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Serbian Vampires

It was a foggy day on April 6, back in the year 1725, when angry villagers of the rural hamlet of Kisiljevo, Serbia, opened the grave of their neighbor Petar Blagojević, who died eight days before. His death was followed by a spate of nine other sudden deaths and numerous claims by the victims of being throttled by Petar at night. When they cracked the casket open, features associated with vampires, just like they anticipated, were indeed present: the body was undecomposed, the hair and beard were grown, there was a mixture of new skin and nails along with old ones peeled away, and there was blood flowing out of his mouth.

The villagers were accompanied by an official of the Austrian administration (the Austrian Empire governed the area in the early 18th century) and a local priest. The entire case was documented and reported to the officials and covered by Die Wiener Zeitung, a Viennese newspaper, on July 21st. At the time, vampirism was fully embedded into Serbian folklore with numerous Slavic legends and the old village stories from centuries before, especially during harsh times of Turkish occupation. In the aftermath, with the consent of the authorities, they stabbed Petar's heart with a hawthorn and burned the body.


Petar's case was by no means an isolated phenomenon of vampirism in Serbia. Only one year later, in a different village, about one hundred kilometers to the south, a man called Arnaut Pavle came with an even more colorful story. He was a known rebel against the Ottoman Empire who had escaped to the village from the Turkish-controlled part of Serbia, where he had been plagued by a vampire, by his own claims. Allegedly, he had cured himself by eating soil from the vampire's grave and smearing himself with his blood.

Unfortunately, he died soon after during summer labor—he broke his neck in a fall from a hay wagon. In the following weeks, four people claimed to be plagued by him and died shortly after. Similarly to Petar, after the villagers opened his grave, they saw his body unchanged with the same vampire characteristics. The story said when they drove a stake through his heart, he released a frightful shriek as if he were alive. They cut off his head, burnt the whole body, and performed the same procedure with four victims as well to prevent them from becoming vampires as well.


The most respected Serbian philologist and linguist, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, one of the most important reformers of the modern Serbian language, did thorough inquiries of the old tales, and in his ethnographic research "Belief in things that do not exist", he mentioned vampires as dead people with devilish spirits who enter and revive them after 40 days if their souls are not accepted in the afterlife. The tales indeed contain instructions on how to deal with undecomposed bodies if found in graves, especially those swollen and reddened by what seemed to be human blood. In that illiterate era of the middle ages, when lots of legends and stories in fact survived merely in oral form and transferred from generation to generation only as bedtime stories and were never written down, there is no doubt that colorful fiction is always an inevitable part added to real historical events. More or less, even today, everything in life and death not fully understandable receives fictitious and mysterious additions, especially from religion and vivid human imagination.

Almost three centuries before, back then in the 18th century, little was known about what happens to the body after death. Postmortem purge fluid is one of them. In modern forensics, it is a natural byproduct of decomposition, a reddish blood-like fluid that may or may not exude from the oral and nasal passages after death. Burial in a physical environment (temperature, moisture, and soil properties) with a high deficiency in oxygen often results in slow microbial growth and therefore slow decomposition itself. The body condition is also a factor in the process, as is the nature of the microbial community itself. If we implement all the scientific and medical knowledge of today, it is much easier to separate fiction from what really happened in the Middle Ages. Today we even know a great deal about clinical vampirism, known as Renfield syndrome, which in psychiatric literature is defined as an obsession with drinking blood, and several medical publications are actively concerning themselves with clinical vampirism in scientific literature as well as in forensic psychiatry.


However, on the other side of the science, fiction had its own evolution in past centuries, and vampires received the great portion in written horror stories and movies as well. The word itself in the literature was derived in the early 18th century from the Serbian 'vampir' (Serbian Cyrillic: 'вампир') but it's usage in Serbian folklore is much older. Almost all the old cultures encountered vampirism in one way or another, especially in the old Slavic paganism. There were also beings known as 'lamia/empusa' in old Greek/Roman mythology, with shape-shifting blood-sucking vampiresses, 'baobhan sith' - a female blood-sucking fairy in old Scottish tales—and many others.

Horror fiction with vampires in the fore/background is not actually my top-notch genre, but from time to time some extraordinary work emerges among all the mediocrities, and 'Constantine's Crossing' by Dejan Stojiljković is just that. The novel is following a main character just before the end of the second world war in occupied Serbia. Almost all the action is in my own town, where I am living ever since my birth, and the main premise summarizes the Nazis in a search for the great secret of Constantine the Great, who was the best-known man ever born in this neighborhood in the late 3rd century AD. The author is also native to the town of Niš, known by the name of Naissus in Constantine's time. What is the best about the book is that Dejan Stojiljković is perfectly embedding the horror plot into real historical events and people, and perhaps the only downside of the novel is that it is too short for that many characters involved, but nevertheless it was by far the best horror novel I read in a while. The accompanying graphic novel is amazing as well, and I warmly recommend both. Below in the ref section, there are more stories related to Naissus, Constantine, and WW2 in this part that could help with understanding the background better.



Medical refs:
Serbia refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire 
 

Is Infinity Real?

Sooner or later, computation hardware and artificial intelligence algorithms will inevitably reach the point of enough sophistication that the creation of a simulation of enormous proportions, for example, the size of the entire universe, will be effortless. So to speak. These god-like engineers of such future simulation will indeed face a decision point regarding which degree of limitation to create for their simulated entities or artificial intelligence units in order for them to never reach the point of finding the proof that their world is in fact nothing more than just a series of electrical or optical currents of one inconceivably powerful futuristic computer.

If created right, there's no doubt that the inner world of all those hypothetical units would seem to be as real to them as our own very reality is to us. So, considering the state of obvious, the question arises by itself: if our own reality is such a simulation and we are nothing but AI units within some alien quantum computer, what exactly is the limitation?


To me, it always has been infinity. My own limited mind always struggled with understanding what it really meant. Aristotle, who buzzed his head with infinity quite a lot, concluded that infinity is only potential in nature. We can always add a number to any number to the point of infinity or divide something into infinite parts, but in reality, he thought that it was impossible to exceed every definite magnitude for the simple reason that if it were possible, there would be something bigger than the heavens or something smaller than the atoms (Greek origin: άτομο, which means without volume and uncuttable).

Today we still can't find the proof of bigger or smaller volumes than we can see or understand. If we look up toward the heavens, we are pretty sure that we cannot see beyond the Big Bang or 14 billion light years in all directions due to the limitation of light speed. The same goes with understanding the smaller volumes of microcosm for which we think the current boundary is around the scale of 10e-12 Picometres due to the quantum limitation of observable micro space without disturbance by the observer.


All things considered, as proposed by mathematics, infinity might be just the other word for really, really big, or extremely small, or very old, or too far away. In every way, simply put, infinity might be just beyond our reach. Perhaps if we are really living in the simulation, this is our limitation, and we are pretty much designed in the realm of simulated physics to never reach it and to never learn what is behind the horizon. Ironically, the ultimate truth could be that there was nothing there. It might be where simulation ends and where alien software developers' backdoor is located. Their own reality could be entirely and unimaginably different.

