Has the James Webb Telescope (JWT) just revealed a totally new universe which we can now physically see? Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall? The JWT was always going to be interesting because it can see so much that we’ve never seen. One of the things we wanted to see was the edges of our universe. Current theory says that limit happens to be around 13.5 ...
The big, big problem. No cure so far for Alzheimer’s, none in sight. We need to try something really new. How about ChatGPT? Physician Cure Thyself I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that AI, and in particular the product-du-jour is ChatGPT from OpenAI. It has already achieved some outstanding feats, such as being able to write fluent, convincing an...
Banning successful movements like TikTok is the way to lose global leadership, not to regain it. Banning Success the New Autocracy? I guess you have noticed the swelling chorus to ban TikTok, the Chinese uber-social network. The motivation for the ban is the security threat from China represented by TikTok. It has de facto hacking rights over of mi...
Newfangled AI content means none of us has to be innovative. There’s a better way which doesn’t require anyone to be innovative. Its trash-talking. Talk is Cheaper I guess you’ve heard about ChatGPT? That’s the phenom AI-based chatbot that can fool just about anyone into thinking that what they’re reading was penned by one William Shakespeare, and ...
We’ve been schooled into believing that exercise improves cognitive performance. Now we have a scientific trial that says it doesn’t. What do we do now? Slothfulness Beats Godliness? Once every so often you get data that upsets the whole applecart. Here is one of them. Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California San...
Yet another Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab, is hitting the FDA seeking approval, but looks to be of marginal benefit at best. Wishful thinking is squelching the radical actions we need to take to break through to a cure. Without radical thinking we will never get a cure for Alzheimer’s. More is Less The history of Alzheimer’s drugs continues to be dep...
When/if we see aliens, they would have evolved from where they were when we first saw them. But could they have evolved backwards? There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills The James Webb telescope is getting into its stride. Now its discovered active atmospheres on exoplanets. The telescope has actually made an inventory of the chemicals in the atmosphere o...
New forms of tech are pumping up military innovation and spending which will increasingly crowd out innovation for disease and social purposes and inevitably for climate change. Generatively Speaking Have you heard of generative AI? It’s the latest in tech. Maybe tech has peaked but not in this particular area. Generative AI is the next quantum lea...
Can Pandorans Speak Whale? It might be that the only way we can ever understand an alien language is by figuring out how to understand what terrestrial animals are actually saying. On a Planet, Far, Far Away You might have noticed that the movie “Avatar” is about to get a sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water”. Avatar is one of my old-time favorite movi...
Quantum computing looking increasingly likely to be the next tech bubble. What is Quantum? Did you notice that the Nobel in physics has just been awarded to three worthy physicists in the area of quantum information? What’s that you say? I’m the wrong guy to even try to explain it but for dummies like me, see here. It covers esoterica such as qua...
Ukraine and Russia are both chess world powers. Who is winning through the prism of the chess board? The Peace Count Both Ukraine and Russia are powerful chess powers. So, as an admittedly poor player myself, I thought it would be worth figuring out who’s in the better position on the chess board. Here’s my take. Pawns – These are the foot soldiers...
Data from the James Webb Telescope suggest that there might not have been a Big Bang. What about countless tiny pops? The Big Bang is Dead, Long Live the Tiny Pops If you want to look truly up with the latest, just tell your credulous colleagues that the James Webb Telescope (JWT) shows us that the Big Bang didn’t happen. Instant street cred for su...
Here’s a way to get solutions to problems. It isn’t new but many people wouldn’t know about it. Happy to Introduce you to Joe It’s possible to program your brain to become more innovative. But you mustn’t meddle with your brain; it likes to call its own shots. It doesn’t like to be told what to do either. I want to pass on to my readers a hack I h...
There’s RNA in space. What happens when black holes pull it in?
Did you see that astronomers have spotted a huge cloud containing RNA in the Milky Way? What’s that all about. Isn’t RNA supposed to be tucked away on terra firma comfortably in our warm cuddly bodies?
As we know RNA is a precursor of DNA and serves to manufacture proteins for our bodies. Could there possibly be embryos being formed in the cold vastness of space. Kind of unlikely one would think.
Oh yes and bye the way did you also know that there are giant molecules of alcohol (actually methyl alcohol) in space too? For someone to drink perhaps on those interminable voyages between star clusters (although this form of alcohol sends you blind)?
RNA is a relatively large molecule. We used to think that large molecules could not exist in space as they would be broken up by the many errant radiations out in the sticks. But now we know otherwise. We already knew that amino acid molecules are also out there. So, what else could be lurking?
How about DNA? Why not? And if there are DNA out there as well as RNA, could there also be free-floating life out there? Might it not be easier for these molecules to join up and self-assemble since they already do it on Earth and there are less pesky things to get in the way in space like viruses and bacteria.
But if you could get DNA floating around, why not even larger molecules? Ones that cannot exist on Earth, so we haven’t seen them. Could there be macro-molecules similar in concept to DNA that could form life forms orders of magnitude more complex than we have right now, as exemplified by that primitive multi-cellular organism called homo sapiens?
