There Is No Time. There Never Was and There Never Will Be

The Mind Unleashed

on 4 February, 2015 at 09:36

By: Josh Richardson, Prevent Disease

Original link:  http://themindunleashed.org/2015/02/time-never-never-will.html

Everything exists in the present moment and it’s a fundamental principle of the Universe that many of our scientists are still trying to grasp. Time does not actually exist and Quantum Theory proves it. There are things that are closer to you in time, and things that are further away, just as there are things that are near or far away in space. But the idea that time flows past you is just as absurd as the suggestion that space does.

The trouble with time started a century ago, when Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity demolished the idea of time as a universal constant. One consequence is that the past, present, and future are not absolutes. Einstein’s theories also opened a rift in physics because the rules of general relativity (which describe gravity and the large-scale structure of the cosmos) seem incompatible with those of quantum physics (which govern the realm of the tiny).

According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, there is no way to specify events that everyone can agree happen simultaneously. Two events that are both “now” to you will happen at different times for anyone moving at another speed. Other people will see a different now that might contain elements of yours – but equally might not.

The result is a picture known as the block universe: the universe seen from that impossible vantage point outside space and time. You can by all means mark what you think is “now” with a red dot, but there is nothing that distinguishes that place from any other, except that you are there. Past and future are no more physically distinguished than left and right.

The equations of physics do not tell us which events are occurring right now–they are like a map without the “you are here” symbol. The present moment does not exist in them, and therefore neither does the flow of time. Additionally, Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity suggest not only that there is no single special present but also that all moments are equally real.

Some four decades ago, the renowned physicist John Wheeler, then at Princeton, and the late Bryce DeWitt, then at the University of North Carolina, developed an extraordinary equation that provides a possible framework for unifying relativity and quantum mechanics. But the Wheeler-­DeWitt equation has always been controversial, in part because it adds yet another, even more baffling twist to our understanding of time.

“One finds that time just disappears from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation,” says Carlo Rovelli, a physicist at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France. “It is an issue that many theorists have puzzled about. It may be that the best way to think about quantum reality is to give up the notion of time–that the fundamental description of the universe must be timeless.”

One might say that when we better understand consciousness we will better understand time. Consciousness is the formless, invisible field of energy of infinite dimension and potentiality, the substrate of all existence, independent of time, space, or location, of which it is independent yet all inclusive and all present. It encompasses all existence beyond all limitation, dimension, or time, and registers all events, no matter how seemingly miniscule, such as even a fleeting thought. The interrelationship between time and consciousness from the human perspective is limited, when in fact it is unlimited.

There Is No Such Thing As Time

Julian Barbour’s solution to the problem of time in physics and cosmology is as simply stated as it is radical: there is no such thing as time.

“If you try to get your hands on time, it’s always slipping through your fingers,” says Barbour. “People are sure time is there, but they can’t get hold of it. My feeling is that they can’t get hold of it because it isn’t there at all.” Barbour speaks with a disarming English charm that belies an iron resolve and confidence in his science. His extreme perspective comes from years of looking into the heart of both classical and quantum physics. Isaac Newton thought of time as a river flowing at the same rate everywhere. Einstein changed this picture by unifying space and time into a single 4-D entity. But even Einstein failed to challenge the concept of time as a measure of change. In Barbour’s view, the question must be turned on its head. It is change that provides the illusion of time. Channeling the ghost of Parmenides, Barbour sees each individual moment as a whole, complete and existing in its own right. He calls these moments “Nows.”

“As we live, we seem to move through a succession of Nows,” says Barbour, “and the question is, what are they?” For Barbour each Now is an arrangement of everything in the universe. “We have the strong impression that things have definite positions relative to each other. I aim to abstract away everything we cannot see (directly or indirectly) and simply keep this idea of many different things coexisting at once. There are simply the Nows, nothing more, nothing less.”

Barbour’s Nows can be imagined as pages of a novel ripped from the book’s spine and tossed randomly onto the floor. Each page is a separate entity existing without time, existing outside of time. Arranging the pages in some special order and moving through them in a step-by-step fashion makes a story unfold. Still, no matter how we arrange the sheets, each page is complete and independent. As Barbour says, “The cat that jumps is not the same cat that lands.” The physics of reality for Barbour is the physics of these Nows taken together as a whole. There is no past moment that flows into a future moment. Instead all the different possible configurations of the universe, every possible location of every atom throughout all of creation, exist simultaneously. Barbour’s Nows all exist at once in a vast Platonic realm that stands completely and absolutely without time.

Our illusion of the past arises because each Now contains objects that appear as “records” in Barbour’s language. “The only evidence you have of last week is your memory. But memory comes from a stable structure of neurons in your brain now. The only evidence we have of the Earth’s past is rocks and fossils. But these are just stable structures in the form of an arrangement of minerals we examine in the present. The point is, all we have are these records and you only have them in this Now.”

Time, in this view, is not something that exists apart from the universe. There is no clock ticking outside the cosmos. Most of us tend to think of time the way Newton did: “Absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably, without regard to anything external.” But as Einstein proved, time is part of the fabric of the universe. Contrary to what Newton believed, our ordinary clocks don’t measure something that’s independent of the universe.

The word “Mechanics” used in the term “Quantum Mechanics” indicates a machine like predictable, buildable, knowable thing. The Quantum Universe in which we live, whether we want to accept it or not, may seem on the surface to be mechanical and linear but it is not. It is probably better described as an infinite multitude of possible linear actions. If we must give this still mystical process a name lets call it “Quantum Ecology” rather than “Quantum Mechanics” because it is built from within it’s self. Everything comes out of the invisible in the same way as any living organism does.

In quantum mechanics all particles of matter and energy can also be described as waves. And waves have an unusual property: An infinite number of them can exist in the same location. If time and space are one day shown to consist of quanta, the quanta could all exist piled together in a single dimensionless point.

The current predominant world paradigm is that if a thing can not be explained, detailed, analysed and documented by linear scientific thought processes then it’s mumbo jumbo. If you have a spiritual explanation for human existence then your crazy, you’re in dream land. The scientific mindset says everything in the universe must be capable of explanation either now or at some point in the future by scientific analytic methods alone. Science says “In the absence of scientific proof it’s not worth the time discussing. If it can not be put in a box with a label then forget it. Go figure out what box you can put it in, label it, then come back to us and we’ll see if we agree”. Can you see the limitations that this puts on human development?

Quantum particle behavior can not be explained in terms of science alone, that is to say, it can not be explained in terms of the mind because the mind by it’s nature functions on the basis that reality consists of things, things that can be broken down into individual bits of information and explained in a linear mechanical fashion. To realise how flawed this mindset is you must first accept that this is a relative world in which we live and on the conscious level we interact with other human beings and the rest of the universe in a linear fashion. This is the nature of the mind. We must go beyond the mind to access the answers.

According to physics, your life is described by a series of slices of your worm; you as a baby, you as you ate breakfast this morning, you as you started reading this sentence and so on, with each slice existing motionless in its respective time. We generate time’s flow by thinking that the same self that ate breakfast this morning also started reading this sentence.

So do we really need to mourn time’s passing? Einstein, for one, drew solace from the view of the timeless universe he had helped to create, consoling the family of a recently deceased friend: “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

About the Author

Josh Richardson is blogger, healer, and a constant pursuer of the natural state of human consciousness.

Smaller fusion reactors could deliver big gains

Feb 16, 2015

Original link:  http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/feb/16/smaller-fusion-reactors-could-deliver-big-gains

 

Hot topic: size may not be everything in tokamak design

Researchers from the UK firm Tokamak Energy say that future fusion reactors could be made much smaller than previously envisaged – yet still deliver the same energy output. That claim is based on calculations showing that the fusion power gain – a measure of the ratio of the power from a fusion reactor to the power required to maintain the plasma in steady state – does not depend strongly on the size of the reactor. The company's finding goes against conventional thinking, which says that a large power output is only possible by building bigger fusion reactors.

The largest fusion reactor currently under construction is the €16bn ITER facility in Cadarache, France. This will weigh about 23,000 tonnes when completed in the coming decade and consist of a deuterium–tritium plasma held in a 60 m-tall, doughnut-shaped "tokamak". ITER aims to produce a fusion power gain (Q) of 10, meaning that, in theory, the reactor will emit 10 times the power it expends by producing 500 MW from 50 MW of input power. While ITER has a "major" plasma radius of 6.21 m, it is thought that an actual future fusion power plant delivering power to the grid would need a 9 m radius to generate 1 GW.

Low power brings high performance

The new study, led by Alan Costley from Tokamak Energy, which builds compact tokamaks, shows that smaller, lower-power, and therefore lower-cost reactors could still deliver a value of Q similar to ITER. The work focused on a key parameter in determining plasma performance called the plasma "beta", which is the ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic pressure. By using scaling expressions consistent with existing experiments, the researchers show that the power needed for high fusion performance can be three or four times lower than previously thought.

Combined with the finding on the size-dependence of Q, these results imply the possibility of building lower-power, smaller and cheaper pilot plants and reactors. "The consequence of beta-independent scaling is that tokamaks could be much smaller, but still have a high power gain," David Kingham, Tokamak Energy chief executive, told Physics World.

The researchers propose that a reactor with a radius of just 1.35 m would be able to generate 180 MW, with a Q of 5. This would result in a reactor just 1/20th of the size of ITER. "Although there are still engineering challenges to overcome, this result is underpinned by good science," says Kingham. "We hope that this work will attract further investment in fusion energy."

Many challenges remain

Howard Wilson, director of the York Plasma Institute at the University of York in the UK, points out, however, that the result relies on being able to achieve a very high magnetic field. "We have long been aware that a high magnetic field enables compact fusion devices – the breakthrough would be in discovering how to create such high magnetic fields in the tokamak," he says. "A compact fusion device may indeed be possible, provided one can achieve high confinement of the fuel, demonstrate efficient current drive in the plasma, exhaust the heat and particles effectively without damaging material surfaces, and create the necessary high magnetic fields."

The work by Tokamak Energy follows an announcement late last year that the US firm Lockheed Martin plans to build a "truck-sized" compact fusion reactor by 2019 that would be capable of delivering 100 MW. However, the latest results from Tokamak Energy might not be such bad news for ITER. Kingham adds that his firm's work means that, in principle, ITER is actually being built much larger than necessary – and so should outperform its Q target of 10.

The research is published in Nuclear Fusion.

About the author

Michael Banks is news editor of Physics World

Vulcan (Star Trek)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vulcans

Leonard Nimoy as Spock, a Human/Vulcan hybrid, demonstrating the Vulcan salute
Home world	Vulcan New Vulcan
Official language(s)	Vulcan, Vuhlkansu, High Vulcan
Affiliation	United Federation of Planets

Vulcans are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek franchise who originate from the planet Vulcan. In the various Star Trek television series and movies, they are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek universe to observe First Contact protocol with Humans.

They gave massive assistance to a devastated post–World War III Earth, enabling the planet to eliminate poverty and disease within a single century and asked for practically nothing in return when they could have easily used their vastly superior technology to subjugate Earth if they had so desired. Then they, somewhat patronizingly, facilitated humanity's transition to an interstellar species acting as sort of a big brother in those crucial stages. For this reason, humans, even in the 24th century, view Vulcans in many ways as their best friends—"the good guys", as told to Zefram Cochrane in First Contact by the crew of the time travelling USS Enterprise-E. They later became one of the founding members of the United Federation of Planets. Vulcans appear in all six Star Trek television series, four of which feature a Vulcan or a half-Vulcan as a main character.

Biology

Physical characteristics

Vulcans are depicted as similar in appearance to humans. The main physical differences are their eyebrows and ears: the former are arched and upswept, while the latter feature pinnae which taper to a point at the top. The ears have been the subject of jokes on multiple occasions. Vulcans have been portrayed as various races. Most caucasoid-like Vulcans (most of those shown throughout the series' runs) typically appear with a subtle greenish hue to their skin, due to Vulcans' copper-based blood, which is green in color. According to Dr. McCoy, Spock, and presumably all Vulcans, have almost no blood pressure. Other features described include an inner eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which protects their vision from bright lights, an adaptation for their bright, hot home world.^[1] In addition, their hearts are located on the right side of the torso, between the ribs and pelvis; as Dr. McCoy once says about Spock: “He is lucky that his heart is where his liver should be, or he’d be dead!” (ST:TOS, "A Private Little War")

Diet

Vulcans are vegetarians by choice and were omnivores in ages past. In the Star Trek original series (TOS) episode "All Our Yesterdays", Spock willingly consumes meat; partly due to the effects of time-travel 5,000 years into the past, and partly because he reasons there is no other suitable food available given the harsh, ice-age climate in which they are trapped; he later expresses regret at his consumption of the meat. Vulcans are repeatedly stated to be herbivorous in the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", by the carnivorous Kzinti. Vulcans do not like to touch their food with their hands, preferring to use utensils whenever possible (though there are numerous cases where Vulcans have broken this rule). It is a Vulcan custom for guests in the home to prepare meals for their hosts (Star Trek: Enterprise episode: “Home”).

Vulcans are said not to drink alcohol, though they are depicted indulging on special occasions or as a storyline warrants. In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Repression", Humans and Vulcans are shown drinking a Vulcan alcoholic drink called "Vulcan Brandy". In the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident", as part of his diversionary role during an espionage mission against the Romulans, Spock shares a drink known as Romulan ale (blue-colored beverage) with the female Romulan commander. In a later TOS episode "Requiem for Methuselah", Spock specifically requests a Terran brandy after Dr. McCoy, while serving himself and Captain Kirk, observes that he had no expectation that Spock would be joining them in a drink for fear that the alcohol would affect his logic faculties. In Star Trek: First Contact, when the Vulcans first meet Zefram Cochrane, he serves them alcoholic beverages, which they take in lieu of dancing. In "non-canon" Trek-related literature, such as the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Vulcans are depicted as immune to the effects of alcohol (though in the TOS episode "The Naked Time" a strange affliction infects the crew, that has much the same effect as alcohol, and Spock is also affected and becomes emotional, and even starts to cry).

There are references to Vulcans becoming inebriated by ingesting chocolate. (This is alluded to in DS9 when Quark offers a Vulcan client some Vulcan Port or chocolate, in speaking of which he implies something sexual.) The novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home also shows Spock reacting almost as if drunk to the ingestion of Sucrose, or common table sugar, contained in a peppermint candy. He tells Kirk that it has the same effect on Vulcans as alcohol does on humans.

Mating drive

Approximately every seven years, Vulcan males experience an overpowering hormone imbalance known as pon farr, often focused on their mates or an object of desire, if there is no mate or they are out of reach. Once triggered, a Vulcan must have sexual intercourse with someone, preferably their mate. If this is not possible, meditation may be used to stabilize their chemical imbalances and help them cope, though this is not always sufficient. In the event that neither of these solutions can be achieved, the Vulcan will face insanity, loss of self control, and death.

If a mate is not available, there are other ways to relieve the effects of the pon farr. The first is meditation, by means of which the Vulcan must overcome the urge to mate through mental discipline. The second is violence. This is seen in the Voyager episode "Blood Fever", when B'Elanna Torres and Ensign Vorik fight in the traditional Vulcan manner. The violence ends the pon farr. The other option is extreme shock; in the TOS episode "Amok Time", Spock believed he had killed James T. Kirk, his "best friend", thus providing sufficient shock to nullify the effects of pon farr. When he experienced pon farr, Tuvok of the USS Voyager made use of a holodeck simulation of a temporary mate which resembled his wife. This holodeck simulation was created because The Doctor was unavailable to administer, as the dialog of the episode suggests, a medicine that he had prepared to help Tuvok overcome the effects of pon farr. Infection is another mechanism writers have used to induce pon farr in Vulcan characters (such as T'Pol in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Bounty").

In the TOS episode "This Side of Paradise", Leila Kalomi hints at having had a special relationship with Spock some six years earlier, though Spock's remark that he hoped his half-human blood would see him "spared" the agony of pon farr in the episode "Amok Time" suggests that their relationship was more casual. Likewise in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the regenerated adolescent Spock went through at least two pon farr episodes at accelerated speed. As his mate was not available on the Genesis planet (where Spock underwent the two pon farr periods), it was implied that he mated with Lt Saavik, a female half-Vulcan, half-Romulan scientist on the crew of the Enterprise who showed compassion in guiding him through the accelerated pon farr. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a deleted scene was intended to confirm the implication (i.e., that Saavik bore Spock's child); its removal from the film, however, struck it from Trek canon.

Despite popular opinion, TOS writer and story editor, Dorothy C. Fontana, insists that pon farr is not the only time that Vulcans feel sexual desire or engage in sexual activity:

Vulcans mate normally any time they want to. However, every seven years you do the ritual, the ceremony, the whole thing. The biological urge. You must, but any other time is any other emotion—humanoid emotion—when you're in love. When you want to, you know when the urge is there, you do it. This every-seven-years business was taken too literally by too many people who don't stop and understand. We didn't mean it only every seven years. I mean, every seven years would be a little bad, and it would not explain the Vulcans of many different ages which are not seven years apart.^[2]

Other characteristics

Vulcans are typically depicted as stronger, faster, and longer-lived than humans (although discrepancies have occurred—and although not as long as Vulcans, humans have been shown to live longer in the Star Trek universe than today—presumably due to advances in medical science).
Vulcans are about three times as strong as an average human due to their home planet's higher gravity, although their durability is equal to humans. There are instances of them living over two hundred and twenty years.^[3] Having evolved on a desert world, Vulcans can survive without water for longer periods than humans.^[1] Vulcans can also go without sleep for as long as two weeks.^[4] Romulans are similar in appearance to Vulcans, with whom they share a common ancestry.

