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Welcome to the Mind of a Writer

The Official Site for Author & Analyst Sharon K. Gilbert

Transhumanism, Genesis, and Kurzweil's Singularity

The 1997 thriller, GATTACA, envisions a dark future where eugenics is king.

Transhumanism is a word that is only just now making its way into mainstream consciousness, but the idea is an old one--as old as the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve fell prey to Satan's plans to subvert God's authority, YHWH (Jehovah) pronounced a unique and most exciting new plan:

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Gen. 3:15 ESV)

The above quote is from the English Standard Version, but the King James uses the term 'seed' translated above as 'offspring'. Either way, it is clear that the enemy (Satan) would produce 'seed' or 'offspring' destined to hate the 'seed' or 'offspring' of mankind--in particular, one very specific human offspring, the promised Messiah--God made flesh. The battle lines had been drawn, and so the non-human (angelic) camp waste little time before commencing to do battle with the human camp.

The war begins in Genesis 6, where we learn that the 'sons of God' or angels who have been charged to 'watch' humanity look upon the daughters of men and find them beautiful and desirable. (Note: I will refer to these non-human entities as angels, but this term is not precise for it is primarily used to denote spiritual entities who serve YHWH and are sent on particular missions - ie. Messengers. It is entirely possible that God created a heavenly realm as diverse as our earthly realm). The extrabiblical book of Enoch expands on Genesis 6 and names many of these 'Watchers', numbering them as 200 strong. The result of this angelic/human coupling (whether consensual or forced) were gigantic beings known as Nephilim, a human/angelic hybrid. It is most probable that God sent the Great Flood to wipe out the corrupted human/angelic DNA, saving only Noah and his family (whose DNA was uncorrupted - a man 'perfect in his generations', that is, having unpolluted DNA). Why? The promised Messiah's human lineage must remain unblemished 'in its generations'.

After the flood, the fallen angels may well have returned to their old habits, because we find numerous references to 'giants'. Nimrod, the leader who commanded his citizens to help build a tower that would reach to God, may have claimed to be 'two-thirds god' (if, as some scholars believe, Nimrod is another name for Gilgamesh). God had promised Noah that He would not to destroy the Earth again by flood, so we see Him choose a people for Himself--a people whom He would protect by commanding them to restrain from intermarrying with the surrounding tribes. Numbers 13:33 says this:

"And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them." (Numbers 13:33 ESV)

Anakim (sons of Anak), Rephaim, Zuzim, and Emim were also listed as tribes of larger than average height. For instance, Og of Bashan, a Rephaim king, was listed as being over 13 feet tall (Deut. 3:11). I Chronicles offers tantalizing information:

"And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, [that was] of the children of the giant: and they were subdued. And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff [was] like a weaver's beam. And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of [great] stature, whose fingers and toes [were] four and twenty, six [on each hand], and six [on each foot]: and he also was the son of the giant." (I Chron. 20:4-6 KJV)

Satan's drive to pollute the human gene pool so that no woman 'perfect in her generations' might be found in Israel failed. Mary (Miriam) gave birth to a son whom she called Emanuel, 'God with us'. Jesus Christ, Yeshuah ha Mashiach, was born, died, and resurrected, defeating Satan and his followers.

But did Satan consider the war over? Not by a long shot.

Fast forward to the late 19th century, and we see a modern day return to an old theme. This time the drive to tamper with human DNA is called the 'science of eugenics'. I've written several essays on the topic of early 20th century eugenics, so I will not repeat those here entirely, but let me summarize by reminding you, dear reader, that the root of the modern eugenics movement is the Enlightenment of the 18th century, which spawned numerous clubs and 'secret societies' where civilized men of Europe (particularly England/Scotland) met to discuss forbidden topics (and in some cases, perhaps engage in pagan behaviors, i.e. the infamous Hellfire Club). One of these civilized gentlemen was one Erasmus Darwin, founding member of the Lunar Society, and lettered physician, botanist, physiologist, natural philosopher. Erasmus Darwin was also the grandfather to both Charles Darwin, the man who gave us the theory of evolution through 'natural selection' in his seminal book 'On the Origin of the Species', and Francis Galton, who not only pioneered eugenics, but also gave us the term itself.

