Brothers Alleged That They Traveled To The Year 2749 And Made Eerie Predictions
The prospect of time travel has long captivated the human imagination. To leap forward and know the future would give invaluable insight... or, perhaps, a maddening curse. For most of us, jumping backward or forward in time only exists in fiction. But for two military brothers, their supposed trip to the year 2749 was very real — and it was nothing like Back to the Future or Doctor Who — instead, it was a total nightmare.
Time Travel Bros
During World War II, brothers Duncan Cameron and Al Bielek were selected for a top-secret government study aboard the USS Eldridge. The brothers expected it to be secretive, but they couldn't have predicted the mind-bending nature of the study.
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Shady Military Experiments...
Bielek was silent for years about what he experienced on the USS Eldridge, but at 60 years old he came forward with shocking news: The Navy was developing a device that would make ships invisible to radar, and they'd been doing so for decades.
The Philadelphia Experiment
This sounds far-fetched enough, but Bielek's next claim made the idea of an "invisible ship" sound totally plausible in comparison. It all started, he said, when he watched the science fiction film The Philadelphia Experiment. The events in the film were strikingly familiar to him.
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Memories of the Future
Soon after he watched the movie, Bielek began experiencing strange flashbacks. He knew intuitively that these flashes of another world weren't imaginary, but very, very real. They weren't visions — they were memories of a distant future.
The Whole Story
With that, Bielek claimed that The Philadelphia Experiment wasn't just a movie, but a real-life government experiment that he had unwittingly been involved with. At a conference in Texas in 1990, he came forward and finally told the entire story.
"Green Tinged Fog"
Bielek said that a real-life version of The Philadelphia Experiment was conducted on the USS Eldridge back in the '40s while he and his brother worked on the ship. When a strange device was activated on the ship, multiple witnesses claim that the ship was enveloped with a "green tinged fog" before all hell broke loose.
Strange Side Effects
The ship vanished into thin air only to return 15 minutes later. Upon arrival, the crew began suffering from delirium and nausea, and those were the tame symptoms: Others were completely dismembered, and five sailors were reportedly found suspended in a metal flooring.
Floating In Time
Bielek claimed that he and Cameron tried to escape the ship by jumping overboard, but when they did, they didn't land in the water. Instead, they found themselves floating in what he could only guess was some physical form of time...before being catapulted into the future.
The Year 2137
When the brothers finally awoke, they weren't on the ship or even in the water. Instead, they were in a hospital, and covered with radiation burns. When Bielek asked what year it was, the answer left him floored. "We arrived in the year 2137," he said.
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Unrecognizable
The state of the world in 2137 was bleak, he discovered. The U.S. was unrecognizable, as the West Coast and Southeastern U.S. were submerged underwater. Florida had broken away from the country and sunk altogether.
Futuristic Room
Before Bielek and his brother could even begin to fathom these changes, the unthinkable happened: They were once again transported through time. When he woke up again, Bielek was in another hospital room...but this one was filled with bizarre-looking machines.
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Advanced Technology
The "advanced surgical material," Bielek described, allowed doctors to conduct "vibrational and light treatment therapies" as a way of healing people's wounds. The TV played only news and history programs. By then, Bielek wasn't surprised when he learned the year.
A.I. Control
It was 2749, he was told, and he had trouble wrapping his brain around the technological advancements of the future. He claimed that the whole planet was controlled by a "synthetic computer system" and that people communicated telepathically with the help of A.I. technology.
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Worldwide War
Despite the technological advancements, Bielek stressed that the world of 2749 was no paradise. He learned that wars between Russia and China and the U.S. and Europe had decimated much of the planet and left most of the world under military rule.
Floating Cities
There were some potential bright sides, according to Bielek: The concept of money was obsolete in 2749, and humans had mastered anti-gravity to the extent that entire cities floated above the surface. Before he and his brother could truly explore, however, they were transported once again...
Back To The Future
But this time, they went back in time. When they landed it was in Montauk, New York in the year 1984. Disoriented and confused, they were swarmed by Coast Guard patrols and taken to a secret location where they met a man named John Von Neuman.
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The Phoenix Project
What Von Neuman told them was shocking: The brothers, he claimed, were involved in a top-secret government program called The Phoenix Project, and the true aim of the project was to — you guessed it — harness time travel.
