The End of the World
Dreams of the Near Future Part 2
The End of the World
“The end of the world could befall soon, according to Princeton University.” This story appeared on my iPhone’s newsfeed on July 14, 2022, carried by DNA40, the news channel of the second largest Mexican media group.
It is misleading — as is the title of my blog, I concede, but I feel justified: I am not feeding fear but rather bringing awareness to a matter that has been on my mind for some time now.
The original assertion came from an article on physics, with the name Rapidly descending dark energy and the end of cosmic expansion, contributed by Paul J. Steinhardt to the PNAS — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — a journal with the mission of disseminating research from across scientific disciplines around the world. [i]
As expected, the story was insidious. It is not the “world” we are talking about but the universe; “soon” –according to DNA40 — is 65 million years, yet the essay notes that “maybe” the transition to cosmic contraction could emerge in less than 100 million years from now — I mean, really? Did they purposefully eliminate 35 million years to make it sound more dramatic?
Furthermore, the paper begins with the word “if.” Of course, if a given number of variables concur, then we “may” enter the end of the universe scenario in less than 100 million years, but this is not yet detectable today.
Ok, ok, if you MUST know [I just laughed myself to tears], here is the synopsis:
“If dark energy is a form of quintessence driven by a scalar field φ evolving down a monotonically decreasing potential V (φ) that passes sufficiently below zero, the universe is destined to undergo a series of smooth transitions. The currently observed accelerated expansion will cease; soon thereafter, expansion will come to end altogether; and the universe will pass into a phase of slow contraction. In this paper, we consider how short the remaining period of expansion can be given current observational constraints on dark energy. We also discuss how this scenario fits naturally with cyclic cosmologies and recent conjectures about quantum gravity.[ii]” [Steinhardt, January 2022]
Well, you asked for it; and upon request, I would be happy to share the fascinating PDF full of formulas and theories.
Naturally, after 14 billion years of expansion, 65 million years — or 100 million years — of contraction is just the blink of an eye. But why is this relevant? Because it is through shared beliefs, and especially through dreams, that we build reality.
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895 and, figuratively speaking, also dreamt of The War of the Worlds back in 1898, “one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial force.”[iii] Not only did the ideas in his book inspire the liquid-fueled rocket and the multistage rocket which made possible the Apollo 11 moon landing, 71 years later [iv] but in well over a hundred years of re-runs, adaptations, sequels, or parallel stories by other authors, it has imprinted on our global consciousness.
“Across the gulf of space… intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.” Or “This isn’t a war… it never was a war, any more than there’s war between men and ants,” is how most earthlings understand things nowadays.
Meticulously staged for the day before Halloween, the first radio broadcast by Orson Welles in New York in 1938 changed the original Martian invasion from Surrey, England, to New Jersey, “terrifying thousands of Americans.”[v] The same happened a decade later in Ecuador; in 1949, Radio Quito transmitted an adaptation that caused panic, then outrage, and ended in destruction: a mob descended on the radio station and burnt it!
In the US, authorities suspected deaths by suicide; in Ecuador, “Black February” resulted in six deaths, and the man in charge of the emission, who miraculously managed to escape the mob, remained exiled for the course of his life.
Communication is Stronger than Action
Twenty years ago, a very cherished communication theorist wrote the article Communication is stronger than action, the premise being that a fact doesn’t exist if it is not communicated — for us, it would be “nothing exists without consciousness.”
There, he cited a true story from December 1998 when an Italian TV station received a poisoned panettone bearing the following annotation:
“This same toxic substance has been injected in an indefinite number of panettones of the brands Motta and Alemagna.”
“Paradoxes of the modern communication society — Joan Costa commented — while Heads of State of the European Union effort to put together a strategy against unemployment, a single package from a group of fanatics causes 4.3 M pesetas in losses to Nestlé and leaves hundreds of workers without a job.” [Costa, 2002] [vi]
Over the years, I kept using these two old examples in my communication lectures (The War of the Worlds and the panettone story) because they show how an idea materializes in the spoken word and then translates into deeds. Communication is a form of action, you see. But an idea comes from dreams, that vast, limitless sea of potentials that we tap into while asleep — and awake, too, of course — and the ones fueling our global consciousness are the likes of Wells’.
Frozen Manhattan
It happened to me, too. Sadly, in a dream on March 2, 2006, I visited a frozen Manhattan.
“The surrounding islands seemed very much alive; from the air, at dawn, you could see the many dots of light coming from beach houses and villas, making a charming contrast with the total darkness of the sea.
But in Manhattan itself, everything but the top floors of the skyscrapers was submerged in water, and most of it was frozen. Large cargo ships strenuously maneuvered in the only canal in sight, running right beside the buildings; other than that, even the waves seemed to have been locked in place by the iciness for eternity.
As remarkably apocalyptical as the whole thing was, there was an astounding beauty and a feeling of awe rather than anxiety. In the private jet I traveled in, I regretted having no camera on me.”
My dream resembles Hugh Jackman’s Reminiscence (2021), although the plot differs: “Climate change has caused the seas to rise and flood Miami, and the extreme daytime temperatures have forced most of the population to live at night.” [vii]
But Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence (2001), and The Day After Tomorrow (2004), with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, both precede my dream and also portray a frozen Manhattan. In the latter, “a series of extreme weather events usher in global cooling and lead to a new ice age.[viii]”
The Brighter Dreams
You could argue that these last two movies triggered my Manhattan dream, and that might be true; both worlds are interconnected and affect each other. Although I have to say, the experience of watching any movie pales in comparison to the unique perspective and extraordinary realism of my dream.
In any case, it is valid to say that the more we focus on dire potentials, the more we create them, and the more we dream about them. And it is also safe to say that if we dream about them, it is easier for them to come true.
I have made it my business to dream better dreams, to dream brighter futures because I know the power behind it. I know that a planet Earth brimming with trees in the near future is out there, in the dream worlds, but so far, I haven’t been successful in connecting to it.
Additionally, I suspect that improbable futures are harder to bring back from the dream state, a theory I will expand upon in future episodes.
A Thousand Dreams, the platform me and my team will build, is meant to be a tool to document, analyze data, and share dreams with the world. Yes, we will be able to assist whoever wants to evolve their capacity to remember experiences in dreams, but the conscious choice to do so pertains only to the dreamer. And no, we will not read every dream that is ever published, just imagine! But what we can do, and will wholeheartedly devote to, is feature and broadcast dreams that portray brighter futures, the dreams you dream, dear reader, if you choose to share.
I feel that in building a brighter narrative, time is of the essence. And no, I am not trying to “save the world,” but if the project naturally contributes to making it better, by all means, we will do.
I am now tired of the ominous, fatalist, and dramatic approach of books, movies, and series of the last few decades about our future, a subject I will also expand upon in future episodes.
For now, I will leave this thought: we are well aware that we must thrive to be impeccable [ix] with our words, impeccable with our deeds; what if we can strive to be impeccable with our dreams, too?
What a concept!
Aberdeem
PS Ou, BTW, no! The universe will not be ending in 100 million years! By then, all conscious souls will have illuminated that “quintessential darkness” that, incidentally, is not a constant. But keep it up, dear reader, cause this right here is crunchtime.
Just saying.
Olivia M. Zenteno [Aberdeem] is a branding and business strategist. Along with her team, she is venturing on A Thousand Dreams, a platform for dreamers to document, analyze data, and share dreams with the world. www.athousanddreams.world
Thank You
A special thank you note to all those who have kindly supported me in this endeavor; it is invaluable!
Clap
Did you know you can offer as many as 50 applauses for each story? I didn’t.
The Invitation
If you have any related experiences in dreams, please share; they will enrich us all. Otherwise, join, follow, share and if you feel like it, support. Sponsors or investors for The Book of Dreams are very much welcome or you can Buy Me a Coffee.
Background
If you want to know what this blog is about, you may want to read the following post:
If you want to know how the dreaming experience unfolded for me, you may want to read the following post:
If you care to learn about A Thousand Dreams’ origin and destiny, The Launch is the post. The idea came to me two years after I began writing and took shape and gained notoriety really quickly thanks to Adamus Saint-Germain and the Crimson Circle.
And if you want to have fun, take the quiz:
Other than that, in this blog you will find posts about many types of dreams and their relationship to our physical reality. Hope you enjoy them!
Reach Out
Contact me at aberdeem144@gmail.com. I will be happy to hear from you.
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[i] Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) is pleased to announce a partnership with OA Switchboard, a not-for-profit, mission-driven collaboration between funders, institutions, and publishers intended to simplify the sharing of information between stakeholders about open access (OA) publications.
[ii] Steinhardt, Paul; Rapidly descending dark energy and the end of cosmic expansion; Article contributed to PNAS on January 11, 2022; https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2200539119
[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds
[iv] Idem
[v] https://www.space.com/42307-war-of-the-worlds-radio-broadcast-explained.html
[vi] Joan Costa; La comunicación es más fuerte que la acción; Revista Iberoamericana para la Innovación de las Comunicaciones; no. 1; 2002; Ed. Costa Punto Com SL
[vii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscence_(2021_film)
[viii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow
[ix] “Be impeccable with your words” is the title of the first chapter in Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements; Amber-Allen Publishing; 1997
