has the lowest energy state, and the universe always seeks the lowest energy state. With the lowest energy state, the sphere is also characterized as having the lowest surface area per volume of all geometric forms.

That means that surface area is equivalent to energy, or information. We add information to something by applying energy to it, and the only way to add information to a smooth sphere is to increase it's surface area. Since increased surface area means that the average distance between all points on that surface is greater, that must mean that since distance is related to surface area then distance is also information.

This makes sense because the distance between two points is information. Anything involving information is defined by what it is not, but potentially could have been. The further apart two points actually are, the more distances in between there are at which they could have been, but aren't.

But repetition is not complexity. Remember that the complexity of a number, meaning the information in it, is equal to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. That means that distance across space, where there is no gravitational field, is repetitive.

That is why we have Newton's Law that an object in motion will remain in motion until stopped by an outside force. We only need to fire the engine of a spacecraft to get it moving toward it's target and it will keep going  in that direction after the engine is shut off. That is because the empty space across which it is moving is repetitive, equivalent to a fraction with a denominator of 1.

But if there is a gravitational field, or if the spacecraft runs into an asteroid, then that is information and the original energy applied to the spacecraft will no longer suffice to keep it moving in exactly the same direction.

This shows how dimensions are information. The initial thrust got the spacecraft moving, and it continued moving across empty space, but only in a straight line, which is one-dimensional. When we add a gravitational field, or another object, to the situation, we are adding information.  That information will affect the spacecraft, to change or stop it's course, unless further information, from an additional engine thrust which is energy and thus information, is added to it.

10) FALLING

A falling object is seeking a lower-energy state, which the universe always does. But energy and information is really the same thing so if the falling object is seeking a lower-energy state, we should also be able to see how it is seeking a lower-information state.

Remember the element of the information theory that the complexity of a number, which is the information in it, is not equal to the value of the number itself but to the value of the denominator when the number is expressed as a ratio or fraction. 24 is no more complex than 3 because 24 is really 24 / 1 and 3 is really 3 / 1.

Suppose that we have an object of a certain dimension. It doesn't matter if we use the entire object or a part of the object as it's dimension. Let's just describe the object's width or height as 1.

Now suppose that we place the object unsupported at a height twenty times it's width or height. The dimension of the object will be 1 / 20 it's altitude above the ground. Remembering that the complexity of a number is the value of the denominator when it is expressed as a ratio, and that the universe always seeks the lowest energy state which is the same as the lowest information state, the object and the earth seek to lower the 20 of the denominator to the lowest possible value.

The only way to do that is to lower the altitude of the object, in other words for the object to fall. When the height of the object as the numerator of the ratio and the altitude of the top of the object above the ground is 1 / 1 that is both the lowest achievable information state for a solid object, and it also means that the object is on the ground.

The Story Of China

By going over the history of China, we can see how it got to where it is today. After each section there are "Observations", so that we can see how history repeats itself. Credit to Wikipedia for dates and fact-checking.

PRE-IMPERIAL CHINA

The mythical beginning of China was the Xia Dynasty, founded about 2000 B.C. It is referred to in very early writings but direct evidence of it has not been found.

This was followed by the Shang (or Yin) Dynasty, founded about 1600 B.C. Their capital was Yinxu, at the present city of Anyang, but left in ruins after the Zhou, the following dynasty, victory over the Shang Dynasty. This capital was rediscovered in 1899, and is open to the public.

The Zhou Dynasty, established in 1046 B.C. by King Wu, was the longest-reigning dynasty in China's history.

The Spring and Autumn Period, within the Zhou Dynasty, is named for a work of literature called The Spring and Autumn Annals. The Zhou Dynasty was forced by the Qin, the following dynasty, to move their capital eastward to the city of Luoyang, which they founded. The first part of the Zhou Dynasty, with the capital near Xian, Xianyang, was known as the Western Zhou 1046-771 BC.

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty, with the capital at Luoyang, was a period of instability that saw hundreds of defacto states emerge but that were eventually consolidated into a seven principal states. These fought in what is known as the Warring States Period. It was during this time that the philosophy and religion of Confucianism and Taoism began, which are so important to China. The Warring States Period was the final part of the Zhou Dynasty.

The Spring and Autumn Period, nearly 300 years long, together with the Warring States Period comprise the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, after the capital had been moved to Luoyang. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty lasted 515 years, The Zhou Dynasty lasted 790 years altogether. The Spring and Autumn Period saw many nobles becoming increasingly independent of the dynasty's declining power. The breakup of one of the new states, Jin, is considered as beginning of Warring States Period.

Qin was the eventual winner of the Seven Warring States. It was to the west of China and became the following dynasty.

The Xia, Shang and, Zhou Dynasties could be called Pre-Imperial China. Imperial China followed this era.

OBSERVATIONS

Notice how the Zhou Dynasty moved eastward, after a defeat by the Qin. This is to be a recurring theme with later dynasties, starting in the west but later moving east after suffering a defeat. Most recently, this pattern was repeated by the Nationalists, or the Koumintang, leaving the mainland and moving east to Taiwan after the loss of the Civil War in 1949.

Notice also how the fragmentation in the latter part of the Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and then the Warring States Period repeated itself in the Twentieth Century as the "Warlord Era" after the revolution in 1911 that ended Imperial China and began the modern republic.

The philosophy of Chairman Mao very much resembles the governing principles of Confucius.

Much later, Japan also had a "Warring States Period" that was named for the Chinese era by that name.

IMPERIAL CHINA

Early Imperial China was the Qin, Han and, Jin Dynasties.
Middle Imperial China was the Sui, Tang and, Song Dynasties.
Late Imperial China was the Yuan, Ming and, Qing Dynasties.

EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA

The Qin Dynasty lasted only from 221-207 B.C. but had what it took in governing skills to unify China after the Warring States Period. It arose 35 years after the Zhou Dynasty had collapsed. Their capital of Xianyang is now within the city of Xian. The first confirmed emperor to rule all of China was Qin Shi Huang. He is the one who was buried with the famous Terra Cotta Army that was discovered at Xian.

The Han Dynasty was a golden age that was the peak of early Chinese civilization. It was founded by a peasant named Liu Bang and was led by the famous Emperor Wu. The philosophy of Confucius became a vital part of Chinese society during the Han Dynasty. The Silk Road began which led westward from the city of Xian, which was built near Xianyang. The majority ethnic group of China today are called Han Chinese.

The glory of the Han Dynasty was interrupted, at the time of Jesus, by Wang Mang. He ruled what is called the Xin Dynasty for 14 years, 9-23 A.D., before being overthrown in Xian and killed. This interregnum separated the Western Han Dynasty from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Other than this interruption, the Han Dynasty lasted from 202 B.C. to 220 A.D.

The Eastern Han Dynasty, like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty before them, had it's capital at Luoyang and is known for first making paper. It produced an all-around scientific genius named Zhang Heng. The breakup of the Han Dynasty began with the peasant Yellow Turban Rebellion. This formed the "Three Kingdoms" of Wei, Shu and, Wu.

The Jin Dynasty, lasting from about 265 to 420, reunited China but then saw fragmentation of the country and conquest of Xian and Luoyang by non-Han peoples. This resulted in the "Sixteen Kingdoms of Five Barbarians" and brought about the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which moved capital to Nanjing. This Jin Dynasty was actually the Early Jin Dynasty because there was also a Later Jin Dynasty.

This was followed by the "Northern and Southern Dynasties", where northern and southern China were ruled separately. This era lasted until the year 589. A great scientific genius of this time was Zu Chongzhi. But there was eventual assimilation of the non-Han peoples into the Han Chinese.

OBSERVATIONS

During China's Cultural Revolution, during the 1960s, the rural roots of China were emphasized. Those who had grown up in the modern cities had a lot to learn from the farms. Notice how this is a reflection of the Han Dynasty, which is considered as a great golden age, being started by a peasant named Liu Bang. The end of the Han Dynasty was actually also brought about by a peasant rebellion.

Notice again this pattern of a dynasty starting in the west but moving it's center eastward after some setback or interruption. This happened to both the Han and the Jin Dynasties, as it would to the Nationalists (Koumintang) after the Civil War of 1949.

We can see that China is a vast country that is definitely not easy to govern. When a dynasty breaks up, it can result in fragmentation until the next dynasty reunites the country. This is what the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China, accomplished. Maybe this is why China's government makes sure to maintain control in regions like Tibet and Xinjiang. The period when China's north and south were governed separately explains China's emphasis today on the speaking of Mandarin Chinese to keep Cantonese speakers in the south as part of the country.

