The Night Faculty: WD-36

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Dear Readers,
  You might have heard of WD-40, a "water-removing" chemical with hundreds of strange household uses.  It means "water displacement - 40th attempt."
 
    In your time stream, attempts 1-39 failed.  In many, however, there were unintended products of the Rocket Chemical Company's research into water displacement.
  One of our Night Faculty is the product of just such an attempt.  We call it Woody, though its proper name is WD-36.
   WD-36 is a literal sponge.  It can absorb almost anything, and devour it in its entirety.  When it does this with information storage media, it can almost internalize the information.  WD-36 was a most efficient graduate student.  It's also, as you might imagine, quite formidable in combat.
  Unfortunately, WD-36 also has a rather volatile freezing/melting point.  It needs to be somewhat solid in order to function, and the daytime temperature at the University is just slightly too high for it to maintain coherence.  Therefore, we had to place WD-36 on the Night Faculty.

  Now, WD-36 may sound something like a B-movie villain to you.  Fiction is often inadvertently inspired by something like what your time stream's Albert Einstein used to call "spooky action at a distance."  The existence of an all-devouring monster that resulted from industrial accident in one time stream leads to thought patterns in the people who react to that monster.  We can use augury to read those thought patterns, but the human brain itself can pick up on that.  People in other time streams can learn about what's going on, whether they mean to or not.  And then, they can make horror movies.
   So next time you're watching something scary, consider that somewhere, somewhen, somehow, that thing is happening.  And if it ever gets the chance to break down the barriers between worlds, you might just find it's coming to eat you.
   Then you'll have to turn to a friendly professor who's been watching all along, a friendly professor who knows how to frighten the monster.  And I and my Night Faculty will be here for you.
   Happy Hallowe'en.
   Always,
   John Skylar
   Chairman
   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople

The Night Faculty: Cassandra, a Hawking Siren

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Dear Readers,


   Here is the next part of my series on the University's Night Faculty.

   If you thought Professor Raven was unusual, I'm happy to introduce you to Dr. Cassandra Hawking, a name which we gave  to her and she graciously accepted.  "Cassandra" comes from her vast and uncanny knowledge, which I will explain in a moment.  "Hawking" comes from her nature.

 
    Cassandra is what her time stream calls a "Hawking Siren," a being that dwells in space and can warp light around itself.  At her core, cleverly concealed within her biology, lies a small singularity, event horizon and all.  Hawking Radiation from its gradual evaporation powers her entire metabolism as well as her consciousness.  Surrounding it is a complex network of matter and light.


   The singularity itself is maintained within a vacuum, to protect her outer body from its pull.  In her native time stream, Cassandra existed in a constant state of collapse.  The tiny singularity within her consistently approached the final point of its evaporation, at which point it would release a tremendous amount of "information" into the surrounding space.  In her time stream, that happened to be the solution to the black hole information paradox.  This process would destroy her outer body as well as her mind, effectively killing her.

   So, like all members of her race, Cassandra needed a steady stream of matter in order to maintain herself.  Her energy-matter matrix allowed her to transit around the universe collecting such matter, but, as with every species, there were pitfalls in her existence.  Certain civilizations loved the idea of a race of singularities to conquer, beings that they could enslave and use for a source of energy for all time.



   Over time her species developed--you will understand in a moment why I do not say "evolved"--the ability to shift their matter/energy matrix to mimic the appearance of other objects.  Using their matrix along with their internal singularity, they could use a combination of gravitational lensing, position, and shape to look like anything.


  
  For certain members of her race, this allowed a new strategy for matter acquisition.  The hunters became the hunted, and many careless ships drew themselves into the heart of a Hawking Siren when it appeared to be a grand bonanza of salvage or a pleasure ship in distress.  Once it had trapped its prey, the Hawking Siren would absorb its mass and feed off the energy released as Hawking Radiation.  Thus, they would go on to live further.  Other Sirens chose to stay hidden and consume only inanimate matter, but in the end most of them settled on an omnivorous life.

   This might make Cassandra seem entirely too dangerous to work with here at the University, but we have found a way to keep her sustained without needing to fear she will begin to devour her coworkers.  The process by which she is kept fed also results in excess energy that can be used to sustain University operations, so it is a beneficial scenario for all.  It does keep her occupied during the day, however, which means she must be a part of the Night Faculty.  However, we did not anticipate that benefit when we began to work on bringing her here.

