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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Electromagnetic Bases of the Universality of the Characteristics of Consciousness: Quantitative Support

Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol. 14.
JournalofCosmology.com, 2011

Electromagnetic Bases of the Universality of the Characteristics of Consciousness:
Quantitative Support Michael A. Persinger, Ph.D.
Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Abstract The similar magnitudes of magnetic fields involved with the cerebral operations correlated with consciousness and interstellar and galactic measures may be preconditions for a more universal existence of the conditions that facilitate consciousness phenomena. Quantitative estimates from induced magnetic moments, averaged densities of energies in the universe, electromagnetic interactions, and the temporal solutions derived from these measures suggest that the presence of consciousness-like phenomena within large extracerebral spaces may be more probable than anticipated. KEY WORDS: picoTesla magnetic fields; cerebral fields; extragalactic magnetic fields; Bohr magneton; probabilistic determinism; consciousness

1. Introduction: The Electromagnetic Bases of Consciousness
There is converging evidence that consciousness associated with the cerebral volume of the human brain may be identical with or strongly correlated with complex configurations of magnetic fields whose intensities are within the picoTesla (10^-12 T) range (Anninos et al, 1991; Persinger and Lavallee, 2010). In comparison, magnetic field strengths in the order of 10^-10 T within galaxies and galaxy clusters (Opher et al, 2009) and (unamplified) values with upper limits in the 10^-13 T range (Neronov and Vovk, 2010) for extragalactic fields have been measured or inferred. They might be considered superimposed upon cerebral values. In this paper, convergence of quantitative estimates and theoretical arguments suggest that the conditions for consciousness may be more universal than anticipated.
There are multiple approaches that suggest the importance of the picoTesla range for the operational magnetic field strength of the cerebral volume that is congruent with the occurrence of consciousness. This approach can assume that either the chemical reactions, neuroelectromagnetic fields, and synaptic spaces within the human cerebral volume create consciousness or the specific neuronal configurations within brain space allow the congruence with electromagnetic conditions that do not originate from neuronal processes, per se, that manifest consciousness. In other words consciousness can be assumed to emerge from the chemical interactions occurring between the approximately 10¹³ synapses within the cerebral cortices or as a field that is superimposed within the accompanying vast extracellular and perisynaptic space of this complex volume. The focus here is not to test either hypothesis directly but to discern the quantitative likelihood that the properties of consciousness may exhibit both non-local and local similarities.
Obviously the observation that "similar plus similar equals the same" is not necessarily valid. In addition, scalar identities do not easily reveal the complexity and information density (McFadden, 2002) that must exist as structure within the range of shared magnitudes of magnetic fields. Such spatial-temporal complexity (Tononi and Edelman, 1998) has been argued to be a fundamental characteristic of consciousness (Pribram and Meade, 1999). However a convergence of quantitative solutions could give perspective by which previously disparate levels of discourse might be integrated.
Some quantitative estimates from classical and nonclassical approaches are illustrative. The magnetic field associated with the typical current for an ion channel within the plasma membrane of the neuron is about 10^-12 A. Because the intrinsic energetic characteristics of the ion channel converge with multiple spatial properties that contribute to the resting membrane potential and those of the cerebral volume (Persinger and Lavallee, 2010) this value could be considered fundamental. Assuming an axon is a wire the resulting magnetic field B=(μi)/2πr where μ is permeability,i is the current (pA) and r=the distance across the membrane (10 nm) is within the 10 to 100 pT range.
The change in frequency, or a derivative of it, with which consciousness is often associated (Persinger et al, 2010) in non-angular systems from the application of a magnetic field with a strength of 10^-11 T would be, according to standard Zeeman solutions, within the 1 to 100 Hz range, which involves most of the band-width for the major cerebral correlates of consciousness. In this case, the change in frequency is the product of the strength of the magnetic field and a unit charge (1.6 x 10^-19 A s) divided by a constant times the mass of an electron. More specifically, a 40pT field in a non-angular system would produce a change in angular frequency of about 7 Hz. This frequency, and more specifically the theta (4 Hz to 7 Hz) band, is the pivotal frequency that relates the "40Hz" consciousness pattern (Llinas and Pare, 1991) of the cerebral cortical activity with the theta range of the hippocampal formation (Holtz et al, 2010; Lisman and Idiart, 1995; Persinger and Lavallee, 2010), the gateway to memory. From this context it may not be spurious (although unorthodox) that the mass (kg) of an electron divided by a unit charge (A s) multiplied by 7 Hz (1/s) yields a magnetic field strength of 40x 10^-12 T.
2. Effects of Galactic-level Intensities Upon the Magnetic Moment of Cerebral Matter
In previous papers and experimental research we have been pursuing the concept that minute changes in the intrinsic motions of electrons associated with weakly applied magnetic fields (B) may facilitate understanding of entanglement (Hu and Wu, 2008; Persinger et al, 2008; Persinger and Koren, 2007). The induced magnetic moment corresponding to the change in angular velocity (opposite to B) can be described as:

