'What was important for Rosewall's scheme was that there can be things called monopoles associated with hidden-symmetry fields.
'A magnetic monopole would be a particle that has only a magnetic north pole or south pole assigned to it. As you know, an ordinary ferroperm magnet has a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other. Neither north nor south poles exist singly.
'But the great twentieth-century physicist, Paul Dirac, showed that the charge values had to be integer multiples of something. If you could find even a single example of a separate north or south pole, then - as we have since discovered to be the case - all electric charges would have to come in whole-number multiples of a basic charge.
'So, a number of years later, experimenters set to work to find such magnetic monopoles. If just one was found, then a major part of the mystery of electric charge would be solved. One group of experimenters even argued that the most likely place to find these things would be inside oysters. Of which, as we know, there's a considerable shortage on Mars.'
Euclid: 'Any luck?'
'No. No one has ever found a magnetic monopole, even to this day. But, in Rosewall's case, the hidden symmetry refers to a dual on the gravitational field. Rosewall made an impressive case that a hidden-symmetry gravitational monopole - known as a HIGMO - ought actually to exist. In fact there is a solution to the Einstein gravitational equations - found in the early 1960s, I believe - which describes the classical version of this monopole.
'This was Rosewall's brainwave. He realised that if you built a large ring-shaped tube, filled with an appropriate superfluid - argon 36 is what we use, under reduced pressure - then whenever a HIGMO passed through the ring, it would be detectable - just barely detectable - as a kind of "glitch" appearing in the superfluid.'
A voice from the audience asked, 'Why argon 36 and not 40?'
'Proton and neutron numbers are equal in argon 36, which underlies the reason for its remarkable superfluidity under reduced pressure. A technical advantage is the low pressure of the Martian atmosphere. Fortunately, argon 36 is not radioactive. Okay?'
At this point, he projected a vidslide of a scene I recognised. There lay the massive inflated tube, protected by its lid. There stood Dreiser, delivering his little speech. I had been a part of that historic scene!
'Obviously, this is a large-scale but delicate experiment. No other disturbances of any kind must affect the super-fluid in the tube. You have to do the best you can to shield the superfluid from external vibrations, because any significant outside activity is liable to ruin the experiment.
'No place on Earth is going to be remotely quiet enough for such an experiment. Never mind human activity, the magma under Earth's crust is itself active, like a giant tummy rumbling. Earth is an excitable planet.'
Euclid: 'What about Luna?'
'The Moon proved no longer possible. Too much tourist activity and mining was already taking place. Maybe forty years ago the Moon could still have been used, but not now, certainly not since they began building the transcore subway.
'But Mars ... Mars is ideal for the Omega Smudge experiment. No moving tectonic plates, vulcanism dead ... That is, it's ideal provided that human activity is kept down to present levels.'
Euclid: 'No terraforming?'
Thorgeson laughed. 'The UN did a trade-off. No terraforming for a few years. The hidden agenda was that this would give a breathing space for the Omega Smudge experiment. The gun at our heads is that we have to get results.'
At this there were rumblings from the audience, and an angry voice called, 'So how long is "a few years"? Tell us!'
After a moment's pause, Thorgeson said, 'There was to be a stand-off of thirty years - four years from now -before they began to bombard the Martian surface with CFC gases, to start the warming-up process. This was the deal pushed through by Thomas Gunther.'
This statement provoked angry interjections from the audience. Thorgeson calmed things down with a wave of his hand.
'Obviously the collapse of EUPACUS has altered all such arrangements.
'The experiment we're now getting under way involves only a relatively small ring, sixty kilometres in diameter. Will we discover any HIGMOs? That depends on the HIGMO density in the universe, of which there are only estimates so far. We need results. Otherwise - who knows -the terraformers take over, the CFC gases rain down...'
'Get on with it, then!' came a shout from the audience, followed by roars of support.
Thorgeson said, 'The terrestrial economy is still in meltdown. Don't worry.
'Our present experiment is basically a pilot project, partly to test out how we work in adverse conditions. Maybe we can manage with this. If not, we hope to build a superfluid ring around the entire planet.'
'Another way of ruining Mars!' yelled a voice.
'We need to solve the problem at last. With the planet ringed, the answer to the vexed question of mass will finally be answered. Maybe Mars was formed precisely to enable us to find that solution.'
'Victorianism!' came a cry from a now restive audience.
Thorgeson answered this cry directly. 'Okay, tell me what else is Mars good for? You invited me here. Listen to what I have to say. I'll take sensible questions afterwards. Till then, keep quiet, please.'
As if to back him up, Euclid spoke. 'Say why it is so important to solve the mystery of mass. If a few physicists satisfy their curiosity in this respect, what good does that do ordinary people?'
'It is always difficult to justify curiosity-driven research in terms of its ultimate benefit to society. We can't tell ahead of time. Nevertheless the effect of such research, which seems entirely abstract to the lay person, can be tremendous. An obvious example is Alan Turing's analysis of theoretical computing machines done in the 1930s. It changed the world in which we live. We are on Mars because of it.'
Euclid: 'You must have some idea as to the value of this immensely costly research in areas other than particle physics.'