But what if we are not living in a simulation? What if all the laws of physics were not invented by an ingenious developer and were instead real, perfectly natural, and not artificial in origin? Would we have a volume larger than heavens or smaller than quarks and strings? Or just maybe these two extremes are somehow connected and twisted in a loop with no need for infinity at all? Perhaps, ultimately, the size could be irrelevant and not a factor in all cosmic equations.
 
1 +  = ?

http://sten.astronomycafe.net/is-infinity-real/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity
 

In the Footsteps of Pino Lella

It doesn't happen often that after reading a book, you can compare most of the places and some of the portrayed characters with real sites and buildings along with real protagonists from the historical story. Actually, this never happened to me before, and after I'd reached the last cover of 'Beneath a Scarlet Sky', a novel written by Mark Sullivan, published in 2017, I saw the rare opportunity of visiting the city where it all happened and where all the sites still stand today. Not much later, and after my entire family read the novel or at least got familiar with the story, we packed our backpacks and hit the road. In the aftermath, the result is this blog post along with an embedded video story as a documentary of the half-day walking tour of Milan in Italy, where everything happened more than 70 years ago. In the spirit of a fair warning, I advise you to read the book first before watching the video since it might spoil the reading for you or to wait for an upcoming series or movie with Tom Holland in the lead role.


The novel is based on the true story of an Italian teenager, Pino Lella, who lived in Milan during the second world war and, within the last two years until the very end of WW2, helped many Jewish people escape to Switzerland over the Alps and, in the final year, acted as a spy for freedom fighters while being a personal driver for General Hans Leyers, Adolf Hitler’s left hand in northern Italy. Pino survived all the horrors of the war and the Nazi occupation and deeply fell in love with Anna, a girl he met on the streets of Milan on the day of the first bombing of the city. He constantly dreamed about the future they would one day share.

This book tour would not be possible at all without fantastic Valeria Andreoli from BellaMilano, who guided us throughout Milan beautifully for almost five full hours! It was amazing to mix the real streets, all the buildings, the castle and the cathedral, hotels, the train station, and even the monumental cemetery with our vividly built images of all the places we already formed from the book and Mark Sullivan's amazing narrative.



Undoubtedly, spending three days in Milan for us provided lots of more opportunities for visiting the history back to the time all the way to Leonardo da Vinci. Around the year 1482, he moved to Milan to work for the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, as an engineer, sculptor, painter, and architect. Until 1499, when Milan was invaded by the French, he left behind the 'Last Supper', a famous mural painting of Jesus and the twelve apostles; many paintings, including 'The Virgin of the Rocks', Milan's Narvigly, the system of navigable canals to ferry people and merchandise in and out of the city, 'Leonardo`s horse', an uncompleted equestrian sculpture; and many more.

We were especially interested in Leonardo's engineering projects and his machines, models, and sketches displayed in 'Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia—Leonardo da Vinci' and within a new exhibition dedicated to this amazing man called 'Leonardo3' stationed in 'Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II', another Milan landmark from the 19th century. This second video log of Viktor's shows a glimpse of what we managed to visit and learn.



(Un)expectedly, at the end of our first visit to this great city, we have left with much more footage from what we initially planned to make with Pino Lella's and Leonardo's stories. All these are now packed in this third video embedded above, and if you like to see more of Valeria and stories hidden behind Leonardo's paintings, especially the ones he did in the Sforza Castle, if you want to learn what you need to do if you are in search of a good luck charm during your first visit to the legendary 19th-century shopping mall, or if you are eager to check out one great Italian restaurant along with a couple of more places we managed to visit, this is the video definitely worth clicking on.

As for us, I am more than sure that Milan definitely didn't see us wandering its streets for the last time. The rest of Italy too.

The book references:
https://bellamilanotours.com/footsteps-pino-lella/
https://marksullivanbooks.com/

Beneath a Scarlet Sky:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32487617-beneath-a-scarlet-sky (en)
https://www.newtoncompton.com/libro/lultimo-eroe-sopravvissuto (it)
https://www.knjizare-vulkan.rs/istorijski-roman/44294-pod-grimiznim-nebom (srb)

Museums:
https://www.museoscienza.org/en
http://www.leonardo3.net/en/
 

What Jupiter and Mercury Have in Common?

Before we jump to premature conclusions with easy answers such as 'nothing at all' or 'at least they are both orbiting the Sun', perhaps we could do some quick research, just in case... With Jupiter's equatorial radius almost thirty times bigger than the same property on Mercury, the obvious composition difference between one gas giant and a small rocky planet and all the other major differences in mass, density, temperature, orbital inclination, and orbit period, and with almost everything we could compare the two, it is very hard to find the slightest similarity. Not to say that Jupiter in its arsenal is in possession of moons equal to or even bigger in size than the smallest planet of our solar system.


However, within the past couple of seasons, what they had in common was the fact that they were under the spotlight of all of us who, from time to time, enjoy gazing at the sky with our naked eyes or through modest telescopes with a strong feeling of being the witnesses of our own solar system at work. It all started at the end of last year with a rare Jupiter-Mercury conjunction when two planets came close to each other to the size of two moon-diameters. It was easily observed without any optical aids just after the sunset on December 21, 2018.



Even better, the show was on June 12, 2019. On that day, the giant planet was closest to Earth during the celestial event known as Jupiter’s opposition. At its closest point, it came to within 641 million km from Earth. We took the chance to point the telescope and observe the mighty planet and its four largest Galilean moons: IO, EUROPA, GANYMEDE, and CALLISTO. If you watch the video, you'll find the entire story of the event and more facts about the history of the most famous moons, along with short footage from the Sky-Watcher and references in the video's description.



Culmination in our amateur astronomy happened a couple of days ago on November 11, 2019, with the celestial transit of Mercury over the face of the Sun. It was the last transit of the small planet for a while, and the next time it is going to 'eclipse' the mother star again will be in 2032! It was hard to take the photo of the event since it was fuzzy and cloudy with the sunset approaching rapidly, but we made it at last, and it was worth all the efforts.

Stay tuned for more celestial events in the future and maybe some more stories and photos from the active heavens, along with our first long-exposure astrophotographs from outside the solar system.
 

Adventurous Travels for 6th Graders

Geographically lying in the heart of the Balkan peninsula, the small town of Svrljig is acting as the capital of a relatively small Serbian land surrounded by exactly 38 villages that are, demographically speaking, living their lives on the edge of extinction. In just half a century, the human population of the area is more than halved, with more and more 'haunted-like' villages containing more empty houses than those with smoked winter chimneys, in which more people die than are born. The past of the area went through numerous changes over time and was pretty colorful, to say the least. Like everywhere else, ever since the written literacy spread its wings only a millennium ago, the history of Svrljig is pretty well documented ever since the great Schism of the 11th century, and we pretty much know what it was like to live here down to that time.


