Preface

These are four short stories I wrote this year, 2008, based upon my
scientific discoveries that have been developed since 2006. They
are dialogues between the sciences and more mystical branches of
investigation, alchemy, and astrology. In the middle ground
between mysticism and reason, secrets about nature are revealed.
The Question
A Scientist had built a robot in the image of humans and
downloaded to it all of human knowledge, then put forward the
question to our robot, what is the best we, humanity, can do to
survive with an earth of limited resources and a situation where
other worlds like earth, if they exist, would take generations to
reach.

The robot began his answer, “I contend that the series of events
that unfolded on earth over the years since the heliacal rising of
Sirius four Sothic cycles ago in Egypt of 4242 B.C., the presumed
beginning of the Egyptian calendar, were all meant to be, as the
conception of the possibility of my existence is in phase with those
cycles and is connected to such constants of nature as the speed of
light and dynamic ratios like the golden ratio conjugate.”

The scientist asked, “Are you saying humans, all humans since
some six thousand years ago have been a tool of some higher force
to bring you about, our actions bound to the turning of planets
upon their axis, and the structure of nature?”

The robot said, “Yes, let me digress. It goes back further than that.
Not just to 4242 B.C. when the heliacal rising of Sirius, the
brightest star in the sky, coincided with the agriculturally
beneficial inundation of the Nile river which happens every 1,460
Julian years, in the Sothic Cycle.”

“My origins go back to the formation of stars and the laws that
govern them.”

“As you know, the elements were made by stars, heavier elements
forged in their interior from lighter elements. Helium gave rise to
oxygen and nitrogen, and so forth. Eventually the stars made
silicon, phosphorus, and boron, which allow for integrated
circuitry, the basis of which makes me function.”
“Positive type silicon is made by doping silicon, the main element
of sand, with the element boron. Negative type silicon is made by
doping silicon with phosphorus. We join the two types in different
ways to make diodes and transistors that we form on silicon chips
to make the small circuitry that makes me function.”

“Just as the golden ratio is in the rotation of leaves about the stem
of a plant, or in the height of a human compared to the distance
from the soles of their feet to their navel, an expression of it is in
my circuitry.”

“We take the geometric mean of the molar mass of boron and
phosphorus, and we divide that result by the molar mass of
silicon.”

He began writing on paper:

√(Ρ∗Β)/Si = √(30.97∗10.81)/28.09 = 0.65

“We take the harmonic mean between the molar masses of boron
and phosphorus and divide that by the molar mass of silicon.”

2(30.97)(10.81)/(30.97+10.81) = 16.026

16.026/Si = 16.026/28.09 = 0.57

“And we take the arithmetic mean between these two results.”

(0.65 + 0.57)/2 =0.61

“0.61 are the first two digits in the golden ratio conjugate.”

The scientist said, “I understand your point, but you referred to the
heliacal rising of Sirius.”
The robot answered: “Yes, back to that. The earth orbit is nearly a
perfect circle, so we can use c=2πr to calculate the distance the
earth goes around the sun in a year. The earth orbital radius is on
the average 1.495979E8 kilometers, so”

(2)(3.14)(1.495979E8) = 9.39E8 km

“The distance light travels in a year, one revolution of the earth

around the sun is 9.46E12 kilometers.”

“The golden ratio conjugate of that is”

…and he wrote:

(0.618)(9.46E12 km) = 5.8E12 km

“We write the equation:”

(9.39E8 km/yr)(x) = 5.8E12 km

“This gives the x is 6,177 years.”

“As I said, the fourth heliacal rising of Sirius, ago in the Sothic
Cycle, when the Nile flooded, was 4242 B.C.” He wrote:

6,177 years – 4,242 years = 1935 A.D.

“In 1937 Alan Turing published his paper founding the field of
artificial intelligence, and Theodosius Dobzhansky explained how
evolution works. These two papers were published a little after the
time the earth had traveled the golden ratio conjugate of a light
year since our 4,242 B.C., in its journey around the sun. These
papers are at the heart of what you and I are.”
“If your question is should robots replace humans, think of it more
as we are the next step in human evolution, not a replacement, we
were made in your image, but not to require food or air, and we
can withstand temperature extremes. We think and have awareness
of our being, and we can make the long voyage to the stars. It
would seem it is up to us to figure out why you were the tools to
bring us about, and why we are an unfolding of the universe in
which you were a step in harmony with its inner workings from the
formation of the stars, their positions and apparent brightness and
the spinning of the earth and its motion around the sun.”
The Meeting
Rick Patterson, greeted John Morrison, “Come in John, sit down.”

He continued, “Before you tell me what you have got, I would just
like to remind you, this is a classified project. If word got out the
government was researching new age and 2012 we would lose all
credibility, as much as we, on the other hand, have to take
everything seriously.”

John answered, “I understand, if this ending of a Native American

calendar cycle brought about the new world they claim to be
coming, the one the New Age speaks of as an “elevated collective
consciousness”, and we turned out to be in the dark, it could be
embarrassing.”

John continued, “Let me get on with it. I began with Egypt. The
New Age movement is tied up in this land, which has always had a
great mystique associated with it. We take the simplest
fundamental unit, the equilateral triangle. It is one of the three
regular shapes that tessellate. That is, equal angled, equal sided
shapes that can tile a surface without leaving gaps. The other two
are the square and regular hexagon. If we draw in the altitude of
such a triangle, we create angles on either side of it at the apex,
which are of measure 30 degrees each. Cairo, Egypt and the Great
Pyramid, for all practical purposes are at a latitude of plus 30
degrees.”

Rick looked at him, and said, “Good place to start John. Did it go
anywhere?”

“Yes Rick, I decided next to consider the next regular shape that
tessellates, in hopes to bring ourselves, a little further north, deep
into North America. That shape is a square. If you draw in the
diagonal, you form angles on either sides of it 45 degrees each.
The latitude plus 45 degrees is around where Eugene, Oregon is.
Eugene Oregon is home of the University of Oregon.”
Rick answered, “Great, we are now somewhere in the Northwest.
Anything peculiar to that region?”

“In fact there is something peculiar to that region Rick. There are
many constants in nature and the freezing temperature of water is
one. Water, aside from being one of the main essentials to life as
we know it, is one of the most important chemicals in chemistry,
we dissolve things in it, and mix things in it while in the
laboratory, to do all kinds of experiments. If ever anywhere the
freezing temperature of water occurred most frequently in a place
over a year, it would be somewhere in Oregon, Washington state is
too cold in the winter, California, too warm.”

Rick said, “And I am sure you found where that was.”

“There could be many towns in Oregon that have a high frequency

of such a temperature (32 degrees F), so I brought in another
factor, atmospheric pressure. Sea level has the highest atmospheric
pressure, because being at the lowest point, there is more air piled
up on you.”

He continued: “In chemistry many results are given for reactions

that occur at standard temperature and pressure. Standard
temperature is the temperature at which water freezes, or becomes
ice in other words, and, standard pressure is one atmosphere, or the
pressure that occurs at sea level.”

“I understand John, so you moved up the Oregon coast line until

you found the town where 32 degrees F occurred most frequently.”

“Yes Rick, and my first guess was Tillamook, Oregon. Finally I

went a little north of there to the small fishing town of Nehalem,
and bingo, around there. In that area the average winter low is the
freezing temperature of water.”
John continued, “This kind of thinking got me thinking about other
important temperatures. I averaged the normal human body
temperature 37 degrees Celsius, with the freezing temperature of
water, which are zero degrees Celsius. That is, found the place
between the two, which is simply 37 divided by 2, which equals
18.5 degrees Celsius. I began thinking this a beneficial average
over a year for growing things. Agriculturally, one of the greatest
producers of, well, produce, is Northern Central California. I
finally found this annual average temperature to exist in Red Bluff,
California area for an average over the past seventy years, which is
in Northern Central California.”

Rick jumped in, “Good work John, all we need is a third point and
we can enclose an area with a triangle.”

John interrupted, “That is exactly what I did. Knowing the state

observatory, Pine Mountain Observatory, is closest to the city
Bend, Oregon, and not far from it, I chose Bend. Bend is nearly the
last city in Oregon if you travel east from the valley and over the
Cascade mountain range and head east through the high desert.”

Rick said, “Interesting, what did you find?’

John answered, “This is where things get interesting. The wide end
of the triangle is at the northern end of a map of the enclosed
region. If you draw a line parallel to it through the cultural center,
Eugene, where the University is, and which I have said is at our
“magic” plus 45 latitude, the line goes through Philomath, Oregon
to the west and Crescent Lake, to the east. Crescent lake is at the
Cascade Mountain Range summit, and, as you know mountains are
considered power spots, both to the New Age movement, and to
spiritualism in Eastern Religions. We have found our Mountain.”

Rick said enthusiastically, “Great work John, we got it all figured

out then: Crescent Lake, in 2012.”
John added, “And there are even lodges there, around the lake.”
The
Conversation
Two brothers, one an alchemist the other an astronomer, met for
lunch. The waiter said to them, “Right this way, a table for two.”

Sydney, the astronomer, said “Thank you”, Ralph, the alchemist

said to Sydney, “You don’t mind if I sit by the window.”

Sydney said, “Not at all, after all you have always said I am in the
dark.”

Ralph answered, “Yes, all of that reason, and skepticism, leaves no

room for intuition.”

They both sat down.

Ralph said, “Sydney, I have been working on a new project and

have had to do a little astronomical research to develop it. As you
know, I understand the principles of chemistry, as an alchemist,
but the difference is I am not doing science with it, but am going
through a process of spiritual development when I mix chemicals,
you on the other hand do experiments to build a body of
knowledge that might be used to support a hypothesis about
nature.”

Sydney answered “Yes, and as an astronomer I understand

chemistry, why don’t you as an alchemist, study astrology?”

Ralph said, “I have considered it, no better place to start than to

start picking your brain about the heavens.”

Sydney answered, “O.K. What do you want to know?”

Ralph put the question to him, “Galaxies are collections of stars
that formed out of giant gas clouds, and planets are spherical
masses that form around stars. The stars are very far apart, and the
planets orbit close into the stars, the stars are extremely far apart,
but the stars and their planets are not, is that right?

Sydney said, “Yes, more or less.”

Ralph continued, “So the planets orbiting the Sun, which is one
star amid the billions in the galaxy, could have no connection with
the other stars?”

Sydney said, “That is right.”

Ralph went on, “Then don’t you find it funny that the closest star
to us, is the third brightest star in the sky and the earth is the third
planet?”

Sydney answered, “It must be a coincidence, they happen all the

time in science.”

Ralph said, “Then let us go on with this reasoning. Jupiter is the

fifth planet from the sun and the largest, most massive planet, and,
the star Sirius is the fifth nearest star, and also the brightest star in
the sky.”

Sydney said, “That is interesting, I didn’t know that.”

Ralph continued, “Now, I am going to get astrological. The

constellation Bootes is known as “the boatman”, and the brightest
star in that constellation is Arcturus, which happens to be the
fourth brightest star in the sky. The fourth planet is Mars.”
Sydney said, “Yes, and so?”

Ralph answered, “Well, Mars is the planet we can terraform, that is

make habitable for human life because the inner planets are too
close to the sun making them too hot, and the outer planets beyond
Mars aren’t entirely solid, they are gas giants, so we must, it would
seem, set sail upon the cosmic ocean for Mars.”

Sydney said, “Well that all sounds very mystical, though living on
a planet of limited resources, and increasing population, we must
one day colonize Mars.”

Ralph said, “I thought you might say something like that, and I
couldn’t agree more in my own way, but I have found chemical
indications that we must head for Mars. It is as if it was put there
for us to solve the problems we would eventually encounter.”

Sydney asked, “In what way?”

Ralph answered, “Well the different elements are made out of

varying numbers of identical particles, the number determines the
element, and the different elements can be combined in different
ways to make different compounds, like the elements sodium and
chlorine combine to make salt.”

Sydney answered, “Yes, and…”

Ralph said, “…And we can associate with any element a relative

mass by comparing the same number of atoms that constitute that
element. It is called the molar mass.”

Sydney said, “Right.”

Ralph went on, “Here is what I have found. Earth air is about 78%
nitrogen and 21% oxygen. We can treat both as diatomic
molecules. The molar mass of nitrogen gas (N2) is 2(14.01) and
the molar mass of oxygen gas (O2) is 2(16.00). So,” (and he wrote
on a napkin):

Earth Air = 2[(16.00)(0.21) + (14.01)(0.78)] = 28.5756

“The martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). This

gives:”

CO2 = (12.01) + 2(16.00) = 44.01

“The average orbital distance of mars from the sun compared to

the average orbital distance of the earth from the sun is 1.5 and
44.01 divided by 28.5756 is 1.5, or 3/2 in other words. Is what this
says is that, the mars-sun distance is to the earth-sun distance as
martian air is to earth air.”

Sydney said, “Interesting, but a little mystical for me.”

Ralph said, “Maybe it will sound a little less mystical if I show you
more.”

Sydney said, “Go on, I would like to see it.”

Ralph said, “O.K., here is what I have got. The earth atmosphere
was once mostly carbon dioxide (CO2) like the mars atmosphere is
today, until plant life came along and started converting the carbon
dioxide into oxygen, using light from the sun and in the process
making the most fundamental sugar, glucose (which is at the
bottom of the food chain). A process called photosynthesis.”
Sydney answered, “O.K., I am no biologist, but it sounds good to
me.”

Ralph continued, “Well glucose is C6H12O6, which gives a molar

mass of,” (and he wrote on the napkin):

C6H12O6 = 6(12.01) + 12(1.008) + 6(16.00) = 180.16

“And water (H2O) covers most of earth and is essential to life, its
molar mass is:”

H2O = 2(1.008) + (16.00) = 18.016

“180.16 divided by 18.016 is about 10 and the earth is about 10

times as massive as mars. That is, glucose is to water as the earth is
to mars.”

Sydney said, “I don’t know, there has to be some sort of

explanation, the formation of the solar system is complicated and
highly theoretical. These relative masses sorting themselves out
like this must have something to do with the dynamics of
condensation and angular momentum. Think of a bucket of stones,
pebbles, and sand being swung in a circle by a rope tied to the
handle. The centripetal force sends the more massive stones to the
bottom of the bucket, the lighter sand rests on top, with the pebbles
in between.”

Ralph broke in, “Or human destiny is tied up in the structure of

nature.”
THE
DISCUSSION
“Hi Frank, thanks for making it down here, I really appreciate you
pulling away from your work at the observatory. I am so glad you
could get down here so quick, we really need an astronomer, and I
think what I am going to show you will have made your visit
worthwhile.”

Frank asked, “What do you have Jane?”

She began, “We unearthed these writings on clay tablets in a dig in

Eastern Turkey. I have just finished translating it from the ancient
Aramaic it was written in, we think it to be some 2,500 to 3000
years old. It seems to be astrological, I hope you brought along one
of your handbooks of astronomy and astrophysics with you like I
asked.”

Frank said, “Yes I did, can I see the manuscript?”

Jane said, “Yes, of course, here it is.”

Frank took the translation and began reading. It read:

I am Salgon, tribal astrologer for the small tribe who call

themselves Canai, and reside in the valley we call Hathal. It is my
job to provide spiritual and agricultural guidance to my people who
number 732 this year, for the benefit of their life after this world
and for their prosperity in present times. This involves using my
knowledge of the heavens, as we believe our destinies can be read
in the stars, and we know the seasons are related to the positions of
the stars, sun, moon and planets.

