Fort did not appear to doubt that the world was a sphere moving through space. He does not appear to have probed for evidence of "flat" or "hollow" Earth theories, though he often did question the geologists about their assumptions regarding the interior of our globe. For Fort, the closeness of the other planets made the interchange of things between them a feasible and likely process. He called this process of movement through interstellar space "transportation." Fort openly joked about the possibility that our planet might make period "requests" for replenishment of vanished species from "storehouses" on other spheres. He certainly though that "superconstructions" could traverse that comparatively short distance and that other beings could claim "ownership" over our sphere, establishing communication with certain select "inhabitants." Today, there are probably few Forteans who are willing to publicly doubt that the stars and planets are not as far away from us as the astronomers claim. But there are certainly cosmic mysteries that remain which still poke holes in the cosmological models and theories of the astronomers. It is to these mysteries that many modern Fortean investigators have turned.
So what are these striking cosmic coincidences? One is that the electric charge of the proton and electron are exactly equal and opposite, despite their radically different masses. If this were not the case, everything in the universe would explode. Our sun would not exist if: 1) the neutron did not outweigh the proton by a fraction of a percent or 2) the strong nuclear force were not strong enough to hold the deuteron together, but not so strong as to make it unstable. In fact, nothing would exist if the Big Bang did not 1) have a critical density which prevented recollapse 2) have a perfectly smooth and uniform temperature or 3) generate a slightly greater amount of matter than antimatter. We are also fortunate that space has only three (manifested) dimensions - otherwise nervous system activity & blood circulation would be impossible, and planets would not orbit their stars stably. And if it were not for the nuclear resonances peculiar to Red Giant Stars, the universe would consist solely of hydrogen & helium, and contain no other organic elements. Strangely, there is an almost remarkable matching between the sun's temperature and the absorbtive frequencies of chlorophyll in green plants.
There are other coincidences advantageous to life in the cosmos. The "shape" of the cosmos, known as O to astronomers, would be hyperbolic (4-dimensionally so) if omega was greater than 1, and would soon reach entropic heat death; it would be parabolic if omega was less than 1, and eventually recollapse into a Big Stop. But current data suggests thatO is almost exactly equal to 1, perhaps due to the mysterious "missing mass" which may or not be neutrino-filled "dark matter." Though it seems trivial, the stars are far apart enough that their gravitation does not preclude the stability of solar systems. On our own planet, we are lucky that water possesses some unique properties - its solution of substances, high heat of vaporization, expansion in solid state, and peculiar crystalline molecular structure make conditions here fortuitous for the emergence of life - and is abundant on a planet which might be barren like its neighbors were it to be a little closer or further from the sun. Many of the constants of the cosmos - the gravitational constant, Planck's constant, the mass ratio of hadrons to leptons - almost appear to some physicists to be "fine-tuned." This led the famed astronomer Sir James Jeans to surmise that "the universe seems to be more like a great thought than a machine."
Other astronomers speculate the existence of a "Nemesis" dark-star out beyond the Oort cometary cloud which is responsible for the periodic extinction (every 65 million years or so) of life on our planet apparent from the geologic record. Yet others wonder about the origins of the retrograde diurnal revolutions of Venus and Uranus. Is it necessary to invoke the "billiard-ball" astronomy of Velikovsky to explain such puzzles? Strangely, Velikovsky's predictions about the temperature of Venus proved to be almost exactly correct, as did his belief that Jupiter would have a unique magnetic "tail" that no other planet would have. (Jupiter is the source of constant and powerful radio emissions of unkown origin. Some have suggested it is a secondary "sun" which failed to ignite.) It is also curious that all the so-called "gaseous giant" outer planets - Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune (and not just Saturn) appear to have rings. And there are of course the tantalizing hints that the Red Planet, Mars, may have held water at some point. Certainly, as far as planetary mysteries go, the so-called Face on Mars - if authentic - is hard to ignore...
While the world has largely absorbed the paradigm shifts of the Copernican revolution, it has yet to absorb the Hubble revolution. The universe contains many exotic, amazing entities - black holes, quasars, pulsars, nebulae, supernovae, and cosmic "walls" of galactic dust - that we can scarcely comprehend. While many have theorized regarding the possibility of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the cosmos, there has been less than great luck in picking up discernible signals in the SETI program, and the search for planetary systems like our own with habitable worlds goes on. The strange thing is that the cosmos does seem to be more structured than we might expect - almost as if it consists of "films" of matter wrapped around vast cosmic "bubbles" or voids. Most of it seems to exist in places beyond our perception, as infrared, radio, and ultraviolet astronomy has revealed, or beyond even our detection - as with the mysterious "dark matter." Like Charles Fort, many of us have difficulty in accepting the vastness of our immense universe. But it is not empty - the void is seething with quantum "virtual particles," a veritable sea of ceaseless becoming.
The idea that there may be other dimensions of existence is gaining ground in physics. Superstring theory suggests that the 4-D universe we experience (length, width, breadth, and duration) may be just a fraction of a higher 11-dimensional universe. Where are the other seven dimensions? They may be "wrapped" up at the subatomic level. Or, they may be "elsewhere" - in a place we can mathematically, but not physically, describe. This is the same dilemma that Flatlanders had in dealing with the mysterious Sphere - he could come and go through their planiverse, but could not tell them where was going without explaining the impossible concept of "up." A higher-dimensional being could only be partially visible in our 4-D universe, and could perform many feats that to us would appear extraordinary, like turning a left-hand glove into a right-hand glove, or turning one of us inside out. It could see easily into any of the spaces we considered "closed." That otherdimensionality might explain some of the paranormal events Forteans observeand collect is a concept I have enumerated many times.
If we live in a multiverse, then we know precious little about what other universes would be like. How would beings get from "there" to "here"? Would the laws of physics be the same "there" as "here?" Are all these parallel universes completely coterminous and overlapping, separated only by differential rates of vibration? Is there a structure to how universes are connected in multiversal "space"? We have no way of knowing these things. But someday we may be using other dimensions to travel more rapidly through our own universe. The discovery and utilization of other dimensions of existence would be a revolution to top that of Copernicus or Hubble. It would force us to revise our idea of scientific law itself. For physics suggests that at the singularity - the place where our universe ends and others begin - the laws of physics do not apply. If our own universe originated in just such a singularity, as Stephen Hawking suggests, then "all bets are off".... and even laws such as "something cannot come from nothing" are negated.
Steve Mizrach, aka Seeker1