Zero Point Musings

T

Tao_Equus

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I say at the outset that I am no physicist and that all my knowledge on this subject comes from books designed to give the armchair curious like myself some inkling of what greater minds are thinking. So if anyone finds misconceptions or innacuracies I will stand gratefully corrected. Spelling mistakes are par for the course, I dont need picked up on them...:p

I have only just re-visited this subject after a few years and am sad to find it relegated by many scientists into the label of pseudoscience. When I first read on it it was being hailed as ground breaking insight into quantum reality and some of the data I saw presented certainly appeared compelling. The implications for virtualy free limitless supplies of energy have led to a fair dose of conspiracy theories of the current energy giants suppressing all new knowledge. This may or may not be true but it is not the purpose of this thread to present such arguments. However any comments on that are as welcome as any other.

When Uncle Albert released his theories of relativity they knocked into touch the generaly accepted notion that space was not vacum but an aether soup. Zero Point Field reintroduces the concept of some kind of aether-like plain that exisists on the sub-atomic or quantum level of the universe. The nature of this field is that it is a manifestation of pure energy that gives rise to everything else in the universe. It exists at absolute zero temperature, where all atomic activity/motion ceases to take place, yet itself has infinite energy that is constantly in motion. According to some scientists it is far more than a passive 'super energy cell' or battery to power the universe. If we use the analogy of a human, some scientists would suggest that the zero point field can be likened to our nervous system.....including the brain itself. The field is not restricted to our normal thinking of atomic limitations on speed of light and it is proposed that it is this dimension(s) that allows properties of quantum reality, such as entanglement to take place. Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientific predictions have been made such as the Casimir effect that have gone on to be tested and verify some of the predicted properties of the zero point field.

In 1948 the Dutch physicist H.B.G. Casimir calculated that two metal plates brought sufficiently close together will attract each other very slightly. The reason is that the narrow distance between the plates allows only small, high-frequency electromagnetic "modes" of the vacuum energy to squeeze in between. The plates block out most of the other, bigger modes. In a way, each plate acts as an airplane wing, which creates low pressure on one side and high pressure on the other. The difference in force knocks the plates toward each other. While at the University of Washington, Lamoreaux conducted the most precise measurement of the Casimir effect. Helped by his student Dev Sen, Lamoreaux used gold-coated quartz surfaces as his plates. One plate was attached to the end of a sensitive torsion pendulum; if that plate moved toward the other, the pendulum would twist. A laser could measure the twisting of the pendulum down to O.Ol-micron accuracy. A current applied to a stack of piezoelectric components moved one Casimir plate; an electronic feedback system countered that movement, keeping the pendulum still. Zero-point-energy effects showed up as changes in the amount of current needed to maintain the pendulum's position. Lamoreaux found that the plates generated about 100 microdynes (one nanonewton) of force. That "corresponds to the weight of a blood cell in the earth's gravitational field," Lamoreaux states. The result falls within 5 percent of Casimir's prediction for that particular plate separation and geometry.*
*From scientific american, december 1997, Philip Yam.



It is hypothesised by some that it is zero point energy that supplies the energy and keeps the electrons in an atom orbiting the nucleus, however no experiment to test this has yet been devised. But an electron and the zero point energy share a common property that is quite mind boggling. Physicists have long known that when they measure the mass of an electron the figures they calculate give it "infinite" mass. It has long been the practice of physics to 'round' off the numbers to get somthing they can work with. But the truth of the maths are that electrons do have infinite mass. So the infinite energy of the field can, in thought at least, be seen to be manifested in the electron....not just one....but all, simultaneously. Each electron is the universe or some strange incomprehensible expression of it.


The Zero Point Field has been described as a matrix that allows energy and information exchange between any given points in space time simultaneously. It is like a real time instant 'internet' that allows quantum entanglement to happen. It does not operate on the relativistic light-speed constraints of atomic physics. But it does interact with, indeed some might say creates, the atomic universe we see around us. For this reason some suggest that such things as remote veiwing, psychicness, premonition and other related ideas are made possible by this interaction. That people can to some degree harness the matrix to extract information.


Edinburgh University, my home town, and Stanford in the US are world leaders in the study of ESP from a purely scientific standpoint. In stringent and rigorously controlled experiments carried out on many 1000's of subjects over many years a pattern has emerged that cannot be explained away by experiment flaws or any other reason. This is that the average person consistently scores 5-15% above chance in these tests. Not a hugely impressive figure but statisticly it is very significant. Clearly people have some ESP. For ESP to exist it must have some medium to facilitate its operation. Zero Point Field was not invented to give credence to ESP, but it does provide that medium.


