latest letter - to Arthur C Clarke

To: Sir Arthur C Clarke, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Dear Maestro

You may not recall reading my draft (1996) but I well remember your encouraging reply. More work has gone into the theory and I recently decided that the theory should belong to the world, along with all the applications that can be used for human benefits

I've recently put my notes on the Internet as several 'pages' under the general heading of :-

http://www.perceptions.couk.com/UEFindex.html

(in order to prevent any individual or State claiming patent rights), and I write to you for two reasons :- 1) to tell you that I have had the temerity to use your (guarded) reply as a dating 'anchor'; and 2) because you have an interest, or so I am told by the Internet, in ongoing S.E.T.I work.

Other uses of UEF theory might be breathtaking but, since realising that a putative advanced species would not be using electromagnetic radiation (of any kind) for interstellar work, due to severe limitations of slowness and attenuation, it became obvious to me that an f.t.l. signal could be generated by modulating UEF intensity (preferably in a directional beam).

The 'demodulator' I have outlined, in two notes and a simple diagram, may not be readily understood by the ordinary reader because I have not gone into explanatory detail.

It could be described a detector of travelling variations in the permittivity of space, which is why it has two detectors - to permit comparison of permittivity (or UEF intensity) before, during and after, reception of a wave of increased or decreased permittivity.

As you will readily see, a 'slow' wave would be due to natural causes - as outlined in the notes, galactic jets, pulsar beams, etc. (or, if nearby, even small atmospheric 'jets' might give a response).

But a really fast stream of modulated variations could be produced - and I have thought of a way of doing it - by a truly advanced species.

I believe the variations travel much faster than light, and the first calibration tests, using a UEF 'telescope' trained on the hydrogen fusion layer of the Sun, should establish this, and other features of the device.

I hope this gives pleasure, and remain

Yours sincerely
author at perceptions