| The Age of Empathy and Compassion on Earth Forelaws on Board "To suppose that Earth is the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd to believe that in an entire field sown with millet, only one grain will grow." - Metrodorus of Chios (Greek Philosopher, Fourth Century BP.) "I see Congress as a place where strong progressive voices must be heard and basic changes must be fought for." - Norman Solomon, Author and Candidate for California's North Coast District. "In less than 20 years, we have gone from not knowing if any other planets exist in the universe, to being able to look out at the night sky and realize that essentially any star we can see has at least one planet, and a good number of those are likely to be habitable." - Dr. Alan Boss, Science Working Group, NASA Kepler Mission. Early successes of NASA's Kepler Mission (logically inferring that in a Universe of infinite Earth-like exoplanets "we are not alone") . . . . . following Louis Pasteur's pivotal work in 1859 in disproving spontaneous generation of life and, in modern times, that (in astrobiology) of the late Sir Fred Hoyle, N. C. Wickramasinghe, Brig Klyce, Halton Arp, and others . . . . . begin the transition on Earth to a compassionate/cooperative society consistent with universal forelaws of empathy and compassion. As empirical attributes of cosmic genealogy defining the cosmic community of intelligent life, universal forelaws of empathy and compassion (seated within the genome of humankind and all intelligent life), underlie, particularly, reciprocal propagation and dissemination of intelligent life from infinity to infinity by intelligent life (RDIL), the search and discovery of parent planets of intelligent life, and global water equilibrium. Global water equilibrium - extant, in process, or in prospect on all planets with intelligent life - describes the state of balance between seawater converted to freshwater amply available worldwide on one side and, on the other, relative constancy in planetary ocean and sea levels. Life-centered cosmologies, part and parcel of naturalistic Nature ("everythng is connected to everything else"), 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 intelligent life reciprocity in cosmic propagation and dissemination of intelligent life. Inviting human participation, this cosmic reality/morality (RDIL) interacts with the phenomenon that no two parent planets of intelligent life receive identical solar radiation - accounting for "races" (superficial genomics before amalgamation) in the makeup of intelligent life. The search for parent planets of humankind (SPPH) - addressing the deep human need to know from whence we came - creates new frontiers for nascent astrobiology. SPPH efforts will likely focus on planets showing evidence of global water equilibrium, signature of intelligent life. Akin to comets and asteroids are icy outer planets made "homeless" by supernovae. Comets, like asteroids, are apparent carriers of DNA materials germane to reciprocal propagation and dissemination of intelligent life by intelligent life. Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927) pursued the theory of panspermia (seeds everywhere); his suggested mechanisms for the propagation and distribution of life throughout the cosmos, however, suffered from the limited fund of knowledge and technology then accessible to researchers. Clearly, the most significant advancement of life as a cosmic phenomenon 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 Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, are well established in the annals of science. A recent study 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. Since 1996 signal research and discovery made by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe have been reinforced 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. "We are witnessing the birth pangs of a paradigm shift as important as the Copernican revolution half a millennium ago." - N. C. Wickramasinghe, discussing panspermia (fast becoming mainstream science) and the significance of "Fossils of Cyanobacteria in C11 Carbonaceous Meteorites" (The Journal of Cosmology, March, 2011), by Richard B. Hoover, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center. "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, and author of Seeing Red, Apeiron, 1998 (refuting "Big-Bang" theory). "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. -------------------------------------------------- Universal forelaws of empathy and compassion, grounding and shaping education at all levels, operate cosmically as well as locally and globally - with marked relevance to human mate selection, nurturing of offspring, and early childhood education in a healthful, sustainable environment. The essential and basic goals of progressive science, five-year plans, neo-economics/politics and the DEMOCRATHON Process, in the age of empathy and compassion on Earth, provide for (a) a