Quantum entanglement is not just a theory its a well tested theory. Singapore already has a secure communication network for its financial institutions using quantum entanglement. The European Union has allocated 11million euros to do the same. Finacial institutions are using the Zero Point Field already but mainstream science is calling it pseudoscience. Most of us have had a deja vu, a premonition or some other unexplainable 'knowledge'. Perhaps we do have some ability to harness this field. Maybe our modern lifestyles dampen it, maybe we can see it more keenly in some animals? Maybe its our destiny, maybe its the 'plain' from which and to which our 'souls' truly belong. Maybe it is Gods blueprint or stencil that directs creation. Or maybe it is God itself!!



Your thoughts please.


TE
 
amusing, tao, for a few reasons... I have been thinking a lot about zero recently, and have just posted summat about zero and sunyata in the buddhist neck of the woods...

u say- The Zero Point Field has been described as a matrix that allows energy and information exchange between any given points in space time simultaneously... [etc], ...For this reason some suggest that such things as remote veiwing, psychicness, premonition and other related ideas are made possible by this interaction. That people can to some degree harness the matrix to extract information"

and I would have to agree wholeheartedly with this, yet I would instead refer to it as "tapping into the collective consciousness", and doing this brings telepathic experiences, "astral travel", premonitions, etc, etc...

however... because this "collective consciousness" is beyond the individual mind it can be difficult to access such and it can also be unstable, and energy can flow both ways, yet the normal rules of physics do not apply- stability of matter, gravity, all those constants are not, and they are not because a person is accessing the collective consciousness, and its beyond physics...

there is difficultly in measuring these psi abilities, yet I think that difficulty is that they don't actually test that many psychics, as there really isn't that many of them about... yes plenty of ppl have the occasional premonition, etc, but most ppl have normal lives and havent got the time to devote to practising and working with this ability, and u need to work on it for years before it becomes something more than a rare occurance...

however, u must add more to this thread! as its mucho interesting to me!
 
Thank you Francis.

"tapping into the collective consciousness"
is much along the same idea as my own thoughts on this. The collective consciousness has to be defined tho. Hence my final questions at the end of my post. It seems to my puny little grey walnut-like sponge between my ears that this collective consciousness is the program of universal creation. Gods pro-active schematic if you like to ascribe divinity to it. Certain aspects of its nature as described by physics lead me to think it is the source of regulation to hold together our apparently improbable universe. Its nature is reactive rather than passive, like a super-computer set to monitor and perform fine tuning where necessary on a highly complex system. Yet it is so weak at any given point that it barely exists at all. But can also be seen using mathematics in its entirety in the mass of an electron. Mind boggling.

Harnessing energy from this limitless supply is theoretically possible but would be so weak as to make it entirely improbable we ever will invest the huge expenditure for such a slow return. Mainstream physics is currently throwing all its headlines in the direction of superstring and M-theories and as is so common in science the research on ZPF is woefully underfunded and relegated to the fringes. This is despite ZPF offering a much more easily understood and credible explanation for dark energy and expansion theory than any other popular line of inquiry.

The esoteric circle of writers using ZPF to explain the working dynamics of ESP includes many well respected scientists that have been employed in exhaustive, rigorously controlled remote-viewing experiments, many carried out at Stanford for the CIA. According to books I have read certain individuals have developed an ability that given the experimental data from the double-blind tests defy any critic. But of course they are selling books and one must bear this in mind. I can conceptualize for myself how the ZPF can be used as the conduit of ESP and related areas and accessing the collective consciousness is a good way to describe it. But is this collective consciousness that which we would call God or merely Gods plan?

TE
 
I too find ZPF a very interesting concept. Almost as if it is the soup that everything sits in that has another dimensions. My brain imagines it as a reality "outside" and "inside", that can be tapped into by thought, belief, intention. I don't know about the G-d aspect?

Ard
 
I too find ZPF a very interesting concept. Almost as if it is the soup that everything sits in that has another dimensions. My brain imagines it as a reality "outside" and "inside", that can be tapped into by thought, belief, intention. I don't know about the G-d aspect?

