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[[Image:Timewave 9 11 2001.png|thumb|A screenshot of the ''Timewave Zero'' software.]] |
[[Image:Timewave 9 11 2001.png|thumb|A screenshot of the ''Timewave Zero'' software.]] |
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'''Timewave zero''', also known as '''Novelty theory''', is a theory that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of novelty in the [[universe]] as an inherent quality of time. It is an idea conceived of and discussed at length by [[Terence McKenna]] from the early 1970s until his death in the year 2000. |
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According to McKenna, when "novelty" is graphed over time, a [[fractal]] waveform known as ''timewave zero'' or simply the '''''timewave''''' results. The graph shows at what times, but never at what locations, novelty is supposedly increasing or decreasing. In 1996 McKenna made a presentation at ''The Incident'', an event of talks, installations and performance held at the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in London, saying that the graph showed the first oxygen producing plants and the buiding of the pyramids and predicted the end of the world on 21 December 2012, suggesting that although a meteorite strike is possible, the invention of time travel is more likely.<ref name="Indy"/> According to ''[[The Independent]]'', "Loosened up with a nip of DMT (the visionary's psychotropic drug of choice), the theory, he maintains 'came entire to me from megaspace. I simply pass it on.'"<ref name="Indy">{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/event-the-incident-ica-london-1358925.html|title=EVENT The Incident ICA, London |last=Palmer|first=Judith|date=18 October 1996|publisher=[[The Independent]]|accessdate=2009-05-29}}</ref> |
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'''Timewave zero''', also known as '''Novelty theory''', is a theory that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of novelty in the [[universe]] as an inherent quality of time. It is an idea conceived of and discussed at length by [[Terence McKenna]] from the early 1970s until his death in the year 2000.<br /> |
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==Concept== |
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According to McKenna, when "novelty" is graphed over time, a [[fractal]] waveform known as ''timewave zero'' or simply the '''''timewave''''' results. The graph shows at what times, but never at what locations, novelty is supposedly increasing or decreasing. According to the timewave graph, great periods of novelty occurred about 4 billion years ago when Earth was formed, 65 million years ago when dinosaurs were extinct and mammals expanded, about 10,000 years ago after the end of the ice age, around late 18th century when social and scientific revolutions progressed, during the sixties, around the time of [[September 11 attacks|9/11]], in November 2008, and with coming novelty periods in October 2010, with the novelty progressing towards the infinity on 21 December 2012. Important graphic points in 2009, appear around 19 April, 29 August and 23 October 2009, indicating the possibility of significant events around these dates<ref>http://astrotransits.blogspot.com/2009/03/19-april-2009-29-august-2009-and-23.html</ref>. |
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McKenna acknowledged that Novelty Theory is based on [[Alfred North Whitehead]]'s [[Alfred_North_Whitehead#Process_philosophy|process philosophy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.miqel.com/entheogens/terrence_mckenna_interview_1.html|title=Terence McKenna, interviewed on the Art Bell Show, 1997-05-22|date=2006-2007|publisher=Miqel|accessdate=2009-05-27}}</ref> <ref>{{cite book|last=Cunningham|first=Eric|coauthors=Phyllis G. Jestice Editor |title=Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2004 |pages=568|isbn=1576073556|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PA568&dq=McKenna++Novelty+Theory&ei=vB8pSpKjC4i0zATNgtzqCg}}</ref>Whitehead defines ''novelty'' as an increase in the universe's interconnectedness [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity|(organised complexity)]]: |
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==Explanation of primary notions== |
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McKenna acknowledged that Novelty Theory is based on [[Alfred North Whitehead]]'s [[Alfred_North_Whitehead#Process_philosophy | process philosophy]]: |
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<blockquote> |
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I created a vocabulary ... actually I borrowed it from Alfred North Whitehead.<ref>[http://www.miqel.com/entheogens/terrence_mckenna_interview_1.html Terence McKenna interviewed on the Art Bell Show], 1997-05-22</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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Whitehead defines ''novelty'' as increase in the universe's interconnectedness [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity | (organised complexity)]]: |
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<blockquote> |
<blockquote> |
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Creativity is the principle of novelty. Creativity introduces novelty into the content of the many, which are the universe disjunctively. ... The ultimate metaphysical principle is the advance from disjunction to conjunction, creating a novel entity other than the entities given in disjunction. ... In their natures, entities are disjunctively 'many' in process of passage into conjunctive unity... Thus the 'production of novel togetherness' is the ultimate notion embodied in the term concrescence.<ref>Alfred North Whitehead, Donald W. Sherburne [http://books.google.com/books?id=IjxMRgYhQPYC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=%22The+ultimate+metaphysical+principle+is+the+advance+from+disjunction+to+conjunction%22&source=bl&ots=-mJiP-dHJi&sig=xm23TqeK2vy5DmXQWO1HCFfSWpc&hl=en&ei=tskGSqeeGI26sga6l52bCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 ''A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality'']</ref> |
Creativity is the principle of novelty. Creativity introduces novelty into the content of the many, which are the universe disjunctively. ... The ultimate metaphysical principle is the advance from disjunction to conjunction, creating a novel entity other than the entities given in disjunction. ... In their natures, entities are disjunctively 'many' in process of passage into conjunctive unity... Thus the 'production of novel togetherness' is the ultimate notion embodied in the term concrescence.<ref>Alfred North Whitehead, Donald W. Sherburne [http://books.google.com/books?id=IjxMRgYhQPYC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=%22The+ultimate+metaphysical+principle+is+the+advance+from+disjunction+to+conjunction%22&source=bl&ots=-mJiP-dHJi&sig=xm23TqeK2vy5DmXQWO1HCFfSWpc&hl=en&ei=tskGSqeeGI26sga6l52bCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 ''A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality'']</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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The universe progresses toward increasingly interconnected states because it is energetically favourable—a bound system has a lower [[potential energy]] than its constituent parts:<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_energy</ref><br /> |
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<blockquote> |
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The universe is being pulled from the future toward a goal that is as inevitable as a marble reaching the bottom of a bowl when you release it up near the rim. If you do that, you know the marble will roll down the side of the bowl—down, down, down—until eventually it comes to rest at the lowest energy state, which is the bottom of the bowl. That’s precisely my model of human history. I’m suggesting that the universe is pulled toward a complex attractor that exists ahead of us in time, and that our ever-accelerating speed through the phenomenal world of connectivity and novelty is based on the fact that we are now very, very close to the attractor...<ref>[http://timewave.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/terrence-mckenna-timewave-zero-2012/ Terence McKenna's article in Magical Blend Magazine], Issue 44, November 1994</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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Any material system is just a persistent pattern of vacuum fluctuations:<ref>Stephen Battersby. [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16095-its-confirmed-matter-is-merely-vacuum-fluctuations.html ''It's confirmed: Matter is merely vacuum fluctuations'']</ref> |
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<blockquote> |
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In process physics, matter is described as topological defects in three-dimensional space that have the ability to become persistent by preserving the pattern of its links over many iterations. Matter is embedded in three-dimensional space but is essentially made of the same thing as space. It moves by re-linking preferentially in the direction of travel and losing links more often in the opposite direction to travel. The pattern therefore appears to move relative to the underlying fabric of space and to other matter. Once the movement has started then it will become self-sustaining requiring no more energy to continue. Any change in direction to its passage through space would be resisted, which manifests itself as inertia.<ref>http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Process-Physics</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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Therefore, the evolution of the universe is, essentially, the transition of its vacuum from a state with the highest potential energy ([[false vacuum]]—disjunct virtual Planckian black holes) to a state with the lowest potential energy ([[true vacuum]]—virtual Planckian black holes interconnected into a [[nonlocality | nonlocal]] network by virtual wormholes): |
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<blockquote> |
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Then, at the Planck scale, we have virtual particle-like black holes/wormholes, as it was suggested by Wheeler (the quantum foam) and Hawking. ... The surface area of the event horizon of such a virtual Schwarzchild black hole, is about four Planckian pixels, and encodes four qubits. Finally, we argue that the intrinsic nonlocal aspect of quantum spacetime at the Planck scale discussed in this paper, might be due to virtual wormholes connecting Planckian pixels, as wormholes violate locality.<ref>[[Paola Zizzi]]. [http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0304032 ''Spacetime at the Planck Scale'']</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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[[Image:Falsevacuum.svg|thumb|240px|A [[scalar field]] ''φ'' in a false vacuum. Note that the energy ''E'' is higher than that in the true vacuum or [[ground state]], but there is a barrier preventing the field from classically rolling down to the true vacuum. Therefore, the transition to the true vacuum must be stimulated by the creation of [[high energy particle]]s or through [[quantum mechanical tunneling]].]] |
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The phase transition is delayed by an [[false vacuum | energy barrier]]: |
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<blockquote> |
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The result is that for a long time the network grows, but does not become fully connected. Instead it contains a large number of unconnected chunks, each containing a few nodes. Eventually, the addition of just one link triggers an instantaneous phase change and the network becomes fully connected.<ref>[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16752-societys-vital-networks-prone-to-explosive-changes.html?full=true&print=true ''Society's vital networks prone to 'explosive' changes''] New Scientist, 13 March 2009</ref><br /> |
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<br /> |
