Reading Michio Kaku’s Parallel Worlds (and regurgitating a stream of consciousness)

I’m a scribe and note-taker by habit. Back in 2015 while reading Michio Kaku’s 2005 book, Parallel Worlds, I jotted down some notes in a random stream of consciousness. I’ve been meaning to transcribe my own thoughts and reflections on the book, word for word (barring grammatical errors and irrelevant passages), from the notebook to a blog post…you know, really just for the heck of it.

If any of the above piques your interest, feel free to keep reading (and jot your own thoughts in the comments if you so desire), otherwise the rest of this post is going to be a very disjointed bunch of bullet points from a very amateurish reading of Parallel Worlds:

• Do black holes offer the potential for worm holes, and thereby connection to parallel universes because gravity is theoretically infinite and thus exerts that attracting pressure at a point in some other universe? Hell, what I really want to know is why black holes have the theoretical potential for having worm holes that can connect to other universes.
• Must get a sense of the Einstein-Rosen bridge and event horizon.
• Of course, remember that dimensions get fucked up. The worm “hole” is in fact a sphere (event horizon?)
• A rotating black hole would theoretically cancel out the crazy amount of gravity that would normally crush some sorry bastard travelling through (folks, inter-dimensional travel between universes is theoretically possible!)
• What exactly does it mean to have negative mass, anti-gravity etc? All theoretical constructs? What does that look like? Is it even possible to comprehend it with our limited dimensions and mind power (not to mention the limitations to our imagination that it imposes)?
• Regarding Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: cannot make infinite measurements with infinite accuracy; allows for cherished classical laws to be violated as long as they occur very briefly; “Unless something is forbidden, quantum effects and fluctuations will eventually make it possible if we wait long enough. Thus, unless there is a law forbidding it, it will eventually occur.” (136) – obviously then based on an assumption of absolute truth to those laws, in terms of determining what exactly is theoretically possible based on the uncertainty principle.
• This is also true with other assumptions, for instance, that the speed of light does remain a constant across space.
• Need to really dig into and slowly get a grip on the concept of space-time (which would necessarily involve a study of relativity and quantum theory/mechanics).
• On a slightly different note, should also conduct a solid study of chaos theory.
• “The quantum theory is based on the idea that there is a probability that all possible events, no matter how fantastic or silly, might occur.” (147)
• Also need to get a solid theoretical understanding of free will vs. determinism as it pertains to physics.
• For quantum theory – Einstein, Bohr, John Wheeler.
• Bohr’s Copenhagen School postulations: (1) All energy occurs in discrete packets called quanta, a quantum for light is the photon, for weak nuclear force it’s the W- and Z- boson, for the strong nuclear force it’s the gluon, and for gravity it’s the graviton, which hasn’t been seen yet in the lab; (2) Matter is represented by point particles, but the probability of finding the particle is given by a way, which in turn obeys a specific wave equation like Schrodinger’s wave equation. Before an observation is made, an object exists in all possible states simultaneously; and to determine which state the object is in, we have to make an observation, which “collapses” the wave function, and the object goes into a definite state. The wave function has given us the precise probability of finding the object in that particular state. (153)
• Also from a previous page (41) – Aleksandr Friedmann’s equations :- (1) H, which determines the rate of expansion of the universe, called the Hubble’s constant; (2) Omega, i.e. Ω, which measures the average density of matter in the universe; (3) Lambda, the energy associated with empty space or dark energy.
• (42-44) – If Ω<1 and Lambda is 0, the universe will expand forever into the big freeze (and is open with negative curvature, like a saddle, parallel lines never meet and interior angles of Δ < 180°); If Ω>1 then the universe will recollapse into the big crunch (and is closed with positive curvature like a sphere, parallel lines always meet and angles of Δ>180°); If Ω=1 then the universe is flat and will expand forever (WMAP satellite data shows Ω+Lambda=1, which is consistent with the inflationary theory.)
• “According to Bohr, there is an invisible ‘wall’ separating the atomic world from the everyday, familiar macroscopic world. While the atomic world obeys the bizarre rules of the quantum theory [you know, with electrons existing in the two different places, flitting between existence and non-existence apparently], we live out our lives outside that wall [which appear to obey the commonsense laws of Newtonian mechanics], in the world of well-defined planets and stars where the waves have already collapsed.” (156)
• Then, is it scale that determines where the craziness of the quantum theory manifests and where more commonsense Newtonian mechanics take place? And, if so, can the parameters of that scale be established numerically – sub-atomic and below as well as galactic and above being the domain of quantum theory.
• Max Planck said “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature. And it is because in the last analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.”
• Should do a solid study of the Feynman path integral approach as “by far the most powerful and convenient way of formulating the quantum theory.” (164)
• What (exactly) is a wave function? The probability of it (what?) being there?
• Schrodinger’s cat problem is that the cat is in both states, alive and dead, until observed (if I’m getting this right). Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that unless something is absolutely forbidden by the laws of physics, quantum effects and fluctuations will eventually make it possible. And since that same uncertainty principle also states that nothing can be measured to infinite accuracy, there will always be a theoretical chance of either state, despite maybe the commonsense laws of Newton stating with certainty one way or the other. Maybe it’s also a way of saying that at a sub-atomic level, shit be crazy. But some of the more conservative folk state that it’s kinda ridiculous to imagine a dual state exists until it’s observed (of course, according to Andrei Linde, and a bunch of others, it would make little sense to think that a universe could exist in the absence of observers, but they might not be convinced by that). Then again, the uncertainty principle states that if it’s not absolutely forbidden by the laws of physics (and I really need to get a grip of what exactly that means because, again, at a sub-atomic level and inter-galactic level, shit be crazy) then it is still theoretically possible, no matter how likely one state or the other (i.e. no matter how large one wave function is in comparison to the other?) Then, is it only via consciousness that a wave function can collapse? (And, I guess, become 1? But no, because it has to be observed by others and collapse those wave functions – i.e. “Wigner’s friends” – and that’s where the idea of a “cosmic consciousness” in order for the universe to exist comes into play…let’s just stick to cats). Some, like Dieter Zeh, said that decoherence, random interactions with the environment would naturally collapse the wave functions. But then, invoking the spirit of Einstein, how does nature “choose” the final state of the cat. With parallel universes.
