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Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction
Preamble 6
Science and the nature of the Book 9
The nature of the Book 10
Chapter 2. Methodology
A historical Perspective 12
Adopting a totally Scientific Approach 14
Attributing causes to Events 16
Events on the Periphery of the
Rules of our science
Events clearly falling outside the
Rules of ours science
Terminology, the use of the Words "Divine Creator" 17
The term "Random Chance" 18
What are the Questions? 19
Presumptuous Questions? 19
What do the Questions seek to establish? 20
Concept 1. The Nature and development of
the Universe
Concept 2. The Nature of the Creation, and
the development of Life
The Hypotheses 23
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Chapter 11. The origin of Life through to the
development of Mankind
The origin of Life, the Precambrian Period
before 590 Million Years ago 80
Confirmation that all Cells without exception
share the same DNA reading Mechanism
The origin of aerobic (oxygen loving) Life
The start of Evolution and Natural Selection
The origin of animal Life, the Cambrian Period
from 590 to 505 Million Years 83
The Period from 505 to 360 Million Years ago 84
The laying down of Fuel, the Carboniferous
Period from 360 to 286 Million Years ago 84
Reptiles and extinctions, the Permian Period
from 286 to 248 Million Years ago 85
The next Generation of Life forms, the Triassic
Period from 248 to 213 Million Years ago 85
The Great Dinosaurs, the Jurassic Period from
213 to 144 Million Years ago 86
The End of the Dinosaurs, the Cretaceous
Period from 144 to 65 Million Years ago 86
Extinctions generally 86
The Time of the development of the Mammals,
The Tertiary and Quaternary Periods from 65
million years to some 10,000 years ago 87
Mankind, The Holocene Period from 10,000
years ago to Date 87
The nature of Mankind
Characteristics and Abilities that define Humanity
The uniqueness & the emergence of Mankind
Preamble
From the start of the first second of time, through to the first
cell and then the emergence and the development of Mankind,
the entire process of assembling the data and creating this book
has been an incredibly fascinating, yet humbling experience.
Expressing the various issues associated with the nature of the
Universe and that of humanity’s and my presence in it has
made me acutely aware what a magnificent edifice of Creation
the Universe truly is!
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was just getting started forty years ago when I started to
indulge my curiosity. Yet now, just recently, it has become
possible to catalogue the entire human genome (the genetic
"plan" for the makeup of the human body), and for the medical
profession to undertake the most incredible genetic
engineering processes!
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Science and the nature of the Book
The book doesn't attempt to introduce any "new" science but,
as noted, seeks to bring together in one place, data from as
wide a variety of scientific disciplines as possible, It then
endeavours to express that data both scientifically, but also in
terms that the layperson can understand..
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Chapter 2. Methodology
A historical Perspective
The Universe is discussed later on in the book but for now,
suffice it to say, that it is incredibly vast, so vast as to be
incomprehensible by reference to everyday measurements.
Space itself is largely empty but populated, at vast distances,
by collections of interstellar bodies of various sizes, shapes
and construction.
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The equations in Einstein's theory made it possible to use
General Relativity mathematically, to calculate the effect that
gravity has had on the material from which the Universe is
made. In this way it was possible to arrive at a physical
description of the Universe and to extrapolate backwards in
time to project how it had evolved. This led to a "Big Bang"
model of the Universe and to the conclusion that the Universe
is expanding. As the Universe is expanding, it follows
naturally that it was previously smaller. There must therefore
have been some point back in our "time" (in so far as we
interpret time, for day to day purposes, as the measurement of
intervals between and during events), when all the content of
the Universe was very close together.
Further back in time, some thirteen and a half billion years ago
(a billion is one thousand million), there was a point when all
the matter and energy of the Universe, space itself, and even
time, was contained at one point of zero size known as a
singularity. A singularity in this context is a point at which the
rules of our science break down, and beyond which we cannot
use mathematics to look back and "see" what was before.
Whilst therefore the Big Bang model was able to suggest what
had occurred at the very start of the first second of the Creation
of the Universe, it was unable to consider in any way what had
occurred before the start of the very first second.
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and testing those hypotheses in valid and reliable ways, in
order to arrive at a conclusion.
The size of the Moon at 1/400 that of the Sun, and the distance
of the Moon from Earth also at 1/400 that of the Sun is such
that it provides for periodic Solar Eclipses. These have the
effect of "blotting out" all or part of the Sun to observers on
Earth. Solar Eclipses are caused by the passage of the moon
between the Sun and Earth, obscuring the sun from viewers on
Earth. I have frequently seen it stated that this relationship
between the bodies “couldn’t be a coincidence”. It is thus
suggested that their locations are "conclusive evidence" that
the Moon must have been "put" into its specific orbit for a
reason, and that fact, as such, is evidence of a an action on the
part of a Divine Creator.
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There is no apparent reason for the relationship between those
three bodies, and the way they are positioned and line up from
time to time is indeed a most peculiar occurrence. Nonetheless,
there is no test that can be applied to this relationship under the
scientific method. The existence of this relationship cannot
therefore be used in any way as evidence of the occurrence of
a Divine act.
If we are neither able to account for the event within the rules
of our science, nor to change those rules because the event has
demonstrated a flaw in them, then the event must be attributed
to an alternative cause of some sort.
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Explanations for the coming together of energy and matter in
the Universe as a result of a random chance can be valid only
if the material associated with that random chance event exists.
The following is a fine but critical distinction. Whilst the
concept of random chance could be used to account for the
“coming together” of matter and energy in existence just after
the start of the Universe, it cannot be used to account for the
fact that the matter and energy actually came into existence,
and that it is present in the Universe. The existence of the
matter and energy in our Universe falls outside the rules of our
science.
Presumptuous Questions?
Some may say that these are presumptuous questions.
Nonetheless we, the human race, are both restricted by, yet at
the same time entitled to function within the parameters of
what is known to us. It is a straightforward fact, that, within
those parameters and what is known to us, we alone, on this
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Earth, and in the known Universe, are able to sit and ponder
the nature of the Universe. To consider whether an
unfathomably magnificent structure such as the Universe, with
all of its beauty and majesty, could have come into existence
by accident. Perhaps then to conclude that it was not an
accident, and that its very existence is the result of a deliberate
process of a Divine Creation.
It is inevitable that three and a half billion years of life, with its
arbitrary actions and freedom of choice, must have involved an
inconceivably massive number of possible permutations. If the
Creation of Life and Mankind were orchestrated with a defined
outcome, it is clear that planning and providing for that
outcome, would have been a very different concept all together
from planning for, and orchestrating the creation of a
mathematical Universe.
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Chapter 3. The Big Bang and the start of the first
second of time
Whilst therefore the atom itself is tiny, we can see that those
neutrons and protons that make up its core are even more
minute. Protons and neutrons both weigh roughly the same and
are incredibly light and tiny at one point six billion, billion,
billionth of a gram. The weight of an electron is even less
again at 1/1836 of that of a proton or a neutron.
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Quarks and the strong Nuclear Force
The quarks that make up the proton and the neutron are bound
together by what is described as the "strong nuclear force", a
binding force which binds all the particles in the nucleolus of
an atom together. This binding force is carried by yet more
tiny particles called gluons.
The strong nuclear force is the most powerful of all natural and
fundamental forces. It is so powerful that vast amounts of
energy are involved in overcoming it, as in nuclear fusion. It is
the energy liberated by nuclear fusion of the element hydrogen
and some other elements, that causes the Sun and the other
stars to shine. The net energy associated with the nuclear
fusion process of one gram of hydrogen is the equivalent of
175,000-kilo watt-hours of energy, sufficient energy to power
an electric fire for 20 years.
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Assembling the Components
The individual constituents of the atom fit together beautifully,
like the parts of a jigsaw puzzle. Quarks make up protons and
neutrons, which are all in turn bound together by the Strong
Nuclear Force to make an atomic nucleus.
Particle physics
The point about the incredible nature, and tiny size, of this
material has I suspect been adequately made, and I don't
propose to go into any greater detail about it here. The subject
of particle physics is an incredibly complex one, and there are
numerous institutions Worldwide studying it. Whilst massive
strides have been made in understanding the atomic structure
of the atom, the nature of its construction and the reason for
the presence of its component parts in the Universe at the start
of the first second of its Creation is unknown.
Conclusion 3.1 The presence of, and the nature and method of
the construction of atoms, their components and the forces
associated with them is unknown, and cannot be accounted for
within the rules of our science.
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Coincidence 3.2 The components that would not only support
life but also provide for and enable its very existence were
present in sufficient quantities in the Universe at the start of
the very first second.
