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Out of Chaos
Out of Chaos
Evolution from the Big Bang to Human Intellect
Wayne M. Bundy
Universal Publishers
Boca Raton
Out of Chaos: Evolution from Big Bang to Human Intellect
Copyright © 2008 Wayne M. Bundy All rights reserved.
Universal Publishers Boca Raton, Florida • USA
2008
ISBN: 1-58112-979-3ISBN 13: 978-1-58112-979-3
www.universal-publishers.com
Cover design by Shereen Siddiqui
Table of Contents
Foreword ..........................................................................................................................................iFigures ...........................................................................................................................................iiiPreface ........................................................................................................................................... ivAcknowledgements ..........................................................................................................................vChapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................1
Section I: Mechanisms and Pathways to the Primates
Chapter 2: The Universe ...................................................................................................................9Origin ........................................................................................................................................................ 10The Cooling Universe ................................................................................................................................. 13Problems with Origins ................................................................................................................................ 17Strangeness of Our Universe ....................................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 3: Some Sticky Philosophical Issues ................................................................................... 21Playing With Infinity .................................................................................................................................. 21Evolution, Determinism versus Indeterminism ............................................................................................ 25
Chapter 4: The Solar System and Habitable Earth ........................................................................... 29Origin of the Solar System .......................................................................................................................... 30Uniqueness of Earth ................................................................................................................................... 33Earth’s Structure as Life’s Disciple .............................................................................................................. 34Early Environments .................................................................................................................................... 41
Chapter 5: The Nature of Biological Evolution ............................................................................... 45Darwinian Evolution .................................................................................................................................. 46Genetics ..................................................................................................................................................... 52Immunity and Mutation ............................................................................................................................. 57First Life .................................................................................................................................................... 58Viruses ....................................................................................................................................................... 59Recent Developments ................................................................................................................................. 60
Chapter 6: Classification of Life, Neo-Darwinian Evolution, and Extinction.................................... 65Classification of Life ................................................................................................................................... 65Other Intricacies of Biological Evolution .................................................................................................... 67Extinction .................................................................................................................................................. 70Paradox of Extinction ................................................................................................................................. 73Against Evolution ....................................................................................................................................... 75
Chapter 7: Adjuncts to Neo-Darwinian Evolution .......................................................................... 77Cellular Life and Symbiogenesis .................................................................................................................. 78Parasites ..................................................................................................................................................... 80Chaos, Complexity, and Life ....................................................................................................................... 83Morphogenesis, the Evolution of Form ....................................................................................................... 84The Gaia Hypothesis .................................................................................................................................. 86Darwinian Evolution Beginning? ................................................................................................................. 88Atavism ...................................................................................................................................................... 89Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 89
Chapter 8: The Emergence of Life .................................................................................................. 91Speculation on Life’s Origin ........................................................................................................................ 92Life’s Synthesis .......................................................................................................................................... 96Unicellular Life .......................................................................................................................................... 97Evolution of Soil, Plants, and Subterranean Biota ...................................................................................... 102The Oxygen Revolution and Multi-Cellular Life ........................................................................................ 103An Ever-Changing Scene .......................................................................................................................... 106
Chapter 9: Climate and Life’s Probability ...................................................................................... 109Influence of Life on Climate ..................................................................................................................... 109Probability of Life on Earth ..................................................................................................................... 114
Section II: From First Primates to Modern Minds
Chapter 10: Archaic Anthropoids and Hominids ......................................................................................... 119The Mind of Apes .................................................................................................................................... 120The Rise of Apes ...................................................................................................................................... 123Bipedal Ape and Hominid Evolution ......................................................................................................... 124
Chapter 11: Early Human Development ...................................................................................... 133The Ancestral Population ......................................................................................................................... 134Early Bottleneck ....................................................................................................................................... 136Brain Enlargement Mechanisms ................................................................................................................ 137Consciousness .......................................................................................................................................... 138Emergence of High Intelligence ................................................................................................................ 139
Chapter 12: Emergence of the Human Brain ................................................................................. 147Brain Structure in Brief ............................................................................................................................. 148A Darwinian Brain? .................................................................................................................................. 154Climate Change ....................................................................................................................................... 156The Conveyor Belt .................................................................................................................................... 158
Chapter 13: Models and Chemistry of the Modern Mind ............................................................. 163Mind Evolution by Representation ............................................................................................................ 164Four Architectural Phases of Mind Evolution ............................................................................................ 164Language ................................................................................................................................................. 165The Society of Modern Mind .................................................................................................................... 166Perpetual Motion? .................................................................................................................................... 168Chemical Influences on the Brain .............................................................................................................. 171