Ard
Neither do I!! What i do know is that i find the beauty of such massive simplicity awesome. It boils down to whether or not one ascribes intelligent design. This 'soup' ,as i understand it, is the base line, the foundations of the huge edifice of our universe. The expression of mass that we see in a super-massive black hole is theoretically, (in ZPF theory), only half way up the scale of the possible. Perhaps some of the quasars we observe at the limits of our observational capability, and at the extreme edge of our picture of linear time take the expression of mass further....we simply do not know yet. Our observational abilities are strictly limited to the relativistic matter universe. An effect of ZPF theory is that our observational techniques of measuring shift are erroneous and that the true distance to the most far flung observed objects is far far greater than the generally accepted figures. That initial expansion, already mind numbingly rapid, was several orders of magnitude greater and by far exceeded relativistic constraints on speed.
Our dreams and our deeper perceptions transcend matter and tap into the wellspring of creation that does seem at times to respond/react to our wishes. Like the power of prayer for example. Or that of the pet dog that starts to get excited the moment its keeper makes the decision to head home. This is the matrix at use and i personally imagine it to be very similar to a brain firing off information to where it is required. Something that too is magical. There is this ocean that appears to be so insignificant when one focuses on any individual node yet at the same time encapsulates, records, defines, directs and transmutes the nature of all things. Its crazy and beautiful.

TE
 
Thank you for your musings, tao.

I was off at Amazon.com looking through books on the subject - I find my eyesight can't handle the screen to long.

Any book recommendations?

Ard
 
Thank you for your musings, tao.

I was off at Amazon.com looking through books on the subject - I find my eyesight can't handle the screen to long.

Any book recommendations?

Ard

For the science of it, and where i first came across it i recommend "string theory in a nutshell" sorry forget author .. for a superb insight into the thinking derived from it i highly recommend "The Field" by Lyne McTaggert.

TE
 
String Theory for dummies? ...will google. I read "The Field" Lynne McTaggart and yes she did explain it very well . I suppose I'm looking for a bigger tome that has science explained for the rest of us, yet with an air of authority and not getting to New Agey.

These looked interesting:

The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology (Paperback)
by Nick Cook

Dean Radin - Conscious Universe and Entangled Minds

cheers,

ard
 
These two books certainly look worth reading. I see he has close links to the Institute for Noetic Sciences which certainly promotes some thought provoking speakers. Its still a shame that you have to approach everything even remotely related to a new idea with your bull meter set on maximum.

I liked this quote: If you do not get schwindlig [dizzy] sometimes when you think about these things then you have not really understood it [quantum theory]. - Neils Bohr I must understand it quite well then..... gives me vertigo!!
 
I google that guy some more (Dean Radin ) and wonder if he is on the bull-o-meter scale. When you start looking at reviews, especially from the sceptics it seems that no scientist is hardly allowed venture out.

I mentioned in another forum an radio interview I heard with a scientist at Harvard who is slowing light:
Physicists Slow Speed of Light
 
Kindest Regards, Tao!

Thank you for this thoughtful thread!

Apologies that I missed it earlier.
"tapping into the collective consciousness" is much along the same idea as my own thoughts on this. The collective consciousness has to be defined tho.
I am woefully ignorant on this subject of Zero Point Field. Going by what has been brought about here though, I find myself in general agreement with the similarity with Jung's concept of collective consciousness. I also like the "soup" analogy.

This is despite ZPF offering a much more easily understood and credible explanation for dark energy and expansion theory than any other popular line of inquiry.
I am always hesitant to use Occam's Razor without first covering every base. Because an explanation may seem credible and "easily understood" doesn't by default make it "fact," particularly if there are bases left uncovered.

I can conceptualize for myself how the ZPF can be used as the conduit of ESP and related areas and accessing the collective consciousness is a good way to describe it. But is this collective consciousness that which we would call God or merely Gods plan?
If I understand Jung correctly (and he was quite oblique, at least in what I have seen), the collective consciousness is more an evolutionary subset of the mind's processes. Oh boy, is that ever vague. It is the result of generations and centuries of past experiences and "knowledge" that a given person can potentially access. Not that this would specifically take away from the association with a Zero Point Field, but that the association might as easily be tenuous at best. Looks good on paper, but I don't know if it will hold water. I have only a cursory familiarity with Jung (despite a modest fascination with the guy). I think the concept was that a person could tie into the collective memories of all ancestors...which ultimately is everyone. Jung used this concept to describe certain common themes found in dreams, art and religion. Caves for instance, might hold a symbolic meaning tied to the womb. This is then extended to imply why some art and religious symbolism holds nearly universal appeal and meaning. As well as why we have certain themes repeated cross culturally through dreams, themes like flying or falling. I'm stretching my memory here, its been awhile, but I seem to recall what Jung might have called "supermen" or "heroes" as well as various villains and monsters to vanquish. So in the Jungian sense, by the man who coined the term, I'm not fully certain I could make the distinct connection with ZPF.

