The Age of Perspective This paper wishes to present the reader with a conceptual outlook as to the origin of Mankind. Questions such as "Who are we", "Why are we here" etc. will hopefully gain a different perspective by paper's end. The line of reasoning used is one based on widely known scientific facts / theories, mixed with natural intuitive logic, as can be found in all of us. If it is hot, we know instinctively that water turns to be an important resource in the scale of preferences. This intuitive feeling guides us from the most basic level of our existence and upward, and we can tap into this realm of basic nature we all posses, in order to evaluate logical inferences. It is a natural "gut" feeling we share as humans, as creatures. History Let us briefly and broadly review our planet's timeline from the stage when the first fish appeared. By the way, our planet is estimated to be about 4.4 billion years old: • Cambrian period, 570 million years ago - The first fishes, corals, trilobites and shellfish appeared. • Silurian period, 438 million years ago - The first land plants and giant sea scorpions called Eurypterids appeared. • Devonian period, 408 million years ago - The first amphibians, insects and spiders appeared • Carboniforous period, 360 million years ago - The first reptiles appeared. • Triassic period, 245 million years ago - The first dinosaurs such as Coelophosis and Euskelosaurus, and mammals, turtles, crocodiles and frogs appeared. • Jurassic period, 208 million years ago - The first birds appeared (e.g. Archaeopteryx). Dinosaurs included diplodocus, stegasaurus, and brachiosaurus • Cretaceous period, 144 million years ago - Dinosaurs during this time included muttaburrasaurus, quetsalcoatlus, and ankylosaurus. The dinosaurs died out towards the end of this period. The first snakes and modern mammals appeared. Consider the age of dinosaurs. We are talking about a period of approximately 200 million years of a dinosaur – dominated planet (Compared to the 2.5 million of Humans, and specifically Homo sapiens, which is approximately a mere 150,000 years). Note that when we refer to the word dominant in this respect, we mean that the evolutional roadmap favored the dinosaurs as a leading species, nothing more. There was no active domination on part of the species itself. This point will be extrapolated later on. During all those years, Nature was more or less in a state of status quo, an ecological equilibrium, still evolving to be sure, but in harmony, on a certain roadmap. Now, there are many theories about what happened circa 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous period, but let us follow on the fact that a meteorite hit our planet. Here are some sources about this event, which is termed K-T: . "At the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, an asteroid hit Earth in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, forming what is today called the Chicxulub impact crater. It has been estimated that half of the world's species went extinct at about this time." "About 65 million years ago, it is believed that a huge meteor hit the earth, causing enormous clouds of dust to block the sun's rays so that the earth became dark and cold for a number of years. Huge tidal waves flooded low-lying land and acid rain fell. Small animals could find shelter and enough warmth and food, but the huge dinosaurs could not. They died out. They were the most successful land animals, having existed for about 160 million years." Other sources speak even of 70% of all species. It is easily observable that Earth's species and general evolutionist direction took a sharp turn after this event, and quite rapidly so. Now, there were other previous mass extinctions in the history of the planet, but they were all related to Earth's heaving and growing effects, and it is also thought that previous meteorites have collided on Earth more than a billion years before, but this one was different in its timing and outcome as we shall see. If indeed it was a meteorite/s that hit Earth in the height of an evolutionist abundance, what would happen in wake of such an extreme occurrence? Reaction We all know that Nature abides by very strict rules as to its management. For instance, it seems logical / intuitive that one of the most basic instincts will come into play in such an extreme occurrence; I am referring of course to survivability. We know that survivability is any given creature's most basic instinct. What about Nature as a whole? If the survivability of Nature as a whole is threatened, if the evolution roadmap followed up to that point does not provide an end-to end solution to all known forces? Analogous to the individual, when there is a threat to survivability, an action is taken in order to neutralize that threat - doggedly, persistently and with no stops barred, much as a lioness will protect her cubs. Evolution will take a path to adapt to the presented threat. But how? Now, any threat must be met with the right method in order to be effective in neutralizing it. What are the characteristics of this threat? What happened to evolution on Earth? A huge change took place in a very short time, far outside the (then) current path of evolution. The amount of change that took place, relative to the time it took is analogous to energy, and therefore also to the amount of force needed to counter the threat. But the problem of energy is a relatively small one, since Nature is abundant with energy, and Earth, as a part of Nature, brims with it. The problem facing evolution is that the threat was not in accordance to the roadmap, it was random. Granted that certain processes were put together to produce the energy needed to counter the threat, what