xkcd #3238: Soniferous Aether

Sound is funny. At lower frequencies it behaves increasingly similarly to air i.e. wrapping around obstacles instead of just reflecting. At 0Hz sound is just the local air pressure and the weather forecast is technically sheet music.

Speed of light in fiber is ~0.66c₀. Light is slowed down a bit by air, too. So...

The soniferous aether was known as akasha in ancient vedic philosophy. Akasha was the tattwa of "space" and functioned like a quintessence in that system, basically being the first tattwa produced by the exhalation of Brahman, from which the other four tattwas are subsequently formed.

The tattwa of air was vayu, the odoriferous aether

Then there were also apas, prithivi, and tejas (water, earth, and fire); each aether assigned to a different sense (taste, touch, and vision).

Basically, the way akasha would form into the other aethers was by slowing down vibrationally (the snake was a common symbol for vibration, especially in the Kashmir region, and is very much associated with the iconography of Shiva the Destroyer). So if akasha was the fastest vibration, next was tejas, then vayu, then apas, and finally prithivi.

Akasha was said to be egg-shaped, tejas triangular, vayu circular, apas crescent-shaped, and prithivi square. Thinking about how each state of matter behaves, this makes sense as far as early intuitions go.

So even though from the standpoint of modern science, we know these are not the real building blocks of the universe, I find they are surprisingly close to accurate for something that was theorized thousands of years ago. Closer than their western counterparts, certainly, although there are some interesting similarities if you want to pick those apart (try starting with Plato's Timaeus, for instance).

But ultimately, even though they didn't have electron microscopes to actually confirm or disprove their theories, they got a few things right: 1) Atomism, or the basic building blocks of the universe being tiny, unseeable particles that everything else is constructed from; 2) States of matter are made from the same materials, only vibrating at different rates; 3) The five main human senses are determined by interactions with matter as a medium of energy transference.

There are probably more, but these are the main ones. For instance, when you dig into the shapes of the tattwas you see how the spherical nature of vayu gives it the properties of taking on the size and shape of its container; the tetrahedral shape of tejas causes it to rise and expand; the crescent shape of apas causes it to fall, cohere, form droplets, and take on the shape of its container; the square shape of prithivi causes it to hold its form, stack and tumble, and generally behave as solids do.

The shape of akasha is a bit more of a mystery because how do you truly describe the shape and behavior of empty space? But ultimately it makes sense within the system, because space is the "cosmic egg" within which the embryo of the universe is nurtured (theoretically, when it "hatches," this is like Vishnu waking up from the dream; cosmologically similar to the "inhalation of Brahman," when everything returns to Source).

The extended series of senses.

Pressure

Itch

Temperature

Pain

Thirst

Hunger

Direction

Time

Muscle tension

Proprioception (the ability to tell where your body parts are, relative to other body parts)

Equilibrioception (the ability to keep your balance and sense body movement in terms of acceleration and directional changes)

Stretch Receptors (These are found in such places as the lungs, bladder, stomach, blood vessels, and the gastrointestinal tract.)

Chemoreceptors (These trigger an area of the medulla in the brain that is involved in detecting blood born hormones and drugs. It also is involved in the vomiting reflex.)

Relevant xkcd

Physicists really reinventing “air” and calling it a breakthrough 😅