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One scenario is that, rather than quantum tunnelling, a [[particle accelerator]], which produces very high [[energy|energies]] in a very small area, could create sufficiently high energy density as to penetrate the barrier and stimulate the decay of the false vacuum to the lower energy vacuum.<ref>[[False_vacuum#Particle_accelerator]]</ref></blockquote> The first LHC collisions are planned for the end of October 2009.<ref>http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2009/PR02.09E.html</ref> The phase transition will be orchestrated by the [[anthropic principle]] and will not pose any threat to the existence of the human species. However, prior to becoming the informational focus of the superconducting vacuum (the [[Eschaton]]), mankind will have to pass through a "staggeringly tight genetic filter" (cf. superfluid helium, governed by a single wavefunction, is known to spontaneously purify itself in order to preserve its coherence<ref>[http://www.physics.udel.edu/~szalewic/FIsymp06/FIsymp_poster.pdf ''Helium Nanodroplets''] ''"Until recently, superfluid helium has not found any practical applications, mainly because it expels all other atoms or molecules."''</ref>): |
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<blockquote> |
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The transition from earth to space will be a staggeringly tight genetic filter, a much tighter filter than any previous frontier has ever been, including the genetic and demographic filter represented by the colonization of the New World. ... The object at the end of and beyond history is the human species fused into eternal tantric union with the superconducting Overmind/UFO.<ref>Terence McKenna. [http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence_maps_hyperspace.shtml ''New Maps of Hyperspace'']</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
</blockquote> |
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The timewave itself is a complex mathematical formula formed out of McKenna's interpretation and analysis of numerical patterns in the [[King Wen sequence]] of the [[I Ching]] (the ancient Chinese ''Book of Changes'').<ref>{{cite book|last=McKenna |first=Terence |coauthors=McKenna, Dennis |title=The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching|publisher=HarperCollins |date=1975|isbn= 0816492492}}</ref> McKenna interpreted the fractal nature and resonances of the wave, as well as his theory of the I Ching's artificial arrangement, to show that the events of any given time are [[recursion|recursively]] related to the events of other times<ref>{{cite book|last=St. John|first= Graham|title=Rave culture and religion |publisher=Routledge|date=2004 |pages=214|isbn=0415314496|url=http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tv7t7YbFM-UC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA213&dq=Terence+McKenna+timewave&ots=wGrVJvMhFT&sig=jSyxfuikKmNQqG0YS0t2j8FBkww#PRA1-PA214,M1}}</ref>. |
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The overtly [[nonlocality | nonlocal]] Nature loses its objectivity and becomes a mere extension of the human imagination: |
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<blockquote> |
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What is happening to our world is ingression of novelty toward what Whitehead called "concrescence," a tightening gyre. Everything is flowing together. The "autopoetic lapis," the alchemical stone at the end of time, coalesces when everything flows together. When the laws of physics are obviated, the universe disappears, and what is left is the tightly bound plenum, the monad, able to express itself for itself, rather than only able to cast a shadow into ''physis'' as its reflection. I come very close here to classical millenarian and apocalyptic thought in my view of the rate at which change is accelerating. From the way the gyre is tightening, I predict that the concrescence will occur soon—around 2012 A.D. It will be the entry of our species into hyperspace, but it will appear to be the end of physical laws accompanied by the release of the mind into the imagination...<ref>Terence McKenna. [http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence_maps_hyperspace.shtml ''New Maps of Hyperspace'']</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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As the theory was never published in a peer-reviewed journal and McKenna's sources and reasoning were primarily what would be considered [[numerology|numerological]] rather than [[mathematics|mathematical]] by professional mathematicians and scientists, the theory has failed to gain any scientific credibility or much recognition. The theory was, however, revised by [[John Sheliak]] after a purported flaw was discovered by Matthew Watkins.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/autopsy.html|title=Autopsy for a Mathematical Hallucination? |last=Watkins |first=Matthew |coauthors=Introduction by Terence McKenna|publisher=Fourmilab Switzerland|accessdate=2009-05-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.johnsheliak.com/SubSpace_Bridge_Domain/Sheliak_Formalization.pdf|title=A Mathematical and Philosophical Re-Examination of the Foundations of TimeWave Zero and Novelty Theory|last=Sheliak|first=John |publisher=John Shaliak|accessdate=2009-05-29}}</ref>. The new revision is often referred to as [[Timewave One]], but is also included in the set of alternate waves in the Timewave Zero software. <ref>''Jones, Marie D. ''page 25</ref> |
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==Brief account== |
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The timewave itself is a complex mathematical formula formed out of McKenna's interpretation and analysis of numerical patterns in the [[King Wen sequence]] of the [[I Ching]] (the ancient Chinese ''Book of Changes''). This concept first took root in his [[entheogen]]ic experiences shared by him and his brother [[Dennis McKenna]] as documented in the book ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching'' (1975)<ref>{{cite book|last=McKenna |first=Terence |coauthors=McKenna, Dennis |title=The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching|publisher=HarperCollins |date=1975|isbn= 0816492492}}</ref>. McKenna interpreted the fractal nature and resonances of the wave, as well as his theory of the I Ching's artificial arrangement, to show that the events of any given time are [[recursion|recursively]] related to the events of other times. |