Expanding Hyperspace Bubble
Unfortunately, Von Neuman explained, the USS Eldridge was now stuck in an expanding hyperspace bubble that would eventually consume the earth. To prevent this from happening, Bielek and Cameron needed to board the ship and destroy the device.
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Visions of Past and Future Present
They accepted the challenge, but began feeling nauseous and experienced hallucinations on the ship, just like when they were aboard the Eldridge during the initial "invisible ship" experiments. When they found the device, they took to it with axes...
Present Day
The next thing the brothers knew, they were once again in hospital beds, but this time, their surroundings were familiar. They had been warped back to the 1940s, but were so confused about what they'd experienced that they kept their mouths shut for decades.
An Incomprehensible Trip
It wasn’t until a group of prominent scientists came forward with more sophisticated theories on time travel that Bielek began speaking on the incident. But when he finally shared his story, concerning details about his past came to light.
Sounds About Right
Bielek had a shady past that immediately alerted skeptics. Apparently, Al Bielek wasn’t even his real name. He was born Edward Cameron in 1916. He tried to pass this off as yet another effect of the time travel, but the damage to what little credibility he had was done.
Do You Believe?
In the end, Bielek has been widely criticized for propagating whimsical fantasies as factual events. So many variations of his time traveling adventures exist that it's hard to know what really happened, and each story is wilder than the last.
Bleak Future
One version has Bielek and his brother escaping the 2700s through a wormhole, another posits that Bielek and Cameron were permanently separated in time. Scientists have no clue if time travel will ever be possible, but their studies of black holes bring us closer to understanding the mysteries of space than ever before.
Black Holes
A black hole can be broadly characterized as specific spot in space defined by an extremely high level of density. Past a certain limit, nothing – not even light – is capable of ever breaking away from a black hole’s gravitational pull. This limit is what’s known as the event horizon.
Varying Theories
Meanwhile, what exactly happens when an object travels past the event horizon is unclear. But it’s believed that it will be elongated into a long, thin strand, known as spaghettification. However, another theory has suggested another possibility entirely – but it hinges on the specific type of black hole being considered.
Singularities
For some time now, experts have suggested that there’s a specific spot of limitless density residing within every black hole. Known as a singularity, this provides black holes with their immense pull of gravity. Singularities were once thought to all be equivalent to one another – that they’d all lead to spaghettification. But in the 1990s this thinking changed.
Mass Inflation
During the earlier part of that decade, another type of singularity known as a mass inflation singularity was discovered. These were said to be found in huge rotating black holes – and they might not necessarily stretch approaching objects out like spaghetti. This being the case, a vessel – like, say, a spacecraft – could potentially travel through it. And who knows what might await on the other side?
Dark Star
Meanwhile, the notion of a black hole can generally be traced back to 1784. This is when pioneering British astronomer John Michell detailed a rather primitive version in a letter. Michell envisioned a body in space, about 500 times bigger than our Sun, which wouldn’t allow light to escape. He termed such a theoretical body as a “dark star” and he claimed that many might exist throughout the universe.
Dismissed Theories
Looking back today, certain aspects of Michell’s work have proven to be remarkably accurate. But back in his own time, the scientific community was generally unmoved by his dark star declarations. Indeed, it wasn’t until the 20th century that his works would once again be duly evaluated.
Acknowledging Their Presence
In 1915 the theory of general relatively was published by German physicist Albert Einstein, ushering in new ways of astrophysical thinking. Along with many other things, Einstein’s theory indicated the presence of black holes in the universe. And in the decades after its initial appearance, numerous thinkers have used the theory in consideration of these mysterious entities.
Growing Popularity
By the 1960s the theory of general relatively had entered into what some consider to be its golden age. This relates to the 15 or so years in which general relatively and black holes became widely popular scientific notions. During this time, thinkers such as Roy Kerr, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking became well-known authorities on the subject.
Fiction To Reality
The notion of black holes has captured mankind’s imagination, as evidenced by a number of fictional works published at the time. Even before the golden age of general relativity, a number of stories included primitive portrayals or descriptions of the entities. But as more came to be understood about actual black holes, elements of the fiction started to more closely resemble reality.
