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    A Linguistic TOE

    A Linguistic Theory of Everything
    Premise: Energy-matter interactions that serve as the foundation of the universe are like linguistic interactions with speakers, hearers and a transmission medium. In this thread we will investigate how the structure of the universe is like language.

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Air
    Language arises as we sculpt the air. The tools we use to sculpt air are our lungs, throats, vocal chords and the nasal and oral cavities (or mouth). The mouth includes our tongue, teeth and lips. Together this assortment of tools enable us to shape the air in almost limitless ways. In the universe, the analog for air is space, and the analog for the tools we use to shape space are various configurations of matter.
    As we shape air to make language, we form the air into various classes of sounds. There are two major classes of sounds—namely vowels and consonants. Interestingly vowels are easily transmitted over significant distances. Consonants, on the other hand are less easily transmitted; and the more “closed” a consonant sound is, the less easily it is projected away from the speaker. In the universe, the analog for vowels would be light (the entire spectrum), the analog for consonants would be gravity and (perhaps more controversial) the electron cloud.

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Universal Language—Speakers, Hearers and a Medium
    For some time I have been working on a theory (Resting Light Theory, or RLT), but I found over time the theory became overly complex, and I struggled to bring order to the many terms and concepts I had to roll up under the theory.
    I began to simplify the concept as I turned from physics (which is not my field) to linguistics (which is my field).
    Language is a transmitted signal. It is generated and shaped in the mouth of a speaker, who then transmits a signal via air to a hearer. The air between the speaker and the hearer actually changes shape as the signal is transmitted. The hearer comprehends the shape of the sounds using instruments like ears, etc., and generates responsive language which passes via air back to the original speaker. Most humans live in a signal-rich environment with language moving constantly about them.
    The universe is also a signal-rich environment, but the medium of signals in the universe is space itself. Signals in the universe emanate from material sources (speakers and hearers). These sources express themselves using the medium of space to transmit what they are trying to communicate to one another.
    Speakers and hearers in this case do not represent human beings. Instead they represent any material source that changes the shape of space. Stars are speakers, in that they change the shape of space on an enormous scale. Stars communicate their “gravitational” signal in such a way that other matter in their vicinity “comprehend” what the star is saying, and then respond with “messages of their own”. In both cases, the “signals” from the star and the influenced matter are “understood” and even “obeyed”.
    The star “speaks” in other ways, too. There are electromagnetic communications that move away from the star through the medium of space. These electromagnetic communications change the shape of space and are transmitted through space across vast distances. We might call these “words” spoken by the star “light”.
    In both cases—gravity and light—the shape of space is altered by the “speaker”. If the “speaker changes the shape of space in a persistent and local way (consonant-like), we call this shaping of space ‘gravity’. But if the “speaker” transmits a wave that oscillates away from the “speaker” to far distant reaches (vowel-like), we call this shaping of space ‘light’. In both cases, matter shapes the “spatial medium”. So, in this simplified version of Resting Light Theory, there are only two things in the universe. Those two things are matter and space. Matter communicates with other matter using space as a medium and based on the communication events unfold.

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Discarding the Old Jargon
    Notice that I have said nothing of gravitons and photons and forces of nature. Nor will I. Part of the premise of this simplification of Resting Light Theory is that language can be our enemy if we name things without fully understanding what we are naming. So in this thread we will not speak at any length of electrons, quarks, neutrinos, photons, gravitons, tachyons, or any other particles of matter or energy. We will speak only of space and of matter as follows:

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Space
    Since space has been observed both to bend (gravity) and to oscillate (light), we will define space only as that phenomenon which bends and oscillates in the presence of matter.
    When space bends or oscillates, it would seem to do so either as a standing wave that persists in the vicinity of matter (gravity) or as a propagating wave that travels away from matter (light). Going on the premise that we need not reinvent the wheel, we’ll adopt existing mathematical equations that describe these phenomena, including James Clerk Maxwell’s equations which describe electromagnetism, and Einstein’s equations which describe special and general relativity. We will think of Maxwell’s work as a treatise on the vowel like nature of oscillating space, and of Einstein’s work as the treatise on the consonant-like nature of bending space.
    In some ways we might think of space as a very large quantum particle—an indivisible unity that permeates all things and that serves as a “suspension” for particles of matter. We don’t really think of air as being divided into quantum parts. For signal propagation purposes, the air is a continuum through which the energy we associate with sound travels. Space is no different, with one very important exception! Space bends and oscillates along four axes rather than three. For the time being we are going to think of these four axes as spatial axes (or in other words, we are going to scrap the so-called dimension of time). We will call the four axes of space w, x, y, and z. We observers of space are not able to fully comprehend all four axes because we remain on a three-dimensional surface of space. We can see the three observable dimensions bending into a fourth dimension (indeed that’s what light and gravity do), but we are not able to fully penetrate the surface to fully perceive the whole of dimension “w”. Some may be more comfortable thinking of time because they perceive time as being real. However, the future and past are no more observable than an extension along the spatial axis “w”, so we are no worse of either way.

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Matter—a Trinity
    Virtually all matter in the universe would appear to exist as three bound particles that move as a unity. We are accustomed to calling these three particles quarks, but we will not name them in this thread. Instead, we will simply talk about their properties and discuss how they behave. Each of these particles would appear to possess properties as follows: spin, charge, and mass.
    The stable configuration of three bound particles would appear to be a combination of two positively charged particles (each having a positive charge of 2/3, spinning in the same direction), paired with a negatively charged particle (having a negative charge of 1/3, spinning in the opposite direction). For reasons we don’t fully comprehend, positively charged particles in this trinity possess slightly less mass than the negatively charged particle. We will recognize this stable particle as what we are accustomed to calling the proton, but in this thread we will refer to the proton only as the stable configuration of matter. This particle is also synonymous with the most prevalent element in the universe, namely hydrogen. On earth this stable particle is most stable as molecular hydrogen or H2.
    An unstable form of matter is a particle that appears to be exactly opposite in structure to the stable configuration of matter. In other words, unstable matter appears as a combination of two negatively charged particles (each having a negative charge of 1/3, spinning in the same direction), paired with a positively charged particle (having a positive charge of 2/3, spinning in the opposite direction). We recognize this particle as the “so-called” neutron. We also recognize that when this particle is disassociated from stable matter, it “decays”. In fact, the so-called “free neutron” always “decays” into a proton within a about 10 minutes.
    It is at this point, I need to back pedal a bit.

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Matter—a unity
    What I have called a configurations of three particles is really just one particle. Furthermore, what I have called stable matter and unstable matter is really the same matter. We can think of these particles as a coin that prefers to remain heads up. It can turn tails for a time. But within about 10 minutes, it will revert to heads. Let me explain:
    Matter, like space, exists in a universe of four axes—these axes are w, x, y and z. All four axes are spatial in nature. There is no axis we will call time. We are quite comfortable with the spatial axes of x, y and z. But the axis w confounds us. Consequently, while our derived observations of these three bound particles whether in their stable state or their unstable state would appear to reveal three particles. I will still insist that this little trinity of particles is really one particle, as shown in the following diagrams:

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    Quote Originally Posted by Wick View Post
    Discarding the Old Jargon
    Notice that I have said nothing of gravitons and photons and forces of nature. Nor will I. Part of the premise of this simplification of Resting Light Theory is that language can be our enemy if we name things without fully understanding what we are naming. So in this thread we will not speak at any length of electrons, quarks, neutrinos, photons, gravitons, tachyons, or any other particles of matter or energy. We will speak only of space and of matter as follows:
    A fresh approach, and recognizing that much of any debate comes from the language used between speakers.

    Cut through the clutter and begin anew, the same pencil on a new page.

    I shall follow this thread with interest, Wick. You are a superb story teller, and that is one of my preferred teaching/learning methods.
    So many paths to the same destination,
    would, but I could, experience them all...

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    Wick (03-12-2011)

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    Re: A Linguistic TOE


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    Re: A Linguistic TOE

    These two diagrams are not two different particles. They are two sides of the same particle. In the first diagram, the particle is upside-up, and in the second diagram, the particle is upside-down. Let me explain the diagram, using a simple straight length of wire and a bowl of water.

    Let’s consider in what ways the wire can move through the surface of water.

    1) Perhaps the simplest motion the wire can make through the surface of water would be to insert or retract itself at right angles to the surface. In this position, the wire can either pass down through the surface, or rise up through the surface. In either case, the motion of the wire disturbs the surface in a different way. Downward motion creates a downward current in the direction of the motion. Upward motion creates an upward current. Think of these changing currents as a change in the shape or flow of space. Let’s call this motion perpendicular motion—because it occurs perpendicular to the surface of water.
    2) Another motion I can make with the wire would be rotary motion. Let’s say I insert the wire perpendicular to the surface, and then roll it through my palms in one direction. The wire is now rotating around its core. This motion also causes a disturbance on the water’s surface, but in this case a complimentary rotating current forms on the surface around the rotating wire. Again, we’ll call this motion rotary motion and we’ll recognize that the motion of the water represents a change in the shape or flow of space.
    3) Now let’s imagine both of these motions occurring together at the same time. To do this, we’ll weld the wire into a simple loop and dip it (like a donut) into the water, causing it to intersects the water’s surface in two places. In this position, if we spin the wire in place through the surface we will have lateral motion with one-side spinning up through the surface and the other side spinning down. Similarly if we rotate the wire loop around its core (rotational motion, normal wire won’t do this, by the way), the wire rotates through the surface of water in one direction at the position where it comes up through the water and in the opposite direction where it comes down through the water.
    4) Note: the two motions we are talking about are very subtle to the observer. From a distance, an observer may not think the loop is moving at all. An observer would only perceive the motion by closely observing the flow of the water at the two points where the wire loop intersect the water.
    5) Now let’s cut the wire and bend it into the S like shape shown in the figures above, but we will imagine that the wire is actually still connected as it spins and rotates through the surface. This is also not possible (unless we permit the “w-axis” to function). With the wire moving in this configuration, we will sink the wire until three intersection pass through the water. We are now going to rotate the entire particle upon its center of gravity—like an electric beater rotating in a bowl of water, with the exception that the whisk is not moving in just one way, but in three ways. The disturbance upon the surface of the water is now no longer subtle. The water is oscillating in many ways.
    6) There is yet one more way that our S-shaped particle can move. When conditions are right, the stable configuration of the particle can “capsize” on the surface of 3 space. When this occurs, the entire particle rotates through the surface of space, which would appear as a convergence of particles and a release of energy upon the surface of space, followed by a divergence of particles. Once capsized, the particle appears to be the unstable form of matter we call a “free neutron”, but within 10 minutes, the particle rights itself, once again passing completely through the surface of space with converging and diverging particles and a release of energy. Once “right-side-up” the particle appears as stable matter once again.

 

 
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