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Timewave Zero received a great deal of its popular attention through the publications of [[R. U. Sirius]], particularly the [[cyberculture]] magazine [[Mondo 2000]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hollings|first=Ken |date=6/4/1997|title=We Are All Depraved Criswell Predicts Your Next Ten Years|journal=CTheory|url=http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=90}}</ref>. |
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As the theory was never published in a peer-reviewed journal and McKenna's sources and reasoning were primarily what would be considered [[numerology|numerological]] rather than [[mathematics|mathematical]] by professional mathematicians and scientists, the theory has failed to gain any (scientific) credibility or much recognition. However, McKenna was highly critical of such fields for adhering to what he saw as a flawed Occidental paradigm, and did not seek to create a theory acceptable to the mathematical community. The theory was, however, revised by nuclear physicist [[John Sheliak]] after a flaw was discovered by Matthew Watkins. The new revision is often referred to as [[Timewave One]], but is also included in the set of alternate waves in the Timewave Zero software. It is claimed that this new version is more closely matched to history. {{Fact|date=March 2007}} |
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Timewave Zero received a great deal of its public attention through the publications of [[R. U. Sirius]], particularly the [[cyberculture]] magazine [[Mondo 2000]]. |
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== Precepts of novelty theory == |
== Precepts of novelty theory == |
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Novelty theory has a few basic tenets: |
Novelty theory has a few basic tenets: |
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* That the universe is a living system with a [[teleology|teleological]] [[attractor]] at the end of time that drives the increase and conservation of interconnectedness [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity |
* That the universe is a living system with a [[teleology|teleological]] [[attractor]] at the end of time that drives the increase and conservation of interconnectedness [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity|(organised complexity)]]. |
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* That there is a struggle in the Universe, not between good and evil but between habit and novelty<ref>{{cite book|last=Horgan |first=John |title=Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|date=2004 |pages=186|isbn=061844663X|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7dYV9UJszlUC&pg=PA186&dq=McKenna++Novelty+Theory&ei=PPQoSuWeE42ozQTlv7DkCg}}</ref>. |
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* That interconnectedness increases over time, despite repeated setbacks. |
* That interconnectedness increases over time, despite repeated setbacks. |
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* That the human brain represents the pinnacle of [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity |
* That the human brain represents the pinnacle of [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity|organised complexity]] in the known universe to date. |
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* That fluctuations in novelty over time are self-similar at different scales. Thus the rise and [[fall of the Roman Empire]] might be [[resonance|resonant]] with the life of a family within a single generation, or with an individual's day at work. |
* That fluctuations in novelty over time are self-similar at different scales. Thus the rise and [[fall of the Roman Empire]] might be [[resonance|resonant]] with the life of a family within a single generation, or with an individual's day at work. |
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* That as the [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity |
* That as the [[Complexity#Disorganized_complexity_vs._organized_complexity|organised complexity]] of human thought and culture increases, universal interconnectedness approaches a [[Koch snowflake|Koch curve]] of infinite [[exponential growth]] (singularity). |
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* That in the time immediately prior to, and during this [[omega point]] of infinite interconnectedness ([[nonlocality]]), anything and everything conceivable to the human imagination will occur instantaneously, presentation as an implication. |
* That in the time immediately prior to, and during this [[omega point]] of infinite interconnectedness ([[nonlocality]]), anything and everything conceivable to the human imagination will occur instantaneously, presentation as an implication. |
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* That the date of this singularity is [[2012 doomsday prediction|December 21, 2012]], the end of the [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar|long count]] of the [[Maya calendar|Mayan calendar]]. (Although many interpretations of the "end" of the Mayan calendar exist, partly due to abbreviations made by the Maya when referring to the date, McKenna used the solstice date in 2012, a common interpretation of the calendar among [[New Age]] writers, although this date corresponds to such an abbreviation rather than the full date (See [[Mayan calendar]] for more information on this controversy). Originally McKenna had chosen the end of the calendar by looking for a very novel event in recent history, and using this as the beginning of the final 67.29 year cycle; the event he chose was the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombing of Hiroshima]], which gave an end-date in mid-November of 2012, but when he discovered the proximity of this date to the end of the current 13-[[baktun]] cycle of the Maya calendar, he adjusted the end date to match this point in the calendar |