good would it do when there is no sensor for spotting it? There rises a need for spotting the threat, and then combining and acceleration of natural processes in a timed manner to meet it. From an environmental point of view, this need is impossible and contradictory. Nature is a 'closed' environment, with very clear boundaries, and nothing is geared towards fulfilling such a requirement, and it is only logical, since this need originated from a threat that is exterior to the environment itself. Indeed, the only way to achieve this end, the coordination of resources in a timed manner, is by committing a very drastic change to the very basic laws of Nature. Only a solution based on crossing the boundaries would be effective against a threat which is also exterior to the same boundaries. A drastic change was eventually brought about, and that was the breaking of the most fundamental law in Nature – an element of the 'whole' would have to exceed the natural boundaries. This has never happened before. All the creatures on Earth follow this basic rule – each creature dwells in his own element, there is no control over any of Nature's elements or even perspective about the surroundings, only stimuli. Each creature occupies a space that is part of, and in harmony, with the whole. The individual species cannot control the whole, for that would break the system. For the first time, this rule had to be broken. And that is a very, very dramatic occurrence, in fact, quite mind boggling. So great is Nature's adaptability evidently, that it is 'willing' to pay even with the breaking of the most basic rules. Solution So what is the task ahead of evolution then? What process is needed to yield energy of that magnitude, again, in a short and timed time span? The closest thing in Nature is of course energy; "A bolt of lightning contains enough energy to toast 160,000 pieces of bread. Unfortunately the bolt only takes 1/10,000 of a second – so turning the bread over might prove difficult." Now, lightning, fire, volcanic eruptions and such all share the same characteristic – the acceleration of particles. What are the Darwinian qualities a creature would have to be characterized with in order to master particles? Consider nimbleness. It is the physical ability to hold, to examine, and to explore; to dig; to deal with small parts. It opens vast options for various and different activities and combinations. Extending the range of possible activities will yield logical inference ability, as the creature gains more and more experience in diverse situations. And indeed right after the event (during 10 million years!), among a plethora of new species, primates began to evolve. It seems then, that the whole branch of primates received a tremendous boost in this direction of nimbleness, and one branch in particular reached a peak in this direction, and remained stable for about 3 million years(!), the closest species to humans referred to as Australopithecus. So that took care of the means to achieve half the task – the ability to hold, to use, to dig, to combine. Regarding the timing requirement, something would have to trigger it, and indeed it did. When the Ice Age set in, an evolutionist occurrence is noted, among other things, the earliest hominids turn carnivorous, probably owing to the fact of vegetation scarcity, and separate themselves from the primate species, and define a new one. As hunting requires tools, we see the first tools around 2.5 million years ago, with chipping as the opted method for sharpening. Well, chipping causes sparks and at some point of time, these first carnivores which had reached the desired amount of 'nimbleness' actually tried a new combination (probably with a lot of accidents, and on a long trial and error road), and mastered the element of fire. At that moment that species was separated from all others – this one gained mastery over one of Nature's elements. The boundary had been crossed. It didn’t happen suddenly. It was no accident or discovery. Evolution was leading up to it for more than 60 million years. You may read a short timeline of Earth's history since the event in the Appendix below. Notice the huge change in the evolutionist roadmap, and the rapid evolution of mankind since the mastery of fire. From then on, quite rapidly actually, mankind shaped itself. All of mankind's unique characteristics' derive from this mastery; owing to the physical changes it brought about, accelerating and widening the logical inferences ability to greater and greater extents. Where are we And as we say, the rest is history. So where are we? We are different. There is a distinct line between us and all the other creatures we currently know of. We can control our environment. We can do that. We have mastery over Natures resources. We ran the course, adding logical inferences faster and faster, and delved deeper and deeper into the inner workings of Nature itself, seeking ever and more mastery and different combinations. To be sure, the path was peppered with traumatic side effects of being a creature with a perspective, in a 'suddenly' discovered world. The last 200 hundred years are quite exciting actually in light of all the preceding juvenile war – torn years, and have seen a peak in the drilling down into Natures resources, actually to the point where we gained mastery over particles. We see the massive jump in scale, owing to that leap. We now truly have the power to produce and synchronize the energy in order to meet the threat. It took about 65 million years. But there are side effects. Much as natural volcanic eruptions bring about environmental changes, so do mankind's activities, especially since the mastery of particles. But, in contrast to a volcano