Psychology

Emotion

Vulcans are capable of experiencing extremely powerful emotions (including becoming enraged enough to kill their closest friend); thus, they have developed techniques to suppress them. T'Pol once stated that paranoia and homicidal rage were common on Vulcan before the adoption of Surak's code of emotional control. In the original series episode "The Savage Curtain", Spock meets Surak and displays emotion, for which Surak reprimands him, and he asks forgiveness.

While most Vulcans do maintain control over their emotions, the advanced ritual of Kolinahr is intended to purge all remaining vestigial emotion; the word also refers to the discipline by which this state is maintained. Only the most devoted and trained Vulcan students attain Kolinahr. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock was unable to complete this ritual after receiving powerful telepathic signals from space and experiencing strong emotions as a result. The Vulcan masters conducting the trials concluded that since Spock's human blood was touched by these messages from space, he could not have achieved Kolinahr, and the ritual was halted.

The term for the purge of emotion is Arie'mnu. It is stated that it does not translate properly into any Earth language. In Diane Duane's novel Spock's World, it was suggested that Arie'mnu closely translates into "passion's mastery", but that linguist Amanda Grayson, Sarek's wife and Spock's mother, in her work on the universal translator, had mistranslated the Vulcan word to mean "lack of emotions".

Some Vulcans, such as T'Pol, Sarek (in his later years, due to a rare disease which can affect Vulcans over the age of 200 years), and Soval, carry their emotions close to the surface, and are prone to emotional outbursts, even without outside influences or illness; T'Pau certainly displayed restrained but definite emotions in the TOS episode "Amok Time", including suspicion of the Human visitors followed by admiration and approval of their friendship for Spock, and contempt for Spock's humanity. There is some evidence to support the hypothesis that Vulcans in close contact with Humans for an extended period of time may become more emotional than Vulcans who do not. Established canon has yet to make a definitive case for this.

Not all Vulcan characters follow the path of pure logic; some instead choose to embrace emotions. A group of renegade Vulcans who believed in this was encountered in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Fusion", while Spock's half-brother Sybok, seen in the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, was also fully emotional. An episode of Enterprise titled "E²" featured an elderly T'Pol in an alternative timeline who had embraced emotion and allowed her half-Human son, Lorian, to do likewise.

In the pilot episode "The Cage", Spock showed much more emotion. "Number One", played by Majel Barrett, was supposed to be the emotionless character.^{[citation needed]} Although the test audience indicated they liked the actress, they hated the character because they could not relate to a female who was so "cold".^{[citation needed]} As a result, the character of Christine Chapel was created for Barrett and the "coldness" was transferred to the Spock character.^{[citation needed]}

Telepathy

Many Vulcans are contact telepaths. They have been observed taking part several telepathy-related actions and rituals, including an instance in the Season 2 episode "The Immunity Syndrome", (written by Robert Sabaroff) where Commander Spock was telepathically aware of the simultaneous deaths of 400 other Vulcans on a faraway ship whose crew was entirely Vulcan, the USS Intrepid.

Mind melds

A mind meld, first depicted in the TOS episode "Dagger of the Mind", is a technique for sharing thoughts, experiences, memories, and knowledge with another individual, essentially a limited form of telepathy. It usually requires physical contact with a subject, though instances of mind-melds without contact have been seen (for example, in the episode "The Devil in the Dark"). Vulcans can perform mind melds with members of most other species, most notably Humans, with Jonathan Archer being the first known Human participant in such a ritual in 2154. Even the Earth humpback whale can be successfully melded with. The Ferengi are one of the few races known to be impervious to the mind meld; mentally disciplined Cardassians may also be resistant to mind melds if properly trained. It is not established if this potential ability is inherent to Cardassians, or if members of any race could be trained to resist a mind meld. Machines, such as the Nomad probe, have been melded with even if only through complete contact. In the animated Star Trek episode "One of Our Planets Is Missing", a touch-less melding with a gaseous nebular entity was depicted.
Mind melds have been used to erase memories, as Spock performed on James T. Kirk in the TOS episode "Requiem for Methuselah". Mind melds can also allow more than one mind to experience memories and sensations, and sometimes even interact with the memories, as seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback".

The mind meld can be considered a terrible intimacy because of the strength of Vulcan emotions and the strict psycho-suppression disciplines in which they are trained, and thus not one to be taken lightly. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Sarek," the title character (Spock's father) is diagnosed with Bendii Syndrome, a disease that causes sufferers to lose control of their emotions. Executing a mind meld with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Sarek gains enough emotional stability to complete his final diplomatic mission; however, Picard nearly goes insane from the overwhelming onslaught of Sarek's unchecked emotions.

Though mind melds are frequently portrayed as a consensual act, that is not always the case. In the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror", Spock of the Mirror Universe performed a forced mind meld on Dr. Leonard McCoy to learn what McCoy was keeping secret. Mind melds can also be violating and potentially harmful under certain circumstances. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Spock forcefully used the technique on Valeris to discover information she had that could be used to prevent a war; Valeris began screaming just before Spock broke the connection.

The use of the mind meld was taboo for a period of time. In the Vulcan timeline, this changed when experienced melders were shown to be able to cure Pa'nar Syndrome, a condition passed on by melders who are improperly trained. Within a week of the Kir'Shara incident in 2154, the stigma against mind-melders was evaporating, and sufferers of Pa'nar were being cured in large numbers. By the mid-23rd century, the mind meld is a fully accepted part of Vulcan society, and was even used once to rejoin Spock's katra with his healed physical body.

