cosmos – An Autonomous Agent

The Meteorite (Chondrite) and its Organisms – Otto Hahn

anautonomousagent — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 19:24:05 +0000

Petrified life-forms compose the chondrites (which represent 86% of the total number of collected meteorites to date) proposed Otto Hahn in his book, The Meteorite (Chondrite) and its Organisms, containing 142 microphotographs to serve as his proof. Published in 1880 this work took the academic community by surprise. David Weinland wrote in Das Ausland:

The result of this study is the full conviction that, at least in these structures, we are really dealing with the remnants of corals, most of which belong to the Favositidae, a family that has so far only been found as fossils in the Paleozoic, the ancient layers of Earth.
Das Ausland, 1881, No. 16, Article 1

And also,

Well-preserved forms are, of course, quite rare; it is mostly debris, e.g. quite similar to that observed in young ocean limestone of the Mexican Gulf. After acquiring some practice and comparing many cuts, certain recurring forms can be restored quite easily. Especially developed are the sponges of which I have already determined three specific genera.
Das Ausland, 1881, No. 16, Article 1

Reading this in Das Ausland must have ruffled the feathers of directors of zoology and paleontology, especially coming from Weinland, who responded to Anton Rzehak’s criticism with:

This may still seem like a venturesome statement today, but my peers, who have known me for twenty-five years, will probably know that I do not easily pronounce my conviction.
Das Ausland, 1881, No. 26, Article 1

And indeed, Weinland went on to express his conviction by establishing in a treatise 16 genera each with multiple species, submitting his work to the Leopoldina and Acta, and proclaiming that:

Not ten years will pass before we will have a small universally recognized fauna of the meteorites.
Das Ausland, 1881, No. 26, Article 1

Certainly this is a fascinating story and a book worthy of reading! And regarding Hahn’s ideas about the iron meteorites, you will want to research the ironically named Chondrites.

Read: The Meteorite (Chondrite) and its Organisms

Read: Das Ausland Articles

Casual Randall Carlson

anautonomousagent — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 04:41:03 +0000

Randall Carlson does a nice job explaining subjects which would otherwise be incredibly dense. I especially enjoyed this entire series: Cosmography 101. In this series he points out that ancient humans around the time of the last ice age appear to have been cosmographists. With this in mind he explores various scenarios of what might have occurred based on geological evidence. Once you finish hearing what Carlson presents I am certain you will know more than you wanted about the Younger Dryas. You will also encounter many comprehensive descriptions of comets and asteroids. Unfortunately for Carlson, his ideas on the events of the last ice age are an anathema to some of the worlds popular ideologies: those who hold a religious based on the Bible’s account of a supernatural guiding force and those who hold a scientific view based on gradualism. If you maintain a religious understanding, then the proof that these historical events occurred through purely physical interactions between material things following mathematical laws, then you will most likely close your attention to the evidence immediately. The same refusal will occur by those scientifically oriented who think their already correct view of this time era is true and scientifically valid. Dare to be challenged?

Randall Carlson YouTube Lectures

Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds (2012)

anautonomousagent — Thu, 12 May 2016 14:23:53 +0000

Compilation of various ideas on mysticism and science.

Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge – Jeremy Narby

anautonomousagent — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 01:47:09 +0000

I learned of Jeremy Narby’s book Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge while reading Graham Hancock’s book, Supernatural. The ideas present within both books are incredible. DNA may be an extra-terrestrial biotechnology. Of course, you don’t have to read these books to come to that conclusion. Narby further suggests that DNA actually has a mysterious way to communicate with the conscious awareness of all life, especially after the consumption of various consciousness altering molecules. It is through this alteration of the brain that life is able to receive a mysterious informational signal from DNA. Even if his hypothesis turns out to be false, the sheer intellectual creativity of Narby’s work deserves praise. As wild as that sounds, it really would not be surprising given the complexity and probability arguments presented by the panspermia supporters (Francis Crick for instance and also see: The “Wow! signal” of the terrestrial genetic code.

A Few Talks by Terence McKenna

anautonomousagent — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 01:19:16 +0000

I only recently started listening and reading the ideas of Terence McKenna. His communication skill and talks do a great deal to guide the mind to new planes of thought and his experiences are fascinating to say the least. Do a search on YouTube; a few I enjoyed:

Eros and the Eschaton “What Science Forgot”

Time and the I Ching

Opening the Doors of Creativity

Talk about Cannabis

Terence McKenna’s True Hallucinations

Cosmic Apprentice: Dispatches from the Edges of Science – Dorion Sagan

anautonomousagent — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 23:31:00 +0000

Being a huge fan of Carl Sagan’s books, I was delightfully surprised when I found that his son, Dorion Sagan, is a prolific writer on the subjects of science, philosophy, and evolution. The first of his works which I decided to read is entitled Cosmic Apprentice: Dispatches from the Edges of Science. For a good review see Maria Popova’s review here. I loved reading the book and I look forward to reading more of Sagan’s writings.

