How have fault zones and interrelated electromagnetic systems influenced cultural and technological innovation?
Shaping Faults | 4.1
Correlation vs Causation: Shoot Me
A wise man once said: I know that I don’t know, but I don’t know what I don’t know.
So, having said that: my hands are raised, please don’t shoot—at least not until after you have finished reading the disclaimers.
Whilst how I came about it is not,1 the idea itself is rather simple: electromagnetic (EM) forces produced naturally by Earth’s various interior and exterior planetary systems—especially pertaining to systems concerning the function of fault zones—have shaped the evolution and development2 of Life3 —specifically the life of us H.sapiens—through “coupling” mechanisms hinging around the process of EM induction.
If Life really is a “free energy maximiser”4 then additional explanations for why correlations like biodiversity hotspots and fault zones exist—other than standard “geographical determinism”—should not be ruled out a priori. If Life goes where free energy goes, and EM energy is an example of free energy, then the question becomes: where is the energy most abundant? Research in Part 2 suggested the answer is: largely around conductive fault zones.
Studies all continue to show how EM energy is coupled to biological systems: improving the growth of flora, even utilised in the 21st century to increase crop yields through soil fertility and resistance to environmental stresses. In my last two articles (Part 3.1 & Part 3.2) we explored the variety of ways animals—fauna—also maximise EM energy to their evolutionary advantage. Life—flora and fauna—does seem to maximise for EM energy whenever possible.
Whilst the idea that EM forces shape life is not necessary “new” (the idea is, and has been for quite some time, snowballing in credit in scientific circles), the mechanisms behind the “coupling of Life and EM forces” remain largely mysterious. More so than this, however, the idea that life—the spans of the individual and collective conscious/ cognitive human experience—is guided in fundamental ways by unseen EM forces, still does not draw nearly enough of the attention it deserves. You can almost reach out and feel the compounding fundamental truths waiting to be revealed.
Disclaimer 1: I am not a scientist nor a career academic (and neither are in my immediate future career paths either). I am, at this moment, a teacher, an auto-didactic independent researcher, but, more so than anything, I am inquisitive to a fault—always have been, presumably always will be. Consequently, I like to think and write about a wide range of subject matter. And it just so happens that being a teacher qualifies me to feel confident speaking about things I am not qualified to speak about.
I am trying to keep everything as strongly objective as possible (if such a thing is even possible5). As such, I never claim anything as fact because I am not a creator of facts. Connecting disparate dots, information may become knowledge, knowledge may become insight, insight may become wisdom. Or the pattern may become a unicorn.6 Make up your own mind!
Disclaimer 2: Electromagnetism (EM) is one of the four fundamental forces making up our current understanding of the cosmos.7 That is a scientifically held truth. What you are about to read is a collation of information—some of them scientific truths, but truths woven into a narrative by the sub-surface correlations mentioned in the earlier articles in this series.
How you want to piece it all together is up to you. And, at the end of the day, my line of reasoning is hyperlinked and/or referenced at necessary pit stops along the way, so you can check out the information or data I have interpreted and interpret it for yourself. Now, with all that preamble done, let’s actually get to it.
Causation 1: Bioelectric Effects on Cult-Tech Innovation
In Part 1.2 we started by framing three distinct “markers” of human development correlated spatially to fault zones8:
cultural and technological (cult-tech) innovation
shared symbolism and belief systems
war and conflict
Given that the correlations were introduced over five articles ago, in this article—the first of three in the conclusion of this series—we will start with the fundamental building blocks of the first marker—cult-tech innovation—in order to build a base to extrapolate out further the potential causal influences of EM forces on human development.
Shaping Innovation
Basic building blocks—collective beliefs, shared symbolism, language or other means of communication and organisation—preceded the emergence of culture and technology, whether that be the latter with the plough, steam engine, printing press, nuclear fusion, integrated circuit boards or any other big leap further into the technosphere, or the former with transitions from hunter-gathering, subsistence-based groups, agricultural-based organisations, feudal and kinship dynamics, to early statehood and modern nation-states in the expanding sociosphere. The deep interrelation between both technology and culture is encapsulated in cult-tech innovation.
