A reading of the article “The Simple Electric Universe” by Wal Thornhill. Narrated by David Harrison, proprietor of Stickman On Stone.
“More and more the professions will cross over into the entertainment field. Those of us who are not employed directly in industry will come to realize that what we are really in is ‘show biz.’”
— Astronomer Fred Hoyle from his 1964 book, Of Men and Galaxies.
The Electric Universe Model is simple enough that it can be taught to young children, but it first requires that cosmology is actually included in the science curriculum and then treated with a reasonable level of importance. For the more mature student, the science curriculum should include studying the behavior of electricity in gases.
Everyone is familiar with lightning. Most have seen fluorescent and neon lights. And the writhing “life-like” filaments in the novelty plasma ball are a favorite with children. But familiarity with lightning and neon lights does not equate an understanding of plasma behavior—a mystery to almost everyone.
Yet the environment inside a plasma ball most closely equates to that of the rest of the universe.
The alternative idea in astronomy is the EU Model, a big picture of the universe that looks at things from a distance and connects different ideas. As science has become show biz, what better story than the Electric Universe releasing mankind from the confining eggshell of Big Bang metaphysics!
The possible scientific, technological and cultural advances will be, as Arthur C. Clarke so ably expressed it, “indistinguishable from magic.”
