Tag Archives: Science

INTERCONNECT — FINDING YOUR PLACE, PURPOSE AND MEANING IN THE UNIVERSE

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Once upon a time, a youth lay on their back and gazed in awe at the starry sky. The moon waned as a dim crescent—God’s Thumbnail, some call it—which let the universal brilliance of consciousness resonate in the youth’s eyes. Billions of fireballs blazed above, and countless more stars couldn’t be seen. The cosmos had cracked its coat. Like a galactic exhibitionist teasing eternal entropy, the universe flashed a perfect picture of order defying chaos and displayed an unbashful interconnection with all its occupants, including the star-gazing youth.

If you remember… that youth was you. Regardless if your years are still young, you’ve reached middle-age or are now advanced in time, the wonder of universal questions remains etched in your mind. Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going? And what is your interconnected place, purpose and meaning in the universe?

These are timeless queries people like you’ve asked since humans first consciously observed the heavenly heights. Long ago, your ancestors used their emerging awareness to question universal curiosities. It’s a natural thing for humankind to look for simple answers to straightforward questions and, no doubt, you’ve queried them many times during your earthly existence without receiving any clear response.

For centuries, sages and scientists pondered the meaning of existence within the universe. They’ve debated scientific theories and proposed philosophical solutions to deep puzzles boldly presented in the macro and micro worlds. You’ll find narrow common ground on who’s right and who’s wrong which leaves you to wonder what nature’s realities truly are.

Albert Einstein equated that science without philosophy was lame and philosophy without science was blind. That great scientific sage also spent the second half of his life looking for the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that interconnects everything in the universe. That includes your place, purpose and meaning.

As wise and astute as Einstein was, he didn’t complete his mission of tying the universe into a nicely packaged bow. It’s not that he didn’t believe all parts of the universe were intrinsically interconnected. Einstein knew in his gut that all physical laws and natural processes reported to one central command. That, ultimately, is the universal dominance of consciousness that allowed your creation and will one day destroy you through eternal entropy.

This isn’t a religious treatise you’re reading. No, far from it. It’s simply one person’s later-in-life reflection on three interconnected and universal curiosities. What’s your place? What’s your purpose? And, what’s the meaning in your life?

To find sensible suggestions, it’s necessary to dissect what’s learned (so far) of universal properties and what’s known about you as a human. You’re a conscious being housed in a physical vessel and controlled by universal principles. You had no choice in how you came to be here, but you certainly have choices now. Those include placing yourself in a safe and prosperous environment, developing a productive purpose and enjoying a rewarding meaning from the limited time you’re granted to be alive.

At the end of this discourse you’ll find a conclusion about your place, purpose and meaning in the universe. It might be one person’s opinion, but it’s based on extensive research and over six decades of personal experience. However, for the conclusion to make sense you need to take a little tour through the universal truths.

Ahead are a layman’s look at the origin of the universe, classical and quantum physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, neuroscience and the life-changing principle of entropy. It’s also a dive into what’s not known about the biggest scientific and philosophical mystery of all—how consciousness manifests through the human brain and how entropy tries to kill it. Now, if you’re ready to interconnect with the universe, here’s what your place, purpose and meaning truly are.

The universe is enormous. It’s absolutely huge. There aren’t proper adjectives in the English language to describe just how big the universe really is. Perhaps the right word is astronomical which means exceeding great or enormous.

People often use the word “cosmos” interchangeably with “universe”. That’s not correct. Cosmos refers to the visible world extending beyond Earth and outward to the heavens. The universe incorporates all that’s in the macroscopic or outward realm, but the term also drills down and incorporates everything within the micro-regions of molecules, atoms and then into sub-atomic realities where quantum stuff gets seriously strange.

In Chemistry, Biology and Physics 101, you learned you’re created of energized matter built of complex material formed by atomic and molecular chains. So is every set-piece in the micro and macro universe. All visible matter contains material made of atomic structures that strictly obey standard operating procedures set down during the universe’s birth.

How that happened is explained by a few different theories. Religious accounts, depending on the flavor, hold that an omniscient supernatural power created the universe at will and for a vain purpose. Current scientific accounts dismiss all supernatural contribution and exchange it with a series of natural orders called the laws of physics and non-tangible processes of the universe.

Most scientists don’t attach an intentional purpose to the universe. They leave that to philosophers who tend to argue with abstract thoughts that aren’t backed by hard evidence. Then, there are those who think the universe is simply a grand thought.

No matter who’s right and who’s wrong, there are a few facts you can personally bank on. One is that you exist in a physical form and use consciousness to be self-aware. That includes knowing you have a place in the universe, a purpose for being here and there’s a meaning to your life.

As said, this isn’t a religious paper. Religion can be a matter of faith but, then, so can science. The difference is that science relies on direct observation, proven experiments and the ability to replicate results. Science also depends on building hypothesizes, turning them into theories and then certifying them as facts.

No particular physicist claims sole authorship of the Big Bang Theory. Currently, the Big Bang Theory is the leading account for the universe’s origin, and it’s generally accepted throughout the scientific community as being the best explanation—so far—of where your structural matter originated. It goes something like this.