Δm=- [e²r²/4m_e] B where "e" is the unit charge, r=the Bohr radius and m_e is the mass of the electron. Classically one applies strong fields. However suppose the intrinsic cerebral magnetic field was applied, i.e., ~10 pT? If this is pursued and the appropriate values are multiplied (*) or divided then :{[(1.6 x 10^-19) A²s² * (5.1 x 10^-11) m2]/4 * 9.1 x 10^-31 kg}*10^-11 T results in 1.8 x 10^{^-40}Am² or J/T. This quantity is a very small value. However, if one assumes that a second extracerebral field such as that intrinsic within galaxies is superimposed upon a comparable consciousness field of ~10 pT, then the energy associated with this would be 1.8 x 10^-40J/T * 10^-11 T or 1.8 x 10^-51 J. The significance of this value becomes apparent because it approaches the rest mass of a photon when m²/s² approaches zero, i.e, between 10^-52 kg (Tu et al, 2005) and 10^-51 kg. What occurs at these boundaries is still a matter of speculation although experimental procedures to these implications have begun (Dotta et al, 2011).
What is theoretically more enlightening from the perspective of the considerations in this paper is that even this small amount of energy would have a period or a frequency which can be determined by the dividing Planck’s constant by this increment of energy. Hence, 6.624 x 10 ^-34 J s/ 1.8 x 10^-51 J is equal to 3.67 x 10¹⁷ s. In larger temporal aggregates this is 11.7 billion years, which is within the order of magnitude and variability of the coefficient of the age of the universe. There are several implications of this quantitative association. We have noted in neural systems that narrow bands of energy or ionic concentrations are interconnected and functionally related. For example the "neuroquantal" increment of ~ 10^-20 J (Persinger, 2010), the energy associated with a single action potential, the presumed corporeal bases of consciousness and thinking, (Δv=1.2 x 10^-1 V * 1.6 x 10^-19 As) also emerges: 1) at the distance between the charges on the neuronal membrane that create the resting membrane potential, 2) during the intersynaptic transformation of an action potential, 3) during phosphorylation, 4) as the intrinsic energy for the electromagnetic wavelength equivalent of a cell (~10 μm), and, 5) from the energy differential between the solution for the discrepancy between the classical and Compton radius for the electron (Persinger et al, 2008). This congruence between the generalized background of magnetic fields within and between galaxies and the magnetic field coupled to cerebral function would suggest a potential continuity that would not necessary require but also not exclude a neurophysics derived from the philosophies of Spinoza (see Grene, 1973) or Teilhard de Chardin (1955).
One possible model is that the intrinsic magnetic field of the galaxy constitutes the first field that affects the Δm but the application of the second, from consciousness, is required to produce the energy whose temporal solution is the age of the universe. If the latter is valid then changing the intensity of the secondary applied field associated with consciousness would by solution potentially change the age of the universe. That the act of measurement or awareness can affect the measurement is an intrinsic feature of Heisenberg’s uncertainty. It may be relevant that if we assume complete certainty of the location of an electron with a classical radius of 2.82 x 10^-15 m then the uncertainty of momentum is 6.624 x 10^-34 J s/2.82 x 10^-15 m or 2.35 x 10^-19 kg m/s (Aczel, 2002). At the average bulk velocity of the transcerebral magnetic fields associated with consciousness, ~ 4.5 m/s (Nunez, 1995; Persinger and Lavallee, 2010), the energy would be 10^-20 J, the essential quantal unit of thinking and by extension consciousness.
3. The Implication of One Neuron Affecting Cerebral Function
The implications of the recent replications that the firing of only one neuron is sufficient to alter the microstate of the entire cerebral manifold (Li et al, 2009) or determine the 0,1 condition for a rat (Houwelling and Brecht, 2008) to respond or not respond overtly (which requires hundreds of thousands of coordinated neurons) have relevance to any model of consciousness which assumes a distribution over immense numbers of synapses. Given the typical power density of 10^-13 W/m² of cosmic ray (proton) incidence from potentially distant galaxies upon the earth’s surface, this means that the energy within the area of a single cortical column (with a width of about 0.5 mm or .25 x 10-6 m2), which is often statistically determines (controlled) by a single neuron, is about 10^-20 J/s, the energy associated with a single action potential.
We (Koren and Persinger, 2010) have previously estimated that the energy density of the entire universe which can be discerned by the energy equivalence of its mass (~10⁵² kg) is 10⁶⁹J. When divided by a likely volume of 10⁷⁹ m³, the average value is about 10^-1 J/m³. The energy density within the human brain associated with 10⁶ neurons each firing at 10 Hz with an action potential energy of 10^-20 J is 10^-13 J and when divided by the volume of the human brain (about 10^-3 m³) would be 10^-10 J/m³. Consequently if we assume that conditions with shared vector solutions can potentially interact or at least be resonant, the energy within brain space would be congruent with this average of the whole volume of the universe and would satisfy one of the conditions for a hologram.
4. "Free Will" versus Cosmic Statistical Determinism
In light of the recent interest in radio stars and the measurements of 10^-11 Tesla averaged intergalactic and intragalactic magnetic fields, which overlap with the operating intensity of cerebral functions, one obvious question is would there be congruent solutions with the energy of these stars? The energy flux from radio stars is ~10^-16 [W/m²]/Hz. If we assume the intrinsic brain resonance frequency is 7 Hz (the theta range), then the energy is 6.624 x 10^-34 J s * 7 Hz or 46.37 x 10^-34 J per second (watts). The equivalent within cross-sectional space would be that value divided by 10^-22 W/m² or effectively an area with a diameter of about 10 μm (7 μm to be more exact) which is the within the range of the width of an average cell soma, including the neuron. As mentioned, the electromagnetic energy equivalence of 9 to 10 μm, is 10^-20 J (Persinger, 2010). The differences in coefficients would be within measurement error and the normal distributions around a central tendency.
In other words the energy equivalence in a 1 Hz band from radio stars would match the energy of a 7 Hz photon applied to cell-level space. Does this suggest that under specific conditions the change in output superimposed upon or reflected as alterations in "noise", that is cosmic ray incidence, could influence the theta activity range of the human brain and subsequently affect perception, memory, consciousness, and even the perception of "choice" or free will? It may be relevant that Charles Fort (Persinger and Lafreniere, 1977) frequently noted the "coincidence" of mass human events and environmental oddities at the time that "new" stars were first observed or "old" stars "disappeared". These "excess correlations" were dismissed by Fort’s contemporaries. However, if only one neuronal quantum can change the behavior of a rat or alter the microstate of the entire cerebral manifold, the question must at least be considered: at what distance can we exclude a potential source?
5. Energy Densities of the Human Brain and the Biosphere
The issue of similarities, perhaps manifested as "scale invariance", between macroscopic and cerebral electromagnetic phenomena is at present difficult to answer for galactic magnetic fields because of the limited resolution. However, the marked similarities of electromagnetic patterns within the earth's surface ionosphere shell is not only revealing philosophically but potentially important for understanding human cerebral function. The energy density from 10¹⁰ neurons within the entire cerebral human volume would be about 10^-7 J/m³. There are about 70 to 100 lightning flashes per second world wide, most of which occur within a narrow shell of about 2 km within the biosphere. Assuming a typical 10 Coulomb (C) flow of electrons across a potential difference of 10⁸ V, the energy would be 10⁹ J per flash for a total of 10¹¹ J/s world wide. The volume of the shell within which the electromagnetic fields associated with lightning patterns occurs is about 10¹⁸ m³ which yields a density of 10^-7 J/m³.
This value is convergent with the average energy density within the human cerebrum associated with thinking and neuronal activity. If about 5 C is distributed within a lightning channel with an average current of 100 A, and is contained within a radius of 1 cm, the resulting cross-sectional current density is about 10⁵ A/m². The area of the annulus around a 1 μm width axon of average length is about 10^-14 m². Given the average current of 10^-9A from the approximately 10³ ion channels each with 1 pA capacities, the cross-sectional current density would be equivalent to ~10⁵ A/m². Such identities of quantitative solutions are not incidental. For example both lightning and the action potential of the axon share the correlates of nitric oxide production, shared salutatory and pulse patterns, similar mass-charge velocity ratios, and interface times between ground-stroke and axon-dendritic back-propagations. The average magnitude of the magnetic field of the primarily 7 Hz to 40 Hz oscillations within the earth-ionosphere cavity is in the order of 1 pT to 10 pT.
6. Conclusions and Implications
Quantitative similarities and calculated solutions for the intensities of magnetic fields associated with cerebral function and those that exist within intra- and extragalactic space suggest that the energetic conditions associated with consciousness and its many variants may be more universal than anticipated. If scale invariance is operative, then the volumes within which the conditions associated with human varieties of consciousness emerge may be substantially larger but would display comparable characteristics. The marked similarities between action potentials and the lightning strikes that generate the earth’s own 1 to 10 pT, 7 Hz to 40Hz "manifold" also strongly indicate that if consciousness is simply a property of specific electromagnetic patterns and intensities, a variety of these conditions may exist within extracerebral systems.

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Evolution of Consciousness in the Ancient Corners of the Cosmos

Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol. 14.
JournalofCosmology.com, 2011

Evolution of Consciousness in the Ancient Corners of the Cosmos Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.
Emeritus, Brain Research Laboratory, California

Abstract Data from genetics, microbiology, astrobiology, astrophysics and cosmology, leads invariably to the conclusion that life has evolved on innumerable planets, including on worlds much older than our own. This article speculates on the nature and evolution of these life forms, and how their intelligence, brains and minds may have evolved. This theoretical article addresses a variety of issues such as: What might be the nature of life on planets with a chemistry and environment completely unlike our own? If complex life exists on worlds billions of years older than Earth, how and in what way might it have evolved? Consider our own planet. If we don't die out and continue to evolve, and if science marches on, what might humans be like a million years from now? What about ten million, a hundred million, or a billion years from now? Might they have 10 layers of neocortex instead of six? Might the lobes of the brain have greatly expanded conferring intellectual and perceptual abilities which completely dwarf our own? Might they genetically engineer their own evolution? There are stars which shine in the darkness of night which were born billions of years before the Earth was formed. The nature and evolution of life on these ancient worlds is presented.
Key Words: Aliens, Consciousness, Extraterrestrials

