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Jimmy Akin : 様々な謎を概観

· 83 min read

前置き​

Jimmy Akin が、支援者が提示した様々な謎を概観している。

概要​

AI

ジミー・エイキン：パトロンからの質問

提供された文章は、‌‌信仰と理性の二つの視点から謎を探求するポッドキャスト「ジミー・エイキンのミステリアス・ワールド」のエピソード48からの抜粋‌‌です。この特別なボーナスエピソードは、‌‌パトロンからの質問に答える形式で構成されており、リスナーの支援に感謝することを目的に制作‌‌されました。

取り上げられるトピックは、‌‌長遅延電波エコーの可能性、エジプトのピラミッド建設方法、ウールピットの緑の子供たち、ビッグフットの映像、ジミー・ホッファ失踪事件、聖人の空中浮揚やバイロケーション、断食、ポリュビウスというアーケードゲーム、明晰夢、夢の解釈、気候変動、ベン・ハーの登場人物バルタザール、トリノの聖骸布、キリストの聖遺物‌‌など多岐にわたります。

‌‌各質問に対して、ジミー・エイキンは自身の知識と専門性に基づいた見解を提示し、多くの場合、さらなる情報源や将来のエピソードでの詳細な議論の可能性に言及‌‌しています。

目次​

  1. 前置き
  2. 概要
  3. 詳細
    1. 主要なテーマと重要なアイデア/事実：
    2. ポッドキャストの目的と構成:
    3. 長時間遅延無線エコーとブレーズウェル探査機仮説：
    4. エジプトのピラミッドの建設方法：
    5. ウールピットの緑の子供たち：
    6. パターソン・ギムリンのビッグフット映像：
    7. ジミー・ホッファ失踪事件：
    8. 聖人の浮揚とバイロケーション：
    9. ファスティング（断食）の食事と習慣：
    10. ポリビウス・アーケードゲーム：
    11. 明晰夢：
    12. 科学と超常現象の調査：
    13. 夢解釈：
    14. 気候変動：
    15. ベン・ハーのバルタザール：
    16. トリノの聖骸布とイエスの聖遺物：
    17. 全体的な見解：
  4. 時系列
  5. 主要関係者
    1. ジミー・エイキン (Jimmy Akin):
    2. ドン・ベティネッリ (Dom Bettinelli):
    3. ヘロドトス (Herodotus):
    4. ロバート・ブライアー (Bob Brier):
    5. ヨシフ・スターリン (Joseph Stalin):
    6. スティーブン・ホーキング (Stephen Hawking):
    7. アヴィ・ローブ (Avi Loeb):
    8. ルー・ウォーレス (Lew Wallace):
    9. ゲイリー・ハバーマス (Gary Habermas):
    10. ヨハネ・パウロ2世 (John Paul II)
    11. ベネディクト16世 (Benedict XVI):
  6. 情報源
  7. 文字起こし
  8. 補足
    1. Polybiusの都市伝説とは？
    2. なぜこれほど広まったのか？
    3. 真相は？

詳細​

AI

ジミー・エイキンのミステリアス・ワールド：パトロンからの質問 - ブリーフィング資料

このブリーフィング資料は、ジミー・エイキンのポッドキャスト「Green Children of Woolpit, Levitation, and more Patron Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World」のエピソード48の文字起こしに基づいています。このエピソードは、パトロンからの質問に答え、信仰と理性の両面から様々な謎を探求するものです。

主要なテーマと重要なアイデア/事実：​

このエピソードは、ジミー・エイキンがリスナーからの多岐にわたる質問に答える形式で進行します。主なテーマは、歴史的・科学的な謎、未確認現象、そしてそれらに対する合理的・信仰的なアプローチです。エイキンは、多くの謎に対して「確実な答えはない」という「グレーな領域」の立場を取ることが多く、既存の理論や一般的な通説に疑問を呈し、さらなる調査の必要性を強調しています。

ポッドキャストの目的と構成:​

このエピソードは、Patreonのパトロンへの感謝として特別に制作されたボーナスエピソードです。パトロンからの質問を募り、それらにエイキンが答える形式で進行します。「First come, first served（先着順）」で質問に答えており、時間の制約から回答は簡潔になっています。 エイキンは、今後これらの謎のいくつかに特化したエピソードを制作する予定であると述べています。これは、リスナーの興味を深め、より詳細な議論を提供するためのポッドキャストの継続的な取り組みを示しています。

長時間遅延無線エコーとブレーズウェル探査機仮説：​

  • 概要: 1920年代に地球からの無線放送の遅延エコーが検出され、地球上の送信機からでは説明できない現象でした。これが「長時間遅延無線エコー（Long-delayed radio echoes）」と呼ばれます。

  • ブレーズウェル探査機仮説: この現象の一つの提案として、異星文明が星間通信のために使用する仮想の装置「ブレーズウェル探査機（Bracewell probe）」が反射しているというものがあります。「Bracewell probe is, it's a hypothetical device that has been speculated that civilizations might want to use to communicate with each other over interstellar distances.」（0:03:40）。この探査機はAIを搭載し、リアルタイムに近い対話を可能にするとされます。

  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは「fascinating（魅力的）」だと感じていますが、月の反射や電離層による反射など、より「conventional or more conventional explanations（より一般的な説明）」も存在すると指摘しています。また、ホアックスの可能性も示唆しています。

  • 関連する注意点: テレビシリーズ『バビロン5』のエピソードを引き合いに出し、ブレーズウェル探査機に見せかけた「バーサーカー（berserker）」のような、文明を排除するために設計された探査機の可能性についても言及し、「trust but verify（信頼せよ、しかし検証せよ）」と忠告しています。

エジプトのピラミッドの建設方法：​

  • 起源: ピラミッドの着想については既知であり、古代エジプトの墓の初期様式である「マスタバ（mastaba）」が起源とされています。マスタバを複数重ねていくことで、ピラミッドの構造が発展しました。「the pyramid structure developed.」（0:08:14）。

  • 建設方法の謎: 特にギザの巨大ピラミッドにおける、巨大な石ブロックの運搬と積層方法が謎とされています。

  • 単一の長大な傾斜路説: 「it would have to be like a mile long. And it would involve more construction than the pyramid itself.」（0:09:05）であり、考古学的な証拠がないため広く支持されていません。

  • 機械使用説（ヘロドトス）: ギリシャの歴史家ヘロドトスは、ブロックを持ち上げるために機械（おそらくウィンチやレバー）が使用されたと記述しています。

  • 螺旋状の外部傾斜路説: ピラミッドの周りを螺旋状に傾斜路が巻いていたという説。

  • 内部傾斜路説: フランスの建築家が提唱した説で、ピラミッド内部に螺旋状の空洞（傾斜路）があり、建設後に覆い隠されたというものです。熱画像による証拠も示唆されており、「such an open space, such a winding open space may exist.」（0:10:53）として、エイキンもこの説に注目しています。

ウールピットの緑の子供たち：​

  • 物語の概要: 12世紀、イングランドのウールピット村で、未知の言語を話し、肌が緑色の子ども（少年と少女）が発見されたという伝説です。彼らは最初は特定の豆しか食べず、後に通常の食事に慣れると緑色が消え、少女は英語を学び、自分たちが「セント・マーティンの土地（St. Martin's Land）」から来たと言いました。この土地は地下にあるとされることもあります。

  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは、この話が単なる伝説である可能性（44年後に記録されたため）を認めつつも、もし実話に基づくなら、「most probable explanation（最も可能性の高い説明）」として、彼らが異なる言語を話す地域からの移住者であるか、栄養失調やその他の病状（「クロローシス（chlorosis）」（0:13:18）、現在の「ハイポクロム性貧血（hyperchronic anemia）」）により皮膚が緑色を帯びていた可能性を挙げています。

パターソン・ギムリンのビッグフット映像：​

  • 概要: 1967年に撮影されたとされる有名なビッグフットの映像。ビッグフット愛好家は本物であると主張し、公式に反証されていないと述べています。
  • エイキンの見解: この映像について、過去のエピソードでも取り上げており、撮影者以外に「私が着ぐるみの中にいた」と主張する人物や、「私が着ぐるみを作った」と主張する人物がいることを指摘しています。どちらがホアックスであるか（映像制作者か、後から名乗り出た人物か）が論点であり、「obviously, there's no way to officially debunk the film because there's no official office of Bigfoots in the US government yet（もちろん、この映像を正式に論破する方法はない。なぜなら、まだ米国政府にビッグフットの公式機関がないからだ）」とユーモアを交えながら述べています。

ジミー・ホッファ失踪事件：​

  • エイキンの見解: ジミー・ホッファがマフィアを恐れていなかったのは、彼が死んだ場合に公開される「embarrassing（厄介な）情報」を持っていたからだという説に言及しています。エイキンは、ホッファがマフィアの反応を見誤った可能性と、その情報が他のマフィア捜査に埋もれたか、情報を知る人々が命の危険を感じて口を閉ざした可能性を提案しています。

聖人の浮揚とバイロケーション：​

  • 概要: 聖トーマス・アクィナスやパドレ・ピオなどの聖人が、浮揚したり（空中に浮く）、バイロケーション（同時に複数の場所に存在する）したりしたという報告について質問が寄せられています。
  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは、これらの現象が目撃者によって報告されたことは認識しているものの、詳細な一次資料の調査はこれからだと述べています。また、「not something people could just do at will（人が自由にできるものではない）」と、限定的で例外的な現象であった可能性を指摘しています。

ファスティング（断食）の食事と習慣：​

  • エイキンの実践: エイキン自身がファスティングを行っており、日曜以外の断食日に22時間の断食期間と2時間の食事時間があることを説明しています。カロリー摂取は厳密に追跡していないものの、約1500カロリーを下回ると体重が減る傾向があると述べています。

ポリビウス・アーケードゲーム：​

  • 都市伝説の概要: 1981年に登場したとされる架空のアーケードゲーム「Polybius」の都市伝説。このゲームは非常に中毒性があり、プレイヤーは悪夢や発作などの悪影響を経験したとされ、その後すぐに機械は姿を消したとされています。政府（CIA）が子どもたちを対象とした心理実験に使用したという説が一般的です。
  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは、ゲームそのものの物理的な証拠はないとしながらも、CIAが「MK Ultra」計画（1970年代まで続いた洗脳実験）などでマインドコントロールや心理効果の研究を行っていた歴史があるため、「the story is not itself implausible（この話自体はありえないことではない）」と述べています。問題は「verifiability（検証可能性）」であるとしています。

明晰夢：​

  • 概要: 明晰夢は、夢を見ていることに気づき、時には夢の展開を操作できる睡眠状態です。
  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは明晰夢が「a real phenomenon（現実の現象）」であると述べ、自身も頻繁に経験するが、夢を操作しようとすると目が覚めてしまうと述べています。カトリックの観点からは、サイキック能力の獲得を目的とするものは問題となる可能性があるが、悪夢を軽減したり、夢を楽しむ目的であれば「potentially morally legitimate（倫理的に正当である可能性がある）」と述べています。夢日記をつけることで夢を記憶する能力を訓練できるなど、訓練によって明晰夢を誘発できる可能性を指摘しています。

科学と超常現象の調査：​

  • エイキンの見解: ほとんどの超常現象調査員には「quite skeptical（かなり懐疑的）」であり、「amateurs（アマチュア）」であり、科学的なバックグラウンドが不足していると述べています。
  • なぜ「本物の科学者」は調査しないのか？: これは「giggle factor（笑いの要因）」が原因であるとエイキンは説明しています。超常現象を研究すると同僚に笑われたり、キャリアに悪影響が出たり、研究資金が得られなくなったりするからです。「their colleagues would laugh at them and it would harm their careers（同僚に笑われ、キャリアに悪影響が出るだろう）」。「fashion matters（流行が重要である）」という言葉で、科学界における特定の研究テーマへの偏見を指摘しています。

夢解釈：​

  • 概要: 聖書にも登場する夢解釈の概念について。
  • エイキンの見解: エイキンは、「God does sometimes use dreams to communicate with people（神は時々夢を用いて人々とコミュニケーションをとる）」と聖書の記述に触れつつも、「most dreams are meaningless（ほとんどの夢は無意味である）」と述べています。脳が日常の経験や想像を処理しているものだと考えています。しかし、自身が未来を予測した夢を見た経験についても語っており、このテーマについて将来のエピソードで詳しく話すことを約束しています。

気候変動：​

  • エイキンの見解: 気候変動（地球温暖化）の問題については、「gray basket（グレーな領域）」に分類しており、地球が温暖化しているか、また人類がそれにどの程度関与しているかについて、確固たる結論を持っていないと述べています。「the science in this area is highly politicized（この分野の科学は非常に政治化されている）」と指摘し、過去の誤った予測やデータ操作の事例があるため、「proceed with caution here（ここでは注意して進む必要がある）」と警告しています。

ベン・ハーのバルタザール：​

  • 概要: 小説『ベン・ハー』に登場する賢者バルタザールのキャラクターが、史実に基づくものかどうか、また彼がイエスの成人後の宣教活動時に再びイエスを訪ねた可能性があるかどうかという質問。
  • エイキンの見解: バルタザールは伝統的に東方の三博士の一人とされており、「there is at least a little bit of truth in this（少なくとも少しは真実がある）」と述べています。しかし、彼がアレクサンドリア出身であった可能性は低い（本来はペルシャの祭司の階級）とし、イエスの成人後に再会した可能性も「not especially probable（特に可能性が高いわけではない）」と結論付けています。

トリノの聖骸布とイエスの聖遺物：​

  • トリノの聖骸布: イエス・キリストの埋葬布とされるもの。中世の偽造品か、それとも現代科学でも説明できないほど複雑な本物か、という論争があります。

  • エイキンの見解: エイキンはこのテーマを「I need to do more research on this（もっと研究する必要がある）」と述べ、繊維研究、花粉研究、血液型研究、画像研究など、多岐にわたる専門分野で複雑な主張と反論が存在することを指摘しています。

  • 炭素年代測定: 「carbon dating that they did a number of decades ago that said this is from the Middle Ages.」（0:45:34）という結果があることを認めており、反論があることも承知しているものの、科学界のコンセンサスが中世のものである以上、それを論駁するよりも、他のより確実なキリスト教信仰の証拠を提示することを優先すると述べています。

  • 信仰と精神性: 教会は聖骸布の「authenticity（信憑性）」については科学者に委ねているが、「profound spiritual significance（深い精神的な意義）」を持つ「icon（イコン）」として尊重していることを強調しています。「The church respects the shroud, it leaves the question of the shroud's authenticity open, but it recognizes the spiritual value of the shroud, and how God can use the shroud to bring us closer to him and enrich our spiritual lives.」（0:47:39）。

  • 他の聖遺物（茨の冠、聖槍、聖釘、聖杯）： エイキンはこれらの聖遺物についても調査が必要だと述べており、「truth is usually in the middle（真実は通常、中間にある）」として、すべてを否定するのではなく、信憑性のあるものとそうでないものを区別することの重要性を強調しています。聖地を訪れる際の個人的な体験を例に出し、場所や遺物の物理的な信憑性よりも、それがもたらす精神的な経験の重要性を述べています。

全体的な見解：​

ジミー・エイキンは、様々な謎に対して、信仰と理性の両面からアプローチしています。彼は、特定の結論に飛びつくことなく、既存の理論、反論、そして科学的な証拠を慎重に検討する姿勢を示しています。多くの謎に対しては、「グレーな領域」として、さらなる調査の必要性を強調しています。特に、科学界における「giggle factor」や「fashion matters」といった問題が、特定のテーマの研究を妨げているという指摘は、現代科学のあり方に対する示唆に富んでいます。ポッドキャストは、リスナーが批判的思考を養い、複雑なテーマを多角的に捉えることを奨励するものです。

時系列​

AI

  • 1100年代 (推定1144年頃): イングランドのサフォーク州ウールピットで「緑の子供たち」が発見される。彼らは未知の言語を話し、肌が緑色で、特定の豆しか食べなかった。少年は後に死亡し、少女は英語を学び、自身の出身地を「セント・マーティンの土地」と語る。

  • 1920年代: 無線通信の研究者が、地球からの放送の「時間遅延無線エコー（LDE）」を発見する。これは、信号が地球から送信され、1.5秒後に何かに当たり、再び1.5秒かけて戻ってくることで、合計3秒の遅延が生じる現象と解釈される。

  • 1970年代: LDEの原因として、ラグランジュ点に位置するブレイスウェル・プローブが通信を反射している可能性が提唱される。

  • 1970年代以前: CIAが「MKウルトラ」プロジェクトを実施。これはマインドコントロールなどを研究するもので、ポリビウスのアーケードゲーム伝説がその実験と関連付けられる可能性が示唆される。

  • 1981年: アーケードゲーム「ポリビウス」が登場したとされる都市伝説が生まれる。このゲームは中毒性が高く、心理的実験に関与していると噂され、プレイヤーが体調不良を訴え、すぐに姿を消したとされる。

  • 2009年: ソ連が所有するヒトラーのものとされる頭蓋骨のDNA鑑定が行われ、40歳未満の女性のものであることが判明する。

主要関係者​

AI

ジミー・エイキン (Jimmy Akin):​

Podcast「Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World」のホスト。信仰と理性という二つの視点から様々なミステリーを考察する。長遅延無線エコー、ピラミッドの建設、ウールピットの緑の子供たち、パターソン・ギムリンのビッグフット映像、ジミー・ホッファの失踪、聖人の浮揚・両所遍在、断食、ポリビウスの都市伝説、明晰夢、タイムトラベル、ヒトラーの死、超常現象調査、夢解釈、気候変動、ベン・ハーのバルタザール、トリノの聖骸布、キリストの聖遺物といった広範なテーマについて質問に答える。

ドン・ベティネッリ (Dom Bettinelli):​

Podcast「Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World」の共同ホストで、番組の進行役を務める。パトロンからの質問をジミーに投げかける役割を担う。

ヘロドトス (Herodotus):​

ギリシャの歴史家・旅行家。エジプトを訪れた際、ピラミッドの建設に「機械」が使用されたと伝え聞いたと記している。これはウインチやレバーを指す可能性が指摘される。

ロバート・ブライアー (Bob Brier):​

エジプト学者・哲学者。ピラミッド内部に螺旋状の傾斜路が存在したという説について、著書「The Secret of the Great Pyramid」やドキュメンタリーで取り上げている。

ヨシフ・スターリン (Joseph Stalin):​

ソ連の指導者。1945年6月か7月にヒトラーが脱出したと発言したとされる。

スティーブン・ホーキング (Stephen Hawking):​

有名な物理学者。時間旅行を研究する科学者が、助成金申請書で「時間旅行」という言葉を使わず、「閉じた時間的曲線」という言葉を使うことを認めている。

アヴィ・ローブ (Avi Loeb):​

ハーバード大学の著名な天体物理学者・天文学者。恒星間天体「オウムアムア」がエイリアンの探査機である可能性を示唆し、科学界で論争を巻き起こしている。

ルー・ウォーレス (Lew Wallace):​

小説「ベン・ハー」の著者。

ゲイリー・ハバーマス (Gary Habermas):​

プロテスタントの護教家。トリノの聖骸布をキリスト教信仰の強力な証拠として支持している例として挙げられる。

ヨハネ・パウロ2世 (John Paul II)​

: 教皇。教会のトリノの聖骸布の真正性に関する立場は、科学者の決定に委ねられているが、教会はそれを深い精神的意義を持つイコンとして使用していると述べた。

ベネディクト16世 (Benedict XVI):​

教皇。ヨハネ・パウロ2世と同様に、トリノの聖骸布の真正性に関する科学的判断を尊重しつつ、その精神的価値を認める発言をしている。

情報源​

動画(54:40)

Green Children of Woolpit, Levitation, and more Patron Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-btAvZntI

文字起こし​

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（以下は Jimmy Akin の Podcast "Green Children of Woolpit, Levitation, and more Patron Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World" の文字起こしです。）

You're listening to episode 48 of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason. This is a special bonus episode that we recorded to thank our patrons at Patreon.com slash StarQuest for their generosity in making this and all our shows at StarQuest possible. And so we gave them early exclusive access to this show after soliciting questions from them to ask Jimmy. And now we're going to share it with you to show you one of the benefits of being a patron. (0:00:32)

They got early access a little while ago and now you're getting to listen to it and to enjoy that and see if this is one of those perks that will help you decide to become a patron. So we hope you enjoy this show. Welcome to Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, which is made possible by you, our patrons on Patreon. We're always looking for ways to thank you for your generosity in making all our shows on StarQuest possible. (0:01:07)

And this is just one of those ways we've come up with. And we recently reached out to you and asked if you had questions you'd like to ask Jimmy. And we got so many great responses. And so that's what we'll be talking about on this episode of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World. So, Jimmy, how are we going to be handling the questions today? Well, we're going to answer them in the order received. (0:01:28)

So first come, first served. We want to thank as many people as possible by answering their questions. And so a few people asked more than one question, and we'll answer those second questions that people asked after we go through the others. And that way, the most people possible get to ask questions in the time we have today. We'll answer as many questions as we can. (0:01:52)

Obviously, the answers are going to have to be brief. But the good news is we'll be devoting full episodes to some of the mysteries we're going to be talking about that our patrons have asked. So, Jimmy, our first question comes from a patron, Michael L., and he says, what about the Epsilon Bootes space probe hypothesis for the radio echoes discovered in the 1920s? So what's this all about? (0:02:11)

Well, back in the 1920s, some guys working with radio detected what appeared to be time-delayed echoes of broadcasts originating here on Earth. And they were time-delayed enough that they couldn't come from an earthly transmitter. They would have arrived sooner than they actually did. So the idea is someone, you know, says something on the radio somewhere. And then three seconds later, we hear an echo of that same person saying the same thing. (0:02:46)

And that would mean, presumably, that the signal traveled at light speed from the transmitter for one and a half seconds, and then hit something and bounced back for one and a half seconds. And that's why it's delayed by three seconds. So these are called long-delayed radio echoes. (0:03:05)

And we'll have a link to that in the show notes if you want to learn more about that. But one of the proposals that has been made is that this could be what's known as a Bracewell probe reflecting these things back at us in an attempt to make contact. And what a Bracewell probe is, it's a hypothetical device that has been speculated that civilizations might want to use to communicate with each other over interstellar distances. (0:03:40)

It's really hard to hold a phone conversation at interstellar distances because you say a sentence and then you're going to have to wait multiple years for the reply to come back because of the light speed limit on radio communications. So the idea is, instead of doing that, what you do is you program a probe, presumably with an AI that's capable of interacting with people in a way that represents you fairly, and you send that probe to the civilization you want to talk to, or even just randomly hoping it finds a civilization. (0:04:20)

And then when it gets close, the people there can talk to your probe that kind of serves as your ambassador to them. And that way you can hold a conversation in real time or much closer to real time without the long interstellar delays. And so when we found these radio echoes, there was a question, well, what's causing them? In the 1970s, it was proposed, well, maybe a Bracewell probe is out there, maybe in one of our Lagrange points, and it's reflecting these communications back at us to try to make contact with us. (0:04:53)

And so Michael L sent us a link to an article by the guy who proposed that, or one of the guys who proposed it, so that'll be in the show notes too. In terms of what I think about it, I think it's fascinating. I've been aware of long delay echoes for some time and have thought about doing an episode on the show on them. (0:05:11)

I should point out there are conventional or more conventional explanations for what these things are besides a Bracewell probe. For example, reflections off the moon, although the author of the article says that's not what's happening in this case. Also reflections off the ionosphere, the idea is the signal would go up and bounce around between the earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere, and that's what's causing the delay before you hear the echo. (0:05:40)

And there are other possibilities as well, including hoax. But there are a number of possibilities here. It's an interesting idea. By the way, if you ever watched Babylon 5, there was an episode called A Day in Strife in which the station encounters what appears to be a Bracewell probe that says, if you answer the following questions to prove your worthiness, we'll give you all this information because you'll have proved you're ready to handle it. (0:06:11)

And before they transmit the final answer, Captain Sheridan gets suspicious. And so the probe starts to fly off, then they transmit the answer and the probe explodes. And so revealing it wasn't just an ordinary Bracewell probe, it's what's known as a berserker that's designed to seek out civilizations that could be a threat and eliminate them. (0:06:35)

Are they technologically advanced enough to be a threat? So if you ever encounter a Bracewell probe, trust but verify. That's right. Keep that in mind. (0:06:43)

It's interesting. And so we're possibly going to go in more depth on this later? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good. Because now you've got my interest piqued. All right. So our next question comes from Lindsey S. Lindsey says, great idea, Jimmy. I'm not sure if this one has an answer, but can you discuss the mystery of how the ancient Egyptian pyramids were built? For example, how were the large stones moved and lifted onto each other during their pyramids construction? (0:07:08)

What kind of engineering knowledge did they have that they could conceive these kinds of buildings? Well, in terms of the conception, how they conceived them, we know the answer to that. By the way, you want to listen to episode six of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, where we talk about the pyramids and how they were built. (0:07:27)

We know how they got the idea. It's based on the original style of Egyptian tomb after they just stopped burying people in pits, which wasn't a great solution because you'd have animal predation. They would protect the bodies of the deceased by putting on them, putting over them a kind of rectangular memorial stone known as a mastaba. (0:07:52)

Mastaba is an Arabic word. It means bench. And that's what they kind of look like. They look like kind of a big shoebox. And eventually the architects, you know, they get more sophisticated and clever over time. They want to do new things. And so what they then did was say, hey, let's put another smaller mastaba on top of the foundational mastaba. (0:08:09)

And then let's make a series of progressively smaller mastabas like a wedding cake. Well, that guy's mastaba is taller than mine. I want mine to be a little taller than his. Yeah, exactly. And so that's how the pyramid structure developed. And they figured this out in the old kingdom. That's when the Giza pyramids were built. (0:08:32)

I mean, King Tut, who we've talked about in Akhenaten, they're, you know, like 1700 years after all this. So this is very early. They figured this out. And we can see the progression of how they got progressively better at building pyramids. In terms of the really big ones at Giza, there is this question of how do they get the blocks up to the top? Well, one of the things that people have suggested is maybe they just build a big ramp. (0:08:54)

The problem is, in order to build a ramp capable of reaching the top of the pyramid, it would have to be like a mile long. And it would involve more construction than the pyramid itself. And we don't have any evidence of this. If they built a big ramp in front of the Great Pyramid, it should leave traces that would still be visible today. And there's not. And so the single long ramp theory is not widely supported. (0:09:25)

One suggestion comes from the Greek tourist and historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt. And when he was there, he was told that they used machines to lift the blocks up. And the best theory running is that those machines were winches, levers of some type they could use to... they didn't have modern cranes, but effectively the same principle, you get a block up one level, and then you winch it or lever it up to the next level and so forth. (0:09:59)

So they may have had a machine of some kind that did that. Another theory is that instead of having one long ramp, they had a ramp that kind of wound around the pyramid. And as it got higher, they could bring blocks up that ramp. And then they tore down the ramp when they were done. A very interesting theory was proposed by a French architect, I believe. (0:10:28)

And he suggested that they made an internal ramp inside the pyramid. And so he proposes there's an open space that winds up inside the pyramid that they then covered up as they built progressively higher. And that's why we don't see it. But there is some evidence from thermal imaging of the pyramid from above, that such an open space, such a winding open space may exist. (0:10:55)

And the theory has enough support, or at least it has had enough support, that my man, Bob Breyer, Egyptologist and philosopher, did a whole book as well as a documentary about it. And the book is called The Secret of the Great Pyramid. And we'll have a link to that as well. (0:11:13)

A listener, Paul L. says, what do you think of the about the green children of Woolpit? Woolpit? Yeah, Woolpit is a place in England in Suffolk, if I recall correctly. And it's named because of the wolf pits that they had in the area to trap wolves. And in the 1100s, apparently around the year 1144, they found these children. (0:11:38)

There were two children, a boy and a girl. The girl was a little older, the boy a little younger. And they didn't speak any known language. And they were green. And they had a weird diet, they didn't want to eat normal food. (0:11:51)

At first, they would only eat a certain kind of bean. That was the only thing that people had that they were willing to eat. Eventually, they got used to normal food and their green color went away. And they eventually or at least the girl eventually learned to speak English, the boy died. And when the girl learned to speak English, she said that they were from a place called St. Martin's Land where everything was green. (0:12:20)

And in some versions of this story, I think St. Martin's Land is supposed to be located underground. So there has been a question of are these children from an underground civilization? Are they from an alien planet? Are they from a parallel world? And while I can't rule out those, absolutely, it seems to me the most probable explanation, assuming this isn't just a legend, because the first account of this was written 44 years after it happened, at least the first surviving account. (0:12:49)

And so it could just be a folktale. But if it's based on a real historical event, my guess is they were children that had been brought either from a place in Great Britain where they spoke a different language, or maybe they were immigrants from the continent of Europe, they were kids, they got lost, they didn't speak the local language, they weren't used to this food, and they had a dietary or other medical condition that caused them to have what was known historically as chlorosis. (0:13:18)

And you can hear the relation to the word chlorophyll there, the stuff that makes plants green. Today it's called hyperchronic anemia. And it does indeed give your skin a kind of greenish tint. It can be caused by things like vitamin B6 deficiency. It can also be caused by other things. It's also possible that it might have been something other than hyperchronic anemia. (0:13:41)

For example, when people are suffering from liver problems, they can become jaundiced, which causes the skin to take on a yellowish color. Also, you eat too many carrots, and you can get beta carotene poisoning that will turn your skin orange. And so I would suppose that based on what we know, if this is based on a historical event, the children most likely had a dietary problem, which explained the skin color and then why it went away. But it's a fascinating thing, and I hope to talk about it on a future episode. (0:14:13)

Well, sure, Bogoro. Are we sure they weren't leprechauns from Ireland, you know? Pretty sure of that. All right. Then Sean F. asks, Hi, Jimmy, what do you make of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot video footage? Has it ever been definitively proven to be a hoax? Bigfoot enthusiasts say that it has never been officially debunked and that it is genuine Bigfoot video footage showing musculature and female breasts. (0:14:41)

However, I've also read that someone admitted that it was a hoax and a man in a costume. What do you think? So we talk about the Patterson-Gimlin film in episode three of the podcast, which was on Bigfoot, and there we discussed it a bit, including the fact that one guy did say, I was the guy in the suit, and another guy said, and I made the suit. (0:15:07)

Patterson and Gimlin didn't say that, but some other people have claimed that. Now you then have the question of, are their claims accurate or are they the ones who are doing the hoaxing? So someone is obviously hoaxing in connection with this video. The question is, was it the people who made it or at least one of the people who made it? Or was it, was it these later guys trying to take credit for something? Obviously, there's no way to officially debunk the film because there's no official office of Bigfoots in the US government yet, but they'll apparently fund just about anything. (0:15:40)

So it's a matter of debate. And recently, I've come across some new information, and we may be talking specifically about the Patterson-Gimlin film in an upcoming episode. Teresa N. asks, on Jimmy Hoffa, the Jimmy Hoffa episode, you said he wasn't afraid of the mob because he had information on it that would be revealed when he died or if he was killed. (0:16:05)

Why didn't that deter the mob? And what happened to that information, presumably when he died? What happened? Yeah. So the episode where we talk about this is episode number 26. And we rely heavily in that episode on a book called I Heard You Paint Houses, which is based on the reminiscences of the man who claims to and very plausibly did kill Jimmy Hoffa. He said that Hoffa felt confident going forward that the mob would not do a hit on him because he had, in case of my death, information that would prove embarrassing to them. (0:16:37)

I would assume that Hoffa overestimated what the mob's reaction would be, that they said, ah, he doesn't know anything. We can't weather. So even if it does get out, we'll weather the storm. And so I think that was a miscalculation on his part. In terms of what happened to the evidence, it might have been released through one channel or another and just got folded into the mob investigations that were going on at the time. (0:17:09)

