Gold's Hidden Glitter

Like many before him, Sir Isaac Newton was fascinated by Gold. Indeed, since time immemorial most of humanity seems to have been attracted by its glitter. Newton's reason, however, was different.

Looking back into history it appears that the Egyptians, and the Olmecs of Mesoamerica, were the first sophisticated cultures to pay high profile, ritualistic attention to this metal. The former was around 4,500 to 5,000 years ago. Why not before? After all, modern civilization began to emerge 6,500 years earlier than that - at the beginning of the current Holocene Interglacial Warming period. (Yes, the planet Earth has been warming for the past 11,500 years. It's a cyclical phenomenon. The warming tends to become exaggerated towards the end of the cycle before the Earth begins rapidly to cool again.)

We assume that Gold was of interest to these cultures because it was visually attractive, it was impervious to oxidation and it could be melted, poured and worked. But Isaac Newton (1643-1727) was not a man who was content to make assumptions about anything. In his own words: "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth". He was a man who wanted to understand how the Universe worked. Although he did become very rich, money was of only incidental interest to him.

In researching the facts for the recently completed manuscript of my novel - Beyond Neanderthal - I took the trouble to investigate why Sir Isaac Newton may have been interested in Gold. The most likely answer blew me away.

Beyond Neanderthal is a factional novel. An adventure of spiritual and scientific discovery, it tells the romantic and laughter-filled story of four heroes in search of alternative energy technologies to replace fossil fuels. It took me over twenty years of searching - in my capacity as a participant in the Venture Capital industry - to discover that there are three such technologies that seem eminently sensible. They are not yet on the commercial radar. One of these is ready for immediate commercialisation. Embracing all three will undoubtedly lift humanity to a new level of evolution. Most of our current problems will become manageable. This could be achieved within a decade.

The novel's entertaining and easy-to-read story provides details as to the what, how and why of several new Thought Paradigms, including one that relates to Gold as a physical substance.

Please register your interest to acquire a copy of this factional novel by visiting www.beyondneanderthal.com. Our political leaders seem to be thrashing around in the dark. Quite simply, they don't know what to do because their thoughts are constrained by out-of-date Thought Paradigms. For example, the raw material for bio-fuels will be grown on land previously used to grow food. That's just spinning wheels. The price of food will rise. We need new Thought Paradigms.

Back to Isaac Newton

This was a man of gargantuan intellect. He introduced the world to the theory of gravity and he codified the Laws of Motion. He introduced the world to the mathematics behind Calculus. He introduced the world to the theory of light.

Let's pause to consider this last achievement for a moment. He is known to have observed: "Are not gross Bodies and Light convertible into one another,...and may not Bodies receive much of their Activity from the Particles of Light which enter their Composition?"

Think about it: Without this particular observation, it is highly unlikely that Albert Einstein would have been able to develop his e=mc2 equation.

Intriguingly, by the time he was fifty years old, Newton had had two nervous breakdowns. Modern spectrophotometry analysis of a preserved lock of his hair showed that it contained 197 parts per million of mercury as compared with the average person's 5.1 ppm. It was mercury poisoning which led to Newton's nervous breakdowns. Why did he get mercury poisoning?: Because he was consumed by the subject of alchemy.

With the above as context, the question that arose in my mind was: Why did Sir Isaac Newton - who was preoccupied with Universal matters - spend a third of his life locked away in secret, experimenting with alchemy? Obviously he must have been consumed by the subject of Gold. But what was it about gold that he found so interesting?

Another fact that intrigued me was that although Newton was not a religious man, he was a Deist who believed that the Old Testament contained clues to information that had been lost in the mists of time. Nowadays, there are many scientists who believe that religion is nothing but apocryphal dogma. And yet, here was arguably the greatest scientific genius in all of history pouring over the Old Testament while he played around with alchemy.

Why would a man of such towering intellect be so interested in money? He was financially comfortable. He was famous. He was a bachelor. He lived a modest lifestyle. He was antisocial. He had no ambitions to become powerful.

Then there was the fact that he turned his back on the subjects of Mathematics and Physics - the loves of his life - to become Master of the Royal Mint. Why? Why did he suddenly become interested in the subject of money almost to the exclusion of all else? Some argue that he liked the lifestyle of London. Yes, he was also president of the Royal Society, but the man was antisocial. The evidence suggests that he used other people's minds as a means of sharpening his own brain. His life was littered with disagreements about who had originated a particular idea. He was a man who was impassioned by ideas, not wealth.