But history goes even further in the past—to those times we know little about, and all we have are a ruin here and there we can try to understand and build a time frame and story behind it. If you want to explore such sites and build a speculation or two standing in the middle of a stone pile that once was a dignified wall of an ancient villa or a military tower of thermae, Svrljig is a perfect place to start with. Moreover, if you want to experience nature at its greatest and to stumble upon sites of pure beauty just next to the modern ruins of almost empty villages and barely standing houses in contrast, you are just where you want to be. If you are a 6th grader with your own Indiana Jones hat and modern GoPro camera, even better.

Historically and in every way considered, the grand jewel title of all the Svrljig adventurous travels goes to the gorgeous Niševac gorge. This was the prime location of ancient life, lying just next to the Roman main road connecting the Adriatic Sea and Danube River, wide enough to carry a luxury chariot without heavy disturbance from the built stones and strong enough to support the passage of the heaviest army of the time (there's evidence of the First Cohort of Cretans stationed around here). The gorge was an ancient spa once with strong mineral springs with healing properties perfect for a settlement that once existed and was named Timaco Maiori (Timacum Maius). The road and the town were recorded by Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient Roman road map with its seventh section along the way of the ancient cities of Lissus, Naissus, and Rataria. The mineral springs and wellheads no longer exist today due to violent geological events in previous millennia, or they are just depleted by now, but the beauty of the ancient site is still alive, and it is not hard to imagine what it once looked like.



The ruins go even further in time in this area with archaeological evidence of Paleo-Balkan tribes. Before the Romans, this area was once home to the Triballi, a Thracian tribe that lived in the same times as the Celts, Scythians, and Illyrians in the prehistory of Southeastern Europe. Along with all the other extinct Indo-European people and their languages of the Balkans, Triballi fully dispersed during the Hellenization, Romanization, and Slavicization of the region over the eons. It's maybe harsh to say, but most likely Triballi, just like other people who lived here and built their settlements ever since the Neolithic, are now only part of our genes and heritage; we have no substantial knowledge of.

But to get back to the travel itself, we had luck this summer since the railway was closed and traffic-free due to maintenance and rail replacement, and while hiking Niševac gorge, a 1.5 km-long canyon carved in calcium carbonate rocks from the Mesozoic period, we took the chance and stood on the Milutin Milanković bridge, 15 or so meters above an ancient river, designed at the dawn of the first world war by one of the most famous Serbian scientists.



The river name originated back to the Triballi people, who were the first to name it Timahos, which is just one of the words from an extinct Indo-European language that more or less means 'black water'. This particular stream is just one of five rivers that bind together into one of the biggest tributaries of the mighty Danube. The Romans used to call it Timacus or Timaco, and the name stayed until today with the Serbian version of Timok. Our next stop on this summer's travels was exactly 25 kilometers upstream, not far from the spot where the river springs into life. The place is called Pandiralo, and it is literally one of a kind natural phenomena where Timok sinks into a cave and appears again about 750 meters later with around 30 meters of difference in altitude. The legend says the cave goes even further under the mountain and connects other streams as well, but this is still unknown to this date. It was also a one-of-a-kind opportunity to create three messages in the bottle, which Viktor threw into the pit, and hopefully, when the water rises, they will sink with the river, and maybe somebody will find them in the future. Who knows, maybe they will appear somewhere unexpected.

Finally, and unrelated to the river, we also had a short trip to the Samar cave entrance (Milutin’s Cave in the village of Kopajkošara on the slopes of the Kalafat mountain, some 15 kilometers west of Svrljig) and the natural Popšica pool close by. The cave earned its nickname after Milutin Veljković, a well-known Serbian speleologist in his time, who, starting in the year 1969, spent 464 days in the cave, breaking the world record in bivouacking in an underground space. While we didn't enter the cave, as it requires special equipment and guided help, we still had a unique experience of the site, which we are hoping to visit again for a more thorough investigation, including passing through the entire cave from end to end, but I am afraid this is a little bit above the pay grade of 6th graders, and we will have to wait for a year or two. Or three. Or even more.



Svrljig neighborhood and the town itself are one of those inspirational destinations with the power to hook you for years of returning trips, and the beauty lies in the wilderness of the whole experience. There are no fences or limited areas here, and the only guide is yourself and your wanderlust gene. The food in restaurants is divine, and the mountain air comes with healing abilities if you stay long enough. The Svrljig area extends to the east to the famous Balkan mountains, the backbone of the largest peninsula of southern Europe, with more sites that come naturally enriched with a variety of elements, including uranium ore.

I am definitely affected by the Svrljig geography and history as well, to the level that one of my science fiction stories included this particular area as the main plot for Arty's adventure. If you are eager to explore the story, it is based on "Serbian Kryptonite", the Jadarite mineral with a chemical formula similar to the formula invented for the fictional substance kryptonite in the 2006 film 'Superman Returns'. The story is the final chapter of the FAR-T1 novel you can find on the blog.

Location and Character of Timacum Maius
https://www.academia.edu/5901475/.../Location_and_Character_of_Timacum_Maius

Traces of the Roman Naissus–Ratiaria Road
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/

Milutin Milanković
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milutin_Milankovic

Tabula Peutingeria
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Extends_of_the_Tabula_Peutingeria.png

Tabula Peutingeriane VII (nowadays Serbia)
https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Peutingeriana_Serbia.jpg

The First Cohort of Cretans, a Roman Military Unit at Timacum Maius
https://www.academia.edu/.../The_First_Cohort_of_Cretans

Samar Cave Adventure
https://naturetraveloffice.com/en/avanture/caving/avantura-samar/

Samar Cave, a forgotten jewel worthy of Guinness record
https://www.itinari.com/samar-cave-a-forgotten-jewel-worthy-of-guinness-record-knx9
 

Fairies of Naissus

In pre-Christian mythologies of the western and northern tribes and their pagan beliefs, female deities were not uncommon. Take, for instance, old Gaul's Matres or Valkyries of the old Norse mythology and, of course, all the goddesses from the history of all polytheistic religions around the globe. But perhaps the most interesting of them all are, you guessed it, the fairies. They are not actually deities per se and rather belong to the spirit realm of the afterlife and dead, but still you can find them, in one form or another, in almost all religious legends and myths. The city where I was born, the valley it resides in, and the river that splits it in half are no different. The history of this area is, metaphorically speaking, very colorful and full of wonders, all the way to the beginning of the Neolithic era, and over the centuries this valley literally saw lots of different cultures and deities. One of them dates way back to the Celtic Gauls and their tribe named Scordisci, who lived in this neighborhood almost 24 centuries ago. They were the ones who named the river and the first settlement Naissa/Navissos, which pretty much means 'the river and town of fairies'. Whether or not this area in BC was flooded with fairies, or perhaps the geography of it resembled their beliefs, or even the very "Celtic Otherworld" was pictured and portrayed like our own neighborhood, the name survived for centuries, and despite numerous conquerors and different cultures, the fairies stayed in the name and the 'spirit' of the town all the way till today. Perhaps the first document that 'officially' coined Celtic's name was published in Alexandria by the famous Claudius Ptolemy in his masterpiece 'Geography' (around AD 150), in which he mentioned Ναϊςςός (Latin: Naissus) as 'first among the four largest towns in Roman Dardania'*.