And it was never specifically tied to his death that we're releasing this because of Jimmy Hoffa was hit. I mean, if you were someone that Jimmy Hoffa trusted and you had such information and wanted to turn it over to the FBI, you might not say, I'm doing this because of Jimmy. You might just say, here's some information you might want to know about. (0:17:33)

On the other hand, having seen Jimmy Hoffa just whacked, if you had such information, you might want to keep your mouth shut lest they whack you too. So his plans might have failed in that regard. And if the mob knew who had such information, they could have gone around to them and leaned on him to say, you better not start talking. (0:17:49)

Right. We weren't afraid of Jimmy talking, so obviously we're not afraid of taking you out. I suppose it's also possible it might have been a bluff and they called his bluff. It's possible, but given that he was behaving very recklessly, I think he probably did have... I mean, we know he had information about the mob, and I think he probably did feel that he had enough that he could behave in this reckless way without getting whacked. (0:18:19)

So Larry S. now asks, I've always been enthralled with the saints who could levitate and bilocate, such as Thomas Aquinas and Padre Pio. Are there any stories behind these events for my witnesses? Could they perform these miracles at will or only at certain times, such as during a static prayer? It's a very interesting subject, and I've tagged it for discussion in a future episode. (0:18:40)

I haven't thoroughly researched this subject yet. My understanding is that there were people who reported seeing such levitations. I don't know if we have firsthand accounts. That's something I'll have to do more research on. It's also my understanding that this is not something people could just do at will. It's not like Sister Bertrall and the Flying Nun. I think that that was a show when I was a kid. It was kind of popular. (0:19:05)

Yes. In any event, I think these were exceptional, occasional things, and they didn't just have the superpower of flight. Paul B. asks, concerning your fasting episode, how many calories do you eat for your one meal, and how long does it take for you to eat it? Thank you. (0:19:21)

I don't really keep track of calories in any rigorous way. What I notice is if I get below a certain threshold of calories, I tend to lose weight. And I don't know exactly what that threshold is, but if my one meal is less than 1,500 calories, I tend to lose weight. And at least that's an approximation, but that's kind of my best guess. (0:19:51)

In terms of how long it takes me to eat that, I have a two-hour eating window each day. So on fasting days, and I don't fast on Sundays, but on fasting days, and I also don't fast when I'm slacking off, but on fasting days, I have a 22-hour fasting period and then a two-hour eating window. Okay. And we talked about that topic on episode 21, The Mystery of Weight Loss. Yes. And we'll probably be doing a future episode specifically about fasting, which has more benefits than just weight loss. (0:20:20)

Kevin K. asks, what do you think about the Polybius arcade machine that was supposedly made by the government for testing on children? Is it just an urban legend? Well, it's really tricky. So the claim is that back, I think it was 1981, there was an arcade game that appeared called Polybius, apparently named after the Greek historian of the same name. And this game was very addictive. People loved playing it. They just really got into it. (0:20:51)

Long lines formed in front of the Polybius machines. And guys in suits were seen doing stuff with the machines that was then interpreted as, this is the men in black downloading information out of these machines. And the theory was that they were doing some kind of psychological experiment on people, maybe having to do with addictiveness. Also, it was reported that some of the people who played these games later suffered ill effects like nightmares or seizures or things like that. (0:21:35)

And then very quickly, the machines all disappeared, like in a month or something. And this is a subject of controversy in the gaming community. We don't have any physical machines of this nature. We have people who claim to have parts of the programming that was used for Polybius. We also have a guy who said, I was one of the designers and it got pulled because a kid had an epileptic seizure. In terms of did it exist, I don't know. (0:22:02)

But it's not implausible that in 1981, the government and specifically the CIA would be doing experiments of this nature because up into the 1970s, they had a project going known as MK Ultra, which we will definitely be talking about on a future episode. And one of the things that MK Ultra researched was mind control. (0:22:36)

And this kind of addiction and can you induce psychological effects in people is something the CIA would be interested in and had been interested in. And so the story is not itself implausible. It's just a question of verifiability. Then Jimmy C. asks, is there any truth to the claim that lucid dreaming can be induced? How should we as Catholics approach the phenomenon? So lucid dreaming is a state of sleep where you are dreaming and you're aware of the fact that you're dreaming. (0:23:08)

That's why it's called lucid. And sometimes if you're dreaming lucidly, you can even influence the course of the dream and say, oh, I don't want that to happen. I want this to happen instead. Lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon. I experience it myself. In fact, I experience it somewhat frequently. My problem is that when I do become aware of the fact that I'm dreaming, I usually wake up, especially if I try to force the dream in a new direction, I wake up. (0:23:41)

And so some people have proposed using lucid dreaming to achieve psychic abilities, like travel out of your body and stuff that I'm very skeptical of. I'm also is going to conflict with Catholic moral theology. At least there's a strong likelihood of it doing so. But there are other potential applications for it. Like let's say you have nightmares. (0:24:01)

Let's say you have a lot of nightmares, and it's messing with you during the day. Well, that's a situation where you might want to say, can I learn to lucid dream? And can I then learn to affect the course of the dream so it ceases to be a nightmare? And I'll stop having to carry around the way these nightmares are messing with me, maybe like get better sleep. (0:24:27)

And so in that situation, trying to learn to lucid dream, or just learning to have fun in your dreams, you know, it could be potentially morally legitimate. Can you learn to do it? I don't know of any studies on this. But my sense is probably because a lot of what's a lot of what happens with our dreams can be learned. I, you know, most people don't remember their dreams. (0:24:54)

But it is possible to teach yourself to remember them. And one of the keys to that is keeping a dream diary so that as soon as you wake up, you jot down a sketch of what was in your dream. And you do that enough, you start it, your brain learns to retain that information, it seems that we're programmed to forget our dreams, that there's some mechanism in our brain that causes us to forget. (0:25:17)

Presumably, that's an evolutionary adaptation to keep our memories from being filled with unreal phantasmagoria that could be potentially confusing if we remembered it the way we remember real life. And so we're programmed to forget it. But it does seem that training can impact that to where you can remember more of your dreams. I've done that when I was in my teenage years, I kept a dream diary, and I could then remember a lot more of my dreams. (0:25:49)

And today, I don't do that. But when I do wake up, I if I think about it real quick, and in repeat what happened in the dream in my waking memory, then I can retain it. And so also, when I was a kid, and I haven't tried doing this lately. But when I was a kid, I would have the ability to say, I want to wake up at 8am, or some other time. (0:26:08)

And then I would even without an alarm clock. And so I think it's possible to train a bunch of these things. And I think it's consequently probable that you could train yourself to do lucid dreaming. I often wake up if I have a like a flight I have to catch or something like that. I know I've got to be up by 430. I've got to be up by 430. Yeah. And I wake up just before the alarm. (0:26:29)

So that's the same kind of thing. When I was a kid, we'd be going on trips. And we need to leave at a certain time in the morning. And so I'd program myself to wake up then I do remember my dream last night I dreamed I encountered Benedict Cumberbatch at the dairy case at the grocery store. Interesting. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not sure I want to know. But that's okay. (0:26:47)

Well, we have a question coming up about what dreams mean. I don't remember what I dreamed last night. But I do remember recently, I dreamed that there was a giant monarch butterfly that was on the floor in my living room. And it had a wing spread of about two feet. And it it was looking out my front door, and just sitting there and it kind of gently flapped its wings back and forth. (0:27:11)

And then it got bored with looking out the front door, and it instead climbed up on something. (0:27:16)

And that was the last I saw of it. But I thought, wow, that's a really pretty giant monarch butterfly. Dream interpretation. That that would be an interesting discussion, because I've got some weird ones. But let's move on in this episode to the next question. Kathy S. asks, says the above all sound great. Referring to all the previous questions, green children could go with the Casper Hauser mystery, genie, the wild child, etc. (0:27:42)

Also, the moving coffins of Barbados and the quantum enigma. Also, whale languages and dolphins saving humans from drowning. Yeah, and kangaroos saving humans from getting their heads hit. That's happened too. There was a case in Australia where a guy got hit in the head and collapsed and the kangaroo went to fetch help. (0:28:02)