MIDDLE IMPERIAL CHINA

The Sui Dynasty didn't last long, from 581-618, but was very important in that it reunified the country and was the beginning of Middle Imperial China. The Sui Dynasty had the necessary governing skills to run the country. Their time saw the beginning of imperial exams and the Grand Canal to link north and south.

The Tang Dynasty was a great golden age. The capital was back at Xian which was the largest city in the world. The Japanese capitals of first Nara and then Kyoto were both modeled on Xian. Taizong was a famous Tang emperor, known for his logical thinking instead of superstition. The Tang Dynasty introduced gunpowder. Buddhism came to China in 1st Century but Tang Dynasty tried to suppress it.

Empress Wu, the only female emperor, briefly restored the Zhou Dynasty and the An Lushan Rebellion, in 755, began a chaotic period that ended the Tang Dynasty, ushering in the brief Yan Dynasty. "The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" was a chaotic period, from 907 to 960, that saw the Shatuo Turks rule over the Han Chinese and Vietnam become an independent country.

The Song Dynasty, beginning in 960 with it's capital at Kaifeng, reunited most of China but there was the Liao Dynasty ruling in the far north. This was a high point of Chinese civilization, with paper money and printing with blocks of wood, but it ended with the conquest of China by the Mongols. There was also the Jin Dynasty, or Jurchen, from northeastern China, from where the Manchus would later come from to rule China.

The Song Dynasty is divided chronologically into the Northern Song and Southern Song. The Northern Song Dynasty had capital at Kaifeng but moved south after conquest by the Jin Dynasty to new capital on the other side of the Yangtze River at Hangzhou. This was actually the Later Jin Dynasty because there had been an Early Jin Dynasty. The Later Jin Dynasty lasted from 1115 to 1234.

OBSERVATIONS

Some people claim that the Chinese Government is somewhat hostile toward Christianity. But Buddhism was once a foreign religion that had been brought to China, it actually originated in India. One consequence of the Silk Road was that it was a way for foreign religions to enter China, and Buddhism wasn't always welcome either. The Tang Dynasty tried to suppress it. But today it is difficult to imagine China without Buddhism. Confucianism and Taoism are native to China. These are considered as China's "Three Teachings".

The long-reigning Joseon Dynasty, of neighboring Korea, revered Confucius even more than his native China did, and it also tried to suppress Buddhism.

LATE IMPERIAL CHINA

The Yuan Dynasty began in 1271 with Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, as emperor of China. Two of the three dynasties of Late Imperial China have been conquest dynasties. Non-Han conquerors before had not ruled all of China. Kublai Khan conquered the Jin and Southern Song Dynasties.Beijing was established as the Yuan Dynasty capital. The Grand Canal, linking Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north, was restored. Marco Polo visited from Europe and this was the only time that a single nation had controlled the entire Silk Road, which ran to the west from Xian. Hangzhou became very important as a port city. The paper money, with printing, of the Song Dynasty would bring the downfall of the Yuan by hyperinflation. The bubonic plague, which so devastated Europe, also came at this time. The Mongols were never completely enculturated as Chinese.

The Ming Dynasty began in 1368. The Mongols retreated northward to form the Northern Yuan Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty capitals were Beijing and Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty were great wall builders and the present city wall of the very old city of Xian was actually built by the Ming Dynasty. There was strong central government in China during their time. The Ming Great Wall was built, which is much of what we see of the Great Wall today.

The emphasis in economics during the Ming Dynasty was agriculture, not handicrafts. There was a lot of interaction with Japan and the Fourth Chinese Domination of Vietnam, lasting 20 years. In 1598, the Ming Dynasty got Japanese forces to leave Korea, restoring the Joseon Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty sent the Zheng He sea expeditions to Africa. It was the Ming Dynasty that built the famous Forbidden City of Beijing that we see today.

Ming Dynasty control declined in Manchuria, China's northeast region. Manchu tribes broke away and proclaimed the Later Jin Dynasty, named for the earlier Jin, which brought to an end the Mongol Northern Yuan Dynasty. This Later Jin Dynasty would become known as the Qing Dynasty. They were called Manchus after Manchuria and would rule China from 1644-1911.

The Manchu were also known as Jurchens. This would be the second conquest dynasty, after the Yuan, to rule all of China. The Jurchen people had established the earlier Jin Dynasty. In 1635 name was changed from Jurchen to Manchu. "Jin" means gold. Nurhaci was first Qing Dynasty emperor.

The Shun Dynasty was a brief one-year period of rule between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, led by Li Zicheng in 1644. It was formed back in the original capital of imperial China, Xian. It had started as a peasant rebellion against the Ming Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty, the Manchus, captured Beijing in 1644. A Ming general had appealed to the Manchus for help against the uprising that brought the Shun Dynasty, but then they went on to conquer China and rule as the Qing Dynasty. The Qing conquest of the Ming would last most of the Seventeenth Century, 1618-1683, and would be very bloody, especially at a place called Yangzhou where the Qing were enraged at the loss of many of their soldiers due to cannon fire.

The Ming Dynasty continued on for a time in southern China, known as the Southern Ming Dynasty and ruled from Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty was eventually limited to the Kingdom of Tungning, on Taiwan, with hope to recapture the mainland. The Qing Dynasty evacuated the coast of the mainland opposite Taiwan.

The elite military force of the Qing Dynasty was called the Eight Banners, the rest was the Green Standard Army. Russia was a rising power too and the Qing Dynasty had border clashes with them. The unsuccessful "Revolt of the Three Feudatories" was three southern provinces revolting against the Qing Dynasty rule. The revolt was suppressed by Kangxi Emperor, one of the greatest of Chinese emperors.

The Manchus did adopt Confucianism but in 1645 forced the Han Chinese to wear the Queue hairstyle. The late Eighteenth Century was the height of the Qing Dynasty.

But the Qing Dynasty was weakened by internal revolts, particularly the Taiping Rebellion by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the younger brother of Christ, 1851-64. It began in the south of China, with Nanjing as it's eventual capital. It was the worst conflict in the world before the World Wars.

Dowager Cixi was the mother of the ninth Qing emperor, and she held effective power for decades. Upon her son's death, she broke succession rules to install her nephew as emperor. The Self-Strengthening Movement and the Hundred Days Reform were late Nineteenth-Century efforts at reform and modernization by the Qing Dynasty.

OBSERVATIONS

Notice how the Ming Dynasty economic emphasis on agriculture, rather than on industry, is reflected in the emphasis of the 1960s Cultural Revolution on what city people could learn by going to work on farms.

The Ming Dynasty would eventually retreat to Taiwan. This was repeated in 1949 when the Nationalists (Koumintang) also withdrew to Taiwan after defeat in the Civil War.

The Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols, conquered the Song Dynasty. But the Song Dynasty had widely used paper money. China also had printing with blocks. This combination of easily printing money proved damaging to the Yuan Dynasty, as their economy suffered from hyperinflation.

The Ming Dynasty naval missions of Admiral Zheng He to Africa set the precedent of China's widespread business across Africa today.

The revolt in southern China against the Qing Dynasty helps explain why the Chinese Government today, with the northern city of Beijing as capital, wants to emphasize speaking Mandarin Chinese over the Cantonese that is spoken in the south.

Some consider it unfortunate that the Chinese Government today has some hostility to Christianity. As we have seen, Buddhism was also once a foreign religion that was not always welcome either. But we have to understand the Taiping Rebellion of 1851-64. It was led by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be "a younger brother of Christ". The goal was to set up the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The rebellion ruled much of southern China and was possibly the deadliest conflict the world has ever seen, with the exception of the world wars. The rebellion was ultimately defeated but it is interesting that when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, and Imperial China ended, the first president of the republic, Sun Yat Sen, was a Christian and a southerner.

The Qing Dynasty, or Manchus, was part of an imperial era of dynasties that lasted into the Twentieth Century. There was the Romanov Dynasty in Russia, the Ottomans in Turkey, the Qajar Dynasty in Iran, the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, the Kaisers in Germany, the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and, the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam.

THE MODERN REPUBLIC OF CHINA

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 began with the Wuchang Uprising. Wuchang is part of the city of Wuhan. Old stories of Qing Dynasty brutalities during the conquest of the Ming Dynasty were brought up to inspire anti-Qing feelings. A provisional government was formed in Nanjing that ended two thousand years of imperial rule. But this brought the "Warlord Era" when the country almost fragmented. This fragmentation was a repeat of the much-earlier endings of the Zhou and Han Dynasties..