Chapter 14: Ancient Events and History ....................................................................................... 179Prehistory ................................................................................................................................................ 179The First Creative Explosion ..................................................................................................................... 181Post-Ancestral Modern Humans ............................................................................................................... 182Rise of Farming ........................................................................................................................................ 186Rise of Social Complexity ......................................................................................................................... 189History Emerges ....................................................................................................................................... 190
Chapter 15: Marvel of the Ancient Greeks .................................................................................... 195Pre-Socratic Greece .................................................................................................................................. 196The Return of Greek Mysticism ................................................................................................................ 199Other Intellectual Contributions ................................................................................................................ 203Reasons for Ancient Greek Creativity ........................................................................................................ 204
Chapter 16: The Early Chinese Creative Explosion ...................................................................... 209Chinese Creativity .................................................................................................................................... 209Chinese Conservatism............................................................................................................................... 210
Chapter 17: Rome, the Rise of Christianity, and the European Middle Ages .................................. 215The Romans ............................................................................................................................................. 216Jesus Christ .............................................................................................................................................. 217The Middle Age Doldrums ....................................................................................................................... 218The Rise of Cities .................................................................................................................................... 220European High Middle Ages ..................................................................................................................... 220The Crusades, Scholasticism, and Humanism ........................................................................................... 224
Chapter 18: The Renaissance ........................................................................................................ 227Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 227The Inquisitions ........................................................................................................................................ 231The Reformation ...................................................................................................................................... 231Unprecedented Cruelty ............................................................................................................................. 232The Copernican Revolution ...................................................................................................................... 236
Chapter 19: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment ...................................................... 239The Scientific Revolution .......................................................................................................................... 239Advances in Other Sciences ...................................................................................................................... 245The Enlightenment ................................................................................................................................... 245Eighteenth Century Science ...................................................................................................................... 247Significance of Intellectual Spasms ............................................................................................................ 249
Chapter 20: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Science ............................................................... 253Nineteenth Century and the Age of Machines ........................................................................................... 254Revolution of Symmetrical Minds ............................................................................................................. 260Twentieth Century ................................................................................................................................... 261
Chapter 21: The Ancient Artisan and the Rise of Material Use ...................................................... 269The Rise of Metals ................................................................................................................................... 269The Industrial Revolution ......................................................................................................................... 272The Rise of Glass ..................................................................................................................................... 274Construction Materials, Gunpowder, and Cannons .................................................................................... 275Natural Rubber, Synthetic Polymers, Composite Materials, and Silicon ...................................................... 275
Section III: Other Consequences of Cognitive Fluidity
Chapter 22: Superstition .............................................................................................................. 281Dangers of Human Intellect ...................................................................................................................... 282Importance of Rational Intellect ............................................................................................................... 285Consequences of Faulty Reasoning ........................................................................................................... 287Racism ..................................................................................................................................................... 289
Chapter 23: Religion I ................................................................................................................. 297Social Growth, War, and Religion ............................................................................................................. 298Some Religious Inconsistencies ................................................................................................................. 299Seeking Approximate Truth ...................................................................................................................... 300Nature of Religion .................................................................................................................................... 303Religion’s Inception .................................................................................................................................. 305Some Downsides of Religion ................................................................................................................... 306Repudiated God Proofs ............................................................................................................................. 309
Chapter 24: Religion II ................................................................................................................ 313Religion versus Science ............................................................................................................................. 313The Brain and Religion ............................................................................................................................. 315More Permutations of Religion ................................................................................................................. 318The Great Enigma .................................................................................................................................... 319Addictive Aspects of Religion and Potential Merger with Science ............................................................... 321
Chapter 25: Free Will—Is the Concept Reasonable? ...................................................................... 331Evaluation of Free Will ............................................................................................................................ 332Tentative Answers ..................................................................................................................................... 337
Chapter 26: Evolution of the Philosophical Mind.......................................................................... 345A Brief Review of Philosophical History ................................................................................................... 345Philosophical Changes Affected by Modern Science .................................................................................. 354Postmodernism and Science ...................................................................................................................... 356A More Positive Philosophy ...................................................................................................................... 358
Section IV: Culmination of the Modern Intellect
Chapter 27: The Modern Intellect ................................................................................................ 363The Human Brain and the Origin of Information ...................................................................................... 364Dreaming, Self, and the Mental Trilogy ..................................................................................................... 364Sexual Brain Differences ........................................................................................................................... 366Emotional Intelligence .............................................................................................................................. 367Genius ..................................................................................................................................................... 368Thinking and Learning ............................................................................................................................. 372Artificial Intelligence ................................................................................................................................ 374The Modern Human ................................................................................................................................. 374
