The Lost Symbol is up to date on twenty-first century technology and scientific advancement. Brown refers to Noetics and the Living Experiment. The work of Katherine Solomon is supposed to take place in a secret lab in the SMSC, dedicated to the study of human consciousness acting on physical matter. The novel refers to other scientific and scholarly figures and sources to lend authority to those claims. Much of this emanates from the field of quantum physics, the science that looks at subatomic particles and the energy field that has been observed and governed by the uncertainty principle first articulated by Heisenberg.
While this world seems to be diametrically opposed to the world of Newton or the explanation of Albert Einstein that all matter and energy exist in some equilibrium, it is equally fascinating to examine Einstein’s own theories of the place of the spiritual in our life. The Dean of the National Cathedral quotes him to Katherine and Robert:
That which is impenetrable to us really exists. Behind the secrets of nature remains something subtle, intangible, and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion (308).
Einstein lived and worked in Princeton, one possible explanation why Brown selected that university for Robert Langdon’s alma mater. In one more growing set of interconnections the Albert Einstein Monument on Constitution Avenue, within sight of Washington Monument, holds an astrological secret. On the star map at the statue’s granite base, there are more than 2,700 metal studs embedded, representing the planets, sun, moon, stars, and other celestial objects. They were precisely positioned by astronomers from the U.S. Naval Observatory to correspond to the position of the planets on the memorial’s dedication date.
Science and technology figure prominently in this novel of the digital age. Blackberry devices as well as portable computers that access the Internet and utilize search engines are predominately displayed. The ultimate threat to national security is a video of prominent political figures participating in a Masonic ritual. To provide this information to the media takes several minutes. For an audience of readers, some of this may come as new. But the hundreds of millions of user of YouTube or CNN iReport know that uploading a video is as simple as child’s play. And in spite of Director Sato’s attempts supported by the leading technological experts of the CIA, YouTube and GoogleVideo already have dozens of videos purporting to be recordings of secret Masonic sessions. The real danger here is that we will be so inundated with materials that we will be unable to separate any real fact from fiction.
Albert Einstein Memorial Statue, by Robert Berks, in Washington, D.C.
The Internet is also an integral part of the work—both internally and externally. Brown and his publisher seem to revel in the seamless travel between reality and virtual reality that blurs the distinction between both. The electronic world of webpages, quests, tweets and wall posts guarantees to keep the novel close at hand.
QUANTUM PHYSICS. WERNER HEISENBERG
www.spaceandmotion.com/physics-quantum-mechanics-werner-heisenberg.htm
SECRET HISTORY OF THE FREEMASONS VIDEO
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa-mdPb77K0&feature=related