Sun Yat Sen wanted to modernize China, and realized that the Qing Dynasty must be overthrown in order to accomplish that. He made unsuccessful attempts at overthrow, and spent much time in exile. Sun Yat Sen was a Christian and was in the U.S. when the Xinhai Revolution succeeded in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and ending Imperial China, and he went home.

At first there were two governments, based in Canton in the south and Beijing in the north. But Sun Yat Sen's forces triumphed and a new capital was established in Nanjing. Sun Yat Sen remains popular today both on mainland China and in Taiwan.

Sun Yat Sen died of cancer in 1925. His very popular mausoleum is in Nanjing, which was his capital. Sun Yat Sen is today honored and admired across the world, and is considered as the founder of modern China.

Chiang Kai Shek was his protege that led the Northern Expedition to defeat the warlords. Chiang Kai Shek was also a post-humous brother-in-law of Sun Yat Sen. Chiang Kai Shek ruled 1928-1975 and brought the body of Sun Yat Sen to the mausoleum in his capital of Nanjing. His government was split into left and right. The Left Koumintang capital was in Wuhan, the right Koumintang capital in Nanjing. Like Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek was not in China when the Xinhai Revolution began.

There were a number of Long Marches by the Communists, after initially being unable to take power, not just one. The destination of the Long Marches was Shanxi province. In Civil War, the Nationalists (Koumintang) generally controlled the cities but not the countryside. The Communists, led by Chairman Mao, triumphed in the Civil War of 1949 and the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan. There is no sign of the two being reunited. But the world now generally recognizes the mainland, the People's Republic of China, as the "real" China.

Chairman Mao died in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping, although not Mao's chosen successor, took power. China was officially Communist but the government of Deng Xiaoping undertook far-reaching reforms, beginning in 1978. The majority of industry remained owned by the state, but there would be a chance for private business and foreign investment and ownership would be permitted in certain "Special Economic Zones". From there, the economy has gradually been liberalized in stages. The goal is to avoid the dogmatism of the west and achieve the best mix of a centrally-controlled economy and a market economy. In some areas, the free market may work best, but in others it may not. The result has been remarkable prosperity, although the liberalizing reforms are not universally popular, and some have been scaled back.

Two of the best-known Special Economic Zones, familiar to westerners, have been the new city of Shenzhen, just opposite Hong Kong, and the new financial district of Shanghai, Lujiazui.

OBSERVATIONS

The life story of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh, as a world traveler and leader, is quite similar to that of Sun Yat Sen.

Vietnam, a neighboring Communist country began it's own roughly similar economic liberalizing reforms in 1986.

The Open Universe In Terms Of Information*

This has been added to "The Lowest Information Point", on this blog. I withdrew the original posting that I made this week. I want to give it some more thought.

When it was first discovered that the universe had begun with a "Big Bang" and had been expanding outward from it ever since, a primal question soon arose. Was the universe "closed" or "open"?

What that is about is whether the matter of the universe will fall back together again by gravity. If we throw a ball upward, it will reach a certain height and then come back down. That means that the trajectory of the ball is "closed". If the outward momentum of the universe, from the energy of the explosion of the Big Bang, is greater than the inward pull of gravity, meaning that the matter will never fall back together again, that means that the universe is "open".

At first those who study the universe were divided, it seemed plausible that the universe would fall back together possibly to trigger another Big Bang and repeat the process, perhaps endlessly. The question was whether or not the expansion of the universe was slowing down, like a ball thrown up into the air. If it was slowing down the expansion would eventually reverse itself and the universe would be "closed".

But it was found that, not only is the outward expansion of the universe not slowing down, it is actually speeding up. That makes it certain that the universe is "open" and it's matter will not fall back together by it's mutual gravity.

One of the main points of my theory of how information works is that energy and information is really the same thing. I noticed that whether we see a process in terms of energy or in terms of information, the result always ends up the same. It is because we are made up of our bodies and our minds. If we deal with the universe in terms of our bodies, we see it as energy. If we deal with the universe in terms of our minds, we see it as information.

Another way of seeing that energy and information is really the same thing is that we cannot add information to anything without applying energy to it, and we cannot apply energy to it without adding information to it. Also we can make our lives physically easier through technology but only at the expense of making them more complex, which means involving more information. We can never, on a large scale, make our lives both physically easier and also less complex. This shows that energy and information is really the same thing.

But if energy and information is really the same thing, and we have shown in terms of energy why the universe is "open", that means that, if my theory that energy and information is really the same thing is correct, there must be a way to explain why the universe is "open" in terms of information.

Let me show how the following very simple algebraic statement shows that the universe must be "open". The statement is: x / x = 1. That means that any ratio or fraction where the same number is both the numerator and the denominator is equal to 1.

Energy and information is really the same thing. We know that the universe always seeks the lowest energy state. That is why an object released into the air falls to the ground. It involves less energy to support the object on the ground than to continue to support it in the air. It strikes the ground with an impact that has energy because that is the energy that originally suspended it in the air.

But if the universe always seeks the lowest energy state, and energy and information is really the same thing, that means that it must also seek the lowest information state. That is the point of my theory, "The Lowest Information Point", which was spun off from the three theories about cosmology and information that came before it.

If the universe sought "The Lowest Information Point" then, my reasoning went, there would be two things that it preferred. First, it would prefer what I call "related ratios" in which the denominator of one ratio was also the numerator of the other. In other words, preferring a / b = b / c over a / b = c / d. The reason is that the first contains only three points of information, while the second contains four. The first would thus be "The Lowest Information Point".

The second thing that the universe would prefer, and which is related to the first, is a square over a rectangle. Since both dimensions of a square are, by it's definition, equal, then that would represent a lower information point than a rectangle, whose two dimensions are not equal. Something defined as a square thus requires only one piece of information, while a rectangle requires two.

That is why so many ratios regarding the scales of the universe, from the subatomic to the galactic, are, as the theory shows, of the related ratio, "A is to B as B is to C". This is only three points of information, rather than four.

Consider that there are two components of the matter in the universe. 1) There is the number of different things in the universe. 2) There is the total number of all things in the universe. What "things" there are are based on the fact that most matter is made of atoms and there are a number of ways in which atoms can merge together with other atoms, and then combine to make different things.

These two components actually form the sides of a square. Well, actually it's a rectangle but it is trying to be a square because that is a lower information point than a rectangle, and remember that the universe always seeks "The Lowest Information Point".

When the universe was first formed by the Big Bang, there were only five different stable atoms that formed. Two isotopes of hydrogen, two of helium, and trace amounts of lithium. So there were countless numbers of individual atoms, but only five different kinds of atoms.

What that represented, in therms of "The Lowest Information Point", was an extremely, extremely elongated rectangle. One side of the rectangle was only five, the five different atoms, and the other side was the near-infinity of the total number of different atoms.

Ever since then, small atoms have been crunched together within stars to form many different larger atoms and all atoms have been combining together with each other to produce a wide variety of the different "things" that the universe is made of. There are now 92 naturally occurring elements, of which there are several hundred different nuclides, or isotopes. A nuclide is a stable combination of protons and neutrons.

All of these many different atoms combine with each other in near-countless ways by chemical and structural bonds, and by gravity, to form the wide array of "things" that the universe today is made of. But the total number of atoms is, of course, far reduced from what it was immediately after the Big Bang.

What all of this combining amounts to is the universe trying to turn the original rectangle into a square, because it would be "The Lowest Information Point". The total number of atoms have been far reduced, since the Big Bang, but the total number of different things, from the original five different stable atoms, has been far increased. The universe has come a long way in it's progress toward being a square, which it is seeking because that is the "Lowest Information Point".

If the concept of the "closed" universe was correct, the matter of the universe falling back together by gravity, that would fulfill the square because, with all of the matter together in what would be one massive black hole, there would only be one object and thus only one different type of object, which would be a perfect square.

Given the algebraic formula at the beginning, it would be simply 1 / 1 = 1.

If the nature of matter was that the original small atoms were unable to combine together into larger atoms, and then into other things from there, then there would have to be a "closed" universe and the matter would have to fall back together in order to close the inevitable square that is "The Lowest Information Point".

But what happened, in terms of energy, was that, as smaller atoms were crunched together in stars into larger atoms, some of the energy of position in space, which is also information, was transformed into electromagnetic radiation, which is why stars shine. Since electromagnetic radiation like this does not exert gravity on matter, there is not enough gravity to pull the matter of the universe back together.

In terms of information, since the nature of matter makes it possible for few different smaller atoms to be combined together into many different larger ones, and then for those to be combined into very many different "things", the universe is able to gradually pull the original very elongated rectangle toward being a square. Since the two sides of a square are equal that means that, no matter what the number of different things and total number of things ends up being, which means that everything will be different from everything else in the universe, they will equal 1 when expressed as a ratio.

This is because, once again, x / x = 1. Thus the universe can be "open", it does not have to be "closed" to get to the square.

WHY THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE HAS TO BE SPEEDING UP, IN TERMS OF INFORMATION

To use a familiar example from computer technology, suppose that we have six bits and twelve empty spaces. Each bit can fill one of the empty spaces, but the bits are identical and indistinguishable from one another. This gives us 4,096 possible permutations of bits in empty spaces. Each empty space would be either full or empty but, since the bits are identical and indistinguishable from one another, it would not make a difference which bit was in which space.

Now suppose that we consolidate our six bits together so that they are distinguishable from one another. One bit we will leave as it is, and call it "One-Bit". We will combine two bits together and call it "Two-Bit". We will combine the other three together and call it "Three-Bit". Although we have fewer bits than before to put in the twelve empty space, three bits instead of six, the bits are now distinguishable from one another, and this adds information.

But even so, our consolidation of the bits would mean a net loss of information. Having the three distinguishable bits to go in the twelve empty spaces would give us 3,960 possible permutations, in contrast with the 4,096 with six separate but indistinguishable bits.

What this is a model of, of course, is matter in empty space. The bits are atoms and the empty spaces are space. The original six identical bits represent the original hydrogen atoms in the universe. The consolidated bits represent the heavier atoms that come from the nucleo-synthesis that takes place by fusion in stars.

There is one solution. In our simple example of bits in empty spaces, one way that we can maintain the same level of information is to increase the number of empty spaces as we consolidate bits together. The same number of bits in more empty spaces represents more information because it gives us more possible permutations, and that is how information is represented.

We may not be able to see it locally, but the universe must be expanding to accommodate the increasingly manifested information of what was but is no more and of what could have been but isn't. 

Radiation Upon a Moving Particle Being Given Perpendicular Acceleration*

Here are two more things that are explained by my cosmology theory, and which show that it has to be correct. This has been moved to the compound posting on this blog about the cosmology theory, "The Theory Of Stationary Space".

RADIATION UPON A MOVING PARTICLE BEING GIVEN PERPENDICULAR ACCELERATION

Here is one of those questions in science that does not seem to have an explanation. When a charged particle, such as an electron, is moving, and we accelerate it in a perpendicular direction to it's motion, by use of a magnetic field, the particle will emit radiation. It will not emit radiation when it first begins moving, only when it is already moving and is accelerated in a direction that is perpendicular to it's motion.

This brings us to that age-old one-word question: Why?

We know that moving charged particles emit radiation if their motion is slowed by interaction with other charged particles. This is known as bremsstrahlung, or braking radiation.

The reason for this is straightforward. There is energy in the motion of the particle and if this motion is slowed, there is excess energy that has to go somewhere, and it is released as radiation.

We also know that energy is released as radiation during stellar fusion, which is why stars shine. Small atoms are crunched together by the heat and gravity in the center of the star into larger atoms. The nuclei of larger atoms have proportionally more neutrons, relative to protons and electrons, then the smaller atoms which they were crunched together from.

This means that electrons must be crunched together into protons, to form neutrons. This is exactly what happens and the process is known as K-capture. But the electron in an orbital had orbital energy before it was captured, that it wouldn't need as part of the neutron, and that energy had to go somewhere. It was released as radiation, and that is why stars shine.

We can see then that a release of radiation is to eliminate excess energy. There is the same process that makes up one of the three forms of radioactivity, alpha, beta and, gamma. Large atoms, heavier than iron, are crunched together from smaller atoms only by the release of energy when a large star is actually in the process of exploding as a supernova.

But some of these heavy atoms are less-than-stable. They gradually give off either particles or radiation in order to seek a more stable configuration. If they give off radiation, it is of very short wavelength and is known as gamma rays.

So we can see that the emission of radiation is due to excess energy. But why would a charged particle that is already moving give off radiation if it is accelerated, by a magnetic field, perpendicular to the direction in which it is already moving, but it doesn't give off any radiation when it begins moving in the first place?

This radiation is called either synchrotron or cyclotron radiation, and it actually has told us much of what we know to be going on outside of black holes. But it just doesn't seem to make sense, and actually doesn't make sense in the universe as we see it.

The answer as to why a moving charged particle would emit radiation when it is accelerated in a direction perpendicular to it's motion is actually explained by simple geometry. But it requires the model of the universe as described in my cosmology theory, detailed in the compound posting on this blog "The Theory Of Stationary Space".

We are really in four-dimensional space, one of which we perceive as time. What we see as particles are actually strings aligned mostly in the same direction in space, the one that we perceive as time. Whenever we look out in space, we are looking in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction in which the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains is aligned.

Velocity of a particle or object is simply that it is bent or aligned at an angle in space relative to the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains, which we perceive as particles. All three spatial dimensions are at right angles to our time dimension. So if we accelerate a "moving" charged particle, which is a bundle of strings that is already aligned at an angle to us, we are actually adding a right angle to it's motion.

What that forms, in four-dimensional space, is a right triangle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_triangle#/media/File:Rtriangle.svg

Side b, the base of the triangle, represents our time dimension which is the direction that the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains is primarily aligned.

Side c, the diagonal of the triangle, represents the alignment of the accelerated particle which we perceive to be in motion because our consciousnesses are moving along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains at what we perceive as the speed of light.

Side a, the height of the triangle, represents the acceleration that was given to the particle when it was already in motion.

What matters here is that the diagonal of a right triangle is shorter than the two legs put together. Since the moving charged particle is actually a "diagonal" in four dimensions of space, because it is moving, the fact that the diagonal is shorter applies to it.

The initial energy of the particle's motion and then the acceleration in a perpendicular direction forms a right triangle. But the "motion" of the particle, if it could be seen in four-dimensional space, would be a diagonal across that right triangle because, in my cosmology theory, what we see as motion is actually the string or bundle of strings aligned at an angle so that it's distance from us changes during the motion of our consciousness along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains in the dimension of space that we perceive as time.

Because the diagonal of a right triangle is always shorter than it's two legs combined and the legs represent energy, first to get the particle moving and then to accelerate it in a perpendicular direction, that means that there must be excess energy when the particle is accelerated in the perpendicular direction. That is why energy is released when a moving charged particle is accelerated, by a magnetic field, in a direction perpendicular to that in which it is already moving.

No radiation is released when the charged particle is set in motion to begin with because it would then just be a string at an angle to the alignment of our time dimension. There would be nothing to define a right triangle so that the alignment of the particle would be shorter than the two legs of the triangle combined and there would thus be energy of velocity to be released as radiation.

But this explanation, which makes perfect sense, is correct only if my cosmological theory is correct.

ENERGY RADIATED IS FOURTH POWER OF OBJECT'S ABSOLUTE TEMPERATURE

On the day that I came up with the beginning of this cosmology theory, I was wondering what time actually was but there was no real answer anywhere. The realization suddenly came to me that there must be a dimension of space that we cannot see, a fourth dimension, but that we perceive as time.

So many other unexplained things suddenly began to fall into place? We can measure the speed of light with precision but had no idea why it is the speed that it is. Of course, matter is really strings if it occupies four dimensions and this is the speed at which our consciousnesses move along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains, and is why Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity revolves around the absolute invariability of the speed of light.

The next thing to fall into place was the radiation from the Big Bang. We can receive this radiation but it does not come from any one direction. It seems to be coming at us from all directions in space. But how can this be if the Big Bang took place in one location, and the universe is expanding outward from that location. We should be able to easily see in which direction in space the Big Bang occurred.

Of course, there must be four dimensions on of which we perceive as time. We see the Big Bang as being the beginning of time but it's radiation seems to be coming from us in all directions in space. That is because the direction in space to the Big Bang is really the dimension that we perceive as time. How simple.

