Book Review: "The Next End Of The World"

Book: The Next End Of The World: The Rebirth of Catastrophism by Ben Davidson (2021), 116 pages. Available in soft cover for $29.00 + shipping, or as a PDF for $20.00. I would note that the font size in the book is very small. If you have problems reading small type, and you have the means to print the book in color, it may be worth ordering the PDF and printing it to fit normal sized 8x11 paper.

    Ben Davidson runs the Suspicious Observers web site and YouTube channel, as well as the sites SpaceWeatherNews.com and QuakeWatch.net. Davidson's basic thesis across all of these platforms is that earthquakes are driven in part by electromagnetic interactions with the Earth's magnetic field including changes caused by solar eruptions and storms and, therefore, earthquakes could be predicted. 

    This study also led him to explore other ways that space weather and its interactions with the earth's electromagnetic field and circuits could effect weather and health. He further opined that, in fact, electromagnetic fields and plasma or particle streams not only effected the Earth but were a major phenomena throughout the galaxy and the universe. In fact, he dares to question the Dark Matter and Dark Energy paradigms when such theories were accepted as fact. 

    Davidson further proposes that major disruptions in these fields, or strengthening or weakening of these fields could lead to adverse consequences. And, in fact, he believes that there is a cyclic nature to some of these changes causing recurrent disastrous changes to the Earth.

    I've followed Davidson's YouTube channel for a few years now. Back when I started trying to find out more about the connection between the squatting man petroglyphs and plasma discharges (see here and here), YouTube recommended Davidson's channel. I first started watching his channel out of curiosity, but intrigued by the fact that as the months, and finally, years passed by, research continued to bear him out in his theories. For instance, the electromagnetic connection with earthquakes is largely accepted now. China and Italy launched a satellite with the express purpose of studying this connection and to attempt better prediction of major earthquakes.

    His arguments for the impact of solar weather and cosmic rays on earth's weather and climate have similarly been borne out. Each new climate model adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reflects greater influence from the Sun and cosmic rays and cloud formation, with a corresponding reduction in the importance of human contributions to climate change.

    His arguments concerning Dark Matter and Dark Energy also increasingly appear to have been correct. After billions of dollars and decades of research, Dark Matter has yet to be identified. Conversely, advancements in astronomy have shown that there is a great deal more intersteller and intergalactic dust and plasma than previously suspected. And most recently, physicists have been proposing that magnetic fields may account for observations linked to Dark Energy at the same time that astronomers are suggesting that the plasma filaments that stretch between planets, stars, and galaxies like the connections between neurons have magnetic properties as well.

    So, with such a track record of success, when Davidson suggests that the Earth may be subject to periodic catastrophes due to cyclic outbursts from the Sun, I pay attention.

    Of course, Davidson is not the first person to suggest catastrophism. In fact, that was the standard view of the world, due to the belief in the Bible, prior to the mid-1800's. But just as evolution--the slow but steady changes in species--usurped prior beliefs concerning biology and ecology, the steady state theory--the slow but steady geological and geographical changes to the Earth--took over the fields of geology and geography. And, of course, astronomy also taught that the universe moved in predictable cycles and patterns. Such that in the early 1800s, it was believed impossible that a rock could fall from the sky.

    But rocks do fall from the sky. And continents shift and move. And geology and paleontology began to reveal periods of mass extinctions, areas where massive amounts of plant and animal life was deposited by powerful floods, extreme changes in sea levels, layers of rock formed from sea beds elevated thousands of feet above the oceans, cities and islands that were below the sea, prehistoric beasts that seemed to be flash frozen, evidence of massive tsunamis, craters caused by large extraterrestrial impactors, sudden and widespread changes in climate and temperature, and so on. The pendulum began to swing back. A few daring researchers and scholars began to suggest that perhaps catastrophism had played a significant role in shaping the earth's history. An even smaller number, such as Immanuel Velikovsky, even went so far to argue that perhaps there were real events behind the religious texts, legends, and myths of world wide floods, the sun careening through the sky, and bolts of fire vaporizing cities.

