Immense Journey The From The Birth Of The Universe To The Rise Of Intelligence

This book is an attempt to trace the majestic immense journey from the coming into being of the universe to the emergence and evolution of life. It is intended to complement the many excellent books that cover different aspects of this journey.The contents have been classified into five parts. Part I covers the coming into existence of the universe while Part II presents the beginning of life on the early Earth, following which Part III discusses the emergence of consciousness and intelligence, and Part IV, the immense journey of the universe beyond Earth. Finally, Part V addresses the problems raised by the rise of higher-order consciousness in human beings as captured by the phrase 'the human condition'.

This book surveys the models for the origin of life and presents a new model starting with shaped droplets and ending with life as polygonal Archaea; it collects the most published micrographs of Archaea (discovered only in 1977), which support this conclusion, and thus provides the first visual survey of Archaea. Origin of Life via Archaea’s purpose is to add a new hypothesis on what are called “shaped droplets”, as the starting point, for flat, polygonal Archaea, supporting the Vesicles First hypothesis. The book contains over 6000 distinct references and micrographs of 440 extant species of Archaea, 41% of which exhibit polygonal phenotypes. It surveys the intellectual battleground of the many ideas of the origin of life on earth, chemical equilibrium, autocatalysis, and biotic polymers. This book contains 17 chapters, some coauthored, on a wide range of topics on the origin of life, including Archaea’s origin, patterns, and species. It shows how various aspects of the origin of life may have occurred at chemical equilibrium, not requiring an energy source, contrary to the general assumption. For the reader’s value, its compendium of Archaea micrographs might also serve many other interesting questions about Archaea. One chapter presents a theory for the shape of flat, polygonal Archaea in terms of the energetics at the surface, edges and corners of the S-layer. Another shows how membrane peptides may have originated. The book also includes a large table of most extant Archaea, that is searchable in the electronic version. It ends with a chapter on problems needing further research. Audience This book will be used by astrobiologists, origin of life biologists, physicists of small systems, geologists, biochemists, theoretical and vesicle chemists.

This book is an interdisciplinary theoretical effort to explain the mind-body problem. Conscious mind is the hard problem to be explained and is the utmost existential question for any scientific mind. Neither a reductionist identity theory nor a commonsense-religious dualism can answer the problem. Human cognitive system can have a natural explanation rather than a religious description. To reduce the mind as what the brain does is too premature and to separate the mind and brain as two independent realities is too trivial. The hypothesis of the book identifies the conscious mind with the emergent functionality of the human brain. And, this is definitely an approximate guess. This informed guess is a challenge to many previously established theories and is an invitation for further research. It demystifies the age old homunculus mind and does not explains it away. To elaborate the theme, the author has incorporated themes such as complex system dynamics, evolution, cosmology, thermodynamics, information and emergence. The philosophical discussion on the first three chapters govern as an intuitive background for the theoretical development in further chapters. It affirms that the mind and brain are neither two dichotomized substances nor are they one and same substance. Chapters from four to eight deal with various themes from natural science with respect to the theme of mind-brain. they involve system dynamics, cosmology, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory and information model. Last chapter assimilates the discussions of previous chapters to propose the key hypothesis of the book viz. mind-brain is the emergent functionality of the human brain which is the matter-energy-information complex system. The universe, which itself is a matter-energy-information system, at least in one occasion, becomes conscious of itself through humans.

For readers of Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking, the book readers have acclaimed as "A mega-comprehensive outlook at intelligence as convincing as it is surprising" and "A truly breathtaking forecast on the future of intelligence." With the ongoing advancement of AI and other technologies, our world is becoming increasingly intelligent. From chatbots to innovations in brain-computer interfaces to the possibility of superintelligences leading to the Singularity later this century, our reality is being transformed before our eyes. This is commonly seen as the natural result of progress, but what if there’s more to it than that? What if intelligence is an inevitability, an underlying property of the universe? In Future Minds, Richard Yonck challenges our assumptions about intelligence—what it is, how it came to exist, its place in the development of life on Earth and possibly throughout the cosmos. Taking a Big History perspective—over the 14 billion years from the Big Bang to the present and beyond—he draws on recent developments in physics and complexity theory to explore the questions: Why do pockets of increased complexity develop, giving rise to life, intelligence, and civilization? How will it grow and change throughout this century, transforming both technology and humanity? As we expand outward from our planet, will we discover other forms of intelligence, or will we conclude we are destined to go it alone? Any way we look at it, the nature of intelligence in the universe is becoming a central concern for humanity. Ours. Theirs. And everything in between.

