Sunday, November 29, 2015

HOW DOES SANTA GET IT ALL DONE?



One of the most perplexing questions about Santa is, "How can he do all the things he does?" Some examples:

1. How can he visit all the children of the world in one night or, taking in consideration that it is night somewhere in the world at any time of the day, in a 24 hours period?
2, How can he get down a chimney, especially when many modern houses do not have a fireplace?
3. How can Santa carry at least one present to every child in the world?

At least for the last century these have been very significant questions and the root of disbelief. Up until now, the explanations have been that he uses magic. I argue that Santa Claus is not a magical being. What he does conforms to natural laws. The explanation, although logical, is not easy to understand or even for an amateur to explain.

Physicists since the time of Einstein have been trying to find what they call a Unified Field Theory, or Theory of Everything, or Grand Unified Theory.  As the difference in names used indicated, you can see the physicist cannot even agree on what the theory actually should be based.

To put it as simply as possible, The Unified Theory tries to bring together the the basic theories that are the basis of out understanding of the cosmos... the General Theory of Relativity and Electromagnetism. How can the four basic forces in nature be expressed in a single mathematical equation? I will not try to describe these forces in detail since I do not have much understanding of them myself. They are expressed in mathematical terms that are way over my head! However, these forces are called:

1. Strong Interaction (force that holds the parts of an atom together),
2. Electromagnetic Interaction (light, radio and other such radiations forces caused by the interaction of particle charges and magnetism),
3. Weak Interaction (weak forces that act on electrons, neutrons, and boson particals),
4. Gravitational Interactions (attractive force force that acts on all particles of matter in the Universe).

Beyond this I can say nothing except that figuring out the Theory of Everything will give us the understanding of how the Universe was created, how it functions, where it is going...  This knowledge could give us greater control over, well, everything. Figuring it out would potentially give us new forms of energy, long distance space travel in a reasonable time, and even the ability to bend space and time. Like a spider web, move one of the object/property and all other objects/properties react. For example, just using three elements, change the speed component and you impact the two parts of it: time and space (distance). Another example of a partial unified theory is E=Mc^2 that shows the relationship between energy (E), Electromagnetism (c), and matter (m). (All the above extracted from Wikipedia).

Santa Claus has figured out the Theory of Everything. He can travel at near the speed of light making it possible for him to visit every child in one day. He can bend space giving him the ability to move through matter such as wall and roofs. He can work in multiple dimensions making it possible for him to carry all there gifts in what looks like a small sleigh (sort of like Doctor Who's TARDIS... bigger on the inside than outside).

Santa is in fact outside of our 4 dimensional Universe (including time) since he is "dead". Imagine a two dimensional universe (a piece of paper for example). Beings living on the 2 dimensional world would be ignorant of a three dimensional spherical object hovers over their world.  They cannot detect this sphere because even the concepts of up and down are beyond their abilities to understand or perceive. Imagine that the sphere move to and through the 2 dimensional world. To the 2 dimensional beings, the sphere would first appear as a dot on their world. It then would grow into a circle growing until it seemed to be a circle the diameter of the sphere. From then, it would start to get smaller until it once more appeared to be a dot. Finally, it would vanish from their reality. During its time on the 2 dimensional universe, the beings could see this object, measure it, study its rate of change in size, and even make predictions based on their observations. They could and probably would create theories to explain it. However, the could never fully understand it. You can imagine the stories they would tell there children! (Paraphrase of an illustration used by Neil deGrasse Tyson)

I admit I cannot fully understand this "explanation" of how Santa Claus can do all the things he does. Magic is certainly a lot easier to fathom. Those who understand physics better than I see a beauty in it that I cannot. Nevertheless, I believe that the Theory of Everything gives us the closest approximation of Santa's abilities that we may ever have that conform to the laws of nature.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

IS SANTA CLAUS REAL?



At some point in a child's life he/she asks "Is Santa real?"  In 1897, a little New York girl named Virginia O'Hanlon,  wrong a letter to the editor of the New York Sun. The news paper published it with a reply from Francis Church:

"Dear Editor, I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so."  Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?"

Mr Church replied in the September 21, 1897 edition:

"Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10 thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

Okay, so maybe not the "real" in the way Virginia was thinking... more like the Spirit Of Christmas was real in the mind of Mr Church.  Nevertheless, I am not delusional when I say I live and talk and breath as if Santa Claus is in fact a very real person. That is how the stories are told. That is how the movies are filmed. That is how the books are written.  Unfortunately, if you do a Google search for "Is Santa Real" you find many, many websites about how to tell children that Santa Claus is in fact NOT real. 

Let me be very clear: Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus!