The Origin of Matter and Information
(revised Sept., 2008)
John A. Gowan
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jag8/index.html
(Note to readers: the reactions presented in this paper, and the "X" IVB and the "leptoquark" particles, are hypothetical. For a guide to the particles, both "real" and speculative, see the "Particle Table". For a more comprehensive overview of this subject, see: "The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs". This paper treats only the asymmetric decay of electrically neutral leptoquark-antileptoquark pairs.)
During the first moments of the birth of our Cosmos (the "Big Bang"), all the matter of our Universe was produced by an asymmetric reaction between matter and antimatter involving the quarks and color charges of the strong force, and the leptons and Intermediate Vector Bosons (IVBs) of the weak force. The reaction requires the asymmetric decay of a matter-antimatter pair of "leptoquarks", which are neutral with respect to both electric and color charge ("leptoquarks" are very massive, internally fractured leptons). This asymmetric decay is "mediated" or catalyzed by the weak force IVB "X", and can be represented succinctly by the reaction equation below (in which antiparticles are underlined):
X(Lq ) x Lq -----> baryon + vlq + (energy)
where Lq indicates a leptoquark and vlq a leptoquark antineutrino.
We can also write this reaction in a more specific and complete form as:
X[(Lq x Lq) (vlq x vlq )] -----> bbt + vlq + bb(or)X[(Lq x Lq) (vlq x vlq )] -----> bbt + vlq + bb + bb(or)X[(Lq x Lq) (vlq x vlq )] -----> bbt + vlq + bt+ +u- + vu
1) where the left-side reactants are:
-) "Lq" represents an (electrically neutral) antileptoquark whose quarks are compressed so tightly (by the "X" IVB) that their color charge has vanished;-) "(Lq x Lq)" represents an electrically neutral leptoquark-antileptoquark pair (leptoquarks are also "color" neutral);-) "(vlq x vlq )" represents a leptoquark neutrino-antineutrino pair (particle-antiparticle pairs are shown in brackets with an x between them to indicate their linkage - the lower-case "linking x" not to be confused with the "X" IVB); (neutrinos are the pure, "bare", or explicit form of "identity" or "number" charge - the weak force charge sometimes referred to as "flavor").
2) the reaction is mediated by:
-) an Intermediate Vector Boson (IVB) of the weak force, "X", which catalyzes the reaction by forming the complex X[(Lq x Lq ) (vlq x vlq )], in which the members of the complex are brought into such close spatial proximity by the X that they can exchange, neutralize, or otherwise cancel each other's charges. In this case the vlq identity charge of the neutrino particle pair annihilates the anti-identity charge of Lq in the leptoquark particle pair. (See similar weak force reaction mechanisms in: "The Particle Table" and "The 'W' IVB and the Weak Force Mechanism.") The "X" IVB can also be thought of as the quantized expression of a unified force "symmetric energy state" (the GUT symmetric energy state) in which quarks and leptons have merged their separate identities. (See: "The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs".)
3) the right-side products of this reaction are:
-) "bbt", the unreacted leptoquark carried over from the left side (originally "Lq"), whose quarks have expanded under their mutually repulsive (electrical and quantum mechanical) forces to reveal their color charges. By the simple expansion of its internal, latent, or nascent quarks (perhaps in concert with the rapidly expanding early Universe), this particle has transformed itself from a "colorless" leptoquark to a "colored", normal, electrically neutral, heavy baryon (hyperon) containing the bottom (b) and top (t) heavy quark species ("flavors"); it will eventually decay to the ground state proton (via the much lighter "W" IVB). -) "vlq", an antileptoquark neutrino, liberated from the X complex when its partner (vlq) annihilated with the anti-identity charge of the antileptoquark Lq. The presence of "vlq" balances the baryon number charge of the newly formed matter baryon (bbt);-) energy, in the form of some electrically neutral meson (bb) or meson pair (bb x bb), or some other electrically neutral combination of decay products such as the positively charged meson (bt+), the negatively charged muon (u-), and the muon antineutrino (vu). This is all that remains of the antileptoquark Lq, which being electrically neutral, and with its color charge vanished due to the compression of its quarks by the X (in the limit of "asymptotic freedom"), will simply convert its neutralized mass-energy to lighter particles in some energy, momentum, charge, and spin conserving combination, and self-annihilate, once its conserved number charge has been canceled by the leptoquark neutrino "vlq".
Discussion
The reaction begins with a symmetric matter-antimatter pair of electrically neutral leptoquarks and a symmetric matter-antimatter pair of leptoquark neutrinos. The source of both is the (real or virtual) particle "sea", the unlimited reservoir of symmetric, particle-antiparticle pairs of all kinds created by the interaction of light with the metric of spacetime (these particle pairs are real or virtual depending upon the energy density and temperature of their spacetime environment). From this symmetric mixture we nevertheless produce, via the mediation of the X, an asymmetric product - an unpaired matter hyperon (which will decay to a proton, electron, and electron antineutrino), and an unpaired antileptoquark neutrino, which remains unchanged to balance the "identity" or baryon number charge of the hyperon and its eventual decay product, the proton. The asymmetric character of the weak force is expressed in the decay of just one member of the leptoquark-antileptoquark pair, rather than both. What we actually expect is that this decay occurs slightly more often than its antimatter counterpart (for reasons unknown), thus producing a surplus of matter baryons.
The electrical neutrality of the leptoquark pair is crucial to the success of the reaction, as an electrically charged pair (Lq- x Lq+) would immediately annihilate each other. This electrical neutrality is the reason why this reaction requires a composite particle whose constituent quarks can sum their fractional charges to zero electric charge (as in the neutron). The quark-lepton-IVB system also requires a Higgs scalar boson to select the appropriate force unification domain and associated IVBs (since there are more than one - GUT (X) or electroweak (W). While the quantized weak force transformation mechanism may seem dauntingly complex, no doubt this is nevertheless the simplest system which is capable of breaking the primordial symmetry of light and its particle-antiparticle pairs in a repeatable and invariant fashion, producing the atomic matter of our material Universe.
Color Charge
Just as crucial to the success of this reaction as its electrical neutrality is the internal symmetry of the conserved color charge. Because the gluons which carry the color charge are composed of color-anticolor charge pairs in all possible combinations, the gluon field as a whole sums to zero color. The color field will sum to zero physically if the quarks are sufficiently compressed, yet return to full (explicit) color charge when the compressive forces are relaxed and the quarks expand under the influence of their mutually repulsive forces (both electric and quantum mechanical). This symmetry property allows the antileptoquark to effectively vanish, via the weak force X and leptoquark neutrino (essentially, the process of "proton decay"), when its quarks are compressed and the color charge is only implicit, but prevents such total decays when the quarks separate and the color charge becomes explicit (because neutrinos do not carry and hence cannot cancel the conserved color charge). It is the role of the X IVB to effect the compression of the quarks, vanishing the color charge (the effect is the limiting case of the principle of "asymptotic freedom" (Politzer, Gross, and Wilczek 1973) - (2004 Nobel prize).
Hence the antileptoquark can vanish in the high temperature, energy-dense environment of the Big Bang, but the quarks of the leptoquark (the particle-pair partner which does not decay), simply expand (as the Universe expands and cools) under their mutually repulsive forces to reveal their conserved color charge. By simply expanding its quarks, the remaining "singlet" leptoquark is transformed into a heavy, neutral baryon which can only decay partially (to the ground state proton), but cannot vanish completely, as its color charge can neither be neutralized by, nor transferred to, any alternative charge carrier (no leptons carry color charge, and mesons carry only complementary color-anticolor charges). To become a baryon, the leptoquark must only resist decay long enough that the ambient compressive forces of the Big Bang become insufficient to prevent the expansion of its quarks, a very short time indeed in the rapidly expanding and cooling early Universe. For a short time during the early Universe, the X IVB will be indistinguishable from the very dense primordial metric. After the Universe expands and cools, however, the energy density of the X will be greater than that of the ambient metric, and energy to produce it will have to be borrowed (in accordance with the usual quantum mechanical rules governing the lifetime of Heisenberg virtual particles).
The asymmetry in the weak force reaction creating matter is very small (on the order of one part per billion). In most reactions, the leptoquarks will be electrically charged and simply annihilate each other; of those in which the leptoquark partners are neutral, most will annihilate each other anyway, or decay simultaneously despite their electrical neutrality. A few neutral leptoquarks will decay asymmetrically (without their partners also decaying) via the X and leptoquark neutrino, but a few more antileptoquarks will decay asymmetrically by an analogous antimatter route. It is this slight imbalance (for which there is no explanation) that produces all the matter of the present Universe. Matter and antimatter are evidently not perfectly symmetrical opposites, at least not in their interactions with the weak force IVBs. Even though matter and antimatter are produced in symmetric pairs, they do not decay symmetrically: there is some unknown, subtle difference between them which affects their rate of weak force decay and creates the material Cosmos (Cronin 1981).
The hypothetical "Higgs" scalar boson is presumed to endow the IVBs with mass, and through them, the elementary particles also. The actual conversion of free energy to quantized mass forms such as the IVBs, quarks, and leptons is thought to be "scaled" or "gauged" by the "Higgs". This particle is actively being sought at the largest accelerators; its mass is thought to lie between 100 and 1000 proton masses. (See: Science vol. 315, 23 March, 2007 page 1657.) As mentioned above, the quantized Higgs boson is necessary to scale or "gauge" the interaction in a repeatable and invariant fashion to the appropriate force unification symmetric energy level (the GUT or the electroweak), in which the separate identities of the quarks and/or leptons are merged and hence can be transformed, swapped, or exchanged without difficulty by the resident IVBs. (See: "The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs".)
Neutrinos
The crucial role of the neutrino in the creation of particles must also be emphasized. The neutrino is the alternative charge carrier for the "identity" charge, a symmetry debt of light which accrues from the "anonymity" of light. All photons (quanta of light) are alike - they have no individual identity, one cannot be distinguished from another - hence their "symmetry of anonymity". The elementary particle spectrum, however - the leptonic series of electron, muon, tau, and (perhaps) leptoquark - are distinguishable one from another: they are not alike, they occupy different "rungs" on the quantum "ladder" or "spectrum" of massive leptonic elementary particles, and their antiparticles are also distinguishable by their opposite spin. Hence the symmetry/information debt of "identity" is in contrast to the photon "sea" of anonymity and is carried by elementary particles as a charge, where it is usually referred to as the conserved "number" charge of the leptons and baryons (all baryons carry one and the same number or identity charge, that of their leptonic ancestor, the leptoquark (vlq) - this neutrino has never been observed because proton decay has never been observed). The leptoquark (or baryon) antineutrino is an excellent candidate for the "dark matter" of the universe.
The conservation of light's various symmetries is required by Noether's Theorem. The charges of matter are the symmetry debts of light. "Identity" or "number" charge is the symmetry debt of the weak force, recording and conserving the broken symmetry of light's anonymity. (See: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory".)
In the massive leptons, including the leptoquark, this identity charge is said to be "hidden", or in its "implicit" form. The neutrino is the "explicit" or "bare" form of identity charge. As such, the neutrino functions as an alternative carrier of identity charge, which otherwise could only be carried by the particle itself, or neutralized by its antiparticle. It is because this charge is specifically "identity" that it alone, among all other charges, must have its own unique carrier. In contrast, the universal electric charge can be carried by, or transferred to, any other lepton, baryon, or meson, and color charge can be carried by any quark. But identity, being specific to each "rung" of the elementary particle quantum "ladder" (spectrum), requires a carrier specific to that rung, either the particle itself or its specific neutrino. (Note that the identity charge carried by the electron, muon, tau, and baryon, while different from each other, are exactly the same within each particle type; hence it is quite possible for one electron to swap identities with another electron, as in reactions mediated by the "Z" IVB, but identities cannot be exchanged between different types of elementary particles - an electron cannot swap identities with a muon, for example. When a muon decays to an electron, the identities of both particles are conserved or neutralized by their separate neutrinos, a reaction requiring the mediation of the "W" IVB).
Without the neutrino, there would be no material Universe, as there would be no alternative carrier for identity charge - only particles and antiparticles could carry this charge and the system would be "stuck" with particle-antiparticle pairs which could only annihilate each other. Manifestation requires "information" which is in its essential character asymmetric - otherwise it is not "information". In the particle realm, the fundamental bit of information is "identity". Particles can manifest only because their identity can also be carried by neutrinos, which provide a conserved alternative to the usual antiparticle carriers. These alternative carriers maintain the essential features of the original symmetry by balancing or neutralizing the identity charge of the manifest particle such that overall identity still sums to zero, as it did in the particle-antiparticle pair: identity is simply carried in two different forms, one "hidden" or implicit in the particle, one "bare" or explicit in the neutrino. (Whether or not neutrinos have mass makes no difference to their role as the alternative, "bare", or explicit carrier of identity charge; most charges are in fact carried by massive particles. If the leptoquark neutrino is massive, it may account for the "missing mass" or "dark matter" of the Cosmos.)
Recent observations suggest that neutrinos "oscillate" among their several identities; in this they are somewhat similar to their massive leptonic counterparts which exchange identities among themselves (and with particle-antiparticle pairs in the virtual particle "sea"), but which require the mediation of the "W" IVB and their specific neutrinos to do so. Despite these "oscillations" or excursions into "identity" space, only an electron neutrino can cancel or neutralize an electron's hidden identity charge; hence neutrinos must revert to type in any interaction with a specific lepton - perhaps another example of a quantum mechanical "collapsing wave function". (See: Science Vol. 313, 21 July, 2006 page 291.)
The IVBs
Because all particles are derived from the interaction of light with the structural metric of spacetime, the virtual particle "sea" will contain any asymmetry embedded in light, spacetime, or their interaction. The only asymmetry we know of in either light or spacetime is the potential time asymmetry; in light the component of time is implicitly expressed as "frequency". In virtual particle pairs the potential for asymmetry is expressed as "information" in the form of various charges, which in unpaired "real" particles we characterize as the conserved symmetry debts of light. It is likely that the IVB particles are "metric" in origin, "string-like" particles (as in the particles of "string theory"), which are composed of a compressed dimensional matrix requiring a huge binding energy to maintain - the source of the IVB's enormous mass-energy (the W is about 80 times more massive than the proton). This compressed metric, derived from the dense metric of the early Universe, is the mechanism which enables the IVBs to bring particles into such close spatial proximity that they can exchange charges, swap identities, or create new ones without violating the applicable conservation laws. Being derived from the metric, the asymmetric principle (if any) embedded in the IVBs must apparently be time. The time asymmetry is reflected in the differential rate of decay of leptoquarks vs antileptoquarks.
The view we adopt here is that the mass of the "W" recreates the dense metric of the electroweak force unification era, when all leptons shared a single "flavor" or identity, and similarly, all quarks shared a single flavor. The "X" IVB recreates the higher level, more energetic GUT force unification era, when all leptons and quarks merged their identities (the earlier "leptoquark era" during which the strong and electroweak forces were joined). The Higgs boson is the quantized particle which selects between these eras or force unification symmetric energy states, "gauging" or "scaling" the appropriate energy level or symmetry domain, while the IVBs do the transformation work (there is a distinct Higgs for each era). This complex weak force particle creation and transformation mechanism is necessary to ensure that the elementary particles created today are the same in all respects as those created eons ago during the "Big Bang" - charge invariance and symmetry conservation require no less. (See: "The Higgs Boson and the Weak Force IVBs".)
Like the "X", the "W" is a heavy "metric" particle, but much less massive (see: "The Particle Table"). Both X and W have the similar role of bringing ordinary particles very close together within their spatially compressed metrics. The very massive X compresses quark triplets, the less massive W incorporates baryons, mesons, or leptons requiring alternative charge carriers into complexes with leptonic virtual particle-antiparticle pairs that can provide carrier leptons (or with mesons which can supply quark colors and "flavors"). Similarly, the Z brings particles so close together that (if they are compatible), they can swap identities (or simply scatter or bounce off each other). The IVBs essentially provide a bridge between the virtual particle "sea" of the vacuum and real particles, such that real particles can exchange charges and energies with the unlimited information resources of the "sea", and thus effect their "real world" decays and transformations. (See: The Weak Force "W" Particle as the Bridge Between Symmetric (2-D) and Asymmetric (4-D) Reality
General Principles
The general principle at work in this reaction, which is significant for the origin of matter, information, and the systems they produce, is the interaction of two fields, one symmetric (the color charge of the strong force and quarks - the mass-energy carriers) and one asymmetric (the weak force IVBs and the leptonic field of alternative charge carriers - the information carriers). The action of the asymmetric field is necessary to reveal the information content embedded in both fields. We see the same principle at work in the dimensional conservation domains of light and matter, the intersection of symmetric space with asymmetric time, an intersection which produces gravitation, revealing a specific "location" in the symmetric field of space. "Location" is the fundamental information "bit" in the dimensional realm (as indicated by the character of gravity), just as "identity" is the fundamental information bit in the particle realm (as indicated by the character of the weak force). The information bit "location" (requiring time) is the anchor point of Einstein's "Interval". The asymmetric potential is embedded in the symmetric field from the beginning, as is time in spacetime, "frequency" (time) in light, the information content of the virtual particle "sea" in the vacuum, and the hidden or implicit "identity" charge in particles (which become explicit as neutrinos). Thus the manifest world is a revelation of the information potential and content of the symmetric unmanifest world, as exposed by the action of its own embedded asymmetric energy component or field. By such means is pure energy converted into information.
It is of interest to note that between the metric warpage of gravity and the "bare" or explicit identity charges of the neutrinos, spacetime contains a complete record of the location, mass, and identity of every elementary particle within its conservation domain - and within historic spacetime resides a causal memory of every event. This is the "Akashic Record" of occult tradition, and the basis for the notion of universal "karma".
Alternative Charge Carriers and Forces
The role of alternative forces and charge carriers is thoroughgoing and absolutely essential to breaking the initial symmetric energy state of the universe, which begins with light, the spacetime metric, and elementary particle-antiparticle pairs. Alternative forces and charges are usually local transformations of global parameters. The crucial role of embedded alternative forces has long been recognized in philosophical systems of thought. In religious terms and symbolism, the "devil" is necessary so that God may manifest; the role of "evil" in the world is to energize the good. The "soul" is an alternative form of personal identity, the physical realm is an alternative form of the spiritual realm, etc. Holographic models of reality are modern extensions of these ideas.