* That the date of this singularity is [[2012 doomsday prediction|December 21, 2012]], the end of the [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar|long count]] of the [[Maya calendar|Mayan calendar]]. (Although many interpretations of the "end" of the Mayan calendar exist, partly due to abbreviations made by the Maya when referring to the date, McKenna used the solstice date in 2012, a common interpretation of the calendar among [[New Age]] writers, although this date corresponds to such an abbreviation rather than the full date (See [[Mayan calendar]] for more information on this controversy). Originally McKenna had chosen the end of the calendar by looking for a very novel event in recent history, and using this as the beginning of the final 67.29 year cycle; the event he chose was the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|atomic bombing of Hiroshima]], which gave an end-date in mid-November of 2012, but when he discovered the proximity of this date to the end of the current 13-[[baktun]] cycle of the Maya calendar, he adjusted the end date to match this point in the calendar <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ralph-abraham.org/talks/transcripts/index.1980s.html|title=Transcripts of Talks by Ralph H. Abraham, 1980-1989 1983#5, Dynamics of Hyperspace |date=June, 1983 |work=Butterfly Productions Santa Cruz, CA, |publisher=Ralph H. Abraham,|accessdate=2009-05-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermetic.ch/frt/zerodate.html|title=The Zero Date |last=Meyer |first=Peter |date=1999, slightly modified 2006|publisher=Hermetic Systems — PC Software for Intelligent People|accessdate=2009-05-29}}</ref> |
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This ''End of Novelty'' was to be the final manifestation of The [[Eschaton]], which McKenna characterized as a sort of [[strange attractor]] towards which the evolution of the universe developed. |
This ''End of Novelty'' was to be the final manifestation of The [[Eschatology|Eschaton]], which McKenna characterized as a sort of [[strange attractor]] towards which the evolution of the universe developed. <ref>Marie D. Jones, page 24</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jestice |first=Phyllis G.|title=Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|date=2004 |pages=568|isbn=1576073556|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PA568&dq=McKenna,+timewave+eschaton&ei=_mYgSqWIEJLqyASGzODFDw}}</ref> |
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His predictions for this transcendent event were wide ranging and varied, depending on his audience; at different times, he conjectured the following: the mass of humanity would pass through a "staggeringly tight genetic filter"<ref>Terence McKenna. [http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence_maps_hyperspace.shtml ''New Maps of Hyperspace'']</ref>; the moment in which [[time travel]] became a reality; the birth of self-conscious [[artificial intelligence]]; a global [[Unidentified Flying Object|UFO]] visitation; etc. However, McKenna claimed that there was no contradiction between these scenarios, as they might all happen simultaneously. |
His predictions for this transcendent event were wide ranging and varied, depending on his audience; at different times, he conjectured the following: the mass of humanity would pass through a "staggeringly tight genetic filter"<ref>Terence McKenna. [http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/mckenna_terence/mckenna_terence_maps_hyperspace.shtml ''New Maps of Hyperspace'']</ref>; the moment in which [[time travel]] became a reality; the birth of self-conscious [[artificial intelligence]]; a global [[Unidentified Flying Object|UFO]] visitation; etc. However, McKenna claimed that there was no contradiction between these scenarios, as they might all happen simultaneously. <ref>{{cite book|last=Partridge|first=Christopher Hugh|title=UFO religions|publisher=Routledge|date=2003 |pages=293|isbn=0415263247|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=1nsazah-mEQC&pg=PA293&dq=McKenna++ufo+timewave&ei=yz4gSue0MpnCyATd2t23Dw}}</ref> |
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== Similar ideas == |
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McKenna repeatedly describes human cultural development as a succession of historical periods which are "compressed" versions of each other. In this manner, he describes an overall acceleration of human cultural development, which he likens to a "tightening spiral" approaching what he describes as the "transcendental object at the end of time". |
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The acceleration of human cultural development has been observed by other [[philosophers]] and [[historians]], perhaps most notably [[Ray Kurzweil]] in his [[Law of Accelerating Returns]]. |
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See also [[Stuart Kauffman]] and his concept of "[[The Adjacent Possible]]" |
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[[Robert Anton Wilson]] has the theory of The Jumping Jesus Phenomenon, which he describes at an hour and a half long seminar given in 1988 titled "The Acceleration of Knowledge" and in his book [[Prometheus Rising]]. He also theorizes that information has doubled over history, and that these doublings come faster and faster. The Jumping Jesus Phenomenon has more of a philosophical and historical basis than a scientific one, though many parallels between his theory and Timewave Zero can be drawn. |
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== Formulation == |
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In 1993 the Mathematics [http://www.hermetic.ch/frt/math_twz.htm] of the Timewave were published as an appendix (pages 211-220) in ''The Invisible Landscape'' (2nd edition, HarperCollins, 1993) |
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In 1996 [[Matthew Watkins (mathematician)|Matthew Watkins]] (founder of [http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/ The RetroPsychoKinesis Project]) published the Mathematical formula[http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/autopsy.html] of the Timewave, based on McKenna's software program, and published an objection and correction. Watkins believed this changed the underpinnings of the novelty theory. |
