Ideology
The substructure of the universe regresses infinitely towards
smaller and smaller components. Behind atoms we find electrons,
and behind electrons quarks. Each layer unraveled reveals new
secrets, but also new mysteries.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Nonlinear Mathematics
There are two kinds of scientific progress: the methodical
experimentation and categorization which gradually extend the
boundaries of knowledge, and the revolutionary leap of genius
which redefines and transcends those boundaries. Acknowledging
our debt to the former, we yearn nonetheless for the latter.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Address to the Faculty"
Advanced Subatomic Theory
The substructure of the universe regresses infinitely towards
smaller and smaller components. Behind atoms we find electrons,
and behind electrons quarks. Each layer unraveled reveals new
secrets, but also new mysteries.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Superstring Theory
A brave little theory, and actually quite coherent for a system of
five or seven dimensions--if only we lived in one.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Now We Are Alone"
Graviton Theory
This unusual specimen is not so much a classic particle as a
connector--a kind of string attaching two particles. As distance
increases the connective power becomes attenuated, but if it is
cut the power vanishes: forever.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Temporal Mechanics
Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory,
but temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more
importantly it can be controlled.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Pre-Sentient Algorithms
Begin with a function of arbitrary complexity. Feed it values,
"sense data". Then, take your result, square it, and feed it back
into your original function, adding a new set of sense data.
Continue to feed your results back into the original function ad
infinitum. What do you have? The fundamental principle of human
consciousness.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "The Feedback Principle"
Intellectual Integrity
Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true
rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has
always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save
us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of
evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest
of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore
he must exist.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Photon/Wave Mechanics
Time dilates as the speed of light approaches. To the extent that
light consists of particles, it is in its own way timeless. Through
simple perturbations of the temporal manifold, we can refract or
repel photons most efficiently.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Now We Are Alone"
Gene Splicing
The genetic code does not, and cannot, specify the nature
and position of every capillary in the body or every neuron
in the brain. What it {can} do is describe the underlying
fractal pattern which creates them.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Nonlinear Genetics"
Matter Transmission
The first living thing to go through the device was a small white
rat. I still have him, in fact. As you can see, the damage was
not so great as they say.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "See How They Run"
Optical Computers
We have reached an informational threshold which can only be crossed
by harnessing the speed of light directly. The quickest computations
require the fastest possible particles moving along the shortest
paths. Since the capability now exists to take our information
directly from photons travelling molecular distances, the final
act of the information revolution will soon be upon us.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
Centauri Genetics
Remember, genes are NOT blueprints. This means you can't, for example,
insert "the genes for an elephant's trunk" into a giraffe and get a
giraffe with a trunk. There -are- no genes for trunks. What you CAN do
with genes is chemistry, since DNA codes for chemicals. For instance,
we can in theory splice the native plants' talent for nitrogen fixation
into a terran plant.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Nonlinear Genetics"
Retroviral Engineering
The Academician's private residences shall remain off-limits to
the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability,
we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not
allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this
ridiculous witch hunt!"
Fedor Petrov, Vice Provost for University Affairs
The Human Genome Project
To map the very stuff of life; to look into the
genetic mirror and watch a million generations
march past. That, friends, is both our curse and
our proudest achievement. For it is in reaching to our
beginnings that we begin to learn who we truly are.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Address to the Faculty"
The Space Elevator
In one moment, Earth; in the next, Heaven.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
The Singularity Inductor
What actually transpires beneath the veil of an event horizon?
Decent people shouldn't think too much about that.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted The Fruit"
The Voice of Planet
Imagine the entire contents of the planetary datalinks, the sum total
of human knowledge, blasted into the Planetmind's fragile neural
network with the full power of every reactor on the planet. Thousands
of years of civilization compressed into a single searing burst of
revelation. That is our last-ditch attempt to win humanity a reprieve
from extinction at the hands of an awakening alien god.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Planet Speaks"
Skunkworks
The popular stereotype of the researcher is that of a skeptic and a
pessimist. Nothing could be further from the truth! Scientists
must be optimists at heart, in order to block out the incessant
chorus of those who say "It cannot be done."
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, University Commencement
Quantum Lab
Have you ever wondered why clouds behave in such familiar ways when
each specimen is so unique? Or why the energy exchange market is so
unpredictable? In the coming age we must develop and apply
nonlinear mathematical models to real world phenomena. We shall
seek, and find, the hidden fractal keys which can unravel the chaos
around us.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, University Commencement
Nanohospital
It is a medical commonplace that the tissues of the human body
replace themselves regularly, essentially creating an entirely
new body every seven years. From whence then come cancer and the
slow degeneration of age? They exist as faults in the patterns of
intelligence within the genes themselves; by reprogramming these
smallest parts, the whole becomes well.
Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "Nonlinear Genetics"
Temple of Planet
Let the Gaians preach their silly religion, but one way or the other
I shall see this compound burned, seared, and sterilized until every
hiding place is found and until every last Mind Worm egg, every last
slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk. That species shall be
exterminated, I tell you! Exterminated!
Academician Prokhor Zakharov,Lab Three aftermath