Duane: Not just yet - however, perhaps next month or November the paperback should be available by mail order from either my website or from the Barnes & Noble Bookstore website. The publishing date of Version 3 in paperback was scheduled in Q3/99, but I need more time to rewrite and recompile the manuscript before "taking it to market". I should add that I will continue to work on this historical research project for many more years to come in later versions, but there comes a time when I have to stop the research and "print my notebook". Version 3 is available now in the HTML format on Compact Disc - and can be read off line on a Mac or PC computer with an Internet browser. Just email my address and I can arrange a mailing. My price is $20 per CD plus $5 for S&H in the US.
Reporter 2: What makes Version 3 different from earlier
versions of your research book project?
Duane: It's more comprehensive and correct. Although the latest version of the research book project is still a learning process - and many of the theoretical and scientific views presented may still be hard to comprehend, it reveals enough new historical concepts about the Atlantean subject that should significantly influence modern historians to rewrite the origins of Western Civilization.
Reporter 2: How do you plan to announce your historical
research to the "big media" when your new book is
ready?
Duane: As you can imagine, advertising anything - especially a new set of theoretical discoveries about the ancient subject of Atlantis, with the "big media" will not be easy. I may send some copies of the SPIRIT OF ATLANTIS CD's to certain network news groups or do a email campaign to several media services - but in any case, the Internet will be used because it is economical and efficient.
Reporter 1: Would you be willing to "go on the
road" and do interviews or seminars about your book project
with the public?
Duane: At this time - no. More research needs to be done before that stage - although, "pushing the story" is what advertising is all about. The subject of Atlantis can be a very marketable story only if certain facts are in place. Timing my book project release with the year 2000 event may prove helpful because the news media will be reviewing the origins of Western Civilization like never before. And during this review process, perhaps some "big media" executive may acquire my CD or visit my website and see value in my radical new overview of recorded human history - which could lead to an opportunity for me to better share my views with the public than, say, visits to talk shows or giving seminars at your local hotel lobby.
Reporter 2: What if your book project advertising
campaign falls short of any notoriety and the "big
media" rejects your theories - will you continue your
historical research?
Duane: If that happens then, well, it won't be the first time I've been disappointed. You have to remember I have been attempting to "tell the world" about my views on Atlantis for nearly two decades. I haven't been very good at hustling my research work in the past because the data wasn't complete - but now confidence in the data is high. I will continue my historical research because I believe the subject of Atlantis will become mainstream news someday and I would enjoy participating in "the action". Until then, my current employment with our family watersports service is quite enjoyable - as an enviro-captain and sailing instructor for Caribbean Watersports, I take visitors out to the islands of Florida Bay and see many unique plants and animals in the area. It's a lot of fun.
Reporter 1: So, it sounds like you are quite content
with not being famous for solving history's greatest mystery.
Exactly what do you do when you visit the islands of Florida Bay?
Duane: Using an 18' Hobie cat or a 17' Zodiac power boat, I take visitors out to see the wildlife within the clear shallow waters of Florida Bay - and on a good day, we may see animals like dolphins or manatees, small sharks and fish-hawks. We may pick up and study the unique features of a horse-shoe crab or examine some small sea-horses. I give a scientific and historical overview of the area and explain how the mangrove islands of the bay are formed. I also sail visitors out to the cool blue and warm green colors of the nearby coral reef aboard our new 21' Hobie cat.
Reporter 1: I bet you try to explain parts of your book
project to visitors when you get a chance.
Duane: You bet I do - and if they don't listen, I make them walk the plank after flogging them! ...Seriously, sometimes visitors are not into "ancient history" like I am and I just restrict my thoughts to the "here and now".
Reporter 1: You know that if your book project becomes
successful and if you become famous, your lifestyle will probably
change significantly. Solving history's greatest mystery and
revealing remarkable lost technology from the ancient past is
bound to make anyone famous. Are you prepared for the major
lifestyle changes that may come with fame if it happens?
Duane: I'm not sure if anyone is prepared for major lifestyle changes if they happen. However, as a resident down here in the Florida Keys, living with the possibility that your home could blow away every summer makes one ready for major change every year. In fact, at the time of this interview, Hurricane Floyd just gave us a scare - and other Atlantic hurricanes, like Gert, could follow in its wake
Reporter 2: Regarding the idea that you have revealed
remarkable lost technology from the ancient past, your book
project suggest a type of particle-beam tool was once used by the
Atlanteans to cut through stone during the creation of the
capital seaport city of Atlantis. How do you think the
rediscovery of this lost technology could benefit the public
today if redeveloped again?
Duane: Notwithstanding the negative use of this lost particle-beam tool device as a weapon, the positive use could range from new propulsion systems to cutting materials more economically - and even trash recycling. I believe I give these ideas in some of my essays at the ATLANTEAN COMMUNICATIONS link from my main web page. Check out the technology essay pages for more information as to how recreating this lost powerful tool design is capable of improving modern technology.
Reporter 2: According to your writings, the Atlanteans
also used flying machines - and that this technology, like the
particle-beam technology, was also lost long ago during the
"Biblical Flood". You have given several example
designs of how some of these flying craft may have looked. Do you
plan to recreate or build these designs someday?
Duane: Yes - however, so far, all I can afford to build now are models of the aircraft out of wooden spars and plastic tubular joints. The steam powered helicopter design is too complicated for me to understand and recreate now - but the ram-like flying boat design is nearing the stage of development wherein I should begin building a radio-control version soon. I also have several sailboat designs that should have merit. Newer versions are planned and will be updated at my website soon. I believe all the designs are capable of significantly improving marine based transportation systems.
Reporter 2: How do your theories about Atlantis come to you? What inspires you to write and design views about a subject many consider unreal?
Duane: I'm not sure. I have an occasional brain-storm whereby certain views come to me. Perhaps the inspiration to write and design things about Atlantis comes from some genetic program deep within my brain. But some views also come from the many hours I spend researching reference material. Most theories are the result of just adding or compiling ideas together. I assume many other people consider the subject of Atlantis unreal because they never take the time to study the truth within the story like I have.
Reporter 3: You have suggested from your SPIRIT OF
ATLANTIS website that the cultural foundation of Western
Civilization was originally based from a lost capital seaport in
the New World continent of Atlantis - and that the Egyptian and
Babylonian kingdoms of the Old World were the result of
overlapping seafaring migrations from the Atlantean continent who
sailed across the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans using nautical
pathways helped by natural global currents. You have also
suggested that in the aftermath of a major global weather event -
whereby a rouge comet caused "the Biblical Flood",
Western Civilization, as we now know it, rediscovered the lost
New World continent of Atlantis about five centuries ago and
renamed it America - not only in honor of the mapmaker Amerigo
Vaspucci, but also in honor of the ancient Britannic Armorican
maritime culture of the North Atlantic who were part of the
Atlantean Maritime Kingdom. Moreover - and very important, you
have significantly challenged the conventional timeline of
Western History - whereby you claim recorded human history can be
dated to only about a thousand years ago - and not the
five-thousand year count used by conventional historians. Do you
realize how hard it is to understand these radical historical
theories - and does it bother you when conventional historians
ignore your research because it does not match the history they
were taught in school?
Duane: Well, you said a mouthful. You're correct about how radical my historical theories are - but that does not make them untrue. If the truth about Atlantis was easy it would have been solved long ago. And for those who believe that the Atlantean story is only a glorified fable about how the ancient Minoans of the eastern Mediterranean area were engulfed by a volcanic explosion in c.1500 B.C. - wake up and see the bigger picture! You said I suggested in my book project that Western Civilization was "originally based from a lost capital seaport in the New World continent of Atlantis". That may be true - but Western Society "grew up" while learning to nautically migrate across great oceanic coastlines and inland seas to the Old World. Plato stated that the Atlantean Maritime Kingdom once included not only the New World continent of Atlantis - but most of Europe and Africa also. The Minoans of the eastern Mediterranean, like the Egyptian and Babylonians, were related to the Atlantean Maritime Kingdom. However, as you said, in the aftermath of the global flood of "forty days and forty nights" caused by a rouge comet, the marine trade links across the Atlantic were lost and forgotten. This event, coupled with the invention of graphical writing by the Phoenicians of the Old World - which superseded the binary mathematical alphabet of the Atlanteans, resulted in a cultural view that recorded human history originated in the Old World. And for the last five centuries historians have solidified in their writings the theory that Old World human history is older than New World history. Regarding my smaller timeline theory of recorded human history, yes - I realize my radical dating formulas only account for about a thousand years since the first Biblical Patriarch and now, but I also realize that a thousand years is a very long time in terms of human records. Modern anthropologist are constantly trying to push the timeline of human history backwards into the very ancient geological timeline and have confuse the annual value of rocks with when humans came into being and began record keeping. Five-thousand years of recorded human history may seem more believable than a mere thousand to an average historian - especially when one understands the very ancient geological timeline, but I have found new calendrical data that suggests the radical historical view that the conventional timeline of about five-thousand years was greatly inflated in print nearly five centuries ago. As to your question regarding my feelings and the indifference to my radical theories from conventional historians, I have spent nearly two decades compiling revolutionary historical data and have lived with being ignored for so long that I have adopted a neutral attitude toward those I consider narrow minded - or have not had the time to understand my work.
