Human Evolution - The Future

Ever since Charles Darwin wrote about the origin of species, there has been a great deal of argument and controversy over the evolution of humans.

The author examines the evidence for the genetic basis of evolution in general and the influence of natural selection on the development of the human race.

The focus of the book then turns to the question of what the future might hold for the further evolution of humans with particular reference to space exploration and the long-term effects of space travel.

The human body is highly adapted in evolutionary terms to living under the influence of gravity and its absence can have some serious health consequences. Weightlessness and its effects on human physiology are only one aspect of space travel the returning astronauts have to deal with.

Long space journeys will involve time discrepancies which, in extreme circumstances, result in astronauts returning to a changed world in which their peer group has already passed away and they find themselves amongst strangers.

It is difficult to determine exactly what the psychological effects might be on returning voyagers, but it is likely to be quite traumatic.

The author suggests the possibility that those who choose to become career astronauts will likely prefer to remain permanently living in space, and over time exposure to different selection pressures will result in a human variant given that both men and women will be equally drawn to scientific research and/or the adventure and excitement involved.

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The Runaway Universe

No matter in which direction we look out from our position in space, everything is moving away from us at an ever-increasing rate. The Runaway Universe. It appears as though we are living on the surface of a balloon which is being inflated by the force of the Big Bang which first brought our universe into being. While some scientists believe that the universe will eventually run out of energy and die, others, including the author, suggest another, more exciting possibility. What if this universe is just one incarnation of a continuous series of universes that recycles through a sequence of expansions (Big Bangs) and contractions (Black Holes)? This book expands on ideas developed in Energy and Everything, the first of a three-part series by the author examining recent developments in the fields of particle physics and cosmology. Readers are invited to join the author in some interesting and challenging thought experiments designed to examine what is reality and what is illusion, all smoke and mirrors. Is the universe we live in merely a stage on which we act out our lives, telling our stories in a continuous, never-ending series of stories that join with countless other stories in a book called Life?

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Photons – The Real Time Lords

About one hundred years ago, new discoveries involving the nature of fundamental particles challenged some of the laws of classical physics and our understanding of reality. Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein became involved in an argument about the nature of reality, epitomised by Einstein’s claim that "God does not play dice with the universe," expressing his scepticism about the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics and the concept of inherent randomness in the universe. Today the argument has long been settled in Bohr’s favour, and quantum theory is firmly established as the most successful theory in the history of science.

At the very core of quantum theory is the wave-particle duality of matter, wherein fundamental particles like electrons and photons can be observed to behave both like particles and also like waves depending on the circumstances. Today there is increasing speculation that all particles and even larger compound objects may also have a quantum wave function.

Photons stand at the edge of this new reality because, unlike electrons, they have no rest mass, and yet they are attracted by the force of gravity. Black holes swallow up anything that comes too close, including photons, leading to the idea that nothing can escape their influence, not even light. However, there is evidence that black holes also radiate energy, producing a form of electromagnetic radiation, photons that energise the continual expansion of our universe.

Adding to their mystique, photons also appear to manipulate time, as evidenced in the classic "double slit" experiment, during which photons appear to show retrograde action, reversing in time to go backwards and change the images formed on a screen. All this and more has led the author to see photons as “the real Time Lords”.

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Human Behaviour

The author spent his early childhood in Rainford, a village situated approximately halfway between Liverpool and Manchester in the north of England. It was a time of great uncertainty in Europe as England and her allies resisted the expansion of Nazi Germany. People in uniforms were everywhere, and it was not just those serving in the military, like the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine operating out of Liverpool, the Royal Air Force and flight crew from the USA based at Burtonwood and local members of the Army and Home Brigade. Additionally, there was everyday contact with fire wardens, police officers, railway staff, vicars, priests, doctors, nurses and Land Army girls in what seemed a never-ending parade of different uniforms, hats, assorted weapons and vehicles and other symbols of office. It appeared that the only ones out of a uniform were in his school, too young or too old to be called up to support the war effort.

Even as a child, he soon realised that the people wearing a particular uniform were expected to behave in a certain way. Policemen were always around to make sure you behaved in a proper manner when out of the reach of parents or teachers and not inclined to pinch apples from someone’s orchard. Anyone serving in the military became the embodiment of the heroes shown on the movie screen and was held in great awe. Religious leaders were around to record births, deaths and marriages and to make sure that in between times you went to Sunday School and attended church.

In many ways the situation was surreal; toy soldiers could be put away in a box when you had finished your make-believe war games, along with the policeman, the railway inspector and sundry other tin replicas. The real ‘uniforms’ were different, of course and they had families and friends, and you couldn’t just put them away in a box at the end of the day; they were made of flesh and blood, and then quite suddenly some weren’t around anymore.

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