In the early 1900s, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble (the space telescope guy) was busy measuring galactic light and came upon his profound realization that the observable universe was expanding. Not only was the universe growing, Hubble exclaimed, but it was also accelerating its expansion rate. That led to a logical conclusion that the universe must have started in a singular place and at a specific time.

Some of science’s brightest folks worked on mathematical extrapolations and built the theory postulating that all matter and energy in today’s observable universe must have been once compressed in a singularity that exploded. That big bang started the time clock, created space, released energy and formed matter. It’s been growing ever since and, along the journey, you were created as an interconnected part.

This sounds like a pretty big undertaking. It also sounds pretty far out to think everything in the known universe was stuck in the space smaller than an atom where it was exceedingly hot and heavy. Well, guys like Einstein and Steven Hawking accepted the Big Bang Theory as fact, although Einstein famously quipped, “God knows where that came from.”

Without any other scientific direction to go on, what you see in the universe got started from a single point and is enormously here in its present form and place. The best-educated guesses place the universe’s age at about 13.77 billion years, give or take a few hundred thousand. This rough age-estimate comes from measuring Cepheid Variable Pulsating Stars (CVPS) with the Hubble Space Telescope which has proven to be quite useful once NASA got its foggy lens fixed.

The size of the observable macro, or outer, universe is impressive. Current measurements find the most distant visible electromagnetic radiation to be 46 billion light-years from Earth. That’s in every direction where the radio telescopes pick up the Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR) signal. Astronomers believe the CBR is a leftover mess occurring about 300,000 years after the Big Bang. If the true universal distance radius is 46 billion light-years, then the entire trip across occupied space is around 92 billion light-years in diameter.

That is a massive distance. It’s gigantic, humongous and colossal. Light, which is electromagnetic radiation, travels at 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second. That means that in one year a light particle can travel 5.88 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion kilometers. Multiply that by 92 billion and you’ll see that it’s a long, long way across the visible universe.

That’s just the macro universe that astronomers can see with current technology. Most scientists agree they’ve only explored something like four to five percent of the visible universe, and there’s far more out there than known today. This is an ongoing search with exciting discoveries emerging all the time.

To get a feel of where your physical place is in the macro universe is, you’re on the surface of a planet called Earth. Your home base is 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers from the sun which is a common-type star. It takes eight minutes for light to leave the sun and meet your eyes. To put this distance in perspective, a light particle can circle the Earth seven and a half times in one second.

The solar system extends a long way out. Pluto, which has returned its classification into the planet family, is seven hours distant from the sun via light speed. Going further, your planetary arrangement orbiting the sun is in one part of your home galaxy called the Milky Way. The sun is approximately 30,000 light-years from the big black hole at the Milky Way’s center, and you’re actually closer to the nearest independent galaxy than you are to the Milky Way’s core.

No one knows how many stars there are in the Milky Way. It’s a countless number. The current consensus is there may be a trillion stars in your home galaxy. Some astronomers feel there could be a trillion or more galaxies in the visible universe.

The Milky Way is part of a galactic bunch called the Local Group. These 54 assorted-shape star arrangements form part of a larger galactic collection known as the Virgo Supercluster. This is a big, big crowd but nowhere near what’s really going on out there.

Recent astronomical observations confirmed that beyond the Virgo Supercluster lies a monster called “Laniakea” which is Hawaiian for “Immeasurable Heaven”. This stupendous structure sits in a part of space called the “Zone of Avoidance” where the clouds of dust and gas are so thick that visible light is impossible to perceive. Astonishingly, Laniakea and the Virgo Supercluster are being pulled together across space and time by a behemoth force nicely titled the “Great Attractor”. No one knows what that force field is, but it’s powerful.

As you lay on the Earth’s surface and gaze at the starry sky, you’re not seeing reality. You’re only seeing light that left its emission point a long time ago. If you spot Andromeda, the only independent galaxy visible with your naked eye, you’re seeing that structure as it was two million years ago. For all you know, Andromeda may no longer exist.

The universe can play a lot of tricks on an observer. But one thing the universe never does is change its basic operating rules. Space, time, energy and matter follow strict laws that apply everywhere throughout the universe. Whether you’re on Earth, in Andromeda or around Laniakea, all fundamental forces behave the same way.

There are four fundamental forces in the entire universe—both in the macro and micro worlds. Those are electromagnetism, gravity, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. Space, time, energy and matter all adhere to these four forces from which many physicists have tried to find a common denominator to frame the Grand Unified Theory (GUT).

So far, no luck. Einstein spent the second half of his life working on a unified theory. His intuition told him unification lay in an infinite pool of information which is the non-visible and non-tangible factor that gives space, time, energy and matter its direction. This information or intelligence principle certainly seems to be real, and it’s captured in the acronym STEMI for Space, Time, Energy, Matter and Information or intelligence. It might also be universal consciousness.