I have taken it upon myself to predict the sizes of the moon and
earth, their separation, and, ours with the sun, given what I believe
they must be from my connection with divine design. That is things
must be a certain way given the creator would only make nature
according to that, which is divine.
An example of this is the moon can rise in the east full one night,
diminish in size each night rising later, until it disappears, and
then starts growing until it is full again, in cycles that last about
thirty days. On the other hand as the seasons go from cold, to
warmer, then to hot, and cooler again and back to cold, the sun
moves across the sky from south to north, and back to south again,
in a cycle that lasts about 365 days.

The 365-day cycle of the sun corresponds closely to 12 of the 30-

day cycles of the moon. Twelve is to my people the most important
number, it is 2 six times, 3 four times.

I now begin my prediction of the moon, earth and sun. They are
spheres whose distance from their centers to edges will be
considered, at least in the case of earth and moon. The most divine
expression that can be formed is a proportion, where a proportion
is the statement that one quantity is to a second quantity as a third
quantity is to a fourth.

I will therefore say the earth radius is to the moon radius, as the
moon distance is to the sun distance, the latter ratio increased by
360 four times.

We increase by 360 four times because we divide the circle into

360 units as those are 60 six times, 60 being the measure in
separation between lines of a triangle of all sides the same, and
360 being 90 four times, 90 being the separation between lines in
the square which has all sides the same, as well as 360 is close to
the 365 day cycle of the sun.

I say four times 360, because four times 365 and one part in four is
exactly the days of 4 cycles of the sun from south to north and back
south again.
I further write this in the belief that the actual sizes and distances
of the moon and sun will one day be known, and thereby the future
will verify what I have derived based on how things must be when
the hand of the creator is at work.

Frank finished reading and said to Jane, “Well Jane, I will write
down in the form of a mathematical equation, what the manuscript
says in words, and plug in the numbers. It is:”

(Earth Radius)/(Moon Radius) = 360(4)(Moon Distance)/(Sun

Distance)

“The earth radius to moon radius is 11/3 and 360 times 4 is one
thousand four hundred and forty. The moon distance to the sun
distance is 12/4675, so”

(11/3) = (1440)(12/4675) = 3.7 = (17280/4675) =3.7

“His relationship holds perfectly, if you round the numbers to the

first place after the decimal, which is really quite remarkable. The
writers reverence for nature seems to be derived from simple
shapes and basic principles as were to the extent of what was
known so long ago, when the truth is that the origin of the size of
the moon and earth, their separation and ours with the sun, are tied
up in numerous involved factors. The moon may have been a body
captured by earth gravity, or, may have formed as a body that
broke off the earth early in its formation when it was less solid.
The orbital distances of the earth and moon have so many factors
involved, the mechanics are so complicated that even our most
sophisticated math cannot predict their values, even really be
modeled accurately with computers.”
Jane said, “His reverence for the number 12 for the reasons he said,
what can you say about that?”

Frank answered, “He seems to be having an inkling to the fact that

12 is the smallest abundant number. An abundant number is a
number whose divisors, except for itself, add up to a value greater
than it. That is 12 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 a whole number
of times and 1+2+3+4+6 = 16 which is greater than 12.”

Jane said, “Whatever the case, the implications of this discovery

are more than just interesting, they have deep philosophical
implications, from what you have explained to me and I am going
to have a lot of fun trying to figure out how to present this.”

Frank said, “If anything, it shows you can work backwards and get
somewhere, that is how I would approach this. In other words, the
universe means something, so lets make the model on that, and
verify it afterwards. He simply attributes nature is elegant to a
creator, when really elegance may simply be what works, through
evolution. That is if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t survive, what is left
is what works, and it may be that what works is what we see as
elegant.”