A Challenger Story...

Tony Hollick (anduril@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Sun, 29 Jun 97 23:32 BST-1


Mike et al:

RM is a unified, extensible physical theory.

It's based on a matter-forces-empty spaces metaphysics.

All energy in RM is either potential or inertial

It's also the original foundation of Kantian philosophy, BTW.

Which was also the classical foundation of Western liberalism, BTW.

That is, Einstein and other Machian Positivists broke the Kantian
foundations of modern Western civilization, and precipitated the horrors
of the Twentieth Century.

Cross-compare the chronologies.

Mach was a psycho-physical parallelist, whereby we're machinery, with
consciousness as a redundant and useless epiphenomenon.

Einstein was a religious determinist -- he proposed a four-dimensional
unchanging Parmenidean block universe.

Good way to wipe out human qualities and liberties at the same time, eh?

Marx and Engels were positivists, too.

You get the picture?

RM smashes their nonsense up irretrievably -- it completely demolishes it
all, and Copenhage-school Quantum-Mysticism too.

The bloody physicists -- as Heisenberg spotted -damn near wiped out humanity
as well as liberty altogether.

They also gave us fail-deadly nuclear-missile-equipped submarines, too.

Premised on a bipolar world.

Any third party could have precipitated a war which would have wiped out the
planet.

Ask yourself why the Pentagon frittered away ten times the cost of 'High
Frontier' on next to nothing, except bureaucrats' salaries.

One of Robert A. Heinlein's last writings was an Introduction to High
Frontier's Second edition: My First Edition is inscribed:

To Tony Hollick, from Dan Graham.

The second Edition has a cover picture of the Space Shuttle illuminated on
the night time launch-pad.

Exactly the same picture as the one on the birthday card on my mantel-piece
the day Challenger exploded. Inside, my late mum had written:

"Taking Off, I Hope!"

Earlier that day, I had taken off my Omega Speedmaster chronograph, the
official issue to all the Apollo Crews. I'd been hearing extraordinarily
loud tape-recorded 'clicks' synchronous with my thinking, which could be
tape-recorded and which were heard by other people in the room, who were
startled by them too. And on phone lines...

I was testing a hypothesis related to hyperacuitive clueing and tacit
predictive pattern analysis.

(Methodologically unsoud, really: we all have exactly accurate 'internal
atomick clocks').

"Aha!"

The replacement -- quartz -- watch I bought at the local ESSO station was on
offer at UKP 1.99. The first one I bought was labelled 'DT'

Didn't feel comfortable with it.

Exchanged it for one labelled -- innocuously? -- OMAC

The station manager chased after me to ask me why I'd exchaged it

[ "FLASH!" ]

MAC is (inter alia) Ailitary Assistance Command.

All ask yourselfves what 'O' stands for...

'O'-rings?

Or Lawrence Livermore's 'O'-group?

Now go rent Richard C. Sarafian's fine road movie 'Vanishing Point' [1971],
one of my all-time favourite movies. Kowalski sets out to drive an Alpine
White supercharged Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. On speed, in both
senses... >:-}

Try to get the _uncut_ version. The one with a heroic ending. If you can.

There's a 'Vanishing Point' Web site now...

/ /\ \
--*--<Tony>--*--

http://www.agora.demon.co.uk
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