healthful, sustainable environment for every planetary citizen, (b) universal health care, publicly supported, (c) education for all based upon individual capability, (d) creative/productive employment for every planetary citizen, (e) post-retirement security, (f) global water equilibrium. Key to this societal evolution are new cornerstones and guidelines for the United Nations: (1) Forelaws Education, (2) World Summitry on Economic/Societal Sustainability, (3) Global Water Equilibrium, (4) The DEMOCRATHON Process. Ending international terrorism requires employing the total resources of the United Nations, including military (right of self-defense), with primary emphasis on forelaws education coupled to scrutiny of all social dichotomies ranging from religious dogmas, to political ideologies, to economic systems. Though actively in denial of their own intrinsic humanness, adherents of international terrorism remain genetically predisposed (and reeducable) to appreciation of their creative potential and positive contribution as part of the cosmic community of intelligent life. World summitry on economic/societal sustainability, marshalling previously untapped human cooperation, energy and resources, faces challenges not least of which deal with terrorism - fossil fuels - nuclear weapons/energy - the specter of international trade wars - overpopulation - world hunger - integrity of the human gene pool - climate stability - as well as the unifying legacy of Kyoto, Rio+10, Johannesburg and Copenhagen. Bolstering world summitry on economic/societal sustainability as a new cornerstone proposed for the United Nations is scientific research validating both the biological basis for human cooperation (Rilling/Berns et al, Emory Univ.), and empathy and compassion (Rodrigues/Saslow et al, Oregon State Univ. & UC Berkeley.) Residents of Beijing, China's capital, could be drinking desalinated seawater within five years. As part of China's eleventh five-year plan, this source could become a main supply in efforts to deal with the water shortage (National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) People's Republic of China.) Eminently in order on a global scale, the potential and success of global five-year plans aimed at satisfying freshwater needs, at job creation and environmental sustainability through seawater desalination represents a giant first step toward achievable global water equilibrium on Earth. The current growth rate of desalination at coastal locations bodes well for strategic and direct movement of freshwater to inland points. Mandated and coordinated through the United Nations Security Council, dramatically accelerated, expanded and sustained seawater desalination - receiving important impetus from the International Desalination Association - will ensure (1) globally plentiful freshwater, (2) relief for low-lying communities vulnerable to sea-level rise, (3) stabilization of ocean shorelines, (4) enlarged land mass/biomass on Earth, (5) freshwater storage in areas which include those where once resided coal and petroleum, (6) climate stability. Planetary climate stability rests on innovative permaculture dedicated to refinement (by each generation) of Earth's surface reflectivity (albedo) in concert with continuing scientific research and understanding of solar radiation. In all stages of global water equilibrium, from seawater desalination to rolling back desertification, plastic pipe and other products made from industrial hemp are destined to make a major contribution. ----------------------------------------------------- Thus far on Earth exemplars of intelligent life as a gift with indefinable promise include progress toward global water equilibrium, ethnicity revisited, the merger of astronomy and biology (astrobiology), discovery of over 2000 exoplanets, and NASA's OSIRIS-REx - lifting off in 2016 and returning to Earth in 2023 with samples from asteroid 1999 RQ36. "The hazard of fission products persists for a time that is longer than any I can conceive." - Larry Bogart (1914-1991), Anti-Nuclear Activist. "Peace is the marriage of the people and the planet, with all attendant vows." - Anonymous "Of course, today, for science in particular, electronic communication makes possible communities of individuals from all corners of the world. The most direct evolution toward an enlightened science is for these groups to just go about supporting each other in doing science free of disproved, official assumptions." - Halton C. Arp. "The survival of all living beings on this planet, the entire ecosystem, depends on our civic engagement . . . . . to be part of the political process . . . . ." - Norman Solomon (author, recipient of Alex Forman Peace Award, founder of Institute for Public Accuracy. "Whatever you can do . . . . . or believe you can . . . . . begin it Boldness has magic . . . . . power . . . . . and genius in it." Johnne Goethe Forelaws on Board Home Forelaws_on_Board@forelawsonboard.net |