1. We Are Not Alone
Do Extra-terrrestrials exist? There are five lines of evidence which indicate the answer is "yes."
1. In 1970 lunar soil samples were returned to Earth by the Luna 16 spacecraft in a hermetically sealed container and photographed (Rode et al., 1979). The photographs were later examined by Drs. Stanislav Zhmur, and Lyudmila M. Gerasimenko, who identified what they believed to be microfossils of coccoidal bacteria which resembled Siderococcus or Sulfolobus (Klyce, 2000; Zhmur and Gerasimenko, 1999). A third fossilized impression from the lunar surface resembles a spiral filamentous micro-Ediacaran (Joseph & Schild 2010), a species which became extinct over 500,000 years ago. In 2009, this author shared this photograph with five world-renowned experts in Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian fauna, and four of the 5 identified it as a microfossil, but too small to be an Ediacaran.
2. In 1971, a TV camera from the lunar Surveyor Space Craft was retrieved by Apollo 12 astronauts, after sitting 3 years on the moon, and a single bacterium (Streptococcus mitis) was found within (Mitchell & Ellis, 1971). In addition, the lunar camera was discovered to be covered with a film of "organic material of unknown origin" (Flory and Simoneit, 1972; Simoneit and Burlingame, 1971). The possibility of contamination prior to sending the camera to the moon, or after it was returned, was ruled out by the scientists who made this discovery. It is impossible that the microbe was the result of some other form of contamination, such as a sneeze or cough. Since a droplet of saliva contains an average of 750 million organisms, if contamination of the lunar TV camera was due to a scientist's inadvertent cough or sneeze, a multitude of related bacteria, and a "representation of the entire microbial population would be expected," rather than a single species and a single organism (Mitchell & Ellis, 1971). Moreover, this Streptococcus mitis was dormant, but came back to life.
3. There is evidence of extant life on Mars as detected by the 1976 Viking Mission Labeled Release experiment, which exploited the sensitivity of 14C respirometry and obtained positive responses at Viking 1 and 2 sites on Mars. The results indicated the possibility of living microorganisms on the red planet (Levin 2010;Levin & Straat 1976).
4. Microfossils resembling various species of bacteria, including cyanobacteria have been repeatedly discovered in meteors older than this soler system (Claus and Nagy 1961; Hoover 1998, 2006, 2011; Pflug 1984; Nagy et al. 1961,1963a,b; Zhmur and Gerasimenko 1999; Zhmur et al. 1997)
5. Two separate teams of scientists have determined, based on a genomic analysis, that DNA-based life has a genetic ancestry leading backwards in time over 10 billion years (Joseph & Wickramasinghe 2011; Sharov 2009), which is twice the age of Earth.
However, none of these discoveries provide direct evidence for complex extra-terrestrial eukaryotic life. Nevertheless, the recent discoveries reported by Richard Hoover (2011), coupled with a wealth of data from genetics, microbiology, and astrobiology detailed in the edited text, "The Biological Big Bang," (Wickramasinghe 2011), leads inescapably to the conclusion we are not alone and that complex life could have evolved on innumerable Earth-like planets--life forms which may have also evolved a human-like consciousness.
Richard Hoover (2011), for example, has presented evidence of ancient bacterial microfossils resembling cyanobacteria in 3 separate meteorites; the remains of organisms which dwelled on astral parent bodies which may have included moons, comets, and planets older than Earth. Hoover also found the remnants of cynobacteria mats which can take up to 6 months to form. And they were discovered in a meteor older than Earth. It is Cyanobacteria which helped create the oxygen atmosphere of this planet. Cyanobacteria also secrete calcium when creating their mats, and this calcium made it possible for shells, bones, and the skeletal system to evolve (Joseph 2010).
Cyanobacteria are a hardy species, and can live in extreme environments. Therefore, if Cyanobacteria are deposited on Earth-like planets, it can be assumed they would also biologically engineer these alien worlds, providing them with an oxygen atmosphere and flooding the environment with calcium, thereby making it possible for the evolution of bones and brains and for life to evolve into intelligent species, similar to or completely different from, and possibly more intelligent than woman and man.
Most scientists will agree that life on this planet evolved from single celled microbes. Moreover, there is evidence of biological activity in this planet's oldest rocks dated to over 4.2 billion years ago (Nemchin et al., 2008; O'Neil, et al., 2008) when Earth was bombarded with extraterrestrial debris. Therefore, life was present on this planet from the beginning. As there is absolutely no convincing evidence that life began on Earth via an Earthly-abiogenesis, then it seems reasonable to assume that living creatures fell to Earth encased in stellar debris which pounded the Earth for 700 millions years after the creation (Joseph 2000a, 2009a, 2010). Similar events must have taken place on innumerable planets, thereby allowing life to take root and evolve. And if these planets were Earth-like, then life would have also evolved.
And what if these bacterial "seeds of life" fell upon planets unlike our own? If they could take root and flourish, they might evolve into creatures completely unlike those of Earth. This might account for the truly "alien" microbes discovered by Hoover (2011).
In fact, even if we accept that life on Earth began via an Earthly-abiogenesis, then the same must have taken place on a hundred million planets in this galaxy alone.
The implications are profound. It can be assumed that life is everywhere and has a cosmic ancestry which extends backwards in time, interminably into the long ago, and that intelligent life has evolved on countless Earth-like planets (Joseph 2010). And we can predict that life must have continued to evolve on innumerable worlds which are much older than Earth.
But what forms might they take? Might they be human? Intelligent plants? Insects that ask: "are we alone?"
What might be the nature of life on planets with a chemistry and environment completely unlike our own? If complex life exists on worlds billions of years older than Earth, how and in what way might it have evolved? Consider our own planet. If we don't die out, and if science marches on, what might humans be like a million years from now? What about ten million, a hundred million, or a billion years from now? They might seem as "gods" even if they were still human. There are stars which shine in the darkness of night which were born billions of years before the Earth became a twinkle in "god's eye." What might be the nature of life on these ancient worlds?
2. Life in Other Galaxies
Life is everywhere, throughout our galaxy and the cosmos, and life has evolved on planets much older than our own.
Be it a finite (Big Bang) or infinite universe, life many have achieved life, numerous times, but life need only have been fashioned once to spread throughout the cosmos via dispersal mechanisms of panspermia, e.g., comets, asteroid impact, solar winds, rogue planets. Bacteria, archae, and viruses are the ideal intergalactic messengers and can survive and flourish in most any environment. Therefore, it is highly likely that other planets and moons orbiting other stars in this galaxy are also host to single celled organisms which were generated via abiogenesis, and/or which came to live on these worlds after their ancestors were deposited on these planets encased in planetary debris. And it can be predicted that life on some of these planets has evolved, and that viruses and prokaryotes carrying copies of these highly evolved genes have been dispersed to other planets, solar systems, and galaxies thanks to meteor impact, solar winds, and even colliding galaxies (Joseph 2000, 2009a, 2010; Joseph & Schild, 2010). And once deposited on other planets, these microbes may have exchanged genes with the denizens of those worlds, thus influencing the trajectory of evolution on those planets, or if lifeless but located in a habitable zone these microbial sojourners from the stars may have biologically engineered these worlds thus making it possible for more complex species to evolve.
The number of galaxies in the known, Hubble length universe, is unknowable, though if we were to venture a guess, it might be a trillion sextillion. As detailed in this text, life could have been independently generated in every galaxy, via abiogenesis taking place in nebular clouds, comets, or those planets equipped with the right ingredients. A single galaxy, such as Andromeda, may contain over a trillion stars (Mould, et al., 2008), each of which is likely ringed with planets. Thus each galaxy likely contains trillions of planets, at least some of which are crawling with life. However, in an infinite, eternal universe, life had to be generated only once and its progeny could then be transferred throughout the cosmos.
Life may be transferred between galaxies when galaxies collide or begin to orbit one another, as is the case with the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy and the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, which orbit and have exchanged stars with the Milky Way (Chou, et al., 2009; Majewski et al., 2003; Martin et al., 2004). Galaxies are in motion and crash into one another from every conceivable direction. It is believed that Andromeda and the Milky Way galaxies will collide in just a few billion years (Cox and Loeb 2008). During collisions, as galaxies merge or as stars (and their planets) are stripped away and exchanged, it is certainly conceivable that life living deep beneath the surface of host planets, would survive galactic transfer. And once in a new galaxy, they could then spread to other solar systems, thereby transferring genes between galaxies.
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is common between viruses and prokaryotes, prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and eukaryotes and viruses. Therefore, it can be predicted that genes are shared when organisms from different solar systems and galaxies come in contact (Joseph 2000a, 2010; Joseph & Schild 2010). Through HGT, genetic evolution on one planet, can effect the evolution of species on other planets and even in other galaxies.
Although we can only speculate about the nature of life on other galaxies, we know that carbon-based life equipped with DNA has certainly taken root in the Milky Way. Therefore, it is certainly possible that different galaxies may host DNA/carbon-based life. It is equally likely they also harbor completely alien and unique, non-DNA, non-carbon based life.

It is possible that planets circling stars within the inner arms of the Milky Way galaxy may harbor life forms considerably different from those in the outer arms, where our own sun and planet are located. Therefore, those planets and stars closest to our own would be more likely to host life which is similar to life on Earth as compared to those much further away. And the same may be true of galaxies, with those at the greatest distance from our own being populated with organisms which may become increasingly different with distance. It is conceivable that various corners of the cosmos may be populated by non-cellular or non-DNA derived entities, some of which may also be highly evolved yet in ways that defy human (DNA-based) comprehension. This may be particularly true of life in the most distant galaxies abnd those whose chemistry may be radically different from our own and which may harbor organisms with a completely different chemistry.
Life on Earth is probably just a sample of life's possibilities.
3. Life, the Habitable Zone and Genetic Engineering of the Biosphere
The nature of life on other planets, at least in our own Milky Way galaxy, likely includes single celled organisms, similar to, if not identical to archae and bacteria, particularly those referred to as extremophiles. Stars give off light and radiation, and rocky planets contain minerals, metals, and a variety of gases, such as hydrogen or even carbon dioxide belched out by volcanoes. Some of these worlds are completely or partially covered with vast amounts of water. Therefore, we can predict that innumerable planets, particularly those located in habitable zones, are crawling with photosynthetic and chemosynthetic organisms and those which feast on acids and metals. We could also venture that these organisms release gases as waste products, such as methane and oxygen. Simple life forms which can extract energy from these "wastes" would also evolve, as well predators which would feast on these microbes, and scavengers which would consume the dead. These creatures would also exchange genes, thereby contributing to evolutionary innovation.
On Earth, horizontal gene exchange is a common currency of exchange among viruses, prokaryote and eukaryotes. The eukaryotic genome was largely shaped by prokaryote and viral genes which triggered multi-cellularity (Joseph 2010). As detailed in this text, these genetic interactions have played a key role in the evolution and diversification of increasingly complex and intelligent species, including modern humans. Other major factors contributing to biological complexity include the environment, the genetically engineered biosphere, and the location of our planet in the habitable zone.

