There are two kinds of scientific progress: the methodical experimentation and categorization which gradually extend the boundaries of knowledge, and the revolutionary leap of genius which redefines and transcends those boundaries. Acknowledging our debt to the former, we yearn nonetheless for the latter.
Address to the Faculty
Nonlinear Mathematics
The substructure of the universe regresses infinitely towards smaller and smaller components. Behind atoms we find electrons, and behind electrons quarks. Each layer unraveled reveals new secrets, but also new mysteries.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
Advanced Subatomic Theory
A brave little theory, and actually quite coherent for a system of five or seven dimensions--if only we lived in one.
Now We Are Alone
Superstring Theory
This unusual specimen is not so much a classic particle as a connector--a kind of string attaching two particles. As distance increases the connective power becomes attenuated, but if it is cut the power vanishes: forever.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
Graviton Theory
Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory, but temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more importantly it can be controlled.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
Temporal Mechanics
Begin with a function of arbitrary complexity. Feed it values, "sense data". Then, take your result, square it, and feed it back into your original function, adding a new set of sense data. Continue to feed your results back into the original function ad infinitum. What do you have? The fundamental principle of human consciousness.
The Feedback Principle
Pre-Sentient Algorithms
Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore he must exist.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
Intellectual Integrity
Time dilates as the speed of light approaches. To the extent that light consists of particles, it is in its own way timeless. Through simple perturbations of the temporal manifold, we can refract or repel photons most efficiently.
Now We Are Alone
Photon/Wave Mechanics
The genetic code does not, and cannot, specify the nature and position of every capillary in the body or every neuron in the brain. What it can do is describe the underlying fractal pattern which creates them.
Nonlinear Genetics
Gene Splicing
The first living thing to go through the device was a small white rat. I still have him, in fact. As you can see, the damage was not so great as they say.
See How They Run
Matter Transmission
We have reached an informational threshold which can only be crossed by harnessing the speed of light directly. The quickest computations require the fastest possible particles moving along the shortest paths. Since the capability now exists to take our information directly from photons travelling molecular distances, the final act of the information revolution will soon be upon us.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
Optical Computers
Remember, genes are NOT blueprints. This means you can't, for example, insert "the genes for an elephant's trunk" into a giraffe and get a giraffe with a trunk. There -are- no genes for trunks. What you CAN do with genes is chemistry, since DNA codes for chemicals. For instance, we can in theory splice the native plants' talent for nitrogen fixation into a terran plant.
Nonlinear Genetics
Centauri Genetics
To map the very stuff of life; to look into the genetic mirror and watch a million generations march past. That, friends, is both our curse and our proudest achievement. For it is in reaching to our beginnings that we begin to learn who we truly are.
Address to the Faculty
The Human Genome Project
In one moment, Earth; in the next, Heaven.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
The Space Elevator
What actually transpires beneath the veil of an event horizon? Decent people shouldn't think too much about that.
For I Have Tasted The Fruit
The Singularity Inductor
Imagine the entire contents of the planetary datalinks, the sum total of human knowledge, blasted into the Planetmind's fragile neural network with the full power of every reactor on the planet. Thousands of years of civilization compressed into a single searing burst of revelation. That is our last-ditch attempt to win humanity a reprieve from extinction at the hands of an awakening alien god.
Planet Speaks
The Voice of Planet
The popular stereotype of the researcher is that of a skeptic and a pessimist. Nothing could be further from the truth! Scientists must be optimists at heart, in order to block out the incessant chorus of those who say "It cannot be done."
University Commencement
Skunkworks
Have you ever wondered why clouds behave in such familiar ways when each specimen is so unique? Or why the energy exchange market is so unpredictable? In the coming age we must develop and apply nonlinear mathematical models to real world phenomena. We shall seek, and find, the hidden fractal keys which can unravel the chaos around us.
University Commencement
Quantum Lab
It is a medical commonplace that the tissues of the human body replace themselves regularly, essentially creating an entirely new body every seven years. From whence then come cancer and the slow degeneration of age? They exist as faults in the patterns of intelligence within the genes themselves; by reprogramming these smallest parts, the whole becomes well.
Nonlinear Genetics
Nanohospital
Let the Gaians preach their silly religion, but one way or the other I shall see this compound burned, seared, and sterilized until every hiding place is found and until every last Mind Worm egg, every last slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk. That species shall be exterminated, I tell you! Exterminated!
Lab Three aftermath
Temple of Planet