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Chapter 4. The creation of the Universe
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temperature of minus two hundred and seventy three degrees
Celsius.
Now we can see the assembly starting to take shape The first
ever production line had moved into production, and the
contrast between simplicity and complexity continued to
manifest itself. The material first introduced into the Universe
was in the form of tiny sub atomic particles, along with the
nuclear forces needed to pull the core parts of the atomic
nuclei, the quarks together.
Our Universe's production line came equipped with all the raw
materials needed for its output, a production plan incorporated
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into its raw material and a fully comprehensive distribution
network!
That aside, we simply don't have the means to assess where the
Earth lies in relation to the rest of the content of the Universe.
It is variously argued that we have no reason to believe that the
Solar System, the Sun, or the Earth, lie at the centre of the
Universe. There is however no known scientific evidence that
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proves that we aren't located at the centre either; we simply
don't know.
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Conclusion 4.1 The presence of the predicted background
heat, and confirmation that the galaxies are moving away from
each other ratifies the Big Bang theory, and provides firm
evidence that the Universe had an origin.
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Chapter 5. The nature of the Universe
Early observers concluded that all the lights in the sky were
stars, but with the advent of increasingly powerful telescopes,
the true nature of the night sky started to reveal itself. They
weren't seeing just stars, but planets, comets and also distant
galaxies, with vast collections of stars many billions of miles
away from other galaxies also containing billions of stars.
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dimensions, and the distance light can travel over a period of
time has become the accepted unit of measurement of
distances of this kind of magnitude.
We are going to look only very briefly, and then just for
completeness, at the nature of the various interstellar bodies on
the grand scale. They are not directly relevant to the content of
the book and are more than adequately covered in other
publications.
1. Galaxies
There are billions of galaxies of widely different types in the
Universe. There are different ways of classifying those
galaxies, the simplest being their arrangement into three
fundamental types, spiral with spiral arms emerging from
them, elliptical, and irregular galaxies with no defined nucleus
or structure. Galaxies range in diameter from three thousand to
one hundred and fifty thousand light years.
2. Black Holes
A black hole is an area of space into which material has fallen
and from which nothing, not even light, can escape. As matter
is compressed its gravitational attraction increases, and thus
the escape velocity at its surface increases. If the compression
of matter becomes sufficiently great, so that the escape
velocity exceeds the speed of light, gravity overcomes all other
forces, and the body collapses to a black hole. This is then a
point of infinite density and, like the origin of the Universe, is
known as a singularity where the rules of our science fail.
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3. Pulsars
A Pulsar is the central core of neutrons of a dying star that has
exploded in a supernova.
4. Stars
We have already touched briefly on stars. Our very close
neighbour the Sun, itself a star, plays such a critical role in our
Life that a discussion on stars has been accorded a chapter of
its own.
Consider that the closer two billiard balls are to each other the
more gravity makes them want to get closer. The reason that
they don't actually move closer together is because they are
prevented from doing so by the friction of the table, and the
overpowering gravitational attraction of the Earth and the other
bodies around them. Left alone in some remote corner of the
Universe, devoid of gravitational attraction from other bodies
and on a frictionless table, they would indeed get together
under gravity.
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Another Universal law, one we have already discussed, is that
light travels at a fixed speed of three hundred thousand
kilometres per second.
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Coincidence 5.1 The size of the random fluctuations of matter
introduced into the Universe was appropriate for the timing of
the Creation of Earth and Life on it.
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Chapter 6. The creation of the Stars
Star formation
At the start of the Universe the elements necessary for Life,
oxygen, nitrogen and iron for example, didn't exist and had to
wait to be created in the furnaces of the stars. We know that
the only element present in the early Universe was hydrogen,
and the first stars were therefore composed almost entirely
from this. Star formation is a complex process and no two stars
are the same. Their construction is for example dependent,
amongst other things, on the volume of material in their
vicinity available for their formation.
As a protostar develops loose gas and dust fall into its centre
under the increasing gravitational attraction of the growing
star. The protostar star, at first, has only a small percentage of
its final mass and the envelope of the star continues to grow as
inflowing material is accreted. After a few million years,
nuclear fusion begins in its core,
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young star. Some of these remains dissipate under the force of
the stellar wind, whilst some of it may come together under
gravity, in the process possibly creating objects such as
planets.
You will recall that Hydrogen is the lightest element, with one
proton and an orbiting electron. When a star burns, gravity
forces the individual hydrogen atoms together until they
combine to form the heavier element helium. The energy
associated with the process of fusing atoms in this way is the
energy that we see radiating from the Sun and the other stars.
When all the hydrogen atoms have been converted to helium,
helium is then similarly fused together to form the next
heaviest element, until, eventually, all the lighter elements that
are capable of being fused in the normal process of a stars Life
have been fused together to form a core of the heavier
elements.
Once the star reaches this point there is therefore no more fuel
to be processed, and the continuing generation of power is no
longer possible. Consequently there is no more outgoing
pressure resisting the inwards gravitational attraction, and the
star starts to collapse in on itself under the force of gravity.
The eventual fate of a star depends on its size and mass. Stars
around the size of our Sun will tend to collapse in on
themselves and become white dwarfs, hot bodies of a size of
the order of magnitude of Earth, and densities of hundreds of
millions of kilograms per cubic meter.
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In the larger more massive stars the collapse in on themselves
is extremely rapid, fusing the atoms at the core into even
heavier elements with massive fusion reactions. The dying star
explodes releasing a vast amount of energy, sufficient to blow
away all the outer parts of the star in a violent explosion, and
the star thus becomes a supernova. The light of this one star is
then as bright as that from all the other one hundred billion
stars in that galaxy. During this explosive phase those heavier
elements that were formed within the collapsing star, together
with the rest of the content of the outer regions of the star, are
blown into interstellar space at a speed approaching ten
thousand kilometres per second. Left behind is a neutron star
of even greater density than a white dwarf.
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of us, made up of material much of which has been processed
at least once, and possibly several times, inside stars.
It was the design of these early stars however that caused them
to be so short-lived. The more massive a star the more space
there is for nuclear reactions to occur, thus the more quickly it
burns up its hydrogen and hence the brighter and hotter it is.
The rapid conversion of hydrogen into helium also means that
the hydrogen gets used up at a greater rate in the more massive
stars than the smaller ones. This of course leads to a much
faster creation of the heavier elements than if the stars had
been smaller.
For a star like the Sun, the main stage of its Life lasts about ten
thousand million years, whereas a star ten times as massive
will be ten thousand times as bright and will last only one
hundred thousand years. Thus another feature of the design of
the Universe was that, in its early years, the production of the
elements necessary for Life occurred quickly.
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Chapter 7. The Solar System
One way or another it is believed that the Sun and the other
bodies in the Solar System all originated at or about the same
time, from of a single cloud of gas and dust that itself had
broken off from a larger cloud. Once it had broken loose from
the main cloud the broken off clump of dust would have
started to rotate under its own acquired gravity, and then, later,
started to collapse in on itself causing material from the cloud
to flow towards the centre. The speeding up of the rotation
caused the cloud to flatten out into a disk, with the densest part
in the centre.
Material from the cloud of dust and gas continued to flow into
the centre of the disk under gravity, releasing energy in the
form of heat as it did so. The temperature and pressure at the
centre increased until it enabled nuclear reactions to start at the
core. The pressure at the centre further increased as a
consequence of these nuclear reactions until, at some point, the
outgoing pressure exceeded the inflowing force of material,
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and the outgoing pressure became visible as radiated heat. The
centre of the disk had become a star, our Sun.
These planets are now well spaced from each other and in, as
far as we know, stable orbits maintaining their respective
orbital distances around the Solar System under the
gravitational force of the centrally located Sun. The Sun
weighs almost a thousand times as much as the rest of the
Solar System put together, and its massive gravitational force
controls and guides its family of planets, satellites, comets, and
many hundreds of thousands of asteroids and other bodies of
varying sizes from tiny dust specks upwards. The path of each
of these bodies around the Sun is determined primarily by a
balance between the inward attraction of the Sun's gravity, and
the gravitational effects of the bodies themselves, although the
Sun's attraction is the most predominant force.
We shall soon see that once the Solar System, and with it the
Sun and the Earth, had come into being, life was so eager to
get going that it came into existence within a relatively short
space of time.
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This is one of a number of coincidences of numbers that occur,
and, although it is not of any particular significance within our
current knowledge, it is nonetheless another oddity of
Creation.
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We shall however see in the next chapter that there was
another Solar System "player", the Moon, the existence and
positioning of which was very relevant to Life on the Earth.