Evolution of complex forms would not have been possible if this planet had been located too close or far away from the sun. Location in the habitable zone, coupled with the rocky watery nature of Earth, also made it possible for the planet's biosphere to be genetically engineered in preparation for those yet to be born. For example, oxygen and calcium had to be manufactured and released in massive quantities, which enabled oxygen breathing creatures with calcium skeletons to evolve and then emerge from the sea, protected by an ozone layer produced by oxygen interacting with sunlight. Thus prokaryotes not only donated genes to eukaryotes, but altered the environment, which triggered the activation of some of these donated genes, thereby promoting the evolution of species perfectly adapted for a world which had been created for them. On Earth, this took over 4 billion years, and once the critical levels of oxygen, calcium, and other elements, had been reached, there was an explosion of complex life such that every modern phyla emerged within a span of less than 40 million years, beginning 540 million years B.P. The biologically altered environment acted on gene expression, and these genes or their antecedents, can be traced backwards in time to viruses and prokaryotes whose ancestry leads to other, more ancient worlds (Joseph 2000a, 2010).
On Earth, the trajectory of evolutionary development continued to enfold over the ensuing 540 million years; a progression which led from boneless fish, to fish, amphibian, reptile, repto-mammals, therapsid, mammal, prosimian primate, monkey, ape, and a dozen or more species of pre-humans. The first species of Homo emerged around 2 million years ago, and via various branching evolutionary trajectories, one branch of Homo evolved into anatomically and neurologically modern humans 30,000 years B.P., whereas others led to evolutionary dead ends, such as Neanderthal.
Given that animal metamorphosis on this planet has been characterized by an obvious step-wise, sometimes leaping linear progression of increasing intelligence, complexity and brain power, it could therefore be predicted that a similar process has occurred on those life bearing worlds similar to our own and which are much older than our own, and those completely alien to our own, such as worlds covered completely with water.
As a progressive increase in intelligence and complexity is characteristic of animal life on this planet, and as up to 90% of the modern human genome is silent and has yet to be expressed (that is, on Earth), it can be predicted that human evolution will continue into the future. Similarly, human-like or animal-like aliens evolving in the older regions of the cosmos would have continued to evolve and undergo metamorphosis, surpassing our own level of development a long time ago. However, it is also likely that these evolutionary-advanced alien life forms, may not be human.
4. Extinction and Evolutionary Possibilities
The path to mammals and humans is just one of genetic evolution's many possibilities. Yet other roads have led to plants, birds, and insects. Although much of the biomass of this planet has not evolved and consists of single celled prokaryotes, the genes donated by prokaryotes (and viruses) to eukaryotes have evolved, and evolution is the hallmark of multi-cellular life on this planet. Life evolves and evolution is a characteristic of life. Thus, there is no reason to conclude that evolution has come to a halt with humans or that evolution does not take place on other worlds.
As extinction and evolution are the nature of life on Earth (Elewa and Joseph 2009; Joseph 2009b), humans may continue to evolve. Or humans may become extinct, and yet other species may take the next evolutionary steps equipped with "human genes" acquired through horizontal gene transfer made possible with the assistance of viruses, archae and bacteria.
Dinosaurs were the dominant species for over 200 million years, but became extinct, paving the way for the ascendency of increasingly intelligent mammals, which led to humans. Every wave of extinction promotes the next stage of evolutionary development, with the progeny of some relatively primitive species becoming much more advanced than those which died out. For example, the egg laying therapsids evolved from repto-mammals and then evolved into and were largely (but not completely) replaced by mammals. Dinosaurs, however, also descended form repto-mammals, and some dinosaurs evolved into birds.
Mammals, insects, and plants also share common ancestors and many genes, including genes contributed by cyanobacteria to the eukaryotic genome nearly 4 billion years ago and probably repeatedly thereafter. Humans, insects, plants, and dinosaurs share common genetic ancestors. If, like the dinosaurs, humans and other mammals also become extinct, evolution would be expected to continue and shared genes might be expressed in plants or insects. Might the Earth of the future be populated with highly evolved intelligent plants with brains, or two-legged insects which gaze into the heavens and wonder: "Are we alone?" Could similar events have taken place on other planets?
5. Genetics and the Nature of Exo-Biological Organisms
It is reasonable to suspect that evolutionary metamorphosis is a principle of life not only on Earth, but on every rocky-watery planet located in the habitable zone of its solar system. Since evolution (and extinction) is characteristic of life on Earth, the same would be true of most every Earth-like planet which harbors microbes capable of biologically modifying the environment.
That does not mean, however, that creatures identical to humans will necessarily "evolve" on every suitable, genetically engineered world. The three domains and five Kingdoms of Life which have taken root on Earth may represent only a partial sample of life and its manifold possibilities as it evolves and struggles for existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
On Earth, the evolution of multi-cellular complexity was made possible via horizontal gene exchange from prokaryotes and viruses, the development of symbiotic relationships where genetically stripped down prokaryotes took up residence within eukaryotes, the insertion of viral genes into the eukaryotic genome, and then complex genetic interactions which altered and repeatedly increased the size of the gene pool and which acted on the environment which acted on gene expression (Joseph 2000a). As is apparent from an examination of the genomes of most species, genes may be shuffled, new genes created, different sections of nucleotides may be suppressed or activated, such that innumerable combinations of genetic elements may be expressed giving rise to diverse traits, characteristics, and species. However, different genetic combinations may prevail on other planets and in environments markedly different from our world. Complex, intelligent species may evolve which are completely unlike anything which has evolved on Earth.
As on Earth, it is likely that some extraterrestrials possess the same "universal" genetic code and a similar genetic endowment consisting of genes made up of nucleotides. Because the three domains and five kingdoms of Earthly life all contain DNA and consist of cellular components, we can make certain predictions about the characteristics of at least some extraterrestrial creatures within our own galaxy and on planets in solar systems closest to Earth. Some alien life forms, like Earth based creatures, consist of living cells. These cells would protect their genes within a nucleus, probably require water, and might have acquired electrical-chemical, generative powers for active transport of food, waste, and the transmission and reception of important messages. Some exobiological organisms would have evolved five or more senses and a brain that could process that information.
Provided a variable Earth-like environment that was susceptible to genetic engineering, we could predict that on certain worlds, over time, a somewhat similar step wise sequence of increasing intelligence, complexity and diversity would take place involving numerous extinctions. Plants and insects, and animals reminiscent of reptiles, repto-mammals, therapsids, mammals, primates, and human-like creatures might likely blossom and unfold; which does not mean they would look like their Earthly counterparts.
6. Alien Minds
There are trillions upon trillions of ancient galaxies consisting of a trillion trillion trillion trillion aged solar systems that are likely ringed with planets -many probably quite like our own. And, just as Life has "evolved" on this world, it could be predicted that Life has emerged on at least a few of these planetary archipelagoes and this would include creatures who long ago "evolved" in a fashion similar to woman and man.
We can predict that those aliens who are genetically related to the Animal Kingdom of Life would be intelligent, and have brains comprised of nerve cells and DNA. Almost all members of the Animal Kingdom, be they vertebrate or invertebrate, have specialized nerve cells and neurons that possess greatly enhanced information processing and intellectual capabilities, as compared to other cells.
Earth based vertebrate and invertebrate brain organization is basically identical at the neuronal level, e.g. possessing cell bodies, dendrites, axons, chemical neurotransmitters and peptides. Further, the genes coding for brain tissues are similar across species and were inherited from common ancestors which were brainless. These genes, or their precursors, did not randomly evolve. Many can be traced backwards in time to the first eukaryotes and prokaryotes whose ancestors hailed from other planets. As prokaryotes and viruses are the ideal intergalactic genetic messengers and can survive in most any environment, then some of this same genetic luggage was likely delivered not just to new Earth, but innumerable other planets.
Hence, those aliens related to the Animal Kingdom of Life and possessing similar genes, would also have evolved brains. Of course, these alien brains may differ from their counterparts on Earth depending on the age, size, climate, and physical-chemical nature of the planet in question.

(Left) Brain 500 mya. (Right) Ventral View Human Brain
Animal life on some planets would likely undergo a similar evolutionary sequence in cerebral structural and hierarchical organization and expansion, as is apparent in the progression from fish to primate brain; a process referred to as encephalization. The brain grows larger and more complex. This would include alien brains organized in a fish-like, reptilian, mammalian/primate/human-like fashion. If they have evolved in a manner similar to humans, they may have human-like praxic, creative, technological and linguistic capabilities. If they have evolved beyond humans, then they may have evolved intellectual capabilities which dwarf our own.

Hence, aliens genetically related to the Animal Kingdom of Life, might posses a midbrain, and brainstem, which would control attention, movement, and sound and visual perception. Their brain would likely include an olfactory forebrain and limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, septal nuclei, cingulate) which would mediate all aspects of sex, socialization, love, aggression, memory and emotion, including hunger and thirst. And among the advanced species, they would have evolved a six or seven layered neocortex that would overlay and shroud the older portions of the brain and subserve language and thought and thus the rational mind.

As humans have a propensity for exploration, curiosity and the seeking of knowledge, it could be assumed that those aliens who have reached a similar or advanced level of neurological development would, like Earthlings, share similar social, emotional, and intellectual inclinations, including curiosity, jealously, and pride. Regardless of differences in physical appearance, some advanced alien species -at least those who have evolved from mammal-like creatures, would likely behave, feel, and think in a manner grossly similar to human Earthlings.
For example, like humans, it might be expected that some aliens would thirst for knowledge, or revel in games, sports, competition, conquest, exploitative acquisition, and the glory of rape and slaughter of war. Like modern humans, some aliens would be conquering, enslaving, predatory killers, with little or no compasion for the vanquished. Some aliens might be expected to behave in an irrational and destructive manner, whereas yet others would be seekers of knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual growth.
However, humans or other animals which evolved on planets billions of years older than Earth, may have long ago acquired new brain tissues and new layers of neocortex, and might be capable of processing sensory information which human-Earthling brains may fail to perceive much less comprehend. The humans of Earth have 6 layers of neocortex (which houses the rational, intellectual, logical, analytical regions of the mind). Those who live in the older regions of the cosmos may have evolved 8 or 10, or 12 layers which may be even thicker and contain more neurons than their earthly counterparts.