   You see, in their final moments in her time stream, small singularities contain arbitrary amounts of information, a necessary consequence of the immediacy of their evaporation.  Literally, whenever she gets hungry, Cassandra's knowledge of time and all times expands to immeasurable amounts.  Any information she chooses to share with us is cherished.  In theory, she could tell us everything about everything.  Yet she often holds back, and it is beyond me to wonder why.  Perhaps she fears to live up to her name.

   At times, in the night, a graduate student will disappear, and then be resurrected with no knowledge of some previous stretch of time.  I wonder if, perhaps, Cassandra roams the halls and prunes those avenues of investigation which might lead to our ruin.  I am not certain how to feel about this possibility, but the thought does not help me sleep.

   Always,

   Dr. John Skylar
   Chairman
   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople

Related articles

• Physicists may have observed Hawking radiation for the first time (physorg.com)

The Night Faculty: Raven

Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,
   I promised in my last post to offer you more information about the University's Night Faculty, and I've decided to make good on that this week.

   Today I want to talk to you about Raven, who is a member of a somewhat unusual class of our faculty even outside of his "Night"status.  Each of us here is drawn from some body of records, from a personality derived via Augury, the discipline upon which the University is founded.  Usually this requires some sort of fame, and often an unusual means of demise.  There is a trick to Augury, and getting a whole personality is often the trickiest.

   This means, sometimes, that we can get personalities that existed mostly in minds and stories rather than in physical reality.  Most, if not all, stories and characters really happened in some time stream or another, by some unlikely consequence. Still, there are personalities here who are built more from myth and legend than "reality."  Whatever that means.

  Many of these personalities come from cultures with strong mythic traditions, or are amalgams of a few such cultures.  Most, like White Buffalo Calf Woman (PtesanWi), have a coherent identity formed from at least one "real" life and many stories from just one culture.  Miss PtesanWi is almost entirely well adjusted here at the University, and should be getting her PhD a few years ago.  She'll be a full professor quite soon, I'm told.  And she's quite coherent about her origins; fights with the Virgin Mary over who gave birth to Jesus are rather infrequent these days.

  Then there are the truly fragmented, almost insane personalities.  Professor Raven is one of those.  We might have gone back to the drawing board with him and tried for something more coherent, except that his fragmentation is entirely fitting to his character.  Raven believes he created the world, stole the moon, and created death itself.  He may have stolen the moon, actually, but it's unclear if that was a later eponymous character inspired by Raven myths, or if it was in fact the Raven of myth.
  As for the creation of death thing, I believe our good Professor is still having a bit of trouble with that one now that he lives somewhere that death is irrelevant.

   At any rate, Raven is an amalgamation of things you know as Native American Indian and also Siberian, of cultures I wish you could know and cultures I hope that you never encounter.  And he loves American Football.

   Professor Raven is a trickster, a prankster, and a creature who swoops through the night and beyond the moon here at the University.  He's also written an excellent book about English punk cultures in the intensely divergent 1980s.  I couldn't have picked a better faculty member for the job.

   Furthermore, he's quite formidable in battle.  Raven can form himself from shadows and swoop down onto our enemies.  The ones he hates the worst often leave here alive, but blinded.  His misdirection has foiled many a raid and preserved the University through much strife.  He is our prime nightwatchman, and during the times when I am not frightened of him, I am glad he is on our side.

   Always,
   Dr. John Skylar
   Chairman   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople

The Night Faculty

Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,


   Since I've been kind of dry and informational of late, I want to move away from that a little and give you a bit more information about how things work here at the University of Constantinople.

   The University is at such a strange level of temporal dynamics and technology as to be a near-mystical place.  It's often to tell where the technology ends and the spookiness begins.  More on this spookiness next week, you can be sure.

 
    Your spooky quotient for today will be filled by the concept of the Night Faculty.  No doubt, the idea has crossed a few of your minds that there might be an entire other society in the places that you live, societies that operate when you are sleeping, full of people who are on a different shift and with whom you never interact.  Perhaps, even, they have their own businesses, storefronts which shutter just as your eyes flutter to begin the next day.