Information permeates the entire universe. It somehow laid down the four forces emerging from the Big Bang and then made other rules or laws of physics which carried throughout the entire regions of reality. However, what the rules say about operating the outward cosmos are not exactly the same rules as those governing sub-atomics.

What directs your existence in the macro world adheres to classical or Newtonian physics. Down in the microcosm realm, though, your matter and energy have different masters. The wee parts of you behave according to quantum physics which are somehow interconnected back into classic physics and STEMI.

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To read the rest of Interconnect and find the conclusion of what your place, purpose and meaning in the universe really are, follow these links for a free, full-length download. It’s a relatively short piece at 11K words and you might just find it quite worthwhile.

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If you have any difficulties downloading any efile type, please email me at garry.rodgers@shaw.ca and I’ll ship you an attached copy. Also, please feel free to share Interconnect. It wasn’t written as a money-maker. Rather, it’s a personal letter to myself in an attempt to figure it all out. Here’s one of the principle take-aways:

 

THE OLD STONE BUTTER CHURCH

*Note* I originally wrote this piece for the 2018 CBC Short Story Contest.

It called to me—the Old Stone Butter Church. It’ll call to you, too… if you’re ready.

The Old Stone Butter Church called from a rise, where it stands on Comiaken Hill keeping forlorn watch over Canada’s Cowichan River estuary and traditional lands of the Khowutzun First Nations People on British Columbia’s southern Vancouver Island. It’s stood fifteen decades—the Old Stone Butter Church—and it’s built to withstand fifteen more.

They handcrafted the Old Stone Butter Church with local basalt and sandstone—they being Khowutzun workers and Christian settlers paid with churned butter from the priest’s dairy herd. A half-pound of butter for a day’s laying stone. Fair trade, you could say, for those confirmed in Catholic faith and those cautiously caring their indigenous values.

It called to me on a November day when Quamichan winds blew plate-sized, golden maple leaves from soaking-wet branches, and browned evergreen needles fell from hulking firs mixed with over-protective cedars. I parked at the hill’s base along Tzouhalem Road. Step by slippery step over leaf-covered moss, I ascended the flagstone pathway, unsurely gripping the iron pipe handrail and passing a gauntlet of tree-bark faces independently judging my passage.

The Old Stone Butter Church loomed above, silhouetting what’s left of its classic cruciform architecture—masonry walls with embedded buttresses and a high-pitch, split-shake roof matching the backdrop of a gray fall sky. Its tired facade of vacant gothic window frames and a long-gone wooden front door gave a sad look compared to what was a once-thriving, nineteenth-century pretense happily beckoning parishioners within.

Outside, overgrowth of green salal and red salmonberry elbowed the church’s rock structure, inviting that sacred place back within the fold of nature’s harmony. Beyond the church, in a grassy field, a lone concrete cross marked the resting space of an elder in eternity, amid a grazing flock of wet, woolly sheep. And overhead, a ruling osprey screeched, outshouting the mass of raven and crow disciples perched below.

I stopped at the open doorway. It still called—the Old Stone Butter Church. Now louder… and longer… with its clear and definite message.

Shifting foot to foot, I surveyed the open vestibule and peered through cold, lonely dampness beyond the rotting jack arch that once welcomed worshipers to the warmth within. What is it? A move forth. What does the church want of me? With short and calculated steps, I crossed the narthex threshold and passed between the light and the dark.

I shivered, yet sweated. My sixty-year-old eyes adjusted to the dim, and they scanned the nave where bench rows once sat a gathered assembly under the pious approval of a scissor-vault ceiling. The floor—it was solid—like some form of mixed concrete pressed from the earth and emitting a gaseous odor not like old eggs but more as old soul.

Daylight shafted through openings that stained glass once filled and an oak door once barred. In ethereal twilight, I saw how a generation of vandals desecrated the old church making mockery of its teachings through graffiti sprayed in yellow and blue and red and black-upon-white with two offensive letters acting as parentheses enclosing the hallowed entrance—one a block-lettered “S” topped with a circular halo, the other a “B” crowned by devil horns.

I turned, facing the crossing leading to the apse and the altar. More graffiti defaced this sanctuary and some brute force had ripped rocks from the transcept, callously throwing them about with no regard for the past and what this sacristy symbolized.

I hear it shut—the vestibule door. It wasn’t a shove. Certainly not a slam. It was a solid and securing sound coinciding with a reassuring temperature change where the chill subsided as the light manifested from dismal dim to calming clarity. I looked back, and I watched as the circular window space above the now-present, paneled oak door turned from a clearing sky to a marvelous consecrational cross consumed with an enlightened rose-colored glow.

To my right and to my left, the gothic arches morphed into leaded stained glass windows of sun-filtered images showing Christian stories from Testaments new and old. Around me, the pews transformed, becoming clear-grained fir boards waxed to a shine with their backs holding leather-bound books filled with good words. Below, the gritty floor transpired into turquoise and lavender and emerald mosaics telling their version of millennia’s history.

