History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/sep/29/ecocide-oil-criminal-court: Trial tests whether ‘ecocide’ could join genocide as global crimeTop lawyers put fossil fuel bosses on trial in the UK’s supreme court in a mock case to explore the crime of ecocide – environmental destruction – which is being considered by the UN
Are you kidding???? Dawkins has done more to cement the Darwin orthodoxy than any other person, and the result is insidious.
The Great Explosion: Darwinists are incapable of confronting the simple evidence for the sudden emergence of man.
The basic issue here is the way in which a common humanity is visible since the ‘Out of Africa’ phenomenon 100K to 50K ago. There has been no further speciation since then, whatever the differences in type.
Interesting comment from Dov Henis
Dov Henis
universe-life.com/
109.186.84.117 Submitted on 2011/09/30 at 4:37 am
Earth Life Genesis@Aromaticity.Hydrogen BondingA.
Purines and pyrimidines are two of the building blocks of nucleic acids. Only two purines and three pyrimidines occur widely in nucleic acids.B.
Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound similar to benzene and pyridine, containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of the six-member ring.A purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, consisting of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. Purines, including substituted purines and their tautomers, are the most widely distributed kind of nitrogen-containing heterocycle in nature.
Aromaticity ( Kekule, Loschmidt, Thiele) is essential for the Krebs Cycle for energy production.
(Wikipedia)
C.
Natural selection is E (energy) temporarily constrained in an m (mass) format.Natural selection is a universal ubiquitous trait of ALL mass spin formats, inanimate and animate.
Life began/evolved on Earth with the natural selection of inanimate RNA, then of some RNA nucleotides, then arriving at the ultimate mode of natural selection – self replication of RNAs. ALL Earth life is evolved RNAs.Aromaticity enables good constraining of energy and good propensity to hydrogen bonding. The address of Earth Life Genesis, of phasing from inanimate to animate natural selection, is
Aromaticity.Hydrogen Bonding.Dov Henis (comments from 22nd century)
http://universe-life.com/
Earth Life Genesis@Aromaticity.Hydrogen Bonding
A.
Purines and pyrimidines are two of the building blocks of nucleic acids. Only two purines and three pyrimidines occur widely in nucleic acids.B.
Pyrimidine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound similar to benzene and pyridine, containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of the six-member ring.A purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, consisting of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. Purines, including substituted purines and their tautomers, are the most widely distributed kind of nitrogen-containing heterocycle in nature.
Aromaticity ( Kekule, Loschmidt, Thiele) is essential for the Krebs Cycle for energy production.
(Wikipedia)
C.
Natural selection is E (energy) temporarily constrained in an m (mass) format.Natural selection is a universal ubiquitous trait of ALL mass spin formats, inanimate and animate.
Life began/evolved on Earth with the natural selection of inanimate RNA, then of some RNA nucleotides, then arriving at the ultimate mode of natural selection – self replication of RNAs. ALL Earth life is evolved RNAs.Aromaticity enables good constraining of energy and good propensity to hydrogen bonding. The address of Earth Life Genesis, of phasing from inanimate to animate natural selection, is
Aromaticity.Hydrogen Bonding.Dov Henis (comments from 22nd century)
http://universe-life.com/
Dov Henis
http://universe-life.com/
1
http://pos-darwinista.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-darwiniana-da-destaque-ao-blog.html
Check out the Pos-darwinista blog from Brazil, a frequent linker here.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/confusing_evidence_for_common_051311.html
The debate over evolution and intelligent design can be confusing because some keys terms in the discussion are ambiguous. Some people use “evolution” to refer to something as simple as small changes in the sizes of bird beaks. Others use the same word to mean something much more far-reaching. Used one way, “evolution” isn’t controversial at all; used another way, it’s hotly debated.
