I have no sympathy for the politics of Newt Gingrich, but do have a sneaking admiration for his willingness to flaunt his nerddom in public.
Warnings about electromagnetic pulse weapons and proposals for a Moon base have provided both interest and entertainment. Though I am not sure whether Newt has had much to say about the threat posed by the biggest EMP weapon in the region – namely the Sun.
But not even Newt could think of a plan to defeat one threat to humanity’s existence – a quantum tunnelling effect as part of our universe transforms from a “false vacuum” to a “true vacuum”.
The idea is that there is a scalar field (an energy field) pervading the universe that could could fall to a lower value, releasing its stored energy. If this were to happen in our universe then the released energy would be seen in the rapid (speed of light) expansion of the new, lower energy bubble. And as this bubble would hit us at the speed of light we’d have no warning at all – indeed we’d be here one second and gone the next.
Is it a real threat? Possibly – there is some evidence that our universe might be in a false vacuum (higher energy) state. Is there anything we can do about it? No. Is it worth worrying about? No.
Related articles
- Newt Gingrich promises moon base by the end of his second term (guardian.co.uk)
- SEE YOU IN HEALTH: The Thunk Tank guide to the 5 most likely things that will kill you to death (wfmu.org)
- Jon Stewart Ruins Newt Gingrich’s “Moon Base” Dreams (buzzfeed.com)
- GQ Quiz: Who Said It – Newt Gingrich or Stephen Colbert? (colbertnewshub.com)
- Newt Gingrich news: US presidential hopeful pledges to build Moon base by 2020 if elected (thesun.co.uk)
- Newt Gingrich: I’ll build Moon base as US president (thesun.co.uk)
- A Tribute to Newt Gingrich (1oneday.wordpress.com)
- Newt Gingrich’s Fantasy Moon Base Is Illegal [Moon] (gizmodo.com)
- Speaker Moonbase (verbumsapienti.wordpress.com)
- Newt Gingrich (Helps Farmers) (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
- Adelson: Newt ‘At the End of His Line’ (newser.com)
- “Totally Unleashed”: Newt Gingrich, Agent of Chaos (mykeystrokes.com)
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