And ahead, a crucifix appeared beyond the crossing, before the chancel, mounted on the east wall above the now-formed, maple-wood pulpit draped in a ruby cloth with virginal white braids. Radiant light illuminated the old rugged cross from the cedar-paneled barrel vault—the full-sized cross supporting an exquisite supernatural figure cruelly spiked through the wrists and ankles—His face a balanced chastity of agony and ecstasy, perfectly representing the sins of the incarnate here on earth and the resurrected world of salvation far beyond our prison of mortal comprehension.

“Friend, it’s good to see you. It’s nice to know you care.”

The voice was around me. Not over, not under, not behind, nor ahead. It was everywhere within and without me. It was not male. It was not female. The best I can describe—a neutral voice with the feminine intelligence and majestic confidence of Meryl Streep and the beautiful baritone authority of Morgan Freeman. It was the voice of the Old Stone Butter Church.

 

“You… you called…” Humbly, I responded. I wasn’t scared nor alarmed. Not surprised or astounded. It felt natural to accept and submit, realizing some profound life change was occurring—I was entering an epiphany—and I was duty-bound to listen. “Why? Why have you called?”

“Because you are ready.” The voice was matter-of-fact. Straight-to-the-point. Kind of like Spock.

“Ready for… what? I… I don’t understand.” Perplexity stifled my speech.

“When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear.” The church’s voice confidently quoted a proverb. “You are ready to accomplish a task for me. I’ve called to instruct you.”

It was instinct to find the mouth—to look at the lips—that uttered my calling. I looked aside, viewing a black cast iron stove now convecting heat waves with the sensual smell of burning coal. Candle flickers accented gas lamps, allowing an ideal taste of comfort with glory. Only a parish remained to assemble, and this virtual reality of a bygone era would be consciously complete.

“How can… What can… I possibly do?”

“I need your help spreading a message.” The church was clear and concise, but firm. “To connect with people like yourself who are ready to receive the message. Several messages, actually, wrapped into one.”

“I… I… I’ll do what I can.”

An apprehensive urge overwhelmed me. I’m not Catholic, not baptized or raised in the faith. And I’m not a practicing Christian, but I had an instant respect for this church’s voice. There was something here I’d missed in my life. Now, coming into a period of retirement and retrospection, it was time. Time to listen. Unconsciously, I knelt at the crossing—genuflecting, I’m told they call it—and I opened my mind.

“I’ll outline my message…” The church paused, as if reflecting upon itself. “First, a bit of my background… how I came to present the physical state you walked to… how I lost tangible dignity but retained the inner strength and self-respect you see now.”

I stood, turning about and taking in a marvelous blend of tradition, order and décor. How something, someone, of such splendor could be so maliciously neglected seemed incomprehensible. And, how a bastion of civilization like a carefully crafted church could miraculously survive, despite infernal attempts to destroy it. Clearly, there was an answer in the message I was about to pass on.

“I had ten years of good run.” The church mused. “My builders were mixed. Local native people and immigrant Europeans. It’s much like how the country, the continent, was civilized… if you choose to use that term. But, like all organizations, there has to be mutual respect for every culture, faith, and belief involved. That’s a grounded principle in every society, regardless if Christian based, traditional native, or any type of religion based on history, doctrine and decent human principles. That didn’t happen with me, now called the Old Stone Butter Church.”

I detected emotion. The voice reminisced as if struggling to resolve the past and conform to, yet help shape the present and future. I listened.

“My decline began with a culture clash. Mistrust and suspicion. As you saw, my crafters had considerable skills and built my structure soundly with what they had. Rock. Wood. Mortar. They appointed me with handsome glass and hand-wrought iron. They built me as they saw fit, according to one-sided specifications. That was the Christian spectral view. Not the vision of spirituality from the Khowutzun people who have their own teachings to be respected.”

“What happened?” I was enthralled. “How did you fall into such shamble?”

“After ten years, the division between Caucasian settlers and indigenous landowners became unbearably stressed. Intolerance, by some in my Christian congregation, of native beliefs and values… not all by any means… forced my aboriginal followers to evict the parish from their lands. Oh, there were falsehoods spread of me being haunted and possessed by dark forces, but the reason… the truth… remains as often is… cultures are ignorantly disrespectful of each other despite a clear interconnectedness, and universal value, of all humanity.”

“And?”

“They stripped me of possessions… leaving me to stand bare… a witness to the world of religious strife and the resilience to represent truth for those wishing to find it. They… the Christian parishioners… took my stained glass windows, my oak doors, my pews, my altar, and my beloved crucifix away to a new location on non-native land and erected a new church to represent their clique. I remained empty… the Old Stone Butter Church… a vulnerable victim to vandals.”

“This is a shameful story.” I felt a throat lump, a sense of pity, yet profound curiosity. What do you want me to do?

“But, they didn’t take my spirit…

“…no…”

“… and you’re wondering what I want you to do. I need to confide before revealing my message. There is nothing holy about me. I’m just a human-built old rubble block, but I’m symbolic of a timeless truth. You don’t need me as a physical building to worship in or pray to. You can do that anywhere, and that’s what today’s masses are discovering… what they’re seeking. But most haven’t received the message, yet they’re ready. Many describe themselves as ‘Nones’. That being they don’t subscribe to any set religion.”