Anthropologist and naturalist Loren Eiseley blends scientific knowledge and imaginative vision in this story of man.

The basis for the Emmy-winning film. “A wonderful, highly readable account of the history of the universe from the Big Bang through the present moment.”—Thomas Lovejoy, University Professor in Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University Through the astonishing combined achievements of natural scientists worldwide, we now have a detailed account of how galaxies and stars, planets and living organisms, human beings and human consciousness came to be. And yet . . . we thirst for answers to questions that have haunted humanity from the very beginning. What is our place in the 14-billion-year history of the universe? What roles do we play in Earth’s history? How do we connect with the intricate web of life on Earth? In Journey of the Universe, Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a profoundly wondrous process based on creativity, connection, and interdependence, and they envision an unprecedented opportunity for the world’s people to address the daunting ecological and social challenges of our times. Journey of the Universe transforms how we understand our origins and envision our future. Though a little book, it tells a big story one that inspires hope for a way in which Earth and its human civilizations could flourish together. “What’s most striking about Swimme and Tucker’s work is a simple but beautiful assumption: a cosmological orientation opens the human mind to wonder, gratitude, humility, and creativity.”—Orion

This 1998 book examines the remarkable story of the emergence of life and intelligence through the complex evolutionary history of the Universe.

Toward Human Emergence is a helpful and positive analysis from a behavioral science viewpoint of various stages in our long journey from hunter-gathers and agriculturalists, to industrialists and technological advances, knowledge workers. It examines the why, what, and how for perfecting human endeavor within a global society characterized technological advances, knowledge expansion, and economic turmoil. This mind-stimulating volume offers a hopeful vision of humanity, so HRD practitioners and educators may inspire learners to utilize today's opportunities for improving the human condition and quality of all life. Toward Human Emergence will motivate those who seek to be world shapers, rather than mere squatters. Within the framework of human evolution, it offers planners and doers thoughtful insights on how to capitalize on human assets, while curbing our tendencies toward destruction, violence, and self-abuse. The text's major themes are coping with accelerating change, making knowledgeable choices and decisions, and influencing the future through self-knowledge and self-control. The last of its twelve chapters discusses the convergence of these key concepts of culture, change, choice, and control. The prologue considers humanity's prospects for emergence, while the epilogue projects the offworld possibilities for our further emergence as a species. This volume provides people in transition with ways to positively influence our collective future.

