This site is about a newly proposed discipline of design – gravity design.
In the 1700’s discoveries in the physics of thermodynamics led to the engineering of steam engines, external and internal combustion engines and the eventual design of automobiles, boats and aircraft. Today, predictions in particle physics beyond the Standard Model have hit a wall, failing to produce long-expected discoveries in supersymmetry, dark matter, dark energy and gravitation.
All of the theoretical work that’s been done since the 1970s has not produced a single successful prediction. Neil Turok, director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada.
Perhaps a new framework is needed that takes a somewhat different look at physics yet is still consistent with the foundational work of Einstein. Although this is not a site for proving the existence of new physics, one framework — Extended Heim Theory — does suggest that there may be two additional and extremely weak gravitational forces that could be engineered to produce gravity-like fields of sufficient strength to serve as a new set of tools for designers.
Gravity modification (expressed here in shorthand as gMod) describes a tool or set of tools for designers. It should not be confused with “modified gravity” (MOG) or “modified Newtonian dynamics” (MOND). MOND as a theory was dealt a blow during the nearly simultaneous detection of light and gravitational waves in 2017. Gravity modification describes the ability to employ and manipulate local gravitational effects through the production of sufficiently powerful local gravity-like fields and would represent a new technological domain. The closest analogy would be the harnessing of electricity. This site simply asks what designers would do with such a new domain should it be discovered.
As a designer, former professor of design, and all-round technology wonk this is exciting stuff. But even if it were to be substantiated with peer reviewed research today, useful outcomes in the form of products are likely decades away. Therefore the discussion that designers should focus on is the scope and potential, conveyed through both commentary and visuals, as we continue to track the theory and stay aware of advances in the science.
The postings on this site will arrive as advances in experiment and theory are made and as new and notable ideas arise. Postings will not include claims of antigravity outside of the scope of generating gravity-like fields and will most often include notions arising from published papers detailing gravitational symmetry-breaking through the mechanism of spinning superconductors or vacuum polarization.
The groups have been set up to focus upon possible attributes of gravity-like fields. In a 2006 New Scientist magazine cover story Dr. Martin Tajmar stated that, “Levitating cars, zero-g playgrounds, tractor beams to pull objects towards you, glass-less windows that use repulsive fields to prevent things passing through. Let your imagination run riot: a gravitomagnetic device that works by changing the acceleration and orientation of a superconductor would be the basis for a general-purpose force field.” Tajmar also mentioned the potential of building zero-g simulators on earth. The groups on this site are suggestions of ways to think about the possible applications of gravity-like fields on Earth. Since these and other effects go well beyond mere propulsion, how do we describe this new vocabulary of non-propulsive field effects derived from gravity modification?
Inventor Marcus Hollingshead proposed seven categories of gravity-like fields based upon his (unverified) experiments. As a group they were known by the acronym HAFF, presumably for “Hollingshead Anomalous Force Fields.” In addition to propulsion against the force of gravity their additional list of attributes includes the ability to push, pull, provide resistance and impart physical action at a distance. Consider these categories as jumping off points to explore possible implementations of gravity-like fields on our own planet.
Please join in with comments, keep an open mind, and let’s see where this journey takes us. Please note that postings here that are dated before June 21, 2014 were retrieved from my UThink Blog at the University of Minnesota in advance of that service being retired.
©2018 Greg Daigle