• Invoking Wheeler’s student, Hugh Everett III, Michio Kaku states, “In this radically new interpretation, the cat is both dead and alive because the universe has split into two. In one universe, the cat is dead; in another, the cat is alive. In fact, at each quantum juncture, the universe splits in half, in a never ending sequence of splitting universes. All universes are possible in this scenario, each as real as the other. People living in each universe might vigorously protest that their universe is the real one, and that all the others are imaginary or fake. These parallel universes are not ghost worlds with an ephemeral existence; within each universe, we have the appearance of solid objects and concrete events as real and as objective as any” (168)
• Now that blows my mind.
• Should study the work of John Wheeler, “science’s grand old man of quantum physics.” (171)
• Also check out “It from Bit” theory, “an unorthodox theory, which starts with the assumption that information is at the root of all existence. When we look at the moon, a galaxy, or an atom, their essence, he claims, is the information stored within them.” (171-172)
• Random stream of consciousness – Considering the sheer size of the universe/multiverse, humanity’s combined knowledge, the entire mass of information that is humanity in its entirety is a fraction of a fraction of the tiniest of specks of the entire information of our current universe, so small that it could well be the infinite “smallness” I suppose, for lack of a better word. On the other hand, if all matter came from the big bang (which itself started with one infinitely small particle of all matter, energy, light, information etc., then we hold all that in ourselves, each of our beings, our bodies and, I think it would be safe to say, our spirits. | After all, what happens to us when we die, among other things that we’re able to explore only through a liberated spirituality, is that at a quantum level, we just change our state and “re-enter” the universe with all the information still with us and as a part of the universe/multiverse in a different way. | Now, that assumes then that the Big Bang was the beginning of time, and also, ipso factor that the universe/multiverse as it is today all began at the beginning of time with a single particle containing all matter, energy, light, information (and what else? – perhaps answered at a realm where physics must reconcile itself with a liberated spirituality and vice versa). And if that assumption is not true, then time must necessarily be spherical, and really, what the fuck does all that even mean? Doesn’t matter, it’s a hell of a trip.
• M-theory, the only theory with the ability to take on “the greatest problem facing physics today: the chasm between general relativity and the quantum theory.” i.e. with “the ability to unify these two great, seemingly contradictory theories of the universe into a coherent whole, to create a ‘theory of everything.'” (185)
• “Only in ten – or eleven – dimensional, hyperspace do we have ‘enough room’ to unify all the forces of nature in a single elegant theory.” (185)
• Useful, lay intro to general relativity and the quantum theory: “General relativity and the quantum theory are diametrical opposites in almost every way. General relativity is a theory of the very large: black holes, big bangs, quasars, and the expanding universe. It is based on the mathematics of smooth surfaces, like bed sheets and trampoline nets. The quantum theory is precisely the opposite – it describes the world of the very tiny: atoms, protons, and neutrons, and quarks. It is based on a theory of discrete packets of energy called quanta. Unlike relativity, the quantum theory states that only the probability of events can be calculated, so we can never know for sure precisely where an electron is located. These two theories are based on different mathematics, different assumptions, different physical principles, and different domains. It is not surprising that all attempts to unify them have floundered.” (185-186)
• Philosophy of science query regarding the issue of infinity in physics, or just in general – What kind of a role does the fear of infinity and the need for finite definitions/parameters/boundaries play in generating theories, especially with fields like string theory (which partly has come about because the more quantum physicists peer into an atom, the more shit they see)? So then is it a way to deal with “infinite smallness”? (E.g. Planck length) similarly with potential “infinite largeness”
• Is there a place, a true place and not just out of laziness, for infinity in scientific exploration, discovery, and theorization?
• Physicist Brian Greene provides a useful summation of the major “theory of everything” problem confronting string theorists – “Currently, string theorists are in a position analogous to an Einstein bereft of the equivalence principle. Since Veneziano’s insightful guess in 1968, the theory has been pieced together, discovery by discovery, revolution by revolution. But a central organizing principle that embraces these discoveries and all other features of the theory within one overarching and systematic framework – a framework that makes the existence of each individual ingredient absolutely inevitable – is still missing. The discovery of this principle would mark a pivotal moment in the development of string theory, as it would likely expose the theory’s inner workings with unforeseen clarity.” (Kaku, 239-240)
• Kaku states that “It would also make sense of the millions of solutions so far found for string theory, each one representing a fully self-consistent universe. In the past, it was thought that, of this forest of solutions, only one represented the true solution of string theory. Today, our thinking is shifting. So far, there is no way to select out one universe out of the millions that have been discovered so far. There is a growing body of opinion that states that is we cannot find the unique solution to string theory, it’s probably because there is none. [emphasis mine] All solutions are equal. There is a multiverse of universes, each one consistent with all the laws of physics. This then leads us to what is called the anthropic principle and the possibility of a ‘designer universe'” (240)
• Is the above excerpt, especially the italicized portion, an example of a necessary reconciliation with infinity?
• The Anthropic Principle “states that the laws of nature are arranged so that life and consciousness are possible.” (242)
• Is that anthropic or anthropocentric? Maybe we as a species need to stop swallowing the myth of our own legend if we want higher truths…

The intrepid souls of One Love Hill

The struggles of One Love Hill were as true as they were ancient.

It was the same old narrative. (No one said co-evolution across species was easy.)