Scientists Release Most Accurate Simulation of the Universe to DateScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — The Bolshoi supercomputer simulation, the most accurate and detailed large cosmological simulation run to date, gives physicists and astronomers a powerful new tool for understanding such cosmic mysteries as galaxy formation, dark matter, and dark energy.
‘Superfast’ Muscles Responsible for Bat EcholocationScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — As nocturnal animals, bats rely echolocation to navigate and hunt prey. By bouncing sound waves off objects, including the bugs that are their main diet, bats can produce an accurate representation of their environment in total darkness. Now, researchers at the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Pennsylvania have shown that this amazing ability is enabled by a physical trait never before seen in mammals: so-called “superfast” muscles.
Sharks Are in Trouble, New Analysis Confirms
ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2011) — Sharks are in big trouble on the Great Barrier Reef and worldwide, according to an Australian-based team who have developed a world-first way to measure rates of decline in shark populations.
Single Dose of ‘Magic Mushrooms’ Hallucinogen May Create Lasting Personality Change, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measurable personality change lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, according to the Johns Hopkins researchers who conducted it.
David Morris: GOP Goes Batty on the Postal Service
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-5
Robert Scheer: The Men We Trusted to Lead Us
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-8
Robert Jensen: As the Earth Turns: Going Global with Perennial Polyculture Agriculture
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-0
Robert C. Koehler: Beyond the Nation-State
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29
Linh Dinh: Banker Brutality: Beyond Tony Bologna
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-2
The Yes Men: Sorry, But This Trader’s Banking Confession Was No Prank
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-9
Mark Engler: Five Things That #OccupyWallStreet Has Done Right
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/29-6
Global Activists Win ‘Alternative Nobel’
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/29-4
Occupy Wall Street: Inquiries Launched as New Pepper-Spray Video Emerges
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/29-0
U.N. Reports Big Increase in Afghan Violence This Year
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/29
U.S. Considers Erecting Fences Along Canadian Border
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/29-2
Arctic Shell Game: No Spill Plan? Feds Say No Problem, Just Drill
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/09/29-4
Wall Street Occupiers in for the Long Haul
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/29-7
Unions Head to Wall Street
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/09/29-0
Correcting Sickle Cell Disease With Stem CellsScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2011) — Using a patient’s own stem cells, researchers at Johns Hopkins have corrected the genetic alteration that causes sickle cell disease (SCD), a painful, disabling inherited blood disorder that affects mostly African-Americans. The corrected stem cells were coaxed into immature red blood cells in a test tube that then turned on a normal version of the gene.
Indian religion and the Axial Age
The emergence of two world religions (more !) in the Axial period should be a warning to those who try to indulge in experiments on the religion front: you are on your own, and the result is likely to be a mess. The supreme manifestation of religion creation during the Axial period is matched with the secondary efforts that actually go into making religions, much later, e.g. Christianity. The results are always mixed. But we can begin to get a sense of the dynamics here, and can be wary of articial substitutes for the real thing.
http://www.amazon.com/review/RGY1J6TE2OA76/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
I reviewed Andrew Cohen’s new book on ‘evolutionary enlightenment’ yesterday and it has come online at Amazon reviews. Cohen’s confusion on evolution is great, and, worse, he doesn’t respond to any input. We have critiqued his views many times here, and at The Gurdjieff Con, and he could have taken a hint. Even if he were contemptuous of a mere peon like me he might have put two and two together to see how embarassingly bad his take on ‘evolution’ really is.
The evolution he speaks of is illusory, and not for Darwinian reasons.
This book is somehow different from his others (not in content): he as found some way to promote himself, perhaps the intro by the equally muddled Chopra has done the trick.
Be wary of this stuff. It is wrong thinking, and will simply add still more confusion to the whole mix. I will comment further over the next few days.
Cohen has muddled the whole idea of evolution, already muddled enough by scientists and Darwinists.
You need to defend yourself from confusion by adopting a ‘read the chroonicle’ approach: books on evolution are great when they try to describe the fossil record and the chronicle of species/forms, but they get into a quagmire when they try to produce theories.
