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

Many of you ask The Atomic Writer if time travel is possible. It used to be a subject of science fiction that was not taken seriously. People would look sideways at you in a conversation about the physics involved and the possibility of altering space and time. Many scientists feared being seen as “fringe” scientists who are discounted as lunatics or quacks; the scourge of the profession.

Speaking of Fringe; how about the new Fox series by the same name? The Atomic Writer would like to know your comments on this new science based, X-Files like, new tv show. Any comments?

Michio Kaku gave the below interview to Scientific American on just this subject. The interview references the book and later movie, Timeline, by my fellow author Michael Crichton.

Now, let’s go back to Kaku, who says that it’s possible now to speak publicly about time travel without putting a career at risk, a thing unbelievable ten years ago.

Originally, the burden of proof was on physicists to prove that time travel was possible. Now the burden of proof is on physicists to prove there must be a law forbidding time travel. He goes back to the past to tell us when scientists started to think about time travel in a rigorous way, from Einstein to logician Kurt Gödel or mathematician Roy Kerr.

Here are selected excerpts:

SA: The idea in Timeline is that you can “fax” particles into the past. What is the kernel of truth there?
MK: In the last ten years, there has been enormous progress in something called quantum teleportation. This is not science fiction anymore. Now, to be real, we’re not talking about sending Captain Kirk across space and time. But we are talking about sending individual photons across space. In a few decades, maybe we will teleport the first virus, if the virus consists of a few thousand molecules. But at the present time, that’s the limit of what we can do. And we can only teleport things in space, not time. But the concept of faxing matter is not totally out of the question. And that was also raised in my book. So, there is a little bit of truth there.

SA: How practical would it be to build one of these time machines?
MK: In fact the energies we are talking about are the energies of stars. It would take a civilization far more advanced than ours, unbelievably advanced, to begin to manipulate negative energy to create gateways to the past. But if you could obtain large quantities of negative energy — and that’s a big “if” — then you could create a time machine that apparently obeys Einstein’s equation, and perhaps the laws of quantum theory. You need string theory to ultimately control all the divergences [i.e., to make sure a hail of gravitons doesn't fry you when you open or close the time machine]. Some cynics say quantum effects may still make the machine blow up. But at this point the burden of proof has shifted: people who are skeptical of time travel have to prove it’s impossible. And so far they have failed.

Kaku also speaks in detail about the paradoxes implied by time travel. and he discusses string theory or the influence of science fiction on physics. Scientific American also asked him what was his favorite time travel movie.

MK: Oh, that’s a hard one. There is a problem being a physicist, and that is when you see these movies, you say, “Well, that’s not right.” And it really ruins it. But I like the Back to the Future series. Here was a movie where you actually saw the scientist building and doing things; he was an essential character in the entire series. Doc Brown was this crazy man, but at least they showed him. He was there. He was making the series work.

Source: JR Minkel, for Scientific American, November 24, 2003
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So is time travel possible? Every day science advances into the future. Most of the time it is with baby steps, but sometimes we do make a quantum leap.

Having a scientist as a protagonist is a great idea, just ask Dr. Daniel Lamb…

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

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

Let’s cover some of the basic science behind black holes and how they could be related to time travel.

Where do black holes come from?
Black holes, like us, are born from the stars. The elements that make up all living beings originate in stars that explode and spread these elements throughout the cosmos. Likewise, when a star burns up all of its hydrogen, it explodes in a supernova, and then begins to collapse onto itself. It will collapse so dense that it creates a singularity.

What are the details of this process?
Stars, like our Sun, emit light from a process known as fusion. Stars convert energy into light by fusing hydrogen into helium. When a star burns all of its hydrogen it turns into a red giant. At this stage the star now has a helium core with a hydrogen outer layer. This grows and expands the star.

Inside this massive helium core, gravity begins to pull all this matter into itself. The temperature of the core rises dramatically and begins fusion of the helium.

The pressure sends temperatures soaring above a billion degrees, and the rising gravitational force makes lighter elements fuse into heavier ones: first helium to oxygen, then oxygen to silicon, and, finally, silicon to iron. Throughout, the slowly expiring star grows denser and denser.

The red giant is now very dense and causes space time, the four dimensional fabric of space and time, to curve more and more. Fusion continues until all elements are gone except iron.

This is the critical point where fusion can no longer support that pull of gravity in the core, and within a millisecond, the star explodes into a supernova.

