The Secret History of Extraterrestrials: Advanced Technology and the Coming New Race (19 page)

GALACTIC EXPLOSIONS

Thanks to author Paul LaViolette,
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we can begin to appreciate that certain galactic events have a very profound physical effect on our little sun and planet way out here in the outer reaches of a spiral arm. LaViolette, a physicist with a doctorate in systems theory, has postulated the existence of something called a galactic “superwave.”

In his book
Earth Under Fire,
he claims that astronomical and geological evidence suggests that a “protracted global climatic disaster” occurred on this planet about sixteen thousand years ago. One piece of this evidence derives from a technique developed by scientists in the late 1970s to measure the concentration of the element beryllium-10 in ice core samples drilled at Vostok, East Antarctica. Minute quantities of this rare isotope are produced when high-energy cosmic rays collide with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our stratosphere. Because a time frame can be associated with each layer of the ice core samples, the fluctuations of cosmic bombardments of Earth can be precisely determined by measuring the beryllium-10 concentrations at various layers. The Vostok samples clearly showed a peak of cosmic radiation between 17,500 and 14,150 years ago, associated with a sharp increase in the ambient air temperature from -10°C to about 0°C. This, claims LaViolette, caused the end of the Ice Age and ushered in the era of moderate temperatures that made modern civilization possible.

This concept of the galactic superwave, apparently caused by massive explosions at the galactic core, is not entirely new to astronomers. However, they view them as relatively rare events, occurring perhaps every ten million to one hundred million years and having no particular effect on our solar system because they believe that the galactic magnetic lines of force prevent cosmic radiation from propagating very far from the core. But LaViolette has amassed an impressive profusion of evidence from many different sources that these events are much more frequent and that they are really massive bombardments of cosmic ray particles (electrons, positrons, and protons) with the power of five million to ten million highly charged supernova explosions that reach, in full strength, to the farthest limits of the galaxy!

The theories of Paul LaViolette are highly controversial in astronomy circles, even though he makes his case with careful and thorough research. Perhaps it is because he is not afraid to boldly go where other scientists fear to tread, into the realm of myth and legend, to find supporting evidence for his theories. His book
The Talk of the Galaxy
puts forth another daring proposition. He argues that pulsars are high-tech galactic beacons very likely created by highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations and are being used to signal the advent of galactic events, especially superwaves. Both books, taken together, sketch out a fantastic scenario that radically changes the status quo of the astronomical, anthropological, and archaeological landscapes and opens up a new universe of potential research and investigation.

LaViolette may just well be the pivotal researcher who lifts science out of stale, inbred stagnation into invigorating, human-oriented realms and new directions for the twenty-first century. During an interview with him, I was totally surprised at how deftly he was able to shift back and forth from science to mythology to back up his ideas, reminiscent of a similar agility by Robert Bauval (see chapter 23).

CONTINUOUS CREATION VERSUS THE BIG BANG

What is perhaps one of LaViolette’s most heretical theories relates to the purpose of these galactic core explosions. His explanation resurrects that bête noir of modern science, the concept of the ether. LaViolette is convinced that these tremendous energy discharges are nothing less than an ongoing process of the creation of matter itself from the etheric flux, which invisibly pervades the entire universe.

This idea of continuous creation is in direct opposition to the generally accepted big bang theory, which most esotericists have never really been comfortable with, but which does seem to satisfy those religious groups who believe that creation was literally a single primordial act by God. Discussions of this subject can be found in LaViolette’s first book,
Beyond the Big Bang: Ancient Myth and the Science of Continuous Creation,
and also in his follow-up book,
Subquantum Kinetics: A Systems Approach to Physics and Cosmology.

The concept of the all-pervasive etheric substratum from which matter is created was originally derived from ancient Hindu metaphysics and had gained considerable scientific credence up until the late nineteenth century, when it was supposedly “put to bed” by the famous Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887. However, this experiment was seriously flawed because it assumed the ether to be another physical dimension rather than a precursor to energy itself. Today, while orthodox scientists may not have granted respectability to etheric theory, they certainly don’t mind using it every day to explain the propagation of radio and television waves.

FIRE AND FLOOD

According to LaViolette, galactic explosive phases occur about every ten thousand to twenty thousand years and last anywhere from several hundred to several thousand years. Evidence of this frequency began emerging in 1977, but scientists considered it an aberration. The electrons and positrons travel radially outward from the galactic core at near light speed, but the protons travel much more slowly because they are about two thousand times heavier. They disperse and are then captured by the magnetic fields in the galactic nucleus. The superwave itself would not normally have much of an effect on the sun or earth since the energy would be about one thousandth of that radiated by the sun. But the solar system is surrounded by a cloud of dust and frozen cometary debris that remains on the periphery because of the solar wind, which has an expelling action and cleanses the entire solar system. However, the superwave, when it arrives, would push this dust cloud back into the interplanetary medium and block out the light of the sun, moon, and stars, which would all appear to go dark. Also, the superwave and dust particles would energize the sun and increase flaring activity so much that dry grasslands and forests would spontaneously catch fire. This heat would also melt the glaciers, releasing tremendous quantities of water and causing extensive flooding all over the planet. A whole panoply of cascading catastrophes would ensue, including earthquakes and increased seismic activity, high winds, failed crops and destroyed vegetation, and high levels of ultraviolet radiation that would cause skin cancers and increased mutation rates. In short, it would be a time of cataclysmic destruction that would probably snuff out much of the human and animal life on the planet.

LaViolette, in
Earth Under Fire,
cites all the legends and myths relating to cataclysmic events, all of which appear to have occurred during the time of the last galactic superwave (i.e., about fifteen thousand years ago). The Greek myth of Phaeton, the semimortal son of Helios, the sun god, who was given the reins of the sun chariot and caused it to crash into the earth, thereby setting off a tremendous worldwide conflagration, is claimed to be a metaphor for that era when the superwave caused an extraordinary increase in infrared and ultraviolet emissions from the sun, along with ultrahigh flaring activity. This could easily have caused a “scorched earth” phenomenon, according to LaViolette. The Greek writer Ovid says of this event, “Great cities perish, together with their fortifications, and the flames turn whole nations into ashes.”

Then, as the glaciers melt and the ocean levels rise all over the world, large land masses would become submerged. This might easily account for the flood legends that were passed on through generations in just about every ancient civilization. LaViolette compiled a list of about eighty societies with some sort of flood myth. He has no doubt that the deluge that sank Atlantis was caused by glacial meltwater. In
Earth Under Fire
he says, “The . . . ‘sinking’ of Atlantis simply refers to the melting and ultimate wasting of the continental ice sheets,” which “spawned a foray of destructive glacier wave floods.” Interestingly, the Phaeton myth concludes with massive flooding sent by Zeus to quench the flames. According to Plato’s
Timaeus,
this would have occurred about 11,550 years ago, right around the time of the last stage of the superwave.

LITTLE GREEN MEN

In his book
The Talk of the Galaxy,
LaViolette turns his attention to those puzzling anomalies of astronomy, the pulsars. Having, in his earlier books, established a very convincing case for galactic events that affect all the worlds therein, it was natural to question whether pulsars have any connection with these events. The fact that they emit such consistently regular pulsations suggested to him that they are of intelligent origin.

This was not a new theory. Several scientists involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project have speculated on this subject. LaViolette tells us that Professor Alan Barett, a radio astronomer, theorized in a
New York Post
article in the early 1970s that pulsar signals “might be part of a vast interstellar communications network which we have stumbled upon.” It was, in fact, the first thought that occurred to the two astronomers who discovered the first pulsar signal in July 1967 at Cambridge University in England. Graduate student Jocelyn Bell and her astronomy professor, Anthony Hewish, named the source of the signal LGM 1, an acronym for “little green men.” By the time they published their astonishing discovery in the journal
Nature
in February 1968, after having discovered a second pulsar, they were afraid to suggest an extraterrestrial intelligence thesis because they feared ridicule from colleagues and were afraid that the discovery would not be taken seriously by scientists. Nevertheless, they continued with this naming convention up to LGM 4!

Of the many theories advanced to explain pulsars, the one that had prevailed by 1968 and is still accepted today by default was proposed by Professor Thomas Gold, the now deceased ex-chairman of the astronomy department at Cornell University. It is known as the Neutron Star Lighthouse Model. It postulates that the signal comes from a rapidly rotating burned-out star that has gone through a supernova explosion that transformed it into a bunch of tightly packed neutrons. This would have made it incredibly dense and much smaller, reduced from about three times the size of our sun to no more than thirty kilometers.

Gold theorized that as it rotates it emits a synchrotron beam, much like a lighthouse beacon, which is picked up on Earth as a brief radio pulse. To match the pulsar frequencies, these stars would have to spin at rates of up to hundreds of times per second. Many of Gold’s astronomy theories have been controversial, but none more so than the Neutron Star Lighthouse Model. The prospect of a star rotating so rapidly, no matter how small and dense, seems rather fantastic.

SIGNAL COMPLEXITY

LaViolette has compiled a very impressive and convincing set of reasons why the pulsars are very likely of intelligent rather than natural origin and why they cannot possibly fit the Neutron Star Lighthouse Model. These reasons all relate to the fact that the signals are totally unlike any ever encountered in terms of both precision and complexity. Of major importance is the fact that the pulses are precisely timed not from pulse to pulse, but only when time-averaged over two thousand pulses. When that is done, the time-averaged pulse is exceedingly accurate and regular. Furthermore, in some pulsars the pulse drifts at a constant rate, adding another layer of complexity to the signal. Another factor has to do with amplitude modulation. Some of the pulses increase in amplitude in varied, yet regular, patterns. Also, many of the pulses exhibit something called mode switching, where the pulse suddenly exhibits an entirely new set of characteristics that persist for a time and then reverts back to its original mode. In some cases this switch is frequency dependent, and in others the switching conforms to regular patterns.

LaViolette argues that an ET civilization would expect us to understand that such a complex signal must necessarily be intelligently designed. Perhaps they assume that we have the computer power necessary to comprehend the logic behind all the variability. The Lighthouse Model has to be continually stretched to encompass these characteristics as they are discovered. At this point, it has been contorted beyond recognition in order to explain this complexity, but LaViolette says that astronomers are reluctant to abandon the sizable mental investment involved. In terms of precision, some stars do show periodic regular variations in color and luminosity. Several binary X-ray stars pulse with periods accurate to six or seven significant digits. Pulsars, on the other hand, are from one million to one hundred billion times more precise! LaViolette speculates that if Bell and Hewish “had known then what we know now, perhaps they would not have rejected the ETI communication scenario as readily as they did.”