Cohen is a puzzle??? This man is enlightened? Is this guy kidding?
Let me note that WHEE, despite some sidelines on a new form of theory, sticks to our chronicle approach: it tries to document an ‘evolutionary sequence’ in world history. Completely legitimate. Why because world history shows a clear developmental sequence, in fragments, if you have data at the level of centuries. The next question is, what does this ‘evolution’ in quotation marks have to do with earlier evolution, and/or the evolution of man? Answer: we don’t know, but we suspect that periods of rapid speciation, like the sudden emergence of homo sapiens, might have happened in a way that resembles the ‘evolution’ we see in history, genetics or no genetics. Whatever the case, our confidence in Darwinism nosedives. It is possible for very smart people who talk science to completely miss what evolution is.
Now, the term ‘spiritual evolution’ is not one that I use, but if you look at the ‘evolution’ in world history that I point to the section also called the Axial Age shows clear examples of what could be taken as ‘spitirual evolution’. The problem is that this is the same as the overall evolution of civilization. So the two are related in a larger synthesis. Quite logical, actually. You can see the way the two blend into each other by looking at ancient Greece: religion (polytheism), art, politics, and much else are transformed in sync. The reason is obvious: they are all compoents of one and the same culture.
In any case, you can see where Andrew Cohen et al. are getting confused. They want to make some kind of postmodern cultural substitute for standard culture (something they control) by redefining evolution as spiritual practice. But that tactic is totally off the mark. The sacred and the secular come together in massive does, and different movements, of the same symphony.
The review speaks for itself.
Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening
by Andrew Cohen
The muddle over evolution, September 28, 2011Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening (Hardcover)
The idea of evolution suffers from a certain incoherence due to the multiple almost predatory efforts to close in and control the idea for a certain agenda. The social Darwinist and economic ideologies claiming Darwinism are apparent from the study of cultural history. Beginning in the nineteenth century with Blavatsky, and a critique of Darwin, a new version of the attempt to control the evolutionary concept took off at the beginnings of the modern New Age movement. The figure Gurdjieff in a rival but parallel equivalent also adopted an unstated and crypto-social-darwinist version of the idea, not entirely distant (though not the same as) Nietzsche’s take on the idea. The occulted aspect of this genocidal and fascist legacy is hard to untangle. Cohen’s interpretation seems to resemble this second tradition in a deliberated innocence of the interpretation, but stating nothing about the complex and dangerous background to the muddle of evolutionary thought.
The usage of Cohen (which resembles various strains of ‘conscious evolution’ in several New Age figures, e.g. Barbara Hubbard) is as false as what it replaces, and leaves the reader somewhat nervous about what is omitted. We need more than New Age platitudes given the dark legacy of ‘evolutionary enlightenment’, e.g. the mass murder envisioned by the Nietschean on the way to the ‘overman’. Nietzsche, as we can see, was hopelessly confused by Darwin, even in his critique of that figure. The idea of evolution has thus become almost schizophrenically muddled from different sides. The idea of ‘spiritual evolution’ is not necessarily a false one, but the attempt to make it into some kind of adjunct to spiritual practice, indeed, as here, the path of enlightenment,confuses the whole idea. The fact of evolution is visible in deep time in the progression of fossil forms. The dynamic behind this remains elusive and still unknown to us. The issue is not ‘spiritual evolution’, but the evolution, as Alfred Wallace sensed it, of the human potential to self-realization, in the complex instrument of consciousness that emerged with homo sapiens. The potential to ‘enlightenment’ so-called clearly became a difficult but marginally realizable possibility for this new ‘chimpanzee’ (the third, pace, Jared Diamond) who arises in the wake of homo erectus. Understanding this moment of organismic transformation (which looks awfully like the ‘spiritual evolution’ Cohen is striving to understand) is simply beyond our