Aetherometry

Aetherometry is a pseudoscientific discipline described by its proponents Paulo and Alexandra Correa as "the experimental and theoretical study of massfree energy" or "the "science of the metrics of the massfree aether". It is a Grand Unified Theory which (of course!) involves a paradigm shift.

Aetherometry is not even wrong. It has no basis in empirically verifiable fact and this is unlikely to change any time soon as it conflicts at a pretty fundamental level with some of the more solid bits of science, including relativity, classical and quantum electrodynamics and the equivalence principle. The existence of aether was disproved by the Michelson-Morley experiment. Here is a complete list of all papers on aetherometry published in reputable peer-reviewed journals:

Most of what is written in support of aetherometry is gibbering idiocy composed of sciencey-looking words arranged in an order that makes no actual sense.

A glimpse into the abyss
The Correas claim that aetherometry provides a theoretical framework that integrates conventional physics with bullshit anomalous phenomena such as Kirlian photography (in its woo interpretation), the thermal effects of orgone accumulators and the orgone motor. They thus claim to resolve controversies around orgone theory, LeSage gravitational theory and cold fusion. All of which are of course bullshit.

The core proposition of aetherometry is the claimed existence of a form of energy with no mass, called, with startling originality, "massfree energy", which is claimed to follow from the orgone energy theory of sex-obsessed crank pioneering genius Wilhelm Reich, and a theory of massless charges proposed by Maximo Aucci; the idea is that massfree energy does not merely fill up space, but produces or engineers it, and they have even hypothesised an analog of dark energy, dark massfree energy. (Since the principal justification for the dark energy hypothesis is the gravity and hence mass that it exhibits, the basis for this last is a little unclear.)

Gravitons are claimed to be transient, nonelectromagnetic massfree energy particles whose gravitational momentum is anchored to the mass-energy of particles of matter, but which are emitted from the local Aether medium formed by the constant and ordered flux of dark massfree energy and cosmological lepton lattices. Both gravitons and antigravitons may also apparently be formed and seated in the composite lattices composing the local aether medium. Gravitons anchored to mass-energy particles are described mathematically and physically as being in a relationship of secondary superimposition with that mass-energy. Got that? There's probably something about dilithium crystals as well.

Electric massfree energy apparently consists of "ambipolar" charges that are devoid of inertial effects and propagate longitudinally, constantly alternating polarity. Neat trick, might have some tensions with the laws of thermodynamics if it weren't obviously bullshit. But here's the clever bit: apparently blackbody radiation is the result of ambipolar charges decelerating mass bound charges.

Nonelectric massfree energy &mdash; also called "molecular latent heat" &mdash; is said to exist in both unbound and mass-bound states. In mass-bound states it is apparently responsible for molecular state energy, the intrinsic energy of gases, latent heat, most atmospheric energy and the non-covalent bond energies that enable the structure of complex molecules. In unbound states, massfree latent energy is apparently responsible for the cosmological creation of space and the direction and synchronicity of absolute time. And if that wasn't enough, superposition of massfree latent energy apparently yields what is physically and mathematically designated as the phase energy which permits the creation of mass-energy and associated gravitons (a secondary superimposition, apparently). Thus, aetherometry posits that all mass-energy is a transient construct of the phase superimposition of latent massfree energy.

Proponents claim to have experimentally replicated most of Reich's claims in respect of orgone, and they propose theoretical explanations for them. These explanations are slightly at odds with the consensus view, which is that Reich was a crank and a fraud. In aetherometry, Reich's orgone and DOR energies are regarded as forming a single spectrum of "ambipolar massfree electric radiation". In science they are regarded as abject nonsense on a stick.

Apparently some believers actually dispute the orgone theory. How could they? And of course being a pseudoscience, there is no objective way of settling this dispute such that both camps exist in parallel and snipe at each other.

One aetherometry theory is that a statue holding out its arm will eventually develop cracks at the joints because of energy expended against gravity; or that an object on a table requires an energy expenditure by the table to support it. How can work be done by a table? Simple: it only appears to be a nonmoving object. So there you go, one more thing that science has wrong.

A touch of reality
Most of aetherometry is either untestable, incomprehensible, or in direct conflict with well-established scientific theories, most notably relativity, Lorentz electrodynamics, quantum electrodynamics and the equivalence principle but also the Big Bang, the inflationary universe, dark matter and dark energy. In particular, the aetherometry idea of distinct but integrated space and time "manifolds" runs contrary to the conjoined spacetime posited by relativity &mdash; apparently the belief is that experimentally-noted effects on matter and radiation conventionally attributed to curved relativistic spacetime are instead effects of the mass-free energy content of space and matter.

Some aspects are similar to crank theories such as plasma cosmology and the Electric Universe, and there's a dose of Tesla woo in there as well.

Proponents of aetherometry tried to write a Wikipedia article. The lack of any documentation of aetherometry in any reliable sources led to its deletion and one of the most long-winded and spectacularly deranged anti-Wikipedia rants around.

In general, aetherometry is on a level of scientific rigour and testability comparable to Time Cube, and makes about as much sense.

Theory
We'll be on this as soon as we can work out what the theory is supposed to be. Something about mass-free particles, apparently. And there's an experiment. Which makes all the difference, as Blondlot knew.

Cold fusion is evil
They also hate cold fusion advocates. And Wikipedia.