Evolution and Extraterrestrial Life - Research Paper Example

Evolution and Extraterrestrial Life The present study looks for tracing the origin of life in the light of the theories articulated regarding the extraterrestrial life in different heavenly bodies other than the earth, which appears to be very close to reality and has been explored by the philosophers, theorists and scientists since the ancient times even. “On a more general level the very fact that alien life exists would mean that we are not the centre of the universe. While most religions now recognize that the earth is just a lump of rock, they still believe that WE human beings are the most important thing in creation, that we occupy a special place in God's plan.” (Riley, 2003) However, the presence of the extraterrestrial creatures endorses upon the very fact that God’s powers and schemes are not confined to human race or single planetary life only. The same has been explored and advocated by the supporting theorists of extraterrestrial notion. Evolution has always been a subject of great curiosity for naturalists, astronomers, physicists and social scientists since the known history of the world. The biologists, sociologists, psychologists, theologians, archaeologists and historians have presented dissimilar conceptions, theoretical frameworks and notions, controversial to one another, regarding the beginning of life and evolutionary process, on the basis of their religious and cultural beliefs on the one hand, and in the light of their observations, studies and researches on the other. Thus, hundreds of theories have been articulated and researches have been conducted in order to discover the origin of life in the universe. Theologians belonging to the Abrahamic faiths maintain similarity in respect of determining the origin of life, and narrate almost the same account i.e. Almighty God the Creator created the universe in six days out of chaos, and created each and everything existing in the universe out of water. “Allah hath created every moving creature of water; of them is one that walketh upon his belly; and of them is one that walketh upon its two feet; and of them is one that walketh upon four.” (Qur’an, 24:45) Since all the three Abrahamic faiths seek inspiration from their Holy Scriptures in order to define the creation of the universe, they refute all theoretical frameworks contradictory to their belief system(s). Surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the scientists, presenting contradictory evolution theories, belongs to these three faiths including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The same is applied to the extraterrestrial life and evolution. The theorists rightly claim the certain possibility of the existence of life beyond this tiny planet of earth; the justification of their hypothesis is based upon the vastness of the infinite universe, where it is not possible that only one small planet consists of life out of such a vast and mighty universe. Hence, extraterrestrial life, according to the scientists, would also have experienced the similar evolutionary process as countless earthly species have observed. Renowned philosopher of ancient Greece Anaxagoras (488?--428 B.C.) articulated the Panspermia Theory in 5th century B.C., which suggests that there are certain signs of life in every part of the universe, and hence different creatures live in all celestial bodies in the form of similar spores. These spores or life seeds originate in space and then that life is seeded onto various planets. Scientists search for these spores in other heavenly bodies by examining meteors landing on Earth and by outer space missions. (alienabductionsexposed.com) Similarly, the ancient Greek materialist philosopher Democritus (460-370 B.C.) maintained that the world was composed of an infinite number of uncaused and eternal atoms moving randomly in a void. The spontaneous generation of life from water and slime was held to occur as a result of an accidental meeting of atoms of moist earth with atoms of fire. (Hoyle & Wickramasinghe, 1978:23) Seventeenth century French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650) also supports the same belief. He, in his works, argues that every natural and social phenomenon should be assessed and estimated with empirical realities; even religious sets of belief should be critically examined rather imitating them blindly been adopted as a large number of people observe without applying their intellect. (Thomas & Thomas, 1971:233) He refutes the very idea of accepting some presumptions and propositions without analyzing their validity through intellectual capabilities and sound examinations. It is therefore, he lays stress upon the significance of doubtfulness about some specific belief. He is of the view that blind faith cannot make people understand the realities of life on the one hand and phenomena of nature on the other. It is therefore he invites the curiosity of the individuals in order to discover the signs of life beyond the earth. Consequently, he lays stress upon exploration of life beyond earth in the light of Biblical beliefs. Though