psychoceramics: Also from the forteana-list: Psychoceramic delight

[William Tozier <tozier @ santafe.edu>]

Clipped from the forteana mailing list:

<< start of forwarded material >>


Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 11:38:58 GMT
X-Sender: t--@s--
Mime-Version: 1.0
To: f--@l--.primenet.com
From: Tim Chapman <timc @ chemind.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Psychoceramic delight
Sender: owner-f--@l--.primenet.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: f--@l--.primenet.com

Here's a letter that Chemistry & Industry received in April from a
gentleman in Powys who writes such missives fairly (ir)regularly. If anyone
has a clue what it's about, I'd  be interested to hear.

*****
There is another, and much more serious, 'millennium
bomb' than that reported by Graham Lawton in the
above article ('Exploding the millennium myth', C&I 1997, 250).

This is that 'everyday' time is sub-divided in
accordance with the ancient Babylonian base sixty
arithmetic, which is constructed from the unique
prime factors of 2*2*3*5, while 'scientific' time is
sub-divided in the decimal system, which only has the
prime factors 2 *5. The two methods of sub-division
are thus mathematically incommensurable in terms of
one-dimensional scalar arithmetics and can only be
properly reconciled in terms of the multibase
(polylogarithmic) rational arithmetics from which
logarithms to base e and the Euler number are
constructed.

Correcting this fundamental error will afford a means
for demonstrating various limitations on processes of
'organic growth' in all natural environments and this
will, in turn, then have a profound effect on
'financial derivatives'. For example, the simple
formula for calculating a rate of interest is (1 +
l/n)n, while the complete expansivn required to
obtain the Euler number is the infinite series:

1 + 1/1! + 1/2! + 1/3! + .
.. . . +1/n!

Each of the terms in this series is a number base,
together with its combinatorics, and may be
encountered in any temporal order in a natural
dynamic. However. the most commonly encountered term
is that of modulo four in its bilinear form, which
governs geometrical quadrature as the basis of the
integral and differential calculus developed by Sir
Isaac Newton.

It can then be shown that mass flows in the global
environment follow paths of least resistance which
are governed by the conversion of the orthogonal
wavefronts inherent in energy radiated by the sun
into triangular geodesics at the earth's surface.
This involves the elimination of one of the four
right angles internal to a square as inscribed on
the flat Euclidean plane, leaving three internal
right angles of an equilateral triangle as inscribed
on the surface of a perfect sphere. This is an
elementary reason for the metabolic rate of all
living organisms being approximately proportional to
the body mass raised to the power 3/4 (see "Why
nature loves economies of scale", New Scientist,
134, (2077), 16, 12 April, 1997).

All the indications are, therefore, that the
existing models for assessing the 'greenhouse
effect' will need to be revised in order to take
account of the manifold differences between
mathematical models of the global climate based on
purely physicochemical data and those that take
proper account of the growth and physiological
characteristics of plants and animals as well. The
problem is easily resolved by confining all temporal
data to the cells of square matrices the dimensions
of which are constructed on the basis of the square
figurate numbers 1^2, 2^2, 3^2,. . . n^2 This is
tantamount to defining a single unit of measure for
the dimensions of time and of length which is
subject to unlimited binary partition and which then
corresponds to "root mean square" computation (see
enclosed diagram ).


Yours sincerely,




(name tactfully removed) BSc CChem FRSC FCIWEM DSc (HC)

*****

The enclosed diagram showed two overlaid square grids, one labelled
'Spatial grid', the other 'Temporal grid', at a 45degree angle, such that
each junction on the temporal grid fell halfway between junctions on the
lines of the spatial grid. The letter was also circulated to the letters
editor of New Scientist and the Natural Resources Division of the World
Bank.



Tim Chapman
t--@c--.demon.co.uk

'They're not aliens. They never were aliens. They're antibodies.'

<< end of forwarded material >>

--------------                               ------------------------
William Tozier                               also: Santa Fe Institute
Biology Department                                 t--@s--.edu
University of Pennsylvania                 [Web Pages Being Serviced]

"Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a
child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain
always in the infancy of knowledge."
  -- Cicero