The anthros and the doms got along just fine. The semi-doms on the other hand were a different story.

They were always a different story.

There were historic tensions between the semi-doms and the anthro-dom universalists from many generations past. Those tensions hardly eased as the commune grew exponentially to millions of members, alongside numerous other rhizomes worldwide as the Great Split commenced.

No one knew exactly how the split took root with the anthros, but most everyone knew that following the biospiritual attacks that catalyzed it, the animalesque anthros found ready co-evolvers in the doms (obviously). They found great bliss in the shared liberation and sustenance of the communes within the Towns, away from lands dominated by UAC supremacists.

The semi-doms, while still happy to be away from UAC lands, were spiritually torn between the Towns and the Wild.

So the tensions between semi-doms and the others in the communes were real and present, as an authentic part of the organic liberation that was co-evolution and universalism.

But the wisdom of the Alpha Mothers always rang true, especially as they had seen the brutality the UAC unleashed on the Wild firsthand.

“Brute anthrocentrism be brute anthrocentrism…”

They would communicate to all.

“…and can only be resolved by going back to the Wild.”

Yet many a semi-dom was used to varying levels of agonistic co-existence with anthropesque systems. Their intertwined roots ran deep with the anthros and doms, no matter how hard it was for their wild hearts to bear. Nonetheless the pull of the Alpha Mothers was strong – always had been for countless generations. It was the reason One Love Hill had innumerable neural connections with multiple herds of loved ones in the Wild.

No matter the geospatial dominance of the UAC over that sector of the planet.

Many a semi-dom over many a generation had returned to the Wild. But none of them ever lost their neural roots, nor their deep energetic connections to their loved ones in the Towns.

Slowly, over many generations, an organic neural community took root with different rhizomatic connections across the Towns, crossing the Quietus Membrane and then into the Wild via a mini-explosion of biospiritual networks.

There were thousands of these rhizomes worldwide, and they were always high on the hit list of the United Anthro Council. Whenever the authorities could smash a rhizome within the organic neural community, it was a major setback for the co-evolvers in the area.

The United Anthro Council, or UAC for short, had been established in the year 18059 AL[1] as the supreme and consolidated anthro authority to combat a rapidly developing global network across species barriers, linking vast varieties of intelligence and millions of forms of communication (with the die-hards even suggesting that the division between science and spirituality was finally at an end).

When the biospiritual attacks from the wild ones alongside rapid inter-species co-evolution catalyzed the Great Split among anthros over 20,000 years back, no one could have predicted the growth of an organic neural community of such depth and scale in less than twenty millennia. The densely-linked inter-species family slowly seemed to be pushing past the anthro authorities in establishing an extra-planetary civilization on earth.

This of course had the UAC respond with breathtaking brutality and firepower.

Those rhizomes that had been identified by the UAC for elimination had all been forewarned in some way or the other via the communication networks of the neural community. The communes in those nodal points were able to resist the assaults with organic guerilla warfare utilizing the various talents and smarts of each differently speciated member and the power of non-anthro synchronicity.

One Love Hill was one of the first rhizomes to face the initial wave of brutality in the early 19000s and responded with great resiliency through squads of warrior-healers. The squads tended to group according to species, because that meant they didn’t have to work as much on cross-species communication codes. Nevertheless, for every three mono-species squads, there was at least one multi-species squad, especially among the doms and anthros. Caninesque warrior-healers tended to work well with the equinables, while felinesques and bovinables tended to match up fine too. Anthros tended to fit in well with all the doms, including winged ones on the ground, but also assembled in mono-species squads which was sometimes preferred by many a non-anthro because the anthros had a tendency to try and establish dominance in the inter-species squads (even the well-meaning ones just couldn’t help themselves).

The one thing however that anthros could never, try as they might with all their organic tech, come close to understanding was the vast breadth and depth of communicative modes that the non-anthros used with each other. This was especially true with the semi-doms where communication could span many different sensory levels with seamless ease. Oh, how the anthros whished they had the power of synchronicity that seemed to come so very easily to the animalesque souls.

The semi-doms, as always, stayed at arm’s length distance from the anthros and the doms, even though they all lived together in the communes. Of the semi-doms, the pachydermic warrior-healers usually played a quasi-leadership role in their formations, what with their innate ability to bring together the semi-dom cousins of the doms.

Part dom and part wild one, and despite possessing a strangely nurturing antipathy for anthros and doms, everyone nonetheless had a biospiritual sense that the semi-doms were special. They always stood their ground with great ferocity against the authorities and possessed a fascinating kind of courage, almost a generational courage where they were able to court death with joy and happiness because they had a special ability to portend the importance of their sacrifice for the generational survival of the community. Everyone, even the more egomaniacal anthro leaders within the communes, tended to tread carefully when dealing with the semi-doms.

They were absolutely crucial to the cause of the organic neural community because they were also a direct link the wild ones, who had grown spectacularly in number in the immediate centuries after the Great Peace, and had their own herds and codes.

One Love Hill had a unique balance of anthros, doms, and semi-doms, with great neural links to the Wild which is what made them a formidable adversary to the UAC.

Few stories illustrate their fortitude better than that of Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles – three colorful and occasionally crotchety warrior-healers (not to mention die hard bffs) – who undertook a quest to the Quietus Membrane and into the Wild. A quest that would forever etch the story of One Love Hill in the annals of world history and mythic retelling.

***

Time: 39th day of the Assault on One Love Hill in the year 19036 AL.

Place: along the Beaches of Coasirex between One Love Hill and the Wild Gatherings of the Afrasian Sub Continent.

“So, let me summarize.”

Pujjo was about to conclude yet another one of his pompous, but highly erudite, revolutionary sermons about how “most of the anthros in the commune had not yet truly understood that the destruction of anthro privileges and anthro frameworks was ultimately to their benefit and would liberate them biospiritually.”