But there was something that planted the seed of the idea that there might be four spatial dimensions in my mind. It was the question as to why an object with heat in space will radiate energy that is in proportion to the fourth power of it's absolute temperature. I didn't understand why it would be the fourth power. It should be proportional to the number of spatial dimensions. If there are three spatial dimensions then it should be to the third power.

The Stefan-Boltzmann Law in physics is that an object in space at a given temperature will radiate heat and other electromagnetic energy, such as light, if it is hot enough. In an idealized black body the energy radiated will be in direct proportion to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the object.

A black body means an object that absorbs all of the electromagnetic radiation falling on it and reflects none. Absolute temperature means measured from the coldest possible temperature, which is absolute zero. This is the temperature that is so cold that all molecular motion has stopped, since heat is defined as the kinetic energy of atoms and molecules. Absolute zero is -459 degrees Fahrenheit or -273.16 degrees Celsius. The Kelvin scale uses Celsius degrees but starts at absolute zero so that the melting point of ice is 273.16 and the boiling point of water is 373.16 degrees Kelvin.

(Note-This means that, in terms of proportion, a scorching hot summer day is only about 15 percent warmer than a frigid winter day. The reason for our temperature comfort zone is that we are so dependent on the liquid range of water. You may notice that this proportion is about the same as the difference, relative to a complete circle, of the lean of the earth's axis 23 1 / 2 degrees toward the sun in summer and away in winter).

Let's review what the "fourth power" of the Stefan-Boltzmann Law means. A straight line is said to be one-dimensional. If we add another straight line, in a perpendicular dimension, that gives us a square. If each line were ten meters long, that would give us 10 x 10 = 100 square meters. A square is defined as being to the second power, because the number is in the equation twice, which is why it is indicated by a small "2". If we add a third straight line, perpendicular to the other two, that gives us a cube. Just as a square means to the second power, a cube means to the third power. 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000 cubic meters.

The fourth power would just be adding another ten to this, 10 x 10 x 10 x 10. This means that if a black body object were emitting radiant energy at a temperature of 300 degrees Kelvin ( 26.84 degrees Celsius), it would emit only .687 times as much energy when it cooled to the freezing point of water at 273.16 degrees Kelvin ( 0 degrees Celsius).

But now the question here is why it would be the fourth power. We can see that the object is three-dimensional, and thus would be radiating into three-dimensional space. But three dimensions is to the third power. How could a warm object possibly be radiating energy to the fourth power?

But what if my cosmology theory is correct? We are really in four dimensions of space, the fourth being what we perceive as time? That would mean that particles, such as electrons, are really strings in four-dimensional space, that we can only see one moment at a time, and time is the movement of our consciousness along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains. The absoluteness of the speed of light in Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is explainable simply as that is the speed at which our consciousnesses move along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains.

This would mean that velocity is actually an angle of a bundle of strings, relative to the directional alignment of bundles of strings that are at rest, and this direction would be the dimension at right angles to all three of our spatial dimensions. That would mean that a moving object would have a time dimension that would not be exactly the same as an object at rest, or one moving at a different velocity.

Remember that heat is defined as the kinetic energy of moving atoms and molecules, meaning that all atoms and molecules in an object are moving, unless the object is at a temperature of absolute zero. A moving charged particle emits electromagnetic radiation when it is either accelerated in a perpendicular direction to it's motion by a magnetic field or is slowed by interaction with another charged particle.

Ordinary atoms overall are not charged, their charges balance out to zero, but the electrons in orbitals are negatively-charged and they interact with electrons in other moving atoms. This is where the radiation comes from that a warm object emits. The interactions between electrons in orbitals of different atoms cause their respective atoms to slow, which means the object cooling, and radiation is emitted as a result because the energy that was formerly in the motion of atoms and molecules has to go somewhere.

But the more dimensions there are, the more interactions there will be between moving atoms and the faster the object will emit radiation. If you drive straight ahead on a flat area other cars may intersect with you from the sides, this would be two dimensional. But if you could drive in three dimensions, or fly, so that other cars could approach you both from up and down as well as from the sides, you would intersect with many more cars than you would in only two dimensions.

Atoms and molecules in an object with any heat are moving and since, in my cosmology theory, motion is actually the angle of a string or bundle of strings in the four dimensions, that means that the fourth dimension being the one in which the strings are aligned is different if it is in motion, as well as different for different velocities of motion. That means that energy is radiated into the fourth dimension as well, even though energy is always radiated at right angles from a string or bundle of strings.

This is why the Stefan-Boltzmann Law states that the energy radiated by an object is directly proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of that object. My cosmology theory is correct and there are four dimensions over which the matter of our universe is scattered.

Relativistic Mass And Trigonometry*

This posting has been added to section 5) of "The Theory Of Stationary Space".

Just have a look at this. Here is something that I cannot see has ever been pointed out about Relativity. There is a simple connection between Relativity and ordinary trigonometry that again verifies everything that my theory, "The Theory Of Stationary Space" in the posting on this blog by that name, has claimed.

Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity stipulates that the mass of an object increases as it approaches the speed of light. This increase is known as "relativistic mass". When the object reaches the speed of light, it's mass would be infinite. To accelerate the object to a higher speed would require an infinite amount of energy which is, of course, impossible. That is why the speed of light is the highest possible speed that anything can travel.

The increase in relativistic mass with velocity proceeds slowly. At half the speed of light the relativistic mass would still be only 1.155 of the mass at rest, an increase of only fifteen and a half percent.

According to my cosmology theory, detailed in the compound posting on this blog, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", we actually inhabit four-dimensional space. Particles of matter, such as electrons, are really one-dimensional strings in this four-dimensional space. We perceive them as particles, rather than strings, because the direction in which the strings are primarily aligned is what we perceive as time. We can move at will in only the other three spatial dimensions.

Our consciousnesses are moving along the bundles of strings that comprise our bodies and brains at what we perceive as the speed of light, which is why we see that as the maximum possible speed. What we perceive as speed or velocity is actually the angle between the alignment of different bundles of strings, which we perceive as objects. If another bundle of strings is perfectly parallel to the bundle that comprises our bodies and brains, we will perceive it as an object at rest.

The reason for relativistic mass increase is that, when a line which is the bundle of strings of an object is at an angle to us, there is more of it interfacing our bundle of strings along the dimension in which our strings are aligned. This is simply because the diagonal (or hypotenuse) of a right triangle has to be longer than the X-axis or line of it's base. When a bundle of strings is bent at a right angle to our bundle, we pass all of it's remaining length in a moment so we perceive it as moving at the speed of light and having infinite mass.

The strings and bundles of strings comprising the universe are actually at rest, hence the name of the theory "The Theory Of Stationary Space". Electromagnetic radiation is really stationary ripples in the space that is composed of alternating negative and positive electric charges. The only "new" motion is that produced by us and other living things.

What we always have to remember, that is the essence of my theory, is that we see the universe as we do not only because of what it is but also because of what we are.

Everything is ultimately composed of infinitesimal electric charges. Space is composed of a perfectly alternating checkerboard pattern of negative and positive electric charges. Waves are perceived as electromagnetic because they disturb this perfect balance of underlying electric charges. Matter is defined as any concentration of like charges and, since like charges repel, matter must be held together against like-charge electric repulsion by energy. This is why any mass is equivalent to a given amount of energy, which we refer to as the well-known Mass-Energy Equivalence.

Apparently, the only way to release the energy in mass is to react equal amounts of matter and antimatter together. Antimatter is simply matter with the electric charges reversed so that negatively-charged electrons in orbitals are replaced with positively-charged positrons. Upon being brought into contact, the energy in the Mass-Energy Equivalence that was holding like charges together in both the matter and the antimatter is released, as a fantastic burst of energy, and the electric charges in both rearrange back into the alternating negative and positive charges of empty space.

But yet we experience the universe as having only three spatial dimensions, as well as one-dimensional time. I am trying to convince everyone that we are really in four-dimensional space, time is a dimension of space because the strings comprising our bodies and brains are aligned in it, and that is why see matter as composed of particles rather than strings. In no way does this mean that there are only four dimensions of space, there could well be an infinite number, but the matter from the Big Bang of which we and our familiar universe are composed was scattered over only our four dimensions.

All right now here is what is so interesting that I cannot see has ever been noticed.

The relativistic mass at half the speed of light is 1.155. The reciprocal of this is .866. If you have studied mathematics, does this number sound familiar? If it does, it is because it is the trigonometric cosine of a 30 degree angle, or the sine of a 60 degree angle because the sine and cosine are inverse functions. A 30 degree angle is an important angle because it is 1 / 3 of a right angle, a 90 degree angle, and .866 is it's cosine. In trigonometry, the reciprocal of the cosine is called the secant so that 1.155 is the secant of a 30 degree angle.