Without its influence the relatively clement seasons that we
enjoy on Earth would have been very different.
Life might then have come into existence in just the same way
as we will see in later chapters, but without the features of the
Solar System, the civilisation that is Mankind could not have
developed.
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Chapter 8. The Earth and the Moon
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The interaction between the Moon and the Earth
Congenial Climate
We have already seen how the Earth found itself in a unique
location, a narrow habitable zone around the Sun. Venus is too
close to the Sun and hence is too hot for Life. Mars is too far
from the Sun. Only the Earth has the proper size and
composition of matter to be habitable.
The heat of the Sun penetrates only a little way into the solid
surface of the land, so that its temperature changes easily. For
example at night the desert is cold, fifteen degrees Celsius or
lower, but when the Sun rises in the morning the temperature
increases rapidly to forty degrees Celsius or more. There is
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significantly more land than water in the northern hemispheres,
and in the summer therefore the Northern landmasses become
extremely warm during the summer days.
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Solar Eclipses
A Solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun
and the Earth and can result in the Moon totally obscuring the
Sun. Both the Moon and the Sun are almost perfect spheres a
vast distance apart and yet are capable of creating Solar
Eclipses. This is possible only because;
The size of the Moon at 1/400 that of the Sun, and the distance
of the Moon from Earth at 1/400 that of the Sun, cause
periodic Solar Eclipses that can have the effect of ""blotting
out" the Sun to observers on Earth. There is no apparent reason
for this relationship.
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Chapter 9. The formation of the Earth
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Finally a crust ranging from five to seventy kilometres in
thickness covers the mantle. The thinner parts tend to be
oceanic crust, whilst the thicker crust is continental crust.
When these plates meet they may slide under each other in a
process called subduction, and as the material of the plates
sinks more deeply the heat from the centre begins to melt it.
This process causes Earthquakes and the formation of
volcanoes. Alternatively plates may collide and as the rocks
are pushed together they pile up creating mountains.
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Most of the World's volcanoes are located near active or
previously active plate boundaries, and the majority of the
Earth's physical resources of energy, minerals, and rich soil
that are available to man are concentrated near past or present
plate boundaries. The relative ease of availability of these
resources has been a significant feature in Mankind's
development.
Oil and natural gas are the products of the deep burial and
decomposition of accumulated organic material in geologic
basins and mountain ranges formed by tectonic plate activity.
Heat and pressure at depth transform the decomposed organic
material into pockets of gas and oil. These often migrate
upwards through openings in surrounding rocks, and collect in
reservoirs which are often close to the Earth's surface and
accessible by the drilling of wells.
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Water, the Cradle of Life
Water is far from being “just water”. It is a very special,
unique, substance that is involved in virtually every process
that occurs in Life. It is quite literally the stuff that Life is
made of. Eighty percent of our bodies are made from it and
water is all around us in the air. Water is the only substance
that occurs as a solid, a liquid and a gas at the relatively
ordinary temperatures found on the Planet’s surface. It is this
that makes it very special indeed.
Thus the heavier water sinks below the lighter ice and the ice
floats above it. A significant consequence of this is that lakes
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and rivers freeze from top to bottom, allowing underwater life
to survive even when the surface of a body of water has frozen
over. If, like other substances, ice was denser than water and
sank, more water would rise to the top. This would then
become exposed to the colder air and form more ice, filling the
bodies of water with ice and freezing them solidly. A similar
consideration applies to the waters of the oceans, although
their salinity provides for slightly different effects. Not only
does ice thus prevent bodies of water from freezing solidly, but
it is also an insulator helping to maintain the temperature of the
water below it.
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Chapter 10. The structure of Life
Definitions of Life
Before we move on to consider what is involved in the
Creation of Life we should understand what is it that makes
something alive? All known organisms share certain properties
which to a very great extent can serve to define the meaning of
Life. Some of the properties that clearly distinguish Life from
everything else, are set out as follows.
1. An end of existence
All Life forms on Earth experience an end to their active
existence on Earth.
2. Carbon
The element Carbon is always present in living matter.
3. Order
Every living organism is cellular. As a minimum it comprises
at least one cell with ordered structures therein. Large
molecules, made up of atoms, make up individual components
of the cell.
4. Homeostasis
The simplest form that Life can take is a single cell. Every cell
is bounded by its own outer membrane and employs
homeostasis, the maintenance of relatively stable internal
conditions, which are different from the organism's external
environment.