One of the first things to note is that there are many distinct layers of innovation. The most obvious, and perhaps most pervasive yet pernicious, is an ever-increasing human need for comfort, or at least a desire to reduce the amount of intensive physical labour we have to go through in order to survive.9 And that is completely fair. Mother Nature can be a cruel mistress when trying to survive with just the power of your two hands, two feet, and one mind. But collectively, as a species, we have pooled together our hands, feet and minds and created machines that will do a lot of the heavy lifting for us, and others that will compute sums and solve problems we could only dream of doing a century ago.
But if we are really stripping innovation back, there are of course other, much deeper layers.10 The one I am most interested in, and the one most applicable to this work, is related to another embedded need of ours: To find out what is really going on in the world around us.
Data Queries
Before we continue any further into the weeds accumulated around the building blocks of cult-tech innovation we must first address the most glaring counter to any non-intuitive causation sitting behind the original correlation noted between cult-tech innovation and fault zones: the provenance of the correlational data itself (i.e. the “markers” used to map cult-tech innovation across the world). Being based on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, there is some brief explaining to do.
In and of itself, UNESCO is not exactly the worst provenance of data for such an analysis. As justified in Part 1.2, whilst UNESCO World Heritage Sites certainly are not without biases,11 even a cursory glance at the extensive criteria given on UNESCO’s website suggests the World Heritage Site classification, after averaging out the Euro-centric data points, must meet most conditions necessary to signify if a particular area of the world has experienced high rates of historical cult-tech innovation. But that leads us to the second problem: only between 12.5-16.7% of these sites are 2,000 years or older. This presents two further issues: The first is that early primary evidence of human cult-tech is known to be pretty old, atleast in that 2,000< year range.
Take symbolism, organisation and shared belief: if we go off the ballpark dating of sites around the Anatolian Region of Turkey (like Göbekli Tepe) to roughly the end of the Younger Dryas, about 11,600 years before present (YBP),12 there are not many found (or surviving) examples of cult-tech innovation from the period between 2,000—11,600 YBP. If we take symbolism alone for a marker of emerging cult-tech innovation, cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia dates to 51,200 YBP, and bone carvings from Nesher Ramla, Israel have been dated to over 120,000 YBP. Yet, again, the lack of evidence from the time period between 2,0000—120,000 YBP could diminish the validity of the original UNESCO site—fault line correlation, simply because we do not have enough clear data points to also map on.
And it is important to have data points mapped on this picture from time periods spanning tens if not hundreds of thousands of years ago. The reason being that we are looking for causal mechanisms between cultural innovation and naturally derived EM activity which would require, as stated in Part 2, the coupling of both biological and Earth-based systems over evolutionary time scales—meaning over hundreds of thousands of years. Most of our window of observation using UNESCO-based markers alone is not just limited to roughly 10,000> YBP, but reduced further to 2,000> YBP given the heritage classification. It would be hard to attribute cult-tech innovation within this small window of time to slow-acting, evolutionary mechanisms that are probably involved in the coupling of biological and EM systems. However, optimism is nice, and we haven’t even finished unpicking the building blocks of cult-tech just yet…
Innovation, when stripped right the way back, requires a few things in order to develop at the scale of our globalised human species. One undeniable attribute to our innovation is fine-motor skills: ultimately, the ability to manipulate the environment around us in emergent and novel ways. Without it, no UNESCO sites would exist. Hell, we probably would not even have the means to classify them in the first place.
Fine-motor skills are a trait evolved over an evolutionary time scale, thus one we can successfully map onto the correlative criteria required to investigate meaningful mechanisms of causation between EM forces and the development of cult-tech in our species. Thus, to assess EM effects on the evolution of cult-tech we must first ignore the cultural innovation correlation and simply assess possible EM effects on the evolution of our actual morphology—the features vital to what would become components required to develop cult-tech innovation in the future. They say form follows function, but if we take function as following structure then it is the anatomical structure of Life that we must dissect first. Ditch the scalpel, and let’s go.
Faults of Morphospace
Rewinding to our early ancestors, one of the most fundamental levels preceding the advent of cult-tech sits good old fashioned body mechanics. What can changes in our “body plan” tell us about potential EM effects on our development?