 
   Here at the University, I know there is just such a set of people.  The Night Faculty are a group of people whose cultures or biology leave them unable to operate during the day, as most of us do.  Either they are from time streams where evolution has produced something like vampires, or they learned to exist in a nocturnal culture, or any of many other reasons.


   That might seem "freaky" or "creepy" to any of you, that in thenight there might be people who you never see that wander the halls of your workplace.  For me it is a matter of great comfort.  There is always worry that we will be attacked by some other ex-temporal force, especially the Puppeteers.  To know that at all times, our halls are stalked by creatures of daydream and nightmare is to know that we are at all times safe.


   More on the Night Faculty next week.


   Always,

   Dr. John Skylar

   Chairman
   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople

The Pinkness of the Unicorn, and Other Stories

The Invisible Pink Unicorn; Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,


   There's been quite a lot on my mind with regards to Science, experimentation, and philosophy of thought.  You can blame a couple of people I've run into around your time stream lately, who have gotten me into discussions of hypothesis testing and what makes knowledge "knowable."
   
   This post is mostly provoked by discussions of theism vs. atheism, but that question is one that I'm unwilling to settle for you.  Suffice it to say that in the time streams where there are gods or godlike beings who directly interfere with the affairs of the less powerful, I find this to be somewhat unprofessional behavior on their part.
  
   At any rate, the notion of a deity is fascinating from a Philosophy of Science perspective.  Science relies on the ability to formulate, and then test, certain hypotheses, which then allow the formulation of further hypotheses and more experiments.  By this method we have learned to push the boundaries of sentient knowledge of the universe.

Sexual Selection: Bells, Whistles, and Running Away

Image via WikipediaDear Readers,



I found this in some old notes from a past, time-normal me.  Thought you might enjoy it, if you're looking for something to read on a slow Sunday.  I was less reserved in my wording back then.

It concerns the difference between Sexual Selection (where evolution is driven by arbitrary things that males or females happen to find attractive) vs. Natural Selection (where the selected traits are determined by their ability to help you survive the environment around you).


A classic example of Sexual Selection would be birdsong.  Females are attracted to the songs of male birds, but to sing is actually quite risky for the male as it alerts predators to their location.  Your scientists think it to have evolved because it helps the males get noticed, which has a slight net benefit over how much it helps them get eaten.


Text below the cut.

   Always,

   Dr. John Skylar
   Chairman   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople

Warfare in Space, Part 3

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Dear Readers,


   This is the third and final in my series on space warfare.  It has been an exciting ride, between conventional warfare in space and inertia-negated warfare, but it's time to bring it to a close with my third and final assumption, one that occurs in many of the time streams I study:


One or both of the belligerents have invented a means of traveling faster than the speed of light.

  I do not mean a vehicle that moves between points A and B while passing all the points in between, because that's going to be lead to all kinds of causality violations.  Rather, I am talking about devices that utilize either teleportation or wormholes to transfer a craft between one point in space and another in faster time than it would take for light to travel between those two points.  Ideally, the transfer would be instant.

   So, how does that affect warfare in space?

Warfare in Space, Part 2

Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,

  I have taken it upon myself to write a short series on warfare in space, given some attention that topic's gotten lately around the Internet.  The first in this series dealt with warfare using technology contemporaneous to you, and this second piece will operate under a different assumption.  The third, and final post in the series, will show up later in the week.

   Let's take the technology a little further into the imagination in this post.  Last time, we were bounded by the nasty problem of inertia.  Objects in motion prefer to stay that way, in the same direction, and that ruled out the kind of combat that is seen in movies like Star Wars.

   But what if you could eliminate inertia?  Would that mean we start to see X-wings that swoop down over vast battleships?  Today's assumption: A device has been invented that allows you to negate the inertia of a space vehicle.   You'd be surprised what that assumption does for the overall layout of the space battlefield.

Warfare in Space

Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,

   I think that in the future, the direction of this blog will be less oriented towards provision of primary sources, and more to the discussion of relevant topics in futurism, alternate realities (to yours), and alternate histories.