And these evolutionary-advanced extraterrestrials may have experienced expansions in those areas of the brain, such as the frontal lobe which are associated with foresight, judgement, planning skills, and the ability to form long term goals and anticipate long term consequence. These aliens would be correspondingly much more intelligent and creative than any Earthling. If that were the case, they may be able to perceive, deduce, discover, analyze, and assimilate juxtapositions and interrelationships that would be completely beyond human conception.
Alien species need not have evolved on older worlds to have evolved sensory capabilities which dwarf those of human Earthlings. Consider a planet where highly intelligent species have evolved the ability to see via the polarization of light as is the case with insects, and who use echolocation (biosonar), similar to that employed by shrews, bats, and cetaceans. These aliens would be able see objects and animals whose location and shape are defined by sound and would be sensitive to spectrums of light invisible to human eyes. And what if they also evolved the ability to navigate in space by sensing their planet's magnetic fields, as is the case with birds. Coupled that with increased auditory, tactual and olfactory chemo-sensory perception in a wide range of species. Although the humans of Earth have five senses, there is every reason to suspect that given countless worlds, that some life forms may have developed 10 or more highly developed senses, and a highly developed brain capable of processing this information. There are over a trillion sextillion galaxies in the observable regions of this universe. Each galaxy is likely ringed with a 500 billion to a trillion stars, many with planets like our own. A sextillion sextillion planets in the tiny fragment of the cosmos so far observed. What is the likelihood that only this tiny spec of rock, air and water, our Earth, is the only planet that has evolved intelligent life? What is the likelihood that human intelligence is the crown of creation, and that intellectual evolution stops with us?
7. Extra-Terrestrials: Where Are They?
In 1972 and 1973, NASA attached a pair of gold anodized aluminum plaques to the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft, in the hope they would be intercepted by aliens. The plaques featured a nude male and female, along with several symbols designed to tell extraterrestrials about humans and the location of the Earth.

In 1977 NASA sent a complex recorded message to the peoples of other planets: the Voyager Golden Record, which was attached to the Voyager spacecraft. This was NASA's way of saying to Aliens: "hello!"
So far, Aliens have not responded.
Where are they? Why haven't they announced their presence?
From the perspective of a hypothetical ET, maybe what has taken place on this planet is so common and mundane, there is no motivation to communicate with a world that is just like a trillion other planets swarming with human-like creatures. Or maybe the humans of Earth are so violent we have been cut off from the rest of the cosmos, isolated, like a disease.
The nature of life, is death, over 99% of all species have become extinct. If the history of the Earth were a 24-hour clock, fully modern humans have been on this planet for only 15 seconds. Unlike other animals, humans flirt with species-wide mass suicide and mutual self-destruction. The human animal can also become extinct. Maybe this is what the future has in store and this is characteristic of human life on other planets.
If human life evolved on other worlds, perhaps they are no more; self-destructing in poisoned planets or the nuclear fires of their own making. Maybe this is a pattern throughout the cosmos: humans evolve and destroy human-life, bequeathing their planets to insects and microbes: the end.
...And before the universe could take a breath, they were no more.
Given our own curiosity as to life elsewhere in the cosmos, it is certainly conceivable that some of those who have evolved in the more ancient corners of the cosmos might be interested in and quite capable of not just observing, but visiting the Earth. If that is the case, it might be asked, then why don't they announce themselves and open up lines of communication?
Perhaps, like good anthropologists they merely observe and gather information, and for the most part leave Earthlings to behave largely unmolested. Speculating wildly, maybe making contact is prohibited and is even against some type of Cosmic Law. Or perhaps there is little or no motivation to visit a world that is just like a trillion other planets swarming with violent, sex-obsessed, power-hungry human-like creatures.
The Search for E.T. relies almost exclusively on the analysis of radio broadcasts. These radio signals are analyzed, for example, by the Megachannel Extra-Terrestrial Assay (META) program. In 2002, Backus and Tarter of SETI believed they'd picked up 11 radio signals, out of 60 trillion, which could not be explained by non-living sources or from Earth. Basing their search and analysis on what they know of human behavior and human technology, SETI decided these 11 signals were probably alien broadcasts. They had all the signatures scientists expect of a human radio transmitter, a frequency that could be transmitted across interstellar space and a very small bandwidth. SETI had discovered humans on another planet? NOPE. Not unless the aliens were playing hide the sausage, because one day it was there, and the next, it was gone. According to the late Carl Sagan these radio signals should be continuous.
All these assumptions are based on a human-centric POV. Sagan, NASA, SETI, all assume aliens behave like humans, think like humans, act like humans, communicate the say way. Problem is, they complain, the universe is getting in the way of finding our brothers and sisters on distant worlds. Interstellar gas clouds and atmospheric turbulence, and a host of other difficulties are believed to be the culprit, when in fact, the problem appears to be with the assumptions of the searchers. Aliens may not be anything like the humans of Earth.
As is apparent from an examination of the genomes of most species, the vast majority of their DNA is silent, the information they contain, unknown. This silent DNA may well have been expressed on other planets giving rise to innumerable species that might never be able to survive on this planet.
It is conceivable that various corners of the cosmos may be populated by non-cellular or non-DNA or non-carbon derived entities, some of which may also be highly evolved yet in ways that defy human (DNA-based) comprehension. This may be particularly true of life in distant galaxies; that is, those whose chemistry is radically different from our own.
8. Do Aliens Listen to the Radio or Watch TV?
There are many who scoff at the idea that life exists anywhere but Earth. For decades the skies have been scoured for extra-terrestrial radio transmissions. The failure to detect them is believed to be evidence that we are truly alone, and that life is present only on Earth which is special and unique.
It is naive, however, to believe that radio or TV transmissions are a yardstick for the measure of intelligent alien life. Highly creative, artistic, talented, and intelligent humans sporting a brain 1/3 larger than modern humans, stalked the Earth over 30,000 years B.P, i.e. the Cro-Magnon peoples (Joseph 2000b). Without benefit of radio, TV, or electricity, Neolithic cultures built Stonehenge, the ancient Egyptians erected the pyramids and in ancient China the "Great Wall." The ancient Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Mayans, and peoples of India, and so on, developed science, culture, religion, and created monumental buildings, temples, and empires--all without the benefit of radio, TV or vehicles which could propel them through space.
The very concept of "radio" and wireless communication was not even conceived of until the mid 1880s, and the first successful radio transmissions had to wait until the mid 1890s and only after the creation of the first radio receiver. In the mid 1920s, television was invented. The first space craft to successfully orbit Earth took place in 1957. In the 4.6 billion year history of our planet, these technologies have been around for less than 200 years, and they replaced inferior technologies such as the telegraph and candle lit street lights and homes. Will radio, television, and rocket powered space craft become obsolete in the next 150 years, replaced by some superior technology no one has yet conceived?
There is absolutely no reason to expect that highly intelligent alien life use the same recently invented technology as the humans of Earth; a technology which could become technologically obsolete in another 200 years and which is modeled on and relies upon just two of the human senses, audition and vision. What if alien technology relies upon quantum computers, gravity, magnetic radiation, or sensory capabilities humans have not evolved?
The failure to detect electronic transmissions or space craft from other planets does not mean we are "alone."
9. The Evolution of Non-Human Alien Intelligence
On some worlds, highly intelligent species, with an intellect comparable or far superior to humans, may have "evolved" from mammals other than primates, such as wolves and canines, or even insects or plants such that their brains more greatly rely on photo-chemistry or chemo-olfactory-sensations? Dogs and wolves are remarkably like humans, which is why they can live together in harmony. However, there may be "dog stars" where dogs became the dominant life forms. Instead of prosimian primates, it was the ancestors of dogs and wolves which took to the trees. They grew hands instead of claws, climbed back down, stood up, and Dogus Erectus was born! Following a similar sequence as the evolution of humans on Earth, over millions of years Dogus Erectus was replaced by Dogus Neandertailwagus, then Crodogonus, and then, fully modern Sapiens Canis Dogus (the wise dog). There is no reason to assume that dogs, which are so similar to humans, could not have evolved in place of humans, and that on innumerable worlds upright Canis sapiens sapiens stare into the starry night wondering if they are alone.
On some ancient worlds, mammals may never have evolved, such that the metamorphosis of increasingly intelligent life arose from a completely different branch of the forest of life. The direct line leading to hominids may have been killed off, due, perhaps, to that planet's unique environment, climate, atmosphere, gravity, and distance from the sun, and/or because the planet passed through a viral cloud of contagion or was struck by massive debris which chopped off the branch that would lead to primates just before that branch began to bloom.
Consider, on Earth, around 150 mya to 130 mya, flowering plants, flying insects, and transitional species between dinosaur and bird --Archaeopteryx and Anchiornis huxleyi (Elżanowski, 2002; Hou et al., 2009; Yalden, 1984; Xu et al., 2009)-- had begun to coevolve at an accelerated pace, with flying insects and Archaeopteryx/Anchiornis sharing the skies with flying reptiles such as Pterosauria/pterodactyls (Naish & Martill, 2003; Wang et al., 2008), who had taken to wing 220 mya.

Insects, plants and birds, share genes, common ecosystems and a complex interrelationship. Birds and insects feed on flowering/fruiting planets, and both assist in ensuring that pollinating plants breed and continue to reproduce with birds not only spreading pollen but the seeds they eat. Birds feed on insects, and some plants feed on insects, birds, and even small mammals (Barthlott et al., 2007). The physiology of plants and insects show the clearest evidence that both coevolved (Schoonhoven et al., 2006). However, yet another beneficiary of the relationship between insects, plants, and birds, were fruit eating mammals.
Therefore, long before the demise of the dinosaurs, major evolutionary innovations and developments had already taken place, to the mutual advantage of plants, insects, birds, and mammals who began to proliferate. If insects, birds and plants had become extinct with the demise of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, mammals would have also likely disappeared from the face of Earth. However, insects, birds and plants would have continued to prevail if mammals along with dinosaurs had been driven to extinction.

The theory of "evolutionary metamorphosis" likens evolution and extinction to the same genetic mechanisms which govern metamorphosis and embryogenesis (Joseph 2000a, 2009b). Just as a "fish-like tadpole" can undergo a complete physical metamorphosis and become a frog, new species may emerge which bear no resemblance to their direct ancestors, except at the level of DNA. For example, some species of dinosaur underwent a complete transformation; they grew feathers and became birds (Hou et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2009).
By the same token, if mammals had been driven to extinction, and since birds, insects, and even flowers share many of the same genes as mammals, then in the absence of mammals, what could have evolved in place of mammals could be as different and as unrecognizable as the link between dinosaurs and birds.
As detailed in this text, insects and humans also share core sets of genes which can be traced to common ancestors. Therefore, we can predict that if mammals had never evolved or had become extinct, components of the mammalian-human genome would have nevertheless evolved within the genomes of insects who already posses many "human" attributes.
Some insect societies, such as ants, are highly sophisticated, and include divisions of labor, a caste system, altruistic cooperation, complex communication, insect agriculture, the growing of food, weaving, building, the "domestication" of other insects which they corral and milk and eat; and like humans they war against one another and conquer and kill and enslave (Holldobler and Wilson, 1998; Wilson 1974).
Since most of the human and insect genome is "silent" and contains thousands of shared genes which have not yet been expressed, then it is possible that these genes may come to be expressed within the genomes of future species of insects. If humans and other mammals go extinct, social-communal living insects may grow in size, undergo physical transformation and evolutionary quantum leaps, possibly losing their characteristic "insect" physique, and advance to ever heightened levels of communal, cultural, and intellectual achievement. They may only superficially resemble the insects we know today and be as different as birds and dinosaurs, or egg laying mammals vs modern humans.
Likewise, there may be innumerable planets blooming and buzzing with highly evolved intelligent vegetable and insect life; planets where mammals and never evolved or where they became extinct.
Highly intelligent life forms may have evolved on some worlds in place of humans; and like birds they may have evolved a magnetic field sense, and like insects a heightened chemo-sensory sense, and like dogs a heightened olfactory sense. And they may employ technologies which exploit sensory capabilities that humans lack and would never detect.
On yet other Earth-like worlds, humans may have long ago evolved into something that is no longer human. On planets that are billions of years older than Earth, these alien-humans, like those populated by intelligent plant and insects, may have invented technologies or means of communication completely unlike our own.
What is the likelihood that intelligent plants and insects, or other species of mammal which evolved in place of humans, or evolutionary advanced humans, would be interested in contacting or communicating with the violent, dangerous, waring, raping, mass-murdering, sex-obsessed humans of Earth?
10. Aliens from the Stars
In 1988 story by Ian Watson, "The Flies of Memory" the Earth was invaded by an extraterrestrial race of flies. "We have come to your planet to remember it" they said, and made a request to tour all the Earth's great cities. They were "bloody ugly" creatures who communicated with one another by whistles and chirps. These alien flies had six skinny hairy black legs, the two in the back being the longest which enabled them to walk around on two legs. They were no true flies, not by Earth standards.
They had come from another planet, perhaps another galaxy, where humans had not evolved, or which long ago became extinct. They had come to Earth, to in fact, remember it, and they stared and gazed long and hard at the architecture of our planets greatest structural achievements.
Humans need not evolve on other worlds. Living things completely unlike humans could become the dominant intelligence of billions of planets. Alien life, such as the Flys of Memory, would also process information in ways far superior and completely alien to humans, making them far more superior.
Consider the fly. The flys of Earth have a brain which processes information in a fashion which makes us look quite primitive by comparison. They can process over 100 separate visual impression a second. Humans can muster only a meager 25 discrete images in the same time. The fly's brain enables these creatures to engage in lighting fast maneurvers and make split-second reactions to obstacles, flying around them unerringly, whereas the humans would slam smack dab into whatever was coming his way. For human eyes, anything more than 25 discrete images per second will merge into a continuous movement. A fly can perceive 100 images per second as discrete sense impressions and interpret them quickly enough to steer its movement and precisely determine its position in space.
In the human brain, movements in space produce so-called "optical flux fields" so that objects rush past on the sides, and foreground objects appear to get bigger. Near and distant objects appear to move differently. Fly's perceive movement moment by moment. Therefore, space and time are perceived completely different in the brain of a fly vs a human.
The same can be said when comparing humans to innumerable species. Compare the olfactory sense of dogs vs man. Auditory perception in bats. Creatures which can perceive visual images in ranges of light which are not perceivable to humans.
What of life forms on other planets which have all these superiorities? And why would they be interested in communicate with the humans of Earth, who by comparison might appear to be as primitive as reptiles.

11. THE FUTURE OF EVOLUTION ON EARTH
Yet another possibility speaks to the future of advanced life on Earth which may not include humans. The nature of life, is death, over 99% of all species have become extinct. If the history of the Earth were a clock, fully modern humans have been on this planet for 15 seconds. Species come and go, but not so their genes. Most genes can be traced back to ancestral species which may have served as DNA-hosts, incubating these genes, saving them for transfer and eventual activation. Many of these ancestral genes had not been activated in ancestral hosts. Others underwent only minor modification and were expressed, such as the FOXP2 gene complex which contributes to human speech but exists in the reptile genome. Other strands of DNA underwent single gene or whole genome duplication, freeing them from inhibitory restraint; and once expressed they gave rise to new species.
This raises the possibility that humans may also served as a DNA-host organism, incubating these genes (metamorphorically speaking) which may be passed on vertically or horizontally to other species including subsequent species that will evolve in the distant future.
Horizontal gene transfer is common. Humans and numerous species, including insects already share many of the same core genetic machinery.

Thus, when or if humans become extinct, these genes, including those which contribute to "human intelligence" or code for features which are "distinctly human" may become part of the genome of future non-human species which then continue to "evolve." Moreover, as most of the human genome is silent, coding for functions which are as yet unknown, "silent" genes coding for unknown traits may also be expressed in a future species, much in the same way that FOXP2, which can be found in the fish genome, underwent slight modification and contributed to human speech.
Who or what might be the beneficiaries of the human gene pool if humans cease to exist?
In addition to bacteria, insects are among those most likely to survive if humans destroy themselves in nuclear fires.
Entering the realm of pure speculation, it may be that future species which could be classified as "insects" may continue to evolve and may come to possess not just "human" genes, but some of the characteristics which made humans "distinctly human," such as human intelligence, creativity, and so on, e.g., 6 foot tall "cockroaches" gazing into the heavens a billion years from now, pondering the nature of existence....

12. Genetic Engineering, Designer Babies, and the Eradication of Humans
Humans have acquired the DNA-technology to screen the human fetus for genetic defects, and to chose the sex, eye and hair color of their babies.
If science marches on, and if humans do not self-destruct in a world-wide nuclear war, we can predict that within the next thousand years humans will have acquired and will employ the technology to genetically design babies who are more handsome, beautiful, athletic, and intellectually far superior to their parents.
Naturally, the rich, famous and powerful would be the most likely to afford and the first to employ this genetic-technology. These first generations of genetically altered humans would be members of the privileged class.
It is not unreasonable to assume that these intellectually superior Designer Babies of the future, would develop technologies superior to those of modern humans. Using their greater genetically-enhanced intelligence, these first generation "Designer Babies" may genetically design their own babies who presumably would do the same to their own infants if not to their own bodies and brains.
Therefore, in the next thousand years, a small select group of "humans" may repeatedly genetically engineer their own evolution, and undergo such rapid evolutionary change that they become as different from modern humans as birds are from the dinosaurs.
From the perspective of modern humans, the genetically altered humans of the future may become so technologically and intellectually advanced, that they may appear as "gods," whereas modern humans might appear no better than reptiles in comparison.
Human history is replete with mass murder and genocide, with technologically advanced civilizations destroying those which could not compete. Throughout history members of various ethnic groups or "races" have sought to enslave or eradicate other races, which they viewed as inferior "useless eaters."
From the perspective of the first, second, or third generation of designer babies, the bulk of undesigned humanity might appear as inferior, primitive, all consuming competitors for diminishing resources. Therefore, we might predict that the genetically, intellectually enhanced designer babies of the future might decide to completely eradicate and exterminate the last of "modern" humanity, and this is how humans, as we know them, finally become extinct.
As our Milky Way galaxy is over 13 billion years old, and if life in this galaxy began to evolve on Earth-like planets 13 billion years ago, then creatures similar to humans may have also evolved on millions of worlds, in this galaxy alone, billions of years before Earth became a twinkle in "god's" eye. On worlds more ancient than our own, these human-aliens could have also genetically engineered their own evolution, and evolved beyond their counterparts of Earth, long before this planet even formed.
12. The Evolution of the Gods