Dexterity is acquired from our bipedalism—an “ism” which requires specific morphological changes. The range of possible configurations our anatomical system can adopt takes a while to branch out along the evolutionary tree. With tool use suggesting dexterity was grasped by our earliest ancestors around 3 million years ago, if we then backtrack some more and look at the first known evidence of dexterity (e.g. opposable thumbs) on any form of life, we arrive at the winged reptilian-like dinosaur Kunpengopterus antipollicatus that existed as far back as 160 million years ago. Then, pushing the timeline back even further, given the first bipedal reptilian ancestor has fossil remains dating back 290 million years ago, we start to see the immense time scales that major changes in anatomical morphospace occur over.
For example, there was 130 million years between the oldest biped and anatomical evidence for the conditions needed for bipedal dexterity. Another 157 million years passed until our earliest hominid ancestor showed signs of dexterity through tool use. Then another 2.99 million years pass until we arrive back at the current, generally agreed upon evidence of cult-tech, around 10,000 years ago.
Epic in scale, these expanses of time suggest structural changes had been evolving in the morphological space for quite some time.13 With this in mind, thinking over such extended time periods for evidence of morphological changes, and not the mere 10,000 years for the earliest physical evidence of cult-tech changes, could hint to the role of other, “external” conditions, in shaping the structure of life. Yes, I am referring to electromagnetic—EM—conditions.
Whether EM induction in fault zones, associated piezoelectric and electrokinetic effects, magnetotelluric responses, or even electrokinetic streaming potentials, there are many bridging mechanisms by which fault zones relate to Earth’s complex web of EM systems.
Whilst many species, including primates like chimpanzees and orangutans, marsupials like koalas and even the fan favourite: panda bear, all have opposable thumbs, as far as we are aware, most of these animals still live in trees or on the forest floor and have not built any structures we would consider culturally significance.14 On the contrary; our species, with our anatomically dexterous hands, are able to fine-tune our fine-motor skills in order to tinker with the world around us to some not so insignificant degree, producing some pretty astounding outcomes in the process. Whilst we cannot attribute our cult-tech success to dexterity alone, the connection between morphology, EM energy and cognition is given more value.
If we think back to the role of the geomagnetic field (GMF)—one of the core planetary EM systems interrelated to fault zones—studies have noted how “geological changes in GMF have been linked to… morphological changes, such as reversals of snail shell chirality and hominid skull shape”, suggesting “that gene expression changes can be induced by a removal of the GMF, as can neural function and other changes in cell behavior”.15 So it does seem that changes in the conditions of natural EM forces across vast evolutionary time-scales influences physical changes in bodily mechanics. Indeed, whilst “Very little is currently known about the mechanisms underlying the role of the Earth’s weak magnetic field in development… The defects induced by loss of the geomagnetic field suggests that some step(s) of embryogenesis are dependent on the GMF.”16 Our shape is literally determined (at least in part) by Earth’s EM energy.
We have already discussed the work of Michael Levin and his world class laboratory team surrounding bioelectricity and the role it plays in “scale-free cognition”. Well, continuing to follow this pioneering biologist he tells us how “Bioelectric signaling in cell networks enables long-range coordination during morphogenesis that is transduced into local changes of signaling molecule localization and gene expression.”17 So we have a situation where changes in anatomical morphospace resulted in the novel and characteristic development in dexterity, combined with evidence for changing EM conditions affecting morphogenetic changes across evolutionary time scales. A possible causal inference between EM energy and morphological development of dexterity emerges.
Correlation does not equate to causation, and sure, there are plenty of other conditions that no doubt influenced the necessary morphological changes to develop dexterity, but the implicit connections between EM energy and anatomical changes are undeniably intriguing. Even more so when we learn how, “In vertebrate embryos, endogenous bioelectric control mechanisms are known to impact size control, axial specification, and the morphogenesis of the face, brain, and eye” and “in regeneration, endogenous bioelectric signaling has been exploited in axial patterning of the head-tail axis and the regrowth of limbs and spinal cords.”18 Bioelectric mechanisms within biological systems have a direct causal relationship with anatomical morphological changes in those same systems over time.
