Minefields of the Dragon

Written By Sean Yeterian

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance,
it is the illusion of knowledge.”
– Stephen Hawking

Doubt often seems to be the hangover of epiphany. From that sensation of elation when we think that a “new truth” has found its way into our consciousness, to that empty feeling after we’ve made a jaded reconstruction of the facts, we find our minds left with the sad thought that they have merely created another myth in reality’s bottomless pit of lies. From the “too-good-to-be-true” blahs, to the “far fetched” tethers attached to a rational mind, it appears that we are equipped to disable every creative idea with nothing more than a zap of a doubtful neuron.

It isn’t shocking that we should be so mistuned to our own fantastical creative energy. We piece together fresh ideas and concepts based on acquired knowledge. When we discover this “knowledge” is flawed our ideas collapse upon us, leaving our beliefs in shambles and us laying, embarrassed, on the littered floors of defeat. Existing in a place that has provided far more faulty data than factual information has made fools of us all. And we are tired of it! We are exhausted from all of the lies, even when they come from those who aren’t aware that they are leading their listeners astray.

Recently, as I surfed the internet, I “Stumbled Upon” an article about the discovery of baby dragons in the Southern Philippines. It was a well written piece that discussed, with authority, the findings of small dragon hatchlings. I was floored as I read about how burnt and singed forestry in the vicinity indicated the possible activity from a much larger adult dragon community.....a community that was not yet witnessed but widely believed by the locals to exist. Amazing!

Naturally I had to look into these claims. I had never considered even the remote possibility that dragons could EVER exist! But now I found myself questioning the thought. I needed to know the truth. So I did my own research.

Rubbish. Lies. Hyperbole. The small lizards with extra skin resembling wings DO exist, but they do not grow any larger than the few inches (including tail) in size. The claims of the article that I had just read were not only misleading, but they were complete and utter lies. The cute little creatures, known by their scientific name as “Draco Rizali”, use their wing-like flaps of skin as sails to soften their landing whenever they jump from an elevated site, most often trees.

I had a sudden urge to find the author and throttle him for planting yet another seed of deceit into the minds of those who wish his report to be true. There will probably be hundreds, if not thousands, who will speak of this liar’s words with the conviction of a priest, convinced that Dragons do exist in the South Philippine forests.

As small as this example of misinformation might be, it provides a picture of the table setting that tempts us all to feast. From politics to science, our opinions and beliefs are easily manipulated by the agendas of others that want our compliance with their views on the world. The Minefields of the Dragon go well beyond the Southern Philippine Islands.

Moving through the swamps of information these days can be intimidating. Finding fibers of truth amongst the webs of deceit is daunting, at best. Still we search for knowledge absent of agenda. As I try to navigate through these minefields it seems that there are far more strategies to misinform then there are attempts to enlighten – based on the facts – as if the facts aren’t mind boggling enough. Once we remove ourselves from the need to believe that one set of rules are the only set of rules that apply to our universe, then our discussions have an amazing potential to provide positive creative “possibilities”.

Someone who watched Star Trek in 1969, knowing that it was nothing more than a fantasy world, said “I’m going to make that a reality someday.” Now, less than 50 years later, more than half of the technologies of that show are primitive versions of our own modern technologies. The implications of that era’s knowledge inspired imagination, and provided the stimuli for the advancement of creative thought – and not by using a misrepresentation of false information.

Recently I viewed a documentary titled “Zeitgeist; The Movie”. I was absorbed by the film’s claims about some very controversial topics – religion, 9-11, and global economic conspiracies. I found myself stunned by the assertions about religious beliefs prior to Christ. The movie showed, with a self proclaimed position of authority, the blatant redundancies that each “new” religion contained. Briefly (and I will use only a small sampling of this film's declarations) it claimed virgin births, 12 disciples, prophet (messiah) executions, resurrections, and dates of birth (25 December) were all duplicated aspects of iconic religious leaders throughout the age of humanity! Yes! This includes all of the thousands of years prior to the birth of Christianity!

Were this true, I thought, then either all of religion is a big lie, or humanity is stuck in a giant loop of repeating circumstances. Again, I did my own investigation.

