Life and The Cosmos Heretical Novel on Evolution E-Book

Giovanni Occhipinti

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

It is a revolutionary, indeed heretical, book. A book about bacteria and life, a book about science but fictionalized and with some humorous jokes, easy to read and understand and requires no acquired scientific knowledge. The essay is divided into three parts In the first part, the author offers you a fantastic journey through the history of life, where dialogues develop with a Bacterium about the origin of life and with Acritarchus, a eukaryote, about their origin. It continues with Pikaia, who reveals a new view of being an animal and with Purgatorius representing mammals and finally with Darwin on natural selection at the dawn of the new millennium. The second part highlights the latest findings on the incredible capabilities of bacteria. In the third part, after a brief return to the past, starting from Brandon Carter's anthropic principle and Hoimar von Dirtfurth's suggestion: us perhaps "as a link to a non-biological offspring of a whole other species," an ideal purpose of life on Earth in relation to the Cosmos and whether there is life in our Galaxy is described. Finally, Darwin and the author develop a dialogue about the evolution of Sapiens in this period of great technological transformation and our attitude toward new technologies.

Leseprobe

INDEX

TITLE

COPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE

Ch. 1 Bacteria

Ch.2 Dibacteria and tribacteria

Ch. 3 Pluridibacteria, soft-bodied cobacteria and ard-bodied cobacteria ( Animals)

Ch.. 4 Plants, Animals, the conquest of the Earth

Ch.5 The modern World: Sapiens

Ch. 6 The tree of Life and the Supermicrofarm

PART SECOND

CH. 7 Biology revolutinized

PART THREE

Ch. 8 Back on the Past

Ch. 9 The Cosmos, the Purpose of Life, The Solitude

Ch. 10 The Path of Evolution: Substance or Form

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF CREDITS

Giovanni Occhipinti

LIFE AND THE COSMOS

HERETICAL NOVEL ON EVOLUTION

Titolo | Life and the cosmos: heretical novel on evolution

Autore | Giovanni Occhipinti

ISBN |9791222775739

© 2023 - All rights reserved to the Author

This work is published directly by the Author through the Youcanprint self-publishing platform, and the Author holds all rights to it exclusively. No part of this book may therefore be reproduced without the prior consent of the Author.

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Made by human

INTRODUCTION

Bacteria were discovered by Leeuwenhoek in 1665. These invisible living organisms were first forgotten, then rediscovered as pathogens and agents of fermentation, and then forgotten again. Since the end of the last century, an avalanche of new research has put these tiny organisms at the centre of biology.

This book is about bacteria and life and is divided into three parts.

The first part tells the story of life through an imaginary journey into the distant past in which the author is in dialogue with Bac, a representative of bacteria, about the origin of life that occurred 3.6 billion years ago and their first 2 billion years, and then with Acritarchus, a member of the eukaryote family, who explains their origin. The dialogue continues with a shocking Pikaia, our first known chordate animal progenitor, revealing our true nature, then with Purgatorius, representing mammals, on the conquest of the Earth by plants and animals, and finally with the Master, Charles Darwin, on sapiens and the tree of life.

The second part gives a broad overview of the incredible capabilities of bacteria highlighted by studies in recent decades.

In the third part, after a brief return to the past, we continue with a look toward the future. Starting with Brandon Carter's anthropic principle and Hoimar von Ditfurth's suggestion: us perhaps “as a link to a non-biological offspring of a whole other species,” an ideal purpose of life on Earth in relation to the Cosmos and whether there is life in our Galaxy is described. Finally, Darwin and the author develop a dialogue about the evolution of sapiens in this time of great technological transformations and our attitude toward new technologies.

It is a book about science but fictionalized and with a few humorous jokes, easy to read and understand and does not require any prior scientific knowledge. It is addressed to all those who are interested in learning about our distant origins, how we got here, and our probable near future. Scientifically established facts are rigorously reported. Where science has not made its final judgement, the facts are romanticised in a kind of ‘scientific licence’.

PART ONE

Ch.1 Bacteria

Of the stormy sea the sound of waves could be heard, its leaden colour mingled with that of the sky. The wind bent the trees, and the rain lashed the earth.

As I walked the last path of life, sitting in the shelter of the veranda with my gaze turned towards the depths of space and time, I found myself with my feet in the mud at the edge of a lagoon, on a planet whose barren earth was scorched by the sun. In the distance could be seen erupting volcanoes and meteorites raining from the sky, raising clouds of dust. As I looked over the horizon, a voice rose from the mud:

“You are not of our time”.

I turned my gaze in the direction of the voice.

“Do not fret, you cannot see me”.

“Indeed, I cannot see you, but I don't understand I hear you without hearing you!”

“Not all words have sounds”.

“Then you hear me too”.

“Yes, and don't be surprised if I say something I shouldn't know. I hear you, but there is a background noise, and I perceive only short words and thoughts, you are very different from us now”.

“Different from us! But who are you, do you have a name?”

“I am a distant ancestor of yours. I do not have a name, but if you want you can call me Bac is an abbreviation of Bacteria, I have always liked to have a name. I feel you have come to our time to know the story of all stories. It is a long story, I can only tell you part of it, sit on that rock and listen”.

I sat down and Bac began.

“The story I am telling you was told to me by my grandparents, who heard it from their grandparents and these from their grandparents and so on into the mists of time. There was a time when our world was deserted, only earth, water, air and fire, and the day was short. We do not know how or why, but at some point, in that distant time, we small living organisms appeared and with us, life on Earth began. I hear that you have called us bacteria or even microbes, but the latter term is generic, and we will always use the word bacteria. For a long time, you considered us insignificant, but we ruled and shaped the world and still today we are life on Earth, there is no life beyond bacteria. We came from mud with some differences in digestion and reproduction and found ourselves consisting of an outer sheath with a thick liquid inside that allowed us to live and reproduce”.

Taking advantage of a pause, I said:

“According to our measure of time, your appearance occurred 3.6 billion years ago, and at that time the length of the day was about eight hours. Regarding your appearance, I deduce that your origin was not a random event, and you did not originate in water”.

“No, it was not a random event, and we did not originate in water, we came from the mud. We did not all appear at the same time, and some of us, already formed, understood and told how other bacteria were formed. Some substances that rained from the sky…”.

I intervened and continued:

“Some substances that rained from the sky, managed to attach and bind on components of the mud and gave rise to larger substances. The latter sheltered within cavities, within niches, aggregated and picked out, from the surrounding moisture, only some substances while others were discarded. The whole was enclosed in a sheath, the whole was called a cell. Once the cell was formed, the bacterium came to life”.

“So, you discovered what fell from the sky and how they assembled?”

“Yes, they were discovered, they were called amino acids, and their assemblages were called proteins. We also discovered, experimentally, a possible process of amino acid selection by mud components. In ‘Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origin of Life’ New Edition 2019, we also described how proteins may have formed and aggregated and how they were able to select and bind substances contained in the moisture of the sludge to form new substances. These new substances needed for the reconstruction of damaged proteins and necessary for reproduction were later called the Genome. We also illustrated how, following the forces of nature, the first cells may have formed. But almost everyone still thinks of your origin in the sea and called it the Primordial Broth theory, some identify the Primordial Broth with hydrothermal vents of the ocean depths, but they ignore mechanisms”.

“But if they still believe in the Primordial Broth in this exposition, when you say: we have also discovered, we have described, in truth it would only be you”.

I did not answer, Bac understood my silence and spoke.

“But if they do not believe you, how would we have originated?”

“One imagines that first appearing were some genome particles, that is, as I have already mentioned, the substance necessary for protein construction and reproduction. These particles, which we call molecules, would have replicated copies of themselves but with the occasional error. Replicate, replicate and replicate until one of these copies managed to replicate itself faster than the others and later managed to assemble amino acids to form proteins, and after that the whole thing would be enclosed in a membrane. And that's how life would have started, is a theory they call: RNA World.

“But is the formation of the components of the RNA World known? Do they know how the Genome was formed? And have they explained how this Genome assembled the amino acids to form proteins?”

“Her components were obtained by two scientists, Ernesto Di Mauro and Raffaele Saladino, in the presence of minerals and described in ‘Dal Big Bang alla cellula madre’ 2016, but the formation of the Genome and the proteins are not known”.

“And where would all this have taken place?”

“Di Mauro and Saladino, as I have already said, obtained the components of the Genome in the presence of clay and therefore probably on land, but in the traditional theory it would have happened in the 'Primordial Broth', however in recent times some people think it happened in space, i.e. somewhere outside our world”.

“The sea does not aggregate, it disperses, and then to enter the sea first you must learn to swim! Only after we appeared did we slowly realise that we could only occupy the shallows of seas and lagoons. And then space, I don't even know what that is”.

And Bac continued:

“As soon as we appeared we immediately realised that the earth was plunged into chaos: massive storms and huge tides flooded immense regions of the mainland, the skies of a gloomy leaden grey were darkened by sandstorms. Tremendous explosions from mountains erupting fire formed clouds of dust, and thin rocky debris was lifted by fiery boulders plummeting from the sky. We had to always remain hidden in the dark, in muddy terrain or anchored at the bottom of seas and lagoons, because something lethal struck the surface of the earth and penetrated the waters to a certain depth. The occasional careless youngster, driven by curiosity, disobeying the recommendations of the elders, would emerge from the darkness of the mud or ascend the waters and be killed instantly. In order to cope with this hostile environment and to cope with chaos we have learned to react to stimuli, or as you would say we have been capable of nervous manifestations, and to process environmental changes within patterns of the kind if-then to which you have given the name of Mind; it enables us to become aware of the world around us and has enabled us to survive for billions of years”.