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Subsequently, Physicist and Mathematician John Sheliak sceptically examined that the entire Mathematical [http://www.johnsheliak.com/SubSpace_Bridge_Domain/Sheliak_Formalization.pdf] process and determined that Watkins had indeed uncovered and corrected a flaw, but that the 'underpinnings' of novelty theory had not changed. The math is complex and the entire formula can be seen here[http://www.johnsheliak.com/SubSpace_Bridge_Domain/Sheliak_Formalization.pdf]. |
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== Criticisms == |
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There are several criticisms of novelty theory. Many contend that it is a [[Sophism|sophistry]] based on a form of irrational [[scientism]] with [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] premises and reasoning.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} |
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However, this type of criticism is itself nonscientific—modern mainstream physics holds that most physical systems, including the universe, are [[Nonlinearity | nonlinear]]<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinearity ''"Nonlinear problems are of interest to physicists and mathematicians because most physical systems are inherently nonlinear in nature."''</ref> and, therefore, irrational<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinearity#Metaphorical_use</ref> patterns of causes and effects, wherein any effect is influencing its own cause. That is why Whitehead's [[epistemology]] is based on the notion that "Understanding is the apperception of pattern as such": |
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<blockquote> |
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These ultimate notions of 'production of novelty' and 'concrete togetherness' are inexplicable either in terms of higher universals or in terms of the components participating in the concrescence. The analysis of the components abstracts from the concrescence. The sole appeal is to intuition. <ref>Alfred North Whitehead, ''Process and Reality''</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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One criticism in this vein is that ''novelty'' is not defined in natural units. This "argument" is rooted in a lack of terminological clarity. ''Novelty'' is a synonym of [[negentropy]], which is a well-established physical parameter measurable in "natural units." Of course, such higher manifestations of negentropy as wisdom or beauty are unamenable to precise measurement, but it does not make them less important. |
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Another is that the supporting, corroborative arguments are based on subjective historical analysis. McKenna was adept at this, and [[Rupert Sheldrake]] complained that the theory required his personality for its demonstration. Another criticism is that the historical end point was chosen arbitrarily. |
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When the user quits ''Fractal Time 7.1'' (the last software package written to demonstrate the theory, see below), the program prints the following message before exiting: |
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<blockquote>Perhaps the real value of novelty theory, at the end of the technological war-driven 20th century, is that it is a parody. It is not a scientific theory, nor is it a pseudo-scientific theory—it is a parody of a scientific theory. It basically mocks the pretensions of 20th century physical science. It purports to explain the nature of time and to elucidate the inner workings of the temporal world, yet it is obviously absurd, at least to a more than superficial examination. Novelty theory says to us: This is what any Cartesian-Newtonian scientific theory really is—basically absurd. And since it is absurd, we should not, and do not have to, believe. This basically knocks the foundations out from under the assumptions of modern Western society, built as it is on a faith in modern physical science as being the authority as to the nature of the real world. In this sense Terence McKenna's thought is both liberating and subversive.</blockquote> |
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This disclaimer was built into the program by its author, [[Peter Meyer]]. Terence McKenna is not known to have ever issued such a statement. Indeed, in his published books, interviews, and recorded lectures McKenna consistently treats the theory as seriously as any of his other material. |
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Despite it being generally ignored by the scientific community due to its basis in the ''I Ching'' and the Mayan Calendar, as previously mentioned, there were several mathematical criticisms which led to subsequent minor revisions of the model. |
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== Software history == |
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McKenna recruited [[Royce Kelley]] and Leon Taylor in 1974 to model the mathematical underpinnings of his theory. This was done in [[FORTRAN]], on a [[Control Data Corporation|CDC]] 6400 computer at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. |
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The first program for a personal computer was written in 1978 or 1979 by [[Peter Broadwell]], an employee of [[Ralph Abraham]]. It was made for the [[Apple IIe]], and was the first to represent the data points as a graph. It was difficult to manipulate. |
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In the late 1970s the German professor of mathematics and physics [[Klaus Scharff]] developed his own computer model based on the data sets in ''The Invisible Landscape'', which he considered primitive. It was written in [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]]. |
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In 1985 programmer [[Peter Meyer (programmer)|Peter Meyer]] was asked by McKenna to write a new version for the Apple IIe. After finding the original work vague, and inspired by the recent publications of [[Benoît Mandelbrot]], Meyer reinterpreted the waveform as a [[fractal]]. He completed this new version in Applesoft BASIC for the Apple IIe in February 1987. It was the first piece of software to allow calculation of resonances. |
