Selfish biocosm hypothesis
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Selfish biocosm hypothesis
The Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis was presented in the book Biocosm,by James Gardner. The hypothesis is that there is a cycle of cosmic creation, in which highly evolved intelligences with a superior command of physics spawn one or more "baby universes," designed to be able to give birth to new, intelligent life. Thus, the ability of the present universe to support intelligent life as well as it does is not an accident, but the result of evolution in a long chain of the creation of more and more "bio-friendly" universes. Originally presented in peer-reviewed scientific journals, his (Gardener’s) radical “Selfish Biocosm” hypothesis proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged in a series of Darwinian accidents but are essentially hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth. James N. Gardner, professional lobbyist and graduate of Yale Law School, is the author of the Biocosm Hypothesis, which argues that intelligent life eventually emerges as the architect of the Universe.
Biocosm hypothesis
In the book Biocosm, James Gardner presented his "Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis". The hypothesis is that there is a cycle of cosmic creation, in which highly evolved intelligences with a superior command of physics spawn one or more "baby universes," designed to be able to give birth to new, intelligent life. Thus, the ability of the present universe to support intelligent life as well as it does is not an accident, but the result of evolution in a long chain of the creation of more and more "bio-friendly" universes.
Originally presented in peer-reviewed scientific journals, his (Gardener’s) radical “Selfish Biocosm” hypothesis proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged in a series of Darwinian accidents but are essentially hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth. He argues that the destiny of highly evolved intelligence (perhaps our distant progeny) is to infuse the entire universe with life, eventually to accomplish the ultimate feat of cosmic reproduction by spawning one or more “baby universes,” which will themselves be endowed with life generating properties. [1]
Gardner hyothesises that intelligent life is the primary cause of the Dimensionless physical constants and Physical laws etc of the universe. These rules and constants reveal steadily more that the Universe is in Gardner’s opinion fine-tuned for life. Life is not accidental in the universe, which is mostly lifeless. Indeed Gardner compares the rules of nature to DNA in living organisms. He argues that the bio friendly laws develop a living universe and enable offspring, ”(so-called “baby universes”)”.
[2]
Implication
Gardner sees the whole Evolution of life on Earth as a miniscule part of the eternal struggle of life against Entropy which if unchecked leads to increasing disorder and decay. He feels that “mind” conquers inert matter. Our contribution to developing intelligence and life influences future lives and intelligent entities throughout time and helps determine the actual cosmos. [3]
Gardner’s role
Gardner sees his role as synthesizing ideas from different Fields of science like artificial life, astrobiology, cosmology, evolutionary theory and M-theory. He works to put important insights from different disciplines together to explain the bio-friendly nature of our universe. He feels his position as an Outsider from these subjects enables him to escape paradigms and prejudices. He accepts that he lacks the knowledge of astrophysicists like Andrei Linde and Neil Turok but attempts to study the whole area and applies Complexity theory which is his field.
Other similar idea
Such radical interpretations of large scale life and evolution have also been proposed by Guy Murchie who offered that death is an evolutionary advantage: "…Death is a tool for change and progress" and that physical laws might be properties of mind - like energy conservation is a form of memory. See Superorganism
External links
References
Books
- Biocosm: The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life Is the Architect of the Universe, Inner Ocean Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1930722222.
- The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos, New Page Books, 2007, ISBN 1564149196.
