What is Component Theory?

Visited a colleague of Bill’s this afternoon hoping for some clarity into Bill’s work I didn’t get quite what I was hoping for.

I shall simply refer to him as ‘X’ to protect his identity.

W: “What can you tell me about Bill’s work before he left Cambridge to write his book?”

X: “Well as you know his work was primarily based around ancient Sumer, you may remember he did that wonderful yet as it turned out controversial paper for his thesis: Cultural Changes in Sumer after the Flood. As far as I know he has expanded upon his original thesis.”

W: “You will have to forgive me but I never had a chance to read his paper perhaps you can summarize it for me.”

X: “Easier said than done dear fellow, but I will attempt it. Bill wanted to understand why there seemed be significant changes in the Sumer empire after a big flood when during previous floods nothing had particularly changed. In his original thesis he theorized that there must have been an exterior force at work to create such a seismic shift in Sumer’s culture. Of course there was no direct evidence for this third party but Bill quite clearly proved logically that there was a missing part to the equation. His work since then has mostly been on discovering what the missing component was.”

W: “What exactly was the change in Sumer?”

X: “Well the Sumerians were not originally a warlike people which was quite rare for the period, they however did excel in inventions. This period is considered by some as when the Great Flood occurred either before or after the arrival of Gilgamesh or Bilgames as his Sumerian name was. During Gilgamesh's period there is an increased period of violence and Lagash was a particularly violent King also there was a sudden increase in salinity in the soil apparently this was a known problem yet no one had ever done anything about it.  Certain theories state that the increase salinity was gradual and due to the high evaporation rate but Bill was sure that this was not the case.”

W: “Basically what you are saying is that there was a flood, Gilgamesh appears on the scene and all the Sumerians turn violent?”

X: “That is indeed a very crude estimation of what really happened, remembering of course that it is just a theory that fits some of the evidence for the period. Please remember that this change did not happen overnight, you are looking at least several generations before the Sumer city states begin their endless wars”

W: “That's Component Theory?”

X: “Oh! No. This was Bill's original thesis merely as they say the tip of the iceberg, caused a bit stir when it went for peer review I can tell you.”

W: “So what is Component Theory?”

X: “Well Bill never fully revealed the extent of the theory only that it was in part the logical conclusion of his previous thesis. Last time he spoke to me directly about it he mentioned that he was in contact with one Dr. Abdul Jibril an entomologist based in Cairo. Bill was very excited he said that the Doctor's work gave clues to the missing components within his new theory.”

W: “Do you know anything about Jibril and what he was working on?”

X: “Not much I'm afraid just the name of his paper, The Lone Ant. As an academic he doesn't register at all on the radar as they say.”

That was pretty much all that 'X' could give which leads me back to square one although he did mention one other name “Laurence Gardner ”. Bill had mentioned him but X said that the man wasn't even a proper scientist, he wasn't sure why Bill would even consider his theories.

I am not sure what to make of it all really, X did point me in the direction of a British based entomologist who might know more about Jibril's “The Lone Ant” paper.