Christopher Golde
Thought
Thought refers to ideas or arrangements of ideas that are the result of the process of thinking. Though thinking is an activity considered essential to humanity, there is no consensus as to how we define or understand it.
Because thought underlies many human actions and interactions, understanding its physical and metaphysical origins, processes, and effects has been a longstanding goal of many academic disciplines including linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, artificial intelligence, biology, sociology and cognitive science.
Thinking allows humans to make sense of, interpret, represent or model the world they experience, and to make predictions about that world. It is therefore helpful to an organism with needs, objectives, and desires as it makes plans or otherwise attempts to accomplish those goals.
The word thought comes from Old English þoht, or geþoht, fromstem of þencan "to conceive of in the mind, consider".
The word "thought" may mean:
Definitions may or may not require that thought:
Definitions of thought may also be derived directly or indirectly from theories of thought.
The questions raised by the novel ‘The Darkness’ are, ‘Can 'thought' exist without humans or other living creatures? Can it exist as an entity, energy or being?
These questions raise possibilities that are seldom discussed, as the general consensus agrees that thought must be derived by a physical interaction, whether it be a minute biological reactionary process orstate, or as the result of a physical stimulus interpretation as such in a human or animal brain.
In our story it is suggested that because the energy of thought is powerful enough to change a physical state or position, it is, therefore, an energy that can exist alone and indeed, could have existed before matter, and may have even created our Universe as we know it today…..or how our thoughts perceive it to be created.
Apothis
Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004, by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. On December 21, 2004, Apophis passed 14,410,000 km; 8,950,000 mi from Earth.
When first discovered, the object received the provisional designation 2004 MN4, and news and scientific articles about it referred to it by that name. When its orbit was sufficiently well calculated, it received the permanent number 99942 (on June 24, 2005). Receiving a permanent number made it eligible for naming, and it received the name "Apophis" on July 19, 2005. Apophis is the Greek name of an enemy of the Ancient Egyptian sun-god Ra: Apep, the Uncreator, an evil serpent that dwells in the eternal darkness of the Duat and tries to swallow Ra during his nightly passage. Apep is held at bayby Set, the Ancient Egyptian god of storms and the desert. David J. Tholen and Tucker—two of the co-discoverers of the asteroid—are reportedly fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1. One of the show's persistent villains is an alien named Apophis. He is one of the principal threats to the existence of civilization on Earth through the first few seasons, thus likely why the asteroid was named after him. In the fictional world of the show, the alien's backstory was that he had lived on Earth during ancient times and had posed as a god, thereby giving rise to the myth of the Egyptian god of the same name.
99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029. However, until 2006, a possibility remained that during the 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a gravitational keyhole, a small region no more than about 0.5 miles wide, or 0.8km that would set up a future impact exactly seven years later on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept it at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006, when the probability that Apophis would pass through the keyhole was determined to be very small. By 2008, the keyhole had been determined to be less than 1 km wide.During the short time when it had been of greatest concern, Apophis set the record for highest rating on the Torino scale, reaching level 4.
The diameter of Apophis is, as of the most recent 2014 observations, approximately 370metres (1,210 ft).Preliminary observations by Goldstone radar in January 2013 effectively ruled out the possibility of an Earth impact by Apophis in 2036. By May 6, 2013 (April 15, 2013 observation arc), the probability of an impact on April 13, 2036 had been eliminated. Using observations through February 26, 2014, the odds of an impact on April 12, 2068, as calculated by the JPL Sentry risk table are 1 in 150,000.As of December 2017, there were seven asteroids with a more notable cumulative Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale than Apophis.On average, an asteroid the size of Apophis (370 metres) can be expected to impact Earth about every 80,000 years.
Note: The information included in this section has been taken and edited from various on-line and hard copy journals. Although, the assembling of the information and its presentation is original the content is not.
It has been provided to offer the reader information about aspects of this novel that might not be commonly known. Some of the information is factual and some theoretical and every attempt has been made by the writer to identify for the reader the difference.
Scientific factual evidence provided is summarized and condensed to offer the reader a brief explanation and it has been researched to be as accurate a depiction of the subject as possible.
The Vatican and Science
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Italian: Pontificia accademiadellescienze,) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI, and thriving with the blessing of the Papacy ever since. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. The Academy has its origins in the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), founded in 1847 as a more closely supervised successor to the Accademia dei Lincei ("Academy of Lynxes") established in Rome in 1603 by the learned Roman Prince, Federico Cesi (1585–1630), who was a young botanist and naturalist, and which claimed Galileo Galilei as its president. The Accademia dei Lincei survives as a wholly separate institution.
The Academy of Sciences, one of the Pontificalacademies at the Vatican in Rome, is headquartered in the Casina Pio IV in the heart of the Vatican Gardens. The academy holds a membership roster of the most respected names in 20th century science, including such Nobel laureates as Ernest Rutherford, Max Planck, Otto Hahn, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, and Charles Hard Townes.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is international in scope, multi-racial in composition, and non-sectarian in its choice of members. The work of the Academy comprises six major areas: Fundamental science; Science and technology of global problems; Science for the problems of the developing world; Scientific policy; Bioethics; Epistemology.