Raymond Gaynor's Blog, page 58
September 8, 2020
LOST…
One of my favorite TV series is “Lost” — and, in one word, that’s how I see today’s world. Mired in one-after-another political fiasco, generalized misinformation, leadership self-aggrandizement, financial meltdown, and, most important of all, COVID-19 sparked infrastructure problems. Add to that US federal, state, county and city dis-integration and general abdication in face of the overwhelming problem set, and we have a challenge to our society and democracy at large of the greatest proportion. Hopeless? No, just “lost.”
The opportunity for us to address our failing political, ethical, business, transportation, education, health care, food supply and recreational infrastructures is fast disappearing. With promises of a COVID-19 vaccine, an upcoming election and societal “return to normal,” we need to stop feeling helpless, hopeless and lost, and turn our attentions to fixing these infrastructures so that we, as a nation, don’t suffer a repeat with the appearance of the next challenge, be it a new pandemic (there will undoubtedly be another and yet another), more nationalism, dissent, economic war or…
In my newest published work, THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor (search “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”), I describe a science-based future world where, after a TOTAL MELTDOWN by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, the world began to address its infrastructure failings. NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
While, yes, it is a SCI-FU (Science-Based Futuring) novel touching on probably outcomes of many of today’s challenges, it is also a relationship novel, relationships being the gold-standard “test” of the success or failure of a newly reclaimed society. Oh, and wanting more? Try QUANTUM DEATH by A. G. Hayes and Raymond Gaynor, the fifth book in the exciting Koski & Falk series, all seven adventures featured in one eBook or a two-volume printed edition of THE COMPLETE KOSKI & FALK for a look at a possible extension of today’s cyberwarfare.
Quantum Death
The Complete Koski & Falk Volume I
54082251
The Complete Koski & Falk Volume II
The opportunity for us to address our failing political, ethical, business, transportation, education, health care, food supply and recreational infrastructures is fast disappearing. With promises of a COVID-19 vaccine, an upcoming election and societal “return to normal,” we need to stop feeling helpless, hopeless and lost, and turn our attentions to fixing these infrastructures so that we, as a nation, don’t suffer a repeat with the appearance of the next challenge, be it a new pandemic (there will undoubtedly be another and yet another), more nationalism, dissent, economic war or…
In my newest published work, THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor (search “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”), I describe a science-based future world where, after a TOTAL MELTDOWN by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, the world began to address its infrastructure failings. NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
While, yes, it is a SCI-FU (Science-Based Futuring) novel touching on probably outcomes of many of today’s challenges, it is also a relationship novel, relationships being the gold-standard “test” of the success or failure of a newly reclaimed society. Oh, and wanting more? Try QUANTUM DEATH by A. G. Hayes and Raymond Gaynor, the fifth book in the exciting Koski & Falk series, all seven adventures featured in one eBook or a two-volume printed edition of THE COMPLETE KOSKI & FALK for a look at a possible extension of today’s cyberwarfare.
Quantum Death
The Complete Koski & Falk Volume I
54082251
The Complete Koski & Falk Volume II
September 7, 2020
GOING TO THE EDGE OF MADNESS
It is my pleasure to present the long awaited sequel to my and William Maltese’s pop sexual-political-thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009), entitled THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020). NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, is now leaner and meaner. Once again commanding wealth and power thanks to a series of sociopolitical advances and technical innovations like Eugitors, ShimmerSuits, ContraSpray, T-rips, CandyShades and CandyCable, NewAmerica a challenging and dangerous place for three young firebrands to live “on the edge of madness.”
Set in the near future, THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with an Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them is: Can true love or sanity be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
Sincerely,
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
The Edge of Madness
Set in the near future, THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with an Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them is: Can true love or sanity be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
Sincerely,
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
The Edge of Madness
September 6, 2020
LET’S TALK ABOUT AIRLINE INFRASTRUCTURE
I’ve often expressed my opinion that COVID-19, while a bonafide human tragedy, is more the spark rather than the cause of our national, regional, state and local financial woes. The real culprit is outdated infrastructure. Easy to say, but what does this mean in practical terms? Let’s take airline infrastructure as an example.
When was the last time you flew in an airplane and absolutely enjoyed it? I can’t think of a time after my first thrilling ride as a 6-year-old. From then on, flying increasingly became a modus operandi to get somewhere fast. That is, it isn’t an enjoyable experience unto itself.
But, first, safety: The primary “safety” assurance for passengers when flying is that the pilot and crew will die with you if something truly untoward should go wrong. Where is the infrastructure that guarantees passengers a reasonable, individual chance at surviving a major in-air catastrophe? Aside from oxygen masks and seat belts, nada. One dies with the plane. This has got to be the first infrastructure issue that needs critical re-examination and updating. Astronauts at least have a chance with their escape pod. Regular humans don’t. The second “safety” infrastructure problem that needs addressing: public health when flying: Today’s COVID-19 “emergency” solutions (namely that all passengers wear a mask without exhalation valve) is only one part of the “basic” public health issues: namely, avoid crowds, poorly ventilated spaces (and spaces where ventilation encourages person-to-person spread), and maintain social distancing (the mandatory six feet is a minimum (not the optimal) distance. Add filthy toilets, and minimal food service precautions to avoid spread of disease and you have what I call the basic infrastructure challenge for aircraft engineers. These are the key infrastructure issues that beg to be addressed, COVID-19 or not.
Add to that, terminal services (including ticketing, “check-in” and boarding as well as deplaning, baggage pickup and connecting to ground transportation) infrastructure issues. And don’t forget TSA!
Finally, while mentioned last, air transportation should be not just tolerable, but an enjoyable experience in and of itself. It’s not always about the destination, but often equally about the journey. I can’t recall any such emphasis after I flew on a TWA “Constellation” and was treated like I’d arrived in Hawaii the moment I stepped foot on the airplane.
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
THE EDGE OF MADNESS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
The Edge of Madness
When was the last time you flew in an airplane and absolutely enjoyed it? I can’t think of a time after my first thrilling ride as a 6-year-old. From then on, flying increasingly became a modus operandi to get somewhere fast. That is, it isn’t an enjoyable experience unto itself.
But, first, safety: The primary “safety” assurance for passengers when flying is that the pilot and crew will die with you if something truly untoward should go wrong. Where is the infrastructure that guarantees passengers a reasonable, individual chance at surviving a major in-air catastrophe? Aside from oxygen masks and seat belts, nada. One dies with the plane. This has got to be the first infrastructure issue that needs critical re-examination and updating. Astronauts at least have a chance with their escape pod. Regular humans don’t. The second “safety” infrastructure problem that needs addressing: public health when flying: Today’s COVID-19 “emergency” solutions (namely that all passengers wear a mask without exhalation valve) is only one part of the “basic” public health issues: namely, avoid crowds, poorly ventilated spaces (and spaces where ventilation encourages person-to-person spread), and maintain social distancing (the mandatory six feet is a minimum (not the optimal) distance. Add filthy toilets, and minimal food service precautions to avoid spread of disease and you have what I call the basic infrastructure challenge for aircraft engineers. These are the key infrastructure issues that beg to be addressed, COVID-19 or not.
Add to that, terminal services (including ticketing, “check-in” and boarding as well as deplaning, baggage pickup and connecting to ground transportation) infrastructure issues. And don’t forget TSA!
Finally, while mentioned last, air transportation should be not just tolerable, but an enjoyable experience in and of itself. It’s not always about the destination, but often equally about the journey. I can’t recall any such emphasis after I flew on a TWA “Constellation” and was treated like I’d arrived in Hawaii the moment I stepped foot on the airplane.
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/7GXa50
THE EDGE OF MADNESS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
The Edge of Madness
September 5, 2020
DON’T BOTHER US, WE’RE TOO BUSY “MAKING MONEY”
As might be expected, businesses are increasingly reverting to sales over service, these days too busy “making money” (or trying to) to offer expected customer service. Too busy to hear the feedback from customers about what they’re trying to sell. Too busy to fix and innovate. Too busy to do real business, instead focused on “giving customers the business.”
Unfortunately, when a business stops phone and email customer support for automated “chats” and “forums,” it’s almost always been a sign that the business is dying. Without happy customers, there is no business. No one even to “give them the business.” Eventually no more sales. No more money. I’ve always gauged companies based on, yes, of course, their product(s) and how well they satisfy my customer needs, but equally importantly on the service they offer. Nothing is as affronting as a business that doesn’t care to hear from its customers. Nothing except being told how valuable customer I am, and then leaving me in a two- to three-hour phone cue. What that conveys to me, beyond pure hubris, is that there’s something REALLY wrong with the product or company. Getting rid of phone customer support is the first sign of a product gone awry, or a company about to die.
Many times, customer service is more important than the product. How many different kinds of “most efficient” can openers does one really need? Remember the “Maytag man” who was supposedly always eager to talk to customers, but no one ever needed to call? That’s the sign of an outstanding company and product. In today’s age of “Fast Eddies” and get-rich-quick-and-easy schemes business persons often forget that business means customer service. And customer satisfaction, meaning the service actually works.
There is one other “new” phenomenon that, as a consumer, irks me equally if not more than lack of outstanding customer service: the removal (or conscious not restocking) of items that sell well and consumers want to force people to purchase other similar, slower selling products “on the shelf.” Rewarding in-excellence, like expecting human greed to make life better for everyone, is a non-sequitur. Doesn’t make sense. It’s from feedback that businesses grow and prosper.
I don’t really talk much about these enormously important issues in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (search “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”), but I can’t think of anything that can drive me to the edge of (consumer) madness like a business that doesn’t offer superb customer service. Can you?
The Edge of Madness
Unfortunately, when a business stops phone and email customer support for automated “chats” and “forums,” it’s almost always been a sign that the business is dying. Without happy customers, there is no business. No one even to “give them the business.” Eventually no more sales. No more money. I’ve always gauged companies based on, yes, of course, their product(s) and how well they satisfy my customer needs, but equally importantly on the service they offer. Nothing is as affronting as a business that doesn’t care to hear from its customers. Nothing except being told how valuable customer I am, and then leaving me in a two- to three-hour phone cue. What that conveys to me, beyond pure hubris, is that there’s something REALLY wrong with the product or company. Getting rid of phone customer support is the first sign of a product gone awry, or a company about to die.
Many times, customer service is more important than the product. How many different kinds of “most efficient” can openers does one really need? Remember the “Maytag man” who was supposedly always eager to talk to customers, but no one ever needed to call? That’s the sign of an outstanding company and product. In today’s age of “Fast Eddies” and get-rich-quick-and-easy schemes business persons often forget that business means customer service. And customer satisfaction, meaning the service actually works.
There is one other “new” phenomenon that, as a consumer, irks me equally if not more than lack of outstanding customer service: the removal (or conscious not restocking) of items that sell well and consumers want to force people to purchase other similar, slower selling products “on the shelf.” Rewarding in-excellence, like expecting human greed to make life better for everyone, is a non-sequitur. Doesn’t make sense. It’s from feedback that businesses grow and prosper.
I don’t really talk much about these enormously important issues in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (search “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”), but I can’t think of anything that can drive me to the edge of (consumer) madness like a business that doesn’t offer superb customer service. Can you?
The Edge of Madness
September 4, 2020
…AND THE TRUTH IS
Okay. I admit it's a bit theatrical of a title. But a bit of theatrics never hurt anyone, right? I promised in yesterday’s post to address what may be the fourth pathway to truth, and it well might be. If the Fibonacci sequence I hinted at in my last post holds, then the fourth pathway should have presented itself in around 1983.
Here’s my take on it all: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity held that almost everything could be explained in four rather than three dimensions, the fourth dimension being time, or, as it’s called today, space-time. His theory “explained” the workings of gravity, but never a wave/particle mode of its expression. When quantum physics took on this task, things quickly got weird and “spooky.”
In the early 1980’s, Edward Witten proposed something outrageous: The machinations of gravity as well as a number of other “quirks” of physics could be explained more elegantly and productively using Supergravity Theory. The problem was, it did this most elegantly in eleven dimensions, many so weird that physicists balked at the whole thing. Why explain weirdness with something even weirder?
About the same time mathematicians, physicists and cosmologists were working on an alternative unified field theory called Superstring Theory that seemed to contradict Superstring Theory until it was eventually discovered that they were one and the same in eleven dimensions. The two faces of M-Superstring Theory gave physicist a way to mathematically go back to and even predate the Big Bang, the “singularity” that had never been able to be explained before. The problem was, it required not only eleven dimensions (some of which were truly weird) but the existence of multiple universes, or, as some later postulated, a Multiverse of universes.
Interestingly, the idea of multiple universes can be used to explain a lot of heretofore unexplainable phenomena in our everyday world. For example, what if psychoses, were the result of mentally having one foot in our universe and the other in another? Unanchored in either. Certainly searching for treatments would be quite different than today’s search for better drugs, electroshock and/or talk therapy approaches. And what if our myths of death weren’t necessarily all fiction? Death might be simply the movement from this universe to another, the soul, a collection of one’s experience in this life, acting as a guide or pathway to the next universe. Heaven would be a universe where one continued refining the good that one perceived experiencing before death; hell would be a universe where on continued grinding away the bad Karma one experienced before death. Birth would be just the opposite: a transition from another universe to this one where humans are the top denizens and, as would be, predators.
A unified field theory of everything, from the tiniest to the largest including our unique universe. The fourth and final theory of truth at least within our sensory reality. Maybe. It’s certainly starting out well.
I’m working on a sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (search for “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”) in which the three protagonists must face and manipulate the multiverse in order to escape their mounting problems on Earth in this universe.
The Edge of Madness
Here’s my take on it all: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity held that almost everything could be explained in four rather than three dimensions, the fourth dimension being time, or, as it’s called today, space-time. His theory “explained” the workings of gravity, but never a wave/particle mode of its expression. When quantum physics took on this task, things quickly got weird and “spooky.”
In the early 1980’s, Edward Witten proposed something outrageous: The machinations of gravity as well as a number of other “quirks” of physics could be explained more elegantly and productively using Supergravity Theory. The problem was, it did this most elegantly in eleven dimensions, many so weird that physicists balked at the whole thing. Why explain weirdness with something even weirder?
About the same time mathematicians, physicists and cosmologists were working on an alternative unified field theory called Superstring Theory that seemed to contradict Superstring Theory until it was eventually discovered that they were one and the same in eleven dimensions. The two faces of M-Superstring Theory gave physicist a way to mathematically go back to and even predate the Big Bang, the “singularity” that had never been able to be explained before. The problem was, it required not only eleven dimensions (some of which were truly weird) but the existence of multiple universes, or, as some later postulated, a Multiverse of universes.
Interestingly, the idea of multiple universes can be used to explain a lot of heretofore unexplainable phenomena in our everyday world. For example, what if psychoses, were the result of mentally having one foot in our universe and the other in another? Unanchored in either. Certainly searching for treatments would be quite different than today’s search for better drugs, electroshock and/or talk therapy approaches. And what if our myths of death weren’t necessarily all fiction? Death might be simply the movement from this universe to another, the soul, a collection of one’s experience in this life, acting as a guide or pathway to the next universe. Heaven would be a universe where one continued refining the good that one perceived experiencing before death; hell would be a universe where on continued grinding away the bad Karma one experienced before death. Birth would be just the opposite: a transition from another universe to this one where humans are the top denizens and, as would be, predators.
A unified field theory of everything, from the tiniest to the largest including our unique universe. The fourth and final theory of truth at least within our sensory reality. Maybe. It’s certainly starting out well.
I’m working on a sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (search for “The Edge of Madness Gaynor”) in which the three protagonists must face and manipulate the multiverse in order to escape their mounting problems on Earth in this universe.
The Edge of Madness
September 3, 2020
TO KNOW THE TRUTH…
One of humanity’s most poignant topics has always been how to know if something is true, and there’s never been a time like these when it’s more important. Spinning, pishing, fake news, trolling, docuadvertising, Madison Avenue advertising and marketing…is there anything left monitized or not that can be counted on as being truely true?
Supposedly, in the millennia that humans have been around, there have been only three ways identified to “know the truth.”
First, there’s authority, perhaps the oldest, that’s been around for over 3,000 years. It’s assumed that an authority (classically “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience” but academically speaking, “a person with extensive or specialized knowledge about a subject; an expert”) who has spent time investigating a topic would know more about it and thereby be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, the ancient Greek philosophers proved this approach iffy at best when they identified the five appeals to which people invariably fell subject: pathos (emotional argumentation), ethos (moral argumentation), keiros (popularity), numos (legal argumentation) and last, but not least, logos (reasoning and logic). Of these, only logos was said to have “truth value,” meaning a reasonable liklihood of truthfulness as long as one carefully confirmed all the premises as truthful. During the middle ages when the Church held authority (in both senses of the definition and all five appeals) held tightly to beliefs like the flatness of the earth and an earth-centric planetary system and universe were people inclined to look for a second way to know the truth.
The Church’s beliefs slowly succumbed to observations during the 1700’s that yielded the same results when repeated over and over again — the second classic pathway to truth: Science (with a capital “S”). Science was clasped onto tightly and held to be the ultimate way to decipher truth until the 1950’s, the introduction of probability, computers and statistics, and the realization that some things weren’t strictly repeatable, and thereby scientific, like history, faith and human behavior.
Statistics — the third pathway to truth — provided a way to extract truth from not only non-repetitive events, but events involving huge numbers of parts or participants. “If it isn’t statistically significant, it isn’t true” seemed the catchword until it became clear that what was true for large masses was not necessarily true for any of the parts or participants.
That’s it as far as I know. 3000+ years and only three ways to find out the truth, none of them applicable to all situations and all subject to misinformation and outright lying. Three thousand, three hundred, thirty years in their discovery and subsequent application, suggesting a Fibonacci sequence, suggesting the next pathway to truth would occur within the next 3 years. I’ve suggested in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) that Sci-Fu (science-based futuring) might be one approach; however, what may be the fourth and hopefully long sought “Unified Truth Pathway” might be based on M-Superstring Theory/Multi-verse Theory. Might be. And that’s the topic for my next post.
The Edge of Madness
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
Supposedly, in the millennia that humans have been around, there have been only three ways identified to “know the truth.”
First, there’s authority, perhaps the oldest, that’s been around for over 3,000 years. It’s assumed that an authority (classically “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience” but academically speaking, “a person with extensive or specialized knowledge about a subject; an expert”) who has spent time investigating a topic would know more about it and thereby be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, the ancient Greek philosophers proved this approach iffy at best when they identified the five appeals to which people invariably fell subject: pathos (emotional argumentation), ethos (moral argumentation), keiros (popularity), numos (legal argumentation) and last, but not least, logos (reasoning and logic). Of these, only logos was said to have “truth value,” meaning a reasonable liklihood of truthfulness as long as one carefully confirmed all the premises as truthful. During the middle ages when the Church held authority (in both senses of the definition and all five appeals) held tightly to beliefs like the flatness of the earth and an earth-centric planetary system and universe were people inclined to look for a second way to know the truth.
The Church’s beliefs slowly succumbed to observations during the 1700’s that yielded the same results when repeated over and over again — the second classic pathway to truth: Science (with a capital “S”). Science was clasped onto tightly and held to be the ultimate way to decipher truth until the 1950’s, the introduction of probability, computers and statistics, and the realization that some things weren’t strictly repeatable, and thereby scientific, like history, faith and human behavior.
Statistics — the third pathway to truth — provided a way to extract truth from not only non-repetitive events, but events involving huge numbers of parts or participants. “If it isn’t statistically significant, it isn’t true” seemed the catchword until it became clear that what was true for large masses was not necessarily true for any of the parts or participants.
That’s it as far as I know. 3000+ years and only three ways to find out the truth, none of them applicable to all situations and all subject to misinformation and outright lying. Three thousand, three hundred, thirty years in their discovery and subsequent application, suggesting a Fibonacci sequence, suggesting the next pathway to truth would occur within the next 3 years. I’ve suggested in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) that Sci-Fu (science-based futuring) might be one approach; however, what may be the fourth and hopefully long sought “Unified Truth Pathway” might be based on M-Superstring Theory/Multi-verse Theory. Might be. And that’s the topic for my next post.
The Edge of Madness
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
September 2, 2020
SUPERPOSITIONING – RETROCAUSATION
Naw, I’m not referring to the latest in political propagandizing, but to the second half of an emerging Unified Field Theory looking at the smallest of the small: Quantum Physics. A key question in Quantum Physics remains the nature of superposition—”the peculiar circumstance in which particles seem to be in two or more places or states at once.”
Continuing, Philip Ball in his 21 May 2018 Scientific American article entitled Quantum Physics May Be Even Spookier Than You Think – A new experiment hints at surprising hidden mechanics of quantum superpositions, Israeli and Japanese scientists “proposed an experiment that could finally…say something for sure about the nature of this puzzling phenomenon…Their experiment was designed to enable scientists to sneak a glance at where an object—in this case a particle of light, called a photon—actually resides when it is placed in a superposition.”
According to the principal of two-state-vector formalism (TSVF), “quantum events are in some sense determined by quantum states not just in the past—but also in the future. That is, the TSVF assumes quantum mechanics works the same way both forward and backward in time. From this perspective, causes can seem to propagate backward in time, occurring after their effects: a phenomenon called retrocausation.”
Assuming retrocausation, one should be able to postselect a particle’s state at any instant retrospectively, up to and including the moment of actual measurement. The oddness is that it appears as if the measurer—by choosing to look for a particular outcome in a particular location—causes that outcome to happen. Eh? Are we talking back to the Future here? If based on past financial experience, I look at a future date on Wall Street where my investments are supposed to pay off, they will, simply because by looking I cause it to happen? Only if the pay off is so small as to be negligible in the non-quantum world. Shucks!
However, quantum researchers are ready to state with certainty something about the location of a particle in a superposition at a series of different points in time—before any actual measurement has been made. That is, one can predict exactly where and when a quantum “chain of causality” will occur. This isn’t back to the future, but real Futuring, exactly what my new book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is all about! You guessed it, SCI-FU (science-based futuring) rather than mere science fantasy or fiction.
The Edge of Madness
Back in the Quantum world, this causes flickering — an ever changing existence in space-time that is actually a series of events in which a particle’s presence in one place is replaced by its existence in the another location. Not so weird when stated this way, though, as the researchers’ eventually state, “although the traditional ‘two places at once’ view of superposition might seem odd enough, ‘it’s possible a superposition is [simply] a collection of states that are even crazier.” Ha! The very edge of madness!
Continuing, Philip Ball in his 21 May 2018 Scientific American article entitled Quantum Physics May Be Even Spookier Than You Think – A new experiment hints at surprising hidden mechanics of quantum superpositions, Israeli and Japanese scientists “proposed an experiment that could finally…say something for sure about the nature of this puzzling phenomenon…Their experiment was designed to enable scientists to sneak a glance at where an object—in this case a particle of light, called a photon—actually resides when it is placed in a superposition.”
According to the principal of two-state-vector formalism (TSVF), “quantum events are in some sense determined by quantum states not just in the past—but also in the future. That is, the TSVF assumes quantum mechanics works the same way both forward and backward in time. From this perspective, causes can seem to propagate backward in time, occurring after their effects: a phenomenon called retrocausation.”
Assuming retrocausation, one should be able to postselect a particle’s state at any instant retrospectively, up to and including the moment of actual measurement. The oddness is that it appears as if the measurer—by choosing to look for a particular outcome in a particular location—causes that outcome to happen. Eh? Are we talking back to the Future here? If based on past financial experience, I look at a future date on Wall Street where my investments are supposed to pay off, they will, simply because by looking I cause it to happen? Only if the pay off is so small as to be negligible in the non-quantum world. Shucks!
However, quantum researchers are ready to state with certainty something about the location of a particle in a superposition at a series of different points in time—before any actual measurement has been made. That is, one can predict exactly where and when a quantum “chain of causality” will occur. This isn’t back to the future, but real Futuring, exactly what my new book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is all about! You guessed it, SCI-FU (science-based futuring) rather than mere science fantasy or fiction.
The Edge of Madness
Back in the Quantum world, this causes flickering — an ever changing existence in space-time that is actually a series of events in which a particle’s presence in one place is replaced by its existence in the another location. Not so weird when stated this way, though, as the researchers’ eventually state, “although the traditional ‘two places at once’ view of superposition might seem odd enough, ‘it’s possible a superposition is [simply] a collection of states that are even crazier.” Ha! The very edge of madness!
September 1, 2020
I’M NOT THE ONLY SCI-FU ADHERENT!
I just ran across an article on CNN that is quite THE EDGE OF MADNESS:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/liv...
Living clothes. I love it (or should I say I love them?). A good reason why future folks might not go around naked as I posit in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020), but clothed in a living embrace. I especially like the idea designer Roya Aghighi offers whereby one’s clothes continue to grow, being coaxed into slowly assumed new “organic shapes, spots and bands” in “distinctive individual motifs” while purifying the air about the clothed individual.
If former NASA researcher, Cleve Backster is correct, the living clothes could act as a conductor connecting the wearer via the clothes “primary perception” to the greater consciousness, offering an opportunity for humanity to take another step in evolution. Forward? Certainly not backward. To the side? More likely.
I love SCI-FU! Don’t you? Now, if I could just get my hands on some of that living fabric…
The Edge of Madness
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/liv...
Living clothes. I love it (or should I say I love them?). A good reason why future folks might not go around naked as I posit in THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020), but clothed in a living embrace. I especially like the idea designer Roya Aghighi offers whereby one’s clothes continue to grow, being coaxed into slowly assumed new “organic shapes, spots and bands” in “distinctive individual motifs” while purifying the air about the clothed individual.
If former NASA researcher, Cleve Backster is correct, the living clothes could act as a conductor connecting the wearer via the clothes “primary perception” to the greater consciousness, offering an opportunity for humanity to take another step in evolution. Forward? Certainly not backward. To the side? More likely.
I love SCI-FU! Don’t you? Now, if I could just get my hands on some of that living fabric…
The Edge of Madness
THE GHOST OF NSDAP PAST?
For those whose parents were born after WWII, the SNDAP probably doesn’t mean much; however, for those whose parents were born well before WWII, and whose fathers served in the war, it stands for the infamous Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or “Nazi” party. Watching the news today, I was surprised to hear that a caravan of right-wing Trump supporters traveled to Portland to take part. It reminded me of when the “Brown Shirts” used to travel to cities in Germany to take part in protests, or at their worst, foment aggression against anyone who was not of their ilk. I was surprised to hear Portland’s mayor call out Trump for encouraging civil disobedience and assault to the point of battery. I was equally surprised to hear Trump’s threaten to “send in federal troops” (against his own supporters?). I guess it presents as an opportunity to demonstrate power and appear in control.
What’s increasingly interesting, are the subtle reminders today of yesteryear in enfolding Nazi Germany. It makes me wonder. Many nations “learned their lessons” as a result of WWII, but the war front was never successfully transferred to the USA, so maybe we never had the chance to learn our lesson and we’re being forced to learn it now? Xenophobia, nationalism, dis-information, dis-integration, extremism, despite their increasing presence, aren’t basic American values. It makes me wonder from where they come. I wonder.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
In TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, we posited the socio-political-financial meltdown of the USA and it’s re-emergence as a smaller nation (like happened with the former USSR). In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I take up the lives of three young firebrands as they try to find a life in this complex, evolving new world, rife with changes resulting from the former USA’s failed infrastructure. Sound familiar? I am increasing surprised by the familiarities; however, THE EDGE OF MADNESS is meant to be a work in the new SCI-FU genre (science-based futuring), a sort of magic mirror into a plausible American future. Intrigued? Enough so to peek over the edge of madness into the abyss beyond?
The Edge of Madness
What’s increasingly interesting, are the subtle reminders today of yesteryear in enfolding Nazi Germany. It makes me wonder. Many nations “learned their lessons” as a result of WWII, but the war front was never successfully transferred to the USA, so maybe we never had the chance to learn our lesson and we’re being forced to learn it now? Xenophobia, nationalism, dis-information, dis-integration, extremism, despite their increasing presence, aren’t basic American values. It makes me wonder from where they come. I wonder.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
In TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, we posited the socio-political-financial meltdown of the USA and it’s re-emergence as a smaller nation (like happened with the former USSR). In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I take up the lives of three young firebrands as they try to find a life in this complex, evolving new world, rife with changes resulting from the former USA’s failed infrastructure. Sound familiar? I am increasing surprised by the familiarities; however, THE EDGE OF MADNESS is meant to be a work in the new SCI-FU genre (science-based futuring), a sort of magic mirror into a plausible American future. Intrigued? Enough so to peek over the edge of madness into the abyss beyond?
The Edge of Madness
August 27, 2020
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LOCKDOWN
Just heard today that Hawaii is once again under “lockdown” for at least two weeks. Concern is being voiced everywhere, but mainly from middle class and small independent businesses, the two lifebloods of the USA, the folks who are primarily responsible for innovation and ultimately pay the bills. If a government fails to offer effective leadership, hope and solutions to the poor (a social obligation), the middle-class (the primary taxpayers who pay for the government) and small independent businesses (a major source of innovation and taxes), it’s time to…what? Riot? Replace the government? Nope, it’s time to critically re-examine the social and business infrastructures. I believe that COVID-19 is a shot across the bow, a warning, a brief respite during which we have the opportunity to re-examine, update and replace old and outdated infrastructures before the next COVID comes our way, and come it will, whether it is another COVID pandemic, flu, climate change, toxic waste, critical loss of wildlife and plants (that includes food and recreation) or outright war.
Like what? Let’s start with small independent businesses. Old, outdated infrastructures include (1) providing sales and services based on the “mass effect” (we need effective business infrastructures that switch to provision of individualized, one-on-one, non-crowd sales and services approaches); (2) securing the internet, publicly exposing and removing internet businesses that don’t offer legitimate one-on-one contact service; (3) securing new modes of transportation that by their nature will “socially distance” riders; (4) approaches that de-emphasize and replace the “need” for “liability insurance” and professional lawyers; (5) systems that providing more “in-the-client’s-house” sales and services; (6) working to eliminate private automobiles and petroleum-based solutions, at least in Hawaii, with purely solar-based solutions; (7) providing regular, free, online business “conferences” where small business innovations can be presented to larger corporations based on the concept of “purchasing new innovations;” (8) emphasizing work-at-home and “workations” as alternatives to concentrated “downtown” workplaces; (9) move away from an “increasing profit” modality to quality-based business…need I go on? What can youth do other than riot? What can citizens do other than replace the government? This is what both can do in a positive way to help revive our nation. Once again, in my opinion, the problem isn’t really COVID-19, but the need to rethink and update infrastructure in politics, public ethics, transportation, health care, education and, yes, small business, the lifeblood of innovation and America, in anticipation of future medical, social and political disruptors.
Sincerely and With Greatest Respect for Our Nation,
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
The Edge of Madness
Like what? Let’s start with small independent businesses. Old, outdated infrastructures include (1) providing sales and services based on the “mass effect” (we need effective business infrastructures that switch to provision of individualized, one-on-one, non-crowd sales and services approaches); (2) securing the internet, publicly exposing and removing internet businesses that don’t offer legitimate one-on-one contact service; (3) securing new modes of transportation that by their nature will “socially distance” riders; (4) approaches that de-emphasize and replace the “need” for “liability insurance” and professional lawyers; (5) systems that providing more “in-the-client’s-house” sales and services; (6) working to eliminate private automobiles and petroleum-based solutions, at least in Hawaii, with purely solar-based solutions; (7) providing regular, free, online business “conferences” where small business innovations can be presented to larger corporations based on the concept of “purchasing new innovations;” (8) emphasizing work-at-home and “workations” as alternatives to concentrated “downtown” workplaces; (9) move away from an “increasing profit” modality to quality-based business…need I go on? What can youth do other than riot? What can citizens do other than replace the government? This is what both can do in a positive way to help revive our nation. Once again, in my opinion, the problem isn’t really COVID-19, but the need to rethink and update infrastructure in politics, public ethics, transportation, health care, education and, yes, small business, the lifeblood of innovation and America, in anticipation of future medical, social and political disruptors.
Sincerely and With Greatest Respect for Our Nation,
Raymond Gaynor
Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020)
Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009)
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Distributed by Savant Distribution at https://www.savantdistribution.com/
The Edge of Madness
