12 - That Would Work

In our thought laboratory we can postulate that space and time began with the Big Bang. One model for this beginning would be the simplest of geometric elements known as the dimensionless point. Even though this point is beyond our understanding by observation or application of physical laws it doesn't necessarily follow that it would play no role in the essential nature of matter.

The third nature of matter may simply be that all matter remains superimposed within this point and the observation of this nature is likewise dependent on the manner of our observation.

Instantaneous interaction over distance may be explained by eliminating the distance, thereby making instantaneous effects less spooky and returning Prime Directive #2 to grace.

11 - The Germinal Moment

In the Small World all matter will exhibit two distinct natures. Electrons can behave as waves or particles, light can too, depending on how they are observed. Einstein was literally the father of Small Science but he didn't like the way the kids turned out. Is there another nature of matter that would provide a perspective from which all the family could get along?

In Dr. Stephen Hawking's lecture The Beginning of Time he stated that at the germinal moment "...all matter in the universe would have been on top of itself." He followed by saying that contemplating what proceeded the Big Bang as having "no observational consequence."

10 - The Big Idea

Before Galileo confirmed that Copernicus was correct, that planets did orbit the Sun instead of the other way around, the paths that planets took across the heavens defied all logic. This change in perspective changed wandering squiggles into perfect ellipses. Einstein had accomplished similar leaps of insight in his career and he believed that yet unknown variables would unite Small Science with the Universe in which he believed.

9 - Entanglement

Believers in Small Science are true believers. Undaunted by Dr. Einstein's thought experiment they repeated in in the laboratory and found that the impossible turned out to be possible. Einstein's grenade was not only a dud, but it opened fascinating new doors for Small Science. The more Eisenstein lamented Small Science the more he became entangled in it.

8 - Prime Violation #2

Dr. Einstein saw that Small Science proponents were not phased by the fact that their Universe was so unpredictable. His only recourse was to toss a scientific grenade that would surely wake them up. In his most elegant thought experiment of all he described two electrons traveling though space that collide but continue on modified courses that carry them toward opposite reaches of the Universe. Billions of years later one of the electrons passes through a physics laboratory somewhere in the high desert of New Mexico where an instrument measures its speed. Instantaneously, in a galaxy far far away, the other electron changes direction in compliance with Small Science.

7 - Prime Violation #1

Small Science bothered Dr. Einstein very much because in the Small World knowledge of what a particle was doing eliminated the possibility of knowing where it was doing it. More importantly to Dr. Einstein, thought experiments in Small Science simply do not produce correct results. In the Small World physics ceases to exist, as practiced by the greatest physicist of all time, and the mathematics of probability takes its place.

6 - Prime Directive #2

Dr. Albert Einstein conceived of many things beyond common comprehension, but his starting premises were always simple. One premise that he held especially dear was that effects are not instantaneous. Any cause is separated from its effect by some passage of time, however small. Gravity, as described by Dr. Isaac Newton, violated this premise because it required Earth's pull on apples to be instantaneous. Einstein spent the greater part of his career proving that this was incorrect, his proof was called General Relativity.

5 - Prime Directive #1

Dr. Einstein believed in thought experiments -- that physics problems can be solved though the logical application of ideas. This concept underlies the premise that the Universe is a logical place and that if any cause were fully understood that the the effect could be predicted exactly. On large scales, larger than the electron, this premise is true. On small scales, however, it appears to be false. Small Science became known as Quantum Mechanics and Einstein concluded that it must be incomplete.