Portal Stones are the natural extension of our science once magic is introduced to the world. There is my attention getter. Here is a warning that the following is rather extemporaneous and tends to wander a bit on the general topic of the nature of the Wheel and the cycling of the Ages. A couple of basic points. One, Randland is in a time after our time, but not too far out. This is supported by Egwene finding a circumscribed three pointed star in the Panarch's Palace when searching for a way the BA could hurt Rand. That star was silvery and made from a material that shone like metal, but was soft and was older than any of the skeletons and artifacts in the room including a giraffe skeleton that was supposed to predate the Age of Legends. Two, the many worlds (multidimensional) theory is a working idea in quantum physics. In a nutshell, the theory stems from this (as far as I can understand). If two photons touch, they interact as waves do. Just like water waves, when photons meet they can combine to cancel, augment, and such; photons and all electromagnetic waves do the same kind of thing. The result is striped interference patterns. A laser beam, when shined on two slats next to each other so that some photons go through the right slat and some the left, create interference patterns on the wall behind the slats. The weird thing is this: When the photons are released one at a time and it is unknown which slat the photon will go through, you don't get a random smattering of photons on the other side, you get interference patterns just like when two photons meet. The theory is that photons and similar particles that are so small that they are also waves (like electrons) can bridge a gap between two worlds that are created by the choice of which slat to go through. In the two different worlds the electron went through different slats, so now there are two electrons bridging the gap between realities and interfering with them selves. If we somehow got a hold of magic it would be natural for us to explore the theories that science is currently working on. Three, we, IRL, can trace the creation of the world, the evolution of life, dinosaurs, their extinction, the evolution of mammals, the rise of man, and most of human history. I would say we are in the second age of man, possibly. I make that assumption based on how much we can divine from the past. 1000 BC-ish would probably be something akin to the previous age judging by what we remember of the past. Here is the question, though, are ages of a similar length? Are they determined by human events or by world events? We are at an evolutionary point where we will probably undergo almost no biological evolution as a species. I suggest this based on the idea that evolution is a way for creatures to adapt their biology to their environment. In other words, if a cataclysmic event occurred which changed the climates of Africa, lets say, then the hippo, a mostly naked mammal would start to die out. If a hippo was born with more hair than is normal due to a genetic mutation, then that hippo would survive better and spread its genes. The hippo would evolve or go extinct. Humans on the continent, though, would just make thicker clothing. Humans have come to a point at which we don't evolve, we adapt. So in several millennia people will likely be virtually unchanged. This is interesting to the story because, of course, if Randland is our future, then we would still be recognizably human like the book assumes. So far we have established a few things. Randland is our "near" future (near meaning that it the Wheel hasn't come full circle since us). Portal stones, which predate the Age of Legends, are probably an extension of our current science. Humans will continue, unchanged, through just about anything short of the actual destruction of the planet into dust. Now, back to an idea on the nature of the ages. If an age is determined not by human events, but by world events (which could, like the breaking, be humanity driven), and there is no beginning or end to the wheel, and we can trace current human history to the forming of the Earth, then Rand could still destroy the world. If Randland is the fourth age, the Age of Legends is the third, then we are likely the first or second age. What if then, the rest of the ages are this: The fifth age is the reforming of the earth from a heap of lifeless slag. The sixth is the forming of simple life. The seventh and final age is the age of life evolving into "humans", which would, in our histories be the age of the dinosaurs. If we are the first age, then the second age is the discovery of magic and the chaos that ensues but leads to a peaceful world which ends up becoming a magical utopia (Age of Legends). The other idea is that the evolution of humanity is the first age, the second is an age of science and industry (our age) which becomes the third age after magic is discovered. The third age officially starts when science is completely abandoned for magic. So, does the Wheel model take into account the creation, destruction, and recreation of the world? I don't mean this whole post to be this question, but I would like feedback on other people's theories of how history as we know it would fit into the cyclical nature of the Wheel. What if not all cycles of the wheel have the same steps? Maybe the destruction and recreation of the world only happens every seventh turning. Maybe there is an even greater pattern than an Age Lace. Each age is said to be its own pattern, but what if those make a bigger patter? Each turning of the wheel may be but a smaller part of an even greater pattern that repeats like the ages do.