Now this could be part of some meta-recursive feedback loop—where changing conditions (e.g. moving out of the trees and onto the ground) caused changes in repetitive and memetic behaviours and actions (e.g. requiring stone tools to crack open husks and shells), which elicits changes in anatomical morphospace (e.g. developing novel muscle structures around the thumb) which are then reinforced (e.g. being selected-for in the process of natural selection), in turn eliciting changes in cognitive function (e.g. planning required for tool use) and so on. But it would also be helpful to know what other conditions (if any at all) can also elicit similar changes across both physical morphospace and mental cognitive space.
And once again, both Earth’s innate EM energy and Life’s bioelectrical systems drift ephemerally into the foreground. “Evolution discovered long ago that networks made up of ion channels, gap junctions, and neurotransmitters as transduction machinery for electric circuit function provide a remarkably powerful and flexible way to process information.”19 Learning that pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) are of significance to the regeneration and repair of bone tissue,20 where pulsed “triangular” waves are the most influential type of wave to induce correlated cell activity,21 ranging from 1.5 Hz to 150 Hz, (but many devices remain at 20 Hz or less). Pulsed “spikey” and “sawtooth” (type of triangular) waves are also produced by seismoelectromagnetic effects, GICs and even rapid changes in the GMF.22 Such a correlation in the wave type of morphologically-influential wave types across both artificial and naturally-produced EM waves readily puts into question how these EM forces could have helped shape our physical morphology in the past.
Admittedly the causal link between EM stimulation and the development of novel morphological features of our species is very tentative yet, given everything we have learnt so far, I believe it is worth at least considering for future research. Whatever the case, fine-motor skills are not enough to develop cultural innovation alone. There are other cultural building blocks that need to be designed, cut and placed before moving on.
Physical dexterity is one thing; mental dexterity is another all together.
How could EM activity have influenced the cognitive development required for implementing cult-tech innovation across our evolution?
Cult-Tech Organisations (Group-Scale Cognition)
At the cognitive scale of the individual person, cult-tech innovation requires unique “cult-tech architects”. At the scale of the group, in a way that leaves marks on history and society, cult-tech innovation requires unique “cult-tech organisations”. These marks on history (as can be seen from the original UNESCO-based site data, megalithic site data, and average of 68% of notable technological inventions presented in Part 1.2), are all correlated along fault zones.
Cult-tech architects can, sometimes, appear to function in a vacuum. However, when scaled to the point of leaving physical remnants—“markers” across the planet, I would argue that the ability to form cult-tech organisations is not just essential, it is indispensable.
Breaking cognitive requirements of cult-tech organisations down into manageable chunks, it must be noted that affective organisation requires teamwork.
The “Big Five” model of teamwork contains five central components:
1) team leadership
2) mutual performance monitoring
3) backup behaviour
4) adaptability
5) team orientation.
An additional three factors are also sometimes added:
a) shared mental models
b) closed-loop communication
c) mutual trust
An extended “Big 5” framework allows us to think about the various cognitive processes involved in the individual and group-level organisation and novelty generation required for cult-tech innovation.
Now the bigger question becomes:
What are the possible bioelectric influences on these culture-evolving traits?
Well, one in-road is the work of the late Dr. Darold Treffert,23 who presents a fascinating insight into the realm of savantism—people with an exceptional repertoire of skills who often display hyper-specialised abilities, including problem solving.
Dr. Treffert, a leading expert across the spectrum of savantism, focussed much of his work on the accidental savant. For example, a person involved in a severe car crash experiences a traumatic brain injury and as a result develops savant-like abilities. Through studying cases, Treffert concluded that, “if the proper brain circuits are activated or switched off through electrical stimulation”, a process labelled the “3 R’s”—Rewiring, Recruitment, and Release—takes place and savant-like abilities can be enabled in non-savants.24
Considering that, on an individual cognitive scale, perhaps many (but not all) “cultural architects” would exhibit some savant-like characteristics, whether “natural” or “accidental”. Important to note, given what we know now about the conductivity of fault zones, that electromagnetic stimulation seems to “switch-on” savant-like abilities…
Between 2003 and 2006, a team of scientists from Sydney University focussed efforts around the effects of EM stimulation on problem solving capabilities. By utilising rTMS - the introduction of low-frequency (between 0.5 - 1 Hz)25 magnetic theta-wave stimulation to specific regions of the brain - their investigation suggested that overall cognitive function could be improved, particularly in tasks requiring numeracy and literacy problem-solving, using EM stimulation.26 In another experiment, applying a neural activity-patterned EM field helped induce the highly productive mental state of “flow” in people playing a game, enhancing their concentration and performance. Essentially becoming a closed-loop facilitator—a teamwork coach for one’s own neural circuits.
