In 2003, the first results of the WMAP satellite were presented to the public. Scientsits could not believe their eyes. There appeared to be a glaring signal at the farthests reaches of the cosmos, but according to their theories this was impossible. Some of the more honest ones referred to it as "The Axis of Evil" because it played havoc on their theories, plus this was around the time that George Bush Jr. gave his axis of evil speech. The signal pointed right back at the earth, yet they believed the signal was embedded in the very beginning of the big bang, 14 billion light years away! The scientists managed to convince themselves and most news outlets that this was likely an instrumentation error in the WMAP satellite, or perhaps an error in how the satellite scanned the outer edges of the visible universe. In any case, they all put the onus on the Planck mission (planned launch 2009 and planned first data release 2013) to referree the WMAP results. Many scientists were convinced that Planck's superior optics, more advanced infrared scanners, and more advanced and optimized scanning pattern would solve the problem, and show that the glaring signals were in fact anomalies.
In 2011, Rick Delano and Robert Sungenis were making a documentary film about the Copernican Principle aptly called The Principle. They interviewed many famous scientists including Lawrence Krauss, Michio Kaku, Julian Barbour, Max Tegmark, George Ellis, and others, and asked them about the earth's position in the cosmos, the WMAP results, etc. They discussed the issues and even at that time gave some astounding answers. Recent observations have in fact turned modern cosmological theories on their head. Keep in mind that these scientists were quite frank because they likely believed the Planck results in 2013 would vindicate them (Max Tegmark, the scientists who first discovered the amazing signal, said as much in his 2011 interview).
2013 came, and the Planck results were released. To the utter shock and dismay of many scientists, not only did Planck validate the WMAP results, but in fact amplified them! Now those scientists had to deal with not only the objective results (there is a glaring signal at the farthest reaches of the cosmos pointing right back to the earth), but they have to deal with what they said in the interviews for The Principle!
As I outlined in the last article, once The Principle started to get some attention, some of these top scientists freaked out and started to distance themselves from it, even going so far as to make it sound like they were tricked into interviewing for the film. We are supposed to believe seven or eight of the smartest men in the world plus Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway of Start Trek, and the film's narrator) were tricked into into interviewing for a film and were made to say things they did not mean! But the media glommed on and a wave of negative publicity arose. Yahoo, Time, Der Spiegel, Slate, and many others wrote screeds reporting how these poor scientists were tricked into interviewing for the documentary. Most of the articles focused on poor Kate Mulgrew and Lawrence Krauss. All but one or two outlets even bothered to call the producers to get their viewpoint, and all but one that did bother twisted the interview to fit the party line (that we are insignificant, go on scurrying about like rats, you are an accident, you live in a nowhere on a rock, plus these poor guys were tricked, etc.).
But The Principle has survived intact, and the wave of negative publicity was publicity never the less. The Principle is due to be released September 19 in a major city, and will be followed by a more general release. This is the one film everyone needs to see, and many do not want you to see!
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