Could these massive molecules portend new life forms that are so complex they are unrecognizable by us humans? Ones that could be as large as a complete solar system with planets?
So, there are macro-molecules out there. What could it all mean?
It’s becoming increasingly clear that black holes are a critical part of the grand design. They have their own lifecycle, being born and then dying somehow although exactly how we don’t know. But it seems to be that there’s at least on mega-black hole at the center of each galaxy and they are part of galactic evolution. Without them you probably don’t get galaxies and by extension, us. So, they are part of the human story too, at least in our own galaxy.
Which brings me to the point. If a black hole is part of the human, if not at least the biological, story, is all that RNA and alcohol part of the deal too. If so, how?
Well one thing we’ve got to take into account is the sheer size of black holes. So far the biggest one we know of is 66 BILLION times the mass of the Sun. That’s a lot of Big Macs.
What does all that stuff do inside the black hole? (See my post “What’s really inside black holes?” 24 March 2018) We don’t know, but it must be interesting for sure. And since we haven’t seen many black holes, relatively speaking, maybe there are black holes that are still way larger!
But here’s where I’m going. These black holes are omnivorous as far as we know and pull in everything and anything around them. That would undoubtedly include clouds of RNA and alcohol. What happens to this stuff inside the hole. Does it form life for instance?
If there’s life inside the black hole that raises a whole range of scenarios. More humans perhaps? Dinosaurs? Trees 10,000 fee high/ God? The list goes on. In fact, those black holes might not be 66 billion tons of inert mass. It could be 66 billion tons of life! And since there’s a lot of big black holes around the various infinitude of galaxies, that means there could be a lot of life in the universe. That is, not just restricted to the odd, lonely exoplanet.
Of course, when said RNA is pulled into a black hole, maybe it is stripped down to its constituent electronic particles never to be seen again. Or maybe it remembers the form of the RNA and reconstructs it from epigenetic spatial memory. Or maybe by some mechanism of which we are yet, in our primeval ignorance, not aware, it protects itself and survives to become the Blob, just very, very large. And, just maybe, very, very intelligent.
So maybe we’re thinking the wrong way when we talk about life being found, on Mars, the occasional exoplanet, on under the oceans of watery moons. Perhaps the real answer is that we have to look inside black holes as being the most likely location of life, including intelligent life.
Now I am aware of course that thesekill-joy astronomers tell us that you can’t get inside black hole otherwise you’ll be stretched into spaghetti millions of miles long, and maybe they’re right. But could AI, computers and math look for it for us in weird and wonderful ways to tell us what forms of life could exist there? If we’re into discovering new stuff, shouldn’t we be doing that also? Especially if there could be Gods there, or ultrasmart beings that could solve all our problems including climate change and free food?
Could it be that most of the universe, not just black holes, is mainly made of living things and the rocky stuff is actually a minority? Could that mean that most of the universe is conscious, and likely sentient at the same time?
The James Webb telescope and astronomy are revolutionizing the way we think. Even if the meanderings here are totally idiotic, it’s clear that these sorts of questions are going to come up in an amplified sense.
Makes the woke stuff look trivial right?
We have posted on numerous occasions that the global research industry for Alzheimer’s was taking the wrong route. Even we didn’t suspect that there was deliberate fraud. The Low Road For many years we have posted our opinion that worldwide research for Alzheimer’s had taken the wrong path. That path of course was the amyloid hypothesis. We said th...
Could carrying abortion pills lead to arrests for carrying guns? We’ve just created a new market for illegal drugs. It might lead to cross-liability for carrying guns. Pill Candy I recently asked a scientist friend of mine how easy it would be to manufacture the two main abortifacients – the drugs used for medical abortion. While no expert, he told...
myNGXY7z6Jce It’s become crystal clear that humans will never achieve a sustainable planet. But the inevitable population crash will do it for us. Is the Law an Ass? No doubt you noticed that the Supreme Court just hobbled the EPA in its powers to promote a reduction in CO2 emissions. But actually he Supremes are not the problem here. Globally the ...
Yeah, there’s tons of research but the Alzheimer’s community, well-meaning as it is, is wedded to bureaucratic approaches which have totally stymied any true innovation. Definition of Insanity Applies OK, everyone will say how much research is going on in the field and the setbacks are just temporary, yada yada. But the failures in the Alzheimer’s ...
Who gave the order not to use guns? The Real Stand-Down Order? I usually stay clear of politics; you usually can’t win. But this issue is shouting out so loud to be heard, I can’t avoid it. So here goes. Where were the guns of January 6? I saw the videos of the Congress riots and could see batons and pepper spray galore but no guns. What gives? We ...
You’d expect politicians to miss important stuff when they discussed UFOs. They did. Did Oumuamua Bring them? So, Congress just had hearings on UFOs (what they call UAPs – unexplained aerial phenomena). What does that all mean? That aliens exist?? For the record I’m going to assume that the UFOs Congress discussed are not of Earthly origin, coz oth...
