by Daniel Romm
Bryce's message stirred a world-weary populace craving relief from incessant religious strife, proselytizing and crusading. “No power-monger has ever presumed to warrant more authority than theologians, a group with the temerity to assert that their commands originate from no less than the ‘Supreme Being’ Itself. The folly of acceding to their doctrines is evident. Zealous Catholics terrorize naïve six-year-olds with the prospect of eternal damnation for disobedience, usually referred to as sin. Strict Calvinists preach that anyone who isn't born one of the ‘elect’, as defined by Calvin, is doomed. Islamic jihadists promise a bevy of virgins in Paradise to anyone who commits a suicide bombing in furtherance of their cause, namely the wholesale slaughter of innocents residing in the countries mistakenly deemed to be enemies.. Examples can be found in every religion; the list is endless throughout history.
“The hefty weight the imprimatur of religion imparts to such sweeping and dogmatic exhortations renders them especially dangerous. As an example, even as great a thinker as Pascal went wrong7 when he was persuaded to insist we must obey Christ's precepts since if we do and He was right we gain an infinite eternity of bliss but if we don't and He was mistaken we only gain a paltry short-lived lifetime of pleasure, and no judicious person would wager against such odds. His argument is flawed in that the same reasoning can be used by any crackpot who alleges that God told to him we are eternally doomed to perdition if we don't yield to his (the crackpot's) demands.
“By no means am I suggesting that messages clothed with religion are generally devoid of uplifting precepts imbued with compassion, morality and spirituality. On the contrary, many (but not all) of the words and acts of the founders of great religions are dripping with peace, charity, kindness and love, and are enough alike there's little to choose between them. I propose a new eclectic religion synthesized from these common themes. It is easy to assimilate, leaves no one out, and is vastly preferable to the persecution, mayhem and mass murder perpetrated through the ages under the influence of disgraceful impostors who cultivated ‘separate’ sects or insisted any religion other than theirs was false.
“My assistants will now distribute the sacred documents of Eclecticism. They contain not my teachings, but paraphrases of the one eternal enlightenment revealed by God to Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, Lao Tzu and all His other directly chosen prophets.”
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6 Perhaps in a parallel universe
7 In Pensêes
2
Crisis
All attempts to wean the country of its exuberant overconsumption of energy had failed. The ingrained habit of immediate self-gratification was too firmly planted in people's psyches at a young age, long before they matured enough to realize the prudence of conservation.
Numerous technological breakthroughs had improved methods of transportation and communication and introduced new laborsaving machines that greatly increased public welfare, but not without cost; they also placed additional demands on an already overloaded energy supply.
Although oil reserves were dwindling rapidly, major oil companies were unwilling to retool refineries to process other fuels such as natural gas or coal, none of which have the profit potential of oil and all of which are relatively scarce. Electricity was an option but, in light of public resistance to less powerful vehicles, the automobile industry was only halfheartedly willing to remodel cars to run electrically. Even more daunting, the world's rivers, already straining to supply hydroelectricity at maximum capacity in order to meet current high demand, were incapable of handling the large spike in consumption that a wholesale conversion to electrically driven cars would entail.
Our troubled government looked to the Academy for help. It accepted the challenge and came through in splendid fashion during Ben's last year in graduate school. Not surprisingly, the hero was Professor Donald Richardson, who unveiled an ingenious idea to an enthralled assembly of dignitaries.
“I'll begin by supplying the background information you will need in order to fully understand my plan. In 2272 our gravity probe of the solar system unexpectedly swerved from its plotted course, revealing a pocket of nearby dark matter in the vicinity of Mercury's orbit. I theorized that by accelerating a dense, highly concentrated, laser like beam of particles to near light speed and then aiming it at the recently discovered dark matter, the strange properties of dark energy would propel the beam beyond light speed rather than merely bend it (as would happen in an interaction with ordinary gravity). It would cross over to the dark side where, having positive mass since still moving slower than gravity, it would bombard some of the the dark matter, begin a chain reaction of colliding tachyons, slow them down, and jettison a chunk of who knows what kind of glowing ordinary matter into our solar system.
“In order to perform my 2289 experiment on gravity I invented a device capable of producing such a beam that was also small enough to be mounted on a satellite near Mercury's orbit. As I suspected, a newly formed object appeared in the distance. The satellite's computer had been programmed to transmit the time interval between the first instants that the object's infrared light and gravity impinged upon the satellite's state-of-the-art photometric and gravimetric sensors, respectively. Knowing this interval and the speed of light I only needed to know the distance between the satellite and the object to derive the speed of gravity8. I was easily able to ascertain this distance using the triangulation theorem of geometry called ‘angle-side-angle’ after measuring the angle between the lines pointing from Earth to the satellite and from Earth to the object and programming the satellite's computer to measure its distance from Earth and also the angle between the lines pointing from the satellite to Earth and from the satellite to the object.
“Even back then I realized that an upgraded version of my apparatus, one capable of emitting an ongoing stream of high energy particles rather than just a single blast, could target a reservoir of dark matter to not only create a new body of ordinary matter in our universe but also continually augment its mass and, in turn, its gravity. But there was no urgency to do the upgrade until the energy crisis supplied a potent reason.
“My colleagues and I invented another device that converts gravitational energy into mechanical energy and coupled it to an electric generator that was in turn connected to my upgraded apparatus. If housed within a large space station near Mercury, this synergistic configuration would function as follows: First, the body's destabilizing pull on the space station's orbit would be dampened from having part of its gravity transformed into mechanical energy. Second, as the body enlarged it would continually feed gravitational fuel to the device. Third, the resultant mechanical energy would power the electric generator's motor. Fourth, some of the generator's endless flow of electricity would be recycled to the apparatus enabling it to run perpetually. Fifth and most importantly, the remainder could pass through an insulated fiber optic cable stretching from the generator to a flanged outlet on Earth that was attached to a network of electrical energy ‘marts’. This Rube Goldberg-like process would solve the energy crisis once and for all.
“I am pleased to announce we have now completed the necessary preliminaries. The collection of dark matter near Mercury is an ideal source. It's large enough to be virtually inexhaustible and its proximity permits us to use a cable of manageable length. Furthermore, the cable would be unlikely to encounter galactic interference or debris since the cone swept out by its circuit would lie entirely within the inner solar system.” The plan received thunderous applause, was dispatched to an international committee of scientists for review, and promptly endorsed.
Next, an edited draft was forwarded to a specially convened United Nations subcommittee. Its members foresaw that the oil companies would initially object to swapping fossil fuel for electricity but would relent if a proviso were added granting them ownership of the new energy marts as a reward for compliance and they, in turn, could coerce automobile manufacturers to redesign cars. Oil-producing nation
s were also likely to resist, so a clause was appended guaranteeing them a larger share of any profits. Given these incentives and the dire straits confronting it, a plenary assembly of nations quickly and unanimously passed the proposal.
A multi-national organization was formed to oversee the project. It succeeded admirably due to the brilliance and far-sightedness of its staff, which functioned so effectively that countries formerly hostile to each other began to mediate their differences under its auspices. Being invariably reasonable (with one lamentable exception, as we shall soon see), resolutions were highly palatable to the involved parties. The organization's peaceful settlement of international disputes supplanted war and terrorism as the primary means for intransigent nations to gain their ends; over time it replaced an ineffectual United Nations as the precursor to a world government. Tourism once again became safe and the proliferation of cultural exchanges furthered understanding and tolerance of foreign life styles. For the first time people began referring to Earth, rather than their local place of birth, as home.
Development of the new energy-supplying process progressed rapidly, in fact too rapidly. Growing dissatisfaction with high gas prices, scheduled outages and long lines at the pump stirred the people into a foul and rebellious mood. The nascent organization hadn't yet gained sufficient self-assurance to withstand the outraged mob's clamor for immediate relief. It rashly instructed a task force to dispense with the routinely required environmental impact study and to posthaste set the device's parameters to the highest level, despite strenuous objection from Professor Richardson and other protestors within the scientific community.
Rather than admit to buckling under pressure the organization trumped up a rationalization that, “Since the dark matter lies outside the visible universe, an interaction with it should be nearly seamless and effects on our solar system should be negligible.” They correctly surmised that the experts, being unable to positively refute this contention, would be undermined in their pleas for caution to an impatient and energy-starved public.
Once again lessons from past mistakes such as those that polluted the air, punched a hole in the ozone layer and melted the polar icecaps went unheeded in order to curry favor by implementing a quick fix. And once again a serious irreversible problem (much more disastrous than any preceding it) would ensue — but that prospect was still a long way off. With the energy crisis at an end life in the near future would be better than ever and would continue to be so for many decades. As always this was all most people really cared about. Concern for posterity's welfare is too evanescent to compete with the overpowering natural human preoccupation with trifling short-term desires, no matter how harmful their fulfillment might be to the well being of future generations.
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8 G = D/((D/C) – T), where D designates the distance between the satellite and the object and T designates the time delay between the arrivals of the signals at the satellite.
3
The Mission
Three years after the project's inception the space station was ready for launch. On the appointed day, a boisterous throng milling around the site enthusiastically applauded as the crew scaled the attached ladder and disappeared one by one through an aperture in the vehicle's outer layer. Ben and three of the others had already been in space but it was the first time for twenty-eight year old Alan Frost, and he was understandably jittery. It fell upon Ben, the crew's captain and Alan's former tutor at the Academy, to take him aside and try to relax him. “Test runs don't quite measure up, do they?”
“A lifetime of practice in the lab wouldn't prepare me for this,” responded Alan, wanly smiling with false bravado.
“You will be so absorbed by the view after takeoff you won't think about anything else.”
“Assuming we take off successfully.”
“Yes, there is a slight risk involved, but you knew that when you chose this career. Apparently you were willing to take the chance in order to reap the reward.”