Just a quick review of trigonometry. The functions are simply ratios of the sides of a right triangle, which is a triangle with one right angle which is 90 degrees. The other two angles have to add up to 90 degrees, because the three angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigonometric_functions#/media/File:Trigonometry_triangle.svg

Sometimes the horizontal side is referred to as the X-axis and the vertical side as the Y-axis, with the hypotenuse as the diagonal side. The trigonometric functions refer to the lengths of sides in the triangle with various angles. The hypotenuse, or diagonal, always has to be longer than either the X or Y axis. The diagonal is sometimes referred to as R, for radius. The three primary trigonometric functions are as follows:

Sine (sin) = Y / R
Cosine (cos) = X / R
Tangent (tan) = Y / X

Since the diagonal, R, must always be longer than either the X or Y axis, the values of the sine and cosine must always be less than 1. Since the two angles other than the right angle in the right triangle must always add to 90 degrees, that means that the sine of one angle must be equal to the cosine of the other.

There are three other, lesser-used, trigonometric functions that we get simply by taking the reciprocals of the above functions. Three of the six total functions have the prefix co-. This means that the value gets smaller as the angle gets larger. Unlike the sine and cosine, the values of the cosecant and secant must always be greater than 1.

Cosecant (csc) reciprocal of sine = R / Y
Secant (sec) reciprocal of cosine = R / X
Cotangent (cot) reciprocal of tangent = X / Y

In my cosmology theory, the X-axis (horizontal) can represent the dimension in which our strings are primarily aligned. We perceive this dimension as time, and the other three as space, because our consciousnesses are moving along the strings of the time dimension, at what we perceive as the speed of light, and we cannot move at will in this direction.

Velocity is actually an angle relative to the alignment of our bundle of strings. The greater the angle, the greater the apparent velocity. 90 degrees represents the speed of light because that is the greatest possible angle and the speed of light is the greatest possible speed that an object can move at. This means that what we perceive as an object moving at the speed of light would actually be a bundle of strings bent at a 90 degree angle.

So the fact that the relativistic mass increase at half the speed of light is exactly equal to the trigonometric functions for a 30 degree angle, 1 / 3 of a right angle, shows a definite link between Relativity and ordinary trigonometry.

But then a question arises. In my cosmology theory, an object at rest is represented by a zero angle and an object moving at the speed of light is represented by a 90 degree angle. This means that an object moving at half the speed of light is actually a 45 degree angle, which is half of 90 degrees. So then why is the relativistic mass of an object moving at half the speed of light equal to the secant or cosine of a 30 degree angle, rather than a 45 degree angle?

The answer actually confirms what we saw in section 5) of "The Theory Of Stationary Space". When I wrote all of that, I had not noticed this simple trigonometric connection that verifies it.

We saw in section 5) that, if an amount of energy equivalent to the energy of the mass-energy equivalence in an object were applied to accelerate the object, it would accelerate it to 2 / 3 the speed of light. There is a reason that it would only accelerate to 2 / 3 the speed of light, and not all the way to the speed of light. The reason involves the electric charges of which everything is composed.

I won't go into detail here because it is explained in section 5) of "The Theory Of Stationary Space" but we saw how space is composed of a perfectly alternating checkerboard of negative and positive electric charges but matter is a concentration of like charges, held together by energy, and this energy is what we refer to as the Mass-Energy Equivalence.

The explanation that my theory has for gravity is that if the two electric charges, negative and positive, are equal then the two basic rules of electric charges, that opposite charges attract and like charges repel, must also be equal. The energy of the Mass-Energy Equivalence enables matter to form by overcoming the repulsion between like charges so that matter is defined as a concentration of like charges. But that means that there must be a net attractive force associated with matter, and that is what we refer to as gravity.

An interface between two like electric charges has three times as much energy as an interface between two opposite charges. But only 2 / 5 of all the interfaces between electric charges in matter are between like charges, either negative to negative or positive to positive. The other 3 / 5 are between opposite, positive to negative, charges. There is energy between opposite charges but obviously it requires more energy to hold like charges together because they mutually repel, according to the basic electrical rules that opposite charges attract while like charges repel.

But this still means that there is exactly twice as much energy within matter in interfaces between like charges as there is in interfaces between opposite charges. This then means that 2 / 3 of all the energy within matter is in the interfaces between like charges, holding them together against electrical repulsion. In a matter-antimatter reaction, this energy would be released.

Notice that number, 2 / 3.

In the cosmology theory, since a 90 degree angle represents velocity at the speed of light a 45 degree angle would be half the speed of light. But yet the relativistic mass increase of an object moving at half the speed of light is identical to the trigonometric secant-cosine of a 30 degree angle.

But 30 degrees is 2 / 3 of 45 degrees.

What happens, and the reason for this difference, is simple. The relativistic mass increase, of an object made of matter, applies only to the mass-energy of the interfaces between like electric charges, and not to those between opposite electric charges. My cosmology theory defines matter as a concentration of like charges, held together by energy, so that the interfaces between opposite charges, even though within the matter, do not count.

The reason that the interfaces between opposite charges within the matter do not count is that space is defined as a perfect checkerboard pattern of opposite charges in multiple dimensions. If the object made of matter was not there then it would just be empty space, and so the interfaces between opposite charges which are the same as those in empty space do not factor in to relativistic mass.

The increase in relativistic mass from 0 degrees, at rest, to 90 degrees, the speed of light, is not linear. It starts slowly and then increases rapidly as the velocity gets near the speed of light. So it is as half the speed of light where this 2 / 3 relationship between the energy in like-charge interfaces compared to those in opposite-charge interfaces shows up.

Half the speed of light is really a bundle of strings bent at a 45 degree angle but the relativistic mass increase, which is actually the increase in the length of the diagonal, R, relative to the X-axis, is actually equal to the trigonometric functions, secant-cosine, of a 30 degree angle, which is 2 / 3 of the 45 degree angle.

Why else would the numbers for relativistic mass increase and trigonometric functions of a primary angle match perfectly? The relativistic mass of an object moving at one-half the speed of light, which in my theory is really one-half of a right angle, is identical to the trigonometric functions (secant and cosine) of a 30 degree angle, which is one-third of a right angle.

The workings of the 30 degree angle being one-third of a right angle and two-thirds of the 45 degree angle which is half the speed of light can be seen as reflected in the operation of quarks, which combine to form protons and neutrons. An up quark has a charge of +2 / 3 and a down quark of -1 / 3. Two up quarks and one down quark give a net charge of +1 to form a proton. Two down quarks and one up quark give a net charge of zero to form a neutron.

At this most basic level of physical reality we are dealing with things defined by low integral numbers. The length of a line at a 45 degree angle, the hypotenuse or diagonal in a right triangle, is the square root of 2, which is 1.414, times the horizontal line or X-axis. The length of a line at 30 degrees is 2 / the square root of 3. And this 45 and 30 degrees is where the relativistic mass and the trigonometric functions intersect. Just the fact that the square root is so involved shows that velocity must really involve another dimension, and that is the fourth spatial dimension of my cosmology theory that we perceive as time.

It has baffled the world for over a hundred years how these bizarre effects of Relativity can occur which are impossible to explain by the rules of ordinary physics. The way my "Theory Of Stationary Space" explains it is that relativistic effects, such as the mass increase that we have dealt with here, require a fourth dimension of space and matter to be seen as strings aligned primarily in that dimension. Ordinary physics is "three-dimensional physics" that work fine for most things but cannot explain realms such as Relativity and Quantum Physics.

The Interpretations Of Quantum Physics*

This posting has been added to "The Theory Of Stationary Space", on this blog. Never has there been a topic that is so simple but that we have so over-complicated as Quantum Physics.

THREE CLASSIFICATIONS OF PHYSICS

We could say that there are three separate classifications of physics. The most familiar is "classical physics". This is the everyday physics of how the physical universe operates that is found in an ordinary physics textbook.

But there are also two other classifications of physics. These are commonly referred to as Relativity and Quantum Physics (or Quantum Mechanics). The reason that these two are separate classifications is that they are about mechanisms and realities that cannot be explained by ordinary physics. Relativity tends to involve large scales, on the astronomical level, with objects traveling at a significant portion of the speed of light. Quantum Physics, in contrast, involves small scales such as electrons in their orbitals in atoms. These two are also incompatible with each other.