Galton's mind turned to many scientific endeavors, but it was his cousin's book that drove him to ponder human breeding programs as a means for modifying human traits. Fascinated by statistics and numerical data, Galton catalogued every human characteristic he could find, including fingerprints. He then determined to learn whether these characteristics were inheritable. To establish his theory that traits are passed from generation to generation, Galton created pedigrees for noteworthy, influential thinkers of his day. He studied all the data he could gather on each man--from biographies, news sources, etc.--which he then enumerated into comparable data. His 1883 book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development contains his conclusions and suggests ways that British society might improve through early marriage, selective breeding (through appropriate marriage partners), and even encouraged the 'weak' to seek fulfillment in monasteries or convents (thus preventing further spread of their weak traits to progeny). Galton also proposed twin studies, where one twin would be raised in a different environment, an effort to determine whether nature or nurture played a greater role in personality and measurable traits.

Darwin, Galton, and Thomas Henry Huxley shaped the science of mid-to-late19th century England, and their theories led inevitably to a Science that eschewed Biblical foundations in favor of humanist ones. Man needed no 'god' but his own reason, and shaping a new Man became an all driving passion.

In 1907, the Eugenics Education Society was born with Sir Francis Galton elected as first president. One early member, David Starr Jordan, helped found the genetics program at this author's alma mater, Indiana University, where the Biology building bears Jordan's name. In fact, Jordan went on to become the first president of Stanford University in California. (Jordan also joined The Bohemian Club, a secret organization that is best known for its roster of high profile politicians and for a peculiar summer ritual, the Cremation of Care, that features a giant owl statue). The Eugenics Education Society boasted many Americans on its roster, including Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood, Julian Huxley, John Harvey Kellogg (yes, that Kellogg!), and John Maynard Keynes (whose influence on 20th and 21st century economics has led to the current 'fiscal cliff' and rampant, reckless spending).

Early American eugenicists advocated sterilization and even euthanasia of the 'weak', particularly those with dark skin. These early genetic scientists looked

Though history has branded Hitler's eugenics research as barbaric, British and American scientists and philosophers had actually pioneered the field!

at behaviors and social aspects as heritable. Among their list of 'unfit traits' were feeblemindedness, criminality, insanity, epilepsy, and pauperism. These degenerate traits could be bred out, they believed, through carefully managed pairings--not unlike the breeding programs in cattle or sheep. In these nascent years of genetics research, DNA had not yet been isolated in human cells, but scientists proposed that a germ plasm might be responsible for many human traits. Though history has branded Hitler's eugenics research as barbaric, British and American scientists and philosophers had actually pioneered the field!

Today, genetics has become a precise and respected science, and the recently completed Human Genome Project, provides a frame of reference for a eugenics movement that never truly died out, but only changed names. The search for the perfect man--what Hitler called der Ãœbermensch--continues. Genetics, epigenetics, and even metagenetics (a theoretical branch) are exploding fields of research. But for some, the search for this perfect man requires more than selective breeding--it requires interbreeding. This is the essence of Transhumanism--to take us beyond mere humanity to superhuman realms.

'Parahuman' and 'cybrid' are terms given these days to such animal/human hybridization. The field began, innocently enough, when researchers sought ways to mass produce human insulin for diabetics. Next, experimental mice became transgenic mice (with human genes introduced). According to a 2011 article in The Daily Mail, over 150 animal/human hybrid embryos had been created since the UK's 2008 Human Fertilization Embryology Act, which legalized the creation of such embryos. The argument that hybrid experimentation will lead to 'fetal stem cell' cures is misleading if not an outright lie, since nearly all successful stem cell treatments come from adult not fetal stem cells.

Also, a 2005 article from  Associated Press revealed the existence of whole flock of sheep with partially 'human' livers, hearts, brains, etc. to allow researchers to test new drugs and other protocols before using them on humans.

But what if animal DNA were inserted into a human fetus? Could we manufacture a soldier with enhanced running due to cheetah DNA? Or what about a fighter pilot with greater visual acuity (eagle DNA) or one who required very little sleep, water, or even food? Bigger muscles, heightened senses - taller, smarter, blue eyes, blonde hair, beautiful? Where does the tinkering stop? What about longer life span?  This is the dream of inventor/scientist Ray Kurzweil, who hopes that he will never die.

Kurzweil, a high intellect whom Erasmus Darwin and Francis Galton might have considered a peer worthy of study and inclusion in their quirky clubs, imagines a human who has moved beyond the mundane into a future he calls the 'singularity'. In 2001, Kurzweil wrote his controversial essay, The Law of Accelerating Returns, in which he explains the concept of the coming Singularity.

"If we apply these principles at the highest level of evolution on Earth, the first step, the creation of cells, introduced the paradigm of biology. The subsequent emergence of DNA provided a digital method to record the results of evolutionary experiments. Then, the evolution of a species who combined rational thought with an opposable appendage (i.e., the thumb) caused a fundamental paradigm shift from biology to technology. The upcoming primary paradigm shift will be from biological thinking to a hybrid combining biological and nonbiological thinking. This hybrid will include "biologically inspired" processes resulting from the reverse engineering of biological brains. [emphasis SKG]"

Reverse-engineering biological brains? What he implies here is that soon, science will have the capability to produce brains that are not necessarily biological but technological. Homo sapiens may give way to Homo silica. And if you've ever heard me speak at a conference, you can imagine my response: "Science, get your own dirt."

Kurzweil believes the 21st century technology will outpace its 20th century predecessor by 1000 times at least. If you think the internet has led to vast changes in society, imagine something one thousand times more advanced. This is the terrifying engine that drives Kurzweil's Singularity train. This rushing railcar of scientists cannot keep going faster forever. Eventually, the train will derail or crash. Kurzweil calls this 'the event horizon' of scientific advancement:

"My view is that despite our profound limitations of thought, constrained as we are today to a mere hundred trillion interneuronal connections in our biological brains, we nonetheless have sufficient powers of abstraction to make meaningful statements about the nature of life after the Singularity. Most importantly, it is my view that the intelligence that will emerge will continue to represent the human civilization, which is already a human-machine civilization. This will be the next step in evolution, the next high level paradigm shift."

He goes on to further explain:

"From my perspective, the Singularity has many faces. It represents the nearly vertical phase of exponential growth where the rate of growth is so extreme that technology appears to be growing at infinite speed. Of course, from a mathematical perspective, there is no discontinuity, no rupture, and the growth rates remain finite, albeit extraordinarily large. But from our currently limited perspective, this imminent event appears to be an acute and abrupt break in the continuity of progress. However, I emphasize the word "currently," because one of the salient implications of the Singularity will be a change in the nature of our ability to understand. In other words, we will become vastly smarter as we merge with our technology. [emphasis SKG]"

The prequel TV series, Caprica, revealed the first merging of human with machine in the 'Battlestar Gallactica' universe.

Merge with our technology. Homo silica. Cylons. This is where transhumanism is heading, and it is nothing new. In Genesis 6, humanity merged with interdimensional, supernatural beings. In the 21st century, Kurzweil would have us merge with the internet, an otherworldly construct of bits and bytes and electrons governed by physics held together by a divine cosmos. We transcend and become 'as gods' with eternal life. Of course, there's nothing new here--it's the oldest lie of all.

Perhaps, in reading this, you've encountered a new concept or two. Bravo. Welcome to the new 'paradigm'. If you're a Christian or Jew who places faith in the Creator God of the Old Testament - YHWH, Who saw human hybridization as cause for global judgement, then you must surely tremble at Kurzweil's hubris and foolhardy notions. Satan sought to unseat God, and he used God's beautiful new creation, Mankind, as a pawn. Transhumanism is just one more tactic in this ongoing war against heaven. Satan is betting that God will again be grieved for ever making Man. If you are a Christian, then you know that God loves us despite our foolish choices--loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die in our place rather than destroy us, though we certainly deserve it.

The future holds a series of final judgments, found in the book of Revelation. As you read this, we are so near to those final years that one can almost hear the hoofbeats of the four horsemen. Kurzweil may be brilliant, but his science will fail him in the end. Technology will fail him. And the Singularity for which he longs will never come.

However, Christ WILL come. And to this we who love Him must say, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

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Scientific American

Scientists Discover Children's Cells Living in Mothers' Brains

The connection between mother and child is ever deeper than thought

By Robert Martone

December 4, 2012

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm.

The physical connection between mother and fetus is provided by the placenta, an organ, built of cells from both the mother and fetus, which serves as a conduit for the exchange of nutrients, gasses, and wastes. Cells may migrate through the placenta between the mother and the fetus, taking up residence in many organs of the body including the lung, thyroid muscle, liver, heart, kidney and skin. These may have a broad range of impacts, from tissue repair and cancer prevention to sparking immune disorders.

It is remarkable that it is so common for cells from one individual to integrate into the tissues of another distinct person. We are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as singular autonomous individuals, and these foreign cells seem to belie that notion, and suggest that most people carry remnants of other individuals. As remarkable as this may be, stunning results from a new study show that cells from other individuals are also found in the brain. In this study, male cells were found in the brains of women and had been living there, in some cases, for several decades. What impact they may have had is now only a guess, but this study revealed that these cells were less common in the brains of women who had Alzheimer's disease, suggesting they may be related to the health of the brain.

We all consider our bodies to be our own unique being, so the notion that we may harbor cells from other people in our bodies seems strange. Even stranger is the thought that, although we certainly consider our actions and decisions as originating in the activity of our own individual brains, cells from other individuals are living and functioning in that complex structure. However, the mixing of cells from genetically distinct individuals is not at all uncommon. This condition is called chimerism after the fire-breathing Chimera from Greek mythology, a creature that was part serpent part lion and part goat. Naturally occurring chimeras are far less ominous though, and include such creatures as the slime mold and corals.

Microchimerism is the persistent presence of a few genetically distinct cells in an organism. This was first noticed in humans many years ago when cells containing the male "Y" chromosome were found circulating in the blood of women after pregnancy. Since these cells are genetically male, they could not have been the women's own, but most likely came from their babies during gestation.

In this new study, scientists observed that microchimeric cells are not only found circulating in the blood, they are also embedded in the brain. They examined the brains of deceased women for the presence of cells containing the male "Y" chromosome. They found such cells in more than 60 percent of the brains and in multiple brain regions. Since Alzheimer's disease is more common in women who have had multiple pregnancies, they suspected that the number of fetal cells would be greater in women with AD compared to those who had no evidence for neurological disease. The results were precisely the opposite: there were fewer fetal-derived cells in women with Alzheimer's. The reasons are unclear.

Microchimerism most commonly results from the exchange of cells across the placenta during pregnancy, however there is also evidence that cells may be transferred from mother to infant through nursing. In addition to exchange between mother and fetus, there may be exchange of cells between twins in utero, and there is also the possibility that cells from an older sibling residing in the mother may find their way back across the placenta to a younger sibling during the latter's gestation. Women may have microchimeric cells both from their mother as well as from their own pregnancies, and there is even evidence for competition between cells from grandmother and infant within the mother.

What it is that fetal microchimeric cells do in the mother's body is unclear, although there are some intriguing possibilities. For example, fetal microchimeric cells are similar to stem cells in that they are able to become a variety of different tissues and may aid in tissue repair. One research group investigating this possibility followed the activity of fetal microchimeric cells in a mother rat after the maternal heart was injured: they discovered that the fetal cells migrated to the maternal heart and differentiated into heart cells helping to repair the damage. In animal studies, microchimeric cells were found in maternal brains where they became nerve cells, suggesting they might be functionally integrated in the brain. It is possible that the same may true of such cells in the human brain.