science, and beyond our New Age gurus. The dynamics of that potential and the ‘how’ of its evolution remain unknown to us. But to posit some ‘evolutionary impulse’ behind this is simply metaphysical speculation on Cohen’s part. Another line of analysis lies with J. G. Bennett’s depiction in Vol 4 of The Dramatic Universe, where he distinguishes ‘animal consciousness’ and the ‘cosmic’ factor of universal conscious energy. That speculative matrix is entirely up in the air, but it suggests a cogent solution to the riddle: consciousness doesn’t evolve at all, rather, man evolved to the point where he could tune to a cosmic energy. This is admittedly as speculative as the rest of it (I am not as such in agreement with Bennett), but Bennett suggests a number of clues to what is really a HARD problem, in the phrasing of the scientific psychologists studying consciousness. More generally the ‘evolution’ of man is a ‘becoming into material realms’, while the potential to endlightenment is a countermovement against evolution into enlightenment, liberation. The spiritual psychology of Bennett, despite its sufi sources, shows a strong influence from that first of New Agers, Schopenhauer, who was also the last not confused by the idea of evolution, or the coming of Darwin. Despite his metaphysical bent, he correctly laid the (semantic) foundations of neo-buddhism (unwittingly in this strange naif)by suggesting that the path of release from the labyrinth of the ‘Will’ was in transcending by the individual of the ‘will’ in nature. That variant of the First Noble Truth seems more realistic than the bromide slogans of the current New Agers.This ‘hard’ problem includes the mystery, not just of consciousness, but of the human will (or lack of it) and much else,e.g. language, and its unknown evolution. It seems that the ‘evolution’ of human spirituality was thus accomplished at the earliest stage of man’s emergence, and that human potential has remained constant ever since. The real evolution to a new species of man with a different consciousness is a project so vast and difficult as to transcend human abilities. But man does ALREADY have a remarkable potential to ‘enlightenment’ built into his already evolved psyche. What the future holds is unknown, but we should stand back and declare our agnostic wonder at the real enigma of man’s evolution.
We should note in passing (since this review is getting long, I will continue in the comments, perhaps)that the ‘spiritual evolution’ of man is visible in world history, as in the dramatic evidence of the Axial Age. Clearly a macroevolution process stands behind the emergence of two world religions, and this tells us that it transcends enlightenment. There is something higher and deeper than enlightenment, which is a cosmic groundstate for man. The real evolution here is therefore something that remains science fiction to us, and is totally beyond our current powers as it involves global action over tens of millennia. Let us therefore be wary of ‘gurus’ who want to tell us what ‘evolution’ is. The cosmic nature of evolution is still beyond the ken of the ‘chimpanzees’, first to third, and last. A recent guru (Da Free John) got a lot of this wrong also, but he spoke well when he referred to our spiritual ignorance: we don’t know what anything is, and that includes ‘evolution’. There is a certain justice to that, since the idea of ‘evolution’ has been turned into a dangerous instrument of eugenic genocide in the hands of Darwinian lunatics, with New Age madmen no doubt no far behind in the totally misguided hope they will transform humanity unaided into the ‘overman’. Time for some ‘evolutionary disarmament’ and some fox hole self-defense against freaky monsters trying to evolve us, in Darwinian or other fashion.
You guys are nuts, apes! Sorry, what I meant was, you guys are apes, nuts!
Art, Evolution And The Tragic Genre
The comments on Tolkien are a good chance to review the data on this in the eonic effect, which shows a clear correlation with the emergence of variants of primordial tales in the Axial recastings of Greek literature. One reason Tolkien couldn’t find what he wanted in medieval English literature (driving him to write his own) beyond Beowulf is the timing of the eonic series: the ‘medieval’ period was an in between era, where the Greek corpus was active as Greece entered the Axial period.
These issues are too complex to start with, but they show that art is closely monitoring the macroevolution that has shaped human evolution.
It is a long long way from Darwinian confusions.