The aftermath of the supernova depends on how large the original star was. For stars that are between 1.4 to 2 times the mass of our sun, it will become a neutron star. A neutron star is made up of super dense and heavy neutrons all packed together by the extreme gravity of the core. For solar masses of 3 or more, the star collapses into a black hole. A black hole is condensed so much that gravity prevents even light from escaping it. The fabric of space time has been reduced to a point, known as a singularity.

It is at this point where our math breaks down. Scientists have long searched for a unifying theory where we can explain how matter acts at the singularity. Solving this problem is critical if we are to ever know if time travel is possible. Knowing the conditions at the singularity will also explain the conditions present at the big bang, or before. Having the ability to shape the fabric of space time implies the possibility of manipulating the time factor in the equation.

If time travel proves to not be possible, it is important that we understand why it is not possible. This will lead to further explanation of our physical world and may lead to new technologies and industries that can create jobs, prosperity, and a healthy strong economy. In these troubled economic times, we need to keep moving forward and resist the urge to fall back technically in an attempt to comfort ourselves.

Some blame our current state on the failed promise of technology and the over dependence we face as a society. Computer system that we rely on have proven to not be reliable in all cases. This leads to a backlash of sediment against technology and cries of the nostalgic simpler days. This is the wrong direction to go. The Atomic Writer advocates the responsible, ethical pursuit of knowledge so that we can move forward in a safe humane manner, while continually progressing into the future. There is no turning back – only moving forward.

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

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

Hello Readers,

Amazon.com: “Technothrillers or is it Techno-thriller”

Either way you want to call it, The Ninth Cube is a new heart racing thriller based on the science of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, and Brian Greene.

Hailed by Kirkus Discoveries as a “physics-packed techno-thriller,” “anyone who has a flair for the research of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan will appreciate Grippi’s use of physics throughout the novel.” The author wrote The Ninth Cube as a hard science approach to speculative fiction. He intends for it to be as thought-provoking as entertaining.

“The Timeline Triology, Book 1 is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.

Unlike most trilogies, the Timeline Trilogy is a story told on three different timelines (alternate realities). In Book 1 we learn how timelines are created and the physics behind them. We are introduced to the main characters, Dr. Daniel Lamb and Dr. Tanya Galen.

The Ninth Cube is Book 1 in the Timeline Trilogy.

Until next time….remember never stop looking up at the night sky and asking, what if…

Victor Grippi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Author Pens Science Fiction Portraying Perils of the Selfish Pursuit of Knowledge

The Ninth Cube Press Release

Nasa’s GLAST mission has been renamed to the Femi mission in honor of Enrico Femi. (see the below biography)

NASA has also released the “first light” image taken from only 95 hours of data from this new instrument. This is only the beginning of great images this satellite will produce. The image is comparable to the EGRET instrument, on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, that took years to produce – instead of hours.

This is a flattened map of the entire sky:

To recap: the FEMI satellite will detect high energy signals like gamma ray bursts that originate from supernova, quasars, and potentially from evaporating black holes, or even the white hole end of wormholes. (for our time traveling friends) If you look at the above image, you can see a red shifted band across the middle of the image. This is from high energy signals, including gamma ray bursts.

Renaming the project to Fermi is a great tribute to an outstanding scientist who was instrumental in breaking new ground in quantum physics. He worked and pursued knowledge without any trace of a selfish motive or intent. This is crucial as we break new ground into technologies that may affect man or environment.

With the CERN LHC coming on-line this week, I want to underscore the importance of proceeding with caution. Most of the work the LHC will do is benign and will have little or no risk. However, one experiment planned is accelerating two particle beams, in opposite directions, and then smashing them together at 0.99999 the speed of light. This will create energies man has never seen before, and the resulting collision may reveal new exotic particles also never seen before. Now, this is a classic example of the need for science to proceed with wisdom and extreme caution as to the possible effects this line of experimentation may do to our environment. In my opinion, NASA should already be on Mars, and this my friends is the place to build a Large Hadron Collider. In the event a catastrophic black hole is produced, well there goes Mars, we’ll all say from a safe distance. Do we really need to find the elusive Higgs particle? Let’s just say it exists and leave it at that…

Perhaps I’m overreacting a bit. I mean heck, back during the Manhattan project scientists were concerned an atomic detonation would ignite hydrogen in the upper atmosphere and scorch the entire planet. Their worries were of course laid to rest when at the Trinity site on July 16, 1945, the upper atmosphere did not burn, the planet was saved. So atomic bombs were deemed safe and not too bad, since they did not destroy the planet. (at least not yet)

Biography of Enrico Fermi

Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was an Italian physicist who immigrated to the United States. He was the first to suggest a viable mechanism for astrophysical particle acceleration. This work is the foundation for our understanding of many types of sources to be studied by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, formerly known as GLAST.