“Yes.”

“These are the ones I want to reach. It’s not that they’re atheist or agnostic, and they’re not so indoctrinated in religious dogma that they can’t be reached. No. Most Nones are too busy with life’s concerns to stop and reflect on what’s really important… what the core truth is in mortal existence and how I… an old relic… can help them ground.”

“I follow your past. And think I understand where you’re going.” I stayed fast, waiting for revelation. “But why call on me?”

“Because you are one of the most powerful people in society. Your kind has always been the most influential. The most persuasive force.”

“What? How am I powerful? I’m not an emperor, a politician… business tycoon. And I’m by no means an entertainment or religious icon.”

“Remind me of what you do for a living.”

“I’m… I’m a writer. I write books. Articles. Web pages. Do op-eds for the HuffPost. Like, whatever pays the bills.”

“Precisely. You’re a scribe. Scribes have always been the most powerful force in humanity. Emperors? Politicians? Tycoons? And religious icons and pop-entertainers? They come and they go and they’re at the mercy of scribes. They beg scribes for exposure… favorable, if they can get it. Otherwise, they fall at the scribes’ peril. Not at a foe’s sword but at a scribe’s quill.”

“You want me to write for you?” I wasn’t sure. “I am… honored… privileged… what is your message… how do you want my approach?”

“Getting my word out has never been easier. But…” The church calculated. “Telling it properly is the challenge. Today, you, the scribe, have unlimited access to the masses. You have your blog and website. You have social media platforms. You have connections with mainstream media you’ve built through years of credibility as a respected scribe. People will listen to you. If you present my message in a way they understand, it will help them function in the world as productive and contributing society members. And they will spread it through word of mouth… rather, today, word of mouse.“

“Word-of-mouse…”

“It starts with something being in it for them… especially the vulnerable Nones who have limited grounding or conviction in conventional spiritual health and worship-prescribed happiness.”

“What should I tell them?”

“Start my message by reassuring people that no religion has a monopoly on truth. But, most of the world’s religions have universal core concepts in their doctrine. Your human nature… it’s the cyclical nature of the universe… like the Khowutzen people knew and taught. You move forward from birth to death, after which you go back where you came from. It’s what you do unto, with, and for others during your earthly life now that matters. Not stocking-up self-important spirituality for some later event. As a side note, the concepts of heaven and hell are what you make for yourself while you exist here in human form.”

I nodded. There was no need for note taking.

“There is no limit to your human potential, but there is a limit to the time you have in your ethereal lifespan. It’s incumbent for you to use your precious time as wisely as you can. That means enlightening… knowing… your internal world of health and welfare so you can help others to help themselves. That’s my core message… it’s your purpose. Know yourself and be healthy in yourself. Then help others to help themselves. Build your placid world not with vain material assets… ultimately, build your internal peace with placid external relationships. Doing so… you make yourself and others… happy. And you don’t need a church for that.”

The church said no more. I heard what was in it for the Nones and the Scribes. It was now time to go.

Its candles and lamps extinguished. Its coal stove went out. Its stained glass turned back to open sky, and its oak front door released. Its pews were gone as was its crucifix holding the representation of human divinity. And its smell… the smell of old soul… returned.

I left the Old Stone Butter Church with a purpose—a purpose I suppose was there all along. I’ve new-found happiness and reinvigorated spiritual health. My mission is sharing the message with those receptive to hearing timeless truth. Now, I’m at my keyboard with the power of the internet—billions of interconnected souls potentially at my reach—and I start by scribing these words:

It called to me—the Old Stone Butter Church. It’ll call to you, too… if you’re ready.

BRINGING LIFE TO THE DEAD WITH CGI TECHNOLOGY

Once upon a time, when a person died… they stayed dead. Sure, they were remembered through paintings, etchings, busts and even death masks, but their long-gone images remained distorted likenesses of how they truly appeared in life. That’s no longer the case, as modern Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has the uncanny ability to eerily bring the dead back to life.

Images created with CGI technology are so good that it’s nearly impossible to tell what’s real and what’s invented inside a computer. Today, computer generated images are commonplace. You see them everywhere around you. From blockbuster movies like Toy Story and Iron Man to still-framed Amazon ads that capture your buying attention, you’re constantly bombarded with CGI impressions.

But, all CGI technological projects aren’t aimed at entertaining you or exploiting your bank account. The forensic world slowly endorsed computer generated imagery since its inception. CGI technology was a perfect fit for reconstructing faces on skulls found with decomposed human remains.

Once forensic anthropologists teamed with computer scientists specializing in CGI technology, the field expanded. It wasn’t long before specialized companies like Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University developed cutting-edge techniques to move beyond realistically recreating facial recognition from bare bones to analyzing historical works depicting famous people.

Recently, the team at Face Lab released stunningly-real images of Cleopatra, King Tut, Nefertiti, Shakespeare, Bach, George Washington, Mary Queen of Scots, Saint Nicholas and many other high-profile historical people. Yes, even the real Santa Claus has been brought back to life with CGI technology. Here’s a look at how Face Lab does it and some samples of their deadly depictions.

