| Forelaws on Board Universal forelaws of empathy and compassion - empirical attributes of cosmic genealogy seated within the genome of humankind and all intelligent life - form the foundation of evolutionary panaltruism on Earth, moving humanity to a compassionate/cooperative world order with new cornerstones for the United Nations, to global water equilibrium (the state of balance existing between seawater converted to freshwater amply available worldwide, on one side, and, on the other, constancy in planetary sea levels), to development of life-centered cosmologies, and to active membership in the cosmic community of intelligent life (CCIL).& As part and parcel of the physical unity of being life-centered cosmologies in the age of cosmic genealogy on Earth 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 universal forelaws of empathy and compassion. More pronounced in modern times owing to scientific research and discovery merging astrobiology and astronomy as conducted and led by the late Sir Fred Hoyle, by Chandra Wickramasinghe, Brig Klyce, Halton C. Arp, and others, cosmic genealogy dates as an age on Earth from the landmark and pivotal work of Louis Pasteur in 1859 disproving spontaneous generation of life. ("Life comes from space because life comes from life." - Brig Klyce, Astrobiology Trust Fund). Intelligent life reciprocally propagated from infinity to infinity by empirical intelligent life, from habited sites to habitable sites, describes cosmic life realism clearly consistent with evolutionary panaltruism and life-centered cosmologies. Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), such as the Kepler Mission and others, advance ultimate activism by humankind in the cosmic community of intelligent life: interconnected through communication (relayed and exchanged) within boundaries of observable universes and beyond via the phenomenon of overlapping observable universes. Evolutionary panaltruism and holistic forelawsship speak volumes for human unity, indefinable potential, and optimism destined to characterize the age of cosmic genealogy on Earth. Human potential and fulfillment rest, finally, on resolution of deep human needs to know from whence we came, safety and security, and on meaning and purpose (recognizing determinants consonant with universal forelaws of empathy and compassion: individual mate selection, nurturing of offspring, and early childhood education in a healthful, sustainable environment).<< "The human inclination toward goodness is strong, but it can be strengthened by specific social conditions." - Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley Ethical Vegetarianism Diet and War - from The Recovery of Culture (Henry Bailey Stevens, 1949) "We are now caught on the edge of the abyss where we see desperately that we must be rid of War, but its chain reactions are difficult to break. Without in any way ceasing our direct attack upon the institution, we may well consider the effects if we cut the umbilical cord to its mother evil, the animal abattoir. If the children of the next two generations were educated from infancy to that primate diet to which they are normally disposed, we can predict results about 2,000 A.D. somewhat as follows: A. The shift in food demands would reduce greatly the amount of land plowed for food purposes. Provided fiber demands were also met from tree crops, tillage would be confined to the class 1 and 2 types of land approved by soil conservationists. Soil erosion would be practically stopped. B. Several million farmers would be relieved of their present confining routine of service to livestock 365 days a year. Agriculture would tend to shift back to a way of life in which families had their own gardens, small orchards and ornamental plants. The unhealthy concentration of people in large cities would be greatly reduced. With the disappearance of the incubus of meat animals the total human population would spread out over the land for with the emphasis on small holdings, industry would find it profitable to decentralize. Village culture in the arts, religion and government would be stimulated. C. Substitutes for leather and other by-products of animals would have to be found, but the industrial chemists have already practically accomplished this step. Any such difficulties would be more than offset by the elimination of those diseases that have been circulated through meat and livestock products. D. But greatest of all would be the effect upon our ethical and aesthetic culture if we made ourselves consistent with that primate nature which was built over long ages into our very genes. We have tried to operate a church and a schoolhouse at one end of the street and a slaughterhouse at the other, to fill our minds with kindness and our stomachs with tortured flesh; to teach peace and eat like beasts of prey. But we have overlooked the moral in the story of Diomedes. Each generation has run amok and torn us to pieces in turn for the ugly lies which it has been taught - viz. that animals must be killed for food and people for military objectives." Industrial Hemp Industrial hemp elicits appropriate recognition at world summitry on economic/societal sustainability. Challenging the DEMOCRATHON process ("people power" utilizing the Initiative and Referendum), significantly increased worldwide production of industrial hemp (re-introduction in the USA) - locally grown, processed and manufactured into products locally consumed (and exported/imported where in order) - is a realistic response, accompanied by others, to "Peak Oil" and the inevitable depletion of extractable petroleum. Any product made from petroleum (including high octane gasoline and plastics) can be made from industrial hemp. Industrial hemp seeds can produce food such as bread, hempburgers, milk and ice cream. Hemp fiberboard has been demonstrated to be twice the strength of wood fiberboard. "Hempcrete" blocks, "lighter, stronger and easier to work with than masonry concrete," have been manufactured at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota (start-up costs were under $10,000.00). "From Petrol to Agro: Seeds of a New Economy," by Dr. Robert E. Armstrong, Center for Technology and National Security, National Defense University, discusses the transition to renewable resources. World Summitry on Economic/Societal Sustainability A compassionate world order on Earth faces challenges not least of which include terrorism, fossil fuels, nuclear weapons/energy, and the specter of international trade wars. World summitry on economic/societal sustainability, ensuring the unifying, forward-moving legacy of Kyoto, Rio+10 and Johannesburg, marshals previously untapped human cooperation, energy and resources toward creation of the compassionate global society. Itself sustained and embolden by scientific research validating the biological basis for human cooperation (Emory University) - like the first mission designed to search specifically for terrestrial-like planets (Kepler, 2009) - world summitry proposed on economic/societal sustainability embodies the quintessential unity and aspirations of all humanity. The transition on Earth to a compassionate world order built upon universal forelaws of empathy and compassion - involving societal breakthroughs basic to evolutionary panaltruism, i.e. (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 - presupposes new cornerstones and new guidelines for the United Nations. Ending international terrorism by employing the total resources of the United Nations requires, primarily, remedial education emphasizing intrinsic, compassionate humanness and proper scrutiny of all social dichotomies ranging in realm from religous dogmas, to political ideologies, to economic systems. Although following a philosophy antithetical to evolutionary panaltruism, adherents of global terrorism carry the same gene of empathy and compassion joining together all members of the human family. World summitry on economic/societal sustainability draws global attention to a democratically planned and shared global economy (DPGE) infrastructured and dedicated to reverse desertification and sea-level rise through global water equilibrium (Project Ice-SHARE/Green Earth). Proposed as new cornerstones for the United Nations, a democratically planned and shared global economy and Project Ice-SHARE/Green Earth mark important progress toward societal sustainability, toward the compassionate/cooperative global society, and toward qualitative escalation of human values and relationships. Agenda items at the first and successive world summits on economic/societal sustainability necessarily include conflict resolution - overpopulation - world hunger - social justice - the integrity of the human gene pool - and the environmental impact of ascendant worldwide vegetarianism. "The good of society as a whole can be promoted through the science of positive and "prosocial" emotions and behaviors - for example, by studying emotions and behaviors such as compassion, respect, joy, trust, love, empathy, gratitude, and tolerance." - Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley "and then there is the greatest opportunity of all, the prize of securing and safeguarding the planet for our generations to come." - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on global warming and the Stern Review. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) The search for extraterrestrial intelligence SETI) projects a positive, life-engaged future for humankind as part of life-centered cosmologies prevalent within the cosmic community of intelligent life. Although not alone as a harbinger of interplanetary/intergalactic communication and cosmic/intelligent life propagated from Earth, the Kepler Mission (scheduled by NASA in 2009 to monitor 100,000 stars for orbiting Earth-size planets) deserves extraordinary attention as the first space mission to search specifically for terrestrial-like planets. Kepler will be followed by Terrestrial Planet Finder, 2012-2015 and Darwin, 2014. A promising ally in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the recent technology breakthrough by NASA will aid observation of planet formation and planet detection by suppressing the light of stars. This emerging expansion of cosmic focus and direction - likely to involve (complementing NASA) the European Space Agency (ESA), the Hubble Telescope, the International Space Station, and many if not most of Earth's space agencies and observatories - bodes well for life-centered cosmologies. "Darwinian evolution can produce variation that results from one or two point mutations, and can, by natural selection, lead to adaptation, or microevolution. But that is not the same as macroevolutionary progress requiring whole new genes that differ from known predecessors by dozens to hundreds of essential nucleotides. In strong panspermia, those new genes must be supplied from elsewhere . . . . . . . . . . Energy reaches Earth from the Sun, of course, but encoded instructions do not. We have long believed that evolutionary progress takes place in a biologically closed system, because we thought, until recently, that life could not survive in space." (Brig Klyce, founder of Cosmic Ancestry and Astrobiology Research Trust). "I suspect that the cosmic quality of microbiology will seem as obvious to future generations as the Sun being the centre of the solar system seems obvious to the present generation" - Sir Fred Hoyle ("The Relation of Biology to Astronomy," 1980). ". . . . . this essay will examine the possible role of viruses in the evolution of complexity, including the evolution of human-specific attributes." - from "Can Viruses Make Us Human?" by Dr. Luis P. Villarreal, Director, Center for Virus Research, University of California, Irvine. "Astrobiology has emerged as a new science for the new millennium. It seeks to understand life in the context of the wider cosmos. The new Centre will continue in the pioneering traditions of astrobiology started in Cardiff over 25 years ago, taking note of the many relevant discoveries that have been made in recent years. The Centre aims to combine the expertise of astronomers, biochemists and microbiologists to generate cutting edge science that would eventually enable us to answer the age-old question: where did we come from?" (Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, and author of A Journey with Fred Hoyle - The Search for Cosmic Life, World Scientific, 2005). "The discovery of intergalactic seeds produced by intelligent life would immediately change our view of the origin and purpose of life on Earth, and improve our expectations for the future of life in this universe." (Robert T. Hemphill, from Searching for Signals from Civilizations Spreading Life Among the Galaxies). "A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein "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." (Dr. Halton Arp, astronomer and author of Seemg Red, Apeiron, 1998). "knowledge gained is always subject to further testing as understanding matures" - The Center for Naturalism. "I am certain and have always stressed that the destination of mankind is to become more and more humane. The ideal of humanity has to be revived." - Albert Schweitzer Compassionate/cooperative humanity, appreciative of the grandeur and import of cosmic genealogy, concerns itself with life-centered issues and questions including cosmologies merging astrobiology and astronomy - polar wamder/pole shift - climate change - the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) - infinities in nature unrelated to mathematics and physics - the strong version of panspermia (Cosmic Ancestry) - Viruses in the Evolution of Life (Villarreal, 2005) - locally developed horizontal gene transfer (HGTE) and cosmic/intelligent life propagated from Earth (CLPE), both keyed to evolutionary panaltruism - ground rules apropos to "artificial life" and "synthetic biology" how do solar flares impact climate on Earth? - parent star stabilization/solar energy constancy - industrial hemp - ethical vegetarianism - the terraforming of Mars - the overlapping of observable universes as a communicative mechanism for intelligent life - education coming to grips creatively with origins, meaning and purpose - all in testament to "concern for others and for those who will succeed us . . . . . " (The Center for Naturalism). "Whatever you can do . . . . . or believe you can . . . . . begin it Boldness has magic . . . . . power . . . . . and genius in it." Johnne Goethe Links to additional internal webpages, and external websites, at home page The Compassionate/Cooperative Global Society Forelaws on Board [email protected] Last Edited 5/18/09 |