Rubbish. Lies. Bull. The entire religious segment was fabricated. Not a single claim could be validated through any known documentation! Most of it was literally made up! As to the director’s claims about modern day conspiracies, such as the great global economy and the idea that 9-11 was orchestrated by the U.S. government? After learning how easy it was for this man to mislead in the first segment of the film, why would anyone give credit to the remaining information in his movie? Once again I felt duped.

With so many efforts in play to move the human race away from the truth, I find myself left with a sinking feeling that, as I write my posts, so much of what I love to say may get lost in the muck of unfounded mythical revelation. I begin to worry that if I tell you about the sciences you might think it is yet another ploy to convince you into a particular belief, or maybe to dissuade you from another. Though this is furthest from the truth, it seems evident that many people are either too jaded to accept the facts, or too gullible to turn anything away, becoming swept away by their own rivers of paranoia, self doubt, or euphoric insanity. Personally I’m hoping for readers that are somewhere in the middle, calmly absorbing knowledge with open minds and hopeful imaginations for the future.

For me, the best way to turn down the volume of lies is to keep my head stuck in the sands of science. It is one of the safest places to collect reliable information. But even in the realm of empirical evidence, amongst mathematical equations, laboratory experiments, with skeptics, believers, geniuses, and philosophers, there remains enough mystery to keep doubters at more than an arm’s length away.

Now, as I prepare to pass along to you another new discovery in the quantum world, I am asking myself, “To what end? What is YOUR agenda, Sean?” I am confident that my motivation here is merely to report knowledge so that you might decide its worth. With that conviction in mind I continue to let my fingers dance across the keyboard, filling the page with endless possibilities limited only by my scope of perception and your discernment.

Let’s see what happens.

I’ve explained Quantum Entanglement in previous posts (see my archive). Summarily, when paired quantum particles are separated (regardless of distance) and the behavior of one is measured or observed, it then collapses into a single state known as “spin up” or “spin down”. Without delay its paired twin will provide a mirrored response. So if the first particle collapses into a “spin up” state, the paired particle will always collapse into a “spin down” state. Again, this is regardless of the distance between the two particles – across the planet, across the Solar System, or across the Universe, it doesn’t matter – the result is always the same.

Recent experiments in several physics laboratories throughout the globe have shown that not only does the entanglement phenomenon occur without regard to space, but time is also a non factor! Often referred to as “PastFuture Entanglement”, the concepts of “Cause and Effect” break down, delivering an “Effect and Cause” system of laws as well. In other words, future activities directly influence behavior of the past, and vice versa. To be fair, this is only shown to be true at the very tiny, or the “quantum” level. But what might be some of the implications of this new found piece of evidence?

Too many to count.

As for my own thoughts on the matter I reflect on a line from one of my favorite movies, “Cloud Atlas” – “What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?” Rephrasing this sentiment I ask, what is our reality but a multitude of quantum particles? Simply because we don’t see overt evidence of quantum behavior in our macro world doesn’t mean that we are immune to it. It might mean that we are simply standing too close to witness it in action.

I realize how boiled down this last comment is, but I don’t wish to make this post into a book explaining all of the reasons why I gravitate to this way of thinking. My intent here is to provide you with a measure of how the facts of our existence can easily provide inspiration for creative minds – minds that live freely in the wide open pastures of our imaginations (and with the confidence that they possess useful tools of truthful information, rather than misleading fragments of another’s dishonest agenda).

Often, when you try to translate the physics of the very small (quantum) into the physics of the very large (classical), what you will find is “philosophy”. The person that is able to bridge these two worlds of physics into that enigmatic “Theory of Everything” will become the richest person in the universe. Until then we only have our imagination to depend on. I suggest that we try to dream ourselves into the future using the implications of what we know is true rather than attempting to plow through the quicksand of lies and deception.

I’ll leave you this month with the wisdom of Albert Einstein, as he brilliantly surmises my thoughts on this subject –

“As for the search for truth, I know from my own painful searching, with its many blind alleys, how hard it is to take a reliable step, be it ever so small, towards the understanding of that which is truly significant.”

Thanks, Al. I couldn’t have said it better myself.