So there's a lot of interesting topics. I appreciate those, Kathy. Unfortunately, I can't really there's so much there. I can't really comment on them now. But I have scheduled each of those six topics as potential future episodes. So hope to get back to those. Nick R. asks, Jimmy, do you think time travel is a cop out for ending a Star Trek series? For example, Star Trek Voyager? I hate that ending. (0:28:22)

That's a very topical question, by the way. We're not going to spoil anything, but it is topical. Yeah. Also, we have this Secrets of Star Trek podcast you might want to check out. That's right. So this is this is more of a personal opinion question. I don't mind time travel in principle. In fact, I actually like time travel stories. (0:28:44)

It's a question of how they're executed. Larry Niven, the famous science fiction writer whose stuff I like, his was some of the earliest science fiction I read growing up, and I still read it. Larry Niven has an essay on time travel that's very interesting. He also has, and I don't know if he still feels this way, but I know in the past he's gone on record as not liking time travel stories on the premise that you can just have anything happen in them. (0:29:06)

And so if you can go back and change history, then it undermines dramatic tension. And personally, I don't buy that because it's fiction. And in fiction, you can have anything happen. And that will kill dramatic tension. I mean, if you have a story that consists of the fluffy bunny hopped over here, and the fluffy bunny hopped over there, and the fluffy bunny was happy, there's no real dramatic tension there. (0:29:37)

So you need to create dramatic tension, you need rules. And most fiction, all good fiction, operates under rules that the audience implicitly understands or has explained to them, so that they know what's possible and not possible within this rules framework. And the rules or limitations on what people can do, then creates the dramatic tension. (0:30:04)

So I don't mind time travel in principle on the ground that anything can happen, because that's just fiction. The question is, what are the rules? How clearly are they spelled out? How clearly are they followed? And do they create dramatic tension leading to a satisfying payoff when the tension is resolved? And so to me, I don't mind time travel stories, and I don't mind ending seasons or series of Star Trek with them in principle. (0:30:27)

It's just a question of how well are they executed. And indeed, there is a good bit to criticize about the ending of Star Trek Voyager, including the finale, which you could hear us talk about eventually on the secrets of Star Trek on the StarQuest Network. Let's see, Joe T says, or asks, did Hitler really die when they say he did? Or did he escape? This is one of those things that a lot of people today would just instantly scoff and say, oh, of course, Hitler's dead. (0:30:56)

Well, he's definitely dead at this point, because he would be over a century old. But you would also have this kind of reflex of, oh, of course he died on April 30th, 1944, like the standard account says. But the thing is, there's more to this than a lot of people are aware. (0:31:21)

I don't have a conclusion at this point. I assume the standard account is correct, that he did die on April 30th, 1945, by shooting himself in the Fuhrer bunker. (0:31:27)

But I also know that there's some reason to suspect that, because in I want to say it's either June or July of 1945, the Soviets said he escaped. Even Joseph Stalin said he escaped. Now, the counter to that is going to be, well, this is disinformation on their part. Okay, why? What is the reason for the disinformation? But I also know the FBI and the CIA took sightings of Hitler seriously in the 1940s and 50s. They got a bunch of reported Hitler sightings, and they investigated them. (0:32:11)

The claim then is that Hitler went somewhere, maybe Argentina. That's the most common theory, because a lot of Nazi war criminals did go to Argentina. It's not the only one. I know of one book that proposes he actually went to Indonesia, even further afield, very recently. So, we had some remains of Hitler, or what was claimed to be Hitler, and an autopsy had been done. (0:32:37)

But because Hitler had lookalikes, the argument would be, well, maybe this was one of Hitler's body doubles. Well, so in terms of the remains we currently have, we have part of a skull that shows bullet wound to, I think it's the left temple area. And we also have a jawbone. And these are in the possession of the Soviets. And they did DNA testing. Now, they said the jawbone matches Hitler's dental records. (0:33:01)

So if that's true, it's either someone with a mouth identical to Hitler's, or it's Hitler's. But the skull fragment, they did DNA testing on it, I think in 2009. And it turned out to be based on the way the skull bones join together, you can tell a person's age. And that with the DNA testing revealed that it was the skull of a woman who was under 40 years of age. (0:33:31)

So wrong sex and wrong age and not Hitler. And so to my mind, that raises a question, well, what did the DNA of the jawbone say? And that test, so far as I know, has not been run. But it's the one that needs to be run to try to resolve this. And believe me, we're definitely going to be talking about did Hitler escape in a future episode. (0:33:55)

The 1970 movie The Boys from Brazil was about Hitler clones. So not quite the same thing. Yeah, not quite the same thing. Put me in mind of that. Victor L. says, one of the joys of the show is discovering incredibly weird things that I didn't even know I was interested in. But here's a more general question. How credible do you find paranormal investigators, generally speaking? You'd think real scientists, air quotes, real scientists would be interested in figuring out what ghosts are. (0:34:24)

So why does answering that question always seem to be left to some guys from Rhode Island with a night vision video camera instead of someone at MIT? So I would say that in general, I am quite skeptical of most paranormal investigators. Most paranormal investigators, as Victor indicates, are amateurs. They're not really trained or credentialed. They have a lot self-training, but they don't have a good background in science and a mind for thinking of what natural could explain this. (0:34:58)

They tend to be more credulous of claims than I think they ought to be. I think some of them are outright hoaxers who are doing it for personal benefit. Bottom line is I'm skeptical of most paranormal investigators. Not necessarily all. There are people who have good credentials, who have good backgrounds, who display the right balance of openness and critical thinking. (0:35:22)

And so I have respect for them. But most, anything I hear from a paranormal investigator, my initial reaction is to be skeptical of it. In terms of why real scientists don't investigate these things, it's because of the giggle factor. They know that if they do investigate these things, and a lot of them are themselves naturalists of a materialistic nature. So they don't believe in the supernatural anyway. (0:35:45)

So that kind is not going to be interested in openly investigating these claims. They're going to be interested, if anything, in debunking them or not giving them any more attention because they think it's an embarrassment. But because those scientists who might be open know that their colleagues would laugh at them and it would harm their careers, that's one reason they don't investigate. (0:36:10)

They also know that the funding agencies that supply the funds needed to do scientific research would also laugh at this stuff and they would not get funding even if they applied for grants. In fact, even just applying for a grant to research ghosts could harm their reputations. This is something we see in other fields. There's a book I have by Stephen Hawking where he admits that scientists researching time travel don't call it time travel in their grant applications. (0:36:40)

They say they want to investigate closed time-like curves because if they said time travel, it would get laughed at and they the funding thereafter. And so I think that applies in an even bigger way to ghosts. You'd have to find some really convoluted, non-obvious synonym for ghosts if you wanted to write a grant and get it successfully funded. (0:37:06)

Yeah, it reminds me of the scientist, the very well-known and well-respected astrophysicist or astronomer who was talking to the head of theory about the Oumuamua object going through our solar system. He suggested it might be an alien probe. And there was actually an article in the Boston Globe recently because he's based here in Boston, I think at Harvard, talking about how just his suggestion that it might be an alien space probe has resulted not only in people kind of mocking his field, but other people who work in his department also get it wanting to distance off a little. (0:37:41)

So it's very interesting how that works, these areas for scientists. As one book I have, which is actually quite a good book called 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, in science, fashion matters. (0:37:54)

By the way, if you want to hear more about Ghosts, Victor, check out episode one of the podcast, we did that on ghosts, and we will definitely be talking about ghosts in future episodes. All right. Ernie M. says, is it covering dream interpreters? I understand this is prevalent in scripture and have found it fascinating. I've had personal experiences with dreams concerning lost relatives. Others around me have mentioned this as well. (0:38:18)

I'm curious how some figures seem to make careers out of interpreting these dreams, and has it fallen victim or transitioned to the new age movement? Well, I definitely have had an episode on dreaming, which would include dream interpretation on the list of future ideas. We'll definitely be doing an episode about that. It's an interesting subject. (0:38:44)

