Even a chimp can write code

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Do corporations hold the secrets to the beginning and end of the Universe?

I chuckled as I read a report in the business rags that SBC and AT&T are in talks about a possible merger. I couldn't help notice that we may be on the verge of a singularity here! Please bear with me as I describe how.

In the beginning there was AT&T and practically every phone call you made from within the U.S. went through her wires and switches. A Sherman Antitrust lawsuit brought forth in 1974 by the Department of Justice was finally settled in 1982, forcing AT&T (a.k.a. Ma Bell) to completely break up her 'monopoly' and divest of her local telephone service providers. The local providers were reorganized into seven independent, regional, Bell-operating companies, commonly known as Baby Bells. SBC is one of those Baby Bells.

Now, according to the Oscillatory Universe model, the Universe started with a Big Bang and is currently expanding. It postulates that eventually, the expansion will slow down, then stop, and then the Universe will begin to contract. The contraction will continue until all of the mass of the Universe is contained in a singularity. This process is known as the Big Crunch. The singularity then undergoes a Big Bang, and the process begins afresh. Sound familiar?

Of course, the Oscillatory Universe model isn't widely accepted by the scientific community. Maybe if the SBC-AT&T merger goes through, there's a good chance the business community will embrace this model.

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