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In the Beginning |
The most logical place to start is the beginning.
But the beginning is a highly abstracted concept of a consciousness with
extensive context. In other words, children do not begin with a concept of
the beginning. Growing older and gaining experience, most people develop
complex concepts as abstractions from the more simple concepts that are abstractions of
their immediate physical surroundings. To those using volitional reason, these abstractions eventually subsume to an abstruse concept of the beginning. I
do not pretend to have the mathematical ability to describe the "Big
Bang" at the beginning of the Universe, but I am a reasonable man, above
all else, and I know intelligent and rational men when I meet them or read their
ideas. Trusting in their logic and abilities of deduction; the "Big Bang"
theory is quite plausible to me. I like to consider there to be enough
matter and energy in the universe to establish a perpetual expansion and contraction cycle.
Whether the cycle occurs is meaningless since complete order or complete entropy
lead to the same state of singularity. Contraction to complete order is
therefore not required for endless cyclical behavior.
Religious individuals, or Theists, that believe in a supreme being, do not need
to discover the nature of Mankind and the Universe about them; in the quest for
an ethical standard by which to control their behavior. Religions normally
supply such a standard along with a description of life which assuages the
trauma of death. Atheists must discover the nature of Mankind and the
Universe about them. Without such knowledge, they will be lost and
mindless; they will become evermore irrational.
I believe that life began as a reproductive chemical reaction that is responsible
for all forms of life; as it was changed and responded invariably to the
environment according to the "Natural Laws", described by Chemistry
and Physics. That which continued
did so. That which was unable to continue reproductive behavior became extinct. Most often forms of life are replaced in nature by more efficient
forms of themselves. Between
"Creationists" and "Evolutionists", there is great controversy and
disagreement over the origins of man. The Forefathers of the United States
did not have the scientific base of knowledge that we enjoy today. They
were Christians and Deists, that believed in a God that originated the Universe, but left it to
run its course according to "Natural Laws" that were created
concurrently. Regardless the disagreement
between "Evolutionists" over the finer particulars, there is no doubt
that Mankind evolved from the first "living" chemical reactions.
All life is the existence of a chemical reaction that has been in process for
billions of years. Once we study the growth of the human embryo, and compare it to the embryos of
other species, we develop not only a taxonomy for the "tree of life",
but an understanding of Mankind's position upon that tree. The journey up
the tree matches the growth of the human embryo through all of the precedent
forms. "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". Here we can determine
the form that contains the uniqueness of an
individual and decide when life as a human being begins. No one familiar can doubt the veracity of evolution.
An understanding of the development and evolution of the various forms of
Mankind and civilization, is essential to understanding the
variance in structure and behavior of the different types of Mankind and his cultures.
With this knowledge, we can discover the inalienable rights of man, and
recognize their significance in the further development of life on Earth.
The "Cambrian Explosion" of multicellular life on Earth could have occurred
a billion years earlier. It did not. It took an indefinite time
period to develop a multicellular organism that was resistant to internal cells that were
not productive. Cells that did not produce, but multiplied quickly while
consuming resources, killed most beginning attempts at multicellular life. Such
cells are responsible for the cancer deaths today. Cancer cells break down
the multicellular union and destroy the an organism, by feeding and reproducing
quickly while not fulfilling their purpose which helps in the maintenance of the larger
organism. Modern governments are
unsuccessful today for the same reasons. Societies of Mankind that force
others to support individuals without purpose who are unproductive and quickly
reproduce, are doomed to
the failure experienced by the first multicellular organisms. Rational
individuals are constantly beguiled, by those seeking power, to abandon their
freedoms to help the unproductive overpopulating members of society and their
offspring. Civilization
has yet to find a system that does not result in this fate. Once it does,
there will be the dawning of a new life form on earth. Freemen working and
living together in a lasting and prosperous union. Until then, Mankind
will remain in a state of confusion and misery, feeding the
capricious whims of totalitarian brutes and mobs run by sophists. Once
Mankind achieves a lasting "Culture of Freedom",
prosperity and ever higher standards of living will evolve, and Mankind will
most likely propel life away from Earth and into the universe. If a life
form, from elsewhere in the universe, were to visit earth; humans should have
nothing to fear. Such an event must be preceded by the visitors acceptance of the
mind and individual freedom as paramount. It is the natural evolution of life. Mankind is hopefully at the dawn of the "Quaternary
Explosion", where freemen may live together with individual
freedom as paramount.
Ages of Earth (Summary)
The Earth is thought to be 5 billion years old. The life time of earth is divided into regions by geologists. The 4 geologic eras are divided into various eons (aeons), periods, and epochs:
-
Precambrian Era (5 billion years ago to 570 million years ago):
Pre-Archean Time (5 billion years ago to 3.8 billion years ago)
Archean Eon (3.8 billion years ago to 2.5 billion years ago)
Life begins about 4 billion years ago near the beginning of this eon.
Proterozoic Eon (2.5 billion years ago to 570 million years ago) -
Paleozoic Era (570 million years ago to 240 million years ago):
Cambrian Period (570 million years ago to 500 million years ago)
Multi-cellular life begins and flourishes.
The sudden and rapid evolution of the many forms of multi-cellular life is termed the "Cambrian Explosion"
Ordovician Period (500 million years ago to 435 million years ago)
Silurian Period (435 million years ago to 410 million years ago)
Devonian Period (410 million years ago to 360 million years ago)
Carboniferous Period (360 million years ago to 290 million years ago)
Permian Period (290 million years ago to 240 million years ago) -
Mesozoic Era (240 million years ago to 65 million years ago):
Triassic Period (240 million years ago to 205 million years ago)
Jurassic Period (205 million years ago to 140 million years ago)
Cretaceous Period (140 million years ago to 65 million years ago) -
Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to the present time):
Tertiary Period (65 million years ago to 1.6 million years ago)
Paleocene Epoch (65 million years ago to 55 million years ago)
Eocene Epoch (55 million years ago to 38 million years ago)
Oligocene Epoch (38 million years ago to 24 million years ago)
Miocene Epoch (24 million years ago to 5 million years ago)
Pliocene Epoch (5 million years ago to 1.6 million years ago)
The first hominids (Australopithecines) appear near the beginning of this epoch..
Quaternary Period (1.6 million years ago to the present time)
Pleistocene Epoch (65 million years ago to 10 thousand years ago)
Holocene Epoch (10 thousand years ago to the present time)
from Greek meaning "wholly recent"