Chapter 28: Potential Causes of Creative Explosions .................................................................... 377Biological Evolution ................................................................................................................................. 379Brain Enlargement and Refinement ........................................................................................................... 379Spandrel Effect ......................................................................................................................................... 381Brain Asymmetry, Hemispheric Lateralization .......................................................................................... 381Cognitive Fluidity ..................................................................................................................................... 382
Rare Variations of Nature ......................................................................................................................... 383Transition to Cultural Evolution: Symbolization, Language, and Consciousness ....................................... 384
Chapter 29: Cultural Evolution ..................................................................................................... 389Utopian Meditation .................................................................................................................................. 391Memes ..................................................................................................................................................... 392Brain Plasticity ......................................................................................................................................... 393Mind Autonomy ....................................................................................................................................... 394Keystone Inventions .................................................................................................................................. 395Demonstration Effect ................................................................................................................................ 396Autocatalysis ............................................................................................................................................ 397Conflict .................................................................................................................................................... 397
Chapter 30: Complexity, Networks, and Intellectual Growth ......................................................... 401Complexity Science .................................................................................................................................. 402Power Laws .............................................................................................................................................. 405Networking .............................................................................................................................................. 406Afterthoughts ........................................................................................................................................... 408
Section VI: The Creative Past and Future
Chapter 31: The Scientific Revolution of Tomorrow...................................................................... 413Cosmology, Physics, Mathematics, and Computers .................................................................................... 413Genetics, Global Culture, Neuroscience, and the Origin of Life ................................................................. 416Prostheses, Medicine, Free Market Economy, and Basic Research ............................................................. 421The Limits of Our Future ......................................................................................................................... 424An Undirected Future ............................................................................................................................... 425
Chapter 32: Life’s Convoluted Path to High Intellect ..................................................................... 427Life’s Origin ............................................................................................................................................. 427Bipedal Hominids and Intellect ................................................................................................................. 428Ancient Greek Intellect ............................................................................................................................. 430From Rome to the Enlightenment ............................................................................................................. 431Modern Autonomous Minds ..................................................................................................................... 432Mechanisms and Future of Mind Growth ................................................................................................ 433
Chapter 33: Ultimate Reality ....................................................................................................................... 435Great Problems of Planet Earth ................................................................................................................ 435A Worst Case Scenario ............................................................................................................................. 437Astrobiology ............................................................................................................................................. 438Eternal Life .............................................................................................................................................. 444
Chapter 34: Philosophical Derivatives of “Out of Chaos” ........................................................................... 447Evolution ................................................................................................................................................. 448Science, Technology, Intelligence, and Intellect .......................................................................................... 449Science and Democracy ............................................................................................................................ 452Uncertainty .............................................................................................................................................. 453Population Growth .................................................................................................................................. 455Religion versus Science ............................................................................................................................. 456Modern Human Future............................................................................................................................. 459War .......................................................................................................................................................... 461
About the Author ......................................................................................................................... 464Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 465Index ........................................................................................................................................... 476
For Lorraine, Mark, Janet, Michael, Ama, Kyoka, Shoki, and Taisei
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Foreword
The United States of America is an anomaly among secular western liberal societies that grew out of the Enlightenment. No person who does not profess adherence to one of the
33, 820 varieties of Christianity or to one of the 10,000 other available religions that egotistic Homo sapiens has invented, is likely to gain public office. Scientists have a more restricted choice. No aeroplane flies that violates the laws of physics and there is only one National Academy of Sciences. But the country also produces The New Yorker, while nearly everyone among my many acquaintances in the United States, the fruits of many of visits is, if not an atheist, at least a sceptic. Wayne Bundy, my friend of 50 years, is among these. So a paradox exists.
This book places Homo sapiens in a correct cosmic, geological and historical perspective, something that should be known to every school child. As Richard Dawkins has pointed out, there are no Jewish, Muslim or Christian children. They become so through the prejudices of their parents, whose antique notions of the universe are derived, not from the Enlightenment, nor from the scientific discoveries of the past three centuries, but from the narratives of ancient and very ignorant desert tribes or from the sketchy accounts of the lives of self-styled prophets and miracle makers, all of debatable historical accuracy.
One wonders what Benjamin Franklin would have made of the attitudes of a majority of his countrymen, over two hundred years after he assisted in the foundation of one of the most hopeful of all human endeavours. Now this great enterprise is under attack from primitive ideologies, both from within and without. As a pastor from Dover, Pennsylvania (Franklin’s home state) lamented “we are being dictated to by the educated folks”. But while reality can be bypassed for a while, it eventually forces its way in, taking revenge on those who have ignored it.
The perils of religious beliefs that now threaten to destroy civilization, if not our entire species along with many other innocent bystanders, are now apparent. Wayne quotes Martin Rees, the English astronomer, that Homo sapiens has only a 50/50 chance of surviving this century. So it is encouraging to see that the atheists are beginning to revolt, before we all are engulfed in some apocalyptic Armageddon. It is of course difficult for a society to operate ra-tionally when a sizeable number of its citizens are either expecting the end of the world or are awaiting the arrival of a mythical deity while its political leaders are making decisions, if not based on astrology, on His advice. It is remarkable that such ideas not only persist, but also are becoming more widespread. A Canadian historian, contemplating the curious attitudes of his neighbours, remarked recently in the American Scientist that basic lacks of personal security for health or income, rather than the usual suspects of anti-intellectualism or 19th Century evan-gelism, are a possible cause for the prevalence of religion in the United States. Terror (there are no atheists in foxholes) induces some strange beliefs.
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But religion makes the mind lazy. As St Augustine (354-430 AD) remarked “it is not neces-sary to probe into the nature of things” as the Ancient Greeks had done, as God had created every-thing. As a recipe for stopping creative activity, only astrology rivals religion as a suppressor of knowledge. Over 150 years of public education seem to have made little headway against the forces of darkness and raises the wider question.
Are we really the pinnacle of 4500 million years of evolution? Closely related to the ag-gressive chimpanzees, have we evolved enough to cope? The nightly news on television, that marvelous technical invention of scientists, now turned into a field too barren to be termed a wasteland, provides little hope that Homo sapiens is more than another of nature’s failed experi-ments. A pity that we are not more closely related to the sexually friendly Bonobos.
Will a more evolved species arise in time? Wayne notes the extraordinary achievements of the Ashkenazi Jews, separated in European ghettos for centuries, whose descendants, now three percent of the US population, have garnered 27% of the Nobel Prizes awarded to that country. In their enforced isolation, restricted to intellectually demanding occupations, did they evolve superior brains? So perhaps there are grounds for hope before the unrestricted growth in population, the elephant in the attic, falls through the ceiling. Read this book. It tells us where we are, how we got there and how we might escape disaster. Stuart Ross Taylor Australian National University July 2007
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Figures1: The solar system.
2: The structure of Earth.
3: Geologic Time Scale I.
4: Geologic Time Scale II.
5: Segment of DNA.
6: Eukarya include plants, animals, and protozoa. Prokarya include archaeans and bacteria.
7: Geologic table showing times of mass extinctions.
8: Tree of life.
9: Evolution of bipedal primate brains.
10: Brain structure I.
11: Brain structure II.
12: Microscopic brain structure showing cell body of neuronsconnected by dendrites, axons, and synapses.
13: Creative explosions from the cultural Upper Paleolithic to the present.
14: Diagrams showing kinds of networks. A ordered structure with small amount of informa-tion, B random structure with abundant but poor quality information, C merger of random and orderedstructures that is complexity
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Preface
What could be more interesting than the origin of the Universe, Earth, life, hominids, and modern intellect? When I was very young, I was convinced many things appeared far more interesting—sex, money, great food, wine, and all varieties of relatively easy gratification. I do not imply these things are not exciting to me today, but age can bring on a psychological state where significance of life rises to supremacy. Greater proximity of death, freedom from the daily grind of making a living, and reflection on why and how one’s life proceeded as it did can become motivations for looking at the big picture.
The more I grasp the big picture, the better I feel about having lived at all—not that I really minded so far. Being able to pontificate about the world becomes more mind-stretching than thinking for the relative narrowness of the market place. Expression without constraint from con-stant preoccupation with surviving in a world of predators is like suddenly being able to fly.
When I wrote a previous book, Innovation, Creativity, and Discovery in Modern Organizations, I became curious about how and why hominids evolved. What do modern Homo sapiens repre-sent? Why is the world as it is and why do we often think as we do when more rational ways are at hand? Where may our evolution progress or regress? What is our brain potential? How did humans evolve from making crude hand axes to Einsteinian relativity, quantum mechanics, and the structure of DNA in the geological instant of a few thousand years?
To gain understanding of why we are the way we are the beginning of time seemed an essential starting point. Evolution through time becomes necessary knowledge to gain a more realistic glimpse of the present and to gain some perspective of the future. Could different environments than ours produce high intellect, among different genera? This book is based on scientific evidence and historical accounts, but I insert my speculation in borderland regions. Your ideas may deviate considerably from mine, which is desirable and basic to cultural evolu-tion. Diversity and dialectic in all respects can contribute to knowledge growth, without which humans would stagnate and perhaps meet an evolutionary end.
Carrying this observation to the extreme, even crime and catastrophe may be necessary for widest range of thinking, greatest human accomplishment, and best chances of our species sur-vival. Every aspect of existence becomes frozen accidents that influence all that follows. Would our level of achievement be as great if we had not had natural and cultural catastrophes? Each chapter attempts to give substance to this unsettling question.
Consilience, the interaction of science, technology, music, art, history, psychology and all other disciplines was the great hope of the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Consilience in the best sense is the interaction of all knowledge that might enable realization of increasingly phantasmagoric hopes. A critical goal of this book, the big picture helps to broaden such perspective. Interspersed with iconoclasm or deviation from tradition, this book is designed to provoke and probe innermost thinking. Hopefully, my free thinking will not be offensive and possibly will broaden horizons. The big picture might be meaningless without
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iconoclasm. Read this book for your consternation and ideas of counter-argument; read it to reinforce your own ideas; preferably, read it to evolve unique concepts.
Autonomy of mind and working toward greater knowledge offer some magnified apprecia-tion and control of the world around us. Perhaps this book will assist in magnifying your world appreciation, as it has me. I congratulate you for your courage to consider iconoclasms, which many shirk to avoid uncertainty. Gradually developed throughout this book, uncertainty can be our greatest friend for survival in the most meaningful way. Whatever your ideas, I wish you and your interlocutors the best of luck and the most salutary of lives.
AcknowledgementsWriting this book came with retirement and attempting to find a stimulating hobby. For my book’s successful completion, I owe the greatest debt to my agent, William F. Christopher, Publication Services, Walnut Creek, CA. His writing skills and advice are superior; his persis-tence precludes failure. I thank Nadine Koenig and her company, WORDMAGIC of Santa Fe, New Mexico for editorial help on two of the chapters. I thank Barbara T. Hill and Kimberly H. Sowder for drafting the figures. Further, I thank Quorum Books for allowing a modified por-tion of Chapter 2 in Innovation, Creativity, and Discovery in Modern Organizations to be published in this book.
Extending thanks for motivation to write such an extensive book can go back to birth, but I begin my thanks with the graduate students for whom I feel most affection in keeping my intel-lect on tract. First in time was Dr. Stuart Ross Taylor, now emeritus professor at the National University in Canberra, Australia. Second, in time was Dr. Lawrence Rooney, former editor for the United States Geological Survey. People of their intellect deeply deserve the significant accomplishments of their lives.
I thank emeritus Professor Haydn H. Murray who motivated and supported me through graduate school and some of my years in industrial minerals technology. I thank Edward En-gel, owner and president of my former company for his kindness and support, and Dr. Jean Paul Richard, a later president for his continual fire building that scorched but stimulated my drive for creativity.
My family gives me the courage to tackle large issues, and my New Mexico environment gives me the inspiration. Age demanded that I find a safe hobby, such as writing to slow my brain’s atrophy and hiking in the mountains to rejuvenate atrophying muscles, generate new neurons, and synaptic connections. My choice of topics was limited largely to science, my profession for 35 years. All of time and all of human knowledge aroused my greatest interest. Intrigued by infinite regress since my mind began to wonder in youth, I began my book as far back as knowledge and rational speculation could penetrate the past. With these motivations I opted for a book on evolution from before the beginning of time to the present. My previous two books dealt with how to improve creative ability in science and technology, which gave me the impetus for this new book. “Out of Chaos” arose from a determinate set of events to which collectively I owe gratitude. I seem to have had no choice in the content and opinions in the following chapters.
Wayne M. Bundy Tesuque, New Mexico November 2007
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Chapter 1
Introduction
“Be careful what you put on paper. All the great thinkers of the enlightenment paid a price for espousing their beliefs. Those were the days when the powers-that-be could have your head for expressing a dissenting opinion. Many spent time in prison and exile for their writings.” — James Mannion, writer and former publisher1
P icture yourself in a plush, protective sphere able to travel instantly to any place in the Universe or even multi-verse. Immense powers allow you to time travel as well. Thus you
are in the most powerful spaceship ever conceived and you have the freedom to explore time in much of its intricate detail. That is what this book is about, and you are about to embark on what might be the greatest, most extensive armchair adventure of your life. Be prepared for great shocks to your mind and for intellectual extravaganza far outside the median approach to knowledge.
A treatise on Universe evolution to human intellect precludes reasonable escape from poli-tics, religion, sex, and almost everything else. Herein, forbidden worlds are breached, specu-lation unfettered by political correctness. Understood that “facts” and opinions are open to rational question, free thinking is scattered throughout. Critiquing great breadth of ideas and “knowledge” may enable you to have a better grip on why we are the way we are—and why uncertainty is the ultimate certainty.
The right to express one’s opinion, without harassment or mayhem, seems the slipperiest of slopes. Many unwritten restrictions reflect a burgeoning anti-intellectual civilization gradu-ally suppressing democratic ideals. A lynchpin of survival, open-ended intellect is essential to the best of humanity. Devotion to free thinking led to a “no-holds-barred” book that might challenge your deepest thoughts.
Because the ultimate goal of this book is intellect origin and its maximum growth, some re-lated definitions might be helpful.2 Intelligence refers to learned behavior by people and animals. Behavior imposed by the power of senses, imagination, and memory encompass intelligence exclusive of conceptualization. Perception is its overall process. Mind is the process of the brain, and includes all forms of intelligent behavior. Intellect is the power of rational thought. Conceptualization, such as in science, is intellect’s forte and the mind processes of induction, deduction, and abduction are exemplary. Considering processes within the Earth’s interior and conceptualizing how it influences surface characteristics of Earth require high intellect. All as-pects of nature and human relations need deep conceptualization for best chances of modern Homo sapiens’ survival.
Importance of science and general intellectualism is stressed throughout this book. For a complex of reasons, both disciplines are held in disdain by far too many people. Arrogance
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of some intellectual elites coupled with condescension toward intellectualism by religion and politicians feed the populace with false notions about the most important aspect of civilization. Teaching intellectualism’s value requires humility of wiser intellectuals, politicians, institutions and the media, with the understanding that world uncertainty is inviolable.
Intellectual growth of everyone is considered paramount to the survival of civilization, and the Iraq war is exemplary of the anti-intellectual nature of far too many world leaders. Open ended, sensitively creative, intellectual approaches are believed essential to high degrees of equanimity in a world abiding by myriad absolutist doctrines. Clearly, situations arise where wars of defense become necessary, but deeply instilling critical thinking and creativity through-out education seem ways to minimize violent conflict. Imposing change by force, as in Iraq, seems as doomed to failure as an aggressive nation with a disparate doctrine forcefully telling us how we should behave or govern. Abundance of anti-intellectualism in America among peo-ple in positions of power reflects a highly inadequate educational system for the best chances of civilization’s growth.
We might consider what it would have been like if Japanese imperialism had been our fate in World War II—an event coming close to reality. Their culture and ours living together probably would have been at loggerheads under the best of conditions. Nations might brutally enforce their will, but intense resentment by the victims creates an environment at the edge of chaos, ready to rebel at the first opportunity. Forceful imposition of ideas effectively quells in-tellectual growth. In the modern world where so much knowledge and deep thought processes have been accumulated, it seems strange that we would have the audacity to try to impose our will on the rest of the world. This is true despite our justifiable reverence for democracy.
Because science is of overwhelming importance to civilization, it is extensively considered in this book. Brief sketches of what science constitutes and its meaning to human survival is scattered throughout. Not as difficult as many are led to believe, science and general intel-lect advance by knowledge, critical thinking, iconoclasm, creativity, and mathematics. Highest mathematics can be inordinately difficult and understood by few scientists and mathemati-cians. Unnecessary to understand mathematics to gain a grasp of scientific method, the intrica-cies of most science can he exhilarating. Learning the straightforward mechanisms of critical thinking and experiencing the tremendous excitement of knowledge interaction and creative emergence make most students pay attention. Then they grasp what they might formerly have thought out of their league, their consciousness, their perceived world, and their freedom for discovery immensely enlarged.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of science process is induction, experiment and observa-tion. If we observe all white cats in an environment, we might conclude that all cats are white. But there is no inherent reason why the next cat seen will not be black. Thus induction is not absolute, but this error can be somewhat rectified by approaching problems from different perspectives, or by multiple inductions. Michael Shermer calls this a consilience of inductions or a convergence of evidence. 3 Largely because of inductive uncertainty, scientists rely on inter-sub-jective confirmation among worldwide scientists and maintain open minds for deeper explana-tion. Pragmatism prevails and whatever works best is the wisdom of the moment. But the self-correcting nature of science gives it premier status as the unique source of reliable knowledge.
Geology is a good example of evidence convergence. Rocks are studied by their chemical and mineralogical composition, their texture, and their environmental occurrence. If the chem-ical composition of the rock fits for igneous rocks, it is found where igneous rocks should be,
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and has texture and mineralogy of igneous rocks, its confirmation has been multi-faceted—a convergence of evidence
A geological study of a particular environment is often approached by convergent use of geology, organic and inorganic chemistry, physics and geophysics, zoology and paleontolo-gy, botany, hydrology, geography, and any other discipline that might be helpful in holistic understanding of an earth science problem. Knowledge convergence is essential to reliable understanding of both history and science. Biological evolution is confirmed similarly by in-dependent data sets from geology, paleontology, botany, zoology, herpetology, entomology, biogeography, comparative anatomy and physiology, genetics and population genetics, and others aiding understanding life’s nature since inception.
Non-evidence is not an obstacle to religion or they would not have drawn their many con-clusions accepted on faith. Religion is outrageously easy, believing that faith transcends logic and accepting authority without question. Since contrast between the extremes of religion and science give substance to their relative validity and understanding our world, such discussion occurs in many chapters.
Emphasized by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, “science is not a threat to the moral world. Quite the contrary, science has an ethos founded on honesty, open-mindedness, creativ-ity, egalitarianism, and full disclosure.”4 Science is our hope for the future, a discipline that allows revelation of the deepest secrets of nature. The same cannot be said for politics and re-ligion, which many depend on for moral guidance. Politics too often is extreme Machiavellian-ism, and religion is proclamation of “truth” by faith, anecdotes, and revelation—both concepts highly unreliable.
Science cannot advance without honesty, requiring confirmation by ultra-critical scientists worldwide. Science results give us the foundation of rational beliefs, growing technology, a more humane world, and philosophical realism. Without rational knowledge derived from science, we would not long survive nature’s temperament. Freedom, tolerance, and profound concern for critical and creative thinking are essential to a peaceful, rationally moral world—frequent themes throughout this book.
The historical, world picture that unfolds in 30 chapters and the last four chapters cover-ing the potential future enfolds some 14 billion years of evolution. Offering invaluable lessons for cultural evolution, civilization’s defects become prominent when we view history in broad brush strokes. World intellect optimization depends on a 3 pound mass of structured proto-plasm in some 6.5 billion people amounting to about 19.5 billion pounds of unique brains. But only a microscopic film of scientists, technologists, intellectuals in general, and business and world leaders dominate destiny’s helm. Imagine what doubling or tripling intellect among the world’s population would do for the well being of civilization.
Random events may be even more influential to the world’s fate, but the more intellect we develop, the greater the potential that chance will bow to our control. Dogma slowly assumes its rightful place in the junk belief lexicon. Accelerating knowledge of nature and ourselves, sci-ence-technology is a primary agent of intellectual change—the magnificent enemy of dogma and the great hope of civilization.
How did life and especially human beings arise, and why do matter and energy exist in any context? Is there life beyond Earth? What is the nature and future of human intellect? Can we find purpose and meaning in life? Do parallel universes exist? Is the world finite or infinite? Could life be infinite in both space and time? Why is science important? Is biological evolution
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only a theory? Do creationists own merit in their arguments? These and other questions are considered for a broad-spectrum approach to intellect evolution.
