Paper and Other Absolute Truths Providing Analysis and Perspective Uncommon in Mainstream Media

Carl Sagan and Charles Darwin were wrong about just about everything and yet both men continue to be worshipped by the scientific community. Sagan was a great showman; charismatic and committed. He was perhaps most famous for how he spoke passionately about the “billions and billions” of stars and the inevitability of millions of earth-like planets – many that must contain intelligent life. For Sagan, we live  in an ordinary galaxy, a non-descript solar system, and a hum-drum planet. It was called The Principle of Mediocrity. Evolution of life on earth was just an accident, but an accident that must have been repeated in some form on many other hum-drum planets.

The leaders in the scientific community tend to be naturalists. There are other labels and descriptions of this philosophy, but basically, they believe that nothing exists outside of the four dimensions (three plus time). They jealously protect science from any supernatural contamination. I have a different philosophy, but it is certainly appropriate to limit the scope of science to natural phenomena.

Problems develop, however, as theories are developed from new scientific learning and new understandings. Scientists generally filter all new evidence through their philosophy of naturalism, and it often makes them look ridiculous. This long introduction will lead us to an example of that.

Scientists involved in cosmology today now understand that Sagan was totally wrong about the earth. I doubt that any reputable scientist in the field today would argue that the earth is ordinary. Rare Earth, written by Ward and Brownlee, and published in 2000, changed the paradigm. Since then, new evidence has been overwhelming.  The earth is, in fact, quite special.

Scientists will argue that the earth is not designed, but those in the field today understand that everything about the progression that the earth has taken over the last 4.5 billion years strikes of “apparent design”. Even today Rare Earth is a remarkable story. The major developments that occurred over those 4.5 billion years always appeared to set the stage for the next era. And during that entire time, events progressed in a manner that prepared the earth for multicellular life, and then eventually for advanced life.

Some scientists still cling to The Principle of Mediocrity because it fits their philosophy, and frankly, they are not up to date with the evidence. Besides, that the earth is special requires some explanation of all that apparent design. An egregious example of clinging to this outdated theory was published in Miller-McCune, by John Perlin. The story is called The Tree That Changed the World, subtitled, Two planets diverged in a solar system, and the successful one took a path more wooded.

The author makes the ridiculous assertion that Venus and the Earth are similar planets, and the difference between the climate we enjoy and the hellishness of Venus, is the fact that trees evolved on earth. The sub-plot here is the environmental message that we better take care of our trees or we will end up like Venus.

Astronomers for the longest time have regarded Venus as the planet most resembling Earth. Having almost the exact size as Earth and being almost as close to the sun has led many to call it Earth’s twin.

The clouds always covering the Venusian landscape are another compelling example of Venus’ affinity to Earth. Pioneering astronomer Svante Arrhenius hypothesized great rains pouring from these clouds nurtured lush rain forests below. But when various space probes penetrated the Venusian atmosphere, this belief burst. Astronomers found an inferno rather than a tropical paradise.

Here they discovered the ultimate greenhouse effect: Although the carbon dioxide-laden atmosphere allowed sunlight to pass through, when the solar rays hit the surface of Venus and changed into heat waves, they could not escape the carbon dioxide cover. So the heat had nowhere to go and accumulated at the surface, where temperatures exceed 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Earth has as much carbon dioxide as Venus. But instead of the gas blanketing the sky as happened on Venus, much of the carbon dioxide on Earth has been locked up inside and on the surface. This has made all the difference in the story of the two planets — one, a heaven bountiful with life, the other a hellish place where nothing animate as we understand it can survive.

Credit much of this carbon dioxide transfer from the atmosphere to the land to the rapid global spread 400 million years ago of the first (or among the first) true trees, Archaeopteris.

So we owe it all to trees. People can write whatever nonsense they want, I suppose, but it does make the Earth more hellish.

A found an article recently that highlighted just one area that makes the Earth special – the elements and the quantities of those elements that exist on Earth. Advanced life requires elements in just the proportion that happens to occur on Earth.

Earth is not at all ordinary in its assortment of elements and compounds. For the planet’s size and distance from its star, it possesses an anomalous (abnormal) amount of every measurable element and compound. Today, the list of such uniquely abundant or scarce substances includes water, carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, uranium, and thorium. Each of these anomalous amounts proves to be a vital requirement for advanced life and a significant piece of evidence that Earth was supernaturally designed for humanity’s benefit.

The previous passage is from Earth’s Unique Element Abundances. It is short, but very interesting. Please take a look.