extraterrestrial theoretical framework does not contradict with the Biblical themes directly, yet almost all of them appear to be in consensus in the statement that the beginning of life did not start from the earth. On the contrary, billions of heavenly bodies had already been existing millions of years before the origin of life on earth; none of which could be without life. The supporters of this theory are of the opinion that since no organism is without life, so heavenly bodies certainly contain the bright possibility of life. . “And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmaments of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth. (Genesis 1:20-21) Philosophers, intellectuals and thinkers also present the same presumptions in their theories. Although earlier naturalists had realized that living things must have changed during the history of life on Earth, it was Jean Baptiste de Lamarck who first developed an evolutionary philosophy based on the key idea of adaptation. (daviddarling.info) Lamarck is viewed as the first naturalist to claim that species change their form and shape with the passage of time and subsequently maintain the natural inclination of adaptation according to the changes being made in the environment. The same is applied on the extraterrestrial life, where imperative alterations in celestial bodies have significantly cause changes for the future centuries to come. However, it was the period when religious dogmatism was in its full swing in his native land France and the rest of Europe as well. His contemporary naturalists mocked at him and refuted his theory altogether by declaring it as the challenging one in religious point of view. Consequently, Lamarck led a socially isolated and financially miserable and pathetic life till the end of his life. Descartes had a vortex-push theory for planetary motion, and for terrestrial gravity he had a separate theory of celestial-particles moving away from the centre of the earth and so displacing and sucking-down masses in their path. Consequently, Descartes views universe as a mechanical clockwork robot, with energy only as the property of matter being in motion and nothing other than God and human souls being non-material. (new-science-theory.com) In simple words, almost all heavenly bodies contain life in their fold. Renowned naturalist scientist of 19th century Charles Darwin admired and supported Lamarck’s works, though the latter was not present in the world to receive such an acknowledgement from his successor scientists. Darwin presented his astounding Evolution Theory under the title “Survival of the Fittest” in his magnificent work On the Origin of Species (1859), and proved that only strong and powerful species maintained the right to survive and reproduce. Darwin vehemently argues in favor of the notion natural selection, and declares it as the law of nature. He is of the view that it is the law of nature that the favorable traits and features in species contain more probability of inheritance and transformation into next generations. (1872: 159) The same survival of the fittest notion, called social Darwinism, was extended and defended by the famous sociologist Herbert Spencer, and claimed that socially strong communities make sure headway in the world, while the financially weak people are sure to eliminate sooner or later. Thus, struggling hard towards right direction and adopting new ways is essential not only for leading a comfortable life, but also for the survival of generations as well. It is therefore the weak nations, tribes and communities annihilate with the passage of time. Spencer argued that the white race was the fittest and strongest because of its accumulated wealth and power throughout the world, and therefore the status quo of his day, which included variants of remaining chattel slavery and ongoing Western colonialization of non-European peoples and countries, was just a bi-product of the laws of nature. (Leyva, 2007:367) The same can be witnessed in the time of peace and war, where strategically and economically strong nations survive; on the contrary, the weak and instable ones undergo death, destruction and humiliation, as it happened in the two Great Wars, where Japan and Germany were unable to answer to the cruel war strategy of the ruthless, tyrant and hypocrite states including the USA and the UK; the same is being experienced by the paralyzed and ego-less, timid and corrupt nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other states of such category, which claim to be religious and egoist, though always seek moral, strategic or financial support from the foreign countries because of the hypocrisy observed by the rulers and politicians of these lands. It is therefore, such weak countries are looked down upon in international arena because of the weak social fabrics and the exploitation of others in the name of morality, law and religion. Looking into the history of the human societies, the term appears very accurate one from the basic human institution i.e. family and basic political office i.e. union council to the provincial, national and global levels, where the