Quantum Lens Quotes

“T.S. Elliot: “And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ” —Arthur Schopenhauer “We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.” —Niels Bohr, Nobel Laureate & Quantum Physics Pioneer”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“car seat-belts. The vast majority of the time they served no real purpose. Even bad drivers could go years between accidents. But when an accident finally did occur—in that precise instant—a seat-belt became the only thing standing between a chance for life and a grisly death.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Make coffee, not war,”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“humankind’s fundamental understanding of the nature of reality. If an observer could alter the universe by his observation, then didn’t the universe require consciousness to even exist?”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“I was watching the news when I was about eight, and they were debating whether the wealthy in America contributed enough in taxes. One side argued that the rich, as a class, contributed more than ninety percent of total taxes collected. That about half of the country paid nothing in taxes, or received money in food stamps and welfare. Whereas the top earners, after all was said and done, had about half of their income confiscated by the government. “The counterargument to this was that it wasn’t fair that these high earners made so much. They could afford to give up even more of their income. And that they couldn’t have possibly made their fortunes working hard and taking risks, like Steve Jobs. They could only have done so by cheating and stealing from others, or exploiting them.” Craft paused. “So I asked my father where he came out on the debate.” “And?” “He told me to imagine I had a test in school and I studied for an entire week, night and day. My friend spent the entire week playing video games and having fun at the beach. I ended up getting an A, and my friend got an F. So what if the teacher said, ‘it’s not fair that Bren got an A and his friend got an F. So we’re going to give you both C’s. Still passing, right? So it’s no big deal. Still plenty of cushion away from an F. The A earners shouldn’t be greedy.’ “My father let me think about this and then asked me what I’d do the next time a test came around. How would I prepare for it? It occurred to me that if I knew I really couldn’t earn an A, what was the point of killing myself? I told my father, and he agreed. In fact, he told me that soon the entire class would be getting Cs, and then Ds. And eventually Fs. Socialism at work.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Some people loved the cities, with their culture, art, and endless opportunities for interesting social interaction. Some like the country, its simplicity and wide open spaces. But Alyssa Aronson only truly felt at peace when she was surrounded by the mightiest of earth’s living things. And with the possible exception of the Sequoia Forest in Northern California, teeming with trees that made the tallest, thickest specimens anywhere else look like adorable little babies, no place was more majestic than the Hoosier National Forest, two hundred thousand acres of soaring central hardwood trees, primarily oak and hickory.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Emerging Possibilities for Space Propulsion Breakthroughs Originally published in the Interstellar Propulsion Society Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 1, July 1, 1995.  Marc. G. Millis, Space Propulsion Technology Division, NASA Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio “New perspectives on the connection between gravity and electromagnetism have just emerged. A theory published in February 1994 (ref 11) suggests that inertia is nothing but an electromagnetic illusion. This theory builds on an earlier work (ref 12) that asserts that gravity is nothing other than an electromagnetic side-effect. Both of these works rely on the perspective that all matter is fundamentally made up of electrically charged particles, and they rely on the existence of Zero Point Energy. Zero Point Energy (ZPE) is the term used to describe the random electromagnetic oscillations that are left in a vacuum after all other energy has been removed (ref 13). This can be explained in terms of quantum theory, where there exists energy even in the absolute lowest state of a harmonic oscillator. The lowest state of an electromagnetic oscillation is equal to one-half the Planck constant times the frequency. If all the energy for all the possible frequencies is summed up, the result is an enormous energy density, ranging from 1036 to 1070 Joules/m3. In simplistic terms there is enough energy in a cubic centimeter of the empty vacuum to boil away Earth's oceans. First predicted in 1948, ZPE has been linked to a number of experimental observations. Examples include the Casimir effect (ref 14), Van der Waal forces (ref 15), the Lamb-Retherford Shift (ref 10, p. 427), explanations of the Planck blackbody radiation spectrum (ref 16), the stability of the ground state of the hydrogen atom from radiative collapse (ref 17), and the effect of cavities to inhibit or enhance the spontaneous emission from excited atoms (ref 18). Regarding the inertia and gravity theories mentioned earlier, they take the perspective that all matter