Why Do You Dream of Flat Tires?

You may recognize the title of this article as a linesimply had to be more gravity present than could be
from a Joni Mitchell song. I found it so poignant that itaccounted for by observable mass and that extra
has stuck with me from the time I first heard it sogravity had to be what was holding the universe
many years ago. All of recorded history is repletetogether. From this theory they developed a precise
with the evidence of how the human race hasmathematical model to account for the extra gravity.
dreamed flat tires by creating models of the physicalIn this model, the universe is comprised of only 4%
universe that were later found to be in error. One ofvisible matter, 22% cold dark matter, and 75% dark
the most famous was a model of the Earth as theenergy. So far this formula has held up to rigorous
center of the universe. As a person watches theinvestigation. In fact, if the percentages are changed
ever-changing position of the sun and moon across aby only a little, the computer models cause the
diurnal cycle and ties that information to the idea thatuniverse to fly apart. The real question is, will this
the Earth seems to be still, it is no surprise that thetheory hold up over time? Ptolomy's theory of a
intuitive conclusion would be that the heavens are ingeocentric universe held for a millennium. Perhaps as
motion around one centrally positioned planet.telescopes become more powerful and varied, the
In modern times, the prevailing opinion about why theobserved data will change. Just such an advancement
masses were loathe to give up this idea, even whenrecently changed our ideas about the speed we think
given mathematical evidence to the contrary, wasour own galaxy is spinning. Or, perhaps another
that being on a planet that was at the center of thetheory will surface to replace the current idea. Recall
universe also included a privileged position for itsthat a helio-centric system eventually replaced
inhabitants with the creator of that universe. But,Ptolomy's long-standing paradigm.
that's not entirely the reason behind the delay inFor many lay people, ideas about cosmology are
enlightenment. History education often focuses onmerely mind-candy. They don't seem to have any
the few brilliant minds who came along and lifted usreal bearing on day-to-day life. But there are plenty
out of these Dark Age ideas. What history generallyof limiting models in recent history that do. In the
does not show are the bright minds who devised1920s, folks were so enamored with the novelty of
equally impressive mathematical models thatthe first electroencephologram (EEG) measuring brain
entrenched the accepted notions. The Ancient Greekwaves that they were sure it was evidence of
astronomer, Claudius Ptolomy built a verytelepathy. Today, neurologists are claiming to
sophisticated machine of gears that not onlymeasure exact thoughts because they have
demonstrated the travel of the sun around the Earth,developed a way to control a robotic arm to mimic
it even accounted for the retrograde motion of thethe motion of a monkey's arm simply by mapping the
planets known at that time. This model was soneurons that fire when the monkey thinks about
overwhelmingly convincing that it stood for nearlymoving its arm. This is a major breakthrough that will
1000 years. Even though his idea had fallen out oflead to the development of devices that will unlock a
favor by 1492, Ptolomy's work was still so reveredquadriplegic's ability to manipulate objects again. While
that Columbus used his world maps when setting sailthis achievement is worthy of celebration, we must
to find new lands. The diagrams on these maps werealso be careful that we don't lock ourselves into a
precisely why Columbus thought he had landed inlimiting model by stating that actual thought energy is
India.being recorded. Brain activity is the shadow of the
Given the sophistication of our technology, it is likelythought process. For instance, if you are singing a
we would discredit any notion that we live in a timesong in your head, your brain activity can be
of limiting models like the one in the example above.measured and recorded, but not the song itself.
The truth is, instead of building precisely engineeredJapanese scientists have come a step closer in
models with gears, we use powerfulrealizing this sort of dream by claiming that they can
super-computers to mathematically extrapolate theexternally reproduce an image the eyes are seeing
motion of the heavens over eons of time. This issimply by measuring and recording very specific brain
exactly how the professors at Princeton developedactivity associated with vision. Again, this is a major
the theory of dark matter and dark energy.breakthrough in brain research, but is it measuring
Ptolomy's machine perfectly accounted for the datathought energy?
gathered from observation. In other words, PtolomyTechnologically speaking, we are on the verge of
already knew what the result should be before heseveral major research breakthroughs such as those
built the machine.already mentioned. Great care must be taken in how
The Princeton super-computer experiment did thewe construct our models so that we do not fall into
exact opposite. The professors plugged in the dataPtolomy's trap of framing our ideas around a limiting
gained by observing the universe and then asked theconcept. Otherwise, it may be another millennium
computer to spin the universe through billions ofbefore a brilliant mind comes along showing that we
years of motion. To their surprise, the entire universewere merely dreaming flat tires.
flung itself into oblivion. They deduced that there