| The Age of Cosmic Genealogy on Earth Reverence for Life "Create a multi-disciplinary environment whereby compassion and altruism studies are supported and legitimized within the broader scientific community." - Vision of The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University. In 1859 Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation of life, thus beginning the age of cosmic genealogy meaningfully characterized by universal forelaws of empathy and compassion expressly highlighting and defining reverence for life. As empirical attributes of cosmic genealogy seated within the genome of humankind and all intelligent life, universal forelaws of empathy and compassion provide direction in fulfilling the promise and gift of intelligent life. Though today actively in denial of their own humaneness, international terrorists remain genetically predisposed (and reeducable) to compassionate humanness common to all humankind. Evolutionary panaltruism and human unity are imperative in creating a compassionate/cooperative global society, in achievement of global water equilibrium (first step toward climate stability), in developing life-centered cosmologies, and in fulfillment of the promise and gift of intelligent life. Part and parcel of naturalistic Nature ("everything is connected to everything else"), life-centered cosmologies predicated on evolutionary panaltruism reflect cognizance of the observable universe of humankind (13,000 million light years in all directions), of solar systems with and without intelligent life, and of global water equilibrium. Life-centered cosmologies - uplifting human vision and direction during a period critical to all life on Earth - build upon ongoing scientific research and discovery merging biology and astronomy (emergent astrobiology) as pioneered and led by the late Sir Fred Hoyle, by N.C. Wickramasinghe, Brig Klyce, Halton C. Arp, and others. "But the climaxing observation appeared in year 2002. How exceedingly ironic that 30 years after Fred Hoyle pointed to NGC 7603 as a crucial system which must force out acceptance of the existence of discordant redshifts - after a generation has passed - the luminous link between this active Seyfert and its appendage is observed to have two high redshift, quasar-like objects in it." - Halton C. Arp, American Astronomer, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) pursued the theory of panspermia (seeds everywhere), but his suggested mechanisms for the propagation and distribution of life throughout the cosmos suffered from the limited fund of knowledge and technology then accessible to researchers. The contribution of Svante Arrhenius is considerable nonetheless because of his vision and investigations concerning life as a phenomenon beyond the narrow confines of Earth. Clearly, the most significant advancement of panspermia came in the 1970s with research on organic materials in outer space investigated by astronomers Fred Hoyle and N. C. Wickramasinghe. Their work also produced important insight into the manner by which living organisms might be propagated and distributed in the universe, including the arrival of life on Earth. These and other contributions by the late Sir Fred Hoyle and by Dr. Wickramasinghe (Executive Editor Astrobiology, Journal of Cosmology, and Director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology), are well established in the annals of science. A recent study conducted by the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology showed "huge amounts of bacteria and possibly viruses" in Earth's upper atmosphere with estimates of a ton of these organisms arriving on Earth from space every day. Creation of a synthetic bacterium by the J. Craig Venter Institute marks a profound achievement having both local and cosmic significance not only for bioscience but also for biophilosophy and the reverence for life ethic. On May 20, 2010, responding to this development, President Barack Obama requested from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues a comprehensive report to be completed within six months. A week later the U. S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce held hearings entitled "Developments in Synthetic Genomics and Implications for Health and Energy." "Given the importance of this issue, I request that the Commission consult with a range of constituencies, including scientific and medical communities, faith communities, and business and nonprofit organizations." - President Barack Obama. "Craig Venter's successful implantation of a digitally determined genome sequence into a bacterium has been widely reported (29 May, p 6). Now imagine a future where a successor to Venter is able to digitally reconstruct a set of the best possible sequences of human genomes and incorporate them, in pieces, into bacteria that could autonomously reproduce the sequences. If these bacteria were then launched into space, the fragmented genome could be reassembled on countless habitable planets in the galaxy. This would be a process similar to that outlined in the theory of directed panspermia proposed in 1973 by Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel (Icarus, vol 19, p 341). Carried on comets, these bacteria could travel from one planetary system to the next, where the genome could reproduce. The legacy of human life could then be thought to have been given an eternal existence in the cosmos." - Intergalactic Legacy (New Scientist, 9 June 2010) by Chandra Wickramasinghe, Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology. "The first message from an intelligent extraterrestrial civilisation may not emerge from a radio telescope but, instead, from a DNA sequencing machine." - John Walker, Fourmilab Switzerland. Signal advances in panspermia made by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe have been reinforced since 1996 by Brig Klyce of Memphis, Tennessee, USA, particularly in the area of macroevolutionary progress. Brig Klyce has founded Astrobiology Research Trust and maintains the Internet website Cosmic Ancestry. "Life comes from space because life comes from life." . . . . . . . . . . "But in order for life to climb the tree to a higher level, new genetic programs are required - which mutation and recombination alone cannot supply. When they are supplied (through horizontal gene transfer), a major advance may ensue. Thus, in strong panspermia, the problem of punctuated equilibrium is also resolved . . . . . . . . . . A consequence of this reasoning is that life on Earth can have descended only from life elsewhere that was at least as highly evolved as it is here." - Brig Klyce, Astrobiology Research Trust The age of cosmic genealogy on Earth presents challenges for evolutionary panaltruism and human unity in areas not limited to the creation of synthetic bacteria (Venter et all) and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI): infinities in Nature unrelated to mathematics and physics - the strong version of panspermia - Viruses and the Evolution of Life (Villarreal, 2005) - locally developed horizontal gene transfer and cosmic/intelligent life propagated from Earth, both keyed to reverence for life and evolutionary panaltruism - parent star stabilization/solar energy constancy - ground rules apropos to "artificial life" and "synthetic biology" - polar wander/pole shift - climate change - resurgent industrial hemp (any product made from petroleum, including high octane gasoline and plastics, can be made from industrial hemp) - and the environmental impact and ethical potential of ascendant worldwide veganism. By exemplifying "concern for others and for those who will succeed us . . . . . " (The Center for Naturalism), such as achieving global water equilibrium on Earth - the state of balance between seawater converted to freshwater amply available worldwide on one side and, on the other, constancy in planetary sea-levels - humankind takes an important step toward its rightful place within the cosmic community of intelligent life. Implemented under UN Security Council purview and mandate, global water equilibrium on Earth, like space exploration, captures the questing spirit of all humanity, with success of the latter tethered to success of the former. Deep human needs to know from whence we came, safety and security, and meaning and purpose (fundamental to fulfillment of the promise and gift of intelligent life on Earth) rest, finally, on determnants consonant with universal forelaws of empathy and compassion: individual mate selection, nurturing of offspring, and early childhood education in a healthful, sustainable environment. The future of artificial life (synthetic biology), as holistically monitored and reviewed by this and succeeding generations, turns essentially on its compatability with the promise and gift of intelligent life, with universal forelaws of empathy and compassion defining reverence for life, and with evolutionary panaltruism and human unity - allies as humanity progresses toward active membership in the cosmic community of intelligent life. Reverence for life, highlighting the intrinsic unity of all intelligent life, underlies (in addition to evolutionary panaltruism and human unity), the age of cosmic genealogy on Earth, the cosmic community of intelligent life, and intelligent life reciprocally propagated from infinity to infinity (from habited sites to habitable sites) by intelligent life. "The greatest discoveries of science have always been those that forced us to rethink our beliefs about the universe and our place in it." - Robert L. Park, University of Maryland (in The New York Times, 7 December 1999). Forelaws on Board Home panaltruism@yahoo.com |