As originally depicted in TOS, mind-melds were considered dangerous and potentially lethal. Over the course of the original series, however, the element of risk was no longer mentioned, although it was revived on Star Trek: Enterprise with the revelation that Pa'nar Syndrome can be transmitted this way.

For a number of years, it was held that not all Vulcans are genetically capable of initiating a mind-meld, such as T'Pol. However, the overthrow of the Vulcan High Command in 2154 revealed that this is not the case, and T'Pol conducted her first mind meld soon after.

Some Vulcans appear with advanced mental abilities. For example, in the TOS episode "A Taste of Armageddon", Spock was once able to induce uncertainty in the mind of a prison guard on Eminiar VII, and in the episode "The Devil in the Dark", he was able to perform a limited mind meld with a horta without actually making physical contact with the being. A character in the non-canon New Frontier book series mentions "meld masters", implying that some Vulcans are either especially adept at or are able to perform deeper, more intense melds through practice. It is made apparent that a touch-less meld is limited in effectiveness compared to physical melds. During more intense melds, the melder is sometimes shown using both hands.

Katra

Some Vulcans appear able to "cheat death" by implanting their katra, essentially their living essence or spirit, into an object or another person via a form of mind-meld just before death. Dr Julian Bashir in the episode "The Passenger" of Deep Space Nine referred to this phenomenon as "synaptic pattern displacement". The history and mechanics of the katra have never been discussed in great detail in canon.

Katras can, on rare occasions, be returned to the body, effectively bringing an individual back from the dead. Such was the case with Spock, who, near the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, implanted his katra into the mind of Dr. McCoy before sacrificing his life to save the USS Enterprise from Khan's attack. Following Spock's death, McCoy began exhibiting Vulcan-like behavior and was briefly institutionalized. It was later discovered that Spock's body came to rest on the Genesis Planet after his burial in space, and was regenerated. He was recovered and was taken with McCoy to Mount Seleya on Vulcan where a Vulcan high priestess named T'Lar performed a rare, seldom-attempted ritual called the fal tor pan, literally, "re-fusion". which removed the katra from McCoy and implanted it into Spock's regenerated body. Subsequently, Spock recovered, although it took some time to fully retrain his mind. Eventually, Spock's original memories apparently reasserted themselves, and he resumed his duties in Starfleet, albeit with trial and error before the 'old' Spock was completely back.

Culture

Language

According to the DVD commentary of the film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, actors Leonard Nimoy and Kirstie Alley, portraying Spock and Saavik respectively, spoke their lines in English, and later dubbed in alien dialogue (at least partially designed by linguist Marc Okrand) that corresponded with the movements of their mouths in the scene.^[5]

Names

The treatment of Vulcan names has been erratic throughout Star Trek '​s production history. Early on, female Vulcans were typically given names beginning with "T" followed by an apostrophe then a "p". The earliest reference to Vulcan names following a set pattern dates back to a May 3, 1966 memo from TOS producer Robert H. Justman to Gene Roddenberry (later reprinted in the book The Making of Star Trek) in which Justman recommended that all Vulcan names begin with "SP" and end with "K", and have exactly five letters. (It is clear from the context of the book, however, that the memo was intended as a joke, as the series of memos ends up discussing the pronunciation of such names as "Spook", "Spilk" and "Spork".)^[6]

Only non-canonical sources have provided any Vulcans with family names, which are usually spoken of as defying attempts at both human pronunciation, especially with English-language phonemes, and human typesetting, especially with the characters of the modern Latin alphabet used for the English language. Hence, no canonical source has given any family names to any Vulcan characters, and indeed, every one of the personal names previously mentioned are all officially described as being only Latin-alphabetical and English-phonetic approximations of the real ones. On TOS Spock was once asked about "If he had another name?" , to which he replied, "You couldn't pronounce it."

Marriage

Vulcans practice arranged marriage,^[7] in which a male and a female are bonded as children, with consummation at a later date. Spock explains that this childhood pairing has no one-for-one human analogue, as it is considered less than a full "marriage", but more than simply a "betrothal". This is why Spock first described T'Pring as his "wife", before later explaining that this was an incorrect approximation. Following adult union, it is customary for the couple to remain on Vulcan for at least one Vulcan year before conducting off-world travel, though it is possible to defer this requirement until a later date, upon negotiation with the male's family. The state of pon farr is not required for marriage to occur. The mating session of a Vulcan (pon farr) includes the private act of sex undifferentiated from the human version of mating.

A Vulcan female can challenge the proposed bonding by calling for koon-ut-kal-if-fee, meaning "marriage or challenge", in which a challenger for marriage engages the bonded male in a fight to the death. Alternatively, the bonded male has the option of rejecting his intended bride and choosing another. It is acceptable for a male to "release" his mate from marriage (effectively the same as a divorce). It is not established whether females have the same option, and T'Pring stated in "Amok Time" that a koon-ut-kal-if-fee challenge was the only way she could legally divorce Spock.^[7]

Family

It is customary for Vulcan children to undertake an initiation ordeal known as the Kahs-wan (sometimes spelled Kaswahn), in which they are left to fend for themselves in the desert for a specific period of time. Not all children survive this rite of passage. T'Pol underwent the ritual, while Tuvok experienced a variation known as the tal'oth. The Kahs-wan was first introduced in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear", in which Spock's experience as a child was detailed.
Contrary to the Vulcan image of expressing no emotion, family bonds can be strong and affectionate just as they are for humans. Tuvok expressed his love for his wife on a few occasions (without actually using the term), Sarek openly expressed affection for both his Human wives, and a clear bond of love existed between T'Pol and her mother, T'Les.