Kristine Opolais in Dvořák’s 'Rusalka' - The Met Opera***

When I said the town inherited not only the 'fairy tale' name but also the spirit that it is still living in legends and myths, what I really had in mind was one particular spot on the northern hill named 'Metoh' and the outskirts of the town where, almost throughout the millennium, stands a ruin of an old temple built on that particular spot by one of the Byzantine emperors in the 11th century. The official name of the temple was 'Holy Trinity Church', but over time it earned the prefix 'Rusalija', which pretty much originated from old Serbian folklore and, no doubt, connects the church with Rusalkas, mythical water nymphs or female spirits from old pagan Slavic mythology. In some Slavic languages, Russian included, the word 'rusalka' translated to English literally means 'mermaid'. This variation of immortal creatures from the spirit world is completely opposite from the 'Tinkerbell' kind of fairies; instead, they could be very malevolent and dangerous young undead girls who died in or near a river or a lake and spent eternity haunting the waterway. With their long red hair and beautiful appearance and singing, they lure young men into the depths to their deaths. In Serbian stories, even hearing their song results in immediate deafness. They are the most deadly for an entire week, 50 days after Easter, which comes in late May or early June every year. As it seems, legends say that they are only afraid of wormwood and garlic, so try to have them with you if you are a true believer.

'Holy Trinity Rusalija' - abandoned temple from 11th century

Well, we didn't have any garlic in our pockets last November when we visited the church, and I truly hated my curiosity when I read about Rusalkas before we drove there. Sometimes it is extremely wise to read about horror myths after you visit the spot where these malicious fairies live. Firstly, the site was eerie—the church is abandoned, and to get to it, you have to drive through the old graveyard. People seem to visit the place only once a year, during 'Holy Trinity' week. Secondly, the weather was way too windy and spooky, and I had to engage all my driving skills to enter the churchyard; the car simply didn't want to enter due to the poor quality of the stone entrance and kept rolling backwards. Thirdly, it was almost sunset, part of the day usually identified with 'twilight hour'. When we finally got inside, my wife refused to get out of the car, and in a couple of minutes of intense bravery, only Viktor and I went out to take a couple of photos. Needless to say, the feeling was truly cheerless, and the only bright part of the site was the view. The location was perfect, and we glimpsed the entire city with a large orange sun on the horizon, and I finally took one of the best sunsets in our collection along with great shots of the little temple itself. Confidentially speaking, if Viktor didn't bring his plastic gun toy, we would probably stay less time listening to that spooky Rusalka's songs... or heavy wind whistles... or whatever it was. Although I would be feeling much safer with a couple of garlic cloves... Ahem ...

The sunset from the 'Holy Trinity' church (Metoh hill)

However, besides city and river names, the history of this area in BC is not very well documented, archaeologically speaking, and even though there is plenty of evidence and finds, before Ptolemy's reference, nothing is certain. But the names are always interesting, and as they survive millennia, there are many speculations of their origin. Celtic 'Navissos' is no doubt related to fairies; I mean, even the word 'fairy' was coined by ancient Gauls in what is nowadays France, and the root is in the Old French word 'faerie', which means 'enchantment' or 'under the spell'. However, even before the Celtic invasion of the Balkans in the 3rd century BC, this land was populated with various forms of societies and civilization. It lies on the crossroads between north and south and west and east, and as I described in post Constantine & Naissus, it was always under siege or some sort of raid. Due to this geographic misfortune, one tribe never managed to rule this area for, relatively speaking, long periods of time. Before the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who stayed here after the Celts retreated from the invasion of Greece, the land was occupied by people of Dardani, who originated either from an estranged Illyrian tribe or, as some scholars suggest, directly from the ancient city of Dardania, located next to the city of Troy, as described in Homer's Illiad, who moved to the Balkans millennia before AD. Even before Dardani's rule, at some point in the 4th century this area was raided and occupied by Triballi tribes, and if you add Greeks and Romans and constant threats from Goths and Huns from the north and far east, you'd get the picture of how unwise it was to settle around here in ancient times. Anyhow, the point is that almost everybody managed to spend some time here and to contribute a little in those violent times. Or, to be precise, to contribute to everything but changing the original name that stayed the same from the very beginning.

Niš downtown by the old fortress and Nišava river

So let's try to summarize the names from all those conquerors over time: Navissos, Ναϊσσός, Naissus, Nais, Niş, and Niš, all of them related to fairies in different languages. Perhaps the most interesting connection with the name is during Greek rule, especially from the golden prosperity times of Macedonian expansion at some point centuries before Christ. In Greek mythology exists the famous mountain of Nysa, which was the traditional place where the rain nymphs (Hyades) raised the semi-god Dionysus, who was one of those bad guys from Olympus—the god of wine, ritual madness, and religious ecstasy. And to quote Wikipedia, Dionysus represents everything that is chaotic, dangerous, and unexpected, everything that escapes human reason and that can only be attributed to the unforeseeable action of the gods. I guess there is no need to add that one hypothesis of the location of Nysa (which is still unknown if it's not made up) is within ancient Tribalia or, pretty much... this neighborhood again. Tribalia and triballian tribes were located entirely in what is nowadays Eastern Serbia, which borders the Niš Valley and its northeastern mountains. By the myth, and just like their half-sisters, sea-nymphs Pleiades and rain-nymphs Hyades were transformed into a cluster of stars that was afterwards associated with rain. So if you look up on a bright starry night and see the Hyades in the constellation of Taurus, which is the nearest open star cluster to the Solar System, remember that their five brightest stars might have been living just around within my north neighboring mountains in their... fairy existence.

Ivan Kramskoi, Русалки (Rusalki), 1871

Of course, Greek mythology doesn't end this story about the origin of the name of my birth town with fairies. Even in Scandinavian mythology, there is a 'Nis', a dwarfed male fairy in Danish Jutland (Nisse god-dreng, Nisse good lad**), who offers his help to run households if, of course, he is pleased by a treat (groute) every evening. In the end, I am sure that Niš, or old Naissus, if you will, is one of the rarest cities on the planet with a real fairytale in its name origin, and I would really like to see a tribute to fairies, even to the evil Rusalkas, in the form of some sort of street art or museum or something that could show a modest traveler, tourist, or web surfer not only the history of one town's name but also a hint of how once our ancestors pictured the spirit world and their interaction with people. If this happens anytime in the future, this post will definitely get its sequel with hopefully great photos and more stories.