powerful persons oppress the weedy and exploit their weakness in one way or the other to enforce their own word and implement the policies according to their personal desires. (Zaidi, 2009) Thus, power, pelf and possession give the message of life and achievements for the future generations to come. Twentieth century British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle extended the theory with the help of latest astronomical instruments and devices, and revealed the evolutionary developments in extraterrestrial life. It is therefore the twentieth century researches have shown the signs of bacterial life in Mars through fossil remains. Hoyle & Wickramasinghe (1978) are of the opinion that life on Earth evolved over the course of about four billion years, and the genetic programs for higher evolution cannot be explained by random mutation and recombination among genes for single-celled organisms, even in that long a time: the programs must come from somewhere beyond Earth. Quoted in panspermia.org) The same genes have been discovered in Mars, which vehemently prove the existence of life in planets other than the earth. Thus, Pansmermia theoretical framework lays stress upon the existence of the seeds of life in every part of the universe. To conclude, it becomes crystal clear that the Creator of the universe is the Greatest Being, Who has not left any part of the world without the signs of life. However, man is narrow-sighted and ignorant, and thus unable to explore the worlds existing in the vast universe. The controversy regarding extraterrestrial life is just because of the medieval era religious beliefs of the people, who were not ready to submit to any discovery that apparently looked contradictory to their faith and teachings. Furthermore, lack of scientific knowledge and unavailability of scientific empiricism also turned the extraterrestrial life theories controversial in the eyes of the scientists, dogmatists and the masses alike. Since stars and planets also experience evolutionary process, the life or movement made by them also bring imperative changes in human evolution. It is why the same signs of water, mud and light could be seen in the Moon and Mars as they exist on the very face of the Earth. Aquatic, motile bacteria were discovered three decades ago by Richard P. Blakemore. Initially considered a mere curiosity, these bacteria have gained celebrity status as well as deeper respect among scientists, engineers, and the general public. Thus, magnetotactic bacteria have newfound relevance in several disciplines beyond pure microbiology, including nanobiotechnology, biomineralization, biogeochemistry, geomicrobiology, and magnetosensory behavior in animals. (Frankel and Bazylinski, 2004:176) Thus, the present paper looks eye to eye with the researches supporting the theory of existence of life in stars and planets. Hence, extraterrestrial life not only maintains validity in its nature and scope, but also certainly affect human life on the earth; so how the bodies without life can influence the live bodies is a strong achievement of the scientific discoveries, which were created far before the creation of man on the earth, and hence, are full of life, though that sort of life could not be explained and elaborated with authenticity. However, the submitting to the in-depth researches vehemently supporting the idea of extraterrestrial life serves as the gist of the discussion made in the present paper. Works Cited Darwin, Charles R. “The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection” London: John Murray. 6th edition 1872 159 Frankel, R. B. and Bazylinski, D. A. 2004 “Magnetosome Mysteries” ASM News / Volume 70, Number 4, 2004 176-179 Retrieved from http://www.asm.org/asm/files/ccLibraryFiles/Filename/0000000877/znw004040202p.pdf Hoyle & Wickramasinghe, “Lifecloud: the Origin of Life in the Universe Harper & Row Publishers New York 1978 19-27 Leyva, Rodolfo. “No Child Left Behind: A Neoliberal Repackaging of Social Darwinism” Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, vol.7. no.1 2007 365-369 Retrieved from http://www.jceps.com/PDFs/07-1-15.pdf Rene Descartes - Mechanical Universe Theory 2011 Retrieved from http://www.new-science-theory.com/rene-descartes.html Riley, John “10 Big Questions: Extraterrestrial Life.” Retrieved from http://www.123infinity.com/extraterrestrial_life.html Thomas, Henry & Thomas, Dana Lee “Great Philosophers” Bhavan’s Book University Bombay 1971 232-240 Zaidi, Mujtaba Haider “Vae Victis” Published in The Frontier Post 2009 Retrieved from http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=818&ad=20-03-2009 Theories on Extraterrestrial Life Accessed on Nov 5, 2010 Retrieved from http://alienabductionsexposed.com/theories-on-extraterrestrial-life/ Introduction: More Than Panspermia. Quoted in http://www.panspermia.org/intro.htm The Internet Encyclopedia of Science “Evolutionary Theory and Extraterrestrial Life” 2002 Retrieved from http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/E/evoltheo.html Quran Explorer “Al-Noor” Verse 45 Retrieved from http://quranexplorer.com/index/Sura_024_Al_Noor_THE_LIGHT.aspx Read More