Fighting and self-defense

Although generally adhering to a philosophy of non-violence, Vulcans have developed martial arts and techniques of hand-to-hand combat. Vulcan martial arts are highly ritualistic and based on philosophy, similar to Human counterparts such as karate and Silat. The most extreme example is the koon-ut-kal-if-fee, or fight to the death, described earlier, though one particular discipline is known as Suss Mahn (named for Star Trek: Enterprise producer Mike Sussman^{[citation needed]}).

"Nerve-pinching"

Many Vulcans are skilled in a self-defense technique known as the "Vulcan nerve pinch" or "neck pinch", which targets a precise location on the neck, rendering the victim unconscious (sometimes instantly, sometimes after a short delay depending on the subject). The pinch was first depicted in production in the TOS episode "The Enemy Within", but first aired one episode-broadcast earlier, in "The Naked Time". The mechanics of the pinch have never been explained in on-screen canon. While practiced mainly by Vulcans, it is apparently not exclusive to their race; for example, Jonathan Archer and Jean-Luc Picard are depicted as having mastered the technique after each became involved in a Vulcan telepathic ritual (Archer holding the katra of Surak; Picard having undergone a mind-meld with Sarek). Seven of Nine is depicted as capable of using this ability in the episode of Voyager, "The Raven". She is able to defend herself against the Vulcan Tuvok, who is attempting to subdue her with the pinch, and then successfully use the pinch against him. It is assumed her knowledge of the pinch was part of her wealth of Borg knowledge, which they would have gained by assimilating Vulcans capable of using the pinch. The android Data also displayed this ability in "Unification, Part II". None of these four characters, however, were depicted using the skill regularly.
Leonard McCoy attempted to use the "neck pinch" while carrying Spock's katra in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but was unsuccessful due to his arthritis. In "Whom Gods Destroy", Garth of Izar performs the neck pinch on Orion female Marta while masquerading as Spock, using his shape-shifting ability. Tongo Rad, a Catuallan, employed a similar technique to render a Starfleet officer unconscious by driving his thumbs suddenly and firmly into the sides of the officer's neck in the original-series episode "The Way to Eden". In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Spock, while he and Kirk were riding on a San Francisco city bus, used the nerve pinch to subdue a rude punk who had ignored Kirk's asking to turn off his boom box as his music was too loud, to the other passengers' relief. The technique was also used by Spock to subdue James Kirk in the 2009 film, when Kirk opposes Spock's decision as captain of the USS Enterprise to reunite with the remainder of Starfleet in the Lorentian system, instead of pursuing Nero immediately.

Depictions of the effects of a nerve pinch vary. In "The Enterprise Incident", Spock pretended to apply a "Vulcan death grip" to Kirk, in order to convince Romulan onlookers that Kirk had been killed. The death grip was later described as fake; Spock had used a particularly powerful nerve pinch to place Kirk in a deep unconsciousness that convincingly resembled death, to the extent that Kirk's lifesigns did not register on the sensors in the Enterprise sick bay. Kirk spontaneously awoke a short time later, complaining of neck pain but suffering no lasting injury.

The neck pinch itself (referred to in scripts as 'FSNP', or 'Famous Spock Neck Pinch'^{[citation needed]}) was created by Leonard Nimoy, who objected to a scene in "The Enemy Within", in which a transporter malfunction had divided Kirk between his good and evil selves, that required Spock to render the "evil" Kirk unconscious and subduing him by hitting him over the head with the butt of a phaser. Nimoy was convinced that such overt violence, in addition to being too similar to that found in many crime dramas of the time, was uncharacteristic of the strictly-logical Spock, and suggested the neck pinch as a less-emotional alternative.^{[citation needed]}

"Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations"

The theme of "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" is symbolized by the Vulcans in a Kol-Ut-Shan,^[8] represented as a pendant of yellow and white gold with a circle and triangle resting upon each other, and adorned with a white jewel in the center.

In an issue of The Humanist, Majel Barrett claimed that the philosophy of "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" was based on the teachings of Rabbi Maimonides.^[9]

Spock wore the symbol during important gatherings and ceremonies as part of his dress uniform. It appeared for the first time in the Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" It also appeared in Spock's quarters in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In the series Star Trek: Enterprise, T'Pol is given, through her in-name-only husband Koss, an IDIC pendant from her mother T'Les which projects a holographic relief, enabling T'Pol and Captain Archer to find the location where T'Les and the Syrrannites are hiding. Also in Star Trek: Enterprise, T'Pol, the science officer, holds an IDIC pendant in "Terra Prime" while she is in mourning for her dying cloned child Elizabeth, named in honor of Charles "Trip" Tucker's deceased sister. In the Enterprise episode "The Andorian Incident" the IDIC symbol appears on small playing pieces that are being used to construct a makeshift map of the P'Jem catacombs in an attempt to escape. In the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Take Me Out to the Holosuite", Captain Solok, an Academy classmate and longtime rival of Benjamin Sisko, challenges Sisko and other DS9 personnel to a baseball game against his Vulcan team, the Logicians. The IDIC symbol appears on the Vulcans' ballcaps.

The Vulcan IDIC pendant was designed by Gene Roddenberry as a marketing premium long before the third season. As early as the end of the first season, fans of the show had begun writing in asking for copies of the scripts, film clip frames, etc., and these were soon sold through Roddenberry's "Lincoln Enterprises", run by Majel Barrett. As evidenced in some of his letters and memos, Roddenberry was fond of circle-and-triangle designs and had wanted to use them for purposes of theatrical unity as early as the first season's "The Return of the Archons". As reported by editor Ruth Berman (issue #1, Inside Star Trek, July 1968, pp. 15–16), "ardent rock hound and amateur lapidary" Roddenberry came up with the Vulcan philosophy after he presented Leonard Nimoy with a unique "hand-crafted piece of jewelry", a "pendent" (sic) of polished yellow gold (circle) and florentined white gold (triangle), with a stone of brilliant white fabulite—an artificial gem "developed by the laser industry and used in space mechanisms for its optical qualities", and thus well-suited as a gift for an actor in a science fiction show. Readers were encouraged to submit their interest in such a product to the then-Star Trek Enterprises mail order firm. It was noted that "less expensive materials" would keep costs down.

According to William Shatner in Star Trek Memories, the book about TOS he dictated to Chris Kreski, IDIC was only worked into the episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" as an afterthought. The actors all knew it was a mere advertising toy. Reportedly, Leonard Nimoy was asked to wear it and refused, so it was passed on to Shatner; when he also refused, Nimoy reluctantly agreed to wear it. At the last minute, Roddenberry sent down several pages of new script for the dinner scene, in which Spock was to give a long-winded explanation of the philosophy. The actors refused to film it until Roddenberry cut it down.^{[citation needed]}

Ethics

In the Star Trek universe, Vulcans are often seen to follow a utilitarian attitude to morality. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Spock sacrifices himself to save the lives of those on the Enterprise, stating that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one". In Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Spock uses the same logic to justify his attempt to sacrifice himself. Indeed, utilitarian ethics requires one to equally consider the interests of others with one's own interests. In Star Trek: Enterprise, T'Pol states that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" is a Vulcan axiom.

The idea of utilitarianism is also seen in the general Vulcan philosophy of non-violence, and their use of limited violence through the nerve pinch, for example, causes minimal long-term damage to the victim while rendering him or her unconscious. Moreover, the fact that most Vulcans are vegetarian suggests that Vulcans are unwilling to inflict unnecessary suffering on other beings.

Homeworld

Comparison of the habitable zone of 40 Eridani with the habitable zone in our solar system.

The Vulcan homeworld, also named Vulcan, was mentioned in the original series, and in the script-adaptation anthology Star Trek 2, author James Blish put the planet in orbit around the star 40 Eridani A, 16 light years from Earth, an identification later adopted by Roddenberry.^[10] Vulcan is a reddish Minshara-Class planet. Its inhabitants were originally called Vulcanians; Spock used this name in the TOS episodes "A Taste of Armageddon" and "Court-Martial," as did Federation colonists in "This Side of Paradise" and Harry Mudd in "Mudd's Women."

In Season 1 of TOS, in "The Man Trap," while Uhura is attempting to make conversation with Spock, he informs her that Vulcan has no moon. "I'm not surprised," is her response.

Much of its surface consists of deserts and mountain ranges, and large areas are set aside as wilderness preserves. It is much hotter, it has a stronger surface gravity, and its atmosphere is thinner than that of Earth. As a result of these factors, humans tend to tire out more quickly than native Vulcans.

The capital of and largest city on Vulcan is ShiKahr. Other major cities on Vulcan include: Vulcana Regar, T'Paal, Gol, Raal, and Kir. Most major governmental bodies and embassies are located in ShiKahr, including the Vulcan High Command (historically), the first United Earth embassy on Vulcan, and the Vulcan Science Academy.

History

In the episode "Return to Tomorrow", Spock theorized that the Vulcans might be the descendants of colonists from Sargon's planet.

Vulcans subsequently practiced a form of polytheism; this can be seen in gods of war, peace, and death depicted on the Stone of Gol, as well as the celebration of Rumarie. The DVD commentary for "Amok Time" says that TOS writer D. C. Fontana named the Vulcan god of death "Shariel", a bust of whom is seen in Spock's quarters.

In about the 4th century AD, Vulcans emerged from their violent tendencies and civil wars under a philosopher named Surak, who advocated the suppressing of emotion in favor of logic. This period was known as the Great Awakening, and much of present-day Vulcan philosophy emerged from this period. According to the Star Trek: New Frontier book series (which, like all novels, are not considered canon), the Great Awakening caused many wars and conflicts to occur amongst various Vulcan tribes; those who supported Surak's cause would become separated from friends and even close family members who did not. For cases in which parents were separated by this, a ritual was created called the ku'nit ka'fa'ar, a battle to determine which parent would maintain their child. Despite the acceptance of Surak's teachings, generations of imperfect copies of his writings, combined with changes in the Vulcan language over time, resulted in a diluted form of the culture he instituted.

Surak's views and lifestyle were not universally accepted by Vulcan society. One particular group of Vulcans who called themselves "those who march beneath the Raptor's wings" were so adamant in their opposition against Surak that it resulted in a nuclear war fought with neutron bombs, of which Surak himself became a victim. After a time the portion of Vulcan society who rejected Surak's teachings left the planet for the stars. These Vulcan separatists would eventually become known as the Romulans. Knowledge of the common ancestry of Romulans and Vulcans would obscure into myth over the millennia, and while some Vulcans had direct dealings with Romulans in the 22nd century, the common ancestry would not become widely known until the mid-23rd century.

A great deal of Star Trek spin-off fiction, in particular the novel The Romulan Way by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, has stated that the leader of the Vulcan-Romulan migration was a close follower of Surak's named S'Task. S'Task would see the founding of the Romulan Empire, but was killed by political factions shortly thereafter.

Vulcans did recover from the effects of barbarism and turn much of their attention to space travel for 1,500 years. What would later become known as the Vulcan High Command was initially formed to orchestrate space exploration, but it ended up seizing control of Vulcan government.

Spock was one of three Starfleet officers from the 23rd century who travel in time to 1930s New York City, in the original series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". He would also briefly travel to Earth in 1968 on a mission, in the episode "Assignment: Earth"; accidentally in 1969, in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"; and again in 1986, in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. (Technically speaking, these three events occurred after the founding of the Federation, but are included here as they constitute pre-First Contact encounters with contemporary Humans.)

In 1957, the launch of Sputnik I, Earth's first artificial satellite, was observed by a Vulcan vessel that subsequently crashed on the planet, marooning several crew members for a number of months in Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania; this constituted the first true contact between Humans and Vulcans, but it was never recorded as such as the Humans were unaware of the alien nature of their guests.