Technology Behind Computer Generated Imagery

You’d think computer generated imaging is a recent forensic and technological breakthrough. Not so. CGI first hit the public domain via the movie business with Westworld in 1973, Star Wars in 1977, Jurassic Park in 1993 and then in 1995 when Toy Story made Woody and Buzz come alive. Now, two decades into the 21st century, it’s fair to say that virtually every TV and big screen production uses CGI for special effects. Forensic science took awhile to adopt the digital techniques.

Albrecht Durer

Would it surprise you to know the basic principle behind computer generated imagery showed up in the 16th century? It’s called ray tracing. A brilliant German painter/printer by the name of Albrecht Durer discovered an artistic technique of following light rays from the human eye back to the object rather than the normal method of human perception where the eye captures a light ray blast. Durer didn’t have a computer, but his revolutionary technique was so successful that it influenced Renaissance Masters like da Vinci and Raphael.

In computer graphic terms, ray tracing is a rendering technique for generating images by tracking a light ray’s path from the viewer’s vantage point back through a pixel and onto a virtual object. The CGI designer works with shape, color, texture and light levels on the object to give it life-like realism once the image is transferred back to the eye. In a sense, it’s fooling the brain to see non-real objects as real.

This sounds simple, but it’s incredibly complicated. Ray tracing to build computer generated images is also exhaustively time-consuming. Images built through ray tracing also require mathematical expertise in using trigonometry to build algorithms that account for light ray effects. Computers are the key to managing huge information packages and pull the entire CGI process together.

Ray tracing produces believably-good images, but it comes with a cost. A skilled CGI technologist can spend a full day developing one frame of a movie. That transpires to thousands of person-hours building one movie scene which has to pay back through box-office sales.

Gamers can’t afford the time and money spent on developing picture-perfect imagery that movie-goers demand. Because video games are more real-time experiences, the gamer technologists use a CGI technique called rasterization. It works on manipulating light through tiny polygons rather than pixels and produces “raster” images. The results aren’t as real, but it’s hundreds of times faster and far cheaper than ray tracing.

Face Lab and Their Fantastic Faces of Forgotten Folk

Face Lab is an interdisciplinary research group attached to the Institute of Art and Technology at Liverpool John Moores University. It’s headed by Professor Caroline Wilkinson who is a world-renown leader in craniofacial analysis, facial depiction and forensic art. With her group at Face Lab, Prof. Wilkinson specializes in facial reconstruction through computer generated imagery as well as building portraitures of population demographics.

Besides contributing to forensic facial identification cases with law enforcement agencies like Scotland Yard, Interpol, the FBI and the RCMP, Face Lab finds time to have a little fun. They work with world-class museums to reconstruct realistic portraits from exhibit material. Using actual skulls of historical figures as well as authentic images, the Face Lab team applies highly-technical processes like 3D scanning, modeling and animating to known likenesses.

Recently, Face Lab took on a side project where they brought long-dead celebrities back to life with CGI technology. Their convincing result lets you look guys like Julius Caesar and Nero in the face. Here’s a peek at some fantastic faces of forgotten folk.

King Tutankhamun is the world’s most famous mummy. When his Egyptian tomb was opened in 1922, King Tut had been sealed away for over 3,200 years and the vault contained 5,000 dazzling artifacts. Some, like Tut’s gold funeral mask, are considered among the world’s most valuable antiquities.

King Tut was an unusual Pharaoh. He ascended the throne in 1342 BC as an 11-year-old boy. Tut died in 1324 BC from suspicious circumstances which some scholars believe involved foul play. Whatever the death mechanism was, Tut was never well. All depictions of him show Tut seated including his hunting and archery activities.

Recreating Tutankhamun was a classic case for Face Lab. They had his intact skull with preserved flesh to work with. The CGI technologists used 3D scans to build a life-like image and they used historical data from tomb paintings to get details like his skin and eye color bang-on.

Nefertiti was Tutankhamun’s stepmother. She was Queen to Pharaoh Akhenaten and lived between 1370 and 1330 BC. This royal pair was ahead of their time in religious views where they recognized monotheism or worshiping only one god.

Historians differ their view on whether Nefertiti carried on in power after Akhenaten’s death and before Tutankhamun took over. They also debate whether Nefertiti’s remains have been conclusively found. Some feel she’s still out there, and others attribute a mummy called “The Younger Lady” as being the long-dead queen.

What all agree on is that a bust of Nefertiti is authentic. It’s a limestone/stucco artwork found in 1912 and depicts a beautiful woman that matches other known images of her. From the bust and related works, a marvelous CGI portrait of a life-like Nefertiti emerged.

Cleopatra is perhaps the most famous woman in ancient history. That’s because of the mystique of her sexual power and masterful manipulation of men. It’s also because Cleopatra VII Philopator of the Ptolemy dynasty was beautifully portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her acting career.