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In 1989 he wrote the first [[MS-DOS]] version in [[Munich]]. It was written in C, supported multiple screens, and was much faster. It was also in German. |
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In 1990 it was bought back by Meyer, rewritten to take advantage of the [[Floating point unit|FPU]], and published by his company ''Dolphin Software'' in 1991. In April 1991 a German version of the MS-DOS software was commissioned by ''Gaia Media'' in Switzerland. A new German-language version, with various improvements in resonance rendering, was written and released in 1993. |
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In 1994 a newer English language version was written with even more improvements. |
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In 1996 Matthew Watkins (founder of [http://www.fourmilab.ch/rpkp/ The RetroPsychoKinesis Project]) published an objection which changed the underpinnings of the novelty theory, capturing the ''I Ching'' transform into a formula. A new DOS version was written by Meyer to incorporate this change in 1998. It was released as ''Fractal Time Version 6.72''. |
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Physicist [[John Sheliak]] further revised the theory, and version 7.1 was subsequently released by Meyer in 1999. |
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In [[2006]] a new timewave calculator was written in java and made available through java web start at http://frequency23.net/timewave. This version allows for simultaneous viewing of multiple number sets as well as "resonating" back or forward in time (finding date ranges which have the same plot shape as the date range currently being viewed). |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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* [[Biocosm]] |
* [[Biocosm]] |
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* [[Noosphere]] |
* [[Noosphere]] |
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* [[2012]] |
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* [[Omega Point]] |
* [[Omega Point]] |
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* [[2012 doomsday prediction]] |
* [[2012 doomsday prediction]] |
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| Line 133: | Line 44: | ||
==References== |
==References== |
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<references /> |
<references /> |
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*{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Marie D. |title=2013: The End of Days Or a New Beginning: Envisioning the World After the Events of 2012|publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com|date=2008|isbn=1601630077|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=V_DZ7fFxVD4C}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* [http://www.johnsheliak.com/SubSpace_Bridge_Domain/Sheliak_Formalization.pdf Sheliak Mathematical Re-Examination] |
* [http://www.johnsheliak.com/SubSpace_Bridge_Domain/Sheliak_Formalization.pdf Sheliak Mathematical Re-Examination] |
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* [http://fixunix.com/ms-dos/22736-compiling-timewave-zero-exe.html Purported Source Code in C] |
* [http://fixunix.com/ms-dos/22736-compiling-timewave-zero-exe.html Purported Source Code in C] |
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[[Category:Pseudophysics]] |
[[Category:Pseudophysics]] |
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[[Category:Pseudoscience]] |
[[Category:Pseudoscience]] |
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Revision as of 14:03, 5 June 2009
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Timewave zero, also known as Novelty theory, is a theory that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of novelty in the universe as an inherent quality of time. It is an idea conceived of and discussed at length by Terence McKenna from the early 1970s until his death in the year 2000.
According to McKenna, when "novelty" is graphed over time, a fractal waveform known as timewave zero or simply the timewave results. The graph shows at what times, but never at what locations, novelty is supposedly increasing or decreasing. In 1996 McKenna made a presentation at The Incident, an event of talks, installations and performance held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, saying that the graph showed the first oxygen producing plants and the buiding of the pyramids and predicted the end of the world on 21 December 2012, suggesting that although a meteorite strike is possible, the invention of time travel is more likely.[1] According to The Independent, "Loosened up with a nip of DMT (the visionary's psychotropic drug of choice), the theory, he maintains 'came entire to me from megaspace. I simply pass it on.'"[1]
Concept
McKenna acknowledged that Novelty Theory is based on Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy.[2] [3]Whitehead defines novelty as an increase in the universe's interconnectedness (organised complexity):
Creativity is the principle of novelty. Creativity introduces novelty into the content of the many, which are the universe disjunctively. ... The ultimate metaphysical principle is the advance from disjunction to conjunction, creating a novel entity other than the entities given in disjunction. ... In their natures, entities are disjunctively 'many' in process of passage into conjunctive unity... Thus the 'production of novel togetherness' is the ultimate notion embodied in the term concrescence.[4]
The timewave itself is a complex mathematical formula formed out of McKenna's interpretation and analysis of numerical patterns in the King Wen sequence of the I Ching (the ancient Chinese Book of Changes).[5] McKenna interpreted the fractal nature and resonances of the wave, as well as his theory of the I Ching's artificial arrangement, to show that the events of any given time are recursively related to the events of other times[6].
