How the Importance of ‘NOTHING’ Was Discovered
An interview with Lyle Jacobson in which he relates his journey of discovery
Preface
Lyle Jacobson was an unlikely candidate for serious scientific investigation, let alone destined to discover a major natural system of cosmological proportions. He came from a more or less ordinary American family and was a less than illustrious student in high school and university. His Mormon upbringing and general early education in California provided a narrow and decidedly distorted understanding of history and the natural world. However, he did love to read and always had a more than average curiosity and inquiring mind.
As a student, he decided to pursue dentistry as a financially comfortable career choice. Upon graduating from the School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California in 1961, Lyle worked two years as an associate and then struck out on his own in private practice. His business was very successful and after 23 years, he decided to sell it and fulfill his passion for adventure and thinking. He built a 41 ft. steel-hulled schooner and set out for the waters and ports of the Caribbean where he spent the next twenty years of his life – and some of the most intellectually productive.
Glorious Isolation
The vast expanse of the open seas, fresh air and the absence of people for long periods of time offered Jacobson a unique environment of silence, privacy and opportunity for reading, contemplation and introspection not available anywhere else. He took full advantage of it and applied his agile mind to things he had thought about, observed and questioned for many years.
He read voraciously, mostly scientific books and journals designed for the layman, and became conversant with the laws of physics and studied the discoverers of those laws. Lyle has an unusual ability to concentrate and think deeply for long periods of time. After a while, he came to realize that what he had observed, learned from others, and then applied was forming the foundation of a new understanding of nature that could neither be ignored nor logically dismissed. The ideas added an incredible new dimension to understanding cause and effect. It presented a totally new way of observing our natural world.
The Interview
In the fall of 2005, Lyle was reunited with Charles Lee, a man he had not been in contact with for nearly 40 years who lived in Toronto, Canada. They corresponded by phone and Email, discussed Lyle’s hypothesis, book and website, exchanged information about natural health and nutrition and finally came face-to-face in the summer of 2006 in Canada. This interview took place during Lyle’s visit with Charles.
Charles:
“When did you first attach significance to your thoughts about ‘nothing’?”
Lyle:
“I read about an Asian philosopher who posed a question to a westerner. ‘What was the most important part of a bowl?’ He asked. The answer to that question altered my view of the world. The answer was: ‘The important part, and the only reason a bowl is created, is to form, shape and organize the space inside the bowl. The only reason for the physical part of a bowl is to give a geometric shape to space for its utility in filling and emptying that space.’
Before long all I could see around me were spatial holes and I discovered the reason behind the universal building process! I don’t know how I came to have this ability to generalize and then integrate. I think it is the most important function of someone’s mind is attempting to add to their knowledge. This profound and simple explanation of why the bowl was created can be universally applied. An example of how we use less to explain more.”
Charles:
“How old were you at that time?”
Lyle:
“I think I was in my mid-forties.”
Charles:
“Was there a specific incident or observation that triggered your thinking?”
Lyle:
“As I said earlier, I had already narrowed nature down to a binary condition involving something (1) and nothing (0)”
Charles:
“How did your early thinking about this affect your beliefs and attitudes at the time?”
Lyle:
“The effect was profound! From that time on, using my knowledge of the Scientific Method, I looked at current scientific thinking and their established theories and noticed some problem areas that just didn’t match my observations. Physicists attempt to understand cause and effect and how it relates to the physical world. I could see that their concentration on the physical was a very real barrier to their understanding of natural phenomenon. I began a process of integration that produced far too many answers. It took many years of reading and studying layman’s books on physics – a period of great mental adventure for me – and many “Eureka!” moments”
Charles:
“At what point did you begin to realize that you might be onto a major scientific discovery?”
Lyle:
“Within several months after the ‘bowl’ incident. I suspected this after I realized and understood the interdependence of ‘0’ and ‘1’ in all human sensory processes involving observation.”
Charles:
“Who were the most important intellectual influences in your discovery?”
Lyle:
“Intellectual influences… (pause) First, there was Andrew Galambos, an astrophysicist and professor I studied with for seven years in private courses he gave. He taught me three important lessons: 1) the Scientific Method as a universal way to determine a correct path to knowledge; 2) who the real heroes of history were; and 3) if you want to add to knowledge, you use fewer facts to explain more about nature. ‘Less to know more’ seemed to me to be a statement that the underlying foundation of nature is relatively simple. Go to the simplest facts available to uncover nature’s secrets.
I have also learned the value of having ‘problems’ because without problems there can be no solutions. There is a law of opposites in which opposites are dependent upon each other. To understand one opposite is to understand the other. What I came to realize was, without problems and these destructive forces to overcome, we would never understand and be able to develop solutions and the constructive forces to counter them. The contrasts of ‘bad’ and ‘good’ are necessary to have the insight of either one. Progress and adding to knowledge is solving a problem so we can move on to the next problem and find a solution.
All positive and negative occurrences have affected and influenced me. I am very much a part of all my past and have probably been influenced, directly and indirectly, by all past universal happenings. I exist because of past actions. The universe is totally integrated and connected to all its parts through the natural relationship of the physical (1) to the non-physical (0) – a binary ‘oneness’ of this inter-dependence.”
Charles:
“What ‘giants’ shoulders (to paraphrase Isaac Newton) did you stand upon?”
Lyle:
“Those that wrote or were the subjects of the many books I read – those humans – known and unknown – who have added to our knowledge of reality.”
Charles:
“How did you relate, as an individual, to the enormity of your discovery?”
Lyle:
“I had very mixed feelings. At first, I was very excited and eager to share what I had observed with my friends and those closest to me. Their reception was less than warm. Most tried to be tolerant and polite at first, and then whenever the subject came up, they would groan and turn away. I thought my book would improve things by explaining my thoughts precisely and logically in an organized fashion. I was wrong.
Years later when I read Richard Bach’s “Illusions”, he explained that almost all people have no interest in important unifying principles. When their reaction disappoints the innovator, it’s his or her own damned fault. Innovators place themselves in situations that make them dependent upon the opinion of others for their validity and happiness. Bach’s words were a big and important lesson for me.
One can be happy within oneself, content in the certain conviction of one’s rightness through observation and discovery. It only takes a few individual daring pioneers to change the world – one or two to take a great idea further.
What I have discovered is, I believe, a great idea, but it may be too simple for the so-called ‘geniuses’ of the world to grasp. Most contemporary physicists are so locked into their academic education, professional status and reputations that they are doomed to stay on that path. Andrew Galambos often stated: ‘The greater and more important the innovation, the less likely it is to get anyone’s attention’. That has certainly been true in my case.”
Charles:
“Can you recall the process of your discovery in milestone steps? What were they chronologically?”
Lyle:
“1) A major event for me was realizing that mathematics was a limited body of knowledge until the invention of the ‘0’. Typically, that took several hundred years to gain acceptance;
2) Mathematics is considered the language of science. The basis of this language is the ‘0’ and ‘1’. Mathematics works so well in explaining nature because this binary principle is the foundation of the universe. What I am attempting to do is extend the principle of ‘0’ into everyday life, as well as into science itself;
3) Quantum physics is little understood because the binary relationship of (1) and (0) is unknown and not recognized;
4) The ‘wave theory’ in physics was next – order and disorder and their relationship to Sadi Carnot's 2nd Law of Thermodynamics;
5) A proper definition of Energy;
6) Anti-matter and its relationship to matter became clear to me within the context of the ‘physical’ to the ‘non-physical’ relationship;
7) There are only two forces in nature – attraction and repulsion. The exact time factor of these discoveries is lost.”
Charles:
“How do you think the principles and phenomenon you discovered fit into today’s body of knowledge know as physics?”
Lyle:
“Fit into physics? My ideas fit well but a fundamental change in physics will be required before we can get to the stars.”
Charles:
“What work do you think remains for your intellectual descendents in future generations to further the acceptance and application of your hypotheses?”
Lyle:
“All I have accomplished is to open the door a crack. Others will widen the opening and walk through to an infinite path. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”
Charles:
“How would you characterize the significance of your discovery?”
Lyle:
“The significance of discovery – including the invention of the ‘0’ – is like a blind person, with only the senses of touch, taste, smell and hearing, suddenly having his sight restored. By concentrating on the physical world we have missed the entire other half of natural phenomena.”
Charles:
“What are its implications for future generations?”
Lyle:
“It will increase the capability of future generations to survive—especially for those who learn and apply the principles. This is really not a difficult concept, especially if you start early in life to understand it. Fresh, young, open minds will have few problems with these ideas. The trick is to have a fresh, young and open mind when you are older.”
Charles:
“When your discovery is finally recognized and applied, what and how different do you foresee life on planet Earth in human terms?”
Lyle:
“Our progress will be much more accelerated. This binary principle is necessary to become galactic explorers. Our continued progress as a species is dependent upon it. Perhaps this is not ‘an idea whose time has come’. But at some time it must come to a realization for human survival.”
Charles:
“Where do you see the most immediate need for change in our understanding of the universe and natural principles?”
Lyle:
“Instill an ‘open mind’ concept in children early in their education. Intellectual curiosity may be something we are born with but it has to be nurtured and encouraged by aware adults. As always in human history, only a very minute few bring about the major changes that benefit the many.”
It may help in the education of children to introduce the fact that a better answer to any problem is always the simplest. There is no ‘best’ answer. All answers (solutions) are waiting for a better one. What makes this Binary answer to nature’s cause and effects so elegant is its simplicity. Structures can be complex but their underlying foundation is always simple. This concept must be taught early and in conjunction with encouraging students to question and challenge entrenched ideas that don’t fit their own observations. Unfortunately, most highly educated people are robotic. Even when contrary evidence is apparent all around them, it will be ignored in favor of what they ‘know’.”
Charles:
“What results or benefits would you predict from such changes?”
Lyle:
“Benefits? An incredible array of new approximations to reality. ‘Cause and Effect’ will take on new meaning and we will begin an approach to the stars.”
Charles:
“Are you optimistic about the future of your work?”
Lyle:
“The future survival prospect for the human species looks dismal from my perspective. It will be close if humanity manages to survive at all. But, as I have learned from observation, the future will always look bright for nature because it keeps improving and getting better. If the human structure does not work, nature will make way for a better one. The universe is certainly not dependent on human survival, but I am still happy to have been a part of all this. The problems we face are huge but that only means the possibility of huge solutions. This is not boasting, but I think what I have discovered will be the necessary solution for human survival, or at least a sizable extension of it.”
Charles:
“Are the majority of people you come into contact with receptive to your ideas? Are they skeptical? Critical? Resistant? Closed? Hostile? Threatened?”
Lyle:
“Most people are just not intellectually curious. But this is the way of people and what I expect. I am optimistic that someone, either through my work or independently, will eventually use these ideas to carry the species further into the future.”
Charles:
“Have you found any enthusiastic support for your discovery?”
Lyle:
“Enthusiastic Support? It seems non-existent!”
Charles:
“Finally, Lyle, what would you say is the next major step in the proliferation of your work?”
Lyle:
“One is this improvement to my website. A real major step would be to improve my ideas with a new book. But only the future will determine this possibility.”