1) Mass is an alternative (local) form of electromagnetic energy which allows the conservation of energy in the time dimension and the transformation of light to particles.2) Charge is an alternative (local) form of symmetry which allows the conservation of symmetry in the time dimension and the transformation of light to "information".3) Entropy is an alternative (local) form of energy which allows the transformation of light to space and to "work".4) Time is an alternative (local) form of space and entropy which allows the transformation of the absolute motion of massless light to the relative motion of massless particles, and the transformation of acausal space to causal history (historic spacetime). The causal integrity of history is an alternative form of the energetic unity of space.5) Gravity is an alternative (local) form of the spacetime metric which allows the transformation of space and the spatial entropy drive of free energy (the intrinsic motion of light), to history and the historical entropy drive of bound energy (the intrinsic motion of time), and vice versa. Gravity converts a global, spatial metric to a local, historical metric, so that (by means of the time dimension so created) energy may be conserved in the relative realm of matter no less than in the absolute realm of light. Gravity creates time by the annihilation of space and the extraction of a metrically equivalent temporal residue. Gravity ultimately restores metric symmetry via the conversion of mass to light - as in the stars and Hawking's "quantum radiance" of black holes. 6) Magnetism is an alternative form of electricity conserving the invariance of electric charge and allowing its relative motion.7) Leptoquarks are an alternative form of leptons which allow the transformation of elementary leptonic particles into sub-elementary quarks.8) Gluons are an alternative form of light which allow the transformation of whole leptonic quantum charge units into fractional quark charge units.9) IVBs are alternative forms of force unity symmetry states which allow the transformation of virtual particles into real particles (and vice versa) and the creation and destruction of elementary particles.10) Leptons, neutrinos, and mesons are alternative charge carriers (for electric charge, identity charge, and quark partial charges) which allow the transformation of virtual baryons, quarks, and leptons into "real" (temporal) atomic matter.
Links:
Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 1Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory: Part 2Identity Charge and the Weak ForceThe System of MatterThe Weak Force "W" Particle as the Bridge Between Symmetric (2-D) and Asymmetric (4-D) RealityIntroduction to the Weak Force: Section IVThe Particle TableThe Hourglass DiagramsThe Leptoquark DiagramThe "W" Particle and the Weak Force Mechanism (pdf format)The "W" Particle and the Weak Force Mechanism (html format)The Information Ladder (Table)The Information Pathway (Text)Chardin: Prophet of the Information AgeHierarchy of Natural Organization (Table)"Hourglass" DiagramsEntropy, Gravitation, and Thermodynamics (text)The Creation of Time from SpaceGeneral Systems and the Unified Field Theory: part 1 General Systems and the Unified Field Theory: part 2The "Tetrahedron Model" vs the "Standard Model" of Physics: A Comparison
The "Tetrahedron Model" in the Context of "Global and Local Gauge Symmetries":
Global-Local Gauge Symmetries and the "Tetrahedron Model"Global-Local Gauge Symmetries in GravitationGlobal-Local Gauge Symmetries of the Weak ForceGlobal-Local Gauge Symmetries: Material Effects of Local Gauge Symmetries
The Higgs Boson Papers:
Introduction to the Higgs Boson PapersThe "Higgs" Boson vs the Weak Force IVBs: Part IThe "Higgs" Boson vs the Weak Force IVBs: Part II and IIIThe Higgs Boson and the Evolutionary Eras of the CosmosThe Higgs Boson and the Spacetime Metric
home page
Literature cited:
H. D. Politzer. 1973. Phys. Rev. Lett. 30: 1346.D. J. Gross and F. Wilczek. 1973. Ultraviolet Behavior of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories. Phys. Rev. Lett. 30: 1343.Cronin, J. W. 1981. CP Symmetry Violation - the Search for its Origin. Science 212: 1221.Gross, Politzer, Wilczek: Science: 15 October 2004 vol. 306 page 400: "Laurels to Three Who Tamed Equations of Quark Theory."
Suggested Additional Reading:
"The Origin of Matter". James M. Cline, American Scientist, March-April 2004, Vol. 92, No. 2, Pages 148 - 157.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Life After Death
Is There Life After Death? (revised June, 2008)John A. Gowan
Intuitive Section
Is there life after death? Do we have an immortal soul? Ever since childhood I have pondered these questions. My intuitive response has not changed in over sixty years - yes, to both questions.
Even as a child, my reaction to the question of "life after death" was to ask if there was life before birth - the symmetry of the notion still appeals to me. If one, why not the other? I still feel that it makes as much sense to worry about the one case as the other. In any event, it is life we need to concern ourselves with, not death; we have some control over life, but none at all over death.
This past July (2007) I turned 70, so the question nags at me more urgently than in my youth, and I have occasionally looked around for reassurance or rational proof of "life everlasting" in one form or another (I have no orthodox religious belief, although I obviously feel a strong spiritual connection with the universe). My work in physics and General Systems has turned up some interesting affirmative suggestions and hints, although I can't say they rise to the level of proof. I will discuss these below in the "rational section". Here I only consider my intuitive musings.
Instinctively, my basic reaction is - why worry? What will happen will happen and I can do nothing about it. The Universe will do with me what it will. But since the Universe has already shown its tendency in this regard, in that it has, without my asking, without my worry, without my foreknowledge or consent, given me this present life and experience, the odds are, it seems to me, overwhelmingly favorable that the Universe will do again that which it has done before. That this life should be a single experience seems to me about as likely as the chance that we are the only life form in the Cosmos. It has become apparent that life is something that the Universe itself brings forth as an emergent property of the information content of its atomic, dimensional, and energetic structure, and the more we learn about the Universe, the more it seems certain that it brings forth life abundantly.
In other words, the outrageously improbable existence of this present life is the best evidence we have for the next and/or previous life, which by the same argument was and will be not greatly different from this one - although the factor of personal, as well as biological, social, and cosmic evolution must be taken into account. My sense of the situation is this: there is a partially-conserved "I" that is unique to this life experience, and will not be repeated (nevertheless, it will be conserved in historic spacetime, or "karmic" history). But there is another, wholly conserved "I" that is not unique to this life experience, that will have many, perhaps infinitely many, more life experiences. This eternal or conserved "I" does not remember (in human intellectual terms) its individual manifestations; but it is this eternal "I" that grows with each life experience and evolves with the Universe - its "memory" is in evolutionary terms.
The partial "I" is unique to this body, and passes into history (historic conservation) when the body dies. The source of this partial "I", however, is the eternal "I", which is the life spirit of the universe itself, forever seeking to know itself through a suitable physical instrument and organized locus of information. The eternal "I" is the universe. "I" and the universe are one. We share this eternal "I" with all life forms, everywhere in the Cosmos, but the particular physical body in which it manifests imposes a unique experience upon each seemingly separate life experience. Human life is special in that it is the most highly evolved life form (on Earth), and because of our intellectual capacities we are able to participate in and actualize a human version of the creative dynamic of the universe, thus becoming a co-creator or fractal resonance of the creative, living force of the Universe. In this sense of fractal co-creator, humanity is indeed the "image and likeness of God", and we are the life form (on Earth) which is best able to understand the universe (as through philosophy), advance its self-knowledge (as through science), and appreciate its beauty (as through art). But all life forms advance the self-experience of the universe (the most intimate form of self-knowledge), and all are sacred in this respect.
Humanity is unique, however, in its creative capacity; humankind is the fractal iteration of the universal life force, a resonant form that completes the evolutionary purpose and cycle of the biological information realm. From now on, humanity will be in the divine role of controlling evolution and its own cosmic destiny. Humanity is a mirror, created by the universe, so that it may see itself.
We are the Universe learning about itself through the life experience, and evolving as it does so; this self-exploration will never cease, because the Cosmos' potential for growth, evolution, and self-experience will never be exhausted.
And where and when does this next life occur? We can't know and it doesn't matter. Where and when did our previous life occur? We can't know and it doesn't matter. It my be elsewhere (and elsewhen) in this Universe, it may be elsewhere (and elsewhen) in the Multiverse. It simply happens, just as this life simply happened, because self-knowledge through life is an evolutionary purpose of the Universe/Multiverse.
We are the eyes and ears, the emotions and intelligence of the Cosmos, the only way it has of experiencing itself, of knowing itself, of enjoying and appreciating itself. Through us the Universe experiences love and beauty and new forms of creativity - through us the Universe writes symphonies, enjoys sunsets, builds rocket ships, experiences love, and creates more life. Humans are fractal iterations of the Cosmos' living, creative power. The Universe explores its creative potential through life and through us, and this is why it continues to bring forth life with ever greater powers of intelligence, creative capacity, perceptual acuity, and aesthetic refinement - the better to know itself. "Universe know thyself!" In this sense the Universe is a narcissist. This is the real source of the notion that "God is Love": the Universe loves itself. And this suggests to me that whatever part of us may survive from one life experience to the next, the part that the Universe may wish to salvage for its evolutionary journey of self-knowledge and discovery, is the part of us that loves and celebrates life and the Cosmos in some form - whether as an artist, scientist, philosopher, athlete, or lover. It is simply inconceivable that my life experience should be wasted on me alone - completely obliterated and rendered meaningless by death - without somehow serving the larger evolutionary purpose of the Cosmos. And the best way to do this is by this life experience informing my (or the) next life experience - if only by enriching the self-knowledge of the universe.
Rational Section
The "Afterlife Tetrahedron" is the perhaps the best "rational" model bearing on this issue that our General Systems work has produced. In the model, we see that the "Biophysical face", which corresponds to the biological realm of the "Fractal Hierarchy" or "Information Ladder", does not explicitly contain the Conservation pole of the model, and indeed is the only face which does not. (See the "Tetrahedron Faces" model here.) It is just this lack which identifies this face as the biological face, as we associate this lacunae with death, a phenomenon peculiar to the biological realm. We note, however, that the Conservation pole of the model is explicitly connected to all three poles of the biological face. The Biological Realm is therefore completely embedded in the conservation matrix of the larger structure, but these connections are implicit rather than explicit. The model shows three conservation connections; I will examine each in turn below. (Readers should print out and refer to the "Afterlife Tetrahedron" diagram in what follows.)
1) The Conservation connection to the Entropy pole: this connection is through space and time, especially the gravitational conversion of space to time. The dimensions of spacetime are conservation domains created by the entropy drives of free and bound energy - the intrinsic motions of light and time. Time's intrinsic motion creates history and historic spacetime, the conservation domain of Information and matter's "causal matrix" ("Karma"). (See: "Spatial vs Temporal Entropy".) All actions and events are permanently recorded in historic spacetime. Historic spacetime is what we see when we look out in space to the distant galaxies. We actually can see only a tiny fraction of historic spacetime; most of it, including all of our own history, is hidden from our view. It is nevertheless perfectly real and the continued reality of yesterday is absolutely necessary to sustain the reality of today. All earlier cultures have understood this, as is especially evident in the practice of "ancestor worship". We are all immortal in History. Memory is one way in which we experience the reality of this temporal connection; another is the celebrated notion of "Karma". Light is connected by space; matter is connected by time; all are connected by gravity. Light is non-local, atemporal, and acausal; matter is local, temporal, and causal.
Matter is only tangentially linked to historic spacetime, the conservation domain of Information, "Karma", and matter's "Causal Matrix". We live only in the ever-moving present, not in the historic past, which continually expands "behind" us. By contrast, light fully occupies its conservation domain (space), and expands and cools as space expands and cools - light is inseparable from its entropy drive (intrinsic motion c) and its dimensional conservation domain (space) which that entropy drive creates. Conversely, it is matter's time dimension which moves and not matter itself. Matter is separate from its historic conservation domain, and does not expand or age with the expansion and aging of historic spacetime. "Diamonds are forever" - atoms simply do not grow old. (Biological aging and decay is a "systems effect" necessitated by evolution, genetically controlled.) (See: "The Time Train".)
The separation of matter from its entropy drive (the intrinsic motion of time), and the conservation domain created by that drive (history), is necessary for several good reasons, among them: 1) the equilibration of the entropy drive of bound energy with the entropy drive of free energy ("velocities" c and T) - the intrinsic motion of time is the metric equivalent of the intrinsic motion of light; 2) the isolation of matter's quantum unit symmetry debts (charges) from the attenuating effects of entropy (note in this regard that light itself bears no charges of any kind). The metric relation between light, space, and time is gauged by c (the electromagnetic constant); the energetic relation between the spatial and temporal entropy drives (velocity c vs velocity T) is gauged by G (the gravitational constant). (See: "Entropy, Gravity, and Thermodynamics".)
The separation of matter from its historic conservation domain is the chief source of humanity's "angst" regarding our conserved status in the Cosmos. This separation, however, is actually illusory. We are very much a part of historic spacetime, but we are situated on the leading edge of its expanding domain, tangentially connected to the remainder of history by the single point contact of the "present moment". (See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".) The tangential "point" connection between matter and historic spacetime is why gravity is so weak. Gravity creates matter's time dimension (by the annihilation of space), but it only creates enough time to provide an entropy drive for the "point" connection to history of matter's "present moment". (See: "The Half-Life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the Cosmos".)
2) The Conservation connection to the Symmetry pole. This is the source of information in its most basic form as the charges of the fermions, the quarks and leptons which comprise matter. (See: "The Particle Table".) Charge conservation is information's most fundamental conservation mode. Charge conservation is a temporal form of symmetry conservation, somewhat as history is a temporal form of information conservation. However, the expansion of history dilutes the causal connections of its information content via ever-branching causal networks, but quantized charges, which exist only in the present moment, are not subject to historical forces of entropic enervation, as noted above.
The charge of most interest for present purposes is the "identity" charge of the weak force, carried in explicit form by the neutrino, and in implicit form by the massive leptons (and perhaps the baryons). Identity charge is related to the elementary particles in exactly the same way as our common notion of the relationship of the soul to the body. No elementary particle (lepton) can enter or leave the manifest Universe without its accompanying neutrino or identity charge, in very much the same way as we think of the soul entering the body at birth and leaving it at death. The identity charge is the basic information bit that makes possible the birth of matter into the Universe. The "Big Bang" is essentially an explosion of energy and Identity, creating the manifest Universe. Our notion of the human soul is therefore one way in which we apprehend this fundamental physical conservation connection, but another is our experience of "beauty" - which is the Symmetry conservation principle emergently expressed in biology and the Information realm. See: "Identity Charge and the Weak Force" and "The Weak Force as a Bridge Between 2-D and 4-D Reality".
3) The conservation connection to the Causality pole: this is the raw energy connection between light and matter, in which the free energy of light is transformed to the bound energy of matter in quantitative accordance with Einstein's famous equation E = mcc. Matter is essentially an asymmetric form of light, one-half of light's particle-antiparticle form. We can think of matter as an asymmetric form of light's energy transformed to rest. The charges of matter are the symmetry debts of light. See: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory".
Gravity, time, and matter constitute our most direct experience of the raw energy conservation connection. Gravitation directly connects us to the rest of the Cosmos in proportion to our mass or raw energy content. Gravity, like Identity charge, is also a "hidden" connection in that its force is so weak we are only aware of it in the vicinity of very large objects - such as the Earth. But gravity is nevertheless a powerful conservation force, not only creating matter's time dimension via the annihilation of space, but also returning bound energy to its original symmetric form of light - as in the activity of our Sun. The gravitational conversion of matter to light goes to completion in Hawking's "Quantum Radiance" of black holes. See: "Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics".
A conservation "subroutine" which is peculiar to biology is genetic reproduction and the conservation of genes (genetic information) through successive generations. Other conservation modes in the human sector of the biological realm and Information Pathway include memory, language, writing, and various technical and social mechanisms which specifically address the conservation of information though our generations: schools, books, libraries, etc. Besides gravity, our spiritual awareness (socially expressed as religion) is the "still small voice" which tells us of our conserved cosmic connection. "Spiritual awareness" also resides in our natural experience of the overwhelming beauty, majesty, immensity, mystery, and power of the Universe. It is also likely that the conservation of light's connectivity and unity are corollaries of the larger conservation principle of Symmetry (as formalized in "Noether's Theorem").
Hence the evidence for conservation is there if we choose to look for it. We see it in memory, historic spacetime, and "Karma"; in charge conservation, the phenomenon of beauty, and the notion of personal identity and the soul; and in gravitation and our spiritual awareness of personal connection with the Universe. Finally, we see it in the continuity of our genetic heritage through the eons of time, and in the evolutionary progress of the Universe toward self-knowledge, discovery, and the exploration of its creative potential, even as it returns inexorably to the original perfection of light from which it was born.
Our Universe of light, spacetime, and matter is the conservation domain of electromagnetic energy. We are part of the Universe, part of its evolutionary adventure of self-discovery. We can not escape the universal principle of Conservation, even if we wanted to. Is there life after death? We should ask instead: is there a Universe after our death? Of course there is. And we will continue to be part of it, just as we have always been part of it. (See: "A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory".)
For a scholarly and thorough treatment of the entire metaphysical realm, including issues discussed above, see my late father's book "Trance, Art, Creativity" on his memorial website.
LinksSpacetime Map DiagramSpacetime Map TextA General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory: Part 1A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory: Part 2"The Information Pathway" (text)"The Information Ladder" (table)Chardin: Prophet of the Information AgeThe Half-Life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the CosmosIntroduction to General SystemsSpatial vs Temporal EntropyThe Time TrainThe Particle TableThe "Identity" Charge of the Weak ForceThe Weak Force IVBs as a Bridge Between 2-D Virtual Reality and 4-D Temporal RealityGravity, Entropy, and ThermodynamicsThe Gravitational Conversion of Space to Time
Papers on The Fractal Organization of Nature
The Microphysical RealmThe Biophysical RealmThe Astrophysical RealmThe Metaphysical Realm - Intuitive SectionThe Metaphysical Realm - Rational SectionThe Fractal Organization of Nature - SynopsisNature's Fractal PathwayThe Human ConnectionTable of Natural OrganizationHuman Life Stages 4x4 TableThe "Afterlife" TetrahedronThe Faces of the Tetrahedron Model: An Analysis (diagram)
Intuitive Section
Is there life after death? Do we have an immortal soul? Ever since childhood I have pondered these questions. My intuitive response has not changed in over sixty years - yes, to both questions.
Even as a child, my reaction to the question of "life after death" was to ask if there was life before birth - the symmetry of the notion still appeals to me. If one, why not the other? I still feel that it makes as much sense to worry about the one case as the other. In any event, it is life we need to concern ourselves with, not death; we have some control over life, but none at all over death.
This past July (2007) I turned 70, so the question nags at me more urgently than in my youth, and I have occasionally looked around for reassurance or rational proof of "life everlasting" in one form or another (I have no orthodox religious belief, although I obviously feel a strong spiritual connection with the universe). My work in physics and General Systems has turned up some interesting affirmative suggestions and hints, although I can't say they rise to the level of proof. I will discuss these below in the "rational section". Here I only consider my intuitive musings.
Instinctively, my basic reaction is - why worry? What will happen will happen and I can do nothing about it. The Universe will do with me what it will. But since the Universe has already shown its tendency in this regard, in that it has, without my asking, without my worry, without my foreknowledge or consent, given me this present life and experience, the odds are, it seems to me, overwhelmingly favorable that the Universe will do again that which it has done before. That this life should be a single experience seems to me about as likely as the chance that we are the only life form in the Cosmos. It has become apparent that life is something that the Universe itself brings forth as an emergent property of the information content of its atomic, dimensional, and energetic structure, and the more we learn about the Universe, the more it seems certain that it brings forth life abundantly.
In other words, the outrageously improbable existence of this present life is the best evidence we have for the next and/or previous life, which by the same argument was and will be not greatly different from this one - although the factor of personal, as well as biological, social, and cosmic evolution must be taken into account. My sense of the situation is this: there is a partially-conserved "I" that is unique to this life experience, and will not be repeated (nevertheless, it will be conserved in historic spacetime, or "karmic" history). But there is another, wholly conserved "I" that is not unique to this life experience, that will have many, perhaps infinitely many, more life experiences. This eternal or conserved "I" does not remember (in human intellectual terms) its individual manifestations; but it is this eternal "I" that grows with each life experience and evolves with the Universe - its "memory" is in evolutionary terms.
The partial "I" is unique to this body, and passes into history (historic conservation) when the body dies. The source of this partial "I", however, is the eternal "I", which is the life spirit of the universe itself, forever seeking to know itself through a suitable physical instrument and organized locus of information. The eternal "I" is the universe. "I" and the universe are one. We share this eternal "I" with all life forms, everywhere in the Cosmos, but the particular physical body in which it manifests imposes a unique experience upon each seemingly separate life experience. Human life is special in that it is the most highly evolved life form (on Earth), and because of our intellectual capacities we are able to participate in and actualize a human version of the creative dynamic of the universe, thus becoming a co-creator or fractal resonance of the creative, living force of the Universe. In this sense of fractal co-creator, humanity is indeed the "image and likeness of God", and we are the life form (on Earth) which is best able to understand the universe (as through philosophy), advance its self-knowledge (as through science), and appreciate its beauty (as through art). But all life forms advance the self-experience of the universe (the most intimate form of self-knowledge), and all are sacred in this respect.
Humanity is unique, however, in its creative capacity; humankind is the fractal iteration of the universal life force, a resonant form that completes the evolutionary purpose and cycle of the biological information realm. From now on, humanity will be in the divine role of controlling evolution and its own cosmic destiny. Humanity is a mirror, created by the universe, so that it may see itself.
We are the Universe learning about itself through the life experience, and evolving as it does so; this self-exploration will never cease, because the Cosmos' potential for growth, evolution, and self-experience will never be exhausted.
And where and when does this next life occur? We can't know and it doesn't matter. Where and when did our previous life occur? We can't know and it doesn't matter. It my be elsewhere (and elsewhen) in this Universe, it may be elsewhere (and elsewhen) in the Multiverse. It simply happens, just as this life simply happened, because self-knowledge through life is an evolutionary purpose of the Universe/Multiverse.
We are the eyes and ears, the emotions and intelligence of the Cosmos, the only way it has of experiencing itself, of knowing itself, of enjoying and appreciating itself. Through us the Universe experiences love and beauty and new forms of creativity - through us the Universe writes symphonies, enjoys sunsets, builds rocket ships, experiences love, and creates more life. Humans are fractal iterations of the Cosmos' living, creative power. The Universe explores its creative potential through life and through us, and this is why it continues to bring forth life with ever greater powers of intelligence, creative capacity, perceptual acuity, and aesthetic refinement - the better to know itself. "Universe know thyself!" In this sense the Universe is a narcissist. This is the real source of the notion that "God is Love": the Universe loves itself. And this suggests to me that whatever part of us may survive from one life experience to the next, the part that the Universe may wish to salvage for its evolutionary journey of self-knowledge and discovery, is the part of us that loves and celebrates life and the Cosmos in some form - whether as an artist, scientist, philosopher, athlete, or lover. It is simply inconceivable that my life experience should be wasted on me alone - completely obliterated and rendered meaningless by death - without somehow serving the larger evolutionary purpose of the Cosmos. And the best way to do this is by this life experience informing my (or the) next life experience - if only by enriching the self-knowledge of the universe.
Rational Section
The "Afterlife Tetrahedron" is the perhaps the best "rational" model bearing on this issue that our General Systems work has produced. In the model, we see that the "Biophysical face", which corresponds to the biological realm of the "Fractal Hierarchy" or "Information Ladder", does not explicitly contain the Conservation pole of the model, and indeed is the only face which does not. (See the "Tetrahedron Faces" model here.) It is just this lack which identifies this face as the biological face, as we associate this lacunae with death, a phenomenon peculiar to the biological realm. We note, however, that the Conservation pole of the model is explicitly connected to all three poles of the biological face. The Biological Realm is therefore completely embedded in the conservation matrix of the larger structure, but these connections are implicit rather than explicit. The model shows three conservation connections; I will examine each in turn below. (Readers should print out and refer to the "Afterlife Tetrahedron" diagram in what follows.)
1) The Conservation connection to the Entropy pole: this connection is through space and time, especially the gravitational conversion of space to time. The dimensions of spacetime are conservation domains created by the entropy drives of free and bound energy - the intrinsic motions of light and time. Time's intrinsic motion creates history and historic spacetime, the conservation domain of Information and matter's "causal matrix" ("Karma"). (See: "Spatial vs Temporal Entropy".) All actions and events are permanently recorded in historic spacetime. Historic spacetime is what we see when we look out in space to the distant galaxies. We actually can see only a tiny fraction of historic spacetime; most of it, including all of our own history, is hidden from our view. It is nevertheless perfectly real and the continued reality of yesterday is absolutely necessary to sustain the reality of today. All earlier cultures have understood this, as is especially evident in the practice of "ancestor worship". We are all immortal in History. Memory is one way in which we experience the reality of this temporal connection; another is the celebrated notion of "Karma". Light is connected by space; matter is connected by time; all are connected by gravity. Light is non-local, atemporal, and acausal; matter is local, temporal, and causal.
Matter is only tangentially linked to historic spacetime, the conservation domain of Information, "Karma", and matter's "Causal Matrix". We live only in the ever-moving present, not in the historic past, which continually expands "behind" us. By contrast, light fully occupies its conservation domain (space), and expands and cools as space expands and cools - light is inseparable from its entropy drive (intrinsic motion c) and its dimensional conservation domain (space) which that entropy drive creates. Conversely, it is matter's time dimension which moves and not matter itself. Matter is separate from its historic conservation domain, and does not expand or age with the expansion and aging of historic spacetime. "Diamonds are forever" - atoms simply do not grow old. (Biological aging and decay is a "systems effect" necessitated by evolution, genetically controlled.) (See: "The Time Train".)
The separation of matter from its entropy drive (the intrinsic motion of time), and the conservation domain created by that drive (history), is necessary for several good reasons, among them: 1) the equilibration of the entropy drive of bound energy with the entropy drive of free energy ("velocities" c and T) - the intrinsic motion of time is the metric equivalent of the intrinsic motion of light; 2) the isolation of matter's quantum unit symmetry debts (charges) from the attenuating effects of entropy (note in this regard that light itself bears no charges of any kind). The metric relation between light, space, and time is gauged by c (the electromagnetic constant); the energetic relation between the spatial and temporal entropy drives (velocity c vs velocity T) is gauged by G (the gravitational constant). (See: "Entropy, Gravity, and Thermodynamics".)
The separation of matter from its historic conservation domain is the chief source of humanity's "angst" regarding our conserved status in the Cosmos. This separation, however, is actually illusory. We are very much a part of historic spacetime, but we are situated on the leading edge of its expanding domain, tangentially connected to the remainder of history by the single point contact of the "present moment". (See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".) The tangential "point" connection between matter and historic spacetime is why gravity is so weak. Gravity creates matter's time dimension (by the annihilation of space), but it only creates enough time to provide an entropy drive for the "point" connection to history of matter's "present moment". (See: "The Half-Life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the Cosmos".)
2) The Conservation connection to the Symmetry pole. This is the source of information in its most basic form as the charges of the fermions, the quarks and leptons which comprise matter. (See: "The Particle Table".) Charge conservation is information's most fundamental conservation mode. Charge conservation is a temporal form of symmetry conservation, somewhat as history is a temporal form of information conservation. However, the expansion of history dilutes the causal connections of its information content via ever-branching causal networks, but quantized charges, which exist only in the present moment, are not subject to historical forces of entropic enervation, as noted above.
The charge of most interest for present purposes is the "identity" charge of the weak force, carried in explicit form by the neutrino, and in implicit form by the massive leptons (and perhaps the baryons). Identity charge is related to the elementary particles in exactly the same way as our common notion of the relationship of the soul to the body. No elementary particle (lepton) can enter or leave the manifest Universe without its accompanying neutrino or identity charge, in very much the same way as we think of the soul entering the body at birth and leaving it at death. The identity charge is the basic information bit that makes possible the birth of matter into the Universe. The "Big Bang" is essentially an explosion of energy and Identity, creating the manifest Universe. Our notion of the human soul is therefore one way in which we apprehend this fundamental physical conservation connection, but another is our experience of "beauty" - which is the Symmetry conservation principle emergently expressed in biology and the Information realm. See: "Identity Charge and the Weak Force" and "The Weak Force as a Bridge Between 2-D and 4-D Reality".
3) The conservation connection to the Causality pole: this is the raw energy connection between light and matter, in which the free energy of light is transformed to the bound energy of matter in quantitative accordance with Einstein's famous equation E = mcc. Matter is essentially an asymmetric form of light, one-half of light's particle-antiparticle form. We can think of matter as an asymmetric form of light's energy transformed to rest. The charges of matter are the symmetry debts of light. See: "Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory".
Gravity, time, and matter constitute our most direct experience of the raw energy conservation connection. Gravitation directly connects us to the rest of the Cosmos in proportion to our mass or raw energy content. Gravity, like Identity charge, is also a "hidden" connection in that its force is so weak we are only aware of it in the vicinity of very large objects - such as the Earth. But gravity is nevertheless a powerful conservation force, not only creating matter's time dimension via the annihilation of space, but also returning bound energy to its original symmetric form of light - as in the activity of our Sun. The gravitational conversion of matter to light goes to completion in Hawking's "Quantum Radiance" of black holes. See: "Gravity, Entropy, and Thermodynamics".
A conservation "subroutine" which is peculiar to biology is genetic reproduction and the conservation of genes (genetic information) through successive generations. Other conservation modes in the human sector of the biological realm and Information Pathway include memory, language, writing, and various technical and social mechanisms which specifically address the conservation of information though our generations: schools, books, libraries, etc. Besides gravity, our spiritual awareness (socially expressed as religion) is the "still small voice" which tells us of our conserved cosmic connection. "Spiritual awareness" also resides in our natural experience of the overwhelming beauty, majesty, immensity, mystery, and power of the Universe. It is also likely that the conservation of light's connectivity and unity are corollaries of the larger conservation principle of Symmetry (as formalized in "Noether's Theorem").
Hence the evidence for conservation is there if we choose to look for it. We see it in memory, historic spacetime, and "Karma"; in charge conservation, the phenomenon of beauty, and the notion of personal identity and the soul; and in gravitation and our spiritual awareness of personal connection with the Universe. Finally, we see it in the continuity of our genetic heritage through the eons of time, and in the evolutionary progress of the Universe toward self-knowledge, discovery, and the exploration of its creative potential, even as it returns inexorably to the original perfection of light from which it was born.
Our Universe of light, spacetime, and matter is the conservation domain of electromagnetic energy. We are part of the Universe, part of its evolutionary adventure of self-discovery. We can not escape the universal principle of Conservation, even if we wanted to. Is there life after death? We should ask instead: is there a Universe after our death? Of course there is. And we will continue to be part of it, just as we have always been part of it. (See: "A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory".)
For a scholarly and thorough treatment of the entire metaphysical realm, including issues discussed above, see my late father's book "Trance, Art, Creativity" on his memorial website.
LinksSpacetime Map DiagramSpacetime Map TextA General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory: Part 1A General Systems Approach to the Unified Field Theory: Part 2"The Information Pathway" (text)"The Information Ladder" (table)Chardin: Prophet of the Information AgeThe Half-Life of Proton Decay and the 'Heat Death' of the CosmosIntroduction to General SystemsSpatial vs Temporal EntropyThe Time TrainThe Particle TableThe "Identity" Charge of the Weak ForceThe Weak Force IVBs as a Bridge Between 2-D Virtual Reality and 4-D Temporal RealityGravity, Entropy, and ThermodynamicsThe Gravitational Conversion of Space to Time
Papers on The Fractal Organization of Nature
The Microphysical RealmThe Biophysical RealmThe Astrophysical RealmThe Metaphysical Realm - Intuitive SectionThe Metaphysical Realm - Rational SectionThe Fractal Organization of Nature - SynopsisNature's Fractal PathwayThe Human ConnectionTable of Natural OrganizationHuman Life Stages 4x4 TableThe "Afterlife" TetrahedronThe Faces of the Tetrahedron Model: An Analysis (diagram)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Origin of Space and Time
The Origin of Space and Time: Part I (revised Feb., 2009)Conservation, Causality, Connection: the Dimensions of Spacetime are Entropy Domains Created by Intrinsic Motions c, T, G.
During the "Big Bang", free electromagnetic energy, or light, is converted to bound electromagnetic energy, or matter, by an unknown asymmetric interaction between the weak force and matter-antimatter particle pairs; these pairs are themselves produced by the self-interaction of high-energy light with its own structural component, the metric of spacetime (see: "The Origin of Matter and Information"). The central difficulty with the primordial conversion of light to matter is that whereas light is completely connected to its spatial metric and entropic conservation domain by virtue of its intrinsic motion "c", matter lacks any such dimensional connection, as it is intrinsically immobile, at rest. Indeed, light's intrinsic motion creates space, and also causes its expansion and cooling. "Velocity c" gauges both the entropy drive and the "non-local" metric and distributional symmetry of light. "Velocity c" banishes the asymmetric time dimension (light's "clock is stopped"), maintaining metric symmetry while simultaneously causing the expansion and cooling of space. Matter's energy, however, has no ostensible contact with a spatial metric, entropy drive, or conservation domain, a completely untenable situation from the viewpoint of energy conservation. The solution is found in matter's gravitational field, which forms a physical connection between matter and space, reestablishing contact with light's spatial conservation domain. Through gravity, matter is reconnected to space and light; this connection is not trivial, as it results in the creation of a surrogate or alternative conservation dimension (time), entropy gauge ("velocity T"), entropy drive (the intrinsic motion of matter's time dimension) and conservation domain (historic spacetime).
This new, alternative dimension (time) must perform the metric conservation function for bound electromagnetic energy which space performed for free electromagnetic energy. Time is derived from and conjoined to space (by gravity), forming the compound dimensional and entropic conservation domain "historical spacetime", in which both matter and light can interact and find all their conservation needs satisfied.
The spatial connectivity enjoyed by light becomes translated into another type of dimensional connectivity in the case of matter: space becomes translated into time by gravity. The asymmetry of the particle metric (matter) invokes a conservation response in a corresponding asymmetry of the dimensional metric: gravitation and time. Material objects are linked by time, gravity, history, and causality, rather than by space and light. The intrinsic motion of our time dimension is metrically and entropically equivalent to light's intrinsic motion in space. Because the Cosmos begins at a single instant of time, every atom in the Universe is of the same age, causally connected, and exists in a universal "now" which is the temporal analog of light's "non-local" habitation of space (see: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe"). We are all connected in time, regardless of our separation in space. (In a black hole, matter apparently falls out of space and into time, to be recycled back into space as light via Hawking's "quantum radiance" of black holes.)
The double issue of linkage and entropy drive within a dimensional conservation domain becomes evident when we think about how yesterday is linked to today by the flow of time and the expanding history of our own lives. This is the necessary linkage of causality; we would cease to exist if it were ever broken, as (for example) should the temporal linkage (an extremely extensive matrix) between today and the moment of our birth become severed. A similar linkage exists between points in space - light rays may travel anywhere without "falling off the edge" or "between the cracks" of space.
While temporal linkages begin as points of contact in a linear sequence, they rapidly spread into networks of causal relationships that become so extensive and robust there is no simple way in which they can be severed. The prototypical example is the initiating "break" of a rack of pool or billiard balls at a single point of contact. But this happens continuously on the molecular level of our lives, producing what I refer to as "matter's causal matrix". Similarly, on the gravitational and macroscopic scale, my interactions with people and my environment have rapidly ramifying consequences which will continuously effect my future experience ("what a complicated web we weave...").
Space is a connecting dimensional and entropic medium which functions as a metric conservation domain for light's free energy. Space does not preexist light, but is actually produced by the intrinsic motion of light itself. The function of space is simply to regulate and ensure the conservation of light's energy, including all other parameters of free energy which require conservation, such as light's entropy and symmetry. Light is the only energy form which can produce its own conservation domain from its own nature (intrinsic motion) - hence its primacy. Time is an asymmetric form of space, (actually produced from space by gravity or the quantum mechanical collapse of an electromagnetic wave), which (via the creation of the historic conservation domain) plays the same dimensional conservation role for matter that ordinary space plays for light. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
In the joint dimensional conservation domain of spacetime created by gravity, light and matter can interact since their entropy drives/gauges c and T are metric equivalents of each other. This compatibility is ensured by the gravitational extraction of time from space itself (from the implicit temporal component of an electromagnetic wave), and is required by energy conservation if free and bound electromagnetic energy are to coexist and interact. (See: "Entropy, Gravity, and Thermodynamics")
It is impossible for massive objets to travel at or exceed velocity c; because velocity T is the metric equivalent of c, the intrinsic motion of time also imposes a similarly impassable barrier. The reason for these dimensional "speed limits" is to protect causality and energy conservation. We cannot move backward in time to tamper with the past, either by means of fast spaceship or time machine; nor can we outrun the limits of our conservation domain - energy cannot escape conservation: the conservation domain of spacetime is seamless and closed. Because we live in a joint dimensional conservation domain, two different but connected "speed limits" had to be imposed, one for space and light, and another for time and matter. The consequence of these limits is that once causality and energy conservation is absolutely protected, then below these limits matter can move freely in space and energy can be used and transformed. We can move and work without concern, because no motion or energy transformation that is physically possible can break the linkage of temporal causality or violate energy conservation. Radiant heat and opportunity escape at velocity c and T; neither can be recaptured by any means, insuring the effective operation of entropy, causality, and the conservation of energy. The dimensions of spacetime are entropy domains, established by the intrinsic motions of light, time, and gravitation in which energy can be simultaneously used, transformed, and yet conserved. (See: "A Description of Gravitation".)
The metric fabric can be stretched, curved, and warped, but it will not break; even a "black hole" can only stop time, it cannot make it run backward. The "event horizon" and central singularity of black holes also seal the borders of spacetime against any gravitational loopholes or inertial tampering with causality or energy conservation (as in "wormholes"). The conservation domain of electromagnetic energy is ironclad in its integrity, protected by the infinite velocities of c and T, and at the "event horizon" of a black hole where g = c, the "infinite" strength of gravity replaces the entropic functions of both t and c.
The one-way intrinsic motion of time is required by and protects causality and energy conservation, while simultaneously providing an unbroken dimensional (historical) linkage with the past. The speed limit of "velocity c" has the same effect, but for space rather than time. This complete spatio-temporal connectivity we can actually see in our great telescopes, extending backward to the origin of space and time in the "Big Bang" itself. As we look outward in space, we look backward in time; nothing that we see is actually accessible to us in the state that we see it, for that would be tampering with causality. But the connectivity of the spatio-temporal Universe is complete and actually visible (in part). The only exception is our own past, but that is visible to other observers, and in principle (partially) visible to us also, through a mirror. See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".
The Origin of Space and Time: Part II
The intrinsic motion or entropy drive of time (as gauged by "velocity T") creates an historic conservation domain for information which is joined to space by gravitation (historic spacetime). In addition, because gravity is producing time from space, gravity creates a naturally equilibrated joint dimensional conservation domain of free and bound energy, the continuum of spacetime. How does the formation of this continuum come about? Let us now reexamine this connection from the point of view of time rather than gravity.
As mentioned in part 1, the central conservation problem in the conversion of light to matter is how to duplicate for matter the dimensional connectivity of light with space (that is, how to provide an entropic, dimensional conservation domain for bound energy), since unlike light, matter has no intrinsic spatial motion or connection and cannot move at "velocity c". The solution is time, a moving dimension in which matter can achieve, in effect, an entropy drive or an intrinsic motion T which is metrically equivalent to light's "velocity c" in space. The moving time dimension creates expanding history, the entropic analog of expanding space. In this case, however, it is the dimension which moves, not the energy form, conversely to the arrangement between light and space. Only light itself could establish such a moving dimension that was metrically and entropically equivalent to c. Matter cannot move at c but it can occupy a unique dimension (time) that itself moves with a velocity which is the metric equivalent of c. (See: "The Time Train".)
The intrinsic motion of light produces space, and the intrinsic motion of light is also the indirect source of time. This is where time gets its intrinsic motion, and why velocity c and T are exact metric equivalents. Light produces all the dimensions; light is a 2-dimensional transverse wave whose intrinsic motion sweeps out a third spatial dimension. Time is a 4th dimension created by light, 1/2 of the usual spatial dimension in that it is one-way. Each higher dimension is at right angles to those below; time is at right angles to all three spatial dimensions. Thus matter is one-half of light's particle-antiparticle bound energy form; and matter's entropy drive, time, is likewise one-half of light's dimensional or metric form, space.
The spatial dimensions are associated with light's "wavelength", the temporal dimension is associated with light's "frequency". Mathematically, velocity c is the product of light's wavelength and frequency: wavelength x frequency = c. Space ("wavelength") and time ("frequency") are both inherent potentials of light's energetic composition. If light can make space and matter, light can also create matter's time dimension; space and time are but the dimensional conservation domains of electromagnetic energy's free and bound states, light and matter. It should be no surprise that electromagnetic energy can and does produce the dimensional conservation domains required by its two principle energy forms, especially since these can freely transform one into the other (as in the creation and annihilation of particle-antiparticle pairs).
Time is produced by the gravitational annihilation of space, extracting a temporal residue; quantum mechanically, time is produced when light collapses to form matter or bound energy (see: "The Gravity Diagram No. 2"). The collapse of the electromagnetic wave to form bound energy also converts light from its wavelength or "spacelike" mode to its frequency or "timelike" mode. Both modes have a metrically equivalent intrinsic motion that creates a dimensional conservation domain appropriate for its energy type, space for the free-energy "wave" mode, time and history for the bound-energy "frequency" mode. These intrinsic, dimension-creating motions of light are the entropy drives of free and bound energy, light and matter, creating, cooling, and expanding space on the one hand, creating, aging, and decaying matter, history, and information on the other. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
Gravity converts space and the drive of spatial entropy to time and the drive of temporal entropy. Mechanically, space, light, and time cannot be disentangled; the intrinsic (entropic) motion of time drags space after it, down to the center of mass and the beginning of the one-way linear timeline. Three-dimensional space must collapse to a zero-dimensional point to enter the beginning of the timeline, which is situated at the gravitational center of mass. Space simply self-annihilates as it is squeezed into the zero-dimensional beginning of the one-dimensional timeline, which is at right angles to all three ordinary spatial dimensions. The annihilation of space yields a temporal residue, which in turn moves down the timeline, dragging more space after it, in an endlessly repeating and self-feeding cycle. This time flow establishes the historical temporal conservation domain, which is just as real as the other spatial dimensions (it is created by the "frequency" mode of electromagnetic energy), but due to its intrinsic motion and its orientation (at right angles to space), history is neither visible nor accessible to those who create it - effectively preventing any tampering with causality and energy conservation (because intrinsic motion T is the metric equivalent of velocity c).
Space collapses symmetrically from all directions because time is equivalently connected to all spatial dimensions. Similarly, the constantly applied force or intrinsic motion of time causes the accelerated motion of the spatial collapse. Gravity is the convergent, accelerated motion or collapse of spacetime itself, explaining why all things, including light, "fall" at the same rate - everything is a "co-mover" with spacetime. (Einstein's "Equivalence Principle" allows either a static or dynamic interpretation of the gravitational field; here I find the dynamic view more meaningful.) (See: "Extending Einstein's Equivalence Principle".)
As space collapses and self-annihilates gravitationally at the center of mass, it yields a temporal residue, just as the quantum mechanical collapse of the wave function of light produced a temporal residue (swapping "frequency" for "wavelength") when it first created bound energy. The temporal residue moves on down the time line, dragging more space after it, which produces another temporal residue, etc. Time is the active agent of gravitational motion - it is the intrinsic motion of time dragging space after it which produces the gravitational flow of space; in turn, this flow of space provides fuel to continue the cycle in the form of temporal residues - much as the intrinsic motion of light in ordinary space is propagated by the reciprocal induction of electric and magnetic fields. Time is consuming space gravitationally to fuel and maintain its own intrinsic motion. A gravitational field is the spatial consequence of the intrinsic motion of time.
The time dimension of matter is thus "funded" by the gravitational deceleration of spacetime: the positive spatial entropy-energy lost to the cosmic expansion is compensated in metrically equivalent units by the positive temporal entropy-energy gained by the aging historic dimension. The amount of the entropy-energy, the energetic cost of creating matter's asymmetric time dimension from the symmetric spatial dimensions, is -Gm. The conversion from a spatially symmetric entropy drive to a historically asymmetric entropy drive is "uphill" - it requires energy to convert space to time, which is the energetic reason why gravitational entropy-energy is "negative" energy, and why the temporal mode of light collapses space: it must use space for entropy-fuel. (See: "Spatial vs Temporal Entropy".)
The magnitude of G is determined by the small energy difference between the symmetric spatial entropy drive (S) of free energy as gauged by the intrinsic motion of light ("velocity c"), and the asymmetric temporal entropy drive (T) of bound energy, as gauged by the intrinsic motion of time ("velocity T"): S - T = -G. This is just equivalent to the energetic difference between implicit (S) vs explicit (T) time. Using the same symbols, the gravitational conversion of spatial entropy to a metrically equivalent temporal entropy may be represented by a "concept equation":
-Gm(S) = (T)m-Gm(S) - (T)m = 0
Seamless dimensional continuity, protection of causality and energy conservation, entropic compatibility, and an entropy drive plus entropy conservation, are all provided in the joint dimensional conservation domain of free and bound electromagnetic energy (spacetime) by the intrinsic motions of light and time, by their metric equivalence, and by their inter-convertibility. All this is possible only because time is derived directly from light (light's frequency aspect, exposed by the quantum-mechanical collapse of light's wave function) and from light's conservation domain, space (the temporal residues of gravitationally collapsed space). And though we look at the physical form and expression of spacetime every day, we are hardly aware of its dual nature (and typically unaware of the metric or dimensional function of gravity), it is so natural and commonplace; this is of course the way things have to be if the Cosmos is to function properly.
The Creation of Space
As for the intrinsic motion of light and the creation of space, curiously, as in the case of gravity, we can also attribute this to the intrinsic motion of time. Electric and magnetic fields induce each other to produce the propagation of light; so also do the frequency and wavelength of light induce each other to produce velocity c.
The essential meaning of c is that it is the entropy/symmetry gauge of the spacetime metric, which functions specifically to prevent the explicit formation of the asymmetric, one-way time dimension. The dimensional and energetic parameters of this system are thoroughly linked such that the wavelength of light (its spatial expression) multiplied by the frequency of light (its temporal expression) always equals the electromagnetic constant "c".
Obviously, time is implicit in the frequency of light, but at c, time is prevented from becoming explicit. Light has no time dimension: light's "clock is stopped". The seed is present, but its growth is suppressed; indeed, time would be required in its explicit aspect should light assume its particle form and produce matter. In fact, we need to discover the origin of the time dimension in light if we are to build a truly unified theory of energy and its dimensional conservation domain, a theory which traces the origin of all forces to light.
It is the ever-present threat of time, implicit in the very nature of light ("frequency"), which propels the electromagnetic wave forward in space to protect its metric symmetry. The flight of space ("wavelength") from time ("frequency") produces the intrinsic ("self-motivated") motion of light, a symmetric dimensional state of energy fleeing an asymmetric dimensional expression which is an internal potential of its own nature. Since this flight also produces the (positive) march of spatial entropy, we see again that energy conservation, symmetry, and entropy are all related and share a common factor, "c". At the level of principle or natural law, we can say the intrinsic motion of light is produced by a hidden entropy drive (implicit time), which simultaneously maintains metric symmetry in the service of energy conservation.
Hence we see that while explicit time is the driver of the world of bound energy, implicit time is the driver of the realm of free energy. Time is the "metabolic agent" of the Cosmos. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time" and "Gravity Diagram No. 2".)
Links:
Synopsis of the Tetrahedron Model (text)Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory"Entropy, Gravitation, and Thermodynamics""A Description of Gravitation"The Double Conservation Role of GravitationSpatial vs Temporal EntropyA Spacetime Map of the UniverseThe Time TrainThe Conversion of Space to TimeThe "Tetrahedron Model" vs the "Standard Model" of Physics: A ComparisonTime and Spacetime - an Analysis of the "Twins Paradox"Gravity (diagrams)
A New Gravity DiagramThe Gravity DiagramThe Three Entropies: Intrinsic Motions of Gravity, Time, and LightThe "Tetrahedron Model" (diagram)
During the "Big Bang", free electromagnetic energy, or light, is converted to bound electromagnetic energy, or matter, by an unknown asymmetric interaction between the weak force and matter-antimatter particle pairs; these pairs are themselves produced by the self-interaction of high-energy light with its own structural component, the metric of spacetime (see: "The Origin of Matter and Information"). The central difficulty with the primordial conversion of light to matter is that whereas light is completely connected to its spatial metric and entropic conservation domain by virtue of its intrinsic motion "c", matter lacks any such dimensional connection, as it is intrinsically immobile, at rest. Indeed, light's intrinsic motion creates space, and also causes its expansion and cooling. "Velocity c" gauges both the entropy drive and the "non-local" metric and distributional symmetry of light. "Velocity c" banishes the asymmetric time dimension (light's "clock is stopped"), maintaining metric symmetry while simultaneously causing the expansion and cooling of space. Matter's energy, however, has no ostensible contact with a spatial metric, entropy drive, or conservation domain, a completely untenable situation from the viewpoint of energy conservation. The solution is found in matter's gravitational field, which forms a physical connection between matter and space, reestablishing contact with light's spatial conservation domain. Through gravity, matter is reconnected to space and light; this connection is not trivial, as it results in the creation of a surrogate or alternative conservation dimension (time), entropy gauge ("velocity T"), entropy drive (the intrinsic motion of matter's time dimension) and conservation domain (historic spacetime).
This new, alternative dimension (time) must perform the metric conservation function for bound electromagnetic energy which space performed for free electromagnetic energy. Time is derived from and conjoined to space (by gravity), forming the compound dimensional and entropic conservation domain "historical spacetime", in which both matter and light can interact and find all their conservation needs satisfied.
The spatial connectivity enjoyed by light becomes translated into another type of dimensional connectivity in the case of matter: space becomes translated into time by gravity. The asymmetry of the particle metric (matter) invokes a conservation response in a corresponding asymmetry of the dimensional metric: gravitation and time. Material objects are linked by time, gravity, history, and causality, rather than by space and light. The intrinsic motion of our time dimension is metrically and entropically equivalent to light's intrinsic motion in space. Because the Cosmos begins at a single instant of time, every atom in the Universe is of the same age, causally connected, and exists in a universal "now" which is the temporal analog of light's "non-local" habitation of space (see: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe"). We are all connected in time, regardless of our separation in space. (In a black hole, matter apparently falls out of space and into time, to be recycled back into space as light via Hawking's "quantum radiance" of black holes.)
The double issue of linkage and entropy drive within a dimensional conservation domain becomes evident when we think about how yesterday is linked to today by the flow of time and the expanding history of our own lives. This is the necessary linkage of causality; we would cease to exist if it were ever broken, as (for example) should the temporal linkage (an extremely extensive matrix) between today and the moment of our birth become severed. A similar linkage exists between points in space - light rays may travel anywhere without "falling off the edge" or "between the cracks" of space.
While temporal linkages begin as points of contact in a linear sequence, they rapidly spread into networks of causal relationships that become so extensive and robust there is no simple way in which they can be severed. The prototypical example is the initiating "break" of a rack of pool or billiard balls at a single point of contact. But this happens continuously on the molecular level of our lives, producing what I refer to as "matter's causal matrix". Similarly, on the gravitational and macroscopic scale, my interactions with people and my environment have rapidly ramifying consequences which will continuously effect my future experience ("what a complicated web we weave...").
Space is a connecting dimensional and entropic medium which functions as a metric conservation domain for light's free energy. Space does not preexist light, but is actually produced by the intrinsic motion of light itself. The function of space is simply to regulate and ensure the conservation of light's energy, including all other parameters of free energy which require conservation, such as light's entropy and symmetry. Light is the only energy form which can produce its own conservation domain from its own nature (intrinsic motion) - hence its primacy. Time is an asymmetric form of space, (actually produced from space by gravity or the quantum mechanical collapse of an electromagnetic wave), which (via the creation of the historic conservation domain) plays the same dimensional conservation role for matter that ordinary space plays for light. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
In the joint dimensional conservation domain of spacetime created by gravity, light and matter can interact since their entropy drives/gauges c and T are metric equivalents of each other. This compatibility is ensured by the gravitational extraction of time from space itself (from the implicit temporal component of an electromagnetic wave), and is required by energy conservation if free and bound electromagnetic energy are to coexist and interact. (See: "Entropy, Gravity, and Thermodynamics")
It is impossible for massive objets to travel at or exceed velocity c; because velocity T is the metric equivalent of c, the intrinsic motion of time also imposes a similarly impassable barrier. The reason for these dimensional "speed limits" is to protect causality and energy conservation. We cannot move backward in time to tamper with the past, either by means of fast spaceship or time machine; nor can we outrun the limits of our conservation domain - energy cannot escape conservation: the conservation domain of spacetime is seamless and closed. Because we live in a joint dimensional conservation domain, two different but connected "speed limits" had to be imposed, one for space and light, and another for time and matter. The consequence of these limits is that once causality and energy conservation is absolutely protected, then below these limits matter can move freely in space and energy can be used and transformed. We can move and work without concern, because no motion or energy transformation that is physically possible can break the linkage of temporal causality or violate energy conservation. Radiant heat and opportunity escape at velocity c and T; neither can be recaptured by any means, insuring the effective operation of entropy, causality, and the conservation of energy. The dimensions of spacetime are entropy domains, established by the intrinsic motions of light, time, and gravitation in which energy can be simultaneously used, transformed, and yet conserved. (See: "A Description of Gravitation".)
The metric fabric can be stretched, curved, and warped, but it will not break; even a "black hole" can only stop time, it cannot make it run backward. The "event horizon" and central singularity of black holes also seal the borders of spacetime against any gravitational loopholes or inertial tampering with causality or energy conservation (as in "wormholes"). The conservation domain of electromagnetic energy is ironclad in its integrity, protected by the infinite velocities of c and T, and at the "event horizon" of a black hole where g = c, the "infinite" strength of gravity replaces the entropic functions of both t and c.
The one-way intrinsic motion of time is required by and protects causality and energy conservation, while simultaneously providing an unbroken dimensional (historical) linkage with the past. The speed limit of "velocity c" has the same effect, but for space rather than time. This complete spatio-temporal connectivity we can actually see in our great telescopes, extending backward to the origin of space and time in the "Big Bang" itself. As we look outward in space, we look backward in time; nothing that we see is actually accessible to us in the state that we see it, for that would be tampering with causality. But the connectivity of the spatio-temporal Universe is complete and actually visible (in part). The only exception is our own past, but that is visible to other observers, and in principle (partially) visible to us also, through a mirror. See: "A Spacetime Map of the Universe".
The Origin of Space and Time: Part II
The intrinsic motion or entropy drive of time (as gauged by "velocity T") creates an historic conservation domain for information which is joined to space by gravitation (historic spacetime). In addition, because gravity is producing time from space, gravity creates a naturally equilibrated joint dimensional conservation domain of free and bound energy, the continuum of spacetime. How does the formation of this continuum come about? Let us now reexamine this connection from the point of view of time rather than gravity.
As mentioned in part 1, the central conservation problem in the conversion of light to matter is how to duplicate for matter the dimensional connectivity of light with space (that is, how to provide an entropic, dimensional conservation domain for bound energy), since unlike light, matter has no intrinsic spatial motion or connection and cannot move at "velocity c". The solution is time, a moving dimension in which matter can achieve, in effect, an entropy drive or an intrinsic motion T which is metrically equivalent to light's "velocity c" in space. The moving time dimension creates expanding history, the entropic analog of expanding space. In this case, however, it is the dimension which moves, not the energy form, conversely to the arrangement between light and space. Only light itself could establish such a moving dimension that was metrically and entropically equivalent to c. Matter cannot move at c but it can occupy a unique dimension (time) that itself moves with a velocity which is the metric equivalent of c. (See: "The Time Train".)
The intrinsic motion of light produces space, and the intrinsic motion of light is also the indirect source of time. This is where time gets its intrinsic motion, and why velocity c and T are exact metric equivalents. Light produces all the dimensions; light is a 2-dimensional transverse wave whose intrinsic motion sweeps out a third spatial dimension. Time is a 4th dimension created by light, 1/2 of the usual spatial dimension in that it is one-way. Each higher dimension is at right angles to those below; time is at right angles to all three spatial dimensions. Thus matter is one-half of light's particle-antiparticle bound energy form; and matter's entropy drive, time, is likewise one-half of light's dimensional or metric form, space.
The spatial dimensions are associated with light's "wavelength", the temporal dimension is associated with light's "frequency". Mathematically, velocity c is the product of light's wavelength and frequency: wavelength x frequency = c. Space ("wavelength") and time ("frequency") are both inherent potentials of light's energetic composition. If light can make space and matter, light can also create matter's time dimension; space and time are but the dimensional conservation domains of electromagnetic energy's free and bound states, light and matter. It should be no surprise that electromagnetic energy can and does produce the dimensional conservation domains required by its two principle energy forms, especially since these can freely transform one into the other (as in the creation and annihilation of particle-antiparticle pairs).
Time is produced by the gravitational annihilation of space, extracting a temporal residue; quantum mechanically, time is produced when light collapses to form matter or bound energy (see: "The Gravity Diagram No. 2"). The collapse of the electromagnetic wave to form bound energy also converts light from its wavelength or "spacelike" mode to its frequency or "timelike" mode. Both modes have a metrically equivalent intrinsic motion that creates a dimensional conservation domain appropriate for its energy type, space for the free-energy "wave" mode, time and history for the bound-energy "frequency" mode. These intrinsic, dimension-creating motions of light are the entropy drives of free and bound energy, light and matter, creating, cooling, and expanding space on the one hand, creating, aging, and decaying matter, history, and information on the other. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".)
Gravity converts space and the drive of spatial entropy to time and the drive of temporal entropy. Mechanically, space, light, and time cannot be disentangled; the intrinsic (entropic) motion of time drags space after it, down to the center of mass and the beginning of the one-way linear timeline. Three-dimensional space must collapse to a zero-dimensional point to enter the beginning of the timeline, which is situated at the gravitational center of mass. Space simply self-annihilates as it is squeezed into the zero-dimensional beginning of the one-dimensional timeline, which is at right angles to all three ordinary spatial dimensions. The annihilation of space yields a temporal residue, which in turn moves down the timeline, dragging more space after it, in an endlessly repeating and self-feeding cycle. This time flow establishes the historical temporal conservation domain, which is just as real as the other spatial dimensions (it is created by the "frequency" mode of electromagnetic energy), but due to its intrinsic motion and its orientation (at right angles to space), history is neither visible nor accessible to those who create it - effectively preventing any tampering with causality and energy conservation (because intrinsic motion T is the metric equivalent of velocity c).
Space collapses symmetrically from all directions because time is equivalently connected to all spatial dimensions. Similarly, the constantly applied force or intrinsic motion of time causes the accelerated motion of the spatial collapse. Gravity is the convergent, accelerated motion or collapse of spacetime itself, explaining why all things, including light, "fall" at the same rate - everything is a "co-mover" with spacetime. (Einstein's "Equivalence Principle" allows either a static or dynamic interpretation of the gravitational field; here I find the dynamic view more meaningful.) (See: "Extending Einstein's Equivalence Principle".)
As space collapses and self-annihilates gravitationally at the center of mass, it yields a temporal residue, just as the quantum mechanical collapse of the wave function of light produced a temporal residue (swapping "frequency" for "wavelength") when it first created bound energy. The temporal residue moves on down the time line, dragging more space after it, which produces another temporal residue, etc. Time is the active agent of gravitational motion - it is the intrinsic motion of time dragging space after it which produces the gravitational flow of space; in turn, this flow of space provides fuel to continue the cycle in the form of temporal residues - much as the intrinsic motion of light in ordinary space is propagated by the reciprocal induction of electric and magnetic fields. Time is consuming space gravitationally to fuel and maintain its own intrinsic motion. A gravitational field is the spatial consequence of the intrinsic motion of time.
The time dimension of matter is thus "funded" by the gravitational deceleration of spacetime: the positive spatial entropy-energy lost to the cosmic expansion is compensated in metrically equivalent units by the positive temporal entropy-energy gained by the aging historic dimension. The amount of the entropy-energy, the energetic cost of creating matter's asymmetric time dimension from the symmetric spatial dimensions, is -Gm. The conversion from a spatially symmetric entropy drive to a historically asymmetric entropy drive is "uphill" - it requires energy to convert space to time, which is the energetic reason why gravitational entropy-energy is "negative" energy, and why the temporal mode of light collapses space: it must use space for entropy-fuel. (See: "Spatial vs Temporal Entropy".)
The magnitude of G is determined by the small energy difference between the symmetric spatial entropy drive (S) of free energy as gauged by the intrinsic motion of light ("velocity c"), and the asymmetric temporal entropy drive (T) of bound energy, as gauged by the intrinsic motion of time ("velocity T"): S - T = -G. This is just equivalent to the energetic difference between implicit (S) vs explicit (T) time. Using the same symbols, the gravitational conversion of spatial entropy to a metrically equivalent temporal entropy may be represented by a "concept equation":
-Gm(S) = (T)m-Gm(S) - (T)m = 0
Seamless dimensional continuity, protection of causality and energy conservation, entropic compatibility, and an entropy drive plus entropy conservation, are all provided in the joint dimensional conservation domain of free and bound electromagnetic energy (spacetime) by the intrinsic motions of light and time, by their metric equivalence, and by their inter-convertibility. All this is possible only because time is derived directly from light (light's frequency aspect, exposed by the quantum-mechanical collapse of light's wave function) and from light's conservation domain, space (the temporal residues of gravitationally collapsed space). And though we look at the physical form and expression of spacetime every day, we are hardly aware of its dual nature (and typically unaware of the metric or dimensional function of gravity), it is so natural and commonplace; this is of course the way things have to be if the Cosmos is to function properly.
The Creation of Space
As for the intrinsic motion of light and the creation of space, curiously, as in the case of gravity, we can also attribute this to the intrinsic motion of time. Electric and magnetic fields induce each other to produce the propagation of light; so also do the frequency and wavelength of light induce each other to produce velocity c.
The essential meaning of c is that it is the entropy/symmetry gauge of the spacetime metric, which functions specifically to prevent the explicit formation of the asymmetric, one-way time dimension. The dimensional and energetic parameters of this system are thoroughly linked such that the wavelength of light (its spatial expression) multiplied by the frequency of light (its temporal expression) always equals the electromagnetic constant "c".
Obviously, time is implicit in the frequency of light, but at c, time is prevented from becoming explicit. Light has no time dimension: light's "clock is stopped". The seed is present, but its growth is suppressed; indeed, time would be required in its explicit aspect should light assume its particle form and produce matter. In fact, we need to discover the origin of the time dimension in light if we are to build a truly unified theory of energy and its dimensional conservation domain, a theory which traces the origin of all forces to light.
It is the ever-present threat of time, implicit in the very nature of light ("frequency"), which propels the electromagnetic wave forward in space to protect its metric symmetry. The flight of space ("wavelength") from time ("frequency") produces the intrinsic ("self-motivated") motion of light, a symmetric dimensional state of energy fleeing an asymmetric dimensional expression which is an internal potential of its own nature. Since this flight also produces the (positive) march of spatial entropy, we see again that energy conservation, symmetry, and entropy are all related and share a common factor, "c". At the level of principle or natural law, we can say the intrinsic motion of light is produced by a hidden entropy drive (implicit time), which simultaneously maintains metric symmetry in the service of energy conservation.
Hence we see that while explicit time is the driver of the world of bound energy, implicit time is the driver of the realm of free energy. Time is the "metabolic agent" of the Cosmos. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time" and "Gravity Diagram No. 2".)
Links:
Synopsis of the Tetrahedron Model (text)Symmetry Principles of the Unified Field Theory"Entropy, Gravitation, and Thermodynamics""A Description of Gravitation"The Double Conservation Role of GravitationSpatial vs Temporal EntropyA Spacetime Map of the UniverseThe Time TrainThe Conversion of Space to TimeThe "Tetrahedron Model" vs the "Standard Model" of Physics: A ComparisonTime and Spacetime - an Analysis of the "Twins Paradox"Gravity (diagrams)
A New Gravity DiagramThe Gravity DiagramThe Three Entropies: Intrinsic Motions of Gravity, Time, and LightThe "Tetrahedron Model" (diagram)
Major Problems in India
Poverty as a Major Problem in India
Introduction:-
Poverty is a significant problem in India considering the fact that India is the home of nearly 400 million poor people. Poverty is a root cause for many other problems including population explosion, child labor and crime proliferation. For India to prosper, the most important goal is to achieve poverty alleviation for millions of its citizens and poverty reduction would have a significant impact on reaching the other objectives for a modern state. However, poverty removal would require the partial solution to the other major problems, including illiteracy and gender bias.
//
Factors Responsible for Poverty
Incidence of poverty is strongly dependent of various social, economic and natural factors. Being a nation of 1 billion people compacted in a region one-third the size of United States and heavy concentration of population in lands far from the access to sea, complicates the problem. The nation has a large variety of tribals, who do not have access to any of the gifts of modern world but suffer the negative aspects of modernization, including pollution and global warming.
Natural Factors
The natural factors responsible for poverty include:
Heavy concentration of population over a large area (the country houses more people than Europe, Africa, North America & South America).
Predominant dependence on seasonal rainfall for agriculture (agriculture employs nearly 70% of the people and majority of the cultivation depend solely upon rain and the rainfall pattern can vary significantly from year-to-year).
Majority of dense populated regions (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab) are far from the access to the sea (oceans and seas are very critical to the economic development of nations).
Social Factors
The social factors include:
Around 430 million people are illiterate (majority of them are poor) and illiteracy forces people to stick to ancestral jobs and prevents people from having job flexibility
Caste System prohibited access to lucrative jobs to a vast majority of the people. Though, such institutions have been dismantled in the last 50 years, its presence can still be seen in rural areas.
Causes of Poverty
Author and Page information
by Anup Shah
This Page Last Updated Saturday, December 27, 2008
Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
— More Facts (and Sources) »
Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed.
Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.
In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.
These next few articles and sections explore various poverty issues in more depth:
Articles on “Causes of Poverty”:
Poverty Facts and Stats
Last updated Wednesday, September 03, 2008.
Most of humanity lives on just a few dollars a day. Whether you live in the wealthiest nations in the world or the poorest, you will see high levels of inequality. The poorest people will also have less access to health, education and other services. Problems of hunger, malnutrition and disease afflict the poorest in society. The poorest are also typically marginalized from society and have little representation or voice in public and political debates, making it even harder to escape poverty. By contrast, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to benefit from economic or political policies. The amount the world spends on military, financial bailouts and other areas that benefit the wealthy, compared to the amount spent to address the daily crisis of poverty and related problems are often staggering. Some facts and figures on poverty are an eye-opener, to say the least.
Read “Poverty Facts and Stats” to learn more.
Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty
Last updated Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies to compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. This has increased poverty and inequality for most people. It also forms a backbone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic unequal rules of trade.
Read “Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty” to learn more.
Poverty Around The World
Last updated Saturday, November 22, 2008.
Inequality is increasing around the world while the world appears to globalize. Even the wealthiest nation has the largest gap between rich and poor compared to other developed nations. In many cases, international politics and various interests have led to a diversion of available resources from domestic needs to western markets. Historically, politics and power play by the elite leaders and rulers have increased poverty and dependency. These have often manifested themselves in wars, hot and cold, which have often been trade- and resource-related. Mercantilist practices, while presented as free trade, still happen today. Poverty is therefore not just an economic issue, it is also an issue of political economics.
Today, over 26,500 children died around the world
Last updated Thursday, January 31, 2008.
Around the world, 27–30,000 children die every day. That is equivalent to 1 child dying every 3 seconds, 20 children dying every minute, a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every week, or 10–11 million children dying every year. Over 50 million children died between 2000 and 2005. The silent killers are poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
Read “Today, over 26,500 children died around the world” to learn more.
World Hunger and Poverty
Last updated Sunday, July 06, 2008.
Read “World Hunger and Poverty” to learn more.
Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty
Last updated Monday, December 10, 2007.
Read “Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty” to learn more.
Food and Agriculture Issues
Last updated Sunday, July 06, 2008.
Read “Food and Agriculture Issues” to learn more.
Trade, Economy, & Related Issues
Last updated Thursday, January 15, 2009.
Read “Trade, Economy, & Related Issues” to learn more.
Corruption
Last updated Saturday, December 27, 2008.
We often hear leaders from rich countries telling poor countries that aid and loans will only be given when they show they are stamping out corruption. While that definitely needs to happen, the rich countries themselves are often active in the largest forms of corruption in those poor countries, and many economic policies they prescribe have exacerbated the problem. Corruption in developing countries definitely must be high on the priority lists, but so too must it be on the priority lists of rich countries.
Read “Corruption” to learn more.
US and Foreign Aid Assistance
Last updated Friday, January 02, 2009.
Since 1970, the world’s rich countries agreed to give 0.7% of their gross national income as official international development aid. Since that time, billions have certainly been given, but rarely have these rich nations actually met their agreed target. For example, the US is often the largest donor in dollar terms, but often ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the stated 0.7% target. Furthermore, aid has often come with a price of its own for the developing nations. This article explores who has benefited most from this aid, the recipients or the donors.
United Nations World Summit 2005
Last updated Sunday, September 18, 2005.
The UN World Summit for September 2005 is supposed to review progress since the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all Member States in 2000. However, the US has proposed enormous changes to an outcome document that is to be signed by all members. There are changes on almost all accounts, including striking any mention of the Millennium Development Goals, that aim for example, to halve poverty and world hunger by 2015. This has led to concerns that the outcome document will be weakened. Developing countries are also worried about stronger text on human rights and about giving the UN Security Council more powers.
IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.
Last updated Friday, July 13, 2001.
To complement the public protests in Seattle, the week leading up to April 16th/17th 2000 saw the other two global institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, as the focus of renewed protests and criticisms in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the mass demonstrations was to protest against the current form of globalization, which is seen as unaccountable, corporate-led, and non-democratic, and to show the link between poverty and the various policies of the IMF and the World Bank.
Read “IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.” to learn more.
Economic Democracy
Posted Sunday, November 26, 2000.
This next page is a reposting of a flyer about a new book from J.W. Smith and the Institute for Economic Democracy, whom I thank for their kind permission. The book is called Economic Democracy: The Political Struggle Of The 21st Century. Typically on this site, I do not advertise books etc, (although I will cite from and link to some, where relevant). However, in this case, I found that the text in the flyer provides an excellent summary of poverty's historic roots, as well as of the multitude of issues that cause poverty. (Please also note that I do not make any proceeds from the sale of this book in any way.)
Poverty Links for More Information
Last updated Monday, April 28, 2003.
Links to other sites discussion issues on trade, the global economy, poverty and other related issues.
Trade, Economic Links For More Information
Last updated Wednesday, July 25, 2001.
Read “Trade, Economic Links For More Information” to learn more.
World hunger related links for more information
Last updated Monday, December 10, 2007.
Links to web sites and articles that discuss world hunger, the relationship between populations and hunger, of poverty and hunger, agricultural issues, land rights and so on.
Natural Disasters
Earthquake
Dengue
Flood
TSUNAMI
When earthquake hit Gujarat on 26 January 2001and more than 20000 people died, we thought as a society we would learn to cope with disaster better. It seems that 20000 lives were not enough of a price to pay for shaking the bureaucracy and civil society to learn to cope with disasters with greater efficiency. Most disasters after the first 24 hours assume more or less typical characteristics in which the problems can be anticipated and response system can be put in place. We had developed a year later a Disaster Management Information System (www.sristi.org/dmis_cms). The idea was that civil society volunteers will provide information about what kind of support they can extend (material, professional, financial, technological, infrastructural, etc.), within what range of distance from their residence, and whether they will like their details to be put on the website. For instance, about 118 ham radio operators in Gujarat had agreed to put their information through their associations in the database. They can be directly contacted and their services requested for the purpose. The question is, were they contacted in the recent disaster in the south India, perhaps not. Similarly, transporters, crane owners, hardware stockists who have concrete cutters or other devices to clear the debris, medical professionals, mobile x-ray machines, mobile clinics, etc., are well known equipments and services needed in the hour of emergency. We know that water bodies often get affected adversely and fresh water becomes a necessity. In some cases, the water storage structures were damaged. When electricity was resumed, the tubewells would work but where would one store the water.
Many times, the difference between a person buried under the debris surviving or not depended upon the method of removing debris and the time taken to remove it. Some people survived for as many as five to six days without any support from outside. Therefore, the chances of finding survivors even now are high.
Why is it that the civil administration at all the levels in the government does not learn? While talking to the Army Officers after few months of disaster in Gujarat, I had mentioned that the efficiency of the army often masked the inefficiency of the civic administration. Even if immediate relief is provided well, in some cases, the problem of long term rehabilitation receive much less attention. The coastal fishing communities would come under the clutches of money lenders if fishing nets, boats and other such means of livelihood were not provided at extremely soft conditions. Any negligence of this function will mean imposing a second disaster on the people and this would be designed, deliberate and delivered with efficiency.
What can we do now:
1. Disaster Management Information System must be built in every district of the country linked with each other, available on the web and also in public libraries. We should know where are the inventories available of critical equipments, skills, resources and information and how can one access them on voluntary or payment basis. The database of various services and infrastructure in private, public and voluntary sectors should be updated regularly. Every college should take responsibility for collecting and updating information about certain categories of services or equipments. Simple information such as about ham radio operators can be put on the web without fail.
2. Just as we have national services scheme, we must now think of national disaster management volunteers who would receive training and be empowered to organize themselves as effective teams for helping local communities around them. No amount of state help can substitute for community based structures for self help. Supreme Court had passed judgments and given advice for starting courses on disaster management in various educational institutions. Have we ever monitored how many such courses exist and what quality of preparedness has been achieved?
3. The major tragedy will begin when the media will get interested in new issues, fight among some other politicians or corporate games. Resources would be required for repairing and building the primary school buildings, primary health centres, livestock, clinics, tree climbing devices for palm workers, herbal and other medicines, mat making machines, and machines which can use materials from damaged trees and bio waste, old bamboo scrap, processing machine for various edible and non-edible oilseeds, etc. A proper rehabilitation plan will have to be built for each village affected by the disaster with proper accountability structure. The accounts of every investment must be made public and people should be able to know how much funds were mobilized by which NGO or government agency and how were they used for the purpose.
4. In cases where fishing communities or island based indigenous / tribal communities have been affected very severely, long term rehabilitation plans have to be initiated. These plans must learn from the mistakes made in earlier rehabilitation projects.
5. There is very important need to document the experience of the damage caused and ensuing suffering along with the coping strategies of local communities and administration. Some novel lessons would emerge.
6. One of the major problems in relief is that what is needed where is often not known to the people who want to provide support. The result is that lot of materials get wasted or misdirected. We need to put a spreadsheet immediately on the web pointing out village wise needs, contact persons’ names and addresses so that civil society efforts can be targeted more efficiently. We had tried to put an inventory management system in place after Gujarat earthquake with the help of our students and faculty. The students had stacked the relief material received from all over the country in Kutchh and given assorted sheets to the Relief Commissioner. Where we failed was to link this system with GIS so that one could track the deliveries, collect the response and also avoid pilferages. It will be useful if some of the IT firms in Chennai would volunteer to create such a GIS so that people can update the demand and supply information and every unit of material is optimally utilized.
7. The psychological rehabilitation is no less important. The children affected the by the shock and tragedy are particularly vulnerable. The arrangements for adoption of orphan children with proper community care have to be put in place.
8. It is very disheartening to hear that in large number of cases of dead people, the Public Health authorities have been reportedly hesitant in maintaining proper records. It might save the state and central governments some money from the compensation fund but it would certainly inflict damage on the social conscience of the society. If the rehabilitation funds reach late, they are as good as not given. Unless central government ensures delivery of compensation through community control systems within next 24 hours, the fairness in the system will become more and more difficult to achieve with every passing day. While we still need immediate help, the long term rehabilitation must be simultaneously planned.
Large number of students in various academic institutions must learn to share the pain of those who have suffered in an extraordinary tragedy. Without finding fault with government or other agencies, the duty of every right thinking person at this moment is to take initiative and contribute one’s mite in alleviating suffering in whichever way we can.
I have no hesitation in saying that adequate long term learning measures were not undertaken after Gujarat earthquake. And if these are not undertaken again, we will all have to blame ourselves for not equipping our country with better self help and more efficient information systems. We had issued an appeal given below three years ago:
Natural disasters impart lessons at a very high cost of life and property. But if those lessons do not lead to learning and knowledge generation, then the cost seems even heavier. At the time of disaster recurrence, the failure to learn from the past hurts the most. The earthquake in Gujarat and the subsequent chaos were indicators of how crucial prior planning is in managing relief and rehabilitation during disasters. The Kutchh region required massive and immediate assistance at that time, which came but was very poorly managed. This made the need for a proper disaster mitigation plan very apparent. Learning from experience is essential in building a knowledge resource which would help in being better prepared in the future.
SRISTI & IIMACORE have started an initiative for developing a society based “Disaster Management Information System” to be accessible to all in time of such emergencies. The system is accessible on SRISTI’s website. We call upon everyone to volunteer and participate in the initiative. You may volunteer your services and/ or resources, and share your experiences, research studies, publications etc at this website. This is an effort to pool resources towards better preparedness at the time of future disasters. www.sristi.org/dmis_cms
Let us wish that such calamities never happen again. But if they do then we must be prepared. (http://www.sristi.org/english/dmis/dmsmessage.html)
We must once again try to nudge the National Disaster Management Authority in supporting civil society initiatives to build a decentralized DMIS so that at least next time our response time is faster, quality of relief better and our preparedness much higher than what was in the last few days.
Disaster Mitigation & Emergency Preparedness
Emergency preparedness is crucial for coming out from disasters with least damage. Just the knowledge of what to do, may help save lives of you and your family. Here are collection of studies and links of documentation related to disasters preparedness also as per the type of disaster. Besides these, links to resources for forecasting disasters are also provided here. The source of the reference is also given along with them. Write to us at dmis@sristi.org
Trauma Management:
Disaster stress may revive memories of prior trauma, as well as possibly intensifying pre-existing social, economic, spiritual, psychological, or medical problems. Trauma management is crucial and rescue workers as well as family members should prepare themselves to handle trauma hit members in the family. For more go to Trauma Management
Disaster Preparedness: Preparedness Questionnaire, ask yourself how prepared you are in the event of a disaster. This is a step towards getting yourself ready to meet eventualities which might save your, your families life in the event of disasters. Also you may be able to help your community to come out better during disasters. After going through this questionnaire explore resources listed above for preparedness in event of disasters as mentioned.
1. Do you think that your family is relatively well-prepared for a disaster such as an earthquake, tornado, cyclones, winter storm, fire, flood and other such incidents?
This small step to understand and equip yourself about knowledge related to disaster preparedness would help you come out from a disaster unscathed. Your well-prepared family could help save the lives of others, not just yourselves. Are you and your family prepared, ask this question to yourself first?
2. Do you believe that the community you live in is relatively well- prepared for a disaster?
Do you know about your community/ Panchayat/District, Disaster Management Plan? Is there any source of community Information system that you know of? Are you aware of any source of information to prepare yourself for disasters?
Has your District / State DMA (Disaster Management Authority) coordinator worked with local hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, shopping malls, schools, etc. to make sure they have a plan for what to do during an emergency?
3. Have you discussed disaster preparedness with your family?
If you have a plan of what you will do during a disaster but you haven't shared it with your family ahead of time, your plan may not work! Each family member needs to know how to phone for help, escape out of the house, and seek safe shelter in the house. Each family member needs to know how to be safe when they are out of the home (at work, school, play). Each family member needs to know how the family plans to reunite if it becomes impossible to return to the home.
4. Do all members of your family know how to call for help?
If you have kids, do they know how to phone for help? Do they know to dial 100 (if it is available where you live)? If you don't have 100, do you have the number of the Police, Fire, Ambulance, responsible friend/relative, etc. near the phone? Do your kids know what sort of information they will need to give over the phone (i.e., the address of the home, their last name, etc.)? Do they know to phone from outside of the house if the house is on fire? Do they know to stay off the phone during an electrical storm?
5. Have you conducted a home hazard hunt and fixed potential hazards?
Many disasters at home can be averted with a simple hazard hunt. Is the home fire-safe - no frayed electrical cords, no overloaded outlets, working smoke detectors, if any, working carbon monoxide detectors, no flammable liquids near sources of heat or flames? Are working fire extinguishers easily available? Is the home earthquake safe--no unsecured heavy objects (mirrors, bookshelves, etc.), the water heater bolted to the wall? If there is a water tank on the top of the house, then how much water should be stored in earthquake prone zones?
6. Do you have a Family Disaster Supply Kit?
In your supply kit you will need ALL of the things it will take to survive 72 hours. This will include food and water of course, but also medicines, blankets, flashlights, etc. Even if you don't put together an actual kit (although we encourage you to do so), think about having at least enough food, water and medicine at home with you to last 72 hours. (Check out this Kit)
7. Do you have a Disaster Supply Kit for each car?
A small box in the trunk of your car, other vehicle with blankets, a first-aid kit, cash, food, flashlight, radio, etc. could literally mean the difference between life and death. Every car should have a kit (atleast a first aid kit). You might want to change the contents of the kit for the different seasons of the year.
8. Are you trained in First-Aid (within the last 3 years)?
Basic first-aid, for example how to stop bleeding by applying pressure, can be crucial, even life saving knowledge. First-aid courses are often offered by and local hospitals and charitable hospital for nominal charges. Think how happy you (and the victim) will be if you are able to make use of current training in an emergency situation.
9. Are all responsible family members current in First-Aid?
Unfortunately, there is the possibility that YOU might be the victim! Does everyone in your family know basic first-aid?
10. Are you current in CPR (trained in the last 3 years)?
CPR - Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation is a simple technique that has saved many folks who would have otherwise been choking, drowning, smoke inhalation, or heart attack victims. When you think about a few hours of training saving a loved one's life, isn't it worth it?
11. Are all responsible family members current in CPR?
Again, there is the possibility that YOU might be the victim! Or, you might not be home when the incident occurs. Be sure that everyone in your family is trained.
12. Do you have operational smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors?
Having a smoke detector and/or a carbon monoxide detector in your home is NOT good enough! You need to make sure they are operational, that is, they must have working batteries. An operational smoke detector more than doubles your chance of escaping from your home alive. Two good rules of thumb are check your detectors once a month (pick a day of the month, say the 1st, and make a habit of checking the detectors every month on the 1st); when you change your clock for daylight savings/standard time, change the batteries of detectors too.
13. Do you have a charged ABC fire extinguisher?
There are three basic classes of fires. All fire extinguishers are labeled using standard symbols for the classes of fires they can put out. A red slash through any of the symbols tells you the extinguisher cannot be used on that class of fire. A missing symbol tells you only that the extinguisher has not been tested for a given class of fire.
Class A: Ordinary combustibles such as wood, cloth, paper, rubber and many plastics.
Class B: Flammable liquids such as gasoline, oil, grease, tar, oil-based paint, lacquer, and flammable gas.
Class C: Energized electrical equipment - including wiring, fuse boxes, circuit breakers, machinery, and appliances
Many household fire extinguishers are "multipurpose" A-B-C models, labeled for use on all three classes of fire. If you are ever faced with a Class A fire and don't have an extinguisher with an "A" symbol, don't hesitate to use one with the "B:C" symbol.
WARNING: It is very dangerous to use water or an extinguisher labeled only for Class A fires on a Class B or Class C fire.
Do you know where your fire extinguisher is? Do you know if it is still fully charged (they can lose their charge over time)?
14. Do you know how to use the fire extinguisher?
Using a fire extinguisher is not completely straightforward and the time to learn how to operate one is NOT during a fire. Follow the four-step PASS procedure. Pull the pin: This unlocks the operating lever and allows you to discharge the extinguisher. Aim low: Point the extinguisher nozzle (or hose) at the base of the fire. Squeeze the lever above the handle: This discharges the extinguishing agent. (Some extinguishers have a button instead of a lever.) Sweep from side-to-side: Moving carefully toward the fire, keep the extinguisher aimed at the base of the fire and sweep back and forth until the flames appear to be out. A good practice might be to purchase two fire extinguishers--one to keep and one to let each family member practice on.
15. Do you know how to turn off all utilities (gas, electricity, water, etc.)?
For a variety of reasons, it may be necessary to turn off the utilities in your home. Do you know where the water main is? Do you know where the circuit breaker box or main switch is? Does everyone in your family know NOT to turn off the electricity if you have to stand in water to do so?
16. Do you know where your family records are?
If your house burned down today would your insurance papers, household inventory, receipts, other important papers etc. burn too? A great place to keep your valuable papers (marriage certificate, birth certificates, passports, insurance papers, household inventory, etc.) is in a safe deposit box. It is probably not wise to keep your will in a safe deposit box though. A will is best kept with your lawyer or a close friend (if you die it will become difficult for others to access your safe deposit box, making it difficult for them to find your will).
17. Do you know where your family will meet outside your home in case of an emergency?
If your family is separated during an emergency you should have two contingency plans in place. The first plan should be a place to meet near your home (such as across the street at a neighbor's) if the emergency is something like your house burning down. The second plan should be a place to meet in your community, away from your home, (such as a local business or friend's house) if the emergency is something like your neighborhood being evacuated. By knowing ahead of time where to rendezvous, family members can avoid needlessly worrying about members that are fine and concentrate on family members that are unaccounted for.
18. Do you know at least two exits from every room in your house in case of a fire?
Most rooms have a door and a window. If the window is a second story window, do you have a way to escape safely (i.e., a fire ladder)?
19. Have you practiced an emergency drill in your home within the past year?
Drills are a terrific way of making sure that everyone in the family (kids and adults) understands and has the physical/mental ability to carry out the plan your family has developed. If kids get confused about whether to stay inside or leave the house during a fire for example, the time to get them straight about it is BEFORE anything happens.
20. Do you have an out-of-area phone contact?
Believe it or not, long distance phone calls are often easier to make immediately following a disaster than are local phone calls. Does everyone in your family knows to phone the contact to inform about there safety.
21. Do you know about disaster plans at your workplace, at your children's school or day care, etc.?
Few of us spend 100 percent of our time at home, so we need to know about the disaster plans at the other places we (and our loved ones) spend time. Be sure that you know what the plan is and that it is a sound plan.
22. Can you list the actual cash value of EVERY item in your home?
You may be asked to create such a list after a fire, cyclone or flood! Obviously, a wise choice is to make that list (often times called a household inventory) well before a disaster occurs. A household inventory can provide you with some excellent information for deciding how much insurance to purchase as well.
23. Some family members have special needs, for example the elderly, mobility impaired or sick. Do you have a plan for making sure these members will be safe during a disaster?
Check your family disaster plan and make sure it will work for everyone. For example, if the family plan is to seek shelter in the basement or community shelter during a cyclone warning, be sure everyone in the family is able to negotiate the stairs to the basement/shelter. If some members are unable to go to the basement/shelter, make sure you have a second plan in place for them (i.e., seek shelter in an interior room, under a heavy piece of furniture).
24. Do you have a plan for your pets?
A simple sign on your door, alerting the fire department to the fact that you have pets inside, could save your pets' lives. Bringing a pet to a temporary shelter may pose health risks that the local shelter may not be willing to cope with. It's a good idea to arrange for a place ahead of time (maybe a friend or relative) where your pets could stay temporarily in case of an emergency.
There are lots of places to go for more information about disaster preparation and planning:
Rescue International:
Formed in 1985 Rescue International (RI) is a nonprofit organization of people and companies that provide special search, rescue, and recovery services and products to requesting agencies free of charge. RI's educational programs are based on a foundation of experienced instructors teaching students skills and providing information derived from hands on experience and backed up with a written program guide and/or manual. Go to http://www.keyinternet.com/rescueintl/
RESCUE Training Resource and Guide:
Free rescue training site with a wealth of information including reference articles, online quiz's, links database, photo galleries, slideshows and much more. Created by a volunteer rescuer in Australia. Go to http://www.techrescue.org/
EPIX - Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange:
The purpose of EPIX is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information among Canadian and international public and private sector organizations about the prevention of, preparation for, recovery from and/or mitigation of risk associated with natural and socio-technological disasters. Go to http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/~anderson/index.html
Search and Rescue Institute:
The Search and Rescue Institute offers search and rescue, first aid and disaster preparedness and operations training. Go to http://www.sarinstitute.org
Stanford University Disaster Preparedness & Response:
Disaster preparedness and response resources from various parts of the world with things organized by organization/author, disaster plans, bibliographic resources, etc. Very useful links to a lot of information. Go to http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/
Safety for Everyone: Natural Disasters
This is a very useful instructional website on the basics of safety associated with day-to-day life scenes such as at home, or on the road, industry, office, etc with a special page on natural disaster. Although very fundamental, sometimes people lack even the most fundamental knowledge and hence this website can be very handy to teach kids and adults.
Fact Sheet 06: Seismic Zonation Map of India
Seismic Zonation map of a country is a guide to the seismic status of a region and its susceptibility to earthquakes. India has been divided into five zones with respect to severity of earthquakes. Of these, zone v is seismically the most active where earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more could occur recent strong motion observations around the world have revolutionized thinking on the design of engineering structures, placing emphasis also on the characteristics of the structures themselves it should be realized that in the case of shield type earthquakes, historic data are insufficient to define zones because recurrence intervals are much longer than the recorded human history this may often give a false sense of security. Occurrence of the damaging earthquake at Latur, falling in zone I is a typical example of this situation.
Dengue
Dengue is caused by a virus spread by Aedes (Stegomyia) mosquitoes. Over the past two decades there has been a dramatic global increase in the frequency of dengue fever (DF) dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) and their epidemics, with a concomitant increase in disease incidence. The World Health Report 1996 stated, that the "re-emergence of infectious diseases is a warning that progress achieved so far towards global security in health and prosperity may be wasted." The report further indicated that "infectious diseases range from those occurring in tropical areas (such as malaria and DHF which are most common in developing countries) to diseases found worldwide (such as hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS) and food-borne illnesses that affect large numbers of people in both the richer and poorer nations."
Dengue epidemics are known to have occurred over the last three centuries in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. The first epidemic of dengue was recorded in 1635 in the French West Indies, although a disease compatible with dengue had been reported in China as early as 992 AD. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, epidemics of dengue-like diseases were described globally in the tropics as well as in some temperate regions. Rush was probably describing dengue when he wrote of "break-bone fever" occurring in Philadelphia in 1780. Most of these epidemics were clinical dengue fever, although some were associated with the severe haemorrhagic form of the disease. Efforts to control Aedes aegypti and economic development have markedly reduced the threat of epidemic dengue in temperate countries during the past 50 years.
The first recorded outbreak of a dengue disease compatible with DHF occurred in Australia in 1897. A similar haemorrhagic disease was recorded in 1928 during an epidemic in Greece and again in Taiwan in 1931. The first confirmed epidemic of DHF was recorded in the Philippines in 1953-1954. Since then, major outbreaks of DHF with significant mortality have occurred in most countries of the South-East Asia Region, including India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, as well as in Singapore, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Palau, Philippines, Tahiti and Vietnam in the Western Pacific Region. Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence and geographical distribution of DHF, and epidemics now occur each year in some South-East Asian countries.
Clinical Perspective
Clinical Symptoms
Dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome
Complications and Unusual Manifestations of DF / DHF in Childhood
Prevention And Control Measures
Long Term Prevention Strategy
Frequently Asked Questions
Fact Sheets On Dengue
Dengue News
Flood
The Flood Update
The Resource Material
The emergency contact details
Technologies useful in flood affected area
The Flood Update
The recent floods in Gujarat have claimed at least 56 people and left 65, 000 people homeless. The flood has affected around 10, 000 villages in 117 talukas in the 18 districts of the state. The most affected districts include Kheda, Vadodara, Surendra Nagar, Navsari, Surat, Ahmedabad, Valsad, Anand, Amreli and Bhavnagar. Till the last available information, power supply was affected in 4547 villages and 31 town, where as 1800 electricity feeder and 667 electricity distribution transformer have been affected. In total 1, 97, 276 people have been evacuated from various flood affected districts.
Rescue & Evacuation
The first step involved in any disaster like the current flood in Gujarat is the rescue and evacuation. Though quite a lot of things go under the caption of disaster prepared ness, evacuation and a tentative blue print for dealing with the calamity are the basic ingredients of any pre-disaster preparedness plan. Evacuation is a pre-emptive move to protect life and property, where as rescue is a post-disaster phenomenon of helping people to move from areas that have been hit by disaster to a safer place. However, the situation of evacuation and rescue comes along with numerous unanswered queries in mind. Very often, due to lack of information or in haste, living during evacuation and rescue becomes difficult and painful. However, during such the situations, following precautionary norms should be kept in mind.
Preparing for a Flood
Here are some basic steps to take to prepare for the flood:
Contact the local geologist or town planning department or meteorology department to find out if your home is located in a flash-flood-prone area or landslide-prone area.
Learn about your community's emergency plans, warning signals, evacuation routes, and locations of emergency shelters.
Plan and practice a flood evacuation route with your family. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to be the "family contact" in case your family is separated during a flood. Make sure everyone in your family knows the name, address, and phone number of this contact person.
Post emergency phone numbers at every phone.
Inform local authorities about any special needs, i.e., elderly or bedridden people, or anyone with a disability.
Identify potential home hazards and know how to secure or protect them before the flood strikes. Be prepared to turn off electrical power when there is standing water, fallen power lines etc. Turn off gas and water supplies before you evacuate. Secure structurally unstable building materials.
Buy a fire extinguisher and make sure your family knows where it is and how to use it.
Buy and install sump pumps with back-up power.
Have a licensed electrician to raise electric components (switches, sockets, circuit breakers and wiring) at least 12" above your home's projected flood elevation.
For drains, toilets, and other sewer connections, install backflow valves or plugs to prevent floodwaters from entering.
Anchor fuel tanks which can contaminate your basement if torn free. An unanchored tank outside can be swept downstream and damage other houses.
If you are under a flood watch or warning:
Gather the emergency supplies you previously stocked in your home and stay tuned to local radio or television station for updates.
Turn off all utilities at the main power switch and close the main gas valve if evacuation appears necessary.
Have your immunization records handy or be aware of your last tetanus shot, in case you should receive a puncture wound or a wound becomes contaminated during or after the flood.
Fill bathtubs, sinks and plastic soda bottles with clean water. Sanitize the sinks and tubs first by using bleach. Rinse and fill with clean water.
Bring outdoor possessions, such as lawn furniture, grills and trash cans inside or tie them down securely.
Emergency Supplies You Will Need
You should stock your home with supplies that may be needed during the emergency period. At a minimum, these supplies should include:
Several clean containers for water, large enough for a 3-5 day supply of water (about five gallons for each person).
A 3-5 day supply of non-perishable food and a non-electric can opener.
A first aid kit and manual and prescription medicines and special medical needs.
A battery-powered radio, flashlights, and extra batteries.
Sleeping bags or extra blankets.
Water-purifying supplies, such as chlorine or iodine tablets or unscented, ordinary household chlorine bleach.
Baby food and/or prepared formula, diapers, and other baby supplies.
Disposable cleaning cloths, such as "baby wipes" for the whole family to use in case bathing facilities are not available.
Personal hygiene supplies, such as soap, toothpaste, sanitary napkins, etc.
An emergency kit for your car with food, flares, booster cables, maps, tools, a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, sleeping bags, etc.
Rubber boots, sturdy shoes, and waterproof gloves.
Insect repellent containing DEET, screens, or long-sleeved and long-legged clothing for protection from mosquitoes which may gather in pooled water remaining after the flood.
Preparing to Evacuate
Expect the need to evacuate and prepare for it. When a flood watch is issued, you should:
Fill your vehicle's gas tank and make sure the emergency kit for your car is ready.
If no vehicle is available, make arrangements with friends or family for transportation.
Fill your clean water containers.
Review your emergency plans and supplies, checking to see if any items are missing.
Tune in the radio or television for weather updates.
Listen for disaster sirens and warning signals.
Put livestock and family pets in a safe area. Due to food and sanitation requirements, emergency shelters cannot accept animals.
Adjust the thermostat on refrigerators and freezers to the coolest possible temperature.
If You Are Ordered to Evacuate
You should never ignore an evacuation order. Authorities will direct you to leave if you are in a low-lying area, or within the greatest potential path of the rising waters. If a flood warning is issued for your area or you are directed by authorities to evacuate the area, follow the below mentioned checklists:
Take only essential items with you.
If you have time, turn off the gas, electricity, and water.
Disconnect appliances to prevent electrical shock when power is restored.
Follow the designated evacuation routes and expect heavy traffic.
Do not attempt to drive or walk across creeks or flooded roads.
If You Are Ordered NOT to Evacuate
To get through the storm in the safest possible manner:
Monitor the radio or television for weather updates.
Prepare to evacuate to a shelter or to a neighbour's home if your home is damaged, or if you are instructed to do so by emergency personnel.
What is Tsunami?
A tsunami (pronounced su-nah-me) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life.
Introduction:-
Poverty is a significant problem in India considering the fact that India is the home of nearly 400 million poor people. Poverty is a root cause for many other problems including population explosion, child labor and crime proliferation. For India to prosper, the most important goal is to achieve poverty alleviation for millions of its citizens and poverty reduction would have a significant impact on reaching the other objectives for a modern state. However, poverty removal would require the partial solution to the other major problems, including illiteracy and gender bias.
//
Factors Responsible for Poverty
Incidence of poverty is strongly dependent of various social, economic and natural factors. Being a nation of 1 billion people compacted in a region one-third the size of United States and heavy concentration of population in lands far from the access to sea, complicates the problem. The nation has a large variety of tribals, who do not have access to any of the gifts of modern world but suffer the negative aspects of modernization, including pollution and global warming.
Natural Factors
The natural factors responsible for poverty include:
Heavy concentration of population over a large area (the country houses more people than Europe, Africa, North America & South America).
Predominant dependence on seasonal rainfall for agriculture (agriculture employs nearly 70% of the people and majority of the cultivation depend solely upon rain and the rainfall pattern can vary significantly from year-to-year).
Majority of dense populated regions (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab) are far from the access to the sea (oceans and seas are very critical to the economic development of nations).
Social Factors
The social factors include:
Around 430 million people are illiterate (majority of them are poor) and illiteracy forces people to stick to ancestral jobs and prevents people from having job flexibility
Caste System prohibited access to lucrative jobs to a vast majority of the people. Though, such institutions have been dismantled in the last 50 years, its presence can still be seen in rural areas.
Causes of Poverty
Author and Page information
by Anup Shah
This Page Last Updated Saturday, December 27, 2008
Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
— More Facts (and Sources) »
Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deeper and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed.
Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people.
In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle.
These next few articles and sections explore various poverty issues in more depth:
Articles on “Causes of Poverty”:
Poverty Facts and Stats
Last updated Wednesday, September 03, 2008.
Most of humanity lives on just a few dollars a day. Whether you live in the wealthiest nations in the world or the poorest, you will see high levels of inequality. The poorest people will also have less access to health, education and other services. Problems of hunger, malnutrition and disease afflict the poorest in society. The poorest are also typically marginalized from society and have little representation or voice in public and political debates, making it even harder to escape poverty. By contrast, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to benefit from economic or political policies. The amount the world spends on military, financial bailouts and other areas that benefit the wealthy, compared to the amount spent to address the daily crisis of poverty and related problems are often staggering. Some facts and figures on poverty are an eye-opener, to say the least.
Read “Poverty Facts and Stats” to learn more.
Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty
Last updated Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies to compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. This has increased poverty and inequality for most people. It also forms a backbone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic unequal rules of trade.
Read “Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty” to learn more.
Poverty Around The World
Last updated Saturday, November 22, 2008.
Inequality is increasing around the world while the world appears to globalize. Even the wealthiest nation has the largest gap between rich and poor compared to other developed nations. In many cases, international politics and various interests have led to a diversion of available resources from domestic needs to western markets. Historically, politics and power play by the elite leaders and rulers have increased poverty and dependency. These have often manifested themselves in wars, hot and cold, which have often been trade- and resource-related. Mercantilist practices, while presented as free trade, still happen today. Poverty is therefore not just an economic issue, it is also an issue of political economics.
Today, over 26,500 children died around the world
Last updated Thursday, January 31, 2008.
Around the world, 27–30,000 children die every day. That is equivalent to 1 child dying every 3 seconds, 20 children dying every minute, a 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every week, or 10–11 million children dying every year. Over 50 million children died between 2000 and 2005. The silent killers are poverty, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
Read “Today, over 26,500 children died around the world” to learn more.
World Hunger and Poverty
Last updated Sunday, July 06, 2008.
Read “World Hunger and Poverty” to learn more.
Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty
Last updated Monday, December 10, 2007.
Read “Food Dumping [Aid] Maintains Poverty” to learn more.
Food and Agriculture Issues
Last updated Sunday, July 06, 2008.
Read “Food and Agriculture Issues” to learn more.
Trade, Economy, & Related Issues
Last updated Thursday, January 15, 2009.
Read “Trade, Economy, & Related Issues” to learn more.
Corruption
Last updated Saturday, December 27, 2008.
We often hear leaders from rich countries telling poor countries that aid and loans will only be given when they show they are stamping out corruption. While that definitely needs to happen, the rich countries themselves are often active in the largest forms of corruption in those poor countries, and many economic policies they prescribe have exacerbated the problem. Corruption in developing countries definitely must be high on the priority lists, but so too must it be on the priority lists of rich countries.
Read “Corruption” to learn more.
US and Foreign Aid Assistance
Last updated Friday, January 02, 2009.
Since 1970, the world’s rich countries agreed to give 0.7% of their gross national income as official international development aid. Since that time, billions have certainly been given, but rarely have these rich nations actually met their agreed target. For example, the US is often the largest donor in dollar terms, but often ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the stated 0.7% target. Furthermore, aid has often come with a price of its own for the developing nations. This article explores who has benefited most from this aid, the recipients or the donors.
United Nations World Summit 2005
Last updated Sunday, September 18, 2005.
The UN World Summit for September 2005 is supposed to review progress since the Millennium Declaration, adopted by all Member States in 2000. However, the US has proposed enormous changes to an outcome document that is to be signed by all members. There are changes on almost all accounts, including striking any mention of the Millennium Development Goals, that aim for example, to halve poverty and world hunger by 2015. This has led to concerns that the outcome document will be weakened. Developing countries are also worried about stronger text on human rights and about giving the UN Security Council more powers.
IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.
Last updated Friday, July 13, 2001.
To complement the public protests in Seattle, the week leading up to April 16th/17th 2000 saw the other two global institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, as the focus of renewed protests and criticisms in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the mass demonstrations was to protest against the current form of globalization, which is seen as unaccountable, corporate-led, and non-democratic, and to show the link between poverty and the various policies of the IMF and the World Bank.
Read “IMF & World Bank Protests, Washington D.C.” to learn more.
Economic Democracy
Posted Sunday, November 26, 2000.
This next page is a reposting of a flyer about a new book from J.W. Smith and the Institute for Economic Democracy, whom I thank for their kind permission. The book is called Economic Democracy: The Political Struggle Of The 21st Century. Typically on this site, I do not advertise books etc, (although I will cite from and link to some, where relevant). However, in this case, I found that the text in the flyer provides an excellent summary of poverty's historic roots, as well as of the multitude of issues that cause poverty. (Please also note that I do not make any proceeds from the sale of this book in any way.)
Poverty Links for More Information
Last updated Monday, April 28, 2003.
Links to other sites discussion issues on trade, the global economy, poverty and other related issues.
Trade, Economic Links For More Information
Last updated Wednesday, July 25, 2001.
Read “Trade, Economic Links For More Information” to learn more.
World hunger related links for more information
Last updated Monday, December 10, 2007.
Links to web sites and articles that discuss world hunger, the relationship between populations and hunger, of poverty and hunger, agricultural issues, land rights and so on.
Natural Disasters
Earthquake
Dengue
Flood
TSUNAMI
When earthquake hit Gujarat on 26 January 2001and more than 20000 people died, we thought as a society we would learn to cope with disaster better. It seems that 20000 lives were not enough of a price to pay for shaking the bureaucracy and civil society to learn to cope with disasters with greater efficiency. Most disasters after the first 24 hours assume more or less typical characteristics in which the problems can be anticipated and response system can be put in place. We had developed a year later a Disaster Management Information System (www.sristi.org/dmis_cms). The idea was that civil society volunteers will provide information about what kind of support they can extend (material, professional, financial, technological, infrastructural, etc.), within what range of distance from their residence, and whether they will like their details to be put on the website. For instance, about 118 ham radio operators in Gujarat had agreed to put their information through their associations in the database. They can be directly contacted and their services requested for the purpose. The question is, were they contacted in the recent disaster in the south India, perhaps not. Similarly, transporters, crane owners, hardware stockists who have concrete cutters or other devices to clear the debris, medical professionals, mobile x-ray machines, mobile clinics, etc., are well known equipments and services needed in the hour of emergency. We know that water bodies often get affected adversely and fresh water becomes a necessity. In some cases, the water storage structures were damaged. When electricity was resumed, the tubewells would work but where would one store the water.
Many times, the difference between a person buried under the debris surviving or not depended upon the method of removing debris and the time taken to remove it. Some people survived for as many as five to six days without any support from outside. Therefore, the chances of finding survivors even now are high.
Why is it that the civil administration at all the levels in the government does not learn? While talking to the Army Officers after few months of disaster in Gujarat, I had mentioned that the efficiency of the army often masked the inefficiency of the civic administration. Even if immediate relief is provided well, in some cases, the problem of long term rehabilitation receive much less attention. The coastal fishing communities would come under the clutches of money lenders if fishing nets, boats and other such means of livelihood were not provided at extremely soft conditions. Any negligence of this function will mean imposing a second disaster on the people and this would be designed, deliberate and delivered with efficiency.
What can we do now:
1. Disaster Management Information System must be built in every district of the country linked with each other, available on the web and also in public libraries. We should know where are the inventories available of critical equipments, skills, resources and information and how can one access them on voluntary or payment basis. The database of various services and infrastructure in private, public and voluntary sectors should be updated regularly. Every college should take responsibility for collecting and updating information about certain categories of services or equipments. Simple information such as about ham radio operators can be put on the web without fail.
2. Just as we have national services scheme, we must now think of national disaster management volunteers who would receive training and be empowered to organize themselves as effective teams for helping local communities around them. No amount of state help can substitute for community based structures for self help. Supreme Court had passed judgments and given advice for starting courses on disaster management in various educational institutions. Have we ever monitored how many such courses exist and what quality of preparedness has been achieved?
3. The major tragedy will begin when the media will get interested in new issues, fight among some other politicians or corporate games. Resources would be required for repairing and building the primary school buildings, primary health centres, livestock, clinics, tree climbing devices for palm workers, herbal and other medicines, mat making machines, and machines which can use materials from damaged trees and bio waste, old bamboo scrap, processing machine for various edible and non-edible oilseeds, etc. A proper rehabilitation plan will have to be built for each village affected by the disaster with proper accountability structure. The accounts of every investment must be made public and people should be able to know how much funds were mobilized by which NGO or government agency and how were they used for the purpose.
4. In cases where fishing communities or island based indigenous / tribal communities have been affected very severely, long term rehabilitation plans have to be initiated. These plans must learn from the mistakes made in earlier rehabilitation projects.
5. There is very important need to document the experience of the damage caused and ensuing suffering along with the coping strategies of local communities and administration. Some novel lessons would emerge.
6. One of the major problems in relief is that what is needed where is often not known to the people who want to provide support. The result is that lot of materials get wasted or misdirected. We need to put a spreadsheet immediately on the web pointing out village wise needs, contact persons’ names and addresses so that civil society efforts can be targeted more efficiently. We had tried to put an inventory management system in place after Gujarat earthquake with the help of our students and faculty. The students had stacked the relief material received from all over the country in Kutchh and given assorted sheets to the Relief Commissioner. Where we failed was to link this system with GIS so that one could track the deliveries, collect the response and also avoid pilferages. It will be useful if some of the IT firms in Chennai would volunteer to create such a GIS so that people can update the demand and supply information and every unit of material is optimally utilized.
7. The psychological rehabilitation is no less important. The children affected the by the shock and tragedy are particularly vulnerable. The arrangements for adoption of orphan children with proper community care have to be put in place.
8. It is very disheartening to hear that in large number of cases of dead people, the Public Health authorities have been reportedly hesitant in maintaining proper records. It might save the state and central governments some money from the compensation fund but it would certainly inflict damage on the social conscience of the society. If the rehabilitation funds reach late, they are as good as not given. Unless central government ensures delivery of compensation through community control systems within next 24 hours, the fairness in the system will become more and more difficult to achieve with every passing day. While we still need immediate help, the long term rehabilitation must be simultaneously planned.
Large number of students in various academic institutions must learn to share the pain of those who have suffered in an extraordinary tragedy. Without finding fault with government or other agencies, the duty of every right thinking person at this moment is to take initiative and contribute one’s mite in alleviating suffering in whichever way we can.
I have no hesitation in saying that adequate long term learning measures were not undertaken after Gujarat earthquake. And if these are not undertaken again, we will all have to blame ourselves for not equipping our country with better self help and more efficient information systems. We had issued an appeal given below three years ago:
Natural disasters impart lessons at a very high cost of life and property. But if those lessons do not lead to learning and knowledge generation, then the cost seems even heavier. At the time of disaster recurrence, the failure to learn from the past hurts the most. The earthquake in Gujarat and the subsequent chaos were indicators of how crucial prior planning is in managing relief and rehabilitation during disasters. The Kutchh region required massive and immediate assistance at that time, which came but was very poorly managed. This made the need for a proper disaster mitigation plan very apparent. Learning from experience is essential in building a knowledge resource which would help in being better prepared in the future.
SRISTI & IIMACORE have started an initiative for developing a society based “Disaster Management Information System” to be accessible to all in time of such emergencies. The system is accessible on SRISTI’s website. We call upon everyone to volunteer and participate in the initiative. You may volunteer your services and/ or resources, and share your experiences, research studies, publications etc at this website. This is an effort to pool resources towards better preparedness at the time of future disasters. www.sristi.org/dmis_cms
Let us wish that such calamities never happen again. But if they do then we must be prepared. (http://www.sristi.org/english/dmis/dmsmessage.html)
We must once again try to nudge the National Disaster Management Authority in supporting civil society initiatives to build a decentralized DMIS so that at least next time our response time is faster, quality of relief better and our preparedness much higher than what was in the last few days.
Disaster Mitigation & Emergency Preparedness
Emergency preparedness is crucial for coming out from disasters with least damage. Just the knowledge of what to do, may help save lives of you and your family. Here are collection of studies and links of documentation related to disasters preparedness also as per the type of disaster. Besides these, links to resources for forecasting disasters are also provided here. The source of the reference is also given along with them. Write to us at dmis@sristi.org
Trauma Management:
Disaster stress may revive memories of prior trauma, as well as possibly intensifying pre-existing social, economic, spiritual, psychological, or medical problems. Trauma management is crucial and rescue workers as well as family members should prepare themselves to handle trauma hit members in the family. For more go to Trauma Management
Disaster Preparedness: Preparedness Questionnaire, ask yourself how prepared you are in the event of a disaster. This is a step towards getting yourself ready to meet eventualities which might save your, your families life in the event of disasters. Also you may be able to help your community to come out better during disasters. After going through this questionnaire explore resources listed above for preparedness in event of disasters as mentioned.
1. Do you think that your family is relatively well-prepared for a disaster such as an earthquake, tornado, cyclones, winter storm, fire, flood and other such incidents?
This small step to understand and equip yourself about knowledge related to disaster preparedness would help you come out from a disaster unscathed. Your well-prepared family could help save the lives of others, not just yourselves. Are you and your family prepared, ask this question to yourself first?
2. Do you believe that the community you live in is relatively well- prepared for a disaster?
Do you know about your community/ Panchayat/District, Disaster Management Plan? Is there any source of community Information system that you know of? Are you aware of any source of information to prepare yourself for disasters?
Has your District / State DMA (Disaster Management Authority) coordinator worked with local hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, shopping malls, schools, etc. to make sure they have a plan for what to do during an emergency?
3. Have you discussed disaster preparedness with your family?
If you have a plan of what you will do during a disaster but you haven't shared it with your family ahead of time, your plan may not work! Each family member needs to know how to phone for help, escape out of the house, and seek safe shelter in the house. Each family member needs to know how to be safe when they are out of the home (at work, school, play). Each family member needs to know how the family plans to reunite if it becomes impossible to return to the home.
4. Do all members of your family know how to call for help?
If you have kids, do they know how to phone for help? Do they know to dial 100 (if it is available where you live)? If you don't have 100, do you have the number of the Police, Fire, Ambulance, responsible friend/relative, etc. near the phone? Do your kids know what sort of information they will need to give over the phone (i.e., the address of the home, their last name, etc.)? Do they know to phone from outside of the house if the house is on fire? Do they know to stay off the phone during an electrical storm?
5. Have you conducted a home hazard hunt and fixed potential hazards?
Many disasters at home can be averted with a simple hazard hunt. Is the home fire-safe - no frayed electrical cords, no overloaded outlets, working smoke detectors, if any, working carbon monoxide detectors, no flammable liquids near sources of heat or flames? Are working fire extinguishers easily available? Is the home earthquake safe--no unsecured heavy objects (mirrors, bookshelves, etc.), the water heater bolted to the wall? If there is a water tank on the top of the house, then how much water should be stored in earthquake prone zones?
6. Do you have a Family Disaster Supply Kit?
In your supply kit you will need ALL of the things it will take to survive 72 hours. This will include food and water of course, but also medicines, blankets, flashlights, etc. Even if you don't put together an actual kit (although we encourage you to do so), think about having at least enough food, water and medicine at home with you to last 72 hours. (Check out this Kit)
7. Do you have a Disaster Supply Kit for each car?
A small box in the trunk of your car, other vehicle with blankets, a first-aid kit, cash, food, flashlight, radio, etc. could literally mean the difference between life and death. Every car should have a kit (atleast a first aid kit). You might want to change the contents of the kit for the different seasons of the year.
8. Are you trained in First-Aid (within the last 3 years)?
Basic first-aid, for example how to stop bleeding by applying pressure, can be crucial, even life saving knowledge. First-aid courses are often offered by and local hospitals and charitable hospital for nominal charges. Think how happy you (and the victim) will be if you are able to make use of current training in an emergency situation.
9. Are all responsible family members current in First-Aid?
Unfortunately, there is the possibility that YOU might be the victim! Does everyone in your family know basic first-aid?
10. Are you current in CPR (trained in the last 3 years)?
CPR - Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation is a simple technique that has saved many folks who would have otherwise been choking, drowning, smoke inhalation, or heart attack victims. When you think about a few hours of training saving a loved one's life, isn't it worth it?
11. Are all responsible family members current in CPR?
Again, there is the possibility that YOU might be the victim! Or, you might not be home when the incident occurs. Be sure that everyone in your family is trained.
12. Do you have operational smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors?
Having a smoke detector and/or a carbon monoxide detector in your home is NOT good enough! You need to make sure they are operational, that is, they must have working batteries. An operational smoke detector more than doubles your chance of escaping from your home alive. Two good rules of thumb are check your detectors once a month (pick a day of the month, say the 1st, and make a habit of checking the detectors every month on the 1st); when you change your clock for daylight savings/standard time, change the batteries of detectors too.
13. Do you have a charged ABC fire extinguisher?
There are three basic classes of fires. All fire extinguishers are labeled using standard symbols for the classes of fires they can put out. A red slash through any of the symbols tells you the extinguisher cannot be used on that class of fire. A missing symbol tells you only that the extinguisher has not been tested for a given class of fire.
Class A: Ordinary combustibles such as wood, cloth, paper, rubber and many plastics.
Class B: Flammable liquids such as gasoline, oil, grease, tar, oil-based paint, lacquer, and flammable gas.
Class C: Energized electrical equipment - including wiring, fuse boxes, circuit breakers, machinery, and appliances
Many household fire extinguishers are "multipurpose" A-B-C models, labeled for use on all three classes of fire. If you are ever faced with a Class A fire and don't have an extinguisher with an "A" symbol, don't hesitate to use one with the "B:C" symbol.
WARNING: It is very dangerous to use water or an extinguisher labeled only for Class A fires on a Class B or Class C fire.
Do you know where your fire extinguisher is? Do you know if it is still fully charged (they can lose their charge over time)?
14. Do you know how to use the fire extinguisher?
Using a fire extinguisher is not completely straightforward and the time to learn how to operate one is NOT during a fire. Follow the four-step PASS procedure. Pull the pin: This unlocks the operating lever and allows you to discharge the extinguisher. Aim low: Point the extinguisher nozzle (or hose) at the base of the fire. Squeeze the lever above the handle: This discharges the extinguishing agent. (Some extinguishers have a button instead of a lever.) Sweep from side-to-side: Moving carefully toward the fire, keep the extinguisher aimed at the base of the fire and sweep back and forth until the flames appear to be out. A good practice might be to purchase two fire extinguishers--one to keep and one to let each family member practice on.
15. Do you know how to turn off all utilities (gas, electricity, water, etc.)?
For a variety of reasons, it may be necessary to turn off the utilities in your home. Do you know where the water main is? Do you know where the circuit breaker box or main switch is? Does everyone in your family know NOT to turn off the electricity if you have to stand in water to do so?
16. Do you know where your family records are?
If your house burned down today would your insurance papers, household inventory, receipts, other important papers etc. burn too? A great place to keep your valuable papers (marriage certificate, birth certificates, passports, insurance papers, household inventory, etc.) is in a safe deposit box. It is probably not wise to keep your will in a safe deposit box though. A will is best kept with your lawyer or a close friend (if you die it will become difficult for others to access your safe deposit box, making it difficult for them to find your will).
17. Do you know where your family will meet outside your home in case of an emergency?
If your family is separated during an emergency you should have two contingency plans in place. The first plan should be a place to meet near your home (such as across the street at a neighbor's) if the emergency is something like your house burning down. The second plan should be a place to meet in your community, away from your home, (such as a local business or friend's house) if the emergency is something like your neighborhood being evacuated. By knowing ahead of time where to rendezvous, family members can avoid needlessly worrying about members that are fine and concentrate on family members that are unaccounted for.
18. Do you know at least two exits from every room in your house in case of a fire?
Most rooms have a door and a window. If the window is a second story window, do you have a way to escape safely (i.e., a fire ladder)?
19. Have you practiced an emergency drill in your home within the past year?
Drills are a terrific way of making sure that everyone in the family (kids and adults) understands and has the physical/mental ability to carry out the plan your family has developed. If kids get confused about whether to stay inside or leave the house during a fire for example, the time to get them straight about it is BEFORE anything happens.
20. Do you have an out-of-area phone contact?
Believe it or not, long distance phone calls are often easier to make immediately following a disaster than are local phone calls. Does everyone in your family knows to phone the contact to inform about there safety.
21. Do you know about disaster plans at your workplace, at your children's school or day care, etc.?
Few of us spend 100 percent of our time at home, so we need to know about the disaster plans at the other places we (and our loved ones) spend time. Be sure that you know what the plan is and that it is a sound plan.
22. Can you list the actual cash value of EVERY item in your home?
You may be asked to create such a list after a fire, cyclone or flood! Obviously, a wise choice is to make that list (often times called a household inventory) well before a disaster occurs. A household inventory can provide you with some excellent information for deciding how much insurance to purchase as well.
23. Some family members have special needs, for example the elderly, mobility impaired or sick. Do you have a plan for making sure these members will be safe during a disaster?
Check your family disaster plan and make sure it will work for everyone. For example, if the family plan is to seek shelter in the basement or community shelter during a cyclone warning, be sure everyone in the family is able to negotiate the stairs to the basement/shelter. If some members are unable to go to the basement/shelter, make sure you have a second plan in place for them (i.e., seek shelter in an interior room, under a heavy piece of furniture).
24. Do you have a plan for your pets?
A simple sign on your door, alerting the fire department to the fact that you have pets inside, could save your pets' lives. Bringing a pet to a temporary shelter may pose health risks that the local shelter may not be willing to cope with. It's a good idea to arrange for a place ahead of time (maybe a friend or relative) where your pets could stay temporarily in case of an emergency.
There are lots of places to go for more information about disaster preparation and planning:
Rescue International:
Formed in 1985 Rescue International (RI) is a nonprofit organization of people and companies that provide special search, rescue, and recovery services and products to requesting agencies free of charge. RI's educational programs are based on a foundation of experienced instructors teaching students skills and providing information derived from hands on experience and backed up with a written program guide and/or manual. Go to http://www.keyinternet.com/rescueintl/
RESCUE Training Resource and Guide:
Free rescue training site with a wealth of information including reference articles, online quiz's, links database, photo galleries, slideshows and much more. Created by a volunteer rescuer in Australia. Go to http://www.techrescue.org/
EPIX - Emergency Preparedness Information eXchange:
The purpose of EPIX is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information among Canadian and international public and private sector organizations about the prevention of, preparation for, recovery from and/or mitigation of risk associated with natural and socio-technological disasters. Go to http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/~anderson/index.html
Search and Rescue Institute:
The Search and Rescue Institute offers search and rescue, first aid and disaster preparedness and operations training. Go to http://www.sarinstitute.org
Stanford University Disaster Preparedness & Response:
Disaster preparedness and response resources from various parts of the world with things organized by organization/author, disaster plans, bibliographic resources, etc. Very useful links to a lot of information. Go to http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/
Safety for Everyone: Natural Disasters
This is a very useful instructional website on the basics of safety associated with day-to-day life scenes such as at home, or on the road, industry, office, etc with a special page on natural disaster. Although very fundamental, sometimes people lack even the most fundamental knowledge and hence this website can be very handy to teach kids and adults.
Fact Sheet 06: Seismic Zonation Map of India
Seismic Zonation map of a country is a guide to the seismic status of a region and its susceptibility to earthquakes. India has been divided into five zones with respect to severity of earthquakes. Of these, zone v is seismically the most active where earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more could occur recent strong motion observations around the world have revolutionized thinking on the design of engineering structures, placing emphasis also on the characteristics of the structures themselves it should be realized that in the case of shield type earthquakes, historic data are insufficient to define zones because recurrence intervals are much longer than the recorded human history this may often give a false sense of security. Occurrence of the damaging earthquake at Latur, falling in zone I is a typical example of this situation.
Dengue
Dengue is caused by a virus spread by Aedes (Stegomyia) mosquitoes. Over the past two decades there has been a dramatic global increase in the frequency of dengue fever (DF) dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) and their epidemics, with a concomitant increase in disease incidence. The World Health Report 1996 stated, that the "re-emergence of infectious diseases is a warning that progress achieved so far towards global security in health and prosperity may be wasted." The report further indicated that "infectious diseases range from those occurring in tropical areas (such as malaria and DHF which are most common in developing countries) to diseases found worldwide (such as hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS) and food-borne illnesses that affect large numbers of people in both the richer and poorer nations."
Dengue epidemics are known to have occurred over the last three centuries in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. The first epidemic of dengue was recorded in 1635 in the French West Indies, although a disease compatible with dengue had been reported in China as early as 992 AD. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, epidemics of dengue-like diseases were described globally in the tropics as well as in some temperate regions. Rush was probably describing dengue when he wrote of "break-bone fever" occurring in Philadelphia in 1780. Most of these epidemics were clinical dengue fever, although some were associated with the severe haemorrhagic form of the disease. Efforts to control Aedes aegypti and economic development have markedly reduced the threat of epidemic dengue in temperate countries during the past 50 years.
The first recorded outbreak of a dengue disease compatible with DHF occurred in Australia in 1897. A similar haemorrhagic disease was recorded in 1928 during an epidemic in Greece and again in Taiwan in 1931. The first confirmed epidemic of DHF was recorded in the Philippines in 1953-1954. Since then, major outbreaks of DHF with significant mortality have occurred in most countries of the South-East Asia Region, including India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, as well as in Singapore, Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, New Caledonia, Palau, Philippines, Tahiti and Vietnam in the Western Pacific Region. Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the incidence and geographical distribution of DHF, and epidemics now occur each year in some South-East Asian countries.
Clinical Perspective
Clinical Symptoms
Dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome
Complications and Unusual Manifestations of DF / DHF in Childhood
Prevention And Control Measures
Long Term Prevention Strategy
Frequently Asked Questions
Fact Sheets On Dengue
Dengue News
Flood
The Flood Update
The Resource Material
The emergency contact details
Technologies useful in flood affected area
The Flood Update
The recent floods in Gujarat have claimed at least 56 people and left 65, 000 people homeless. The flood has affected around 10, 000 villages in 117 talukas in the 18 districts of the state. The most affected districts include Kheda, Vadodara, Surendra Nagar, Navsari, Surat, Ahmedabad, Valsad, Anand, Amreli and Bhavnagar. Till the last available information, power supply was affected in 4547 villages and 31 town, where as 1800 electricity feeder and 667 electricity distribution transformer have been affected. In total 1, 97, 276 people have been evacuated from various flood affected districts.
Rescue & Evacuation
The first step involved in any disaster like the current flood in Gujarat is the rescue and evacuation. Though quite a lot of things go under the caption of disaster prepared ness, evacuation and a tentative blue print for dealing with the calamity are the basic ingredients of any pre-disaster preparedness plan. Evacuation is a pre-emptive move to protect life and property, where as rescue is a post-disaster phenomenon of helping people to move from areas that have been hit by disaster to a safer place. However, the situation of evacuation and rescue comes along with numerous unanswered queries in mind. Very often, due to lack of information or in haste, living during evacuation and rescue becomes difficult and painful. However, during such the situations, following precautionary norms should be kept in mind.
Preparing for a Flood
Here are some basic steps to take to prepare for the flood:
Contact the local geologist or town planning department or meteorology department to find out if your home is located in a flash-flood-prone area or landslide-prone area.
Learn about your community's emergency plans, warning signals, evacuation routes, and locations of emergency shelters.
Plan and practice a flood evacuation route with your family. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to be the "family contact" in case your family is separated during a flood. Make sure everyone in your family knows the name, address, and phone number of this contact person.
Post emergency phone numbers at every phone.
Inform local authorities about any special needs, i.e., elderly or bedridden people, or anyone with a disability.
Identify potential home hazards and know how to secure or protect them before the flood strikes. Be prepared to turn off electrical power when there is standing water, fallen power lines etc. Turn off gas and water supplies before you evacuate. Secure structurally unstable building materials.
Buy a fire extinguisher and make sure your family knows where it is and how to use it.
Buy and install sump pumps with back-up power.
Have a licensed electrician to raise electric components (switches, sockets, circuit breakers and wiring) at least 12" above your home's projected flood elevation.
For drains, toilets, and other sewer connections, install backflow valves or plugs to prevent floodwaters from entering.
Anchor fuel tanks which can contaminate your basement if torn free. An unanchored tank outside can be swept downstream and damage other houses.
If you are under a flood watch or warning:
Gather the emergency supplies you previously stocked in your home and stay tuned to local radio or television station for updates.
Turn off all utilities at the main power switch and close the main gas valve if evacuation appears necessary.
Have your immunization records handy or be aware of your last tetanus shot, in case you should receive a puncture wound or a wound becomes contaminated during or after the flood.
Fill bathtubs, sinks and plastic soda bottles with clean water. Sanitize the sinks and tubs first by using bleach. Rinse and fill with clean water.
Bring outdoor possessions, such as lawn furniture, grills and trash cans inside or tie them down securely.
Emergency Supplies You Will Need
You should stock your home with supplies that may be needed during the emergency period. At a minimum, these supplies should include:
Several clean containers for water, large enough for a 3-5 day supply of water (about five gallons for each person).
A 3-5 day supply of non-perishable food and a non-electric can opener.
A first aid kit and manual and prescription medicines and special medical needs.
A battery-powered radio, flashlights, and extra batteries.
Sleeping bags or extra blankets.
Water-purifying supplies, such as chlorine or iodine tablets or unscented, ordinary household chlorine bleach.
Baby food and/or prepared formula, diapers, and other baby supplies.
Disposable cleaning cloths, such as "baby wipes" for the whole family to use in case bathing facilities are not available.
Personal hygiene supplies, such as soap, toothpaste, sanitary napkins, etc.
An emergency kit for your car with food, flares, booster cables, maps, tools, a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, sleeping bags, etc.
Rubber boots, sturdy shoes, and waterproof gloves.
Insect repellent containing DEET, screens, or long-sleeved and long-legged clothing for protection from mosquitoes which may gather in pooled water remaining after the flood.
Preparing to Evacuate
Expect the need to evacuate and prepare for it. When a flood watch is issued, you should:
Fill your vehicle's gas tank and make sure the emergency kit for your car is ready.
If no vehicle is available, make arrangements with friends or family for transportation.
Fill your clean water containers.
Review your emergency plans and supplies, checking to see if any items are missing.
Tune in the radio or television for weather updates.
Listen for disaster sirens and warning signals.
Put livestock and family pets in a safe area. Due to food and sanitation requirements, emergency shelters cannot accept animals.
Adjust the thermostat on refrigerators and freezers to the coolest possible temperature.
If You Are Ordered to Evacuate
You should never ignore an evacuation order. Authorities will direct you to leave if you are in a low-lying area, or within the greatest potential path of the rising waters. If a flood warning is issued for your area or you are directed by authorities to evacuate the area, follow the below mentioned checklists:
Take only essential items with you.
If you have time, turn off the gas, electricity, and water.
Disconnect appliances to prevent electrical shock when power is restored.
Follow the designated evacuation routes and expect heavy traffic.
Do not attempt to drive or walk across creeks or flooded roads.
If You Are Ordered NOT to Evacuate
To get through the storm in the safest possible manner:
Monitor the radio or television for weather updates.
Prepare to evacuate to a shelter or to a neighbour's home if your home is damaged, or if you are instructed to do so by emergency personnel.
What is Tsunami?
A tsunami (pronounced su-nah-me) is a wave train, or series of waves, generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even the impact of cosmic bodies, such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