Inage credits and direct refs:
*** https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/arts...rusalka.html
* http://www.poesialatina.it/_ns/greek/testi/Claudius_Ptolemaeus/Geographia_(lib._1-3).html
** http://www.celtic-twilight.com/otherworld/fairy_mythology/scandinavia3.htm
http://www.guideforthearts.com/renee-fleming-to-star-in-the-title-role-of-rusalka/
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014/06/fairies-haunt-springs-wells-and-rivers.html
http://www.niscafe.com/grad-nis/

Refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusalka
http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/faeries.html
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014/06/fairies-haunt-springs-wells-and-rivers.html
http://celticruins.blogspot.rs/2014_06_01_archive.html
http://www.panacomp.net/serbia?mesto=srbija_sveta%20trojica%20matejevac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scordisci
http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2006/0350-76530637007P.pdf
http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/AnatoliaDardania.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nysa_(mythology)
 

The Genetics of Human Behavior

Genetics is, relatively speaking, a very young science. After the discovery of DNA only a couple of decades ago, it stopped being solely a statistical and psychological study of heredity, and ever since then it has been given a very important component in its labs: a microscope. In simple words, we are now able to dive more deeply into the world of genes and their government of the human body and behavior. In this short time we learned a great deal about human genetics and how it works. Many genes are already identified in relation to how we act and interact with others and our environment. Let's discuss some of them that already earned cool nicknames in relation to what they are capable of or what we think and suspect they do.

The mixture of genes we own is given to us by our parents, who inherited them from their parents, who were gifted with the same from their own mothers and fathers, and so on. What is our DNA finally composed of? It basically defines us and not just our looks and physical properties but also our behavior. For example, there is a 'wanderlust gene' that some of us have that is dominant and drives a person toward adventurous behavior and an everlasting desire for travel and the search for the unknown. The other example is a 'warrior gene' that in many cases explains somebody's aggressiveness and violent behavior. There's even a 'god gene', a molecule identified with a power to direct a person to be superstitious and religious. Imagine what happens if these three genes become dominant in a single person who, by chance, becomes the leader of a country with worldwide influence.


In regards to human behavior, the main question is: what has dominant influence—the environment or genetics of a person? The best results, of course, are given by a statistical study of separated identical twins who, after reunion, showed many similarities in personalities even though they were raised in different families and environments. However, we should not underestimate environmental influence simply because if behavior came to be the result of complex multiple genes doing so, they could not have a detectable effect due to environmental impact. For example, even if you have a warrior gene, its influence could be buried if you are raised in a loving family without much violent disturbance from the others. Even more, in such scenarios it could help you with more positive influence than negative; for example, in your sport's career, it is always better to act with a sort of allowed aggressiveness.

With a disclaimer in mind of me not being a genetics scientist, please find more info in referral links throughout this post, and instead, in today's spirit, let me introduce half a dozen coolly identified genes or candidates, in many cases, responsible for various key human behaviors.

Wanderlust gene
DRD4-7R
The key word here is dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter responsible for many different features in our brain (including autonomous movement of muscles). However, in this particular case, dopamine is released in hedonistic situations, when we experience something nice and pleasurable. The more hedonistic we are, the smaller thing or event can trigger enough release of dopamine in our brain, like the taste of enjoyable food, reading a book, or seeing a photo. Other people have lower sensitivity to dopamine, and for those (up to 20% of the population) who contain the DRD4-7R gene, which is a variant of the DRD4 dopamine receptor, eating pleasurable chocolate is not enough to release the level of dopamine in order to receive a hedonistic reward. These people always seek more from their environment because they need more stimulation in order to hit a satisfying level of dopamine. If their environment is not enough, they take risks and move to another, much like nomadic people do or all those large migrations of people in history who moved to another area without obvious reason even though the environment they were initially inhabiting was as good as the new one. If you ever said aloud that you like very much to travel to various different places no matter what, remember it might be DRD4-7R talking.


Refs:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/the-wanderlust-gene/
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/explainer-what-dopamine
https://www.verdict.co.uk/drd4-7r-wanderlust-gene/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-there-really-a-wanderlust-gene

 Warrior gene
MAO-A
MAO (monoamine oxidase A) is the name of the enzyme that acts in nerve cells (neurons) of the brain as a recycling factor for neurotransmitters, and in the process of oxidation it breaks down serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine among all the brain chemicals it deals with. Signals transmitted by serotonin regulate mood and emotion; epinephrine and norepinephrine control the body's response to stress, while we already know that dopamine controls physical movements. The MAO-A gene is responsible for MAO regulation, and in people who have a variant of the "warrior gene" (low-activity form of the gene called MAOA-L), less MAO is produced, which means that fewer of the neurotransmitters are broken down, which in turn leaves higher levels of unwanted neurotransmitters in the brain. For all we know from various past studies, higher levels of these brain chemicals produce higher levels of aggression, and as a result, these people feel less or no empathy for others, and they basically don't hesitate to use any form of anti-social behavior, including violence, to achieve their own goals, whatever they are.


Refs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_A
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/MAOA#
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/.../triggering-the-warrior-gene-in-villain-or-hero
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090121093343.htm

Creativity gene
COMT-DRD2
If you are able to produce something that is both novel, useful, and closely related to human development, whether it belongs to an individual or societal level, you are among people with creative minds who won the genetic lottery. Similar to the hedonistic process in our brain, according to several studies in previous decades, dopamine is also the key hormone responsible for the creative process. More accurately, dopamine levels in multiple brain areas enhance interaction between frontal and striatal dopaminergic pathways (dopamine neuron location in brain), which is believed to lead toward creative thinking and reward after something new is either achieved or produced. While responsible genes involved in dopamine transmission and the generation of just enough dopamine levels needed for creativity are still an ongoing process, two genes are the most promising candidates: COMT and DRD2, both for their single involvement in the process as well as for their prior interaction.


Refs:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3995040/
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-dopamine-producing-areas-brain-creativity.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718590/

God gene
VMAT2
Unfortunately, due to the sensitive subject, research in regards to spirituality is not covered enough and was more or less conducted by a single experiment. The targets were monoamines—the main brain chemicals, including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine—that are connected with regulation of fundamental functions such as mood, creativity, and motor control, like we already saw with previous genes. They are also the main target for many antidepressant drugs and narcotics, which in turn can cause addicts to experience transcendence or experience beyond normal and even physical levels of existence. In similar but much more benevolent fashion, a variation in a gene known as VMAT2, in that single study, was identified to be responsible for all test subjects who experienced self-transcendence compared to others that didn't have that particular variant. Whether or not this is enough to call this gene a 'god gene' is debatable, but it does prove that brain chemicals encoded by specific genes can in fact affect the spiritual realm of people. In addition to external chemicals that might induce spiritual thinking and religions experiences, we also should not exclude parasitic influences such as Toxoplasma gondii, which I already mentioned in the post Who's Behind the Wheel?


Refs:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2262126/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7147-genes-contribute-to-religious-inclination/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_gene
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialSciences/ppecorino/.../Genetic-Basis-for-Religion.htm

Love gene
OXT
Hypothalamus activity includes the production of the hormone oxytocin encoded by the OXT gene. The 'love hormone', as it was named after its features and properties, is also linked to social behavior. Activity of the OXT gene and production of the hormone can vary from person to person, and those with low activity struggle more to identify the emotional expressions of others, including people in their relationships and family members. Perhaps more than with other genes, OXT is tested in correlation to the process called DNA methylation, in which methyl groups are added to DNA segments without changing their sequence. In life, this can be triggered by environmental influences and bad lifestyle factors such as smoking or diet. In turn, when methylation increases on the OXT gene, less oxytocin is produced, and this impacts social behavior for the worse. Like with anything else and especially with genetics, balance could be the key word, and further research could lead to potential treatments that could effectively fix social disorders.