What makes Relativity different is the speed of light. Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, published in 1905, explained how the speed of light is the only absolute constant, nothing can ever travel faster than it, and everything else is variable, or relative, hence the name "Relativity".

When an object travels at a significant portion of the speed of light, changes take place that cannot be explained by ordinary physics. Time slows down and the length of the object shortens. At the speed of light, time would stop and the object would have no length at all. But the speed of light itself never changes. It sounds strange but has been proven repeatedly, in many different ways. The GPS satellites, for example, have to take relativistic effects into account to work properly.

But when we come to Quantum Physics, it has it's own set of rules that are beyond explanation by ordinary physics, as well as being completely different from those of Relativity.

In Quantum Physics, the observer is very important. When we observe or measure a quantum interaction, the observation itself becomes a part of the interaction. The quantum interaction will turn out differently according to whether it is being observed, or not being observed. This is completely alien to both "classical" physics and to relativity.

Another important factor in Quantum Physics is uncertainty. For example, we can express probabilities of where an electron is likely to be found in it's orbital within an atom, but can never predict with certainty. This is also completely different from "classical" physics, as well as Relativity.

But in Quantum Physics, the speed of light that is all-important in Relativity is not even a factor at all. It has been shown that information moves absolutely instantaneously between two entangled photons, no matter how far apart they are.

Three concepts that are central to an understanding of Quantum Physics are wave function, wave-particle duality and, of course, uncertainty. Another concept is that of superposition, two quantum states can be combined to create a third state. "Entanglement" refers to sharing a quantum state, usually two photons.

The central experiment of Quantum Physics is the famous Two-Slit Experiment. It is similar in nature to a diffraction grating, that splits white light into it's component colors, but it involves the all-important observation. If a photon, a single particle of light, is passed through one of the two parallel slits but it is not observed, we can tell by the interference pattern that will be produced on a screen behind the two slits that a photon also passed through the other slit at the same time.

But if we observe or measure the experiment in any way, a photon will have passed through only one of the two slits and there will be no interference pattern on the screen. This shows how the observation is a vital part of Quantum Physics.

In "classical physics", or in Relativity, light or any electromagnetic radiation is a wave. But in Quantum Physics, there is the wave-particle duality where light has the properties of both waves and particles. The "particles" of light are referred to as photons.

The idea of quantum computing, by the way, is to make use of the greater information in quantum bits, referred to as "qubits". An ordinary computer bit must be either a 1 or a 0, for on and off, and this is how all data is stored. But a qubit, in a superposition of multiple quantum states, has many more possibilities and can thus hold much more information.

INTERPRETATIONS OF QUANTUM PHYSICS

Quantum Physics, also called Quantum Mechanics, unlike Relativity or "classical" physics, has different ways to interpret a quantum interaction. These possible interpretations can be divided into two broad categories, the "collapse" or the "non-collapse" interpretations.

The most popular interpretation of quantum interactions seems to be the Copenhagen Interpretation. A quantum system will be in a superposition of all possible quantum states, referred to as eigenstates, at once. But when it is observed, it will "collapse" into only one eigenstate, or quantum state. The "collapse" may be due to observation or to other factors. This one state is the one that we will see or measure.

The leading "non-collapse" interpretation is the Many Worlds Interpretation, which used to be called the Everett Interpretation. In this interpretation of a quantum interaction, every possible outcome must exist, with each event acting as a branch. In this interpretation, it is decoherence that causes us to see only one outcome instead of all of them. It is not the same as a "collapse" of a wave function because all other outcomes must still exist somewhere. Coherence is where two quantum systems share a quantum state, decoherence is loss of coherence and a breaking into two quantum states.

Albert Einstein, the author of Relativity, was also involved with Quantum Physics. He actually won his Nobel prize for the photoelectric effect, which is quantum in nature, not for Relativity. It was Einstein who developed the concept of the photon, or single particle of light. But he was convinced of the absolute invariability of the speed of light and referred to the instantaneous transmission of information as "spooky action at a distance". Of the uncertainty principle that is central to quantum physics, he is reported to have said "God does not play dice".

The place that my cosmology theory takes in all of this is simple, and it makes Quantum Physics simple. Imagine a one-dimensional string in space, which is what an electron actually is. Now imagine a two-dimensional wave interacting with it from a perpendicular direction. That is all that we need to know.

Waves are actually two-dimensional. They seem to us to fill three-dimensional space because our eyes are so large in comparison with the wavelengths of light. We can tell this because, if light is interacting with electrons, a higher-frequency (shorter wavelength) light, which contains more energy, will push each electron with more force but will not push any more electrons than the lower-frequency light. If we apply a brighter light, but at the same wavelength, the light will push more electrons but will not push each one with any more force.

This shows that light consists of individual two-dimensional waves that do not completely fill three-dimensional space. A wave has to be of at least two dimensions. Light seems to get dimmer as we get further from it's source because we are receiving fewer of the waves, in accordance with the Inverse Square Law. But each individual wave that we receive is not actually dimmer.

In contrast with other matter, when we start dealing with electrons is when things start to "get quantum" in nature. Each electron in an orbital has a four-part quantum "address" and no two electrons in an atom can have the same quantum "address".

The Four Principal Quantum Numbers and energy levels of electrons in orbitals are expressed in integral numbers, or integers, showing that this is the most basic of energy levels. That is what "quanta" means, the most basic of quantities.

Ordinary nuclear physics, involving the nucleus of the atom, does not involve the rules of Quantum Physics, only the electrons do. The essential quantum interaction is a two-dimensional wave of light interacting with a one-dimensional electron which, in my theory, is a string with the wave interacting with it from a perpendicular direction. For us to measure or see anything, light must impart some of it's energy to matter. Since matter is made of atoms and electrons are on the outsides of atoms, this means interacting with electrons.

If a material has it's outer electrons only loosely attached to it's atoms, so that the energy in light can knock electrons out of their orbitals, the light will cause a chemical reaction or an electric current to flow. That means that we can see, or measure, or photograph light.

The simple basis of Quantum Physics is that when a two-dimensional wave interacts with the one-dimensional string of an electron, it must impart the energy of one of it's two dimensions to the electron. That is how we see or measure anything to do with light, and is known as the photoelectric effect. The other dimension must be left but, since the electron is a one-dimensional string, this one remaining dimension of the light will appear to us to be a particle, and that is what we refer to as a photon.

The "collapse" of a quantum wave function from all possible quantum states into only one, when it is observed or measured, that is the Copenhagen Interpretation and all other "collapse" interpretations, has a very simple explanation. The electrons in our eyes or measuring devices that the two-dimensional wave of light must interact with are really, according to my cosmology theory, one-dimensional strings in space, which we perceive as particles because our consciousness is moving along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains and we see only a moment at a time, at right angles to the direction of our movement.

The energy of one dimension of the wave is absorbed by the electron, which is necessary for us to be able to measure of see it, and the other dimension remains. Since only one dimension of light cannot still be a wave, that is where photons come from, the one-dimensional remains of a two-dimensional wave which now resembles a particle like an electron in nature.

The many points on the wave represent all possible states of the information carried by the wave and, depending on the point on the wave that contacts the electron, always at a right angle, the wave function appears to "collapse" into only one state, which is defined by the point on the wave that contacts the electron.

Imagine a two-dimensional circle being reduced to a one-dimensional line, but the state of the "collapse" to one dimension would depend on which of the infinity of diameters on the circle we took away to leave only a line perpendicular to that remaining as the one-dimensional line.

This is all that a "wave function collapse" amounts to, our vision or observation by interaction with a one-dimensional electron, taking away one dimension of the energy of the wave so that it "collapses" into a one-dimensional photon. All possible eignestates (quantum states) are every point of the wave before the collapse. The one remaining after the collapse is a line of light, a photon, that was perpendicular to the point on the wave that encountered the electron.

That is why the observer is so important in Quantum Physics, the observation which is usually the wave function encountering an electron string that is perpendicular to it and absorbs one of it's two dimensions. A photon resembles an electron in form because both are one-dimensional strings, except that the photon has no electric charge.

THE MANY WORLDS INTERPRETATION

Aside from the "collapse" interpretations of Quantum Physics", of which the Copenhagen Interpretation is the most popular, there is also the "non-collapse", of which the Many Worlds Interpretation is the most popular.