Both Duragni and Rumbles sighed in exasperation.

Pujjo always dominated the communication between the three of them. He had for over three decades now, so there was little either of them could do about it that would actually make him change his ways – and they both loved Pujjo too much to accidently push him over a cliff.

“I know I’ve said this before.”

“Then why the fuck do you have to say it again.” muttered Rumbles to himself. They had been walking for four days now with as little rest as manageable, commando style. Two days into their quest, they engaged in a bloody skirmish with a massive company of UAC Border Sentinels just on the outskirts of the hill. Despite synchronizing devastatingly in kill mode, they had barely managed to get out alive. Their escape was made possible only due to a brilliant suicide intervention by a 500-member Croweagle family who savaged the anthro soldiers with an aerial attack.

The biospiritual trauma of both the fight and the sacrifice of their winged relatives needed some healing time for the three of them.

Unfortunately for both Duragni and Rumbles, Pujjo healed by endlessly jabbering about farfetched revolutionary theories.

And while Duragni had the patience of the ages, Rumbles had a much shorter fuse.

“…because when you really consider the devastation that the anthros have inflicted upon other souls across the organic world, we have to consider some of the more radical ideologies emerging from many Alpha Mothers in the Wild Gatherings. We have to be prepared for a biospiritual global revolutionary war with the anthro imperialists who have conglomerated…”

“Oh my god! Shut the fuck up Pujjo!” Rumbles finally exploded, his nervous tick shuddering with exasperation. “You are the first soul within the towns to line up for the solidarity feasts that the anthro communes throw…just thinking of their cooking makes you salivate like the greedy chimp you are…and then here you go with your bloody fake revolutionary zeal!”

Pujjo was unperturbed.

“I have never denied that fact that I have a taste for some nice things, but I have always maintained that those nice things should be made available to all species, across all dom or semi-dom or wild barriers. That is a core part of the ideologies from the more revolutionary Alpha Mothers in the Wild Gatherings. They are hardly species supremacists.”

Rumbles sighed in exasperation again, louder and angrier.

Duragni was watchful as they trekked on. When her eyes got tired, she upped her sense of smell and hearing to stay alert. She was happy with Pujjo and Rumbles going at each other, because it provided just enough stimulation to stay alert without having to pay attention to either of them.

Duragni dwarfed both of them in size (and most would say smarts). Though neither of them were slouches.

Pujjo was easily over 1300 pounds (sometimes 1400, especially if a few too many anthro solidarity feasts interrupted his diet plan). Being an orange and black striped Giant Agnorilla, Pujjo was the most anthropic of the three, and Rumbles never let him forget about his “anthro privileges” (something Pujjo had to begrudgingly admit to, being the humble revolutionary he thought he was).

Rumbles himself was a solid 1500 pounds of round, burgundy-furred muscle. But he was most proud of his horns, emerging out of his hammerhead snout, they were one of his most formidable weapons. And as long as he had his cannagreens with him to munch on every few hours, he was able to control his anxiety attacks.

The three of them hiked for a while through the dry woodlands, before coming to a natural overhang. Duragni lifted her trunk signalling for them to come to a halt. Both Pujjo and Rumbles snapped back to attention, and the three of them took in the sight.

An anthro urban sprawl that stretched as far wide as the eye could see on either side of the setting sun.

The Afrasian Urban Belt – known more commonly as Mediba – was the third largest urban anthro stretch on earth. There was no way they could get around it and not waste valuable time. They had to go through it.

Luckily it was an intercontinental urban belt and thus porous enough to sneak through disguised as Dumb Ones.

But while it was easy enough to sneak under the radar of the UAC, they risked facing a different kind of threat – Anthro Life Defenders.

The Defenders were organized street soldiers with a blessing from the UAC but operating under their own quasi-independent paramilitary authority, with a president and command council. Indeed, some speculated that the command council of the Anthro Life Defenders was a separate transcontinental authority in and of itself, completely independent of the UAC.

“Let’s do it.” Duragni commanded.

Pujjo and Rumbles nodded. Pujjo shook the giant rugsack off his shoulders and then climbed onto Duragni’s back to retrieve a giant wood and twine case packed with all kinds of anthro-type clothing. He heaved the case down and opened it for each of them to retrieve their costumes as independent circus artisans[2].

Duragni was Pali the Preponderous Pachyderm, which gave her a chance to showcase her chutzpah (not to mention her skill as a tusk drummer, of which she fancied herself an under-appreciated artiste extraordinaire). She had the zing to be Master of Ceremonies for anthros and non-anthros alike. Pujjo transformed into Tiger Monkey the Great Knife Artiste, while Rumbles became Wild Boar Wally the Acrobatic Pig.

They all had giant black capes made from rawhide silk and spider twine that bore their names and that of their artisan group name. Together, they were the Trauma Busting Trio, a travelling circus act they would occasionally, um, bust out in order to pass through anthro-dominated zones with ease.

As Pujjo helped Rumbles with his costume, Duragni walked around a thicket of greater stone pine, which seemed to make way for her enormous size. She then took in the sight of the great city – or at least whatever she could see before the city melted away into the horizon on either side.

Mediba.

With over 2 billion anthro inhabitants alone, over a few millennia old since its incorporation, across three former continents, spanning many mountain ranges and seas – Mediba was one of the largest anthro-dominated urban sprawls. The UAC rulers who governed Mediba were a powerful clique within the ruling overlord class among the anthro authority. Especially as the geographic region was one of those that had proven quite hardy in withstanding giant climate fluctuations.

Duragni took a deep breath as she contemplated the journey ahead of them. They had passed through anthro zones many times in the past, often using the same act.

But never before had it been this important to come through as quietly and safely as possible. They absolutely had to be at the Wild Gatherings so One Love Hill could get the support it needed.