“I was. But the risk is more menacing now that it is imminent and the reward seems dwarfed by comparison.”
“Of course. Darwin's theory of evolution requires that fear of death, the first prerequisite for survival in most species9, be firmly ingrained in our psyche. Without this primal instinct all individuals would have quickly perished via mass suicide, like moths consumed by flames.
“But you would be eager for the takeoff if you knew how awesome the ascent is. Besides, on this mission you will have three years to savor the thrill of being in space whereas the takeoff will be behind you in less than half an hour.” Alan's qualms began to dwindle. Talking to anyone would have taken his mind off the upcoming danger, but talking to his mentor was most reassuring. He was soon quite calm.
The crowd stirred as the loudspeaker blared, “4, 3, 2, 1, blastoff.” A rumbling noise turned into a deafening roar as the space station picked up speed and soared into the sky, resembling an oddly shaped kite anchored by an enormous spindle of gossamer yoked to its tail. Although the elongating fiber optic cable trailing behind was difficult to see from afar by the naked eye, sparks of reflected sunlight revealed its presence.
On board, Alan's eyes were glued to the window. Just as Ben predicted, excitement easily conquered anxiety. Never before had Alan seen firsthand the cloud of flaming exhaust billowing from the jets below, the Earth's curvature increasing slowly at first, then rapidly, into a full circle and the shrinking sphere of blue oceans studded with brownish green continents containing gray snow covered peaks, all topped by large patches of glistening white clouds floating in a background of the blackest sky. Soon the entire planet became a mere speck embedded in a glittering tapestry of celestial phenomena; faraway galaxies of various shapes and sizes, enormous supernovae, a teeming multitude of twinkling stars, and vast stretches of incandescent dust, asteroid belts and nebulae, all amid infinite emptiness.
When the fast-changing scene began to stabilize, Alan tore his attention away from the window and turned to the vessel's interior. Upon entering the main cabin he spotted Ben in a corner chair clutching a bottle of cabernet sauvignon. “You were right, the spectacular view overwhelmed my queasiness. But I do feel a little embarrassed by my initial hesitancy.”
“Don't be. We all go through the same phase. In praise of your courage let me pour you some of this wine, it's quite soothing,” said Ben while filling a glass to the brim and handing it to Alan.
“Thanks,” a grateful Alan replied with alacrity.
After polishing off the bottle Ben remarked, exhibiting only the slightest trace of a slur (it was his second bottle), “We're lucky we're in a space station with a gyroscope. If we were wrestling with the weightlessness of a lesser-equipped craft we would be much less comfortable, not to mention the increased difficulty of drinking wine from a glass. It would add a whole new level of meaning to the word ‘tipsy’.” After a pause he gazed blankly through the window toward the direction of home and mumbled nostalgically, “We've only been aloft for a few hours and I already miss Jenny.” As his eyes regained focus he added, “But I'll get over it. We have plenty of work to do and the recreational facilities on board are exemplary. Do you have a girl at home?”
“No. I suppose I'm lucky.”
“Yes and no.”
“Dinner time!” hollered tonight's cook.
“It's about time,” reverberated from the direction of the hold. The crew reassembled in the kitchen and promptly dove into the minestrone.
▪▪▪
Although three years seemed to elapse in no time at all, the crew was getting antsy. They were all smiles as the shuttle that was to return them to Earth docked alongside the space station. The generator had been transmitting electricity to the cable without a glitch for nearly a year and they were confident it would continue to operate smoothly without them. Each took justifiable pride in his contribution to ‘a job well done’, which rendered the wait on the year-long homeward journey somewhat more bearable.
“Yes, but we have a lifetime in which to do it. I've missed you so much.”
“As have I you. But now that you're back it seems as if you never left.”
They walked outside where Jim was waiting to take them home. Jenny had spent most of her spare time with him during Ben's absence and they had grown increasingly fond of each other's company. Only Jenny's love for Ben prevented her from becoming Jim's lover. Although Jim regretted that his closeness with Jenny was about to end, he was happy to see Ben again. Embracing him, he said jovially, “You look none the worse for wear. Get in, we have quite a homecoming party arranged.”
As the vehicle drove itself off, Ben took a last glance backward at the sunlit cable rising endlessly into the sky, stored the previous three years of his life into a remote corner of his mind, looked at Jenny with renewed longing, and turned his eyes toward the road ahead.
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9 Some insect species have large classes of individuals that exhibit no apparent fear of death and don't hesitate to perish for the good of their society as a whole. But these species are populous enough to easily afford the loss.
4
The Corporation
By the time the crew returned from its successful mission, energy marts were open for business and batches of redesigned cars were rolling off assembly lines. Now that the project was over the organization had time to focus its considerable talents on other matters and the people, fully embracing the collective wisdom of its members, turned to it for guidance. It had become the de facto owner of a one-of-a-kind utility company with monopolistic control over nearly all of the entire world's power needs and now possessed sufficient influence, wealth and self-assurance to enforce its decisions, even over occasional resistance from potentates or the public.