   That's not to say that I will stop sharing my research with you, but in this format I can share more possibilities with you at once, freed from the restrictions of a primary source.

   Therefore, today I want to discuss how warfare will change when the primary arena of combat changes to be outer space.  There are a variety of different options, which all depend on how the societies in question have advanced their technologies.

   The spacecraft that you are used to are incredibly simple.  They are unable to withstand the wide variety of attacks that your militaries have come up with, and certainly would not be able to stand up to more advanced weaponry.  Let's not dress it up: space warfare in your time stream is a neglected area of research.

   Really, I find that kind of refreshing.  Wars in space are nasty things, and it is good that so far your society has managed to keep space a peaceful zone of international collaboration and economic competition.  However, I do not believe that even your contemporaries expect that situation to continue forever, especially as more private interests enter the space arena.  This article should provide you with some idea of what space combat will and won't look like, given a few assumptions.

   Just so that we're all being realistic: space warfare is not going to look like STAR WARS.  The action depicted in STAR WARS, probably your most memorable imagining of space combat, is also woefully ignorant of what space is actually like.  No matter what assumptions are made, I can't find a time stream wherein space combat resembles World War II-era naval air combat.  In no small part because there isn't any air resistance in space, so the long, banking turns you see in such films are wholly unnecessary.
  
  There are, however, a few different frameworks for space combat.  Each has a prerequisite technology associated with it, so I'll go through one by one, in a series of posts.

Friday Seminar Series: Exoplanetology

Neil DeGrasse Tyson; Image via Wikipedia
Dear Readers,


   This Friday Seminar is a special one, written given the buzz from Gliese581g, which has found its way to me from my time-normal Twitter friends Exoplanetology and Intellectual Pornography.  They've both kept me up to date on advances in your time stream's understanding of this world has expanded.  I'll stick to what you know in discussing it.  Gliese581g is interesting for a variety of reasons, the one that I'm most focused on being what it means for human expansion.


   A lot of words get thrown around at times like this.  In the words of time-normal astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse-Tyson, this should be seen as "...an important turning of the page..." in the search for planets like Earth.  However, it "...doesn't mean there are oceans and beaches and resorts..."  Gliese581g isn't exactly Earth.  You don't know that much about it.  I see words like "habitable" and I'm inclined to remind time-normal science journalists how little you really know about life within, let alone outside of, the solar system.  Habitable?  The odds are low.  Inhabited?  Well, I'll leave that for you to discover on your own.

   What this represents, and what I mean to discuss, is that discovery.  Gliese581g isn't likely to represent a second chance for humanity.  The gravity there may be a little too high, depending on the precise composition and density of the planet.  It's a ribbon world, which limits its settlement potential.  There are...issues, to say the least.

   One issue I shouldn't have to remind you of is that it may already be inhabited!

   Instead of being a complete critic, however, I want to take this in a productive direction.  Every scientific discovery, in astrophysics, anachronism, or biology, has two effects.  First, it tells us something we don't know before, installing a firm rung for us to step on as we ascend the ladder of knowledge.  Second is all about that ladder.  Think of it as a tall, tall ladder in the midst of a vast wilderness.  With every rung, our lantern casts more light, even farther, so that we can see newer and newer things.  Some of these things, the edge of these things, are encased in shadow, left for us to ask questions about.  Those questions are the edge of knowledge, the things that will be answered to build the next rung.



  You must not look at Gliese581g and say, "this is a new thing that we know."  You must look at it and ask, "What new questions can we ask?"  You must turn the new page that Dr. DeGrasse Tyson talked about.  I'll suggest a brief list:

• Does Gliese581g have a breathable atmosphere and/or liquid-phase water?
• Is there life on Gliese581g? (The link leads to an article about the discovery of a strong signal coming from the Gliese581 system)
• Can we communicate with Gliese581g?
• Can we get to Gliese581g?
• What are the ethical hurdles that come into play when we reach a possible contact with Gliese581g and its potential inhabitants?

   These are the questions that you have to answer, time-normal Earth.  There's a lot of conflicting information on this one.  I wish you the best of luck.  Please leave thoughts in the comments on this one.  I'll be watching it closely.

   Always,

   Dr. John Skylar
   Chairman
   Department of Anachronism
   University of Constantinople