'Smudge research will have an important impact on other areas of physics and astrophysics. After all, it is concerned with the deepest issues of the very building bricks of the universe, the particles of which we are all composed, and their constituent elements.
'A full understanding of mass may lead to matrix-drives that will carry us to the heart of our galaxy.
'It's concerned, too, with gravitation and with the nature of matrix and time. It relates in a vital way to the understanding of the big bang origin of the universe, and thus to deep philosophical questions. The whole mystery of where the universe comes from and of what the universe is composed - this is what smudge research ultimately involves.'
The same angry voice from the audience now interposed to say, 'Self-justification is no justification.'
I saw anger in Thorgeson's eyes, but he answered in a controlled manner one could not but admire.
'You might ask how any of this really affects society, although the matter remains of great interest to any intelligent person. Well, society might also be deeply affected for a different type of reason. This relates to a third breakthrough, which occurred at about the same time, having to do with the very nature of the human mind - or the soul, as some unscientific people put it.
'In the early years of this century, the development of electronic into quantum computers encouraged the already widely held view that mind was just something that developed when sufficient powerful and effective computations took place. Chess, finally even the oriental game of Go, succumbed to the brutal but speedy computations of these devices.
'Yet no matter how effective these machines were, it was always obvious that they possessed no minds. They couldn't even be called intelligent in any ordinary sense of that word. Something essential was missing.
'With the development of the quantputer about 2023, distinct new physical features were incorporated, using basic quantum-mechanical principles. We have evidence that the human brain itself operates using these same principles. Thus, it is likely th
at we have in a quantputer all the essentials of human mentality. As yet, we are still short of knowing all the needed physical parameters.
'In 2039, definitive experiments carried out in France established that there is a CPS, a clear physical signal, emanating from conscious entities alone, and not from non-conscious entities like our present-day quantputers.'
Thorgeson paused to let this sink in before adding, with some emphasis, 'We have to improve the quantputer. When we have all the physical parameters - which the smudge should supply - then we shall be able to construct a quantputer that will actually emit a CPS. In other words, it will have consciousness.'
The audience remained unsettled, with voices still calling that Mars was not a laboratory.
John Homer Bateson rose from his seat and spoke, arms folded protectively across his chest. 'Professor Thorgeson, I am embarrassed to admit that I lost the thread of your involved argument when you began talking about mind. Whatever mind is. Have you not strayed from your proper subject? And is this not the way of physicists - to usurp ground properly the territory of philosophers?'
'I have not moved from my original topic,' Thorgeson said quietly. But another quiet voice in the audience, that of Crispin Barcunda, said, 'At least on Mars we have escaped the powers of the GenEng Institute, busy sculpting Megarich personalities and dupes and living rump steaks. While you guys here stay away from the biological sciences and stick to physics—'
'What's your question, Crispin?' I asked, insulted by his connecting dupes with living rump steaks.
'Is not the most pressing matter that now confronts us the possible connection between mind and your proposed smudge ring?'
'That's what we hope to find out,' Thorgeson said.
Other voices started calling. I told them to be silent and allow the lecture to continue.
At this point, Ben Borrow stood up, raising his hand to be seen. 'As a philosopher, I must ask what is to be gained by this search for the Omega Smudge? Is it not that which, by your own admission, has brought us to this wretched planet and caused the complete disruption of our lives?'
I answered before Thorgeson could.
'Why should you talk about the disruption of our lives? Why not the extension of our lives? Aren't we privileged to be here? Can't we by will power adapt our attitudes to enjoy our unique position?'
He looked startled by my attack, but rallied smartly, saying, 'We are of the Earth and belong there. It's the breast and source of our life and our happiness, Cang Hai.'
'Happiness? Is happiness all you want? What a pathetic thing! Hasn't the cult of the quest for happiness been a major cause of misery in the Western world for almost two centuries?'
'I didn't say—'
But I would not let him continue. 'The quest for scientific truth - is that not a far nobler thing than mere self-gratification? Please sit down and allow the lecture to continue.'
Thorgeson shot me a grateful look - although he was soon to teach me a horrid lesson in self-gratification. He came boldly to the front of the dais, to stand with hands on hips, confronting his hecklers.
'Look, everything in the universe depends on the fundamental laws that govern particles. All of chemistry, all of biology, all of engineering, every human - and inhuman - action - all of them ultimately depend on the laws of particle physics. Can't you understand that?'
The audience continued to be noisy. Thorgeson pressed on.
'Most of those laws are already known. The one major thing we do not yet know is where mass comes from. Once we know the Omega Smudge parameters - which will be fixed as soon as we have sufficient HIGMO data, then we will basically know everything - at least in principle. Isn't that important enough to put a bit of money into, just in itself? It's philistinism to ask for further justification.'
'Not if you're stuck here for years,' called someone from the audience, provoking laughter. Thorgeson spoke determinedly over it.
'It happens that some people in the early days of setting up the Mars experiment thought there was another justification for it. These people believed that there has to be more to the human mind than what they refer to as "just quantputing". They reckoned that finding HIGMOs would lead us to a "mysterious something" which would provide a better understanding of human consciousness. Maybe I should use the term "soul" again here.' He gave a brief contemptuous laugh. 'There are still some people -even some important people on the project, who shall be nameless - who continue to pursue this sort of notion. A load of nonsense in my opinion.'