Popular Literary Device
Science fiction, however, tends to speculate by its very nature. And so writers of the genre are free to use black holes as a plot device – and have oftentimes done so. Indeed, a number of stories have referenced black holes as being a means of allowing characters to travel through wormholes.
Shortcut Between Universes
A wormhole resembles a tunnel which, in a manner of speaking, cuts through space and time. One might visualize this as a sort of shaft with two openings at either end. And each one is placed at a different point in time and space. In other words, a wormhole can be thought of as a shortcut from one point in the universe to another.
A Wormhole
Meanwhile, according to the theory of relativity, wormholes may well exist. Nothing has been proven, of course, but the ideas behind them have been incorporated within a number of fictitious works. Some examples include Joe Haldeman’s novel The Forever War and Paul Preuss’ The Gates of Heaven.
Use In Cinema
More recently, Christopher Nolan’s 2014 blockbuster Interstellar made use of the notion of wormholes and black holes. In the film, astronauts pass through a wormhole, hoping to discover a distant planet for humans to inhabit. At one point, the protagonist even passes over the event horizon of a black hole.
Not So Far Out
During Interstellar’s development, physicist Kip Thorne was consulted so filmmakers didn’t stray too far from the realms of scientific plausibility. But despite his input, the film is a work of fiction and scientific inaccuracies consequently crop up. However, the notion of a spacecraft traveling through a wormhole or a black hole might itself not be so ridiculous.
Testing The Theory
In the wake of Interstellar, a doctoral student from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, attempted to establish whether traveling though a black hole would be survivable. Indeed, in 2016 Caroline Mallary created a computer simulation to test the idea. And her findings suggested that it might actually be feasible – thereby opening up the possibility of hyperspace travel.
Publishing The Research
One of Mallary’s university professors is Gaurav Khanna. And in January 2019 he wrote an article for media outlet The Conversation in relation to his student’s work. In his piece, he explored whether indeed humans could travel through hyperspace.
Crushing Gravity
“Black holes are perhaps the most mysterious objects in the universe,” Khanna wrote. “They are the consequence of gravity crushing a dying star without limit, leading to the formation of a true singularity. [This] happens when an entire star gets compressed down to a single point yielding an object with infinite density.”
Hyperspace Travel
“This dense and hot singularity punches a hole in the fabric of spacetime itself, possibly opening up an opportunity for hyperspace travel,” Khanna continued in his piece in The Conversation. “That is, a short cut through spacetime allowing for travel over cosmic scale distances in a short period.”
The Major Downside
However, expert consensus generally agrees that a body traveling through a black hole would be destroyed. Indeed, it would be strained, pulled apart and compressed in the process of spaghettification. But as Khanna explained in his article, this might not necessarily occur in the case of every black hole.
Small Speck Of Hope
Specifically, if a black hole is of considerable size and rotates, then an object traveling inside might retain its integrity, Khanna said. This is due to the so-called mass inflation singularity that is found within. And as we’ve touched on before, this differs to the singularities that were once considered to be within every black hole.
Not Necessarily Destroyed
Mass inflation singularities do lead to a pull of gravity, but they cannot pull apart an object infinitely. This is in opposition to the nature of the other type of singularity. In other words, an object being pulled inside a rotating black hole of considerable size might not necessarily be destroyed.
Rotating Black Holes
In his piece for The Conversation, Khanna explained that the mass inflation singularities found within big rotating black holes are comparatively weak. Therefore, bodies that travel inside such black holes could be left undamaged. In case this proves to be a difficult notion to comprehend, he also provided a helpful analogy.
Swiping Past Flame
To illustrate his point, Khanna described a candle with a scaldingly hot flame burning away. If one were to leave their finger upon this flame, he explained, they would get burned. But if they were to swiftly pass their finger through, they wouldn’t. By the same token, if an object passes through a big rotating black hole swiftly, it might escape damage.
What About Inside A Spaceship?
So is this to say that people aboard a spacecraft traveling inside a big rotating black hole would experience no effects? Well, an associate of Khanna called Lior Burko has his own thoughts, as he detailed to Business Insider in 2019. He claimed, “You would feel a slight increase in temperature, but it would not be a dramatic increase.”