Fast forward to a study from 2021, a marked improvement was shown in individual cognitive flexibility and working memory when utilising EM stimulation via tDCS.27 Bearing in mind that these EM stimulation procedures involve either magnetic or electrical effects to induce altered states of individual cognition (e.g. improved problem solving), what effects could the same procedures have on cognition at the cellular scale? Framed within the "scale-free cognition" framework of Dr. Levin, when tDCS and rTMS are applied, how are ion channels and gap junctions affected? How does this then equate to what we have seen thus far in our exploration of naturally produced EM forces and their effects on our evolution?
Bioelectric Base
Given that both ion channels and gap junctions act as biological “transistors” - features that regulate the voltage flow across a circuit, in this case the bioelectric circuit, it turns out both are highly affected by EM stimulation. tDCS modulates the membrane potential of neurons and other cells by applying a weak, constant electrical current. This changes the probability that ion channels will open or close, thereby influencing the flow of ions across the cell membrane leading to altered electrical signalling in cells.28 Excitability and patterns of cellular activity are changed.
Whereas tDCS’ effect on ion channels can enhance or suppress the cell's ability to participate in larger networks of cellular communications at a macro-scale, the electrical stimulation from EM forces could affect gap junctions, having the second-order effect of reshaping the flow of information through networks of cells, potentially affecting group-level decision-making and emergent cognitive properties of tissues. Altering the electrical properties of cell membranes (the Vmem mentioned earlier), rTMS may affect ion channel and gap junction activity in cells outside as well as inside the brain.29
This can impact how cells coordinate their activities, potentially leading to changes in cellular networks and tissue-wide behaviours. In the context of scale-free cognition, rTMS affects how groups of cells interact and make decisions collectively. It could reorganise cellular networks and lead to shifts in perception, attention, and executive control—early manifestations, perhaps, of mutual performance monitoring and shared mental models at the cellular level.
If we look at the range of frequencies and voltages that are being used in these experiments, electrical stimulation often falls between 1.5 - 2 mA for durations of twenty minutes which in some cases alleviates anxiety and depressive states.30 Around 1 Hz is commonly used in magnetically induced stimulation to improve cognitive function, such as in patients suffering with schizophrenia.31
Once we have established a range at which various artificially generated EM stimulation can affect our individual cognition, then we can begin to look for overlaps between artificial and naturally produced EM activity throughout the evolutionary history of life—specifically human life. Given that frequencies as low as 1 Hz was used to improve brain function in the tDCS studies from the early 2000’s, and 1.5 mA was used in the rTMS study conducted a few years ago, it must be noted that naturally occurring low-frequency EM fields produced by seismic events occur at similar frequencies (between 0.001 Hz to 10< Hz) and currents (between <1.5 mA32 - 60< mA). Crucially, many of these naturally occurring low-frequency EM fields are geophysically generated in fault zones, regions with high EM conductivity due to mineralogy, groundwater, and tectonic stress. Could the structural space of these tectonic locations naturally induce similar “positive” effects to brain function?
Given that telluric currents can generate voltages in these values, driven by geomagnetic variations, it's conceivable that life on Earth, especially at the microbial level but as we have seen, even at our individual human level, might have evolved with an inherent sensitivity to these electromagnetic signals. What about those individuals sensitive to EM stimulation, or living under specific environmental conditions (e.g. proximity to tectonic activity)? The effect on life's bioelectric circuits, over hundreds of millions of years, could have been profound, but whatsmore, the effect on hominid cognitive development over hundreds of thousands of years, could be equally profound.