The Many Worlds Interpretation, as the name implies, states that, when a wave function is observed, it does not collapse because the other possible states still must exist somewhere. Rather than a "collapse", it is decoherence that causes one state to become separated from the others. Decoherence is defined as the loss of unity of a quantum state, so that it splits in two. Entangled photons, as we saw above, share a quantum state so that information is instantaneously passed from one to another. But that can be lost due to environmental factors.

But isn't "collapse" and decoherence really the same thing, the absorption of one dimension of a two-dimensional wave function by an electron that it encounters? According to our observation, the wave seems to "collapse" into a one-dimensional photon. But we could also say that there was a decoherence of the two dimensions of the wave, so that they were separated by the electron.

The Many Worlds Interpretation considers each event as a "branch". The quantum system seems to go in one direction, but the other directions that it could have gone in must still exist somewhere, maybe in another universe. There is not a "collapse", so that the other directions or quantum states no longer exist, but only a decoherence as our observation separates the one quantum state that we see from the others.

The Many Worlds Interpretation is something that we can spend hours pondering, as I am sure many others have. But I see it as us seeing the universe in our own terms and from our own perspective. The solution to this interpretation is just as simple as for the "collapse" interpretations, and that solution is to see that everything is really information.

Suppose that we throw a ball, and it bounces off a wall. But the ball could have kept on going if the wall hadn't been there. That means that there must be another universe where the ball keeps going, and doesn't bounce off the wall.

But we can easily measure the acceleration of the ball to determine it's course if the wall hadn't been there. That information is there whether the ball bounces off the wall or not. And the ball itself is just information. According to my cosmology theory, everything is composed of infinitesimal electric charges with space being a multi-dimensional checkerboard of alternating charges and matter being any concentration of these charges.

So it really isn't necessary to have a multitude of universes, with a ball in each, going through every single course of events that it possibly could have. If everything is really just information, then all we need to know is the original acceleration of the ball and the information of all possible courses of events that the ball could have taken are still there, all within our one universe. We see ourselves made of matter so we presume that there must be a ball made of matter like us in each possible universe but matter, like space, is just information.

The Many Worlds Interpretation is similar in nature to the pattern of information that I call "The One And The Many". The one is what is, the many are what possibly could have been but weren't. Addresses are an ideal example. Something is defined by what it is not.

THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

What about the "Uncertainty Principle" in Quantum Physics? That is simple too. Consider radio triangulation. If we receive, with a directional antenna, only a momentary signal from a radio source, we can tell what direction the source is in but cannot tell how far away it is or whether it is moving. For that, we would need more than one measurement. In time, to see if the source is moving, and from another location, to determine how far away the source was.

This is why we have two eyes, to be able to estimate how far away things are.

In the same way, since the electrons in our measuring devices can absorb only one dimension of a two-dimensional wave we can, for example, predict where a given electron might be found in an orbital, but can never say with absolute certainty because all we have is an instantaneous one-dimensional measurement.

HIDDEN VARIABLE INTERPRETATIONS

Some other interpretations of Quantum Physics can be described as "hidden variable" interpretations. This means that we can never tell for sure what is happening in a quantum interaction because we are not capable of seeing all of the variables. My theory accommodates that because what we perceive as time is actually a fourth dimension of space that we cannot access at will because the particles of our bodies are actually one-dimensional strings that are aligned primarily in this dimension. The other three we can move in at will.

The reason that two photons can remain entangled, after a single photon is split in two by passing it through a crystal, is that the crystal adds it's spatial dimensions to it so that a one-dimensional photon takes on a "V" forms with the point of the "V" being the place where it was split by the crystal and the two points of the "V" representing the two entangled photons, between which information passes instantaneously. But the point of the "V" is in the past dimension of the dimension of space that we perceive as time from the points of the "V".

THE GREAT SIMPLICITY OF QUANTUM PHYSICS

Can you see how simple Quantum Physics really is? In my cosmology theory, it is fully explained as being even simpler than Relativity.

All that we need to know is that when a two-dimensional wave encounters a one-dimensional electron, which is the only way we can see or measure the wave, it must necessarily absorb the energy of one dimension of the wave. The remaining dimension of the wave is what we refer to as a photon, which behaves as a one-dimensional particle. This is why light is said to have the nature of both a wave and a particle.

The wave function, representing a multitude of all quantum states, thus appears to "collapse" into only one such state when we observe it. There is always the uncertainty factor in quantum measurements because we are observing a two-dimensional wave function, light being how we receive information, in only one dimension.

Picture a one-dimensional line in space. That is an electron, but the motion of an electron in it's atomic orbital resembles a wave. The direction of the line is the dimension of four-dimensional space that we perceive as time.

Now picture a two-dimensional wave contacting the electron line at a perpendicular angle. One of the dimensions of the wave is the direction in which it is traveling and the other is perpendicular to it. Both of the dimensions of the wave are perpendicular to that of the electron. The electron absorbs the dimension of the wave that is the direction in which the wave is moving, the remaining dimension of the wave then exists as a one-dimensional photon that is perpendicular to the line of the electron.

In the four-dimensional space of my cosmology theory, that still leaves one dimension because, so far, we have the two dimensions of the wave and the one of the electron. But light waves are two-dimensional in three-dimensional space. That is why light waves are said to have a certain polarity in space, like the hands on a clock. A polarizing filter only allows light waves with a certain polarity through.

Remember that this cosmology theory does not make the universe more complicated. It takes what looks complicated, because we over-complicate it, and makes it simple. There is the principle in physics known as Occam's Razor. This well-established principle is that the simplest explanation for something usually turns out to be the best explanation.

This cosmology theory can get long, but that is only because it explains so much that is otherwise unexplained. The essence of this theory can be described in two paragraphs. Following is the brief abstract that I use for the cosmology theory.

"My cosmological theory has the universe as not-quite-parallel strings of matter aligned mostly in one direction in four-dimensional space, although there could be many more than these four dimensions. The direction in which these strings of matter are primarily aligned is the one that we perceive as time, along which our consciousnesses move at what we perceive as the speed of light. We can only see perpendicular to the bundles of strings of matter comprising our bodies and brains. The original two-dimensional sheet of space, amidst the multi-dimensional background space, disintegrated in one of it's two dimensions as one pair of it's opposite sides came into contact. Due to charge migration, to seek a lower energy state, one side was positive in charge and the other was negative. This brought about the matter-antimatter mutual annihilation that we perceive as the Big Bang. The energy in the disintegrating dimension, from the tension between adjacent opposite electric charges, was released. The remaining dimension then consisted of very long strings of infinitesimal cross-section, that we perceive as the particles of matter today. Some of the energy released by the disintegrating dimension went into "welding" the charges of the remaining dimension together as strings of matter. We perceive these strings as particles because our consciousnesses are moving along the bundles of strings composing our bodies and brains, at what we perceive as the speed of light, and we can only see at right angles to our strings.

So, the basics of my theory is a two-dimensional sheet of space, which formed amidst the multi-dimensional background space by the same kind of opposite charge induction, disintegrating in one of it's two dimensions as one pair of it's opposite sides came into contact to create the matter-antimatter explosive mutual annihilation that we perceive as the Big Bang, which began the universe, and which scattered the remaining one-dimensional strings of matter out across space to form the universe that we see today. The strings of matter from the original two-dimensional sheet were scattered across four dimensions of the background space".

Ever since developing this simple theory, I have been adding all of the cosmic mysteries that it neatly explains. These explanations are in the posting on this blog, "The Theory Of Stationary Space", which is the name of the theory, and in the earlier part of the theory on the cosmology blog, www.markmeekcosmology.blogspot.com .

In Relativity, the reason that the speed of light is so absolutely constant is that it is the speed at which our consciousness moves along the bundles of strings comprising our bodies and brains. We see Quantum Physics due to the nature of our vision, using one-dimensional electrons to interact with two-dimensional light wave forms.

All that we really need to know about the greatly over-complicated topic of Quantum Physics is that an electron is a one-dimensional string aligned in the dimension of space that we perceive as time. When a two-dimensional light wave encounters the electron from a perpendicular angle the electron will, under the right conditions, absorb one dimension of the two dimensions of the wave. The remaining dimension of the wave now has the nature of a particle like the electron, and is what we refer to as a photon.

The right conditions for the electron absorbing a dimension of the wave is described in section 10) of "The Theory Of Stationary Space" as "THE FINE STRUCTURE CONSTANT". This is why, when light encounters an electron, the electron will absorb it only one out of every 137 times.