In his capacity as Master of the Mint, he took Britain off the Silver Standard and put it onto a de facto Gold Standard. Why would he do such a thing? As a student of the Bible he would have known that the Bible was very clear and very specific about the fact that Silver (the shekel) was money in the days of the Bible - notgold! Even in his day, Silver was the accepted currency within most European countries, Gold was a medium of exchange. With some slight variations between countries, the exchange rate was roughly 16 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold. In his presentation to the House of Lords on Sep 25th 1717, he explained that silver was prone to be exported because, in England, gold was overvalued relative to silver. But he also admitted: "If Things be let alone 'till Silver Money be a little scarcer, the Gold will fall of it self; for People are already backward to give Silver for Gold". Much ado about nothing??!

That his alchemy experiments had led him to a definitive conclusion seems highly probable. It is unlikely he was trying to manufacture Gold. That he did not publish his conclusions was totally in character. He was a man who was terrified of criticism. He was reluctant to publish anything for fear of criticism.

Gold after Newton

From 1717 to 1918 - except for the period of the Napoleonic Wars - the price of Gold remained constant at around $19 - $21 an ounce. In 1914, nine months after the establishment of the United States Federal Reserve Board, World War I 'broke out', with Great Britain leading the Allies. From 1919 onwards, reparations for this World War were paid for by the USA, using dollars printed by the Fed. The period of the "roaring twenties" was nothing other than an inflationary boom. The Crash of 1929 and the Depression which followed were directly attributable to Central Bank policies. Since those days official commitment to Gold has been waning as Central Banks have learned to play increasingly sophisticated games with fiat money and derivative financial instruments. Along the way they lost the plot. The plot that Sir Isaac Newton - arguably the man possessed of one of the greatest minds in all of human history - had changed his career to devise and implement.

In researching the facts on which Beyond Neanderthal was based, I became convinced: Without a shadow of doubt, Sir Isaac Newton had come to understand the real value of Gold. He discovered that it has a significance that goes far beyond "money". With this certainty in my mind, it also became clear to me that the Central Bankers of the world today have no inkling of what was driving Newton, or of why he wanted to ensure that all of Great Britain's gold would be kept safely, within easy reach, under lock and key.

In context of one of several new Thought Paradigms which are put forward in Beyond Neanderthal, Gold's secret is revealed, chapter and verse; including the science which underpins the mind-numbing technology which it empowered - at least as long ago as 2,475 BCE, over 300 years before Abraham was born. Quite simply, Gold has the power to lift humanity to a new level of evolution. For over 4,500 years, the technology which it empowers has been sitting there, waiting for us; waiting for modern science to finally catch up.

The novel weaves an entertaining and absorbing story of adventure and discovery. It delves into ancient history to determine how and why human society has arrived at this point. One of its main themes is that the daunting problems with which humanity is faced are not only soluble they are soluble within a decade - provided we get our act together. It identifies the tools we should use. It suggests a practical strategy for implementation. It paints a vision. Once implemented, humanity, acting in harmony, can soar to new heights. But time is of the essence. We need to act now!

The biggest problem facing us is that our political leaders have no idea which way to turn. They are in reaction mode with inadequate understanding of the problems, inadequate understanding of technology life-cycles, and inadequate understanding of how business works at the coal face. They are naively relying on Private Enterprise. The harsh fact is that there is no way that Private Enterprise can be relied upon to successfully address our environmental, economic and social problems using existing technologies within the framework of existing Thought Paradigms. Change needs to be orchestrated at government level - preferably across the planet. Implementation of these new energy technologies will be economically stimulative. Their cost will be 'peppercorn' relative to that which will be likely incurred if we continue to rely on current Thought Paradigms.

Beyond Neanderthal is also a book of reconciliation. It seeks to reconcile the Abrahamic Religions with one another and with science. It is targeted at the thinking element of all the descendents of Abraham - Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. That translates to maybe 10% of 3.5 billion people, or three hundred and fifty million potentially interested readers.

211 years ago Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Thomas Paine in which he wrote: "Go on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword." This was sound advice. However, pragmatically speaking, the Internet has caused the modern book-publishing industry to become dysfunctional. Literary Agents and Publishers are drowning in a tidal wave of proposals. This raises a question: Given the accompanying hurricane of noise, how does the tolling of a bell get heard? Answer: This novel needs a groundswell of support so that the pure, clear, sound of its bell may be piercingly amplified. The range of publication options will broaden.

This article therefore carries with it a request: Please help to bring the new Thought Paradigms into the public domain that they may be broadly aired and discussed. Please register your interest to purchase a copy of Beyond Neanderthal at www.beyondneanderthal.com and forward this article to all of your friends and associates that they may do the same. At the very least, you will enjoy a thumping good read.