Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, this comes from Thor Fabian Pettersen. He says, “The Nature of Timelessness, Entropy, and Matter Recycling: At the core of a black hole, the singularity is a point where spacetime curvature becomes infinite, and our current laws of physics break down. This suggests that our mathematical descriptions, which rely on relative states, fail to capture the true nature of the singularity. If time becomes timeless at the singularity, conventional concepts of past, present, and future cease to apply. This timeless state is inherently non-relative, meaning our usual mathematics, designed to describe changes over time, cannot adequately describe it. Imagine a scenario where physicists have a revelation: they come to understand that mathematics cannot describe the singularity because, at that point, time truly becomes timeless. This insight leads to the realization that, since mathematics relies on relative states, it starts to “hallucinate” when applied to non-relative states, producing nonsensical or undefined results. This indirect proof suggests the existence of timelessness at the singularity, pushing the boundaries of our comprehension and underscoring the need for new frameworks to describe such extreme conditions. This paradigm shift reveals that certain aspects of the universe might be fundamentally beyond our current understanding, encouraging the exploration of theories that can encompass non-relative, timeless states. Here is my first question: If it were proven that the universe originated from a state of timelessness, do you think this state could possess unique properties, such as the ability to reset entropy? Since no time has passed in timelessness, no change has occurred, and entropy requires change to increase. Could this imply that if timelessness is at the core of phenomena like black holes, any matter falling into this state would have its entropy reset? Furthermore, if reset matter is expelled through white holes—assuming their existence is also proven—could this imply that nature has a mechanism for recycling matter? Given that this newly reset matter would be the same as the matter created at the beginning of time and therefore inherently low in entropy, what challenges and potential methods do you foresee for effectively collecting and utilizing this new matter?”

Rick Rosner: Yes, I don’t believe that entropy is always one-way and increasing. In a closed system, according to the laws of thermodynamics, entropy increases one way. But Earth, for instance, is not part of a closed system. We can shed waste heat. So, Earth can exist in a state of negative entropy, which allows for an increase in order. The entire universe can and does exist in a state of increasing order. You have to come up with mechanisms by which the universe can do that, and one mechanism is the shedding of energy by long-distance particles, which are photons and neutrinos. Once a photon or a neutrino makes it to the surface of a star, and for neutrinos, not even to the surface of a star, they take off, and all but one in a billion of them make it out of the solar system and then go on for 10 billion light years, losing energy to the curvature of the universe. Losing energy adds information to the universe. So the normal operation of the universe—stars shining, radiating—is negentropic.

I don’t believe the universe is undergoing a heat death, and I don’t believe in black holes as we traditionally think of them with singularities. I believe that the rest of the universe constrains black holes. Though I haven’t thought about this in a while, so I’m not going to speak much about it, but when matter gets smushed into a black hole and degenerates, I believe that it experiences information pressure. It wants to go from a low-information state of degeneracy to a higher-information state, which happens in a blackish, super-squished space with very powerful gravitational forces. You can have systems of increasing order within the sphere of the collapsed matter, forming unique states that are proportionate to the amount of matter that’s been smushed down and that can become undegenerate. Given that the newly reset matter would be—I know I haven’t worked out the whole thing, but yes, I don’t think I need to. There are mechanisms for essentially resetting systems.

Jacobsen: He continues, “Philosopher’s Stone and Timelessness: In this framework, since entropy requires time to increase and no time passes in timelessness, entropy would logically reset to its minimum value. Thus, if you believe that entropy can indeed be reset due to the properties of timelessness, could this lend credibility to the concept of the Philosopher’s Stone? Alchemists claimed that nature operates in cycles where matter is born, grows old, and dies. They believed that by replicating this natural cycle on a smaller scale, they could create the Philosopher’s Stone—a substance composed of reset matter, rich in energy. Their process involved decomposing matter, often using urine, to a point where it reached the ‘black stage’ of complete decomposition. At this stage, the matter’s boundaries dissolved, returning it to a timeless state. In this timelessness, the matter was revived, entering the ‘white stage’ of resurrection. By perfecting the white stage, alchemists then transformed the matter into the ‘red stage,’ producing the Philosopher’s Stone. This substance supposedly granted eternal youth and had the power to turn base metals into gold. How do you view these alchemical claims, particularly regarding the idea that matter can reset and recycle through a state of timelessness?”

Rosner: This is about the philosopher’s idea that nature operates in cycles. Yes, I believe in something I call the neutron cycle, where galaxies can run out of fuel and move away from the active center of the universe over an immense amount of time but can be lit up again if the rest of the universe focuses enough energy on the galaxy. It lights up again. If the universe, our brain and mind, is an association engine, stuff can get lit up again if the association engine, the physics of that, facilitates it.

There’s much stuff about alchemy here. But yes, in a general sense, I believe in the galaxy cycle. You talk about gold, which was the goal of the alchemists to turn other stuff into gold. Of course, they didn’t know about atomic nuclei and fusion, and they had neither the understanding nor the wherewithal to turn anything else into gold. But I will say that one of the tells that the universe is older than it appears to be might be that it has more gold than it should have. Gold is only formed in supernova explosions.

Fusion stops in stars when you get to iron. There’s no way past it; the gravitational pressure of a collapsing star doesn’t have enough energy to go beyond iron. Gold and all the other trans-iron elements can only form when a supernova explodes or when a couple of stars crash into each other. There are other ways, but they’re all violent and rare. Gold is rare, but there is more gold in the universe than should have been able to form in 14 billion years. So anyway, there you go.

Jacobsen: He continues, “Alchemical Laboratories in Ancient Civilizations: In exploring the Red Pyramid, one might notice a faint ammonia smell in the first chamber, which becomes stronger in the secondary reaction chamber, and overwhelming in the final synthesis chamber. The idea that bats are responsible for this concentrated smell is unlikely, as bats don’t coordinate their urination to one specific chamber. Additionally, attributing the smell to guards urinating there is improbable, given the laborious 10-minute descent into the pyramid. Considering that human urine is essential in the alchemical process of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, could the pyramids, specifically the Red Pyramid, have served as grand alchemical laboratories for its production on a large scale? Was the purpose of the Great Pyramid also to function as an immense alchemical machine for making the Philosopher’s Stone on a grand scale? And if this hypothesis is accurate, does it suggest that advanced civilizations like Atlantis might have existed, given the seemingly advanced knowledge required for such an endeavor, far beyond what we attribute to the ancient Egyptians, who hadn’t yet invented the wheel? Exploring Alchemical Immortality: As a follow-up, would you consider reading ‘The Book of Aquarius,’ attempting to create the Stone, and then, upon achieving immortality, taking me as your apprentice? Prima materia (first matter) then transformed the matter into the ‘red stage,’ producing the Philosopher’s Stone (Prima materia–the first matter).”

Rosner: I’m going to combine this all into one super session. So then, it goes into alchemical laboratories and ancient civilizations. This is all about alchemy. I know a few things, but I still need to remember. It talks about using urine and ammonia to create the philosopher’s stone, which, according to the principles of alchemy, would be needed to transmute other substances into gold. No, I’m not buying it. I don’t buy that alchemy works. So now I’m on to question four.

I’m not a believer in alchemy. I believe that right now, my best chance at immortality if I were dying, which I hope I’m not, would be to get my body or at least my head cryogenically preserved, which is a bad bet but is the best of a bunch of bad bets, or the only bet. At this point, I want to live long enough for there to be more reasonable ways, like having nanobots trace your connectome or some other scanning system and being able to download you into a metaverse. And that’s assuming we prove that the connectome is where your memories and consciousness are stored or encoded. We have yet to figure that out. But alchemy is not the ticket.

Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, www.rickrosner.org

Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, www.in-sightpublishing.com

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