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dominate the incredibly weak force of gravity at times of astray into imaginary conjecture." (H. Alfvén and G. Arrhenius, planetary close encounters. Although he was unable to explain at — Evolution of the Solar System, NASA, 1976, p. 257) the time how this would create the observed stability of the solar The result is now a "Big Picture" that emphasises our dramatic system, with his uncanny prescience he had pointed the way to the prehistory and essential connectedness to the universe. No longer Electric Universe. do we have to look at ourselves and the universe through the dis- Since then, sceptical scholars have shown Velikovsky's histori- torting sideshow mirrors of modern science. cal perspective of cataclysmic events to be wrong. However, his The implications of electrical activity between planets will be basic premise of planetary encounters has been confirmed and the —_ profoundly disturbing for those who have built their cosmology details fleshed out to an extraordinary degree. Several pioneering around the weak force of gravity acting in an electrically sterile researchers in this new field now agree that awe-inspiring plane- universe. This strange, dogmatic oversight guarantees that noth- tary encounters did occur in pre-history. To the most ancient ing will remain in future of the fanciful Big Bang theory or the civilisations, they were culturally defining memories. They were simplistic story of the formation of the solar system. the inspiration for pyramids, megaliths, statues, totems and sacred rock art. The survivors of global upheaval felt it imperative that 4. What Big Bang? the memories be preserved and passed down faithfully to future The Big Bang is already dead! The unheralded "Galileo of the generations in the expectation that the "gods" would return. The 20th century", Halton Arp, has proven that the universe is not memorialisation took the form of architec- expanding. The Big Bang theory is based on ture, ritual and story to re-enact the apoca- a misinterpretation of redshift. The redshift lyptic power of the planetary gods over of a distant galaxy is measured in the light human destiny. Such a catastrophic begin- coming from that galaxy. Lines in the spec- ning explains why civilisation appeared like trum of that galaxy show a shift toward the a thunderclap out of nowhere. red compared with the same lines from our Unfortunately, with no reference points in . . . Sun. Arp discovered that high and low red- the present behaviour of the planets, the sto- The implications of shift objects are sometimes connected by a ries Tost their real meaning. electrical activity bridge or jet of matter. ve redshift cannot be is short explanation may seem con- . a measure of distance. Most of the redshift is trived until the wealth of supporting evi- between planets will be intrinsic to the object. But there is more. dence can be Presented. However it high- profoundly disturbing Arp found that the intrinsic redshitt ofa ights the crucial distinction between the quasar or galaxy took discrete values whic planetary catastrophism of the Electric for those who have decreased with distance from a central active Universe and that of the neo-catastrophists, built their cosmology galaxy. In Arp's new view of the cosmos, who attempt to explain the evidence for planetary encounters in terms of cometary phenomena. Modern comets simply do not fit the descriptions from the past. Nor can they account for abundant evidence of fresh-looking planetary cratering and scarring . Besides, in an Electric Universe, comets are not the apocalyptic threat to the Earth imaginatively portrayed by artists. Such pictures are entirely fan- ciful because a comet would be dis- rupted electrically by a cosmic thun- derbolt before it hit the Earth. The only visible evidence remaining would active galaxies "give birth" to high red- shift quasars and companion galaxies. Redshift becomes a measure of the rela- tive ages of nearby quasars and galax- ies, not their distance. As a quasar or galaxy ages, the redshift decreases in discrete steps or quanta. The huge puzzle for astrophysicists is why a galaxy should exhibit an atomic phenomenon. So we turn to particle physics. This difficulty highlights the fact that quantum "mechanics" applied to atoms is a theory without physical reality. The weirdness of quantum the- ory has been attributed to the subatomic around the weak force of gravity acting in an electrically sterile universe. be an electric arc crater like Meteor Crater in Arizona. scale to which it applies. But now that we have quantum effects in The Electric Universe model grew from the realisation that a something the size of a galaxy, this convenient nonsense is new plasma cosmology and an understanding of electrical exposed. phenomena in space could illuminate the new work being done in If Arp is right, many experts are going to look very silly. His comparative mythology. In return, the images of events discovery sounded the alarm in some halls of Academe, and since witnessed in the prehistoric sky and their sequence could help nobody likes a loud noise—particularly if they are asleep—the unravel the recent history of the Earth, Mars and Venus. By knee-jerk response was to attack the guy with his finger on the accepting data over a far wider span of knowledge and human alarm button. Arp's telescope time was denied, his papers were existence than conventional cosmology allows, the Electric rejected, and he was forced to leave the United States to pursue Universe model began to provide pragmatic and common-sense his work. answers to many questions that seem unrelated. It followed the entreaty of the Nobel Prize-winning plasma physicist and 5. Electric Galaxies cosmologist, Hannes Alfvén, to work backward in time from For more than 10 years, plasma physicists have had an electri- observations rather than forward from some idealised theoretical cal model of galaxies. It works with real-world physics. The beginning. model is able successfully to account for the observed shapes and "We have to learn again that science without contact with dynamics of galaxies without recourse to invisible dark matter experiments is an enterprise which is likely to go completely and central black holes. It explains simply the powerful electric astray into imaginary conjecture." (H. Alfvén and G. Arrhenius, Evolution of the Solar System, NASA, 1976, p. 257) The result is now a "Big Picture" that emphasises our dramatic prehistory and essential connectedness to the universe. No longer do we have to look at ourselves and the universe through the dis- torting sideshow mirrors of modern science. The implications of electrical activity between planets will be profoundly disturbing for those who have built their cosmology around the weak force of gravity acting in an electrically sterile universe. This strange, dogmatic oversight guarantees that noth- ing will remain in future of the fanciful Big Bang theory or the simplistic story of the formation of the solar system. The implications of electrical activity between planets will be profoundly disturbing for those who have built their cosmology around the weak force of gravity acting in an electrically sterile universe. 5. Electric Galaxies For more than 10 years, plasma physicists have had an electri- cal model of galaxies. It works with real-world physics. The model is able successfully to account for the observed shapes and dynamics of galaxies without recourse to invisible dark matter and central black holes. It explains simply the powerful electric JUNE — JULY 2004 NEXUS + 49 www.nexusmagazine.com