He spoke more calmly now, and retired behind his podium to talk rather airily.
'There's no such thing as "soul". It's a medieval concept. Our brains are just very elaborate quantputers. Maybe we do still have to tune a few parameters a bit better, but that's basically all there is to it. Even Euclid would have a mind if he had been constructed with greater sophistication and better tuned parameters. But you can see he has a long way to go - haven't you, Euclid?'
Euclid: 'But I think I have a mind. A different kind of mind, perhaps. Maybe after a few more years, research will detect...'
'The only kind of minds so far we have direct reason to believe in are possessed by humans and animals, since they alone give the clear physical signal which shows up positively in the French experiment.'
Euclid: 'You are being anthropocentric and trying to prove you are better than I.'
'I am better than you, Euclid. I can switch you off.'
'Well, what has all this to do with smudges?'
'The mind is a product of the brain, our physical brains, so that mind depends on the physics of our brains. We need to know that physics just a little better. As we shall do when the Omega Smudge reveals all. Shall we soon be able to reproduce mind artificially? Smudge is clearly central to these questions.
'Here I need to retire to relax my throat for five minutes. I shall return to answer your questions.'
He motioned me to follow him, and he, I and Euclid trooped off the platform to general applause.
His performance had converted me from mistrust to admiration. 'A brilliant exposition,' I said, as we went into the rest room. 'You must have enlarged the understanding of—'
'Those fools out there!' he exclaimed. As he spoke, he turned the lock in the door behind his back. 'What did they understand? It was all gobbledy-gook to them. They show no inclination to learn. I'm not going back. I came over here to see you, you minx, and now I'm going to have you!' As he spoke, he was tearing off his overall. His face entirely altered from one of philosophical contemplation to a mask of lust and determination, its lines working angrily.
Never had I seen a man change so rapidly. I dreaded to think what thoughts he had been storing up in his mind during his long disquisition.
'Look, Jon, let's just talk—'
'You're going to be my payment—'
He tore from his pants the instrument with which he intended to rape me. I regarded it with interest. It differed from a dog's pizzle, mainly in having a padded bulb at the top for comfort during the penetration. This must have been, I thought, an evolutionary development tending towards producing better relationships between the sexes. Nevertheless, although I admired the design, I could not conceive of having it in my body.
Or not without a lot of consideration.
Making some absurd compliments about it, I took hold of the thing and began to stroke it. Thorgeson's 'No, no, no,' turned quickly to 'Oh oh oh,' as I hastened my strokes. I moved aside as he ejaculated on the floor.
All the while this embarrassing episode was taking place, Euclid stood there, smiling his blank smile. I ran past him, unlocked the door, and rushed into the passage.
Testimony of Tom Jefferies
12
The Watchtower of the Universe
The Martian marathon was organised by a group of young scientists working on Operation Smudge. They had set an ingenious 6-kilometre course through the domes, parts of which involved them leaping from the roofs of four-storey buildings,
equipped with wings to provide semi-flight in the light gravity.
The marathon was regarded as an excuse for fun. Beza and Dayo had teamed up to provide a little razmataz music. Over 700 young people, men and women, together with a smattering of oldsters, were entered in the race.
Many appeared in fancy dress. The Maria Augusta dragon was present, with several small offspring. A bespectacled and bewigged Flat Mars Society showed up. Many little and large green men, complete with antennae, were running alongside green semi-naked goddesses, jostled by other bizarre life forms.
Everyone not in the race turned out to watch. The music played. It proved an exciting occasion. First prize was a multi-legged dragon trophy, created in stone and painted by our sculptor, Benazir Bahudur, with less elaborate versions for runners who came second and third.
The winner was the particle physicist Jimmy Gonzales Dust. He finished in 1,154 seconds. He was young and good-looking, with a rather cheeky air about him; he was very quick with his answers. At a modest banquet held in his honour, he was reported to have made a remarkable speech. Feeling somewhat dizzy, I did not attend.
Jimmy said that he had once believed that the process of terraforming the planet should have been undertaken from the start of our tenure of Mars. There could be no ethical objection to such work, since there was no life on Mars that would suffer in the process.
He went on to say that the duration of life on Earth was finite. The Sun in senescence would expand until it consumed Earth and the inner planets. Long before that, Earth would have become untenable as an abode of life and the human race would have had to move on or perish.
He claimed that other ports of call - the phrase was Jimmy's - awaited. In particular, he pointed out, it was common knowledge that the satellites of Jupiter had much to offer. Whereas the hop from Earth to Mars was a mere 0.5 astronomical units on average, a much greater leap was required to reach those Jovian satellites - a leap of 3.5 AUs. Once humanity grew away from the corruption that dogged great enterprises to devise a better mode of propulsion than the chemical fuel presently used - or not being actually used, he added, to laughter - this leap would be less formidable and would prove to be nothing compared with that leap that would surely have to be made one day, the leap to the stars themselves.
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