is fundamentally constructed of electrically charged particles and that these particles are constantly interacting with this ZPE background. From this perspective the property of inertia, the resistance to change of a particle's velocity, is described as a high- frequency electromagnetic drag against the Zero Point Fluctuations. Gravity, the attraction between masses, is described as Van der Waals forces between oscillating dipoles, where these dipoles are the charged particles that have been set into oscillation by the ZPE background. It should be noted that these theories were not written in the context of propulsion and do not yet provide direct clues for how to electromagnetically manipulate inertia or gravity. Also, these theories are still too new to have either been confirmed or discounted. Despite these uncertainties, typical of any fledgling theory, these theories do provide new approaches to search for breakthrough propulsion physics.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Confirmation Bias, which had been demonstrated time and again in numerous experiments. Once we formed an opinion or took a position, be it in politics, the worthiness of a television show, or global warming, we tended to filter new data, seizing on anything that agreed with our position and dismissing or ignoring anything contrary, no matter how valid. We would cling to our positions, even in the face of what should be incontrovertible evidence against them.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Just as creation can be viewed as a process of subtraction from the infinite rather than as an event in which something pops out of nothing, your personal consciousness can be viewed as a brain-filtered remnant of infinite consciousness rather than as a chemical creation of the brain.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Our incomplete knowledge of physical reality enriches our human experiences by maintaining its novelty, its unanticipated outcomes, its newness. It allows us each to live our lives as a great adventure. What sense of satisfaction would a scientist derive from inquiry if the laws of physics were all clearly revealed as part of the act of creation. What joy would there be in searching for buried treasure if you knew all along where you hid it? It’s the mystery that underwrites the joy of discovery.” —Bernard Haisch, The God Theory “If you were God, could you possibly dream up any more educational, contrasted, thrilling, beautiful, tantalizing world than Earth? If you think you could, do you imagine you would be outdoing Earth if you designed a world free of germs, diseases, poisons, pains, malice, explosives, and conflicts so its people could relax and enjoy it? Would you, in other words, try to make the world nice and safe—or would you let it be provocative, dangerous, and exciting?” —Guy Murchie, The Seven Mysteries of Life: An Exploration of Science and Philosophy “The origin of the universe is the exact opposite of random. Our lives are the exact opposite of pointless. It is not matter that creates an illusion of consciousness, but consciousness that creates an illusion of matter. —Bernard Haisch, The God Theory”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Reality was only rendered when it was observed. Particles were everywhere, until someone peeked, and then they took a discrete location.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Zero Point Energy is the term used to describe the random electromagnetic oscillations that are left in a vacuum after all other energy has been removed. Overly simplistic, but essentially a good shorthand way to describe it, she decided. She went on to read the numerous experimental observations that supported its existence. She read the final two sentences aloud: “If all the energy for all the possible frequencies is summed up, the result is an enormous energy density. In simplistic terms, there is enough energy in a cubic centimeter of empty vacuum to completely boil away all of the Earth's oceans.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Emerging Possibilities for Space Propulsion Breakthroughs, and it had first appeared in a NASA publication, Interstellar Propulsion Society Newsletter, in July of 1995.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“The most important environmental determinants that come into play are the quality of relationships with friends and family. And challenging ourselves, pursuing what we are passionate about, and achieving. What really makes a life rewarding is facing challenges, overcoming them, and growing as a”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“If an observer could alter the universe by his observation, then didn’t the universe require consciousness to even exist?”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“How can a single fertilized egg cell possibly contain all of the instructions required to construct an entire human, and then be able to carry out these instructions with such perfection? This single fertilized cell is the progenitor of trillions of cells, which differentiate along the way into different types. And each of these uncountable offspring cells need to know what to be, and where to be, to create the incomprehensibly complex universe that is a human being. But there’s more. The system has to get energy and building blocks from the outside. How do we grow from an infant to an adult? We have to convert food into parts of our bodies. Food gives us energy, yes, but it is also our only source of building material. Our bodies must extract the raw materials we need for construction from such sources as ice-cream, meatloaf, and pasta,  and then rearrange these raw materials into muscle cells, heart cells, brain cells, and so on. The idea that a single fertilized cell could successfully transform itself into an adult human, including a brain with many billions of neurons and a consciousness, is utterly ludicrous. Impossible. There is no way this could ever succeed. And yet, all of us are living proof that it does . . .”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“All I know is that everything around us is astonishing. Impossible. We live in a universe so finely tuned for complex chemistry and life that the odds against it are greater than those of winning a thousand lotteries in a row. In a universe filled with exquisite microorganisms, voracious black holes, and trillions of stars, each of which can fit a million or more Earths inside. How can we possibly think that any view of God or creation can capture more than the tiniest hint of this reality?”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Economic theory would tell you that a rational person would take the thirty dollars every time. Forget the other party, the decision was simple. You get thirty dollars or you get nothing. With this logic you would take any positive amount.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“This flew in the face of economic theory. The offering party was saying, “I’ll keep seventy dollars and give you thirty.” And the other party was saying, “No. Screw you. I’m rejecting this deal, even though I’ll have to give up my thirty.” Why? Because the person rejecting the offer had a visceral feeling that the split being offered wasn’t fair. That the person dividing it was being selfish and greedy, and they wanted to punish him. They were punishing themselves as well, but they were willing.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“had a test in school and I studied for an entire week, night and day. My friend spent the entire week playing video games and having fun at the beach. I ended up getting an A, and my friend got an F. So what if the teacher said, ‘it’s not fair that Bren got an A and his friend got an F. So we’re going to give you both C’s. Still passing, right? So it’s no big deal. Still plenty of cushion away from an F. The A earners shouldn’t be greedy.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“So God wishes to experience. He wants to transform potential into this experience. Haisch uses the example of a game. Playing it is far more satisfying than just reading the rules.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“we need accomplishment and achievement to have a strong sense of self-esteem.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“The most important environmental determinants that come into play are the quality of relationships with friends and family. And challenging ourselves, pursuing what we are passionate about, and achieving. What really makes a life rewarding is facing challenges, overcoming them, and growing as a person.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Time moves at a different rate for our GPS satellites in orbit than it does down here. Einstein’s equations correct for this discrepancy. Perfectly. This really is how the universe works.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“You know from your study of human nature and happiness that we need accomplishment and achievement to have a strong sense of self-esteem. Dependency is a cancer that eats away at these things. And it’s a vicious circle. Like an addiction. You know in your heart it’s not good for you, but you can’t break its iron grip. It seems better to get things for free and have endless free time than struggle in a job—even though ultimately you will grow and improve and feel better about yourself. The more handouts the less self respect, and the more miserable a person is. “Still, it’s human nature to want to be taken care of,” he continued. “To want to be able to stay on the couch watching TV, not realizing how unfulfilling, how soul crushing, this really is. Give kids a choice between unlimited candy and vigorous exercise, and how many do you think will choose the exercise?”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Let’s go on to postulate this infinite consciousness exists outside of space and time. In a way that is well beyond our possible comprehension. As you suggest, for want of a better word, let’s call this infinite consciousness, God. I like that this God is postulated as being beyond space and time. Independent of space and time. If he weren’t, then he would require a creator.” Alyssa”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“Politicians take money from the citizenry, funnel much of it to themselves and their friends, and then use the rest of it to buy votes and to grow their power—which involves bigger and bigger government. Once a bureau is created it is never destroyed—like a malignant cancer. And government never invents the next great computer. Never produces. Only consumes.” Alyssa”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens

“ridiculed.”
― Douglas E. Richards, Quantum Lens