Look out Beta CVn the Yanks are coming, democracy and 'free' trade to follow

international | sci-tech | opinion/analysis Monday February 20, 2006 03:51 by Seán Ryan

A look at the recent work of SETI. The creationism debate is rekindled by scientists enlisting the clergy in the US to keep God out of classrooms. A new version of creationism is discussed with regard to education and commercial media. The incompleteness of evolution is examined. The interesting theory of Panspermia is shown to be a likely addition to the theory of evolution.

Two articles published a couple of hours ago have prompted my writing of this article.

The first has to do with the SETI programme and an announcement today, of a list of five possible stars that might have life. Or at least this is the way the press are looking at it. I have a counter notion about this and I'll get to in shortly. The press are telling us that SETI will be powering up its new huge Allen Telescope Array in California later this year, and this list will compose of the first five solar systems to be scanned for radio transmissions that might have come from intelligent life.

So the top five contenders are:
Beta CVn: a Sun-like star 26 light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici, visible to the naked eye.
HD 10307: has close to the same mass, temperature and iron content of the Sun.
HD 211 415: has about half the metal content of the Sun and is cooler
18 Sco: another close match to the Sun, found in the constellation of Scorpio
51 Pegasus: a large gaseous planet has been found here, evidence suggests it may also host planets like Earth

The fact that the astronomers have termed these stars as 'habstars' is at odds with the press and the leaning of their reports, the link I give at the end is probably the most unbiased report I could find, it still doesn't ask any interesting questions though. The prefix 'hab' is a term associated with terraforming. In other words, we've messed this planet up, it's time to look for a new home. Wonder who'll be at the back of this waiting list?

Anyway the second bit of news to grab my attention was that the so called 'intelligent design' vs evolution 'debate,' has been re-kindled in the US. Scientists have enlisted the aid of clergy, to keep God and creationism out of classrooms. A contradiction in terms in my opinion. This follows a recent ruling in the American supreme court, that creationism is not an alternative theory to the theory of evolution in classrooms. Game set and match to this debate, one would have thought.

This second story made me think about the theory of evolution. Don't get me wrong, I agree with it. But, it is very very incomplete. To consider it to be the final picture, that describes where we originated is to take a leap of faith as vast as the leap of faith required to accept the creationism theory. Evolution doesn't even begin to describe how consciousness evolved from hydrogen and helium, or indeed how life was triggered. This second point being quite poignant in that the model for life itself cannot be a model that is DNA or RNA dependant. The reason for this is quite simple.

Imagine the first instance of life arising, (how this occurs is anyones guess). The first point that can be made, is that the first instance of life is not as a result of evolution, in terms of DNA and RNA replication. This is probably why the Church has no fundemental issue with evolution.

So the theory of evolution is far from being the whole picture.

There are lots of possible contenders to make evolution a more complete picture. My favourite is the Panspermia theory, whose own origins are as illustrius as the theory of evolution itself. This theory suggests that the most common componant found in the universe is life. It is suggested that 'dark matter,' that elusive mass that must exist, to prove the current picture of the expanding universe, is in fact cosmic dust composed of dead bacteria. This theory is becoming very accepted by science today. It has been shown for example that this cosmic dust that is found just about everywhere, is when spectroscopically analysed, found to mirror the carbon found in bacterioligical lifeforms. Recent studies in deep sea locations have given greater support to the theory. Bacteria inhabiting thermal vents have given new insights into bacteriological evolution. It's proposed that life as we know it evolved from bacteria coupled in symbiotic relationships. And that this process is spread throughout the universe by comets. The theory has loads of pros and some cons. See the link and be prepared to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Methinks the church might have the odd issue or two with bacteria being seen as God's chosen species.

It strikes me as interesting that comet tracking in nearby solar systems is not used as an indicator of life. This again adds to the evidence that the SETI programme has become a vehicle of terraforming and not a search for life. Or more correctly it's both, just like the astronomers put it to begin with.

Jaysus, they'll need to press lots of Irish grown, genetically modified spuds to fuel a mission to the stars.

Why must the commercial press always 'dumb' stuff down, to simple issues and simple explanations?

Public knowledge is centuries behind existing technology and existing knowledge. Our schoolrooms are too.

Creationism out of our schools and newspapers! And into public forums of debate if need be.

Educate to liberate.

Sláinte,
Sean Ryan

Links:
The SETI piece - http://news.ft.com/cms/s/071c8688-a178-11da-9ca4-000077....html
Clergy enlisted by scientists - http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=dom...False
COSMIC ANCESTRY: The modern version of panspermia. by Brig Klyce - http://www.panspermia.org/