Can a lizard comprehend a man?
Can a man comprehend a god?
Who dares speak for god?
Perhaps...
Even the Gods have Gods... The preponderance of evidence, as detailed in this text, indicates the universe is infinite and eternal and has no beginning and no end. However, the consensus of scientific opinion is the universe is 13.7 billion years in age. Even if there was a Big Bang there is considerable evidence indicating the universe is much older than 14 billion years. For example, some galactic clusters and walls of galaxies have taken over 100 billion years to form (Lal 2010; Lerner 1990; Mitchell 1999; Van Flandern 2002). It certainly seems reasonable to assume, if there was a big bang, it took place at least 100 billion years ago. Nevertheless, if we were to accept a 13.7 billion year birth date, then coupled with the fact there are galaxies, including the Milky Way, which are over 13 billion years in age (Pace and Pasquini 2004; Pasquini et al., 2005), then it must be recognized that life on planets within this galaxy have also had up to 13 billion years to evolve and to create technologically advanced civilizations. Those who dwell in the more ancient corners of this galaxy may have evolved beyond modern humans 8 billions years before the Earth was formed.

On Earth, the step-wise, branching, quantum-leaping progression which has led from multi-cellular creature to cartilaginous fish, to bony fish... amphibian, reptile, repto-mammal, therapsids, mammal, primate and woman and man, has taken place over the last 540 million years. The species Homo began to evolve 2.5 million years ago. Anatomically modern humans appeared around 35,000 years ago. There is no reason to expect that evolution should stop with modern humans.

Less than 10% of our DNA is necessary for creating a modern day human. Given that over 90% of human DNA is dormant and silent and as tens of thousands of silent genes have yet to be expressed, the likelihood is that human evolutionary metamorphosis on this planet will continue well into the future. Conceivably, these genes will be expressed in the eons to come and give rise to increasingly complex and intelligent human beings. The same could be said of evolution on other planets.
Consider, of the 3-5% of human DNA which is required to build a human, 20% of that is used to create a brain, and another 30% of that DNA is expressed in the process of running and maintaining the brain. That is, 50% of the 3-5% of DNA which is coded, serves the human brain. Since over 90% of the 30,000 or so genes that make up the human genome have not been expressed, this means that thousands of suppressed genes may be available for future cerebral metamorphosis and expansion of the brain.

(Left) Brain 500 mya. (Right) Human Brain

The brain has increased in size and complexity during the course of animals evolution beginning with a simple forebrain and hindbrain which processed sensory and motivationally significant information and governed movement. These brain areas expanded in size and complexity when animals left the ocean and amphibians then reptiles evolved. However, it may not have been until around 100 million years ago that new cortex (neocortex) began to enshroud the older, more ancient regions of the brain, such that, with the evolution of mammals, six layers of neocortex increasingly covered the older cortex which consisted of 1-3 layers.

Chimpanzee vs Australopithecus Skull

Human vs Ape Brain

Chimp vs Human Brain

Five million years ago, chimpanzee-like species began to proliferate, including Australopithecus, which had a brain similar in size to that of modern chimps. The brain then tripled in size in the transition from australopithecus, to H. habilis to H. erectus to modern Homo sapiens. However, 30,000 years B.P., the 6ft tall Cro-Magnon people of the Upper Paleolithic had a brain that was 30% larger than modern humans (Joseph, 2000b). And they sported an enlarged frontal lobe which is responsible for insight, foresight, judgment, rational thought, and the ability to set goals, multi-tasks, and to foresee and anticipate multiple possible outcomes. Thus, not only did the brain expand in size, but the modern human brain could easily increase in size and complexity as an older species of humanity in fact sported a much larger brain. A larger, more complex "human" brain may be capable of processing and perceiving information which "modern" brains are only beginning to sense.

(Right) CroMagnon Skull. (Left) Modern human skull superimposed on CroMagnon Skull Consider, for example, language. Certainly, there is no evidence of reading, writing, or any semblance of grammatical language in human-like species which lived millions of years ago, or as recently as 100,000 years ago (Joseph 2000b). Neanderthals lumbered across this planet for nearly 300,000 years until around 30,000 years ago. Not only was their brain functionally incapable of producing modern human speech, but whatever language they had was likely limited to a few words and emotional sounds denoting a very limited repertoire of concepts and motivational states (Joseph 2000a,b). Language was primitive at best even 100,000 years ago and took several million years to evolve from the sounds produced by H. habilis and australopithecus to the speech of modern humans (Joseph 2000a,b). Thus, whereas the evidence indicates CroMagnon people possessed modern language, their contemporaries, the Neanderthals did not. The same evolutionary principles may apply to what is called telepathy and clairvoyance (the so called "sixth sense").

(Top) Neanderthal Skulls. (Bottom) CroMagnon Skulls. Numerous studies have demonstrated statistically significant evidence of extrasensory perceptual (ESP) ability in some people (Bauer 1984; Beb & Honorton 1994; Radin 2001). Statistically, there is evidence of a significant trend, though very small, indicating that a significant number of people possess very rudimentary psychic abilities. If considered from an evolutionary perspective, ESP in modern humans might be at the level that "modern" language was in ancient humans. The rudimentary language of Australopithecus, H. Habilis, H. Erectus, and Neanderthal consisted of grunts and emotional sounds. This rudimentary language evolved into modern language and the ability to read and write. Likewise, ESP in "modern humans" may evolve into a fully developed 6th, 7th, and 8th sense a million years from now. ESP in modern humans is very primitive and is yet to evolve, just as language was very primitive and rudimentary a million years ago.
However, whereas Neanderthals shared the planet for at least 10,000 years with the more evolutionary advanced CroMagnons (who stood 7 inches taller and had a much larger brain), modern humans also likely share the cosmos with evolutionary advanced beings. What might be the perceptual and intellectual abilities of beings which began to evolve before Earth was formed? Might language, the internet, TV, radio, and other primitive means of communication have been been replaced by telepathy, clairvoyance, psychic teleportation, and mind reading in those who long evolved in the more ancient corners of the cosmos?
There are trillions upon trillions of ancient galaxies consisting of a trillion trillion trillion trillion aged solar systems that are likely ringed with planets -many probably quite like our own. And, just as Life has "evolved" on this world, it could be predicted that Life has emerged on at least a few of these planetary archipelagoes and this would include creatures who long ago "evolved" in a fashion similar to woman and man. Likewise, since increased complexity and progressive cerebral encephalization is characteristic of the evolution of brain-based life on this planet, the same could be expected on other complex-life bearing worlds. On planets where animals have evolved, it can be predicted that the brain has also increased in size and complexity, giving rise to increasingly intelligent species.
Given what has taken place on this planet over the course of the last 500 million years and the human-genetic potential which is yet to be realized, if similar DNA-based life forms exists elsewhere, then those who dwell in the more ancient corners of the cosmos may have evolved beyond modern humans ten billions of years before the first upright human emerged from the mists of time...and billions of years before the Earth became a twinkle in God's eye....

Human 6-Layered Neocortex Given evidence of increased brain size in previous species of humanity, coupled with the as yet untapped genetic potential, then it can be predicted that those creatures evolving in the more ancient corners of the cosmos may have evolved additional nuclei and layers of neocortex, exceeding the 6 layered neocortex that is characteristic of mammals and primates--and this may have transpired billions of years before the creation of Earth. In fact, given the unknown antiquity of the universe coupled with tens of billions of years of evolution, the brains of some exobiological organisms may consist of 8, 10, 12 or more layers of neocortex and greatly increased neocortical, perceptual, intellectual, memory, and sensory capacity, thus completely dwarfing the human brain in intellectual, analytical, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive ability. In fact, these ancient ones may have long ago manipulated their own DNA and genetically engineered their own evolution and purposefully developed cerebral tissues that might enable them to analyze, see relationships, or comprehend and manipulate phenomenon that modern humans cannot even perceive much less comprehend. These ancient ones, would be as "gods" even if they were still human.

