Supplementary Discussion: The Primary Process

An amazing aspect of the Postulate #1 process of the Natural Universe

Conrad Ranzan
DSSU Research, Niagara Falls, Canada www.CellularUniverse.org
2008

The first step toward knowing anything is to find and understand its cause.
--from Aristotle's famous doctrine of the four causes.

By focusing on causes Aristotle is not merely giving good advice; he is stating the essential methodology of all physics. But what happens when you come to a cause which itself has no prior cause? What happens when you come to the first cause —the ultimate cause of all other causes? How do you then gain understanding? And make no mistake, understanding must be attained, otherwise your theory of the universe will be incomplete.

There is but one way. You must recognize the existence of a primary process —an indispensable causeless process.

The First Postulate of DSSU theory essentially represents a causeless process. As a warm-up to the main paper (see link below) I will here describe a truly remarkable implication of such a process.

Causeless process implies an infinite supply of energy

In the broadest sense all processes involve energy conversion, consumption, or production. Otherwise nothing happens —meaning there can be no process. Conventional Physics, however, places limits on the allowable processes; it excludes processes involving the formation or production of energy (within a closed system) and the disappearance or consumption of energy (again, within a closed system). Such processes would violate the conservation of energy law.

But the fact remains that all processes involve some sort of change in energy (not necessarily in a closed system). And in conventional Physics all processes must have a cause and an effect. In fact, the study of cause and effect is what defines Physics. But a 'cause' is just another process. The 'cause' itself always takes the form of some change applied to the energy of a system. A process is always caused by some other process —at least it is so in standard Physics. One can easily picture a series of process in which a process is linked to a cause which itself is a process linked to some other cause which itself is a process, and so on ...

For a highly simplified example consider this sequence: the process of moving an automobile requires a thermal expansion process inside the engine; the gas expansion process is caused by the combustion of, say, ethanol; the process of ethanol burning is caused by the growth of corn (corn being the source of ethanol); the process of growing corn is caused by photosynthesis; the process of chemical photosynthesis is caused by the electromagnetic radiation of the Sun; the process of photons radiating from the Sun is caused by its thermal activity; the Sun's thermal process is caused by nuclear reactions; and the nuclear reactions are caused by mass (the release of mass energy); and the mass is caused by ... and here conventional physics ends. (The aggregation of mass is, of course, caused by gravity but the cause of the actual existence of mass is not known in standard physics.) In terms of energy conversions, the causal sequence may be described this way, going backwards from the kinetic energy of the automobile: thermal energy (combustion); chemical energy; radiation energy; thermal energy (solar); nuclear energy; mass energy; and, finally, some form of fundamental energy.

For the moment we are concerned with the limits to the regression of causes. (The related question, where does the energy ultimately come from? will be made evident shortly.)

Why is the Postulate #1 Causeless Process NOT a Violation of the Law of Conservation?

Notwithstanding the infinite supply of energy, there is no violation because the net energy of the universe (or some large portion of it) never changes. A balance is always maintained by the opposing processes of Postulates 2 & 4, as detailed in the Paper. The causeless process, which is as essential as it is unique, does not add to the net energy of the universe.

Now imagine a process that proceeds without a cause
—a process with an effect but totally lacking a cause. It would have to be the ultimate causal process. (It would complete the above sequence.) Such a process must, by definition, still involve a change in energy. We recognize two meaningful possibilities: An energy consuming process and an energy producing process. We immediately dispense with the energy consuming process because if such a process existed it would have consumed all the energy (including mass) of the universe long ago. There would simply be no universe. However, a causeless energy producing process is a different story. A causeless process of this nature implies an
infinite supply of energy!

If the process is the actual quantum growth of aether-space (a process manifest as the phenomenon of the expansion of space) then it would mean that space itself, or the vacuum, must be a font of an infinite amount of energy! With the expansion-of-space action we have a causeless process that produces an endless flow of energy. This is truly an astonishing state of affairs.

Physicists, while incognizant of causeless processes, are aware of the puzzling situation. They are aware of the prediction of an infinite energy supply. They use two lines of reasoning to arrive at the infinite energy supply: Vacuum energy expert Henning Genz tells us that the thermodynamic perspective "implies that a blackbody at zero temperature has an infinite supply of energy in the form of zero temperature radiation." But the stronger evidence comes from the quantum theory.

"The same astonishing result can be derived by means of the quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation, which we call quantum electrodynamics. This theory, the implications of which have been verified in many instances with remarkable precision, tells us that the true vacuum at zero temperature still has an infinite supply of radiation energy. [But the] electromagnetic radiation is in fact only one component, albeit infinite in quantity, of the unfathomable energy supply of the vacuum."^[1]

Space expansion can be thought of as a mechanical process. It does, after all, tend to 'push' galaxies apart (in regions where space expansion dominates). And again, because of the causeless nature, there is an infinite supply of energy —in this case kinetic energy.

Our causeless process also supplies the endless energy for particle formation!

"[Many phenomena] have been extrapolated from quantum-mechanical theory ('theories', since it is an eclectic body of theories), and they generally depend upon the quantum-mechanical conceptualization of the 'vacuum-state'. The latter is typically seen as involving only virtual particles, and as possessing infinite energy."^[2]

Don't be misled by the term "virtual." The virtual particles are not merely hypothetical. Not only is their existence predicted by quantum field theory, but they produce a very real and well-known vacuum energy phenomenon called the Casimir effect. Hence, in DSSU theory we describe the aether-space quanta as virtual-real or quasi-real entities. And they too produce a well-known phenomenon. ...

In DSSU theory space expansion involves the spontaneous formation of new 'space' quanta. These quasi-real events are quantum events. And as such, they demand no cause! ... "There is no way to explain why individual quantum events happen —they have no cause--- but that they happen is absolutely standard physics."^[3]

In conclusion, the quantum growth of aether space, because it acts without cause, represents an infinite and perpetual supply of energy.

* * * *

For more details on the the cause independent process of the Dynamic Steady State Universe, its manifestation as the Lambda effect, and its paramount etiological significance, please see:

Theoretical Foundation and Pillars of the Dynamic Steady State Universe (a 30 page PDF document with 9 drawings and 2 tables) and the Introduction (htm).

Proposing a process without a cause, arguably places the etiological aspect of Postulate #1 of DSSU theory in the realm of metaphysics. Nevertheless, we retain a solid rational footing. The foundation of all the laws of physics depend, at some primitive level, on at least one non-causal mechanism. The non-causal mechanism, whatever it may be, sits at the vertex of an inverted pyramid of increasing complexity of processes and their manifestations —the pyramid of physics. --CR

References

^ Genz, Henning. 1994. Nothingness, The Science of Empty Space (English translation edition, 1999; Perseus Books Publishing, L.L.C.) p189
^ Paulo N. Correa & Alexandra N. Correa (2002, 2004, 2006) The Gravitational Aether, Part II (AKRONOS Publishing, Canada @ Aetherometry.com) p44
PDF: http://aetherometry.com/cgi-bin/accept_free.cgi/AS3-II.9.pdf?file=AS3-II.9.pdf&action=askprevious
^ Joel R. Primack & Nancy E. Abrams. 2006. The View from the Center of the Universe (Riverhead Books, New York. ISNB 1-95448-914-9) p185

2009 03

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C. Ranzan

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Revised: 11-03-15.