Crop-Circles, Skepticism, and Snow-Sculpting Florida 1999 HKN Dinner, November 2, 2004 Crop-Circles, Skepticism, and Snow-Sculpting Carlo Séquin, EECS, CS Division

From “CONTACT” Meeting NASA Ames Campus, Palo Alto, 2003 Florida 1999 From “CONTACT” Meeting NASA Ames Campus, Palo Alto, 2003 This picture totally blew me away. My knowledge about crop circles was very limited. This picture looked so perfect that I first assumed it was done in photoshop. But fortunately there was somebody in the audience who had personally seen this And actually stood in one of the circles and experienced the energy field. We then had a very heated and interesting discussion about possible origins and meanings of this artefact. A sign from extra-terrestrial intelligence ??

The Face on Mars Picture taken by Viking Orbiter in 1976 Florida 1999 The Face on Mars Similar controversies were raging about this image” The face on Mars is the image of some photographs of the Cydonia region of Mars taken in 1976 by the Viking Orbiter. Some people believed that some intelligence had deliberately carved the face of a human To make a statement or send a message of some kind. Picture taken by Viking Orbiter in 1976

Face on Mars Close-up High-res. photo, Global Surveyor, 4/8/2001 Florida 1999 Face on Mars Close-up Nevertheless, on April 8, 2001 Mars Global Surveyor drew close enough for a second look. It captured an extraordinary photo using the camera's absolute maximum resolution." Each pixel in the 2001 image spans 5.1 feet (1.56 meters), compared to 141 feet (43 meters) per pixel in the best 1976 Viking photo. What the picture shows is the Martian equivalent of a butte or mesa -- landforms common around the American West. "It reminds me most of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho," said Garvin. "That's a lava dome that takes the form of an isolated mesa about the same height as the Face on Mars." High-res. photo, Global Surveyor, 4/8/2001

How Do We Make Sense of the Unknown? Florida 1999 How Do We Make Sense of the Unknown? Different people have different mental frameworks, belief systems and/or use them with different priorities to come up with possible “explanations”. I then realized that different people approach strange unknown artefacts and experiences In quite different ways and use different mental frameworks to make sense of the unexplained…

My Attempt at Classification Created by: Intelligence Nature Meaningful message, or object Artistic, or playful artifact Random one-time occurrence Systematic, repeatable process

Random one-time occurrence Self-Test I will display some intriguing(?) pictures: Check yourself, how you interpret them... Possible Answers, with respective probabilities: Artistic, or playful artifact Random one-time occurrence Meaningful message, or object Systematic, repeatable process

Let’s start with another mysterious example...

Nazca, Peru Are these ancient landing strips ?

Florida 1999 More Strange Lines… Secret is reveales when you can see how lines are generated …

Petroglyphs But what does it mean ?

Graffiti

Faces on the Rocks Mt. Rushmore

Panorama from Mars Rover “Opportunity” Miracles of Photoshop ?

Strange Life Forms

Codex Seraphinianus

Codex Seraphinianus

Clouds in the Sky UFO ?

Fire in the Sky

Volcanic Vent Hole ? Art by Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy – Stone Formations

Andy Goldsworthy – Ice Formations

-- but is there an explicit message ?? Florida 1999 Probably made by human -- but is there an explicit message ??

Antarctica

2001 ?

Breckenridge CO, January 2004 Snowsculpting Championships

“Turning a Snowball Inside-Out” A model of the Morin Surface = Half-way point of sphere eversion The challenge is to turn a sphere inside-out: Surface may pass through itself, but no ripping, puncturing, creasing allowed, e.g., this is not an acceptable solution: PINCH

Sphere Eversion Process But there are more contorted paths that can achieve the desired goal. Bernard Morin figured out one such path. Charles Pugh made models from chicken wire. Nelson Max made a first computer simulation.

Gridded Models for Transparency 3D-Print from Zcorp SLIDE virtual model

Shape Adaption for Snow Sculpture Restructured Morin surface to fit block size: (10’ x 10’ x 12’)

The Final Model

Day1

Day2

Day3

Day 4

Day4

Day5 Honorable Mention: “Most Ambitious Design”

“Paradigm Shift” (British Columbia)

“Year of the Dragon” USA - Tennessee

“Winter Oasis” (Canada – Ontario)

Why Do People Do Such Things ?? All this effort for a short-lived artifact ? The joy of creating something of your own design … The pride of astounding people ...

Crop Circles

Crop Circles

Milk Hill Crop Circles

Milk-Hill Design Analysis 409 Circles Milk Hill crop formation is exactly the same design as the interior of the Raelian Symbol which Raelians have been wearing publicly since 1990. http://bcornet.homestead.com/files/MilkHill/milkhill.htm

Crop Circle Construction Probably not of extraterrestrial origin ! 26 person-hours of crop squashing, http://www.geocities.com/pduchesne3/

What Is the Message ? Prof. Velvel Kahan, early 1980’s: Why are you giving this talk ? Who is the audience you are trying to reach ? What is the message you want to get across ? ( “If you don’t have answers to these questions, you may as well forget giving your talk !” )

Message #1 Don’t blindly believe everything you see or hear - even if it comes from an authoritative source such as the President of the most powerful nation in the world … Use common sense Check the facts Look for other explanations Apply “KISS” principle

What will it be ? Faith-based Government (wishful thinking) (fabricated interpretations) vs. Fact-based analysis, logical thinking, rational decision making.

Message #2: I love my job !

I love my job ... I love the flexibility it gives me. Florida 1999 I love my job ... I love the flexibility it gives me. I love the variety. I love the art-math connection. I love the “philosophy” connection. The reason that I am interested in this topic and feel qualified to speak is that I had a rather varied professional career path:

Stay true to your calling! Message #2 -- to you ... Find out: What is Your true calling ? What do you really like to do ? What are you good at ? Don’t choose your career just for the $$s. You can’t excel in a job you don’t like! Stay true to your calling!

Be prepared to adapt to it! Message #3 The world around you is a mysterious, challenging place -- and it is changing constantly… Be prepared to adapt to it!

Life-long Learning Your education is not finished when you leave UC. Keep a critical but open mind! You will be obsolete in 5 years if you do not make a conscious effort to continue your education. This is a good antidote against boredom and calcification of the brain...

Questions ?

“Knot Divided” Accepted, August 5, 2004 for competition in January 2005