Hypothetical 12-layered Extra-Terrestrial Neocortex The Earth is 4.6 billion years young, and much of our science and technology was invented just a few hundred years ago. If science marches on, consider how technologically sophisticated and scientifically advanced humans might be a thousand years from now. What about 10,000 years from now? Or a million years? What about 100 million years from now? Technologically, they would be like gods -even if they were merely human.
And what are the powers of a "god?" What might be the creative and intellectual potency of a being whose brain and civilization is 10 billion years older than our own, and which has likely engineered their own DNA, who continued to evolve and who has 10 or more layers of neocortex --compared to those 6 we call our own? What of a civilization that has had 10 billion years to seek technological perfection?
Consider, the future of human evolution on this planet. If science marches on, and given advances in genetic engineering, the creation of designer babies, designer babies designing their own superior babies, future humans which genetically engineer their own brains and bodies... and imagine the nature of human life 1000 years from now. What of humans a million years from now? Or a hundred million? Or a billion? Then what of those planets which shine in the darkness of night which were formed nearly 10 billions of years before Earth? If life evolved on these ancient worlds, what might they be capable of as compared to the humans of Earth?
It could be expected that these ancient ones might have evolved new brain tissues and additional layers of gray matter and neocortex... gaining intellectual and perceptual capabilities which provide not just a "6th sense" but a 10th sense, completely eclipsing all aspects of human cognition, perception, and intelligence. From the perspective of those who evolved in the ancient regions of the cosmos, the human brain and mind may seem to be just one small step above a frog or a reptile; which, in many ways it is.
Conversely, the human ability to comprehend the intellectual, scientific and technological accomplishments and capabilities of an alien brain organized in this evolutionary advanced fashion, might be analogous to a lizard's ability to comprehend a man. That is, the mental, intellectual, creative, and technological capabilities of creatures who began to evolve ten billion years ago, would lie well beyond human understanding. From the perspective of modern humans, these evolutionary advanced alien humans might seem as gods, even if they were still human.
Archae, bacteria and viruses serve as intergalactic genetic messengers, influencing the evolution of life on other planets. The ancestors of life on Earth, and their genes, came from older, more ancient worlds. The genetic seeds of life flow throughout the cosmos, and we have inherited genes from all manner of life that evolved long before the Earth was formed, including from beings so evolutionarily and technologically advanced, they might seem as gods. As we are the genetic beneficiaries of this cosmic ancestry, this would mean that we are descended from the "gods" and that the humans of the future have the evolutionary and genetic potential to be as "gods" and perhaps evolve beyond good and evil.
In the unknown antiquity of the cosmos, where life may extend backwards in time interminably into the long ago, even the "gods" may have "gods" who have "gods" who have "gods".... an evolutionary progression which continues eternally, infinitely, and forever into the ever more....

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Is the Universe Expanding?

Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol 13, 4187-4190.
JournalofCosmology.com 2011

Is the Universe Expanding? Oliver K. Manuel
Associate, Climate & Solar Science Institute 833 Broadway, #104, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Former NASA Principal Investigator for Apollo Moon Samples
Emeritus Professor, Nuclear and Space Sciences University of Missouri, Rolla, MO 65401

Abstract The universe is expanding here and probably in the region of other ordinary stars in the cosmos, but the process is reversible. Decades of measurements on the tiny portion of the universe available for study in the solar system revealed internal expansion of a fundamental particle in the process that powers the sun and sustains life: Neutron => Hydrogen Atom. The dynamic process is restrained by competition between attractive forces of gravity and repulsive forces between neutrons. The volume of the neutron increases by about a factor of 10²³ when it goes from the compact solar core to become an interstellar atom of hydrogen. The hypothesis that all elements are made from hydrogen in ordinary stars, and the later finding that ordinary stars can transition into neutron stars, suggest that the universe and all of the atoms in it can be represented by cyclic, reversible transitions between two forms of one fundamental particle: Neutron <=> Hydrogen Atom.
Keywords: Expansion of universe; Big Bang; neutron repulsion; gravity; evolution of subatomic particles, life, stars, and galaxies; solar energy.

1. INTRODUCTION
Atomic weight measurements on the elements persuaded Prout (1815, 1816) almost two centuries ago that hydrogen is the fundamental building block of all other elements because their atomic weights appeared to be integral multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen. Prout's hypothesis was later found to be inconsistent with more precise measurements of the atomic weights of some elements, like neon and chlorine. This dilemma was resolved by discoveries of the neutron (Chadwick, 1932a,b) and of isotopes like –²⁰Ne, ²²Ne, ³⁵Cl and ³⁷Cl – with atomic weights that are individually close to integral multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen's most abundant isotope, ¹H (Aston, 1920). After Hoyle (1946) adopted and promoted the idea that other elements are made in stars from hydrogen, the concept of primordial hydrogen became an integral part of the story of stellar nucleosynthesis (e.g., Burbidge et al., 1957).
Baade and Zwicky (1934) suggested that ordinary stars might collapse and transition into neutron stars. Oppenheimer and Volkoff (1939) advanced this idea and predicted that a neutron star of mass (m) would be stable only in the mass range of 1/3 Mo < m < 3/4 Mo, where Mo is one solar mass.
2. DISCUSSION
Nuclear rest mass data and other data from measurements of solar neutrinos and variations in the abundances of chemical elements and their isotopes in meteorites, planets, the Moon and solar emissions over the past five decades have been interpreted as evidence that solar luminosity, solar neutrinos and the solar wind are produced by a series of four reactions, triggered by neutron repulsion in the solar core (Manuel, 2011 and references therein):
1. Neutron-emission from the solar core;
2. Neutron-decay to hydrogen;
3. Partial fusion of hydrogen into helium; and
4. Discharge of solar wind hydrogen and helium with traces of severely mass-fractionated heavier elements from the Sun's iron-rich mantle. The volume of the particle increases by a factor of about 10¹⁵ in the decay of a neutron into a hydrogen atom - Step 2. Since the "average distance between the interstellar atoms is roughly 10⁸ times larger than the size of the atoms themselves" (Zeilik, 1982, page 361), the volume occupied by the hydrogen atom in Step 2 will eventually be increased by a factor of ~ 10⁸ in Step 4, after the solar wind transfers it to the interstellar medium. Thus the volume occupied by a neutron in the core of the Sun increases by a factor of about 10¹⁵ x 10⁸ = 10²³ in the process that powers the Sun and releases hydrogen to the interstellar medium as a waste product. The empirical evidence for expansion of fundamental particles in the Sun does not necessarily support the popular view of an expanding universe, initiated by an initial "Big Bang" (e.g., Peebles et al., 1991; Wollack, 2011, and references cited there), because:
1. The expansion of material in the solar system may be counterbalanced by the contraction of material elsewhere.
2. The process that powers the Sun - dynamic competition between the attractive force of gravity and the repulsive force between neutrons – is reversible in nature (Baade and Zwicky, 1934; Oppenheimer and Volkoff, 1939; Manuel et al., 2006; Manuel, 2011). However, the local expansion of material in the solar system is probably replicated in many other ordinary stars and may therefore be part of the overall expansion of the universe (e.g., Peebles et al., 1991; Wollack, 2011). None of the observations cited in Manuel (2011) conflict with the idea that the Sun is like other stars.
Since one referee commented that nobody knows what most stars are like, I will explain next why observations on the Sun - an ordinary star - may imply the behavior of other ordinary stars and an overall expansion of the universe. For decades university and college textbooks on astronomy have suggested that the Sun is an ordinary star that conveniently serves as a model for more distant stars (Strobe, 2010; Zeilik, 1982):
"By studying the sun, we not only learn about the properties of a particular star but also can study the details of processes that undoubtedly take place in more distant stars as well." (Pasachoff, 1977, p. 129). Local expansion in the volume of individual particles in the Sun and other ordinary stars does not necessarily indicate a finite universe and an initial "Big Bang", even if dynamic competition between attractive forces of gravity and repulsive forces between neutrons powers the entire cosmos. The direction of nuclear evolution may reverse when the supply of compact, neutron-rich objects is depleted to the point that neutron repulsion can no longer successfully compete against gravitational attraction.
3. CONCLUSIONS
The restless universe and all ordinary matter in it appear to consist of two different forms of one fundamental particle, compacted and expanded:
Neutrons <=> Hydrogen Atoms
or
Nuclear Form <=> Atomic Form
Dynamic competition between attractive forces of gravity and repulsive forces between neutrons maintains both forms. The transfer of material from the compacted left side of the above equation to the expanded right side presently sustains solar luminosity and life itself. If other ordinary stars behave like the sun and collectively contribute to the expansion of the universe, the expansion may cease and the universe start to contract after neutron stars in the cores of ordinary stars have evaporated away. The two forms of one fundamental particle that describe the universe and all of the atoms in it are intriguingly similar to the description in Sanskrit of "eternal, formless Reality" (Lord Krishna) as Vistharah, "he who has expanded himself" and Sthavarasthanuh, "he who is completely still" (Easwaran, 1979, page 11), i.e., Sthavarasthanuh <=> Visthara.
Acknowledgments This manuscript has benefited from comments by two anonymous reviewers and by members of the Yahoo discussion group on neutron repulsion. The author is deeply indebted to the kindness of Fate and the encouragement and support of family members and friends in the lifelong quest to understand the origin and operation of the solar system.

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Electromagnetic Bases of the Universality of the Characteristics of Consciousness: Quantitative Support

Evolution of Consciousness in the Ancient Corners of the Cosmos

Is the Universe Expanding?