What's Wrong With The Universe, As We Know It

This book is a lighthearted look at the universe and our understanding of it as provided by the mass media. This book is about the shenanigans going on in the mass media involving the subject.. All the entities of both the news and the entertainment media are in competition. The more of John Q. Public's time that they can capture and hold, the more revenue they earn. The tried and true method is with fantastic headlines like, “New Energy Source; Cold Fusion,” or “Faster than Light Neutrinos” and even better, “The Big Bang.” Aside from the mundane connotation this term carries, it does bring to mind an, “An action packed adventure of mind boggling proportions.” Some would even think, “Gee, wouldn't it be great to set one off in the backyard, maybe inside a watermelon.”

The mass media has a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the scientific establishment. Members of the scientific community provide the headlines and the media runs with them. The name of the scientist is put in print. The media makes money. The scientist garners additional research grants. Some stories die an early death like, “Faster Than Light Neutrinos.” “Oops,” a loose wire, problem solved, next story. Some go on and on like “Mayan, End of the World, 2012.” The Big Bang is just too good to be allowed to languish.

The Big Bang is not likely to fade away, it offers untold avenues of additional speculation and notoriety. It promotes the evolutionary model and argues with the religious establishment. It had provided a bigger than life story of a blast, an expansion, a contraction and a repeating option. Sadly, that part about repeating is dead and the rest of the Big Bang theory is contracting. It is dying of its own weight.

Along with the Big Bang there are other problems with our understanding of the universe. This book describes some of the characteristics of the universe, where the scientifically provided scenarios are not adequate. It provides a small alternate theory on gravity and a major argument against extra-terrestrials visiting earth. With the vast number of other star systems in the universe there very likely are living and possibly intelligent life forms on other planets, but them visiting earth is very, very unlikely. This does not mean, that visiting aliens or the possibility of alien life does not make a stupendous headline and the idea generate lots of money.