Dakota Beacon

Zero is a strange number. Zero can also be dangerous. On September 21, 1997, the USS Yorktown, a missile cruiser off the coast of Virginia, shut down unexpectedly. She went dead in the water. While installing new software that controlled the engines, a zero was overlooked that engineers were supposed to remove from the program upon installation. The zero remained in place until the Yorktown’s engine computer initiated a calculation that divided a number by the errant zero. Immediately the 80,000 horsepower cruiser shut down and came to a standstill. Any number divided by zero cannot be calculated.

Ponder, if you will, the idea of nothing, nada, zero. Is it possible to create something out of nothing? Only God has ever created “ex nihilo.”

Alchemists played the role of God with their strange philosophy, but they never accepted the challenge of creation. Instead, they believed that they could transmute other substances such as base metals into precious metals. Many spent their lives searching for the Midas touch that would change other substances into gold.

There was a time when the concept of zero didn’t exist. The ancients understood the idea of “nothing,” but the idea of zero had to be invented.

The Babylonians used a counting system similar in concept to that of an abacus. Unfortunately, they had no way to denote a placeholder representing nothing. From this need the zero was born.

Through mathematics, the Greek influence on the western world ranged far beyond its own civilization. Surprisingly, the Greek mathematical universe rested upon a major philosophical pillar. It did not account for voids. Greeks reasoned that one could not subtract a three acre swath from a two acre plot. Consequently, there was no need for a zero.

Centuries later the concept of zero struggled for acceptance in Europe. Greeks had no use for zero and Semitic peoples had no problem with it. Zero was at the center of controversy over the Gregorian calendar in use today versus the Julian calendar derived from the Greeks. Today, zero dwells at the center of controversy between the theories of quantum mechanics, relativity and the creation of the universe.

Is nothing ever something?

In a sense, yes. A zero is “something” when used as a placeholder, as in 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion). Large quantities like this are a blur whose value we accept on faith. Also, zero as placeholder created the Y2K or millennium bug panic.

A zero is “something” when used as a number, as in counting from -1 to 0 to +1. Or, as counting from the past (-1) to the future (+1) with 0 representing the present.

Used as a noun, Zero is “something” found on a grocery store shelf.

Something divided by nothing, or zero, in the world of mathematics is, after all, infinite. In the mathematical world as well as in the real world such a calculation is impossible to compute.

If zero is a threat in physics, it can be even more devastating in spinning social policy.

Suppose you have nothing as in “the federal government is out of money.” Then, suppose you divide that “nothing” into “something” as in “let’s cover the cost of giving ‘x’ million people health insurance coverage.” How does that compute?

Dividing something, such as increased government benefits for an increased number of people, by zero gives a result so infinitely small as to become non-existent.

“Greater fleas have little fleas

“Upon their backs to bite ‘em,

“And little fleas have lesser fleas,

“And so ad infinitum.“

Why can’t we understand this wisdom from our childhood?

Carried to its logical conclusion, beneficiaries of government health care will receive a reduced level of service and an increased but equal level of misery a la Canada, Britain and other socialist countries.

There are a lot of bright folks among us. The professional politicians we elect and re-elect which dispense laws from on high are not among them. They are certainly not the best and the brightest. They are, however, the true alchemists of the twenty-first century. The more dishonest ones sometimes succeed. For their personal gain they’re able to turn manure into gold.

As for the rest of us, we have created a less-than-sterling legacy for ourselves. And, the inheritance we leave our kids?

Zero -- or less.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).