Statement of The Producer Of "The Principle"

It is, in a way, quite an honor to have this little independent science film suddenly subjected to a concerted internet assault, even though most of the information about "The Principle" is based solely on presumptions and innuendoes.  

I am not surprised at the opposition, since it has been one of the important missions of “The Principle” to point out that some ideas are powerful enough to burn heretics, to overthrow civilizations, and to turn our world view upside down.

The Copernican Principle is certainly one of those ideas, and the reaction to our treatment of it indicates that this idea has lost none of its power over the last four centuries. Indeed, as Lawrence Krauss has stated, we could be living at a time when Copernicus is "coming back to haunt us"!

When my partner Robert Sungenis asked me to produce “The Principle”, we agreed that the controversy surrounding this question was such that only a fair, balanced, and comprehensive treatment would do. It was our intention to seek out leading cosmologists who had, in their writings and papers, addressed this Copernican Principle, as well as the recent unexpected evidence of a preferred direction in the cosmos, aligned with our supposedly “insignificant” Earth, and to ask some candid questions about the impact of these discoveries on “established” science.

It certainly appears we have shaken up the status quo, and our film has not even been released yet!

Indeed, the real takeaway from the massive media assault on this comparatively tiny little independent film, at this point, has to be, “What are they so afraid of?”

Some facts:

“The Principle”, as the title indicates, is not about geocentrism per se, but is instead an in-depth cinematic examination of the Copernican Principle itself- in its historical, cultural, religious, and remarkably unexpected modern observational aspects.

We include historical facts concerning the ancient, geocentric cosmology, the Copernican revolution, Newton’s seemingly conclusive establishment of the heliocentric model of reality......

But we also include the factual information that some of our scientific mainstream opinion-makers apparently are quite uncomfortable having you hear about- for example, Einstein’s frank admission that no optical experiment ever would, or even could, in his opinion, measure any motion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, or the recent, shocking large scale observations which have suggested presently-inexplicable, Earth-oriented structure on the cosmos’ largest observable scales.

On this latter point, I want to emphasize that “The Principle” is in possession of signed release forms from all of its contributors, most certainly including Lawrence Krauss. 

Any suggestion to the contrary is simply a falsehood.

These releases include explicit notification of our intention to explore controversial aspects of cosmology, even highly controversial ideas and theories.

Lawrence says he has no idea how he ended up in our film. 

I can tell him how he ended up in our film.

He signed a release form, and cashed a check.

I have both.

He sat for an interview of about five hours’ length.

I have the footage.

And the transcripts.

Lawrence Krauss is on record concerning the implications of some of the astonishing new cosmological observations of the cosmic background (CMB), observations with profoundly non-Copernican implications.

We researched these statements, and interviewed him, and others, about them.

I would hope that at some point, relatively soon in this process, some reporters would do some of the same research, and establish for themselves that Krauss has personally affirmed that these observations could mean that we are the center of the universe.

Yes, folks.

He has said exactly that.

Please check.

Our film is certainly dangerous- dangerous enough to have elicited this astonishingly well-executed assault from individuals who have done absolutely no research on what "The Principle" is about.

It is also dangerous, because once you view the film, you are going to see that these  misrepresentations regarding "The Principle" are profound, and ought to be retracted.

I won’t hold my breath in this regard, but I promise you, our film is the ONE FILM you absolutely MUST see this year, if only to find out why so much effort has been lavished to prevent you from knowing what it is about in the first place.

A last word to the wonderful actress Kate Mulgrew.

Kate, I am sorry you were forced to this unfortunate repudiation of your fine work on our film.

We artists have, from time to time, got to be willing to take even the most excruciating heat in order to preserve the rights of filmmakers, for example, to challenge even the most entrenched and established ideas.

Otherwise, it would seem we really have come full circle, wouldn’t it?

“Cosmos” talks about Bruno being burned at the stake for challenging the medieval cosmology; have we reached the point where we are no longer allowed to examine the evidence which suggests science could be wrong about something as basic as the Copernican Principle?

Even worse- have we reached the point where we are no longer even allowed to ask the question?

“The Principle” is the one film you absolutely MUST see this year.

Rick DeLano

Producer, "The Principle"