or lightning, man's usage of energy is not in harmony with the environment. This contradiction is only possible because of the fore mentioned violation of Nature's law, the ability to control resources. Mankind's history till now is one of trial and error, stimuli, and again, peppered with weird side effects, but basically so. It is analogous to the behavior of the single human child – inquisitive, instinctive, experimental and one of trial and error. When a person ages a bit, a certain perspective can be gained about patterns in behaviors, concepts, and those often revaluated. And this is the period more or less when we, as humanity, could/should/can enter sometime. This period is also a side effect of the boundary crossing, as we utilized our tools to gain understanding of the world, its past and its workings, and this gave us perspective. Can we understand that we actually evolved to protect Nature? That we are the guardians of Earth? That we must therefore recognize the damage done by the side effects of breaking that rule, and compensate back by returning the natural equilibrium of Nature, while still possessing the power over particles, and more, for it's true use – the protection of Nature. Currently, generally speaking, with an understatement, we are abusing our gift, and are still misguided about what is going on. Well, what is going on? Beyond the words and philosophies, there are currently millions of people in distress and extreme environmental changes, and we need to understand that these are all side effects. We can look in perspective and give ourselves a different, revaluated meaning to life. Evolution was steered to a new course 65 million years ago, with us as a designated sensor and shield. A branch of a nimble, strong species and, in terms of basic Nature laws, a super – creature, since it is beyond one of these laws. We weren’t in the plans before that 65 million year ago event. But after that event, there was no choice apparently, and it was the only solution evolution was steered to take. Shall we rudely abuse it then? And by doing so, actually abuse ourselves; for we are part of Nature, even if sometimes some of us think we are not. Can we 'pick up the glove' and understand our mission? Can we fill our existence with a deeper purpose? We have the resources to accomplish it. We can be the soldiers, guardians and tenders of Nature, of all it is, and I know of no finer task. Appendix About the Author: Some 6 years ago I published a similar article and set off to promote interest in infrastructural projects in the field of Computer Education for underdeveloped countries. We see a slight rise in this trend these days and I am always on the lookout for individuals/organizations who can further this concept. Basically it has to do with pushing education into countries where it does not exist and thus providing a middle-range / long-range hook to help people / kids to broaden their range of possibilities. Furthermore it is of great interest to me to advance and promote other infrastructures which are in alignment with the article above. Earth timeline after the event: Paleocene Epoch 65-55 million years ago During the Paleocene, the vast inland seas of the Cretaceous Period dry up, exposing large land areas in North America and Eurasia. Australia begins to separate from Antarctica, and Greenland splits from North America. A remnant Tethys Sea persists in the equatorial region. Mammalian life diversifies, spreading into all major environments. Placental mammals eventually dominate the land, and many differentiated forms evolve, including early ungulates (hoofed animals), primates, rodents, and carnivores. Eocene Epoch 55-34 million years ago Plate tectonics and volcanic activity form the Rockies in western North America. Erosion fills basins. Continental collisions between India and Asia culminate in the Alpine-Himalayan mountain system. Antarctica and Australia continue to separate and drift apart. The climate is subtropical and moist throughout North America and Europe. Early forms of horse, rhinoceros, camel, and other modern groups such as bats evolve in Europe and North America. Creodonts and ruminant ungulates evolve. Archaic whales (archeocetes) evolve from terrestrial meat-eating ungulates. Sirenians (dugongs and manatees) first evolve in the shallow Tethys Sea. Oligocene Epoch 34-24 million years ago Tectonic plate movement is still very dynamic. Africa and Europe nearly collide, closing the Tethys Sea and leaving as a remnant the Mediterranean Sea. Volcanism and fragmentation of western North America is associated with the emplacement of major ore deposits. The southeren ocean forms and the climate is generally temperate. Glaciation begins in Antarctica. Representatives of modern mammals become the dominant vertebrate life form, including horses, pigs, true carnivores, rhinoceroses, elephants, and camels. Oreodonts diversify in North America. Early primates appear in North America, and early apes appear in Egypt. Many archaic mammals become extinct. The earliest representatives of modern cetaceans (baleen and "toothed" whales) evolve. Grasslands expand, and forest regions diminish. Miocene Epoch 24-5 million years ago Modern ocean currents are essentially established. A drop in sea level near the end of the Epoch isolates and dries up the Mediterranean Sea, leaving evaporite deposits on its floor. The climate is generally cooler than the Oligocene Epoch. A cold transantarctic ocean current isolates the waters around Antarctica, and the continent becomes permanently frozen. Mammal forms are essentially modern, and almost half of modern placental mammal families are present. The ancestor of mastodons disperses into North America. Almost all