Reporter 3: You know, if your calendrical data
suggested that the conventional timeline was only in error by,
say ten percent - instead of the much larger percent of error you
have suggested, you could probably convince more historians with
your data. Since most people make timely decisions based on
conservative odds or percentages rather than gambling in
believing radical timeline theories like yours, the odds of
convincing the public that Western History is only about a
thousand years in the making are not very good. Is there any new
calendrical data in Version 3 of your book project that would
help other historians better understand your work and
significantly improve the odds in believing in your new timeline
theory?
Duane: Like I said earlier, Version 3 is more comprehensive and correct than earlier versions of the book project. It does contain new calendrical data that should help other historians better understand my theories - but readers will still have to take the time to at least consider the data before they are able to understand the historical value it represents. Just because the data is complicated does not mean it is not understandable - or believable.
Reporter 3: Have you ever heard of the philosophical
concept or principle known as Occam's Razor? It basically argues
that to find the true answer to any question lies in the art of
observing and explaining only the necessary facts about the
question. To assume or explain beyond what is necessary will
result in fictitious views that will obscure the true answer to a
question. Of the many relevant questions in your book project,
one stands out more than any. Is the story of Atlantis based on
fact or fiction? You have built your book project around the idea
that Atlantis was once a real time and place - when the facts
suggest the obvious viewpoint that no such elaborate seaport
existed in the New World or anywhere else. Therefore, according
to the Occam's Razor principle, the story of Atlantis should be
regarded as fictional writing because no such prehistoric seaport
has been found to date. Your explanation that the elusive seaport
has not been found to date because it is buried under tons of
swamp mud in a remote region of Guatemala may be plausible in
your mind - but is it truly possible in the real world?
Duane: That question may be answered soon if the technology to "see deep into the swamp mud" becomes available. Regarding the Occam's Razor principle and the simple answer to the question about the reality of the Atlantean seaport - whose to say, with out a doubt, that I'm wrong to explain the simple idea that the seaport of Atlantis now exist under tons of swamp mud and awaits discovery someday? Sometimes, it is impossible to tell with complete certainty when the Occam's Razor principle can be applied. In fact, if anything, I consider my book project an attempt to "cut through the many fictional views that have buried the truth about Atlantis". By studying the necessary elements behind the most enduring mystery in Western History, the truth can be found. The "razor aspect" of the Occam's Razor principle can be found in my book project if one truly understands the concept.
Reporter 2: One last question - I notice in your
overview graphic of the seaport city of Atlantis, you illustrate
the view that the city has the Hippodrome racecourse for horses.
According to conventional history, horses did not exist in the
New World at the time the first Europeans arrived five centuries
ago. How do you explain this discrepancy?
Duane: The notion than horses did not exist in the New World until five centuries ago is partly based on the view that because New World natives never used horses for transportation like the first European Conquistadors, historians assumed no such animal existed in the New World. Actually, horses have probably always existed here in the New World where they firsts appeared on earth millions of years ago - but the Europeans brought a new breed that was better suited for work and transportation. Besides, if you study how conventional Western History was incorrectly packaged some five centuries ago in my book project and learn the radical historical view that only about four centuries can be accounted for between the Biblical Flood and the voyage of Columbus, the idea that horses lived in the New World continent of Atlantis before Columbus should not be so hard to believe. According to Plato, the Hippodrome race-track that encircled the main island of the Atlantean seaport was used by the Atlanteans for sporting entertainment long before any Olympian sporting event. Perhaps the horses of the Atlantean Hippodrome were not ridden by men but were free running - this view supports the idea that the Atlanteans never "mastered the wild horse for transportation" like the early European Conquistadors did. And if the capital seaport city of Atlantis was destroyed in the Biblical Flood some nine centuries ago - like my calendrical data suggest, then the capital seaport must have been founded many years earlier - say perhaps, a thousand or so years earlier? If this view is true - and it's only a guess, then perhaps the upcoming 2000-year event may be thought as an event marking the foundation of the real Western Civilization - the Maritime Kingdom of Atlantis!
END SEVENTH INTERVIEW 9/99
ATLANTEAN COMMUNICATIONS Page
Return to the Homepage site