Victor Grippi – The Atomic Writer

Hello Readers,

Today marks the day all national television stations stop broadcasting analog signals. Just over an hour ago analog signals that have been broadcast as the standard for over sixty years have been switched off and replaced by a digital broadcast signal. Like the vinyl record, cassette tape, and vacuum tube amplifier, the move to digital is not without cost. What is the significance of this change? Aren’t digital recordings more sharp, crisp, and interference free?

First, let’s touch on some basic electronic terminology to help me explain to you what this difference is all about. An analog signal can be represented by a sine wave that continual changes it’s amplitude, or voltage, as the signal moves through time. The signal starts at zero then rises to a positive peak where it then falls in voltage back down to zero. Once at zero the voltage swings negative and continues to a negative peak, usually at the same voltage level as the positive peak. The following diagram illustrates a varying sinusoidal wave. The vertical or Y axis represents voltage, while the horizontal or X axis represents time:

The above picture shows an analog signal that varies in amplitude over time and is typical of the type of signal that TV used to broadcast. The red arrows indicate points in time where the analog signal is to be sampled. The process is known and sample and hold and electronic circuits exist to carry this out. Basically, at each red arrow point, voltage is measured and then stored as a value represented by a digital number. Later these numbers can be reconverted back to analog if needed. In digital TV’s the digital signal is used to turn on and off the picture elements or pixels that make up the picture we see.

The following diagram illustrates sample and hold:

If we look at the red line moving in 90 degree blocks throughout the above signal, we see what is basically a digital signal. This becomes the signal that is now being broadcast by TV stations. The area between the sample points become artifacts that are forever lost.

What gives vacuum tube amplifiers and vinyl records that buzz or hum that people miss from earlier days are just these artifacts that are lost during the sample and hold digitizing process. When the signal is converted back to analog, like in the case of an audio signal, for TV or for an mp3 or CD player, the lost artifacts are unknown and therefore the only option is to
average out the signal and approximate what might have been in the signal at that point in time.

The same is true for video. The video MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) standards use a block averaging algorithm to blur neighboring pixels whenever the signal quality degrades or drops out during playback or transmission. The attempt is made to make it seem like everything is normal and we have all seen those times when our digital cable, or satellite video picture becomes blocky and pixelated in large blurry patches. This is the MPEG algorithm trying to approximate what it thinks the picture should have looked like.

Analog signals are more natural and capture more of the nuance found in naturally occurring speech and vision. The human eye needs approximately 24 frames per second in order to overcome persistence of vision. The human ear is only sensitive up to 40KHZ. That’s 40,000 cycles, or an analog signal whose voltage peaks positive and negative 40,000 times a second. CD quality audio, for example uses a sample and hold rate of 44 KHZ so that we hear the highest quality sound possible. But this is a sanitized sound. A sound that has been artificially massaged in order to improve it.

This brings up a point that The Atomic Writer would like to explore. As science improves the reproduction quality of audio and video, how will it change us? What is lost in the electrical artifacts that we remove? What, if anything will take their place? Digital technology makes it very easy to supplant subliminal messages into the extra spaces in digital transmissions. I’ll stop at just the mere mention of this since my point is to not be paranoid, only to call it like it is. We already have high definition TV and radio, that attempts to fill these spaces with extra bandwidth to provide clearer, crisper, cleaner, sharper, more realistic images. But the human senses can only detect a fraction of the full electromagnetic spectrum. What have we’ve been missing in the sights and sounds that impinge us? Or have we missed it?

Perhaps our eyes, ears, and physical bodies do pick up frequencies outside the detectable range? Perhaps the buzz and hum of a classic rock recording or live performance is detected by the human body. An illicit internal response that mimics the natural sound of nature. A sight and sound more attune with the human experience. Not the artificial rendering of a machine.

Ah, I’ve hit the central theme of this post. Should machines render the world we hear and see? Will we change as humans and become more machine like in our thoughts and minds? Aren’t we providing our reality to machines in their natural language? Will reality one day be dictated by machines? And if so, will we know the difference?

Remember, never stop looking up at the night sky and asking…what if.

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

Hello Readers,

Amazon is pairing Carl Sagan’s book, Contact, with The Ninth Cube for the month of December. Readers will have the opportunity to purchase both books at a cost savings and can do so with a single click!

Click here to receive a discount on both books.

I am very excited about the opportunity for readers who may not have heard about The Ninth Cube to be exposed to it through this partnership. It’s hard to get the word out in today’s crowded and heavily saturated book market, and Amazon is helping new authors, like myself, to gain exposure through this partnership.