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe – Robert Lanza and Bob Berman

anautonomousagent — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:57:00 +0000

I recently finished Robert Lanza’s book, Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe. While understanding the true nature of the universe is a bold claim, I think there is validity to the perspective of biocentrism based on my own experiences and knowledge. The book kept me thinking and my head spinning. My mind constantly wondered, thinking about the consequences and possible applications of the principles of biocentrism.

Lanza’s theory of biocentrism has seven principles (source):

What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our consciousness. An “external” reality, if it existed, would by definition have to exist in space. But this is meaningless, because space and time are not absolute realities but rather tools of the human and animal mind.

Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably intertwined. They are different sides of the same coin and cannot be divorced from one another.

The behavior of subatomic particles, indeed all particles and objects, is inextricably linked to the presence of an observer. Without the presence of a conscious observer, they at best exist in an undetermined state of probability waves.

Without consciousness, “matter” dwells in an undetermined state of probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability state.

The structure of the universe is explainable only through biocentrism. The universe is fine-tuned for life, which makes perfect sense as life creates the universe, not the other way around. The “universe” is simply the complete spatio-temporal logic of the self.

Time does not have a real existence outside of animal-sense perception. It is the process by which we perceive changes in the universe.

Space, like time, is not an object or a thing. Space is another form of our animal understanding and does not have an independent reality. We carry space and time around with us like turtles with shells. Thus, there is no absolute self-existing matrix in which physical events occur independent of life.

Jason Silva Videos

anautonomousagent — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:49:00 +0000

Jason Silva creates some incredible philosophical videos. He is noted for reiterating Timothy Leary’s description of the computer and internet as the LSD of the 90’s. And his short clips are intended to be such a psychedelic experience. Really great; as most of them are based on many of the books and ideas posted in this blog. Be sure to watch his videos:

Jason Silva on Vimeo

Jason Silva on YouTube

Here is Jason Silva’s film rendition of the strange loop from Hofstadter’s Godel, Escher, Bach.

Energy – Stardust – Consciousness

anautonomousagent — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 02:58:00 +0000

Quote from Edgar Mitchell:

“I realized that the molecules of my body and the molecules of the spacecraft had been manufactured in an ancient generation of stars. It wasn’t just intellectual knowledge — it was a subjective visceral experience accompanied by ecstasy — a transformational experience.

(…)

The experience in space was so powerful that when I got back to Earth I started digging into various literatures to try to understand what had happened. I found nothing in science literature but eventually discovered it in the Sanskrit of ancient India. The descriptions of samadhi, Savikalpa samadhi, were exactly what I felt: it is described as seeing things in their separateness, but experiencing them viscerally as a unity, as oneness, accompanied by ecstasy.”

The previous quote from Mitchell reminded me that what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell originated in a stellar explosion more than five billion years ago. However, I think we can look back even further; when all matter in the universe was in a single sea of energy. We are all of such form and substance. Can we look back even further?

But tracing back our origins to the first stars suffers as a mental process. The neurons in our brain store such information and understanding as electrical impulses. Neurons acting in complex patterns inside our brain produce such visions of the past. Our emotions stimulate their acceptance and development. In effect, these thought processes only show our continual ignorance. Me, writing about this very idea seems to be in direct opposition to what I am trying to say. There seems to be an infinitude of ignorance and a strange loop of never ending information. For it seems simple to imagine the universe as only a manifestation of these information patterns. Perhaps the only solution is to accept ignorance and live. Or maybe there is a single source of information from which all information flows which we will eventually discover. Or, as I suggest, the only answer is to read Godel, Escher, Bach over and over until your eyes are sore. But, throughout history, spiritual enlightenment has been the provider of such answers. Living through a religion in ignorance provides the simple answer to the universe. A religion allows us to stop asking questions; to stop searching for the answer. This raises the question: Can science be considered a religion?

The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next – Lee Smolin

anautonomousagent — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:48:00 +0000

The reviews of The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next praise the well written work of Lee Smolin. Talking about the big ideas in physics like strings, many universes, etc. Smolin argues that physics may be pursuing theories in a “herd” like manner; the popular theories tend to get more experimental funding than other less favoured ideas. Interesting point! Many of the breakthroughs in science are not expected and come from areas where people would never expect.