It certainly is an intriguing notion within the correlative confines of fault lines and cultural innovation. Never too far from the scene, in 2010 Persinger similarly concluded from his own experimentation that “weak transcerebral magnetic fields within particular contexts can also elicit… [altered] states with comparable clarity, personal salience, and emotional potency.”33 Consider “the fact that both TMS and tES are able to modulate brain plasticity and, in turn, affect behavior… opening up new horizons” for those stimulated by it.34
Particularly in fault-zone regions, it is possible populations may have experienced a persistent EM backdrop influencing neural plasticity, adaptability, and even interpersonal synchrony, encouraging traits such as mutual trust, team orientation, and the ability to maintain closed-loop communication within groups. Over time, these subtle EM forces may have exerted an evolutionary pressure—an environmental stimulant integrated over geological timescales—on human cognition.
States like these, perhaps when combined with the seismic forcing function that is iteratively tearing down and rebuilding one's culture due to cyclical patterns of destruction as discussed in Correlation 1, may provide non-standard pathways for individuals to become so-called cultural architects, and for cultural organisations to flourish when even their environment is conducive, if not in a highly paradoxical way, to cult-tech innovation. Could this be another causative layer in the correlation we see between areas of cult-tech significance and fault zones?
Cult-Tech Architects (Individual-Scale Cognition)
Continuing this line, cult-architects would need to be able to quickly learn and pass on new skills. Our ability to learn new skills and adapt to new stimuli requires strong neural plasticity.35
Studies by Nitsche et al. (2003) and Hsu et al. (2015) found that EM stimulation can improve our ability to adapt to new information and change strategies during a task - improving neural plasticity. Another 2020 study shows that tDCS (at low-frequencies) can effectively enhance plasticity in the auditory part of the brain, whilst another study a year later demonstrated how EM stimulation can improve brain functioning in patients suffering with clinical disorders.
When undertaking cult-tech innovation, certain characteristics would be helpful to would-be cult-tech architects. Research from 2022 suggests that electrical stimulation can improve reaction time (an essential trait in effective leadership) and quick responses to changes, leading to better resource utilisation and cognitive adaptability. In 2017 Olma et al. suggested that EM stimulation produces long-term positive effects on visual perception, specifically what is called “contrast sensitivity”. Being able to distinguish between visual contrasts is an essential component of visual acuity—the ability to “distinguish between closely-spaced visual stimuli”.36 Think of dusk, as day blends into night. Not being able to distinguish between the contrasting warm and cold colours would make distinguishing closely grouped objects around you or on the horizon more difficult.
In game theoretic “group vs group dynamics” higher visual perception is provides one group with a competitive advantage over another37 and plays an integral role in the formation of primate group hierarchies.38 Low-level EM stimulation has been shown to improve individual object perception.39 Quite literally forming complex methods to get the attention of other group members leads to more complex social dynamics. If the group cannot see well, less advanced social settings, of which human culture—cult-tech—is just the latest branch on the socio-evolutionary tree, will be stunted in its infancy and struggle to develop.
In a previous section, Kinetic to Sound, a focus was placed on the way in which mechanical waves transform into acoustic waves. Infrasound itself is a curious thing40 and has the capacity between 4 and 8 Hz frequency could either stimulate or inhibit the growth of microbes. Immediately this pattern matches to the effects of the GMF on early life like bacteria. Could infrasound and other EM forces have worked synergistically in the past to influence the development of life within our biosphere?
Well studies “indicate that energies from subtle acoustic and electromagnetic sources within the environment can affect” individual-scale human cognition.41 Further, “the connection of acoustic wave-generated currents to ground level magnetic perturbations observed during earthquakes, including possible electrodynamic effects” has been seen as integral to future research into infrasound generation by seismic activity.42
In the past few years studies into the “vibrational effect on the body has shown… how vibration affects “blood, brain, and bone”, affecting areas of human life in “haemodynamics, in neurology, and in musculoskeletal conditions.”43 Another recent study has suggested how these sound waves might affect other cognitive capacities like working memory and higher auditory processing as well as motor skills. Again, whilst clearly the connection between the generation of seismic infrasound and the effects on humans is highly speculative, it makes for an interesting idea nonetheless.
Collective Cognition
As we have seen with Levin’s “scale-free” framework, cognition can be scaled down to the level of cellular intelligence (bioelectricity) but also scaled up to the level of the individual (cult-tech architects) and collective cognition (cult-tech organisation).
Individual ability to experience empathy no doubt aids in building stronger connections between in-group and team members.44 Empathy has been shown to be improved by specific EM stimulation.45 Furthermore, groups have to be able to autonomously complete tasks through independent action, whilst coordinating together in order to work towards broader common goals.
Research out of China has recently suggested that the “synchronization of multiple brains can change cooperative behavioral performance among members of a team” (in-group) when stimulated with low-frequency EM energy. In teacher-student dynamics, where information transfer is paramount to the effective maintenance of the relationship, a study found that 6 Hz of EM stimulation “could be successfully applied to induce spontaneous synchronous movement between teachers and students”.46 Partial to making up words, I will dub the potential state induced over evolutionary, or atleast prehistoric time scales: “hypno-cognitive”.47 Such “hypno-cognitive” states, repeatedly catalysed in tectonically active, EM-rich areas, may have contributed to the emergence of unique cultural behaviours and innovations—those found in so-called "cult-tech" markers.
Further research is lacking, but the fact remains that large groups of people, when present in an environmental niche like those along fault lines, are responsible for cult-tech innovation. Could EM outputs from seismic activity help initiate, at least catalyse in some way, the generation and distribution of cultural and technological innovation? It would certainly add some power to the causation chain leading to the advent of culturally significant sites (e.g. UNESCO correlation) complex material technology (e.g. polygonal masonry), technological invention (66.5%) and writing systems, across geographically disparate cultures whose only connection is their physical proximity to fault lines.
If this proves to be the case, not only does seismic activity act as a forcing function, pushing local culture into cyclical states of iterative design, but the high conductivity of the space itself, and the intricately connected EM systems within it, may also provide another underlying state enabling cultural and technological advancements. I am not saying EM activity is the primary nor only factor in human cult-tech and cognitive evolution, but I am saying it deserves a more thorough discussion, especially in light of experimental results.
Indeed, over time, in a sort of recursive feedback loop, over time, such environments may have favoured individuals and communities who excelled in collective cognition, adaptability, and distributed problem solving—manifesting traits of the Extended Big Five, whilst also nurturing the bioelectric framework necessary for such emergent and novel behaviour to take place. We have just covered our first. Let’s continue to explore how possible fault line induced hypno-cognitive states have affected other areas of our shared historical experience, moving next to shared symbology and belief systems.
Honestly this all started from a gut intuition, a whim, felt in a special space with a lot of stories to tell. In a nutshell: I visited a place in the world situated upon a very active fault zone, that was also coincidentally home to some very mysterious and ancient sites, and just felt a certain—well, it’ll never do it justice, and excuse the vagueness, but a certain energy. And I am sorry but unless you have visited such places yourself, you can never truly dismiss the kind of energy I am talking about. I’m not saying this in a gatekeepy way: just in an inherent experiential way. Anyway, knowing the seismology of this specific region (located along the infamous “Ring of Fire”) got me thinking about spatial influences beyond geographical determinism (e.g. the role of topographical features as constraints or boundary conditions causing alterations in human behaviour), and more towards some kind of geographical hyper-determinism (e.g. the unseen, largely unfelt forces beyond the typical and obvious physical framework of historical or contemporary seismology). EM energy turned out to be that thing.
Whilst evolution in the standard Darwinian sense (e.g. the dynamics involved in variation, inheritance, natural selection) are useful when thinking of how electromagnetism could influence or impose certain “causal structures” onto living, biological systems, newer and nonstandard theories on evolution (e.g. Assembly Theory or the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis) may also help to contemplate the development of these systems, in such top-down and bottom-up component and spatial-based models. Thinking about how life develops structurally proves another way of observing the potential causal effects electromagnetism has had on the human experience.
Life (uppercase) to signify all living, biological systems comprising and living within the bounds of our planet’s biosphere, whereas life (lowercase) will be used to denote more specific categorisations which will be made clear use-by-use.