He paused for a long time as if waiting for my thought and said:

“Bac, I believe that no living organism can survive unless it is aware of the world around it, and awareness can only emerge from mind activity. Most researchers think that specialised interconnected cells, i.e. a brain, are required to process logical constructs, and that stimuli in bacteria are mechanical reactions. However, James Lovelock in his essay ‘Gaia’ 1981, had already suggested that: ‘At the cellular level [...] it must be recognised that even for an automatic process some form of intelligence is necessary to interpret correctly the information received from the environment’. But his words were not followed up. Yes, I think that there cannot be a living organism that does not have perception of the world around it and therefore does not possess the mind, it is a matter of survival. Of course, to each his own Mind and to each his own awareness and I have also argued that in my opinion the Mind in bacteria is located on the membrane”.

“Yes, it is placed on the membrane. We know that when in some bacteria the membrane is damaged, these bacteria go into confusion and when it is repaired, they return to normal”.

“So maybe it is a function performed by the proteins in the membrane”.

“Immersed in the membrane we have these big substances, which you call proteins, that have an appendage to the outside and another to the inside. When the environment changes, we feel that the outer appendages orient themselves in the same direction, they pass this orientation on to the inner appendages, and we move in a certain direction. However, we don't know how they all orient themselves in one direction”.

“Everything you said I described in our own words in ‘Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origin of Life’ 2019, mind and consciousness are basically electromagnetic type activities”.

“And as you said it in the words of your time”.

“I must use some technical terms and try to summarise; inside the cell, all the components, because of their chemical bonds, give rise to an integrated electromagnetic field. There are proteins immersed in the membrane that have: a body immersed in the membrane, a head outside the cell and a tail inside the cell. Each of these proteins, as a consequence of the bonds of its atoms, has its own electromagnetic field specific to its conformation, i.e. its shape. Since all these membrane proteins form a protein network, the heads and tails of the proteins in the entire protein network give rise to electromagnetic fields, one external and one internal, located at a molecular distance from the membrane. If the environment is stable, the electromagnetic field generated by the tails of the membrane proteins is congruent, i.e. it has the same direction as the integrated electromagnetic field of the components inside the cell and does not occur no change.

Fig.1: G. Occhipinti

If the environment changes, the part of the membrane proteins immersed in the external environment, i.e. the protein heads, collect data which, when processed, give rise to a new electromagnetic field. The processing of the data and the resulting new electromagnetic field is the Mind. The resulting electromagnetic field is transmitted through the protein body to the internal tails of the cell and will lead to a change in the internal electromagnetic field generated by the protein tails.

Fig.2: G. Occhipinti

This change in the electromagnetic field of the protein tails is incongruent, i.e. it has an opposite direction to the integrated electromagnetic field of the components of the cell and will push it in the new direction. The whole cell has become aware of the new reality”.

And Bac a bit puzzled:

“I did not understand anything, in your world you are complicated, but if it suits you. But tell me how you discovered that we have a Mind”.

“But it wasn't me. Those in our time who are in the business of discovering the world are called scientists. Some of them are concerned with the study of bacteria. They started Julius Adler in ‘La chemiosensibilità dei batteri’ The Sciences 1976, and D. E. Koshland in ‘Conformazione delle proteine e controllo biologico’, The Science Notebooks 1988. Other scientists up to the present day have discovered that you are capable of reasoning, communication, intelligence, language, information, altruism, social behaviour, all aptitudes typical of our minds. These and other scholars have wondered how it is that bacteria can have these abilities even though they do not have a mind, because in our time it is thought, as I have already said, that Mind needs a brain to appear. But as these aptitudes are typical of our Mind I have concluded, that in the scenario of life Mind appears without the need for a brain and that it is found in the membrane, and I have described how the large molecules of the membrane give rise to Mind”.

After a while Bac continued:

“Despite the environmental difficulties they were still happy times. Nourishment came to us in the rain, and we had no problems surviving. We lived in colonies wrapped in mucilage to protect ourselves because the rain not only brought nourishment but also harmful substances. Within the mucilage we also divided our tasks. Some bacteria oversaw blocking poisonous substances that managed to get through the barrier. Others collected food for nourishment and released substances that served as nourishment for the colony, while others had the task of disposing of the waste. We also learnt to communicate not only within the colony but also with other colonies and developed threadlike appendages to move around. When the colony became too numerous, some of us would leave to form new colonies, and when sufficient numbers were reached, some small substances were released by some of the bacteria, telling the colony members to give rise to mucilage. The small substances released, which for generations we perfected and increased as needed and today known as molecules, were our words. This system of communication and understanding, which in your time you call quorum sensing, allowed us to know each other's function and location, to communicate and collaborate with other colonies and to coexist happily between colonies as well. Each took the necessary nourishment from the rain and when we had difficulties with digestion or the environment, which often changed, we exchanged the necessary information. Through the exchange of information, which I hear you refer to as horizontal or lateral gene transmission, we also eliminated all diversity and life on the planet became unified”.

And I: