Laws of Speculation

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The Laws of Speculation

Guest Editor Diana Tarant Schmidt

A signal has been received. Speculation over the origin of that signal is running rampant from news outlets, over dinner tables, and through the hearts of every Star Wars fan this galaxy over. As of August 30th, CNN reported that, “Astronomers engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are training their instruments on a star around 94 light years from Earth after a very strong signal was detected by a Russian telescope.” Evidence suggests it is possible this signal has been sent by a civilization more advanced than our own. Does that mean it is probable? No. Does it mean there could be no other explanation for this kind of speculation? No. But what is speculation if not a theory resting precariously on the shred of possibility.

If some level of speculation did not exist, then advancement in thinking would not exist either. And that level of human stagnation is simply unacceptable. Speculative fiction and reality have had an intensely blurred relationship. Some may even say that one cannot exist without the other.

In our human need to create explanations for all things unknown, there is evidence of speculation that lived as reality in all ancient civilizations. Today, we may refer to them as myths. However, when the ancients passed on their stories from one to the next their explanations predated what we think of today as science. With their lack of resources, it seemed likely that Helios emerged each day at dawn, crowned with the aureole of the sun, and drove that chariot clear on to the other side of the sky. Why not? The Greeks couldn’t have been that far off. Pythagoras was one of the first who recorded speculation that the Earth was indeed round, and although he was never able to prove his point, we still teach his other theorem to every child in middle school. Because of his speculative thinking, Hellenistic influence of this idea continued to perpetrate through Roman rule, as well as Islamic astronomy. It wasn’t until Magellan’s historic circumnavigation of the earth in 1519 that this ancient thought was proven. Maybe it wouldn’t have been proven at all, had the speculation of such a crazy concept never surfaced.

Aside from these mythical realisms, speculation in science fiction and fantasy often become the catalyst for reality. Jules Verne wrote about fictional space travel almost one hundred years before it became a reality. H.G. Wells publicized automatic doors in his 1899 novel, The Sleeper Awakens. Authors like these introduced what people thought of as outlandish concepts that we now take for granted. However, for some of these futuristic concepts, the reality is that they may exist, but are not monetarily feasible for use. Yet. There are invisibility cloaks, for example, and flying cars. Many of the inventions thought once to be “un-doable” have been done. The concept of an “internet” was introduced by many writers long before its inception in culture. The United States Army has a weaponized laser called the Avenger in use today. Replicators from Star Trek are now known as 3D printers on which my middle-school students make keychains each week! Credit cards were a thing of the future in Edward Bellamy’s 1888 novel Looking Backward. Who knows? Maybe Fahrenheit 451 was the reason why we all have “little seashells...thimble radios” called earbuds. From hoverboards to video chatting, where does the idea end and the execution of that idea begin?

Ok, so now I am going to get all “science for dummies” on all of you. (I’m the dummy, so bear with me.) The concept of dark matter has intrigued me since first reading A Wrinkle in Time in elementary school. It made me seek further information including a basic introduction to the subject along with views on String Theory. This persisted through my Star Wars-based belief that metachlorians existed within me and my brother because the ‘force’ was clearly strong in my family. Further reinforced by the likes of The Matrix and Angels and Demons and, oh yeah, did I mention I married a scientist? Dark matter existed in all of these places as an unidentified substance that scientists speculated existed but could not prove. Gravity has been the constant that Newton prophesied but never proved. Einstein theorized that energy and matter were proportional, but it wasn’t until 2016 that advancement in understanding of those gravitational waves was made. Gravity is still considered an unproved theory. However, it is a concept we take for granted as ignorant beings on this planet.

These theories that we consider constant are everywhere. I look around and assume that all these objects around me, including our bodies, or the sun, are constant and stable forces. However, I’d be wrong. Instead, we are privy to a war that exists on a nuclear level. All matter kinda wants to explode. The decay of our bodies is one way where matter slowly works toward oblivion. The sun is just another example of matter wanting to become a supernova every second of every day; however, the forces around it maintain the balance that we take for granted. Galaxies are rotating at such a speed that if gravity were the only force holding them at bay, “they would have torn themselves apart long ago”, according to the CERN website. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. They are the global leader in particle physics and they have been advancing understanding of the boson particle and Higgs field since the Fourth of July 2012. On a simple level, these findings may be a source for dark matter. So, at the risk of getting all “Matrix-y”, as a non-physicist, it is virtually impossible for my brain to conceptualize the things that I cannot see. But, if everything is made up of clouds of particles, some more dense than others, it is quite possible that everything that we think exists is really more like a hologram. Speculation becomes reality and anything is possible. Gravity is still just a “theory” that we have taken as reality because of its probability. Scientists function in probability. Rarely are there absolutes. For example, the basis for quantum mechanics is that I can throw a ball against a wall one hundred billion times, and there remains some probability that the ball will travel right through the wall. My mind cannot conceptualize that. Nor do I have the physical ability to prove that. But, as a scientist, I must accept the possibility. So science and speculation are one in the same...the possibility can always exist.

Maybe speculative fiction is just one less piece of evidence on this side of reality. Hopefully that won’t end. From the author’s answer to that timeless question of ‘what if?’ to the child’s endless ability to realize the unrealizable. Who knows? Maybe that signal from space might just be the wake up call that tells us our dreams are nothing shy of reality.