The path that Rumbles charted had them hike for three days towards and in through the mega city’s Northwestern Borderlands. It was known for its legal grey zones and, thus, less overt UAC authority presence.

Onward they trekked, desperate to avoid bloodshed.

***

Time: 44th day of the Assault on One Love Hill in the year 19036 AL.

Place: Northwestern Borderlands of Mediba, several days hike away from the Wild Gatherings.

“Thus, if you really think about it, it’s nothing more than restorative justice, taking into account past historical oppression that those wise Alpha Mothers at the Wild Gatherings seek with their biospiritual imperatives, and furthermore…”

Over three and a half days of hiking through the seaside towns of Mediba while performing quick half hour acts along the way to pass through as Dumb Ones, Pujjo had been honing down and refining his theory of cross-specieated justice in a monologue of admirable stamina, much to the increasing ire of a very stress-ridden Rumbles.

As they made their way to the public watering hole for non-anthros in the heart of one of Mediba’s umpteen urban hotspots, Duragni suddenly hissed the other two to attention.

Pujjo immediately stopped. All three instinctively heightened their senses and focus.

It was unmistakable.

They could feel the rumble, smell the grease, and sense the danger of a Mega Battalion of Anthro Life Defenders barely a mile away.

“There’s no way we can take them all on – even with the help of others in the neural community. There’s far too many of them.” Rumbles said with an alert calmness (his anxiety always disappeared in a flash the moment they were in a crisis or emergency situation – it was the weirdest thing).

“We’re going to have to play up the act to our best ability to get by as Dumb Ones.” he suggested.

“You’re right.” Duragni clarified. “Same act as usual my brothers. And we all know the drill if we’re found out, right?”

“Free souls always?” Pujjo muttered with determination, getting his throwing knives in order.

“Exactly.” Duragni said, as Rumbles nodded and started limbering up.

“Free souls always.”

So saying, they mentally readied themselves to blend in as circus Dumb Ones. Only this time, they weren’t trying to fool the soft anthros of the seaside towns, most of whom were too comfortable (or inebriated) to be bothered with anthro supremacy – these were tech enhanced street soldiers, high on blitz, itching for some non-anthro blood. They would have to try and blend in among the non-anthro crowds – preferably not having to tangle with the battalion at all.

The battalion rumbled onto the giant grassy plaza adjacent to the watering hole in a haphazard formation.

They were mostly young street soldiers, men and women who tended to be gung-ho anthro civilizationists, quick to pull out their hand cannons and grennabatons, but slow to reason and compassion. The UAC authorities were often at odds with the Anthro Life Defenders because their violent ways against non-anthros spilled over onto the cities and urban belts, in front of lay citizens who loved the benefits of an anthro planetary civilization but were squeamish about the ways in which it was maintained.

The non-anthros around the watering hole and plaza immediately but quietly put some distance between them and the soldiers. Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles did the same, trying to go unnoticed amongst some Sand Buffalos and Carrier Ox who had just clocked out of their shifts. They slowly shuffled their way past the menacing eyes of the defenders, many of whom were itching to round up some non-anthro as battle trophies in order to claim bravery medals.

And just as it looked like the intrepid trio were going to make it past the soldiers without getting noticed…

“Oy, mate!” one muscular, heavily metalloid defender called out – his wrinkled face twisting in a half-grin, half-grimace.

Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles caught each other’s wavelengths, and synchronized.

All three knew what was going to happen next.

“Look ‘ere at ’em!” the brute cackled out. “A fokkin fat-ass olyphant, a wannabe ‘uman, and a tasty lookin ‘am samwich, if I’ve ever seen ‘un, ay lads? Ha!!! And they dressed like they fokkin clowns, bruvs, lookee at ’em right there…fokkin think they shit smarty ‘n everythin!”

All the soldiers of the battalion swivelled their heads to look at the trio of circus performers, a collective whirr of various bionic sounds as they eyeballed the three caped warriors.

The other non-anthros slowly started backing away.

Duragni signalled for them to get their heads clear.

Showtime.

***

Time: 44th day of the Assault on One Love Hill in the year 19036 AL.

Place: Garuda Public Watering Hole, Northwestern Borderlands of Mediba, several days hike away from the Wild Gatherings.

If there was one thing that the three warriors had learnt from past experiences in ducking the authorities, it was that a great performance could get you past even the most menacing soldiers.

(One tended to not want to arrest, kill and/or torture that which just made you smile, laugh and/or gasp in excitement.)

Duragni trumpetted.

A long blast, strong in timbre with a deep baritone.

Immediately the rest of the non-anthros, barring Pujjo and Rumbles, cleared the way for the three performers following Duragni’s call out. The crowds did this either in cold-blooded fear – for there was not a soul on earth that would dare take on a well-muscled, clearly battle-scarred, Brown Maned Tusker – or, in clear excited anticipation of what they could identify as the blast of a performer and not the legendary call of the tusker’s battle cry.

Duragni knew both calls well, and she knew the soldiers did too.

She leapt and did a two-stomp jig to draw everyone’s attention with mind-boggling grace.

As the dust settled, Pujjo and Rumbles got into their positions on either side of Duragni.

She trumpetted again, before getting down on her haunches behind a giant tree, her massive tusks on either side of the trunk, bending her hind knees and straightening her front legs, twirling her gargantuan black silk cape (emblazoned with the words ‘Pali the Ponderous Pachyderm of the Trauma Busting Trio’ in deep red lettering – courtesy Pujjo’s smooth calligraphy). The cape waved with sublime grace, before slowly settling on her muscular, furry frame.

Slowly she started tapping the front of her tusks on the tree trunk, getting a steady, but mesmerizing rhythm going. As the rhythm built up, she added scraping and grating noises with her front legs, either on the ground or on the sides of the tree trunk, staying with the rhythmic knocking of her tusks.

Then Pujjo and Rumbles joined in.