Reason brought humans far toward understanding the world, but things we do not under-stand are not mysticisms—they simply are not understood. Some great questions have been answered by science, and more will be; others may await future hominid species with greater minds than ours. Some may never be answered.
Disagreement continually arises about details of Universe history, but the big picture pre-sented herein generally accords with experts. Fundamentals of the primary disciplines referred to in this book—epistemology, cosmology, geochemistry, geology, biology, astrobiology, arche-ology, paleoanthropology, and neurology—remain sound and may not change significantly. Yet accruing information constantly modifies concepts. Rarely, new information promotes a revolution in fundamental understanding.
Attempting to bridge some gaps in the intellectual world, this book considers how science has changed philosophical views, the nature of intellect, and where intellect might be headed. Heretical science theory since the Scientific Revolution and technology spin-off became prime cultural influences and benefactors. Copernicus’s disassembly of an Earth-centered Universe, Darwin-Wallace biological evolution, Freud’s drastic alteration of psychological concepts, and contributions of many more caused tectonic uproars among people chiseled with religious certainty.
Early in cultural evolution, magic, superstition, religion, and astrology dominated. Perhaps they were essential stepping stones to a rational world, but their continuance today is deleteri-ous to civilization. After at least the Scientific Revolution, technology and science have grown exponentially. Since we are enormously better off than our ancestors, the great and deeply rational thinkers deserve profound thanks for their life-saving and life-enhancing contributions. Greatest minds have been offered by the Ancient Greeks, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revo-lution, the Enlightenment, and by the scientific revolution now. The Ashkenazi Jews have contributed disproportionately more to civilization’s well being than any other ethnic group. Our negative thanks to the Jews have been nothing less than egregious. With far to go, we have much to gain in both knowledge and tolerance.
History and philosophy are prominent in this book. But science has been a dominant player and has altered the latter two disciplines to the point of overwhelming dominance in establish-ing the story of the Universe and hominids. Geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza notes some people believe history diverges from science because its results can neither be replicated nor tested by the experimental method.5 He proposed studying history from many different angles and disciplines offers invaluable ways of verification—a consilience of inductions. Early in his-tory, philosophy was the source of doctrines that ruled most of civilization. Since the Scientific Revolution, science has changed philosophy and become a dominant player in our lives regard-less of individual philosophy.
Multidisciplinary approaches for discovering and learning are critical to creativity. Accu-rate prediction, repeatability, technology spin-off, and consensus in the community of scien-tists give reliability to science. Interdisciplinary accord largely gives credence to history. Neither approach, nor any other, leads to Absolutism, but discipline interaction has become most fruit-ful for nature’s approximation.
The intellectual world became aware that uncertainty is world nature and the underly-ing basis for improvising meaning and purpose in life. We constantly strive (purpose) and we
Wayne M. Bundy
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sometimes accomplish sub goals that give “meaning” to life. Uncertainty in science causes many people to lose confidence in its wisdom. Multiple answers to problems confuse the pub-lic, but relates to one of the more important mechanisms for closer approaches to truth. Each hypothesis is tested for validity until one idea fits the explanation. Sometimes mechanisms for testing are not available until more is learned or new equipment becomes available for testing and learning the nearest approximation of truth.
Cause and effect are fundamental to science and impose reason, which if done reliably (critical thinking) and we accept what nature teaches rather than preconceptions, we compe-tently interpret many of nature’s secrets. Each new bit of knowledge enlarges the potential to decipher much more. Reason is not just the interaction of deductive and inductive logic, but embraces great breadth of thought mechanisms, which can lead to profound creativity. Some-times new ideas arise by puttering or playing around, unexpectedly or irrationally; but they finally become accepted or rejected by the logic of the scientific method. Scientific method steps need not be sequential.
Hypotheses Observations Experiments Laws Theories
Physicist and astronomer Chet Raymo saw science “too shallow a vessel to hold ultimate mysteries.”6 While science is not absolute, it uniquely provides useful knowledge that acts as stepping stones to greater, proximate knowledge. Vast and complex technology we appreciate today is largely a spin-off of science discovery. Reality can be closely understood by interact-ing diverse knowledge patterns derived from experiment and observation, profound deductive thought processes based on sound evidence, and confirmation by competent observers world-wide. Ideas irrationally based or deduced from unfounded universals, such as creationism and intelligent design are religious concepts unrelated to science.
Theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg cited Walt Whitman, “ ‘When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,’ the poet tells how, being shown the astronomer’s charts and diagrams, he became tired and sick and wandered off by himself to look up, in perfect silence, at the stars”.8 A prod-uct of Romanticism, Walt Whitman held a distorted view of science. Revealing even more profound questions to perceptive and curious people, new knowledge does not diminish but increases wonder. Perhaps this book will enlarge awareness of how knowledge is gained, how gaining new knowledge opens even larger vistas of the unknown, and the great harms resulting from unflinching beliefs without evidence.
The second chapter of this book considers the nature and origin of our Universe. Chapter 3 considers some sticky philosophical issues that might aid understanding of the conclusions drawn throughout the book. Although a helpful chapter, especially if you enjoy difficult phi-losophy, it is not a necessary read for grasping the book’s content. Next the origin of Earth, our substrate for life is front and center, which shows perhaps above all, the fragility of cosmic bodies and especially planets. Then three chapters on biological evolution give emphasis to co-evolution and its relationship to geological change. The most important lesson from these chapters are that biological evolution is the basis of our being. We consider possibilities for
Out of Chaos: Evolution from the Big Bang to Human Intellect
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life’s origin, ultimately unraveling how humans became so brainy. We learn why our brains have great plasticity for continuous learning and cultural evolution.
Later chapters describe the basis of modern intellect followed by considerations of how cultural evolution proceeds. Possibly, the most complex phenomenon in the Universe, the hu-man brain stubbornly hides many of its secrets. Chance, genetic evolution, brain plasticity, swarm and network intelligence, dialectic, and science, largely direct humanity’s future. Ex-trapolation of evolving brain capacity suggests a world far more humane, with extraordinary mastery of nature.
Our trip will encounter occasional pauses to recover from a dizzying voyage. From the cre-ative explosion in the Upper Paleolithic cultural period some 50,000 years ago to the current scientific revolution, this book explores great contributions of our amazing civilization. After a brief review of where we have been, we travel into the speculative future. Astrobiology gives insight into the future of Earth and its engulfment by the Sun, which will become a red giant in 5 to 7 billion years. The final chapter, a derivation from the previous 33 chapters, encounters philosophical derivatives from this background of knowledge. By the power vested in us by genetic and environmental influences and by incessantly probing deeper into nature, human intellect might grow in everlasting evolution in an infinite multi-verse.
Chance will continue to play a major role in the future, while science, technology, and general intellect will play increasingly important roles in displacing chance. By learning and in-teracting as much of nature’s information as possible, we shed light on what our actions might be for our species greatest longevity in the best way possible. Sometimes electric, sometimes phantasmagoric, sometimes heretical, interrelated realities through time expose unexpected “truths” about our world.
In the next chapter we consider the first stage of a super-Odyssean journey through time. We begin with deep time some 14 billion years ago—the origin of the Universe. In the senti-ment of Woody Allen, hold on to your hat because the trouble with traveling faster than the speed of light is that your hat blows off.
Notes1 Mannion, 2005, p.88.2 Adler, 11990, pp.3-6.3 Shermer, 2006, p.12.4 Krauss, 2006, pp.36-9.5 Cavalli-Sforza, 2000, p.viii.6 Raymo, 1999, p.8.7 Cohen, 2005, pp.48-55.8 Weinberg, 2001, p.70-71.
Section I
Mechanisms and Pathways to the Primates
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Chapter 2
The Universe
We live in a Universe of such immensity we cannot measure its extent. Or possibly we ex-ist in a multi-verse of infinite bubble universes birthing, dying and rebirthing infinitely in
infinite space and time? Such thoughts can be overwhelming, but an attempt will be made to give some meaning to this greatest perplexity of perplexities.
In the beginning, our Universe or our bubble is believed to have existed as an infinitesimal at such extreme temperature and pressure the laws of physics do not apply. Rational, conceiv-able scenarios for Universe beginning or even before are offered by cosmologists and other physical scientists. Such hypotheses rarely offer experimental design bases for deeper under-standing, and such ethereal concepts are difficult to prove. Be warned—attempting to per-ceive the Universe from speculated beginning to the more knowledge-based present can leave one with incurable, dizzying uncertainty. Fortunately, scientists are inspired by uncertainty to probe nature’s deepest secrets—the fundamental reason civilization progressed to extraordi-nary proximate and workable knowledge and far greater humanity.
While gaining proximate knowledge and stimulating ideas fuel curiosity’s engine, total knowledge remains a useful dream. An endless mystery, we continuously strive for viability in a relentlessly changing Universe. For physicist and astronomer Steven Weinberg “The effort to understand the universe is one of the few things that lifts life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.”1
One might extend Weinberg’s sentiment to life’s pursuit in any capacity that piques intellect to high palaces of imagination and achievement. Then greater understanding becomes obsession; the notion of farce fades into obscurity. Ethologist Richard Dawkins viewed science as “a source of living joy,”2 true for knowledge generally when used to enhance life’s meaning and quality.
Electrifying, sobering, and perplexing, the long journey through time of Universe existence is essential prelude to some understanding of why we are here, nature of being, and chances of other Universe or multi-verse life, now and tomorrow. The Universe became the substrate for planets and life, at least on Earth, possibly infinite in an infinite multi-verse. Before life and intellect could have a chance of originating, planets that could support liquid water seemingly needed to emerge. But planets did not emerge until billions of years after the big bang.
Originating with the big bang or the big bounce, Universe expansion accelerates, as does its study by a growing and motley assembly of scientists. Fundamentalists see the Universe about six thousand years old; those with more knowledge understand it at least billions of years old; others suspect it infinite in age. Universe age can only be accurately approximated by the em-pirical and mathematical methods of science.3