Cleopatra was the last ruler of Egypt’s Ptolemaic Kingdom. She lived between 69 and 30 BC and took the royal throne at the age of 18. Cleopatra was love-linked to Mark Antony and Julius Caesar although her relationships may have been more political than romantic.

There’s no doubt Cleopatra was a bright and shrewd lady. She spoke numerous languages and her survival strategy was one of keeping friends close with enemies even closer. Forces caught up with Cleopatra, and she was rumored to have committed suicide by taking poison. It’s popularly believed she was intentionally bitten by an asp.

Julius Caesar, by anyone’s standards, was a powerhouse in the old world. He was a Roman general/dictator responsible for the empire’s expansion ranging from England to Egypt. Julius Caesar lived from 100 to 44 BC and made major changes to Roman societal structure which didn’t sit well with some senior senators.

Many military historians consider Julius Caesar to be one of the world’s great strategists and tacticians. His military and political philosophy is entrenched as “Caesarism” and still used as a study model on how to, and how not to, over-extend. One of Caesar’s conquests was Cleopatra and their union produced a son.

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar’s relationship ended when he brought another woman to their Egyptian party. Caesar returned to Rome where he was assassinated by a conspiracy between rivals, one of which was Brutus (“et tu, Brute”). Today’s CGI techs were fortunate to have a host of Julius Caesar likenesses to work from.

Saint Anthony of Padua might not be a household name to some. To others, he’s known as the patron saint of lost things. Anthony was a Portuguese Catholic priest famous for wise preaching and teaching during his short lifespan that spanned 1195 to 1231 AD.

Saint Anthony was a masterful orator with an uncanny ability to heal the sick. He was intricately familiar with scriptures and explained bible quotations so the commoner could understand. Anthony’s frugal living and simplistic style related to people from peasants to the Pope.

Some strange things happened when Saint Anthony died. Legend has it that all the children cried as all the bells suddenly rang. The mystery goes deeper when his remains were exhumed 30 years after death. He’d turned into dust except for his tongue. Today, Saint Anthony’s preserved tongue is on public display in a Padua basilica.

Maximilien Robespierre was a prominent force in the French Revolution of 1789. He was a lawyer and political activist with an outspoken voice for commoners. His criticism of church and state led to profound violence and the French monarchy overthrow.

Although Robespierre was effective, he wasn’t a nice guy. His taste for power went beyond the public good, and he turned into a typical tyrant. Robespierre is now best known for his role in the “Reign of Terror” that took place between 1790 and 1794.

Maximilien Robespierre sent thousands of people to the guillotine. His turn came on July 28, 1794, when the tide turned and resistance fighters seized Robespierre, tortured him and cut off his head with the same system he used on so many. Today, Robespierre’s head is digitally reproduced through CGI technology.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was the ruling monarch of Scotland from 1542 to 1567. She was six days old when her father, King James V, suddenly died and she acceded to the throne. Mary ruled by title rather than in person for her formative years and grew up in France where she married Francis, the Dauphin of France.

Mary returned to Scotland in 1561after her husband’s death and married her half-cousin to which they had a son. Mary was never accepted by Scotland’s real rulers, the regents, and she was imprisoned in 1567. She was forced to abdicate and her son, James VI took over the title as King.

History generally views Mary, Queen of Scots as a decent woman who didn’t stand a chance of exercising power. In 1587, she was convicted of a trumped-up plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England. Mary was beheaded for the “crime” and now is convincingly recreated in a 21st-Century image.

William Shakespeare may be the greatest writer the English language has ever known. The “Bard” invented or contrived over 1,700 unique words, phrases, cliques and sayings. Some are simple and familiar nouns like critic, bandit and lonely. Some are creative verbs like elbow, dwindle and swagger.

From Shakespeare’s birth in 1564 to his death in 1616, he produced 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems and uncountable verses. He’s the mind behind Macbeth, Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. And Shakespeare wrote Othello, King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Truly, William Shakespeare was a timeless talent.

However, some scholars doubt that Shakespeare produced all his attributed material. They also question what he really looked like as few Bard images exist. An engraving by Martin Droeshout is considered the most accurate Shakespeare portrait and it’s this piece that supports Face Lab’s CGI rendition.

Nero was the last Roman Emperor of the Judio-Claudian dynasty. He lived from 37 to 68 AD and died by suicide at the age of 31. Nero was a “Momma’s Boy” for his early years of rein, but turn-coated and had her murdered.

Tales of Emperor Nero’s instability abound. He seized Christians as slaves and had them burned more for cruel personal pleasure than serving public justice. Stories of Nero’s extravagance and tyranny finally caught up with the disturbed leader. The Romans revolted and rallied for Nero’s death.

During the Great Fire of Rome, Nero went to a rooftop and sang rather than pitching in with putting it out. Probably no one was more despised by nobles and commoners than Nero who took his own life. He left behind excellent sculptures and engravings that preserved his unquestionable likeness for eternity.

Meritamen means “beloved of the god Amun” in ancient Egyptian. She was the biological daughter and then wife of Ramesses the Great who ruled as Pharaoh from 1277 to 1213 BC. Meritamen was highly-influential in Ramesses II’s court, and many different depictions describe her appearance.

