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Originally Posted by obloquy
Currently it cannot be used to transmit information, but a refined understanding and the advancement of the technologies used to observe particles might lead to an everyday application. The idea is just that, if it were possible to put this phenomenon to practical use, the results might eventually look something like Palantir communication.
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Understood. But as you say, we may not know now what we can do with that information, nor if it's the 'real' thing that's going on. Read the
article today regarding CERN and 'sparticles.' Even the CERN scientists aren't sure what they will find in the next experiment in April (ain't that cool!).
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I have always imagined that the magic of the Elves, the Istari, and various other embodied Ainur had perhaps more to do with their understanding of the natural world than any inexplicable powers. As a result of such a thorough understanding--and perhaps, in the case of the Ainur as co-creators, also a peculiar connection to the fundamental forces and materials of the physical world--they were capable of manipulating the material around them in ways Men could not understand.
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If you would have showed up at my door 30 years ago with today's technology (I use the iPhone as an example as I assume that everyone has heard of it), I would have assumed that you were definitely from the future with flying cars and all that. If you'd have been dressed as an elf, and I'd met you in the woods, I might have believed that Tolkien had documented a true history.
What does a Palantir do that a modern phone cannot? And if our technology is lacking, wait a day...
It truly is our 'deep' understanding of the nature of things that allows us (not me
) to create the miraculous artifacts that we have.
Have seen technicians in the neighborhood checking for natural gas leaks. These persons wave a stick over the ground, and that 'stick' sniffs for natural gas. An audible tone helps locate the source of the leak (when present). No, this is not dowsing
, but spectroscopy (I think). Air passes through a sensitive detector, and when the right chemical is found...
Find a smell - pheromone? - distinctive to orcs. Place a detector within your sword along with some LED lights and Bingo! You get Sting.