Obviously, God does sometimes use dreams to communicate with people, that's something that is in scripture. On the other hand, most dreams are meaningless. Most dreams are just our brains processing information based on daily experience and our imagination. And there's some interesting scientific theories about exactly what our doing when we dream. (0:39:07)

This is actually one of those scientific mysteries we do not fully understand, and I think it's in 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. But we will be talking about it. And I, myself, have had a dream. This was when I was a teenager. I had a dream that predicted the future in astonishing detail. (0:39:27)

And I told a friend about the dream before it was fulfilled. And then he was standing there when it was fulfilled, and his jaw just dropped open. And so we'll talk about that in the episode on dreaming. I'll give you the details on that in the future. (0:39:45)

Les R asks, climate change, is it as dire a problem as we hear? And if so, what options do we have left that might be successful and at what cost? Well, I've already got an episode planned for the future specifically about climate change or global warming. This is one that's in my gray basket. I don't know whether the Earth is warming or not. If it is warming, I don't know if mankind is significantly responsible for that or not. (0:40:07)

I do know that the science in this area is highly politicized, and that people who have made global warming claims are prone sometimes to making predictions that have turned out to be false. And they have also been caught manipulating data. And so I think we have to proceed with caution here. I'm not, on the other hand, I'm not sold that there's nothing to this. (0:40:34)

That I'm not sold that the Earth is definitely not warming or that mankind is definitely not responsible. So this is in my gray basket. I think we need to proceed cautiously and with healthy skepticism towards both the definite yes and definite no positions. I think, unfortunately, in science, fashion matters. And right now the fashion is to be very pro-global warming. (0:41:01)

But fashion and evidence aren't the same things. And then when you mix politics into the whole thing, it gets even worse. Even worse. All right. Mark C says, Jimmy, my wife and I listen to each and every... I'm sorry. My wife and I listen to each and every day to your many ventures on radio and podcasts. (0:41:25)

Here's the mystery. Balthazar of Alexandria is portrayed as a protagonist in the Lew Wallace novel, Ben-Hur, and the movies based upon the novel. A little bit of truth. How did pen and paper devise such great characters in Ben-Hur when it seems it must be real or true? Is there a possibility that Balthazar could have sought Jesus out when Jesus began his ministry? Thank you for tackling this. (0:41:45)

And it says parenthetically, are you fond of the Ben-Hur storyline? It's been a long time since I've seen Ben-Hur and recently I downloaded the novel to listen to it, but I haven't gotten through it yet. But I am intrigued by the story. In terms of Balthazar, so for people who may not be aware, that's the name that is traditionally given to one of the three magi or three wise men. (0:42:09)

And so there is at least a little bit of truth in this, that there's a kernel of truth and that magi did come to visit Jesus at his birth, or actually when he was about two years old. And so that, that much is true. However, he probably was not from Alexandria. The magi were originally a class of Persian priests. And so he would have come from Persia, not Alexandria in Egypt. Or if not Persia, he would have come from another land to the east of Israel, because that's the term magi come to be applied to some other groups as well in that area. (0:42:53)

But the odds of him having come from Alexandria would be very low. It's not impossible that he could have gone back if he was still alive 30 years later when Jesus was having his adult ministry. It's not impossible, but it's also not especially probable. So I think that however entertaining and interesting the Ben-Hur story is either in its literary or cinematic form, maybe there's a kernel of truth about Balthazar, but not much more than a kernel as he's portrayed there. (0:43:23)

To the credit of Lou Wallace, who created the character that seems so real. Yeah. Rick A says, without a doubt, my favorite mystery is the Shroud of Turin. It is either the actual burial shroud of Jesus Christ and the image as a result of the power of the resurrection, or it's the greatest hoax of all time. (0:43:42)

Some claim that it's a forgery for the Middle Ages, yet how could an ancient artist possibly create something so complex that it defies the scrutiny of modern science? I've had the privilege to be in the presence of the Shroud in the chapel in Turin, it was not visible but was covered up in a protective glass enclosure, and the experience was one of the most profound spiritual events of my life. As I contemplated the possible reality of the Shroud, I was simply overwhelmed. (0:44:02)

I'd love to hear your spin on both sides of the topic, reason versus faith. (0:44:06)

I appreciate that. We've had a lot of people request episodes on the Shroud of Turin, and I've had it on the list for a long time. I don't know when we'll do it because I need to do more research on this. And not just, I always do research for upcoming episodes, but there's a lot here that I need to research. (0:44:31)

The arguments on this question are not simple. There are multiple claims and counterclaims across multiple different fields. I mean, textile studies, and pollen studies, and blood type studies, and image studies, and all kinds of different areas. And some of them are very technical and very scientific, and you have competing experts claiming different things, and I'm not an expert in any of those fields. (0:44:58)

My expertise is in apologetics. And some apologists, including some in the Protestant world, I think Gary Habermas is an example, are very big proponents of the Shroud of Turin and will use it in their apologetics and say, this is evidence that Jesus really rose from the dead and thus that the Christian faith is true. I would love to make that argument, but I can't because, I mean, I'm not stopping anybody from doing it, but I personally don't feel I can for two reasons. (0:45:27)

One, I haven't gone through all of the very detailed arguments on both sides and established that the evidence clearly favors one side over the other. And two, there was the carbon dating that they did a number of decades ago that said this is from the Middle Ages. And I know there are rejoinders to that, where people have said, well, you tested the wrong part of it, or there's this process that interfered with the dating and here's all this wonderful other evidence that supports it being from the first century. Well, maybe that's true. (0:46:06)

Maybe it's not. The problem apologetically is that as long as the consensus in the scientific community is that carbon dating shows it's medieval, then that shifts an apologetic discussion to a question just about the carbon dating. And because if the carbon dating is accurate, then it can't be from the time of Jesus. And so rather than spin my wheels arguing perhaps unsuccessfully about carbon dating, I would prefer to move on to present other more solid evidence for the Christian faith that doesn't have a scientific consensus saying this is impossible. (0:46:44)

And so this is another one that's in my gray basket, certainly in terms of its apologetic usefulness, which is the field that I really know. In terms of spirituality, though, it is very moving, and people have genuine spiritual experiences coming in contact with it, just like they do with other devotional objects like icons. (0:47:11)

And in fact, if you look at the way the recent popes have talked about the shroud, including John Paul II and Benedict XVI, John Paul II said the church doesn't have a position on its authenticity. It leaves that up to scientists to try to determine. But the church does use it as an icon that has profound spiritual significance, that can teach us and help us grow closer to God. And Benedict XVI has said the same thing. (0:47:39)

So the church respects the shroud, it leaves the question of the shroud's authenticity open, but it recognizes the spiritual value of the shroud, and how God can use the shroud to bring us closer to him and enrich our spiritual lives. All right, and then Joel L. asks, Jimmy, can you please elaborate on the mysterious relics of Christ, such as the crown of thorns, the spear of destiny, the holy nails, and the holy grail? Which of these relics have the best claim to being authentic, and which ones are most likely imposters? It's another fascinating question. (0:48:09)

It's also one that I need to research more. I've done a little bit of research into this area, but not enough to present conclusions. (0:48:16)

I appreciate the way Joel asked the question in terms of, you know, which of these have the best claims and which are probably not authentic. There's a tendency on the one hand to either, that some folks have to either dismiss everything or accept everything. And the truth is usually in the middle. (0:48:41)

When I went to Israel for the first time, I, you know, was moved by places where certain biblical events are commemorated. Like if you go to the Sea of Galilee, there's a place that it's got a little kind of pavilion where Jesus's teachings by the Sea of Galilee are commemorated. But we don't know that he literally stood on this spot. (0:48:58)

I found that moving. But what really engaged me was were the sites where we know for a fact it was right here. And so I, whenever I approach something spiritual, whether it's a place or an artifact, a relic like this, I try to do that sorting in terms of, okay, however meaningful, and we can use even, you know, images of things that obviously are not the authentic thing. (0:49:26)

We can use images of these things as a form of spiritual enrichment. But there's still that question of, is it one of the authentic ones? And how do we know? And that really is something I am interested in. And I continue to study this area. I already had the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail on the list of future shows. (0:49:49)

And I've added Crown of Thorns and Holy Nails for possible use in a future episode as well. So, Jimmy, we've talked about the length of time that we had looked at. There are a few other patron questions. We've answered all of the patrons, at least one of their questions. There's a few second questions left, but maybe we could save them for a future revisiting of this topic? Yeah. Well, we have a final comment from Kathy S. who says, by the way, very happy we're getting a bonus broadcast. (0:50:17)

Wish we could have it every month. And the good news is, well, I don't know that we'll have it every month, but we are planning to do this again. And so we want to continue to thank our patrons. We wanted to, before committing to doing this on a regular basis, we wanted to see what the reaction from the patrons was. Would they provide enough questions to do a show like this? And they did. (0:50:37)

We even have a few questions left over. I'm glad we were able to get to at least one question from everybody today, but we'll save the rest. And on the principle of first come, first serve, if you didn't have your second question answered today, it will be at the top of our next patrons question show. And so we want to thank everybody and we'll be doing this again in the future on a regular basis. (0:50:58)

And we'll put a post on our Patreon page when it's time to submit more questions and all that sort of thing. So be looking for that. So, Jimmy, what further resources do we have for today's show on all of this stuff we've talked about so much? Yeah, well, I was able to provide links to things for many of the questions that people asked about. (0:51:21)

We'll have links to Wikipedia's articles on long-delayed echoes and Bracewell probes. We'll also have the original link that the listeners sent in about the Epsilon Booty's long-delay echo Bracewell probe theory. We'll also have Wikipedia on pyramid construction theories, as well as Bob Breyer's book, The Secret of the Great Pyramid. We'll have articles on the Green Children of Woolpit, as well as chlorosis or hyperchronic anemia. (0:51:50)

We'll have a study of the Patterson-Gimlin film, as well as a stabilized version of the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film. We'll have Charles Brandt's book on Jimmy Hoffa's death, I Heard You Paint Houses. We'll have an article on levitation. We'll have a link to Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore's book, The Complete Guide to Fasting. Also, the Polybius arcade game, Lucid Dreaming, Adolf Hitler's death, and the conspiracy theories around it. (0:52:17)

Concerning global warming, we'll have a link to an article on the hockey stick controversy. That's the famous graph that allegedly shows temperatures spiking. We'll have links on the Shroud of Turin and other relics associated with Jesus. And so those are some additional resources. Also, I think we'll throw in 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, so you can check that book out too. (0:52:38)

So that's it on this episode, then. Thank you again to all of our patrons, and especially those who submitted questions for Jimmy to answer today. (0:52:43)

You could submit feedback, you could put it on our page at patreon.com slash Starquest, or you could, once it's online and available to all our listeners, you could go to sqpn.com or the Jimmy Akins Mysterious World Facebook page and leave feedback in those places. You can always send us an email to mysterious at sqpn.com. That's for everyone, patrons and regular listeners alike. You can send a tweet to at mys underscore world, or use the hashtag of hashtag mysterious feedback, all one word, no spaces in there. (0:53:21)

Remember to like and share this episode on the Jimmy Akins Mysterious World Facebook page once we post it there, and retweet it on Twitter when we post it there as well. That helps us to grow this audience. We're really always looking to reach more people with this great content and Jimmy's vast store of knowledge. I think we're actually making a difference in the world by sharing this sort of discussion and a very systematic and logical approach to all of these mysteries, so you can help us in that by letting others know about the podcast and about these episodes. (0:53:58)

Like Jimmy said, you can find links to the resources from today's on our show notes, which we'll be first posting at patreon.com star quest, and eventually when we release the show to all the listeners at sqpn.com slash mysterious. And until next time, Jimmy Akin, thank you for exploring with us our mysterious world. Thanks, Tom. And once again, I'm Don Bettinelli. Thank you for listening to and supporting Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World on star quest. (0:54:31)

So we hope you've enjoyed this patrons question show. Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World is only possible because of the generosity of our patrons on Patreon. And if you'd like to support Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World and perhaps have your question answered on a future show for patrons, you can go to sqpn.com slash give and become one of our patrons. Thank you very much. (0:54:49)

補足​

以上は、NotebookLM の生成だが、以下は Gemini 2.5 Flash の回答。

Me: 以下について、初耳なので、解説して。

ポリビウス・アーケードゲーム：

都市伝説の概要: 1981年に登場したとされる架空のアーケードゲーム「Polybius」の都市伝説。このゲームは非常に中毒性があり、プレイヤーは悪夢や発作などの悪影響を経験したとされ、その後すぐに機械は姿を消したとされています。政府（CIA）が子どもたちを対象とした心理実験に使用したという説が一般的です

AI(Gemini 2.5 Flash)

「Polybius（ポリビウス）」は、まさしくゲーム業界の最も有名な都市伝説の一つですね。1980年代初頭のアーケードゲームブームを背景に生まれた、奇妙で不穏な物語です。

Polybiusの都市伝説とは？​

この都市伝説の核となる部分は以下の通りです。

  • 幻のゲーム：1981年頃に、ごく一部のゲームセンターに**「Polybius」**という謎のアーケードゲームが出現したとされています。このゲームは、見た目も内容も当時の他のゲームとは一線を画しており、非常に抽象的でサイケデリックなグラフィックが特徴だったと言われています。
  • プレイヤーへの悪影響：ゲームをプレイした人は、悪夢、不眠症、発作、記憶喪失、吐き気、幻覚などの深刻な精神的・肉体的な不調を訴えるようになったとされます。中には、暴力的な行動に走ったり、自殺を試みたりする者もいたという噂まであります。
  • 政府の関与：このゲームの背後には、アメリカ政府（特にCIA）が関与しており、子どもたちの心理に影響を与えるための心理実験として開発されたという説が最も一般的です。ゲーム筐体には、謎のデータ収集装置が仕掛けられていたとも言われています。
  • 突然の消失：数週間から数ヶ月の間、ゲームセンターに設置された後、Polybiusの筐体は何の告知もなく突然姿を消したとされています。まるで最初から存在しなかったかのように消え去ったことで、都市伝説に拍車がかかりました。

なぜこれほど広まったのか？​

Polybiusの都市伝説がこれほどまでに広まり、今なお語り継がれるのにはいくつかの理由があります。

  • 当時の社会背景：1980年代初頭は、アーケードゲームが子どもたちの間で爆発的に普及し始めた時期でした。一方で、ゲームが子どもたちに与える悪影響（依存症、暴力性など）を懸念する声も少なからず存在しました。Polybiusの物語は、こうした社会の不安や懸念を具現化したかのように受け止められました。
  • インターネットの普及：この都市伝説が本格的に広まったのは、2000年代以降のインターネットの普及と密接に関係しています。匿名掲示板やウェブサイトで情報が拡散され、多くの人々の想像力をかき立てました。「実際にプレイした」と主張する人物や、「ゲーム画面のスクリーンショット」と称する画像（ほとんどがフェイクですが）なども登場し、熱狂的な議論を呼びました。
  • 陰謀論との親和性：政府による秘密の心理実験という設定は、陰謀論が好きな人々の興味を強く引きました。未確認の存在、権力による秘密裏の操作といった要素が、物語に深みと説得力を与えました。
  • ゲーム制作者への影響：この都市伝説は非常に有名になったため、後世のゲーム制作者にも影響を与えています。「Polybius」の名前を冠した、あるいは伝説にインスパイアされたゲームが実際に制作されたり、他のゲームにイースターエッグとして登場したりすることもあります。

真相は？​

Polybiusが実際に存在したという確たる証拠は一切ありません。 過去に製造されたゲームの記録にも、ゲームセンターの運営記録にも、そのようなゲーム機が設置されたという公式な記録は発見されていません。

最も有力な説は、これは純粋な都市伝説であり、架空の物語であるというものです。

おそらく、当時の社会的な不安や、一部の不穏なアーケードゲーム（点滅が激しいゲームなど）の体験談が入り混じり、インターネット上で拡散される過程で、あたかも実話であるかのように脚色されていったと考えられます。

しかし、存在しないからこそ、人々の想像力を掻き立て、今なお多くの人々を魅了する物語であり続けているとも言えますね。

(2025-07-23)