5. Regulation
All organisms have mechanisms for regulating their internal
activities.
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6. Reproduction
All living things reproduce themselves. They have both the
encoded instructions and the machinery necessary for
reproduction.
7. Sensitivity
All organisms respond to stimuli. Skin for example is sensitive
to being touched.
The strong nuclear force binds the neutrons and protons to the
core of the atom whilst the electrostatic force holds the
electrons loosely in their orbits around the central core.
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The chemical formation of Molecules
We have seen that electrons are only loosely bound to
individual atoms, and can be easily dislodged by other forces
from surrounding atoms. In doing so a recipient atom becomes
negatively electrically charged having a surplus of electrons
over protons and the converse applies to the donating atom,
which becomes positively charged. Those two atoms can then
become attracted to each other by virtue of the opposite
electrostatic charges that they now possess and temporary
transitional bonds form. You can experience this your self by
rubbing a balloon along your sleeve. Some of the electrons
temporarily come off the atoms of the balloon and your sleeve,
causing the two to be attracted to each other. They will briefly
stick together until the balance of electrons readjusts itself.
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Understanding the distinction between chemical and
nuclear activity
For the avoidance of confusion it might be useful to clarify the
difference between nuclear and chemical reactions. The
difference in the energy implications is vast, because of the
very significant strength of the strong nuclear force at the core
of the atom.
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and these organic molecules are the building blocks from
which cells are constructed.
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attached to the inside of the backbone carry the instructions for
the creation of specific pieces of cellular material.
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We saw earlier in this chapter the complexities and the nature
and volume of components involved in the Creation of a single
cell. Either the Life that the oldest, three and a half billion year
old fossil represents came into existence from non-Life to a
complete living entity spontaneously, or some form of
intermediate Life-type existed before it.
Without the cell wall there would be nowhere discreet for the
cell to perform its reproductive function, to have the order and
regulation necessary for existence and to provide for the
creation of the materials necessary for cellular Life.
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What the first ever Cell shares with modern Cells
The cells of all the known creatures on Earth, without
exception share the following.
The primitive first cell, created some three and half billon
years ago, possessed all of these features found in all modern
cells. In particular ALL modern cells could read and interpret
genetic material that was contained in that very first cell and
vice versa.
Not only was that first cell, the ancestor of all of us,
sufficiently robust to survive in itself, but also, its design was
adequate to provide for all that followed for the next three and
a half billion years! That cell’s method of reproduction was so
sophisticated that it was to survive essentially unchanged to the
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present day and provide for the creation of all creatures on
Earth.
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Chapter 11. The origin of Life through to the
development of Mankind
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This is NOT mere speculation and those anaerobic, oxygen
hating Life forms, still exist today in vents on the seafloor
where hot water, at extremely high temperatures similar to
those on Earth all those years ago, comes out from the Earth's
crust. Around these vents are bacteria called archaebacteria.
They live in an oxygen free environment, which it is believed
is very similar to that of the early Earth. They convert water
and hydrogen into methane gas; oxygen would actually poison
them. They are living fossils, relics of Life in those very early
days.
At the time when their presence was essential if the Earth was
to have just the right amount of oxygen for future Life the
cyanobacteria flourished, and paved the way for Life, as we
know it. They were there in exactly the right place and at the
right time. Even though the cyanobacteria had ousted the
archaebacteria there were no predators to oust the
cyanobacteria until their work was done.
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Coincidence 11.4 When the work of the cyanobacteria was
done they became obsolete and were almost entirely
superseded by other organisms.
During the years that passed dead Life forms decomposed and
formed our fossil fuels. Different types of fossil fuels formed
depending on the combination of animal and plant debris that
was present, where and for how long the material was buried,
and the conditions that existed when it was decomposing and
becoming covered. Coal, originally in the form of peat, a mass
of decomposing plant material, formed from the remains of the
trees, ferns and other plants that lived then.
Oil and gas were created largely from organisms that lived in
water and were buried by sediment. Heat, pressure and bacteria
combined to compress and process the material under layers of
silt. As these layers were subjected to heat and pressure over
millions of years the sediments were transformed into beds of
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rock, and the plant and animal remains underwent chemical
change and formed oil and gas. Oil and gas do not generally
stay in the rock in which they originally formed. They tend to
migrate upward through cracks and pores within permeable
rocks toward the surface where there is less pressure, and
where they often thus are available to be extracted by mankind.
Extinctions generally
Coincidence 11.7 No conclusions can be drawn or inferred
from the fact that there were several mass extinctions during
the half a million years since fully formed creatures first
appeared. Nonetheless they did occur and there can be little if
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any doubt that those extinctions were integral in the
development of mankind.
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It must be said that affection is certainly a trait that is apparent
in other creatures, but not having ever experienced the thought
processes of any of them I cannot speak with any certainty of
the nature of the displayed affection. Those traits that can be
examined however, suggest that other creatures do not
experience affection in the way that we do. A parrot for
example will join with a "partner" for Life but that partner
does not have to be another parrot and can equally as well be a
human being. A duckling introduced to a car tyre at birth will
bond with the tyre and afford it the same affection that it
would otherwise have afforded its “real” mother.
And of course dogs are our best friends and shower us with
affection. But that behaviour is of course down to us. We made
them behave that way. We domesticated them millions of
years ago and through successive generations have trained
them to be affectionate towards us.
Society's knowledge has grown and grown, and is such that via
telescopes we can see back in time, virtually to the time of the
creation of our Universe. With the aid of spectacular
"microscopes" we can visualise and manipulate the very atoms
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from which we are made. The World of Mankind has become
a knowledgeable and global community with, in the overall
picture, the wisdom for the wise application of its knowledge.
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We alone amongst the creatures on the planet have sole
conscious responsibility for our World. Whilst we,
questionably, probably do not have the overall ability to totally
destroy our planet, nor indeed all of the Life forms on and in it,
we are certainly in a position where we could wreak enormous
damage in both of those respects. We have the ability to "make
or break" our environment and with our collective knowledge
we are aware of the consequences of our actions. We are fully
aware for example that known resources of fossil fuels are
being depleted.
Today oil and coal are the primary source of power for our
society. These fossil fuels however are used for more than just
fuel for vehicles and the generation of electricity. They have
many industrial and chemical uses including the production of
plastics, synthetic rubber, detergent, fertilizer, medicine, food
additives, and much more.
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Chapter 12. Conclusions
Conclusion Hypothesis 1
That there is a Divine Creator and that Divine Creator was
responsible for the creation of the matter and energy that
exists in our Universe.
Conclusions
Conclusion 2.1 A random chance event cannot account for the
existence of the matter and energy in the Universe. The
existence of that matter and energy falls outside the rules of
our science.
Conclusion 3.1 The presence of, and the nature and method of
the construction of atoms, their components and the forces
associated with them is unknown, and cannot be accounted for
within the rules of our science.
Conclusion Hypothesis 2
That a Divine Creator guided and controlled the nature of
the development of our Universe.
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Conclusion
Conclusion 5.1 The design, the development and the nature of
the Universe are governed by a distinct set of rules of science,
for example that light in a vacuum must travel at three
hundred thousand kilometres per second. Whilst we can, to a
certain extent, understand those rules we are bound by them.
Within the rules of our science we are neither able to account
for the existence of those rules nor to circumvent them in any
way.
Supporting Coincidence
Coincidence 4.2 Inherent in the nature of the Universe's design
were the raw materials needed for its output, a production
plan, a fully comprehensive distribution network and a cyclical
process to facilitate an ongoing production process.
Conclusion Hypothesis 3
That a Divine Creator was responsible for the initial
occurrence of Life on Earth.
Conclusions
Conclusion 10.1 The means by which the existence of the first
cell, representing the first ever Life form on Earth, occurred,
lies outside the rules of our science.
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Supporting Coincidences
Coincidence 3.1 The components that would not only support
life but also provide for and enable its very existence were
present in the Universe at the start of the very first second.
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Coincidence 7.3 The spacing of the first six planets
(interspaced with an asteroid) out from the Sun follows a
specific mathematical order for which there is no apparent
reason or explanation.
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been a significant factor in determining the nature of Life and
Mankind as it is today.
Conclusion Hypothesis 4
That a Divine Creator was responsible for the progressive
development of Life on Earth by a process of evolution,
and that evolution followed its “natural” path. Certain
otherwise inexplicable events that occurred during that
evolutionary process were the result of specific
interventions by the Divine Creator.
Conclusions
Conclusion 11.1 Evolution and Natural Selection came about
with the appearance of the Earth’s second life form.