Survival: The Ultimate Mission. Robert M.D. Skaf

its conditions. We shall find out why as this subject comes up again for discussion. Of course to consider this possibility one must be open to the concept that intelligent life was taking shape long before a purely biological living form ever existed on this planet and might even predate our own appearance on it. The way I see it, it makes perfect sense and logic for things to begin in that order. You will see why as this subject comes up again later on in our discussion. For anyone who may be tempted to ridicule my views on this subject let me say this: almost every one of us knows someone or someone who knows of a person with Down syndrome. This is the case when one individual ends up with an extra chromosome. This deviation has been known for a long time, however, who is to say that during our long history some members of our species did not suffer from a lack of chromosomes and somewhat gave birth to a new species. This could have taken place when humans lived in sparse regions in tiny groups never to leave their micro-villages and when in- breeding was common. The other possibility could be connected to conditions that are purely mental, psychological or emotional. We are all aware how demanding, mentally, emotionally and psychologically, an intelligent life could be at times. Knowing how many people may suffer a nervous breakdown when faced with a stressful situation, it is very possible that devolution may present an alternative to mass suicide. It has been known that during wars many fighters forget who they are and stop behaving like intelligent beings. Based on this evidence, and providing that such conditions were to persist for a long period, an unintelligent species may be better able to survive than an intelligent one. As a matter of fact an intelligent species may find the switch to be the only practical solution. “ignorance is a bliss, it is a folly to be wise”, most of us find proverbial expressions such as to be amusing, however, one may never know when in serious cases killing the brain could be the price a species must pay to be spared the higher price which is self-destruction. Devolution of this sort would definitely result into the creation of a new species. Critics who find this theory to be humorous need only look around and observe how many people they know are, depressed, suicidal, alcoholics, dependent on chemicals or addicted to prescription drugs, in another word how many are happy to be brain dead. One should realize that these scenarios would have a minimal impact on a huge population, but the outcome would be of drastic consequences when a tiny group of people is involved and happened to be disconnected from any other tribe or families. It has been established as a proven fact that evolution takes a different shape when it involves a small number of individuals. Humanity went through periods where these conditions had existed, which would make for perfect fertile ground for the devolution I am alluding to. After all, let’s not forget that in this essay, it has been established that there were two types of evolution and one of them was entirely dedicated to creating fun and joy. In fact, one may propose that in most cases people who get in trouble are only interested in having fun and cannot cope with the demands imposed on them by such a complex society and an intelligent life that is so rigorous and demanding.

      Later on I will explain why I believe that our race could not have originated on earth and why I find Darwinism to be too simplistic, narrow in scope, based on speculation and superficiality for the most part. Just think of stem cell engineering, a new field that until recently was not even mentioned in science fiction. This interference, this manipulation of genes, by itself can put an end to any evolutionary theory. But even if one is not to take these facts into consideration, one must look at other theories that run contrary to the survival of the fittest. One of them happened to establish that despite the importance of having strong and fit members, evolutionary biology allows for lesser standards for the sake of diversity, or as scientists call it, variability in the species.

      Based on the above, one should not rule out the possibility that life does not always evolve with survival as the only thing on its mind. It seems certain that life transcends biology and has several dimensions which, among others, include experiencing new feelings and exploring new frontiers. There is nothing impressive about staying a bacterium or an insect forever. If you were a spirit and that is all you can connect with, boredom alone would destroy you. Of course this observation is going to throw the whole notion of evolution up in the air. Evolutionists may be right in assuming that the rules of nature only allow the fittest of a particular species to survive, however, their theory does not explain the purpose of going through a long term evolution where a species goes into a total transformation to find itself totally unprepared to face harsher conditions brought to bear by elements out of its control. We have seen strong powerful species such as the dinosaurs die off and fail the test of time in the confine of our planet, let alone having to survive an interplanetary journey. On the other hand, many other humble living forms have been able to survive for billions of years. In light of this observation, one could easily propose that the evolutionary mechanism is not always activated for purely biological survival, as a matter of fact, the evolution of lower life forms into new ones such as mammals, fishes and birds could be attributed to several other reasons: definitely survival of the fittest is not one of them. What evolutionists have discovered with respect to the transformation of species into totally new ones is not the subject of dispute in this essay, however, the reason and the timing of this exercise is. When one looks at beautiful animals and birds, one can easily realize that those wonderful creatures are not - at least at the present time - in a position to find the means by which they can safely journey to another planet. The real test for survival is not how to survive on earth; it is in how to move beyond earth. As we can deduce, there are two different types of survival: short term and long term. Most animals are not equipped to survive a catastrophic event such as an earth quake let alone make it to another planet. It is clear to me that animals evolved in such a manner where perpetual survival was never taken into consideration. In that respect, evolutionists missed the point. Darwin established his theories based on observing animals. Mainly due to their individualism, their survival is greatly dependent on their physical abilities. Ours in contrast, is contingent on our mental skills and social collaboration. Animals only care about joy and fun. We care about immortality. It is not going to be easy for me to explain how things got this way. There are so many questions to be answered and so many possibilities to be addressed.

      There is no doubt that life with minimal conditions met, is capable of establishing itself anytime, anywhere. Life on earth just happened to be one of many facets of how it could take shape and evolve. Although not proven, life on other planets or celestial bodies may not require oxygen - or water for that matter. It is clear that life on earth is completely dependent on water and oxygen. What is not clear is how out of billions of life forms we alone wound up with such a powerful brain. Not only that, but evidence show that this brain was at work very early in our history on this planet. For instance archaeologists are all sorts of inventions that date back thousands of years. We are talking mechanical computers, complex calendars and clocks, gadgets to track the heavens and so on. For centuries, scientists have been trying to find the answers by looking for clues on earth. In the process they have acquired a great deal of knowledge about the physiology of many living things and their organs - including our brain - however, they have only managed to know very little if anything definite about the mental capacity of the brain and regardless of how far advanced in the future, biologists will never be able to completely decipher how the brain functions. It is clear to me that our brain is greatly influenced by outside factors and elements that at times can be much stronger than intelligence and reason. For instance a little child with a minimal mental capacity can handle a video game remarkably faster and superbly better than an adult just because he or she happened to have a stronger desire to learn the game in contrast to an adult who is interested in earning a living. More importantly, there are skills such as language that happened to be hard wired in the brain that can be acquired without much tutoring - if any. In terms of molecular structure, we all have the same brain, yet why some of us are good at doing certain things such as writing while others are interested in physics or mathematics is a question that is beyond biology for a simple reason: biology does not deal with any forces that are not related to specific and tangible issues. But to understand how our species evolved, we have no choice but to explore all the components - biology aside - that have a great influence on the way we behave, deal with issues of survival and interact with other human beings.

      Scientists will be well advised to stop looking for clues about our origin on this planet. The odds of the earth being the origin of our birth are nil. There are several reasons for my theory, but let’s start with this one. The logic behind evolution is to develop the ideal physiology