As the theory was never published in a peer-reviewed journal and McKenna's sources and reasoning were primarily what would be considered numerological rather than mathematical by professional mathematicians and scientists, the theory has failed to gain any scientific credibility or much recognition. The theory was, however, revised by John Sheliak after a purported flaw was discovered by Matthew Watkins.[7][8]. The new revision is often referred to as Timewave One, but is also included in the set of alternate waves in the Timewave Zero software. [9]
Timewave Zero received a great deal of its popular attention through the publications of R. U. Sirius, particularly the cyberculture magazine Mondo 2000[10].
Precepts of novelty theory
Novelty theory has a few basic tenets:
- That the universe is a living system with a teleological attractor at the end of time that drives the increase and conservation of interconnectedness (organised complexity).
- That there is a struggle in the Universe, not between good and evil but between habit and novelty[11].
- That interconnectedness increases over time, despite repeated setbacks.
- That the human brain represents the pinnacle of organised complexity in the known universe to date.
- That fluctuations in novelty over time are self-similar at different scales. Thus the rise and fall of the Roman Empire might be resonant with the life of a family within a single generation, or with an individual's day at work.
- That as the organised complexity of human thought and culture increases, universal interconnectedness approaches a Koch curve of infinite exponential growth (singularity).
- That in the time immediately prior to, and during this omega point of infinite interconnectedness (nonlocality), anything and everything conceivable to the human imagination will occur instantaneously, presentation as an implication.
- That the date of this singularity is December 21, 2012, the end of the long count of the Mayan calendar. (Although many interpretations of the "end" of the Mayan calendar exist, partly due to abbreviations made by the Maya when referring to the date, McKenna used the solstice date in 2012, a common interpretation of the calendar among New Age writers, although this date corresponds to such an abbreviation rather than the full date (See Mayan calendar for more information on this controversy). Originally McKenna had chosen the end of the calendar by looking for a very novel event in recent history, and using this as the beginning of the final 67.29 year cycle; the event he chose was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which gave an end-date in mid-November of 2012, but when he discovered the proximity of this date to the end of the current 13-baktun cycle of the Maya calendar, he adjusted the end date to match this point in the calendar [12][13]
This End of Novelty was to be the final manifestation of The Eschaton, which McKenna characterized as a sort of strange attractor towards which the evolution of the universe developed. [14][15]
His predictions for this transcendent event were wide ranging and varied, depending on his audience; at different times, he conjectured the following: the mass of humanity would pass through a "staggeringly tight genetic filter"[16]; the moment in which time travel became a reality; the birth of self-conscious artificial intelligence; a global UFO visitation; etc. However, McKenna claimed that there was no contradiction between these scenarios, as they might all happen simultaneously. [17]
See also
References
- ^ a b Palmer, Judith (18 October 1996). "EVENT The Incident ICA, London". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
- ^ "Terence McKenna, interviewed on the Art Bell Show, 1997-05-22". Miqel. 2006–2007. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Cunningham, Eric (2004). Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 568. ISBN 1576073556.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Alfred North Whitehead, Donald W. Sherburne A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality
- ^ McKenna, Terence (1975). The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching. HarperCollins. ISBN 0816492492.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ St. John, Graham (2004). Rave culture and religion. Routledge. p. 214. ISBN 0415314496.
- ^ Watkins, Matthew. "Autopsy for a Mathematical Hallucination?". Fourmilab Switzerland. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Sheliak, John. "A Mathematical and Philosophical Re-Examination of the Foundations of TimeWave Zero and Novelty Theory" (PDF). John Shaliak. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
- ^ Jones, Marie D. page 25
- ^ Hollings, Ken (6/4/1997). "We Are All Depraved Criswell Predicts Your Next Ten Years". CTheory.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Horgan, John (2004). Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 186. ISBN 061844663X.
- ^ "Transcripts of Talks by Ralph H. Abraham, 1980-1989 1983#5, Dynamics of Hyperspace". Butterfly Productions Santa Cruz, CA,. Ralph H. Abraham,. June, 1983. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Meyer, Peter (1999, slightly modified 2006). "The Zero Date". Hermetic Systems — PC Software for Intelligent People. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Marie D. Jones, page 24
- ^ Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004). Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 568. ISBN 1576073556.
- ^ Terence McKenna. New Maps of Hyperspace
- ^ Partridge, Christopher Hugh (2003). UFO religions. Routledge. p. 293. ISBN 0415263247.
- Jones, Marie D. (2008). 2013: The End of Days Or a New Beginning: Envisioning the World After the Events of 2012. ReadHowYouWant.com. ISBN 1601630077.