It started with a bang. The big bang! And after eons evolving here on Earth we find ourselves firmly ensconced within the cosmic cradle of space/time -- constrained by the one-way march of time, confined by physical limitations, and not really sure where we came from or where we are going.Before the big bang there was neither space nor time, at least not as we now know them. Anyway that is what the best scientific minds tell us; fact is, we know nothing about the realm that preceded the big bang. However, with the big bang space opened, time flowed, and the evolution of complexity commenced.Immediately following the onset of the big bang, the process of evolution began its developmental activities by combining tiny particles of matter. Atoms merged with atoms and soon were forming molecules. The zeal of the evolutionary process to reach for increased complexity continued its march until molecules formed cells and in time these inanimate cells crossed the critical threshold to become tiny living entities.To enable this occurrence, the laws of force and energy joined to form matter in evermore intricate arrangements making a universe where in time on one planet the rare event of life occurred. After eons of slow development in the water, muck and mud of an obscure planet called Earth, aided and abetted by the sun's radiant energy and perhaps supercharged by a bolt of lightning, a few molecules coupled to start the inexorable march toward life. Slowly, molecules joined and rejoined, combined and recombined until finally a single-celled entity appeared with the rudimentary features we recognize as life. Inanimate matter had complexified and joined the long upscale journey toward higher forms. At some point in this long evolutionary process, cellular recombinations were identified as the act of mating, a mere extension of the mysterious early attraction of tiny particles of matter for each other. Continuing over time this tendency to merge brought about more complex cellular arrangements and led to living entities. Bundles of brain cells became organized in intricate networks that enabled the birth of the life-preserving attribute of instinct, soon to be followed by intelligence.This process has proceeded under the auspices of natural law, the software package instilled in the universe at the beginning of time. These universal rules of operation guided the formation of matter in the direction of life as unremittingly as imbedded software directs the operation of your computer toward a specified output. It is only natural then to ask the source of this intelligent set of laws. More will be said later about some of the proposed explanations for how natural law originated.Now, as human intelligence reaches new levels, we are beginning to apprehend the pervasiveness of the phenomenon of consciousness. We are in awe of the power behind its origin and find ourselves wondering where this awareness will take us. The earth, our solar system and the entire universe can be thought of as immersed in a huge energy field of intelligence and consciousness. Whether this field is a faint electromagnetic force field or some other still-mysterious energy or quantum field, we are not yet certain. Time will tell as our high-tech instruments grow more sensitive and our own individual awareness gains more access to the universal source of this field.What we do know is that when brains evolve to a sufficiently high level of complexity, they have an increased capacity to tap into a super field of intelligence. Across the species and within the human species, there is a gradient in the quality of levels that have access to this super field and hence to individual mental clarity. Each human brain acts as a focal node through which this larger field of intelligence can pass on information, insight, and a general sense of awareness about self, life, and the world.Within the processing systems of the brain, there is a mix of information provided through the physical senses with conscious awareness. During its evolutionary process, humanity slowly became aware first of its earthly surroundings and eventually of the universe in its grandeur. Likewise each of us, following birth, slowly experiences this same awakening of consciousness as we come to see our interpretation of the world and ourselves as unique instances in the phenomenon of life. Moreover, as humans we are not only aware of this awakening within ourselves but we are aware that we are aware of it. This is the current level of human self-reflective consciousness.Where do we go from here? It is clear that consciousness, as a an inevitable consequence of life, is slowly unfolding both in ourselves individually and in humanity collectively as a species. As life spiraled upward and gained more complexity, consciousness emerged to accompany and guide it. In our personal lives we can see how, as we become psychologically more complex via normal growth processes and the acquisition of knowledge, consciousness slowly unfurls. As we learn and grow smarter, the brain increases capacity by adding new neuronal pathways between brain cells. Much like the stages of physical maturation, levels of consciousness follow a step function as knowledge and insight accumulate. But there are obvious physical limits to the complexity which can occur within the human brain; nevertheless, there are features beyond the physical brain waiting to accommodate the further expansion of consciousness and human intelligence.We should understand that though there are complexity limitations due to the approximate 1500 cc size of the human brain, there is enormous yet-to-developed potential waiting in the wings. As the power of mind increases with growth in brain complexity, there is an amplified ability for gaining access to the aura of intelligent energy surrounding each human body. In tandem, the brain and the aura provide a new and powerful facility for accessing the higher levels of cosmic consciousness and intelligence.There are other possibilities for the unrelenting quest by life to advance the growth of intelligence. Think for a minute about the substrate provided by individual brain cells that function as the building blocks for the information processing device we call the human brain. Information passes between these individual brain cells via electrical and chemical signals that follow neuronal pathways created by learning and experience. Then, extrapolate this model to one with each human brain acting as an individual cell or building block for the next higher-level of brain function. This would a brain working on a global scale. Now you have the basis for the concept which some call the noosphere, others refer to it as the Gaia hypothesis.So, the next step in the relentless march of life on the road leading from simplicity to complexity, from individual to cosmic consciousness may be to integrate the advances made in our personal awareness with a collective super consciousness.***We begin with an overview of some of the newest concepts that underpin the emerging view that we live within a surrounding sea of universal energy and order. This world-encompassing envelope of flowing energized intelligence is carried on waveforms and the very nature of the universe at its most fundamental level is being recognized as a vast ocean of quantum waves whose cosmic mission is to distribute energy and information.Our human senses are tuned to perceive only those waves in a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum that we call light. All of the colors and shapes we see in the world result from transformations of this limited range of electromagnetic energy made inside the brain. Sound waves, too, are converted into information and stored as knowledge in brain circuits.