the modern groups of whales are present, as well as the early seals and walruses. Many modern birds—herons, rails, ducks, eagles, hawks, crows, sparrows—are present in Europe and Asia. Higher primates undergo substantial evolution; advanced primates, including apes, are present in southern Europe and Asia. Carcharocles megalodon, the largest predaceous shark ever to have lived, inhabits the seas. The coasts are submerged and kelp forests develop. On land, grasslands replace forests over large areas on several continents. Pliocene Epoch 5-1.8 million years ago The emergence of the Isthmus of Panama changes ocean circulation patterns and coincides with the formation of an Arctic ice cap. Plate tectonic interactions result in the uplift of the Sierra Nevada, formation of the Cascade Range, and onset of strike-slip faulting on the San Andreas Fault. In Europe, the Alps continue to rise. The global climates become cooler and drier. Camels and horses are abundant throughout North America. Ground sloths also evolve and the Great American interchange between South and North America begins. Primates continue to evolve, and the australopithecines—antecedents to Homo sapiens—develop late in the Pliocene in Africa. In North America, rhinoceroses and ordeodonts become extinct. Pleistocene Epoch 1.8 million-10,000 years ago This epoch is best known as the "Great Ice Age." Ice sheets and other glaciers encroach and retreat during four or five primary glacial periods. At its peak, as much as 30% of the Earth's surface is covered by glaciers, and parts of the northern oceans are frozen. The movement of the glaciers alters the landscape. Lakes, such as the Great Lakes in North America, are formed as ice sheets melt, and retreat. Global warming begins after the last glacial maximum, 18,000 years ago. The oldest species of Homo—Homo habilis—evolves. The flora and fauna in the regions not covered by ice are essentially the same as those of the earlier Pliocene Epoch. Mammalian evolution includes the development of large forms: woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, musk ox, moose, reindeer, elephant, mastodon, bison, and ground sloth. In the Americas, large mammals, such as horses, camels, mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, and ground sloths, are entirely extinct by the end of this epoch.
Welcome to Sciforums. I also tend to write long posts, but you need to provide a clear summary. I did not read every word of yours, but you do have something to say and I tend to agree with your POV, which in your long winded way seems to be: In last 200 years or so, the power of humans to affect the enviroment has produced a new order to life on Earth, with potentially disasterous consequences for all life on Earth. I have mentioned one possibility (unlikely I think, and certainly hope, but impossible to be sure about) for man to make the Earth uninhabital for any form of life. I will try to find my post with more details, but the current RAPID* addition of CO2 and other gases much more effective at retaining heat (CH4, etc) per molercule to the atmosphere may cause the ocean floor methanehydrates to decompose in a positve feedback system with intitally greater than unity gain. This system, like all instabilities, will eventually "saturate" but when it does so, the Earth will be a "Cooler verison of Venus." (Lead on surface of Venus is liquid. I.e. there may be "lead lakes" on Venus. Earth´s "hot stable state" has a lower temperature but it is several 100 degrees C. I.e. There is a stable state of Earth with very high pressure very hot steam, greater than any steam boiler, at the surface, at least until the oceans boil off into space.) ------------------------------------- *There have been warmer times and probably times with higher CO2 concentrations in Earth´s long history, but unfortunately this does not reduce the chance that Earth is now on its way to becoming a "Cooler version of Venus" to zero. "This time" may be different because of the speed with which the CO2 (from fossil fuels) is being released. If the methane of the hydrates (CH4) were released slowly, it would have time to decompose as it is destroyed by oxidation into water and CO2. Replacing a molecule of CH4 with one of CO2 and two H2O molecules is a way to keep the gain of the positive feedback system less than unity (avoid the conversion of Earth into the "Cooler version of Venus") because the concentration of CH4 can only increases slightly IF there is time for decomposition into H2O & CO2. Then the water molecules will fall out as rain and two CO2 molecules are much less effective greenhouse gas than one CH4 molecule. These CO2 molecules will also have time to be absorbed by the oceans, made into carbonate sea shells etc. Again, I think and hope that the positive loop gain will not reach unity even with the current RAPID unpresidented release of CO2, but I AM SURE no one can compute something as complex as this. MANKIND MAY BE MAKING THE EARTH TRANSITION TO THE OTHER STABLE STATE: a COOLER VERSION OF VENUS. I.e. this >1 gain instability may cause surface temperatures to exceed 100 degrees C and as the ocean surfaces boils, the atmosphere at ground level will be very high pressure hot steam. It will take hundreds of thousands of years before all the oceans are converted to steam and then the surface pressure will be 100s of times greater and the surface temperature >200 degress C. - A very sterial Earth or a "Cooler version of Venus."
very factual it is a misnoma that evolution has a purpose, i agree humans have a massive lineage yet humans are still trial and error, society is a concept which doesn't reflect on the ground progress has caused harm due to mechanisation as much as it has saved
