Photo of the Uncaused First Cause!
Recently in this space, a certain well meaning skeptic claimed that an argument I humbly presented to justify the belief in an uncaused First Cause was lacking in proof. Well, no longer! Modern science rides to the rescue!
Here is a photo of an uncaused First Cause:
PHOTO CREDIT: Saint Thomas Aquinas (AD 1274)
Just kidding. It is the first photographic evidence of that long-theorized phenomenon of astronomy, the singularity, also called a black sun or black hole.
The picture shows a halo of dust and gas, tracing the outline of a colossal black hole, at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy some 53 or 54 million lightyears from Earth.
It is a galaxy of which I am fond. Messier 87 is also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. She is also a character in my ‘Eschaton Sequence’ series of novels, appearing in the last volume COUNT TO INFINITY.
By odd coincidence, that black hole, and that accretion disk, show up in my novel. Montrose, or a projection of him, stands in the midst of the disk particles and addresses a mind housed in the surface phenomena of the supermassive black hole.
Here is a description of her. To set the scene: The galaxy of Andromeda is talking to my main character, Meany Montrose, Texas gunslinger, posthuman mathematician, attorney and bridegroom.
Andromeda said, “All the Thrones of Virgo, one hundred galaxy groups within one hundred million lightyears, send and receive mental information from the cherubim seated at Messier 87, whom you may call The Maiden, as she is most pristine and immaculate in her dealings with others. She rules the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, and has great sway and prestige over the other clusters making up the Laniakea Supercluster in whose light flows we are embedded. A segment of the Eschaton Directional Engine passes through this area of timespace. It was erected by a primordial race for purposes unknown.
“Virgo has discovered how to use the local segment of the Engine it to reverse the decay of entropy and save this supercluster from obliteration.”
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