Distinct from the Free Energy Principle, the idea of the “free-energy maximiser” suggests Life (perhaps even the biosphere itself) is attracted to conditions, or specific spaces, where it can “harvest” the maximal amount of “free energy” from its environment, for the minimal amount of energy expenditure, to combat the second law of thermodynamics (open systems inevitable tendency towards entropy over time). Free energy, extracted from the surrounding environment, can reduce the speed of entropic dissipation for an adaptive open system. Whilst it sounds paradoxical in a sense: why would the spaces selected to inhabit be situated along fault zones (e.g. which are by their very nature highly “entropic” in the sense of seismic and volcanic instability), the conductivity and production of EM (free) energy, if Life is found to maximise opportunities to “harvest” it, could provide another layer of causation (along with the standard geographic/topographic determinism) as to why we see such a clear correlation between biodiversity hotspots and fault zones (when the chances of this happening randomly sit around 2.4%).
See Bernado Kastrup’s “Meaning in Absurdity” (2012) for a beautifully elegant counter to strongly objective realism.
Maybe even a Magdeburg Unicorn…
Explained by classical physics and Einstein’s “Special Relativity”, electromagnetism sits alongside strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force (both standard model) and gravity (general relativity).
I recommend you check out the original article to see the correlation maps for an easier idea about what I am yapping on about.
Chairs allow us to sit at a desk and work towards some personal or shared goal. Computers are built to enable these goals to be accomplished more quickly and efficiently. In a 21st-century Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” sort-of-way, most human goal systems relate to, first and foremost, making money. Done so we and our families can meet the basic necessities for survival, such as sustenance and shelter. Beyond that most people work for creature comforts (a comfy sofa to put your feet up and watch the latest Netflix series on your brand new 8K curved-screen TV) which includes time off (that two week holiday you have been looking forward to all year). Some have likened the new Great Game of this modern cult-tech frontier to those who can push the correct buttons in the correct order for long enough; stoking steam plumes of modern innovation by quickly moving those digits of yours.
Think about that chair, assembled in such a way to allow you to sit at that desk and work—who were the first people to require such a thing? It was not the farmers, or the black smiths, or the butchers—those who worked to provide a form of comfort (or element of energy and physical survival) for their community were not permitted to sit for long hours. That would go against the goal of collective survival. No—those permitted to do so were the scribes, monks, philosophers, poets, scientists—and their reason for sitting down and working? Certainly not for creature comfort: Excuse the obvious generalisation, but chairs were made for ontological rumination.
e.g. largely Western-centric due to the HQ in Paris and history of European archaeological, historical and cultural institutions focussing on “localised” sites—46.85% of sites found in Europe or North America—two tiny regions of the our species global story.
I do concede that this may be following a somewhat narrow minded, anthropocentric line of reasoning, and indeed fauna, even flora, may “create” “monuments” constituting “cultural significance” from their point of view, and certainly under different qualifying conditions (other than an UNESCO association) these created features within the land and seascape may be considered iconic, but that sits outside the scope of this work. Thus, for clarity, in this particular thesis let’s just think of the creations of our own H.sapiens species alone.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Whom I was fortunate enough to discuss work with, sadly before Dr. Treffert’s passing in December 2020.
Treffert, 2014, P.54
Snyder et al, 2003 & Snyder et al, 2006. See also: Young, et al. 2004 & Nelson, 2007.
Treffert, 2014, P.56
See: Helman, 2013 - while the text does not explicitly state average telluric voltage in mA, it does imply that the magnitude of telluric currents in natural environments is generally modest, often below the thresholds of large-scale geomagnetically induced currents seen in modern infrastructure. Therefore, typical telluric currents in natural conditions likely range from microamperes (µA) to several milliamps (mA), depending on external influences like space weather, local geology, and groundwater flow
Bolognini & Miniussi, 2018.
Ability for the brain to adapt to new skills in response to learning, as well as repairing itself after a traumatic experience.
See: Kappeler & Silk, 2010; Leopold et al, 2020 (behind paywall); Tibbetts et al, 2022
Among other things recently becoming a possible weapon in the war against cancer (see: Vahl et al, 2022)
Hypno refers to a state of not knowing that something is happening to you (e.g imperceptible EM effects on bioelectric mechanisms) and cognitive referring to a state of changed cognitive ability (e.g. problem solving at individual level, communication at cellular level, or coordination at the group level).