Egyptologists have identified Meritamen’s tomb and sarcophagus with inscriptions worshiping her. She’s also portrayed on numerous statues and drawn in detail on papyrus tributes. However, the only physical evidence of Meritamen is her skull and the remainder of her mummy is missing.

There is enough of Meritamen’s cranium and mandible to tell she had a sweet tooth. Her teeth showed advanced decay for her age. There was also enough information on  Meritamen from her skull, statues and drawings to generate a computer image of what was once apparently-attractive woman with exotically-braided hair.

King Henry IV was a nice guy as far as medieval kings go. Known as “Good King Henry” and “Henry the Great”, he reined England from 1399 to 1413 AD. Henry was 19 when he took over from his grandfather, King Edward III, after having his cousin King Richard II deposed.

Not everyone liked Henry, though. Cousin Richard came back to bite him through successive assassination attempts. History records 12 attempts to dethrone King Henry IV. After Richard died of starvation in jail, rebellions against Henry increased to the point where he fled to France.

Henry IV died under somewhat suspicious circumstances after clandestinely returning to England in 1413. He was well embalmed and was in good shape when exhumed in 1832 to verify his identity. Today, King Henry IV’s image is brought to life through computer generation.

Nicholas Copernicus was way ahead of his time in scientific disciplines. He lived from 1473 until 1543 during a time when most scholars thought the world was flat. Copernicus proved them wrong, but he didn’t have an easy go of it.

Nicholas Copernicus was a true Renaissance man who thought outside the box. In fact, Copernicus thought out the universe and first described the true nature of our sun-centered solar system. Today, we know Copernican Heliocentricism as a universal model from which our current understanding of the cosmos rests on.

Sadly, Copernicus and the Catholic Church didn’t see eye-to-eye. The papal institute made him renounce his blasphemous betrayal, and he publicly went along with it to save his skin. Nicholas Copernicus is now a role model of brilliance, but no one ever complimented his looks.

Johan Sebastian Bach was a German musical composer living between 1685 and 1750 AD. He’s best known for instrumental masterpieces like the Art of Fugue and vocal perfections such as the St. Matthew Passion. The 19th-century Bach Revival period recognizes the greatest western musical canon ever to live.

Bach was a child prodigy. He was born into a musical family and, by 11-years-old, Bach arranged Latin organ compositions for the church that set musical standards of today. He’s considered the epitome of mastering counterpoint and harmonic organization as well as larger vocal works like four-part chorales.

Johan Sebastian Bach died from eye surgery complications when he was 65. He was buried into obscurity but accidentally rediscovered during a church renovation. Bach’s skull, along with an authentic bust, gave the Face Lab crew strong support for generating his image in their computer.

George Washington was the first American president and a founding father of the United States. Washington lived between 1732 and 1799 during the time of colonial revolt and the Revolutionary War. He served as a general of the continental army and a patriot leader.

Following U.S. independence from the British crown, George Washington turned from military life and took up politics. He helped in drafting the constitution and implementing a strong government with fiscal responsibility set as a high priority. Legislators today could take lessons from George Washington.

George Washington is one of America’s most recognized faces. He’s on money, hung up in schools and used as a marketing symbol for integrity and independence. Here, Washington is recreated through computer generated imagery with details so clear that you can see the whites of his eyes and his five o’clock shadow.

The Lady of Cao might not be as famous as George Washington, but she’s definitely fascinating. This lady was once a Peruvian aristocrat. Now, she’s a perfectly preserved mummy with a brilliant new image thanks to computer generation.

Archaeologists unearthed the Lady of Cao in 2005 when they excavated ruins in Peru’s El Brujo region. She’s estimated to have died around 400 to 450 AD and was buried with artifacts suggesting she came from the upper class. She was also interred with a lower-class woman who researchers suggest may be a human slave sacrifice to help her in the afterlife.

The Lady of Cao was so well-intact that there’s little left for guesswork. Her physical appearance was recreated by the Face Lab team with help from computerized tomography (CT) scans. The Lady’s image is that of a remarkable woman adorned in a regal headdress who was probably in her twenties when she passed.

Saint Nicholas of Myra was a Christian bishop from the Greek maritime city in Asia Minor. His lifespan stretched from 270 to 342 AD during which time he was known for generousness, especially towards children. He’s also renowned for miracles which explains his other title as “Nicholas the Wonderworker”.

Besides being the patron saint for sailors and merchants, Saint Nicholas is also the prime patron of children. Nicholas is attributed to his legendary habit of leaving secret gifts for kids which led to the modern-day “Sinterklass” practice.

Saint Nicholas has been called by different names at different times. He evolved into Saint Nick and then Santa Claus. We best know the jolly old elf’s description from the western world’s Coca Cola commercial. Professor Wilkinson and her Face Lab people took a different view of the fat old man in the red suit, and they brought life to the dead by computer generating this image from an ancient fresco of the child-loving man called Saint Nicholas.

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