Fermi is most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor and for his major contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his work on induced radioactivity and is today regarded as one of the top scientists of the 20th century.

In addition to his direct connection to the science, Fermi holds special significance to the U.S. Department of Energy, the Italian Space Agency, and the Italian Particle Physics Agency.

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer

Hello Readers,

For those without a kindle, who have been asking for a printed version of The Ninth Cube, it’s now available on Amazon!

Paperback Edition: The Ninth Cube

Here is more of the literary review of my book:
“What starts out as a race for the Nobel Prize ends in a race to save the planet in this physics-packed techno-thriller.”

“Anyone who has a flair for the research of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan will appreciate Grippi’s use of physics throughout the novel…”

Kirkus Discoveries Review

Hello Readers,

Kirkus, the premier book review company, has just sent in their review of The Ninth Cube. The review states that readers who like the science of Hawking and Sagan will be pleased with this “…engaging read…” so scientifically plausible, it is more realistic than fiction.

“Anyone who has a flair for the research of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan will appreciate Grippi’s use of physics throughout the novel…”

Kirkus Discoveries Review

News Flash: Thanks to you, my readers, The Ninth Cube is now the 5th best selling kindle technothriller on Amazon! This is based on the current sales ranking on 8.18.08.

Let’s examine some of the scientific theories involved in the examination of time travel. Remember, a theory is based on current observations and usually includes a mathematical model that describes the claims of the theory.

A new theory has emerged that claims to answer many questions that string theory falls short in. It is called MDT, or Moving Dimensions Theory.

According to Dr. Ranger McCoy, “Moving Dimensions Theory is in complete agreement with all
experimental tests and phenomena associated with special and general relativity. MDT is in complete agreement with all physical phenomena as predicted by quantum mechanics and demonstrated in extensive experiments. The genius and novelty of MDT is that it presents a common physical model which shows that phenomena from both relativity and quantum mechanics derive from the same fundamental physical reality.”

Let’s breakdown what we know so far:

RELATIVITY:

1) length contraction
2) time dilation
3) the equivalence of mass and energy
4) the constant velocity of light
5) the independence of the speed of light from the velocity of the source

QUANTUMN MECHANICS
1) action at a distance (quantum entanglement)
2) wave-particle duality
3) interference phenomena
4) EPR paradox

THERMODYNAMICS
1) Time’s arrow
2) Entropy

STRING THEORY’S MANY DIMENSIONS / KALUZA/KLEIN THEORY
1) a fourth expanding dimension can be interpreted as many dimensions, each time it expands

THE UNITY OF THE DUALITIES
1) wave/particle duality
2) time/space duality
3) energy/mass duality
4) E/B duality

GENERAL RELATIVITY
1) Gravitational redshift
2) Gravity waves
3) Gravitation attraction

THE SPACE-TIME BACKGROUND
1) quantum foam
2) the smearing of space and time at small distances
3) Hawking’s imaginary time

PARADOXES
1) MDT explains away Gödel’s Block Universe
2) MDT unfreezes time
3) Resolves Zeno’s Paradox

The Atomic Writer’s summary:
What I want you to get from this is that there are theories that do not rule out time travel. Travel in the forward direction is generally agreed without debate. However, travel back in time poses several problems that include a well known set of paradoxes. String theory, or MDT theory are attempts at rationalizing observations based on the advancing state of technology. As we peer deeper and deeper into the unknown, we sometimes have to throw out theories based on newly found data. New theories and mathematical models emerge to replace the old ones.

Einstein’s theory of relativity has stood the test of time for over a hundred years. Special relativity described the observable universe in a model called the space time continuum, replacing Newtonian theories that presented time as a linear entity stretching to infinity in both directions. Later, Einstein refined special relativity to include gravity, and this is called general relativity. Gravity is now described as warping or bending space/time and matter simply falls towards the mass that is creating the warp. A common analogy is placing a bowling ball on a mattress, the surface of the mattress depresses where the bowling ball sits. If you then take a baseball and roll it by the bowling ball, without touching it, you will see the baseball change course as if pulled towards the bowling ball. This is the core root of general relativity.

Einstein also discovered that time is based on how it is observed. To a person traveling at or close to the speed of light, time appears to move forward normally. To a stationary observer, however, time passes much much slower when compared to the person travelling at the speed of light. So if the traveler travelled for one year at the speed of light, the stationary observer would experience many years. Make sense?

Until next time…

Victor Grippi
The Atomic Writer