VI
BEON— the COUNTERFORCE
Earlier we concluded that at least two things are required
for a physical event to occur. Each thing must manifest a force
capable of affecting the other. The two things which interacted
to begin the physical universe are: -
Energy, in primeval form— probably the stuff astronomers
have named dark energy. As we learn more, we may learn
differently.
-
The second essential component of the universe is beon, which
provides energy's counterforce.
The idea of an entropic counterforce is not new to Beon
Theory. Originally proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, a brilliant
19th century physicist, the entropic counterforce actually has
a scientific pedigree.
Maxwell was not a garden-variety university perfesser.
In 1856 he proved mathematically that Saturn's rings must be
composed of lumps of material and were not solid as thought.
Disputed by university-educated astronomers of his time who
could not understand his math, Maxwell's prediction was
confirmed 125 years later.
In 1873, he published a set of four simple differential
equations which described the behavior of electric and magnetic
phenomena. They led, 15 years later, to the discovery of radio
waves by Heinrich Hertz, thence to the invention of radio by
Nikola Tesla. Currently known as Maxwell's equations, they
remain the foundation of electromagnetic physics.
The visual images confirming Maxwell's Saturnian ring
analysis were transmitted from a Voyager spacecraft via the
radio waves his own equations predicted. Seems fitting.
A theoretician far ahead of his time, Maxwell devised a
curious thermodynamic concept— a tiny “entity”
holding the molecule-sized gate between two air-filled chambers
within a sealed box.
Label the chambers H and C. Before the demon sets to work,
the molecules within each chamber are moving about randomly,
some fast, others slow. Therefore the temperature within each
chamber, which is determined by the average speed of whatever
molecules it contains, is the same.
Maxwell's explanation lacked a motivation for his
demon's efforts. Our version will provide one— a mug of
warmish Cave Creek chili beer in chamber C.
The demon opens the little gate between the two chambers
whenever a fast-moving molecule comes along from chamber C,
thus increasing the number of high-energy molecules in chamber
H. He also opens the gate whenever a slow molecule heads from
chamber H towards chamber C.
As fast molecules congregate in chamber H, it gets hotter.
The slower, lower-energy molecules in chamber C leave it
cooler— something which never occurs in nature (although
according to probability theory, it could). Entropy within the
box is decreased in violation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
and the chili beer in chamber C gets chilled.
Of course the entropy-reducing action within Maxwell's box
depends upon his demon's ability to manage the gate within,
happily sorting molecules without drawing upon any energy
within the box for its own sustenance. The demon doesn't need
food or a girlfriend— just an occasional cold beer which
he recycles after use.
Were the demon to take his beer break and inadvertently
leave the gate unlatched, a sudden, possibly explosive rush of
air from the hot chamber into the cold one would disrupt his
experience.
This imaginary entity came to be known as Maxwell's
Demon. Maxwell did not suggest that it actually existed.
Some opine that his demon was intended to provoke thought about
the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
But Maxwell was undoubtedly aware of the 2nd Law's
implications for the origin of the universe. Living in a
Christian culture which took religion extremely seriously,
perhaps he was carefully proposing, far ahead of his time and
decades before Darwin, that science could offer an alternative
concept for the Creator.
Like Maxwell's demon, the concept of beon is intended to
explain, not the creation of energy, but its organization into
structured forms such as the matter and radiation which make up
much of the physical universe.
Substance and Structure
Substance is the stuff from which structures are formed.
The earth contains diverse minerals— such as the
calcium, carbon, silicon and iron from which we form highways,
skyscrapers, and computers. The earth provides the substance
from which we can build such structures.
Substance is the potter's clay, structure lies in a
finished bowl. Substance is the artist's paint, structure is in
his portrait.
Commenting upon one of his sculptures, Michelangelo
expressed his personal relationship between substance and
structure: “I saw this angel in the marble and carved to
set him free.”
Our universe contains structures of many kinds and sizes,
from galaxies containing billions of stars, to the rocks and
puddles of water that make up much of our planet. All of these
are composed of tiny particles of electrically charged matter.
Energy is the substance from which these myriad and mysterious
atomic angels have been carved.
The Substance of Beon
Beon is an entity capable of exerting a counterforce to the
normal entropic flow of energy. This provides the basis for its
organizing ability, commonly manifested in human beings as
creative thought. It also allows beon to shape energy into more
complex structures.
Even tentative consideration of these hypotheses invokes
the question: Of what might beon itself be composed?
These pages define a spirit-free zone; therefore beon must be
composed of something real, something we can learn about with
the methods of science. Logical considerations may get us
started.
Since beon is not a created entity, it cannot come with
complex internal functions which define its innate behavior.
Beon-level behavior must be a natural function of the substance
composing it, as with energy.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics governs interactions between
atoms and stuff because the same law governs the unstructured
energy from which atoms and stuff are formed.
In turn, we might expect beon's properties to be derived
from or analagous to whatever substance forms it.
Therefore any hypotheses we've ventured about the
properties of beon, such as its ability to counter the entropic
force of energy, should apply to whatever stuff beon is composed
of.
Another Word on the Subject
Referring to the substance of which beon is composed as
“stuff” is unspecific, and might give the impression
that the concepts we are trying to explain are as vague as the
words used to explain them. Therefore we need a word for the
stuff. Our choice is aeon, a word which can be found
in the dictionary but has been lost to common English.
Aeon is a Greek word from which English speaking people
have dropped the “a,” leaving eon, meaning,
“a long period of time.” Since
“eon” has pretty much replaced “aeon” in
English usage, we do little linguistic damage by inventing a
different application for aeon, with thanks and apologies to the
Greeks.
We are not the first to co-opt the word aeon.
Early gnostic writers used it in a sense similar to our use of
beon. Confused mystics pretending gnosticism on the
internet, use it indiscriminately.
For our purposes, aeon names the substance of
beon. This retains the sense of aeon as something which
has existed forever, something as formless as time itself.
This usage also departs from the ancient gnostic application
to discrete entities.
Related words can be built upon the -eon template, such as
meon— a narcissistic beon. Should anyone come up
with a good reason to sex beons, heon or sheon
are dreadfully obvious choices.
Aeon
At this point we can only speculate about the form and
structure of aeon, a task which will be more proficiently
accomplished by mathematicians who enjoy dealing with exotic
geometries in the context of relativistic space-time. That is
not this writer's area of expertise, which he knows from having
given it his best shot.
At this point our assertions about the primeval, original
form of aeon are:
-
It had no origin.
-
It was undifferentiated, not composed of smaller parts.
-
It manifests a counterforce to energy's Second Law of
Thermodynamics. It naturally reacts to the presence of energy.
-
Aeon and energy may currently co-exist but cannot always
have done so.
These ideas deserve more explanation. However, in the
interest of retaining our cherished reader's undivided
attention, detailed speculations will be relegated to an
appendix or another book.
Including them here would add speculative physics
to the ideas our reader may already be considering.
A similar technique in football is called “piling
on,” and is not fun for the guy on the ground.
Plain and upfront, we do not understand the core nature of
aeon. An insightful reader, Jonathan, was sufficiently troubled
by this theoretical deficiency to resolve it with a simple shift
in perspective.
He pointed out that we do not understand the core nature of
energy either! Physics required 200 years of study, punctuated
by occasional bursts of genius, to wrest mathematical
descriptions of energy's known forms from observational data.
Yet, the notion of raw energy as a physical substance in its own
right may be confined to this book.
The course of time may bring research and insight to bear
upon the nature of aeon, and in the process, a deeper
understanding of energy itself.
The word “collided” may be an exaggeration.
Their encounter may have been what we would refer to as a gentle
brush.
Aeon itself disintegrated into the differentiated forms which we
have named beons.
This event set the stage for the origin of our universe,
and eventually for the remarkable and mysterious process in
which most human beings unconsciously participate, treating it
as nothing more than an incidental by-product of life— the
coming of an individual to consciousness.