Refs:
https://www.voanews.com/a/mht-love-hormone-gene...oxt-oxytocin/3387692.html
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/...people-form-healthy-lasting-relationships-study.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

Mad Scientist gene
DARPP-32
The coolest name for the gene goes to... DARPP-32, a variation within a gene that, not surprisingly, is also capable of affecting levels of the dopamine hormone, this time in the area that influences feelings of anger and aggression. The twist with this gene is in the fact that a particular variant is also associated with increased performance in a number of cognitive tests, including IQ and memory. Actually, three out of four people inherit a version of the DARPP-32 gene, which, by improving information processing in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, in simple words, allows and improves the brain's ability to think. These two effects combined will not give us mad scientists per se, but they do explain the strange behavior and fears of some people with high IQs from the past. I am not saying that Tesla's strange fear of shaking hands or Einstein's hatred for socks is granted by this gene, but I am sure the genetic lottery in one way or another is the one to blame in a high percentage.


Refs:
https://www.bionews.org.uk/page_91056
https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/genius-little-crazy/995625
https://www.medicaldaily.com/.../mad-scientist-stereotype
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1784004/

Smoking and drinking genes
CHRNA5, OPRM1
There are several genes associated with smoking, nicotine dependence, and lung cancer, but among them the variant of CHRNA5 is the most prominent candidate. The process is identified as nicotine-stimulated dopamine release in the striatum (a cluster of neurons in the subcortical basal ganglia of the forebrain), a region vital to the development of substance dependence but also a reward learning center. Combined, people with this particular variant are more likely to overcome casual and environmental intake of nicotine and become heavily addicted to smoking. Similarly, the OPRM1 gene has been associated with subjective responses to alcohol in heavy drinkers. The 'G variant' of this gene may lead to a greater susceptibility not only to addiction to alcohol but also to variations in pain sensitivity and addiction to opioid substances.


Refs:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/chrna5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4000030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23240711
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5152594/
https://drbrucekehr.com/oprm1-gene-test-addiction-genetic-testing/

In conclusion, let's get back to the beginning: the genetics and especially the study of human behavior are merely at the beginning of understanding all the processes that govern our brain on the smallest levels within organic chemistry. However, we don't need any science to attribute human behavior with a strange ability to give nicknames to everything and anything. Genes are no exceptions, and hopefully you have identified some of them shaping who you are and how you behave.

Image refs:
https://www.eturbonews.com/238528/non-stop-travel-destinations-for-the-adventurous/
http://knrunity.com/post/general/2016/post-787.php
https://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/warrior-based-training.html
https://blog.lifeway.com/explorethebible/blog/why-young-adults-need-bible-skills/
https://www.thebump.com/a/ways-for-dad-to-bond-with-baby
https://www.inverse.com/article/7576-best-mad-scientists
https://coach.nine.com.au/latest/red-wine-and-smoking/

Refs:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/.../what-behaviors-do-we-inherit-genes
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3052688/
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/heredity/environmental-effects-on-phenotype/a/genes-environment-and-behavior
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_study
 

Choosing Planets

Let's turn our imagination to the edge and do something different today. We can call it a thought experiment, a childish game, a daydream, science fiction, pure fantasy, or whatever we want, but let's move the boundaries far away from Earth, far away from our solar system, even farther from our galaxy, and do something wild.

Let's choose a planet.

Or, to be more precise, let's select one in the vastness of the cosmos and move away from this Earth and start new life. Of course, in daydreams we are allowed to do this just because the imagination is what our species differs from others on Earth.

Ok, to begin this little endeavor, we need a little astronomy to start with. What we know for sure is that our galaxy alone contains more than 200 billion stars, the majority of them not so different from our Sun, and by using a basic statistical study based on the planet finder's microlensing technique, there are approximately 100 billion planets orbiting them. Perhaps more. Multiply that by a factor of billions of galaxies in our universe, and you'll get that there are far more Earth twins out there than living people on Earth. There are planets for everybody's taste. So let's start with the planet's basic properties.

Choosing the World

It has to be huge, much bigger than Earth, maybe twice as big in size or even more, to harbor as many people as Earth today and still have plenty of room for many more. To be something like in Canada's distant regions today with only up to a thousand people per square kilometer. However, its composition must be radically different than Earth's, as, in my imagination, it has to maintain gravity more or less like the third rock from the Sun. After all, I don't like to move there and look ridiculously dysfunctional when it comes to, say, simple walking. So fewer heavy elements inside, please, and let it be around the famous, well-known number of 9.81. More or less. So no radical changes when gravity is in question, but I would choose the one with radically fewer water layers than we are familiar with within here. Don't get me wrong, I do like water, and I would like to have plenty of it all over the place, but with no oceans or large seas. Rivers are ok in any variety, lakes too, and small seas are also fine, but please no oceans. Nobody needs that. Hey, it's my planet; if you like oceans, find your own, or don't move anywhere; there are lots of oceans here.

Basically, there must be one giant continent in Norway's style with lots of rivers and lakes and small seas with large bays and calm weather. One rotation cycle could be a little longer than Earth's, but not so much over 30 hours. You can't get rid of old habits that easily. Like Earth, it needs to have a slightly tilted rotation axis to provide longer seasons and temperature changes over the year, with a revolution over the main star similar to the one in Mars or approximately twice as long as Earth's. Earth-like atmosphere and its greenhouse effect would provide a temperature range over the year to be a little milder compared to our native planet, maybe no less than -10°C in harsh winters and no higher than +30°C in summers. A tilted axis and position within the habitable zone of the mother star would also provide no big differences between the planet's equator and pole regions. What else? Oh yes, it has to be protected with both a strong magnetic field and a couple of perfectly positioned giant outer planets from both radiation and looney asteroids and comets. It could also be part of a binary star system, where the second star could also provide additional protection when it comes to violent cataclysmic events in the neighborhood. Last and surely not least, it has to be green all over the place. Extremely suitable for cultivation of various kinds of anything possible. The geography of the planet could be variable with both long valleys and mountains, just like in our home yard.

Humanoids by Star Trek "design"

Do you like my paradise so far? In a way, it was not hard to set the basic astronomical properties of the star system and planet itself. However, a bigger challenge comes with defining the demographics of the planet. You might not like it anymore after I continue and say that I would like the planet to be colonized without any domesticated intelligent species. Why? First of all, it wouldn't be right to find a desirable planet along with at least one dominating intelligent species already evolved there. It would be like colonizing the Americas and killing or putting the population into reservations. We've been there. It's just wrong. Secondly, and probably even more important, is that I would like to share it with other intelligent species. Preferably humanoids. Not mandatory, though. That way neither would be in a position to set a flag and say, "This is mine; everybody else is not looking like me; go away". Basically, in my vision, everyone intelligent who would like to come and build a house is welcome at any time as long as they sign some sort of "sharing" agreement. Something similar to the Antarctic Treaty System we are having here on Earth. Basically, the colonization idea would be comparable to the Earth back in dinosaur time, when all the aliens missed the opportunity to colonize it when no domestic intelligent species existed to claim it for itself. Or they didn't miss it at all, and we are actually them and have never been native to this planet.

So how would all that sharing look like, and what kind of civilization am I talking about? There are so-called Kardashev scales defining possible civilizations out there, dividing them into Types I, II, and III, and it, by definition, represents a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of usable energy they have at their disposal. All three types are far away from the civilization of humans as we know it today, and all three are suitable as potential residents for my planet. By the way, let's call it in further text "M." Accidentally, although I first thought of my first name's initial, it is titled more accurately according to the planet's classification seen in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Anyway, the point of using high-end civilization in my story is that young civilizations like ours are simply not suitable. Why? Several reasons, actually. First, it seems that a big amount of mutual tolerance is needed for the sharing principle I have in mind. All desirable intelligent species have to be evolutionary mature and unburdened by racial, religious, and any other interspecies differences. Additionally, the population must be technologically advanced. The system on the planet would be as simple as possible; there would be no countries nor any kind of political organization, no governments of any kind, nothing like on the third rock of our solar system. There will be just one institution, planetary-based, with just one treaty where all colonists have to sign, and it should be pretty simple. If you want to live there, you would have to choose the land that is free and yet unoccupied, claim it yours, and the only condition to keep it is to produce zero waste outside of its boundaries. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want with it—create your dream house, build a school, trade market, entertainment facility, anything at all—as long as you play fair in relation to others.

ISS 3D Printer and first 'emailed' socket wrench

There will be no cities, as the technology at everybody's disposal would provide transportation to the most distant part of the planet easily, safely, and fast. I see smaller settlements, though, based on their mutual benefits and relations. There will be no sports, at least not in the form of the ones we know on Earth. It would be extremely unfair to play, for example, basketball involving multiple species with different masculine properties. However, the technology sports would survive, like races or any kind of recreational activities. Advanced technology in everybody's home would provide planetary and interplanetary networks of various communications; there would be no need for many supporting factories except for basic ingredients, as home computers would be equipped with state-of-the-art 3D printers capable of producing both simple tools and complex machines. The same home computer would also be able to use food replicators for creating food and food supplements. I don't like the existing concept of killing other species and using them for food. Cultivation and planting are perfectly ok, and each household would possess its own greenhouse for growing appropriate food, but I expect high-end civilizations in evolutionary terms would solve "the meat" problem, and I am not talking about a vegetarian diet.

Of course, the main star system would be well explored, with several outposts built for several purposes, along with mining outer moons, other planets, and asteroids in search of all necessary ingredients for planetary life, along with a variety of orbital activities for planetary residents, including entertainment.

Unfortunately, choosing a world to move is still just a dream. Reality still resides far in the future. Nevertheless, I wonder if such a world already exists out there in a far, far... You know.

Image ref:
https://3dprint.com/32269/made-in-space-emails-wrench/

Refs:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/07/full/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Measuring_Gravity_With_Grace.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_M_planet
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0734472/
 

The Prologue of Never-Written Book

Something was bothering her for days.

She didn't actually know what it was. It was not the food. She knew that well, and her belly was not itching her. Not a single bit. Mom was giving her delicious portions every day, and she was feeling healthier and stronger every morning. It was not the air or water either. The forest and all three plains outside were... like usual. Beautiful and green, with lots of life emerging from the trees and rocks. Even the ocean was calm and perfect the other day when she foolishly followed her older brother and his two peers to the cliff. They mocked her all the way down the stream and even took all her snacks she had and found on the way.

No. What she started to experience just the other day after the trip to the cliffs was some sort of discomfort she never experienced before. Nobody could harm her in the forest. It was not that. Not even on the plains. She was always following her mother and brother during all their travels and never got into any trouble. It was something in mom's eyes ever since the northern plain got into flames after those fireballs fell from the sky. They were almost like thunder, only slower and different in the noise they made. And they came from a clear sky. It was nothing serious really and even looked beautiful when one ball hit the ground and the other exploded above the forest into thousands of chunks and fire showers at the same time.


Everything is calm now. They caused little damage, and all the fires were now gone, but still, ever since then, everything started to seem different. Fireworks from the skies didn't stop really, but there were no explosions like the other day. It looked like all the fireballs couldn't reach the ground and instead made red and orange patterns high above the forest. It was beautiful. And spooky at the same time. She started to feel it as well. She couldn't hear all those loud noises from birds and small animals for two days. Even the waterfall just next to their playground sounded quiet and eerie. And the most unusual thing that happened was her father. He returned last night. She saw him only twice last season, and all the timidity she felt the last couple of days, ever since the skyfire, with him around, started to grow into real fear.

The very next day they moved out. Just before dawn, she and her brother started following their parents. They never ran that fast. They never ran in the group at all before. Even others joined. The other species and relatives. Some she recognized from... well, mom's breakfast portions. But she wasn't hungry that morning at all and only tried to keep a fast pace with her family toward the hills. It seemed that their father was taking them to the high ground and all those peaks she dreamed to visit someday.

And then it started. She heard something so loud she thought there was no such thing in existence. And she knew the bolts and thunders well. The ground started to move. In all directions. The rocks and boulders started to fall from the peaks. And in that very moment she did something she thought she would never do. The fear was gone in an instant, and only pure curiosity emerged from her thick skin. She took three long jumps and climbed the sharp edge toward the only place on the cliff with clear views toward the ocean. She even used her tiny arms to balance her disproportionate body.

On the horizon, there was a stream of rocks coming from the sky. Just like the one that, the other day, exploded above the northern plain and lit a forest fire. Only bigger. Much bigger. They were hitting the ocean one after another and making the water glow. All of a sudden it stopped being beautiful and colorful. Only frightening and terrifying. And then she saw their father. Enormous rock. No. Gigantic boulder. No. The mountain. Yes. Just like the one they were climbing right now.

At the end of the trail.

When it hit the water, all the fire and all the glow, all the thunder and roar, everything she just saw and heard for the first time in her life faded out into one pure and ultimate silence. All the sentiment and fear accumulating last week disappeared instantly and merged into one single emotion.

Something new and pure. Something behind nature. Something raw.

The anger.

----------------------------------

Image credits:
Kokoro's Eye from "Playing with Dinosaurs" exhibition in Taipei
 

Unthinkable Solutions of Fermi's Paradox

"At some point, the gluons will no longer be able to hold the quarks together, and the hadrons will decay. Which will mean the end of matter in this universe." - Albert Einstein 1

As it seems, in our universe, nothing is made to last. Eventually, everything gets old and dies or changes or decays into something else, and I am not referring to the life forms only but to all matter in the cosmos. For all we know, this might not be true within our own macroworld alone, but also deep below, the same goes for particles in the quantum realm as well. The fact is that everything in the universe has a tendency to achieve the lowest energy state and to finally rest within a stable system, even if that means going through various changes or decays. In the quantum world, this could be true for the Higgs field as well. According to Hawking, if it becomes metastable, the vacuum decay bubble will emerge and consume everything in order to eventually reach the lowest energy state possible. For Higgs field being everywhere in the universe, this would mean instantaneous collapse of the whole universe and it's own ultimate change into a new and ultimately alien environment with a completely new set of laws of physics in the aftermath that could not be as friendly to the living beings as they are today.


But relax, this is just a theory; it might be wrong; nothing like it happened in previous 13.8 billion years (or did it?) and the quote from the beginning is not really formulated by the famous physicist. Well, fictitious Einstein did say it in Phillip P. Peterson's 'Paradox', a remarkable piece of science fiction driven by this scientific premise, but still, it might be something he would say if he were still alive today.

'Paradox' is a relatively new novel series, so I am not going to spoil the content, but to really understand how vacuum decay relates to the well-known Fermi's paradox or to better understand aliens' actions towards Earth and other star systems throughout the universe, I'd warmly recommend the read. As a science fiction fan for years and decades, I could only say that I didn't stumble to the better science fiction in relation to concepts such as Dyson spheres, quantum mechanics, fusion engines, antimatter propulsion, warp drives, the creation of the Big Bang and inflationary space, virtual reality of enormous proportions, wormholes, travel, and communication... The list is going on, and I can only speculate what is inside the third book that has just been released (unfortunately, due to my illiteracy in German, I'll have to wait for the summer and its scheduled translation in English). Anyway, this was one of the rare book series with a sequel even more interesting than the first book, with perfectly connected endings in both of them.


The idea of vacuum decay behind Peterson novels for the solution of Fermi's paradox is indeed new in scientific background, but surely there is more logic we can think of and apply to the absence of aliens, and the idea, more than half a century old, is getting renewed attention in recent years. What I am referring to is the simulation theory and/or holographic principle. It is triggered by the very research of black holes and the information paradox, which states that physical information can be lost and swallowed by black holes despite quantum mechanics postulate that nothing, including information, can ever be lost, only transferred from one form to another. One of the solutions for the paradox I discussed a while ago with the question in the post title 'Are We Holograms?' answered Fermi's paradox perfectly.

However, to get back to science fiction, on several occasions in the past, I mentioned "The Thirteenth Floor", the movie that portrays so far the best story about a simulation of everything in existence. I don't know why, but I never read the backstory about this great film, and especially for this post, I went to check where the script came from in the first place and discovered that it was loosely based on the book called "Simulacron-3", written by Daniel F. Galouye way back in 1964. Needless to say, I downloaded the copy and liked it very, very much. Considering the year and the fact that it was written at the dawn of digital computers, the details and sophistication of the story were amazing. In relation to Fermi's paradox, if we are indeed living in a simulated world created by aliens themselves and we are all nothing more than just a bunch of artificial intelligence characters in the game, then the absence of other intelligent forms becomes clear. Or we will meet them when they become programmed and inserted in the simulation. Anytime now.


Next in line of the fictitious solution for Fermi's paradox on the first glance is not something that much unthinkable. But if we reason about communications over long distances in space, calling the ET and/or receiving a message from aliens from deep space is not as easy as we might think. By using our current technology, that is. The most obvious is the SETI project, which was founded half a century ago based on only monitoring electromagnetic radiation in search of ET broadcasts. After that, many years of looking for the signal from the above failed to find anything so far.

The most interesting and one of the first works of science fiction in this realm was Carl Sagan's 'Contact', in which aliens managed to receive the Earth's earliest TV broadcast 25 light years away, decoded it, and sent it back into SETI's antennas. Unfortunately, even though this looks much more plausible than vacuum decay or giant simulation, it really is not. Engineering and the science behind it are cruel. To broadcast anything at all in the electromagnetic spectrum, the signal must be focused and powerful enough to reach the destination without dissipation of the signal, to avoid the data being embedded in too much noise on the way, or to experience path loss while spreading out over long distances. Our EM broadcasts from Earth are meant for Earth only (or for the Moon on occasion or two in the past), and they are not powerful enough to reach even the closest stars without serious signal loss. To get weak transmissions like that, aliens around Vega might need solar system-wide antennas to detect UHF broadcasts from us. The same goes for SETI on Earth; it is unlikely we will ever get anything that is not narrow, focused, and aimed directly toward us. Nevertheless, ''Contact' will always stay on my physical and digital shelves for being one of the best science fiction films in the history of the genre.


At least for this post, the last and final obstacle with life forms swarming the vast space throughout the universe(s) is ... life itself and its potential limitations. Organic life based on carbon or something else exotic to us could be fragile and short in general. One small asteroid strikes the planet in the Goldilocks zone, and poof... everything dies and resets. Billions of years of evolution go into oblivion in a cosmic second. Even if major extinction events miraculously avoid the intelligent species, they might be destined to destroy themselves at the end of the path. Even more unthinkable scenarios we are still not aware of yet can pop into the equation. One of the obstacles could be that life could exist only in networked scenarios, or, to be precise, it could only work and evolve, more or less, in the form of a giant hive mind in relation to the mother planet. If that's true, there could be a limit in distance for a small number of individuals to leave their world, where they would ultimately lose connection to the hive and die. We never sent anyone or anything to live beyond moon orbit, so if this is true, the border of life could be anywhere beyond that.

I am not sure that Arthur C. Clarke had this in mind when he wrote 'Rendezvous with Rama' back then in 1973. Probably not. However, it was not far from common sense that in this unthinkable scenario, in order to sail toward the stars, the only way that could be done is to build enormous spaceships and giant cities that could carry everybody on the one-way journey. There are countless hazards for that kind of travel, and something along the way might happen to the people who originally populated Rama in the beginning. If we add to the story ultimate laws of physics and issues with limited speed of travel, vast distances between stars, and sparse sources when it comes to little things like food and fuel, 'the hive mind' problem could be another perfect solution to the paradox to consider.


But let's stop here with imagining all potential reasons why we still haven't met ET. If I would like only to spice it up with more unthinkable reasons, it would not be that hard. Just think about the "Zoo Hypothesis", in which we are created and observed by aliens in their science fair experiment, or the theory that we are the first intelligent civilization to emerge so far, or that there is 'The Great Filter' that limits intelligent life species from reaching the potential to dive into stars.

In the end, we could all be wrong. Evolution of species throughout the universe might not be headed toward stars at all. Perhaps we have to reset our minds and look elsewhere, no matter how strange it sounds.

1 Quote by Albert Einstein character from Phillip P. Peterson's Paradox novel series

 Novels:
http://raumvektor.de/paradox/
https://www.amazon.com/Contact-Carl-Sagan-ebook/
https://www.amazon.com/Rendezvous-Rama-Arthur-C-Clarke

Image refs:
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/heres-how-universe-could-destroy-itself-horror-vacuum-decay
http://lcart3.narod.ru/image/fantasy/jim_burns/jim_burns_cylindrical_sea.jpg
http://starkovtattoo.spb.ru/titanfall-wallpapers

Refs:
http://www.bidstrup.com/seti.htm
https://briankoberlein.com/2015/02/19/e-t-phone-home/
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_F._Galouye
https://medium.com/o-s/6-mind-bending-solutions-to-the-fermi-paradox