by B. C. CHASE
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End Notes
The headlines roll in:
“TRex was giant vulture”[26]
“T-Rex was actually fierce hunter”[27]
“Salt restriction lowers blood pressure”[28]
“Low-salt diet ineffective at reducing blood pressure”[29]
“Women’s and men’s brains shown to be different.”[30]
“Women’s and men’s brains not different.”[31]
“Microwave background radiation tells the story of the big bang.”[32]
“Microwave radiation misinterpreted.”[33]
Science has become a race to assign absolutes to everything, even the inscrutable. Every day we are given a new admonition about what to eat or not eat, do or not do, believe or disbelieve because something has been discovered, this or that correlates to such and such, or someone has experienced an epiphany that magically proved to be correct once the numbers were drawn up (within an acceptable margin of error, of course). Rather than seek answers to answerable questions through observation, scientists are frequently the authors of scripture on topics that cannot be observed using experimental outcomes that cannot be replicated. Unverifiable studies produce headline-ready reports that are speedily polished up by marketing gurus and fed to the press as unquestioned fact. Media proselytizes the populace on the latest commandments, and any further enquiry is silenced with the quips “peer-reviewed research” or “most scientists agree” as if “most scientists” were some kind collective god with omniscience. It seems scientists have forgotten that the wonder of science is found in questions and not in victories. As a case in point, a group of prominent scientists from prestigious universities has asked the White House to use the RICO Act (the law used to punish tobacco companies for knowingly hiding the dangers of cigarette smoking) to prosecute other scientists questioning man-made climate change.[34] Soon after that, the chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in the House of Representatives was subpoenaing scientists from NOAA and demanding to see emails and other correspondence with the accusation that data was being altered.[35] Whatever one’s position on the causative agent(s) of climate change, the prosecution or legal harassment of those with opposing viewpoints should be out of the question.
The simple science of Galileo and Newton has been replaced by dogma. Scientists congratulate themselves that a theory is an idea that has essentially been proven by a great deal of evidence. The problem with this (and it is a huge problem) is that the same body of evidence could point to an entirely different idea, one which hasn’t even been imagined yet. Theory has now become just another word for “dogma,” and this is highly unscientific. Peer-reviewed journals do not publish research which is contrarian to such theories, the result of peer review which hides behind a cloak of anonymity. Scientists should hold nothing sacred, especially questions which are not answerable through simple, repeatable experimentation which assumes nothing. Most of all scientists should applaud inquiry. Only those standing on glass towers are afraid of stones. I hope it is not too late for us to remember that true scientists are freedom fighters and chart paths to the places others had assumed to be impossible to reach. Scientists have historically paid dearly for the quest for the discovery. Let us remember their sacrifices and hold sacred their quest for the freedom to explore.
-B.C.
4/24/2016
P.S. Five PhD’s= 1 Doctor Toskovic, 1 Doctor Andrews, 1 Doctor Katz, 1 Doctor Phillip Compton, 1 Doctor Matthew Manley Martin.
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Author’s Notes
There are many facts presented throughout this work. These facts are based upon research conducted by myself. While I hope the distinction between what is fact and what is fiction is self-evident based upon the context, I would like to make certain the distinction is clear. I take the liberty of declaring the fiction and elucidating some of the facts below, outlined by topic. Because an author’s opinions are sometimes inferred by those of their characters, I also state some of my opinions clearly to avoid any kind of misunderstanding.
Akhenaten
Aside from the fact that Akhenaten's mummy has either a) been found and was correctly identified by Doctor Zahi Hawass and his team as the KV55 mummy or b) has not been found and is perhaps still awaiting discovery, the historical information I present about this pharaoh and his family is accurate, with the following exceptions.
1) Akhenaten was not necessarily any taller than his contemporaries: his stone sarcophagus at the Cairo Museum, though large enough to accommodate a giant, is not of an extra ordinary size as compared to other sarcophagi, and for all the depictions of him as extraordinarily large, there are some which do not display any extraordinary height. Additionally, as Doctor Katz mentions, exaggerated height is a very common feature in ancient Egyptian art.
2) This statement made by the character Doctor Kamil is not fully accurate: “The Head of Antiquities did not allow us to release information relating to race, but it was obvious from the data that they there was not a sub-saharan drop of blood among them.” It is true that information related to race was not released by the Ministry of Antiquities, therefore whether the mummies were related to sub-saharan Africans was not an issue known to be discussed in the report.
3) The idea that Akhenaten could have been the pharaoh of the Exodus is a rather fanciful one and, according to many academics, an impossible one. There are many other pharaohs that are much stronger contenders for this role and Akhenaten is not even in the running among the scholarship of most experts, chiefly due to chronology (he lived too late).
4) I believe that the genetic evidence is conclusive that the KV55 mummy is not Akhenaten, and that it is likely rather Smenkhkare. I used this conclusion to create a fictional mummy for Akhenaten and, by extension, a fictitious description of its appearance and DNA.
5) The position that Akhenaten was homosexual is dubious, at best. This idea is based on a number of lines of evidence, including the following: a) Akhenaten’s depictions as feminine, with breasts and wide hips. b) A painting of what is assumed to be Akhenaten and Smenkhare reclining in a loving posture. Because the names of the subjects (which were written underneath the artwork) have been erased, the assumption of their identity is highly speculative. c) A box in Tutankhamun’s tomb that has writing which a possible Smehnkhare is noted to be beloved by and to have beloved Akhenaten. d) An Armarna tablet where Nefertiti’s name is scrawled out underneath a figure of her beside Akhenaten and replaced by Smenhkare’s name.
Yanomamo Native Tribe and Bolivar, Venezuela
The Yanomamo people living among Amazonian river tributaries in Venezuela and Brazil are comprised of many tribes. Although culturally the tribes are largely similar, their practices do differ somewhat from tribe to tribe, including customs, modes of dress, diets, and hunting practices. The tribe I describe is fictional, though I included known behaviors from several different tribes.
The Yanomamo are not known to have ever cast people into sinkholes. This was something the Mayans did. In fact, the Yanomamo avoid climbing the tepuis altogether as they are considered to be the domain of the gods.
I describe a village containing several different structures. In a previously uncontacted tribe, it would be more likely that there would have been a donut-shaped superstructure as this appears to have been the norm with tribes that, in the 1960’s/1970’s, had not seen outside influences by western modernity.
There persists a fierce scholarly debate as to the violent nature of Yanomamo society. Few scholars if any contend that the Yanomamo were especially peaceful, as the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, but a majority seem to postulate that the violence was the result of forced migration due to
land encroachment, the provision of weapons, and the negative impact of western imperialism. This, like so many supposedly scientific debates today, is largely a matter for speculation since no one is able to go back in time and observe the Yanomamo prior to the arrival of Columbus. Whatever the case, this debate is beyond the scope of this novel and I tried to remain neutral on the subject.
The scene in which a Yanomamo husband induces a miscarriage in his young wife is based upon eye-witness accounts of similar events. Yanomamo women are, in a very real sense, the property of their husbands, and Yanomamo men usually keep as many wives as possible. A more powerful man is frequently the possessor of more wives. Any indication of infidelity is generally dealt with swiftly and brutally, even if the indication came from a drug-induced trance and is not based upon any substantive evidence. Yanomamo women are regularly beaten for minor offenses, or sometimes for no offense at all but just as a means to keep them “on their toes.” They are shot in the buttocks or thighs with arrows, struck with firewood, are burned with smoldering sticks, and have their earlobes torn. One account describes a woman so severely hacked with a machete by her husband that her flesh was falling off her body as her female companions retrieved her from the woods where the incident occurred. Though not usually this extreme, machete chopping is not uncommon. Most of this violence is dealt out with the intent to teach a lasting lesson, but if the offense was particularly great, the intent can be to kill. Such offenses can include adultery or attempts to escape to another village (from a harsh husband).
Termination of pregnancy is also common, and usually performed by the women themselves through various means. In order to kill the fetus after emergence, the women typically bash it against a tree.
For further information on the Yanomamo, I recommend Noble Savages by Napoleon A. Chagnon, or Yanomamo by Napoleon A. Chagnon (the chief sources of my information). He is one of the few anthropologists to have actually lived with the Yanomamo for any length of time and, therefore, is especially well-informed.
Aleksandres Laime did reside in Bolivar province, Venezuela, however he lived near the Auyantepui (specific flat-topped mountain) where he industriously promoted the world’s tallest waterfall, Angel Falls, as a tourist attraction. The tepui (generic name for a flat-topped mountain) I describe is Sarisarinama, and is indeed famous for its sinkholes. He claimed, as I truthfully report in the novel, the existence of a gravitational anomaly at the top of the tepui.
Aside from the case of Aleksandres Laime, in the sections of the book dealing with Bolivar province in Venezuela, the geography is, as a whole, egregiously off (to the tune of two orders of magnitude in miles). I have combined the features of two different tepuis into one tepui: namely sinkholes at the Sarisarinama Tepui and the tallest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls at the Auyan Tepui. Also, I imply an hours-long walk to reach the Sarisarinama tepui from Para Falls. This is grossly inaccurate. Furthermore, the characters would have actually been canoeing downriver rather than upriver in order to reach their destination. This, of course means that they would have approached the falls from the top, not the base.
The spirits that visit Doctor Katz are described as descending from the tepuis and entering the heart of the conjuror. This description of the experience is derived from the Yanomamo themselves, not my imagination.
Ipuwer Papyrus
Doctor Katz correctly states that the Ipuwer Papyrus was originally dated to no later than the Nineteenth Dynasty, but this could be misleading in the fact that this document is believed by some to be a copy. The original manuscript is suspected to have been written long before that. This suspicion is largely due to the many references to the Upper and Lower Kingdoms and a possible invasion by the Hyksos. Based upon the content of the document, I do not believe it is impossible that it was actually originally written in the Eighteenth Dynasty, but Doctor Katz's assertion that it absolutely was is a gross exaggeration of possibility.
Virus
For the first time in history, man has the power to destroy all life on earth. A nuclear arsenal is nothing compared to one scientist who can create a virus designed to target photosynthesis. The virus that wreaks havoc in the Baltimore area is, to my understanding, theoretically possible. However, my research has produced no case where thyroid storm created such an intense fever or blood pressure (hypertensive crisis). Rupture of the capillaries is not a symptom of thyroid storm, though it can occur. The other symptoms are accurately portrayed, although intensified in rate of progression. Thyroid storm does vary widely in its specific expression in each individual, which is one of the reasons it can be extremely difficult to diagnose. That being said, the mortality rate statistics for the virus are extrapolated from actual demographic-specific mortality rates for thyroid storm.
Psychic Phenomena
A portion of the speech that Doctor Martin shares at the United Nations Security Council is based upon the research of Doctor Rupert Sheldrake, though the character is not. For further reading, most of his scientific papers are, as of the time of this writing, available online. He has also published fourteen books.
Testimony by Former Canadian Minister of National Defense Paul Hager
A majority of the statements provided by this fictional character is based upon testimony given by former Canadian Minister of National Defense, Paul Hellyer. In 2005, the minister publicly attested to his belief in extra-terrestrial life, becoming the first cabinet-level official from a G8 nation to do so. He states that his only visual contact with a UFO was one day at his home when he saw one in the sky above a lake. The account that the character Paul Hager provides of seeing an alien Secret Service man is fictitious, although Paul Hellyer did state that he believed two aliens to be working with the United States government. The description of the airman’s letters is based on the story of an actual United States Air Force first class airman (named Charles Hall) stationed in Nevada at Nellis Air Force Base who testified to several of the things mentioned, including visual characteristics of “tall whites,” though I have slightly embellished his story.
Genetic Engineering
The more we discover about DNA, the more we realize how little we actually understand. There are several areas in which this is evident, and they have very important ramifications when considering the possibility of “designer babies” or genetic manipulation through gene therapy.
The public, and perhaps even scientists themselves, have been very slow to come to terms with the fact that a genotype (complete DNA code) does not guarantee an organism’s characteristics. When DNA was first discovered, it was simply kind of assumed that this was the map of life and that everything was all pretty straightforward: this gene equals this characteristic, that gene equals that characteristic, and poof, you have a complete organism. But we now understand that this isn’t remotely true. Furthermore, the idea that we can add or replace genes within a person’s complete genome and predict with precision the phenotypic (observable) outcome is patently false in many cases. We still have an extremely limited understanding of how gene expression (that is, the translation of a gene to its function or phenotype) actually works. Proteomics is in its infancy.
For example, you might have heard that only two percent of our DNA is actually used, that the other ninety-eight percent is noncoding, or “junk” DNA. Well, some scientists are beginning to realize that perhaps the system is more complicated than was ever imagined and that at least some of this “junk” is in fact essential. It is now believed that noncoding regions act on the coding regions to turn some genes on or off. It has been found, for example, that mutations exist in noncoding regions found within certain tumors. While we don’t understand how or why noncoding DNA is important, there is certainly evidence that it is very much so.
Another new issue being raised is the fact that the phenotypic expressions of your genes can change over time. Epigenetics is the concept that your behaviors, your environment, and the things that happen to you throughout your life can act on the express
ion of your genes, and there is some evidence that you can then even pass those traits onto future generations. For example, it has been found that children who suffered from relentless bullying when they were young produce less cortisol when they are older. Cortisol is a hormone that helps you deal with stress, but if it is very high for long periods, it can actually cause damage to your body. So the children switch off the gene which acts to produce the cortisol in order to prevent the immediate damage, but the gene is never switched back on after the bullying has ceased. And, amazingly, it appears that this trait can be passed onto the next generation, perhaps even generations. You can see epigenetics very dramatically in action when you look at two identical, or monozygotic, twins. Monozygotic twins might have been born with the same genome, but no two twins are exactly alike. They don’t have the same personalities, they don’t act the same, they do not necessarily share the same illnesses, and often they don’t even look the same—especially as they get older. So-called “developmental noise” also accounts for some of this difference, which I discuss below.
“Developmental noise” is a clever-sounding description of the fact that science knows that the expression of a single gene may result in very different outcomes between two different individuals in dramatic ways over time, even when controlled for environmental factors. For example, you might notice that most people’s bodies are not perfectly symmetrical despite the same genes working on each side of the body for many features. An individual has the same gene acting on each of his epidermal ridges (fingerprints), and yet each finger and each toe has a different pattern. “Developmental noise” is therefore a fancy way of saying we have no idea what how it works. Until we fully understand this, we could not claim to predict phenotypic outcomes with precision. (Interestingly, this has implications for evolutionary biology as well, which I briefly mentioned in the book.)