Computer Simulation Findings
However, there are a number of factors that must be noted when envisioning such a scenario. Caroline Mallary’s computer simulation suggested that a spacecraft could potentially pass through a rotating black hole and emerge relatively unscathed. But such an outcome would be dependent on specific conditions relating to the black hole and its surroundings.
Depends On Size
For one thing, the rotating black hole would need to be a considerable size. If it were too small, then the traveling spacecraft would be more intensely pulled apart. But if it were the size of the black hole that features in Interstellar, this pull might not even be noticeable.
Surrounding Factors
Another vital consideration is that Mallary’s simulations work on the basis of the rotating black hole being secluded. In other words, the computer presumed that it was nowhere near other celestial bodies that might interfere with its nature. But as Khanna noted in his piece for The Conversation, “most black holes are surrounded by cosmic material.”
Important Building Tool
So Mallary’s simulations were, in some way, divorced from the external factors that surround black holes. But as Khanna has pointed out in his piece, her work can now be consulted and built upon. And such future work can take into consideration more genuine influences in the vicinity of rotating black holes.
Beyond Simulations
Computer simulations are undoubtedly an invaluable asset within the study of black holes. After all, the technology required to get close enough for practical experimentation is still far from reach today. But if we imagine that such space travel was presently possible, where would be an appropriate site of analysis?
Milky Way
Well, somewhere in the middle of the Milky Way – the galaxy within which our Solar System lies – there lies a region which is an astronomical radio source. This area is known Sagittarius A* and has been noted for a number of specific features, including what is believed to be a supermassive black hole.
Radio Waves In The Galaxy
In 1931 a pioneering radio astronomer named Karl Jansky first noted radio waves emanating from the middle of our galaxy. He discerned that they were headed toward a group of stars collectively known as Sagittarius. And so fittingly, the point of origin of these radio signals was named Sagittarius A.
High Energy Levels
By 1974 new discoveries by Robert Brown and Bruce Balick shone more light on the nature of Sagittarius A. In a 1982 paper published by Brown, an asterisk was added to the term – making it now known as Sagittarius A*. The asterisk simply relates to the high levels of energy which define the source of the radio signals.
Supermassive Black Hole
Over time, evidence began to mount that the cluster of objects found in Sagittarius A* was indeed a supermassive black hole, which itself became proof of their very existence. As Reinhard Genzel from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics published in a paper in 2018, “The result is a resounding confirmation of the massive black hole paradigm.”
Distance From Earth
The Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole apparently lies up to 27,000 light-years away from Earth. And according to some estimates, it’s said to be possess about four million times as much mass as the Sun. And given its close proximity to Earth – relative to other supermassive black holes – it might well represent the best opportunity for practical investigation of hyperspace travel.
Furthest We've Reached
Yet 27,000 light-years is quite the distance. And it’s frankly unthinkable that present technology is anywhere near to achieving it. In fact, the furthest spacecraft from Earth is currently Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977. Yet at the time of writing, this craft is just over 13.5 billion miles away from Earth.
Far In The Future
Of course, 13.5 billion miles might well sound like a lot. But just consider that a single light-year is equivalent to around 5.88 trillion miles. So in spite of the huge leaps that have occurred in space travel over the decades, the 27,000 light-years to Sagittarius A* will clearly be unobtainable for some time yet.
We Can Only Predict
So all things considered, we can see the importance of Mallory’s computer simulations and any like them. But even with multiple new missions to space on the horizon, it’s unlikely that we’ll be sending a spacecraft out to a black hole anytime soon. And as Khanna pointed out, predictive thinking will be necessary in the absence of practical analysis.
Hands Are Tied
“Mallary’s approach of using a computer simulation to examine the effects of a black hole on an object is very common in the field of black hole physics,” Khanna wrote in The Conversation. “Needless to say, we do not have the capability of performing real experiments in or near black holes yet, so scientists resort to theory and simulations to develop an understanding, by making predictions and new discoveries.”
Regarded Skeptically
For now, the investigations into black holes are subject to speculation. Yet computer simulations such as the one performed by Caroline Mallary might well help to make things clearer. And perhaps one day we’ll know what lies beyond the event horizon? And maybe it’ll lead to somewhere far, far away.
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