    This is where Davidson's book comes in. Davidson takes recent research on multiple topics and weaves it into a plausible explanation for past disasters and earth changes. His basic theory is as follows.

    Just as the Sun is surrounded by a wavy electromagnetic disk (a field sheet) with plasma and dust stretching out through the solar system, so too is the galactic core surrounded by a wavy field sheet extending out through and past the arms of the galaxy. As our solar system moves through these waves, it not only can cause changes to the electromagnetic field of the planets and sun, but also cause an accretion of material on or around the sun. The sun's response is one of more super-flares or micro-novas that can blast this material off in a shock wave, including blobs of plasma that can act as a form of impactor. 

    As the force of the electromagnetic/plasma shockwave overpowers the magnetic field of the Earth, the Earth's field can collapse and cause, effectively, a "short" resulting in massive plasma discharges--think of giant lightening bolts that can bore holes or massive channels in the crust.

    During these incidents, the magnetic poles can shift or even reverse--a process called an excursion event in the scientific literature. These incidents have the potential to also unlock the crust from the mantle and allow the crust to also shift, which, of course would result in massive earthquakes, force water up and over the continents, cause the stars and planets to appear to radically shift in their course, and so on. This can be further aggravated by the planet possibly wobbling or overturning in its spin much like certain unbalanced tops. (See, e.g., this video taken aboard the International Space Station of a handle that flips over repeatedly as spun). This unbalance is caused by two huge blobs of dense rock that are up to 620 miles tall and thousands of miles wide called large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs) that currently straddle the equator below west Africa and under the Pacific Ocean. Some researchers believe that these blobs are the remnants of a planet that collided with the Earth early in the Earth's existence and produced the moon. 

    These excursion events appear to take place every 12,000 years, although the magnitude can vary; and also seem to correspond to when the solar system passes through the wave in the galactic current sheet. There is evidence that we've entered this current sheet. Davidson relates in his book how those nearby stars that lie in the direction of galactic center have become much more active in recent years. It appears that the influence of the current sheet may already be impinging within the heliosphere of our own solar system as Pluto appears to have lost most of its atmosphere just in the short time since the New Horizon's probe passed by the planet. Some of the outer planets appear to also have entered phases of more storms and other changes. And, of course, there is the fact that the Earth's magnetic field has rapidly lost strength in just the past decade, although Davidson does not necessarily relate this to the galactic current sheet.

    Worst case scenario for the Earth is that the sun releases a micro-nova. According to Davidson, what we would see is the sun darken as the accreted material is blasted out. That accreted material would strike the atmosphere almost like an impact from a body; the solar particle/plasma blast would strike the Earth magnetosphere and perhaps collapse it far enough that we would see the large plasma discharges in the atmosphere, and the energy reach down into the mantle. The mantle would unlock and the crust would be free to move. Based on past excursions, the directions that the magnetic poles are moving, and the existence of the LLSVPs, Davidson believes that the new poles would be under the sea off West Africa and the Bay of Bengal or further north. Of course, such movement could cause the oceans to "slosh" and overwhelm large areas of the continents. 

    All in all, it is an interesting hypothesis inasmuch as the mechanics involved could explain the Great Flood in the Bible and other myths as well as puzzling physical evidence of various sorts, including the rapid onset of the Younger Dryas. It would explain many of the physical disasters described as occurring in the last days prior to the Savior's return. For instance, Rev. 6:12-14 (KJV) which states: 

    And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

 Or Rev. 8:7-12 (KJV):

    The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

    And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

    And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

    Does Davidson explain what is going to happen? I can't say. Nevertheless, it is a possible mechanism to explain the great earth changes that the Bible describes. And when will all this occur? Davidson can't predict that, but he believes that it could occur in the 2030's to 2050's based on the trend in the weakening of the Earth's magnetic field.