For those who ask questions such as; is time travel possible, where did we come from, where are we going, how are we going to get there, what will be there when we get there? The answers to these and many more questions can be found in the writing of Carl Sagan and The Atomic Writer. And in the month of December, you can experience both these great writers at discount.

Personal note:
Carl Sagan exposed the science of the Cosmos to an entire generation of inquisitive minds including the atomic writer. He continues to this day to inspire and motivate us wherever he is in the Cosmos. The Ninth Cube is an extraordinary book on many levels. One aspect is a tribute to a man who opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of what lies just out of reach. My only hope is that somehow, somewhere, Carl is reading my book and smiling.

Remember, never stop looking up at the night sky and asking, what if…

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

Hello Readers,

Amazon is pairing Stephen Hawking’s book, A Briefer History of Time, with The Ninth Cube for the month of November. Readers will have the opportunity to purchase both books at a cost savings and can do so with a single click.

Available with The Ninth Cube on Amazon

I am very excited about the opportunity for readers who may not have heard about The Ninth Cube and the Timeline Trilogy to be exposed to it through this partnership. It’s hard to get the word out in today’s crowded and heavily saturated book market, and Amazon is helping new authors, like myself, to gain exposure through this partnership.

For those who ask questions such as; is time travel possible, where did we come from, where are we going, how are we going to get there, what will be there when we get there? The answers to these and many more questions can be found in the writing of Stephen Hawking and The Atomic Writer. And in the month of November, you can experience both these writers at discount.

To quote Stephen Hawking, “The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”

We find in The Ninth Cube the main character, Dr. Daniel Lamb, who studied under Dr. Hawking. In Daniel’s thoughts and actions the story unfolds and realizes the dreams of a great physicist. In many ways this is the story Stephen Hawking would write, if he wrote fiction.

Don’t believe me? Read the story and post a comment.

Remember, never stop looking up at the night sky and asking, what if…

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

We all seek the elusive secret of life. In our view of the world and all the elements in it, we as humans strive to make sense out of a world that seems random and chaotic at times. We can’t help but to apply a cause and effect pattern on everything we see, touch, hear and smell. It starts during childhood and based on environmental stimuli – we begin to categorize and sort items into nice comfortable buckets that help us cope with everyday life. Many people who are provincial in their thinking stop this process at an early age and are not open to new ideas and theories. They are held prisoner by a narrow minded world view that renders the world only in terms they know. Any deviation from this single view, and cries of injustice, prejudice and blasphemy are heard.

Others, however, are constantly learning new theories and forming their own ideas about an ever changing and dynamic world. These are people open to new ideas who are not threatened by learning new things. It is this latter group who derive the most enjoyment from my writing; either on this blog, or in my short stories or from my books.

Some of you may ask, who am I to write about such lofty subjects? I am a writer who above all else is an observer. All good writers are good observers. I am no smarter than the average person, just an acute observer. We analyze and categorize all that we experience, and try not to form narrow patterns. I have done this my entire life. At a certain point this information ripens and a silent call to action is heard. I heard this call several years ago when I began honing my writing skills and starting the information dump that continues to this day. I have always been open to new ideas and consider myself a free thinker. More importantly, I have taken this input and formed it into my own view of the world and the underlying reason things exist the way they do.

I found fiction to be the best vehicle to relay my thoughts and unique viewpoint of the world. Through the characters I invent and their stories, I am able to convey what I believe may be one possible explanation for the meaning of life. You may not agree with me, and that is totally acceptable. For those who do read what I write, and can then make intelligent comments, I am forever grateful.

If you continually learn new things you are always changing. The world is always changing, nothing ever stays the same. The earth, sun and the moon are always changing. Plants and animals are always evolving and adapting to the ever changing environment. Whether by intelligent design or random origins, our world is in constant motion. The well known phrase: The only constant in life is change. is very important. Once you stop changing, you begin to die. It’s as simple as that. Many people, at an early age, close themselves off to new ideas and begin to die.

My goal as a writer is to expand the minds of my readers. To open them up to new possibilities and ideas they may not of experienced before. In this way they may some day take this input and combine it to form their own personal world view. If I can achieve this with one person then I have succeeded as a writer.

If I have to dilute the message in my writing in order to sell more books, then I may never be a best selling author. Too many writers fall into this trap and change their writing in order to appeal to a mass audience. They have sold out to the system. Their message is contrived and artificial. Their words are targeted to sell books and make money for their publishers. Their books are nothing more than a commodity. If you want a cheap book, you will get a cheap message.

If you have read this post, this far, than I congratulate you. You are a positive thinker open to ideas and new experiences. You may also enjoy reading more. Some of my recommended books are on the right side in my Amazon ferris wheel.

Remember, never stop looking up at the night sky and asking, what if…

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer