Universal books -- Claim The Earth -- Chapter 4: Under the Sun

Something new did appear coming out under the sun though after Einstein published his theory of relativity though, that is E=mc^2. It came out of the same set of equations with Lorentz factor that convert between time dilation and length contraction, but I am not exactly sure how it was done in algebra, do you remember?"

Wise Guy said: "No, I can't remember either. But you can always Google the equation if you want to become a good student of physics again".

"No, thank you!" David said, "I am only interested in the conclusion. For the first time, a human presented a equation to explain how the Sun and other stars emitted lights through nuclear reactions and that is shocking. A cup of coffee like this one in my hand, with 0.1 kilo gram of mass, would have 0.1 x 300,000,000 m /s x 300,000,000 m / s of joule of energy. I don't know how much energy that is, but I think it is more than enough to push any of those cars back faster than shooting those cars out of a rifle. Since any of the scientific theories usually had to go through the bureaucratic process of: abstraction of observations, hypothesis, predictions, and experiments to confirm the theory, it was not awed by many people quickly.

If a theory does not make any prediction that is pertinent to everyday life of the common man, it is usually not going to sell many books or newspapers or even help publishing many academic papers. The general theory of relativity predicted that lights will be bent, and it was observed, common folks said: so what? The special theory of relativity predicated that E=mc^2, which was also saying that energy could be converted to mass.  General public looked at it, and since ancient greats had already worked out energy, was convertible to heat, light, electricity, that meant all these things are equivalent to some form of light, general public again just glanced at the theory and went about with other important things in their lives, such as avoiding a Great Depression or fighting imperialist or semi-colonialist world wars. It was after the first pair of atomic bomb was dropped at the end of World War II, that people started realizing E=mc^2 is more than a pure academic theory on paper. It is something that had opened a Pandora's box, which could be devastating to the entire man kind. Well, some others believe this is the proof of Armageddon or the revelation as Bible said it. There is nothing new under the sun.

As Machiavelli once pointed out, there are two methods to governing, one is through love and the other is through fear. Since men are always selfish, love is often soon forgotten, but fear will never be. So this fear of nuclear weapon carved into human minds for decades to come and weapons of mass destruction become a hot topic for many years to come. It is great that mankind finally understood how nuclear reactions work and how the stars like Sun generated lights in the universe through thermal-nuclear reactions. But theory of relativity brought to human imagination more than nuclear reactions in physics. If so many thing else have been illusions, can this fear of nuclear annihilation also an illusion too? What pain could be felt by people under the influence of anesthetics? Is the pain of nuclear mushroom more painful than the pain of chopped off limbs, gauged out eyes, or all the forms of tortures happened under slavery and barbarism? But looking around today, fears are all around us. America used to believe themselves as: 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself'. When I first came to US in the early 1990's it did appear that way. It was such an open and friendly country, yet it was a very safe place. One of the pledges made by many people in America after 9/11 was that 'terrorists would never be able to change our way of life'. But looking at airports around the country today, you will see how much has changed. Personally, I feel sad seeing how the general public has reacted to different kinds of terrorist attacks, with so much caution that they are willing to sacrifice freedom. The biggest damage that the shoe bomber had ever done was not blowing up an airplane, but blowing off everybody's shoes in front of airport security check systems. What if another terrorist placed explosives in his or her chest? We will all undergo chest X-ray at the airport? How many other body parts would human being have for extra security screening? Next liquid bottles, what next? What if other objects other than airplanes were attacked? Will there be security checks on highway, gas stations, parks, stadiums, shopping malls, everywhere we go? A little bit of fear is healthy, but a big dose of fear can be toxic. A big dose of fear can move a war zone into a peaceful nation, or a culture revolution into a united group of free people."

Wise Guy seemed to feel allergic talking about politics and said: "I learned one phrase when living in US, that is 'political correctness'. Please do not talk about politics any more. As you know it is always uncomfortable for a Chinese politician or semi-politician to talk about American politics, because there is nothing good for me to say that would be 'politically correct'. But I know one thing, we people around the world study American politics, but American people like to shut their eyes and ears".

David smiled and shot back sarcastically: "Look who's stopping me from talking about politics? You are the more political one between us? I am just a damn programmer. Well, you are a consultant in telecommunication industry. After all, China is getting closer and closer to America. Remember several years ago, how you commented about progress of democracy in China?"

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