On April 5, 2063, Vulcans and Humans made official first contact near the town of Bozeman, Montana, following the successful test of Earth scientist Zefram Cochrane's first warp-powered starship, as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact.

In 2097, the Vulcans annexed the Andorian planetoid Weytahn and renamed it Pan Mokar.

In 2105, the Vulcans and the Andorians agreed to a compromise over Weytahn/Pan Mokar. Still, tensions continued due to the threat of mutual annihilation.

By the 22nd century of Star Trek, the Vulcan High Command is apparently a form of military government which controls both the Vulcan space fleet and most of the planet itself. Most of the Vulcans, including T'Pol, from Star Trek: Enterprise served the High Command. It is dissolved in the early fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

In 2151, Sub-Commander T'Pol joined the crew of the Earth Starfleet vessel Enterprise (NX-01), within a couple of weeks setting a Vulcan endurance record for serving aboard a human vessel. In 2154, T'Pol became a commissioned officer with Starfleet.

Throughout the run of Star Trek: Enterprise, Captain Jonathan Archer frequently had run-ins with the High Command—even after Archer proved conclusively, several times, that he was able to travel through time, the High Command stubbornly refused to acknowledge the possibility that time travel could ever be possible (although T'Pol tried to keep an open mind). The High Command, on at least one occasion, sent Vulcan starships to actively spy on the Enterprise and report on the ship's activities (see episode "Breaking the Ice"), an act which infuriated Archer to no end.

However, this was not the end of the High Command's questionable activities. They appeared to participate in open acts of persecution towards other Vulcans, such as isolating and quarantining victims of Pa'nar Syndrome rather than treating them; prejudicial acts against any Vulcan proven to have committed a mind meld; and hunting down and capturing, even often killing, members of the underground dissident group, the Syrranites.

In 2154, V'Las, the head of the High Command and undercover agent for the Romulans, bombed the United Earth embassy on Vulcan in an attempt to frame and eliminate all Syrranites while simultaneously attempting an invasion of Andoria. He was foiled by the crew of the Enterprise. During these events, the Kir'Shara, a device containing the original writings of Surak, was discovered by Jonathan Archer. This led to the prompt dissolution of the High Command and a reevaluation of traditional values. It also resulted in Vulcan agreeing to stop "looking over Earth's shoulder" in space exploration matters.

It was revealed to viewers that the High Command's illogical and often emotionally based actions were, in reality, the result of covert Romulan influence. The Romulans had secretly made contact with V'Las and attempted to reunify their long-lost peoples. After the invasion of Andoria was foiled, the High Command was disbanded and V'Las was dismissed from his post. Subsequently, the altered political climate on Vulcan caused the undercover Romulan operative Talok to leave Vulcan, apparently ending the infiltration.

After the dissolution of the High Command, the Vulcan space fleet experienced a serious shortage of personnel, many of whom were still sympathetic to the old guard. Minister T'Pau, who now oversaw Vulcan's fleet operations, attempted to rebuild the fleet with personnel who understood true logic.

On August 12, 2161, Vulcan became one of the founding members of the United Federation of Planets.

In the time of Star Trek: Enterprise, Vulcans are often seen to be rather arrogant and cold in their behavior towards Humans. It is explained that after first contact, Vulcan shared technology with Earth, but many Humans, such as Jonathan Archer, greatly resented the fact that Vulcans seemed to be holding back humanity's efforts at space travel. Soval, Vulcan's ambassador to Earth, appeared particularly distrustful of humans, and was often at odds with Archer and his crew. Soval later justified this behavior in the fourth season episode "The Forge":

We don't know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic.

Soval also explained that, since Earth recovered from World War III far more quickly than Vulcan did from its equivalent (in "The Forge" and its sequel episodes, it is said that Vulcans took almost a thousand years to fully rebuild their society after their last catastrophic war), it alarmed many Vulcans, who were confused as to how to deal with a rapidly growing and emotional society such as Earth's.

After the overthrow of the corrupt Vulcan High Command and the death of Admiral Maxwell Forrest, who sacrificed his life to save Soval from a terrorist attack, the attitudes of Soval, and Vulcan society in general, became more cordial and accepting towards humanity.

Star Trek (2009) alternative timeline

In the alternative timeline of the 2009 film, the planet Vulcan is destroyed in 2258 by the mad Romulan known as Nero (Eric Bana), who had time traveled from the future. Using his space vessel, Narada, Nero created a singularity in Vulcan's planetary core as part of his quest to avenge the destruction of Romulus. The resulting implosion destroyed Vulcan, killing most of its six billion inhabitants. Only around 10,000 managed to escape, including Spock and some of the Elders.
However, the film's writers have stated that this does not include Vulcans who were living off planet at the time.^[11] At the end of the film, Spock Prime tells the younger Spock a suitable planet has been located to establish a colony for the surviving Vulcans; this world is subsequently referred to (in the sequel Star Trek Into Darkness) as New Vulcan. New Vulcan remains the capital of the Vulcan state (including all of Vulcan's offworld colonies), now known as the Confederacy of Surak.

Character development

Blessing gesture that was the inspiration for the Vulcan salute

Leonard Nimoy discussed the origin of the Vulcan salute in his autobiography I Am Spock.^[12] As a bit of stage "business" in the episode "Amok Time", he invented the famous "Live long and prosper" Vulcan salute based on the hand symbol used by Jewish priests (kohanim) during the Priestly Blessing in the synagogue. The gesture actually emulates the initial Shin of the Shema (Nimoy has also commented that the "sh" could also indicate Shaddai, or the Almighty; more recently, on William Shatner's Raw Nerve, he associated it with Shekhinah.) On numerous occasions, for example in the 1983 TV special Star Trek Memories (which is often syndicated along with The Original Series), Nimoy recounts how as a child, he peeked during the blessing and witnessed the gesture, although the congregation are supposed to put hands over eyes or turn away at this moment in acknowledgement of the presence of the Almighty.