Having said this, ZPF is an intriguing concept. Then again, so was cold fusion. Perhaps there is something at the root of ZPF that will persist and make itself known over time, that is part of the beauty of science. Plate Tectonics was first laughed out the doors of academia when first proposed, so I have read. Now it is fairly well understood. Perhaps there is something of merit to ZPF that will make itself overwhelmingly understood in time to science, but it will take time, and lots of brainpower and experiment, to see. ;)
 
Ty Juantoo,

Sadly my schedule is once again a bit hectic and leaves me too exhausted to spend much time here. I will get round to posting more here as soon as I can. But I would say that as a joe public with no scientific credentials what I have read on the subject draws me to it in a way few things do. All I really have to support this is my own intuition. You will probably see that this universal matrix is pretty similar to my thoughts on Gaia theory. Is there a pattern emerging in me? lol ..yes... I do believe everything is 1 thing.

regards

Tao
 
TE...Here's a link that speaks to the subject at hand, especially with regard to the "field" approach of understanding Creation and its realities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjM9JhzlXR0
The first eight episodes are the most useful.

Here's another link that addresses the growing field of cooperation among believers in evolution theories and that who believe in the powers of belief:

http://www.epicofevolution.com/

Enjoy it all in your spare time, and this also ties into the link I posted here:

http://www.firethegrid.com/index.htm


flow....;)
 
Ohhhh thank you so much Flow:) you are a real flower, a gem and I appreciate it very much.

Tao
 
Hi Juantoo :), my apologies for the delay in my response.
I am woefully ignorant on this subject of Zero Point Field. Going by what has been brought about here though, I find myself in general agreement with the similarity with Jung's concept of collective consciousness. I also like the "soup" analogy.
I agree and from what I have read of Jung I feel he would have embraced the theory quickly, indeed it maybe through reading Jung in my youth I found it so easy to find merit in ZPF.


I am always hesitant to use Occam's Razor without first covering every base. Because an explanation may seem credible and "easily understood" doesn't by default make it "fact," particularly if there are bases left uncovered.
I agree entirely. One thing about me is I never believe 100%* Really what I was referring to was the bias in funding toward the trendy ideas of super-string theory. There is evidence that ZPF exists and we can test it and with funding expand our knowledge by that testing. But research budgets are all spent on virtually untestable ideas at the moment. Dont get me wrong, I actually like to imagine that string theory has merit and is related to ZPF very closely. Science has never been very good at holism tho.


If I understand Jung correctly (and he was quite oblique, at least in what I have seen), the collective consciousness is more an evolutionary subset of the mind's processes. Oh boy, is that ever vague. It is the result of generations and centuries of past experiences and "knowledge" that a given person can potentially access. Not that this would specifically take away from the association with a Zero Point Field, but that the association might as easily be tenuous at best. Looks good on paper, but I don't know if it will hold water. I have only a cursory familiarity with Jung (despite a modest fascination with the guy). I think the concept was that a person could tie into the collective memories of all ancestors...which ultimately is everyone. Jung used this concept to describe certain common themes found in dreams, art and religion. Caves for instance, might hold a symbolic meaning tied to the womb. This is then extended to imply why some art and religious symbolism holds nearly universal appeal and meaning. As well as why we have certain themes repeated cross culturally through dreams, themes like flying or falling. I'm stretching my memory here, its been awhile, but I seem to recall what Jung might have called "supermen" or "heroes" as well as various villains and monsters to vanquish. So in the Jungian sense, by the man who coined the term, I'm not fully certain I could make the distinct connection with ZPF.
I once read something by Jung... to paraphrase "The answers to all questions from all times are already within our ability to grasp, it is just knowing how to grasp those answers with the mind that is the difficulty" I think this statement is one of the best references to ZPF I have encountered. Not surprisingly Jung was fascinated by the Tao and had a very healthy respect for 'ancient wisdom'. For Aboriginals, Native Americans and many other ancient cultures that live(d) in harmony with their environment ZPF was a fact of life. The Dreamtime for example is the ZPF. With the rise of empirical science we became deluded into thinking that we were omnipotent and could replace complex systems with a single artificial structure. It has thankfully not taken long to see the folly of such ego. The collective is a single thing. Nothing stands alone.

I do not know if you followed the links to what Flow kindly posted, but it links in at this point. The first link is an extended interview with an author, Greg Braden. A striking thing about the interview is how tenuous and difficult to describe what are exactly the properties of what he calls "The Devine Matrix", (repeatedly as it is the name of the book he is plugging). I am in accord with some of what he says but he is far too intent on making a living as an author and dresses the ideas up to be palatable fodder for science minded new-agers. Perhaps being a Scot has instilled in me a pragmatism that is at odds with such 'prettying up' as Mr Braden seems to enjoy. Despite that he is grasping at the same ideas. And here at CR many threads I come across ask questions that can all be encompassed in ZPF theory.. everything from homeopathy to sense of God.
On the homoeopathy thread I gave an account of a visit to a practitioner who spent about 3 hours talking about all aspects of my life before making up this vial of dilute up for me. In the last 5 minutes he told me that it would not work if I did not give up coffee. Now you may think this is a reasonable and relatively easy and perhaps necessary and logical demand. But it is not. Coffee is not the issue, its his demand that I make a sacrifice. He did not do this so I would have to make some investment in effort, nor because coffee blocks homoeopathic remedies. He did it because he knew I would not give up coffee. So his vial was useless, the long wait to see him was in vain, and he could safely for himself say it was my fault. What he did wrong was subtle but profound. An innocuous sacrifice was a spanner in the works and a product of his ego and not of necessity. And this is the key to why so many doctors fail. Ego. They 'get off' on a notion of superiority and require that you fail because you did not follow their commands. To back this up in a WHO report on the pharmaceuticals industry out of the many 1000s of licensed products less than 50 were deemed essential. How does this relate to ZPF? Well my belief is that a "good and effective" doctor does not cure you with drugs or remedies but with his will to make you well. And it is through the ZPF this can be manifested. Unfortunately the vast majority of doctors are far more concerned with the accumulation of personal wealth and have a vested interest in your health remaining bad. You may think that cynical and overtly suspicious but i believe it to be true. So my doctor by his words turned this vial of remedy into a poison to sustain my ailment, by conjuring failure at the last moment. lol, I sound paranoid, but let me tell you I went on through my own force of will to self-cure the problem. And I still drink coffee.

Having said this, ZPF is an intriguing concept. Then again, so was cold fusion. Perhaps there is something at the root of ZPF that will persist and make itself known over time, that is part of the beauty of science. Plate Tectonics was first laughed out the doors of academia when first proposed, so I have read. Now it is fairly well understood. Perhaps there is something of merit to ZPF that will make itself overwhelmingly understood in time to science, but it will take time, and lots of brainpower and experiment, to see. ;)

As I said above, and indeed one of the things I agree with Greg Braden on, is that mankind has long known, understood and used the ZPF. How can we not since it is analogous to the very fabric of the universe. I like to think of it as a huge brain. Each of us is in some sense a neuron firing off within that brain, we pass information to other neurons and collectively they assimilate, analyse, project and then instigate a response. Much of what a brain does is apparently mechanical and unconscious and so is ZPF. But some things are not, effort of will is powerful. A genuine prayer (for want of a better word) is as powerful as a physical action. We get what we expect in life, more or less, and what we expect is at the mercy of our own self-belief and aspiration. Ambition is prayer. Prayer with a degree of self-belief to manifest ones dreams. When you have this working for you it seems that the universe is bending things to your will, people come into your life, events conspire with your needs. This is the harnessing of the nature of ZPF. And in certain esoteric groups this has long been known. I would cite the arcane kabalistic practices of high echelon Masonic and Jewish groups as a good example of ancient knowledge of ZPF. ZPF is real and it works and this is why these groups have sought to keep this hidden knowledge for themselves. And perhaps this is why research budgets are denied, advocates ridiculed and the masses denied a fair share in this most biased and unfair world.

Regards

Tao

*While writing and searching for supportive information I came across this small clip of Jung. Seems everything I say is Jungian :p

YouTube - Carl Jung Speaks About Death
 
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