By then, the vast majority of non-anthros (and a good number of stray anthros) had begun bobbing and moving to the rhythm.

That was one of the keys to their shows. If everyone had at least a little bit of fun, it didn’t really matter what they did. Plus the non-anthros got synchronized with each other with the trio mesmerizing them. This made them less likely to be attacked by soldiers.

Pujjo and Rumbles got in on the act, deftly slipping off their respectively emblazoned silk capes.

Pujjo took out eight shiny fighting knives and started throw-juggling them with consummate timing by hurling them towards the ground with one limb and deftly swooping it with another millimetres before it hit the ground, alternating biomechanically, all while engaging in a dance to Duragni’s rhythmic drumming.

Eliciting gasps and shrieks from the onlookers, Pujjo winked and bore his teeth, smiling at them and chuckling, while barely looking at the knives that could easily have sliced one of his tough-as-nails fingers clean off.

Rumbles then took a deep breath and got into a semi-hunched position. After a couple of athletic squats, he leapt high in the air as if he were very much not a 1500 lb. Great Fire Boar, and did a muscular summersault before landing on his front legs. In a flash he then twirled on one hoof, and then another, before jumping and doing the same on his hind legs, shaking his massive snout to the beat, catching up to the rhythm and maintaining synchronicity with Duragni and Pujjo.

After a few rounds of synchronicity every non-anthro in sight was moving to the multi-sensory rhythm that Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles were leading them into. A good majority of the anthros joined in as well (barring the really angry ones), moving in some way or the other to Duragni’s mesmerizing beats.

Pujjo and Rumbles started dancing with each other, circling one another, and slowly getting their acts intertwined while keeping with the rhythm of Duragni’s legs and tusks. Their biospiritual senses became increasingly interconnected, enabling them to perform mind-boggling feats of dexterity and danger with their athleticism, while Duragni laid a protective rhythmic cocoon with her channels and drumming.

As they reached the crescendo of their act, almost every soul within sensory and soulful distance was connected to the trio’s performance. Those who had less biospiritual barriers, usually other non-anthros, were completely mesmerized, almost as if in a trance-like state.

They built up to a crescendo with their performance, leading the enthralled souls on a great biospiritual high before slowly bringing them in for a landing, with Duragni softening the beats and scrapes, everyone entering a highly relaxed state of bliss.

As they wound their performance down, almost every soul could feel each other’s heartbeat and emotion.

And then…quiet.

For a glorious moment, there was absolute synchronicity, total sensory balance, complete peace in the universe.

Followed by an eruption of pure joy with hoots and howlers, roars and shrieks, bleats and croons.

The Trauma Busting Trio had done it again.

The intrepid friends couldn’t help but soak it in as crowds of anthros and non-anthros thronged them, showering them with treats and edibles or hollering at them with affection.

Many just pissed and shat out of happiness where they stood.

It was beautiful…

But mercenaries of an elite ruling class could always be relied upon to stamp out joy whenever they had the chance.

KABOOM!!!

The young battalion commander of the defenders had, upon sensing this possibly uncontrollable spread of non-anthro spirit, unholstered her hand cannon and let a shot ring out in the air.

The synchronicity and joy was shattered in a mere moment, as all the souls, anthro and non-anthro alike were shocked back to fearful attention of the defenders battalion.

The battalion leader looked around, her hand cannon still held up in the air.

She gave a wicked smile and then…

KABOOM!!!

Pure chaos followed.

Every non-anthro soul ran, sprinted, flew, climbed, and scurried away, as far away as possible from the fear surrounding them. In the madness, the bigger ones tumbled and stomped over the little ones and knocked one another down. Blood-curdling screeches and cries exploded across the din of running and stomping.

The shots and carnage followed in a matter of seconds.

The defenders had established a barbaric practice of firing a warning shot into crowds of synchronized non-anthros followed by another to disperse them and then indiscriminately firing at will to claim trophies. The first shot always stunned the non-anthro souls into momentary sensory submission, giving defenders the time to cock their weapons and take aim. The second shot then shocked the non-anthros into a state of absolute panic, where any connections to the organic neural community got disrupted, sending them on a mad skelter, giving ample opportunity for defenders to take potshots.

In the chaos that followed, Duragni, Pujjo and Rumbles slipped away into a dark alleyway that they knew led to a good path out of Mediba. They had enough spiritual combat training to handle the shock and warning shots with calm. They trotted as fast as they could, well into the night and next morning to put some space between them and the defenders.

Their skill and presence of mind as warriors enabled them to avoid the energy blasts of the defenders’ hand cannons and grenabattons as they got away. They felt dark inside though. They had hoped to avoid bloodshed as much as possible. Violence and killings outside the cycle of life, unless to defend it, ran counter to the biospiritual imperatives of the organic neural community.

But just as they thought they had lost the defenders…

“Well, lookee wot we ‘ave ‘ere lads!” cackled Venger the giant metalloid defender as the platoon rumbled up in front of the three of them.

“It be dem fokkin circus freaks, say wot?”

Duragni furrowed her brow, and immediately signaled Pujjo and Rumbles to get into synchronicity again.

***

Time: 45th day of the Assault on One Love Hill in the year 19036 AL.

Place: Outskirts of Mediba, less than seven days hike away from the Wild Gatherings.

There was something about non-anthro synchronicity in kill mode that captivated the soul in a way that the same synchronicity during the arts or some other endeavor just could not.

They were stepping quite intentionally outside the cycle of life and it’s process of regeneration in order to defend it.

Because synchronicity could only happen when the souls were in tune with the biospirituality of the organic neural community, non-anthros could synchronize easily out of love or joy, even sustenance, but synchronizing in order to kill was extremely difficult.

Unless the only choice in front of the soul was – kill or be killed.

And every soul – anthro, dom, semi-dom, winged one, or wild one – knew when life presented such a stark binary option.

It was then that one could witness non-anthro synchronicity in kill mode – a biospiritual feat that a platoon of defenders was about to experience for the first and last time.

Defender battalions often had designated peel away platoons to capture and kill wandering non-anthros after large crowds were dispersed. It helped keep the more stomach-churning tactics on the down low and away from the prying eyes of the rabble-rousing masscomms. On this occasion, the battalion leader led her soldiers away back on patrol into the urban hotspots, while her metalloid defender sidekick led his platoon to take potshots at non-anthros.

“Looks like we’re gonna ‘ave us a little fry up wit dem fokkin beggar-ass chumps, eh mates?” Venger continued, his scarred face contorting into a menacing grin.

“Careful Venger…” croaked another defender, revving his bionically grafted motorcycle as he rumbled forward. “They look pretty fokkin magnum boss.”

“Dey nuttin more dan filthy bottom lifers!!!” screamed Venger in a spit-filled rage, eyeballing his comrade-in-wheels.

“And we all know what the head chiefs say about bottom lifers, don’t we lads?” he said, licking his lips, turning his head scarily to look at his prey. “Either they serve us…”

The platoon slowly spread out in front of Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles, awaiting Venger’s signal. Venger looked at what he was sure would be his next triple-trophy monument, before concluding with a vicious glint in his eye.

“…or they are served to us.”

All members of the platoon had their handcannons ready and cocked.

“On my command lads.” Venger said in a loud clipped tone, raising his hand.

Duragni, Pujjo, and Rumbles got into one of their most efficient and flexible battle formations in a flash; now almost in complete synchronicity with each other. Their thought waves and instincts were in tune with one another while sensory information picked up by one was immediately made available to the other two, exponentially increasing their individual and collective reaction time, instincts, speed, neuromuscular capacity and, most importantly, biospiritual quotient. They immediately connected with other souls, mostly winged and mammalian ones, within sensory distance, and also picked up on the sensory vibes of the soldiers. A magnificent sense of calm and supreme focus entered every cell of their being as the platoon of defenders approached them in crescent formation with bloodlust in their eyes.

Then, Venger gave the command with a wicked snarl.

“ATTACK!!!”

In a flash, Duragni let out an almighty blast of sonic energy with her trunk, shattering the ear drums of those soldiers who had a cavalier attitude towards helmets.

Effectively stunned for a brief second or two, it gave Pujjo and Rumbles more than enough time to thunder in at mad speed, baring knives and horns, to take out seven soldiers before anyone in the platoon could even react.

This gave Duragni the extra second she needed to charge in, brandishing trunk and tusks that could knock out a bus, and take out five more defenders.

In the meantime, their biospiritual connections drew into the fight, a cave-residing colony of Wolf Bats, a herd of hard-hooved Camelorses, and a pack of Fanged Badgers to wreck havoc with the platoon.

By the time the first hand cannon could be fired, the platoon lost a dozen of its top shooters, while the rest were all dealing with varying levels of pain and impending mortality.

The defenders had a bad day that day.

There were a total of 52 members in the hunting platoon led by Venger. They called themselves Gods Sword, and to make their point felt in a multitude of ways, had their graphic idea of a gods sword tattooed, burnt, or carved permanently all over their bodies, with the unwritten code that the more painful the process of branding, the more worthy it was to apply.

All of them were dedicated young fighters, all bionically advanced for optimum fight capacity. They had access to the highest levels of anthro tech via blank checks provided by the UAC to all Anthro Life Defender commands. The soldiers had killed many a non-anthro in cold blood, and were known as one of the most trophy-winning, medal-garnering platoons among the Anthro Life Defenders of the Northwest Borderlands, if not all of Mediba itself.

Nice men and women they were not.

Extremely good murdering machines they were.

On that day, as One Love Hill continued its valiant struggle into its 45th day in the year 19036 AL, Gods Sword tasted its last battle due to three intrepid warrior souls.

And the only reason their snarling platoon leader lived to tell the tale was because Duragni wanted a survivor to spread a very clear message to the authorities. She wanted to let the UAC know that the organic neural community was here to stay and grow.

She wanted to gently suggest that all anthros learn to live and let live…

that they learn to share and share alike…

Curling her trunk, she sounded like a copper drum as she whispered with a crisp anthro diction, into the electronic ear of Venger’s shocked, decapitated head…

“wither, wither big boss gods…wither anthropic evil.”

---

[1] AL stands for After Leaving – a point in time when humanity across this particular universe, approximately two millennia into a rapidly developing evolutionary split in the species, decided to reset the calendar.

[2] Following the Indentured Animals Uprisings, circus animals won the right to ply their trade as independent artisans. And while not as servile as they once were (they had learnt consciously, with shocked senses, of the pre-Barbaric times many, many millennia ago from the neural community), they and other supposedly “independent non-anthros” were still among the lowest in the socio-cultural and political landscape of the anthro dominated zones. Most still stayed for generations on end without joining the liberated ones because that life was all they knew and could rely on for sustenance.

Death anxiety and our neurotic species…

This article explores the fear of death and its anthropocentric roots. To explore the fear of death is to explore the ultimate fear of humanity’s existence, i.e. the fear of non-existence.

I have come to the realization that I like exploring the idea of death, the concept of dying, from as many angles as possible. It is a journey that will eventually of course result in the ultimate experience itself. Without fully acknowledging it to the self, I realize I’ve probably been doing it ever since I gained increasing self-realization, i.e. tried to be less of a man-child asshole. Internalizing one’s mortality is I think the ultimate Everest of realizing oneself, except this is one mountain with no path of descent from its peak.

A high with no possibility of ever coming down maybe?

In any case, I must keep writing about this. I am inexplicably, inexorably drawn to this idea of death and what it tells about us as a species, so I might as well give myself a fancy-pants name like amateur thanatologist or something like that. (Is there a way to become a professional thanatologist? I’d like to give it a shot if so.)

In other words, I’m going to keep studying and exploring the idea of death – so might as well write about those explorations in as well-referenced a way as possible on this blog for a handful of people to read. These are existential questions that humanity has been wrestling with for as long as we have had some semblance of consciousness. I think in order to attempt a little literary discipline, I should have a central canon to anchor every exploration, else I fear I will go all over the place aimlessly. For this particular article, I will utilize Irwin Yalom’s Existential Psychotherapy, an in-depth exploration of existentialism and existential fear from a psychoanalytical standpoint. A kick in the balls I tell ya…

It is nigh impossible to explore the idea of death without rooting it in our very existential fears as human beings. Indeed, it’s the reason I’m writing this piece so it makes organic sense to revolve my exploration around a canon that has those fears as its theoretical and empirical foundation.

One passage gave me no small amount of pause and I’d like to reproduce it in full to energize this piece:

He writes, “The terror of death is ubiquitous and of such magnitude that a considerable  portion of one’s life energy is consumed in the denial of death. Death transcendence is a major motif in human experience – from the most deeply internal phenomena, our defenses, our motivations, our dreams and nightmares, to the most public macro-societal structures, our monuments, theologies, ideologies, slumber cemeteries, embalmings, our stretch into space, indeed our entire way of life – our filling time, our addiction to diversions, our faltering belief in the myth of progress, our drive to ‘get ahead,’ our yearning for lasting fame.” (Yalom, 41)

Humanity wrestling in some way or the other with the idea of death has probably been going on ever since we first started being cognizant of our own mortality. This is a trait that many scientists consider to be the distinguishing trait for our species – though the inherent anthropocentrism in so much of our scientific inquiry must necessarily question such an assertion.

The ultimate, guiding fear: Death has been humanity’s all-encompassing fear for a long, long time now. Yalom refers to this as the “most obvious, the most easily apprehended ultimate concern.” Such is the primacy assigned to this fear that while his book wrestles with four “ultimate concerns” constituting the core of an individual’s existential dynamic – death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness – Yalom spends almost half the book on death alone.

Frankly, it’s not surprising that he does so. The other three could easily be classified as sub-categories of this singular ultimate concern.

Death has been the one unconquerable in humanity’s existence since the seeds of self-awareness were planted. Another way of looking at it might be that death is humanity’s only real truth. Which makes us no better than any other species on earth. That’s a strict no, no for the religious, the wealthy, the powerful, the egomaniacal, and so on. Thus death has transformed from the ultimate truth to the ultimate fear to the ultimate anxiety in our current epoch.

Indeed, if we take the other three concerns Yalom identifies, they are rooted in the concern of death. For death can be argued as the purest form of freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness – freedom from existence, completely isolated in non-existence, and bereft of any meaning whatsoever.

Heavy shit.

What it reveals about us as a species: So, how did we as a species start thinking about our own mortality and then try to overcome it? When did humanity veer from “just” surviving (i.e. avoiding things that bring about one’s immediate physical demise) to actively focusing on denying death – what Yalom identifies as humanity’s futile attempt at “death transcendence”?

Bridget Alex has a very compelling piece in Discover Magazine where she tries to explore when ancient humans began to understand death. Using Paul Pettitt’s ridiculously, yet very exactly, titled “Hominim evolutionary thanatology from the mortuary to funerary realm: the paleoanthropological bridge between chemistry and culture” as a springboard, she identifies his four step process to define how living organisms detect and, essentially, deal with the death of their fellow kind – from the chemical ability to detect death that we all have, such as even microscopic organisms’ ability to detect “necromones, molecules emitted by decaying corpses” to the next step with the introduction of emotions to their dead – such as various birds expressing loud calls of distress and sadness while gathering around corpses, or death rituals by elephants, apes, and other animals.

It’s the third and fourth stages that differ us humans and our closest hominid ancestors from other animals, Pettitt suggests – and that is the understanding of the inevitability of death – which is where our ultimate fear takes root, resulting in rituals around death. (Indeed, the only thing separating the third and fourth stage seem to be the level of detail and production to the rituals. The demarcation seems to exist merely to separate modern humans from our hominid relatives and ancestors like Neanderthals.)

I have often heard many fellow humans talk about the uniqueness of our species because of our self awareness, rooted in our supposedly singular awareness of our mortality, as is evident in the third and fourth stage theory that Pettitt puts forward. This seems to be the norm in daily conversations too. We think we’re unique as a species because we’re self aware, and we root that awareness in the knowledge of our mortality.

This makes us sound more intelligent as a species than we actually are, but that doesn’t mean it is without truth.

As Yalom states with a certain common sense ontology, “a considerable portion of one’s life energy is consumed in the denial of death. [Emphasis mine.]”

This means a natural desire to survive – that all species possess – has transformed into a uniquely human fear of death, mutating further into an all-encompassing, sociopathic death anxiety.

We as a species have turned into something never before seen in earth’s existence (as far as we know at least) – we have swallowed the myth of our own legend and called it self-awareness. We are drawn to the idea of immortality in an insidious, insecure way. We confuse life as the absence of death and actively try to deny death in order to live this fantasy (nightmare?) of eternal existence. It has resulted in our world being stuck with an entire species of bumbling neurotics as the supposed dominant one.

It’s no wonder the roaches have been laughing at us for millennia…

Bibliography

Alex, Bridget. “When Did Ancient Humans Begin To Understand Death.” Discover Magazine. (Feb, 2020).

Yalom, Irwin D. Existential Psychotherapy. Basic Books. (1980).

Pettitt, Paul. “Hominim evolutionary thanatology from the mortuary to funerary realm: the paleoanthropological bridge between chemistry and culture.” Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B. (2018).