These microchimeric cells may also influence the immune system. A fetal microchimeric cell from a pregnancy is recognized by the mother's immune system partly as belonging to the mother, since the fetus is genetically half identical to the mother, but partly foreign, due to the father's genetic contribution. This may "prime" the immune system to be alert for cells that are similar to the self, but with some genetic differences. Cancer cells which arise due to genetic mutations are just such cells, and there are studies which suggest that microchimeric cells may stimulate the immune system to stem the growth of tumors. Many more microchimeric cells are found in the blood of healthy women compared to those with breast cancer, for example, suggesting that microchimeric cells can somehow prevent tumor formation. In other circumstances, the immune system turns against the self, causing significant damage. Microchimerism is more common in patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis than in their healthy siblings, suggesting chimeric cells may have a detrimental role in this disease, perhaps by setting off an autoimmune attack.

This is a burgeoning new field of inquiry with tremendous potential for novel findings as well as for practical applications. But it is also a reminder of our interconnectedness.

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ABC News

Evidence Noah's Biblical Flood Happened, Says Robert Ballard

This ark, located an hour south of Amsterdam, is a replica of Noah's Biblical boat. Underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard is in Turkey, looking for evidence that the Great Flood happened. (ABC News)

By JENNA MILLMAN, BRYAN TAYLOR and LAUREN EFFRON (@LEffron831)

Dec. 10, 2012

The story of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood is one of the most famous from the Bible, and now an acclaimed underwater archaeologist thinks he has found proof that the biblical flood was actually based on real events.

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour for ABC News, Robert Ballard, one of the world's best-known underwater archaeologists, talked about his findings. His team is probing the depths of the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey in search of traces of an ancient civilization hidden underwater since the time of Noah.

Ballard's track record for finding the impossible is well known. In 1985, using a robotic submersible equipped with remote-controlled cameras, Ballard and his crew hunted down the world's most famous shipwreck, the Titanic.

Now Ballard is using even more advanced robotic technology to travel farther back in time. He is on a marine archeological mission that might support the story of Noah. He said some 12,000 years ago, much of the world was covered in ice.

"Where I live in Connecticut was ice a mile above my house, all the way back to the North Pole, about 15 million kilometers, that's a big ice cube," he said. "But then it started to melt. We're talking about the floods of our living history."

The water from the melting glaciers began to rush toward the world's oceans, Ballard said, causing floods all around the world.

"The questions is, was there a mother of all floods," Ballard said.

According to a controversial theory proposed by two Columbia University scientists, there really was one in the Black Sea region. They believe that the now-salty Black Sea was once an isolated freshwater lake surrounded by farmland, until it was flooded by an enormous wall of water from the rising Mediterranean Sea. The force of the water was two hundred times that of Niagara Falls, sweeping away everything in its path.

Fascinated by the idea, Ballard and his team decided to investigate.

"We went in there to look for the flood," he said. "Not just a slow moving, advancing rise of sea level, but a really big flood that then stayed... The land that went under stayed under."

Four hundred feet below the surface, they unearthed an ancient shoreline, proof to Ballard that a catastrophic event did happen in the Black Sea. By carbon dating shells found along the shoreline, Ballard said he believes they have established a timeline for that catastrophic event, which he estimates happened around 5,000 BC. Some experts believe this was around the time when Noah's flood could have occurred.

"It probably was a bad day," Ballard said. "At some magic moment, it broke through and flooded this place violently, and a lot of real estate, 150,000 square kilometers of land, went under."

The theory goes on to suggest that the story of this traumatic event, seared into the collective memory of the survivors, was passed down from generation to generation and eventually inspired the biblical account of Noah.

Noah is described in the Bible as a family man, a father of three, who is about to celebrate his 600th birthday.

"In the early chapters of Genesis, people live 800 years, 700 years, 900 years," said Rabbi Burt Visotzky, a professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. "Those are mythic numbers, those are way too big. We don't quite know what to do with that. So sometimes those large numbers, I think, also serve to reinforce the mystery of the text."

Some of the details of the Noah story seem mythical, so many biblical scholars believe the story of Noah and the Ark was inspired by the legendary flood stories of nearby Mesopotamia, in particular "The Epic of Gilgamesh." These ancient narratives were already being passed down from one generation to the next, centuries before Noah appeared in the Bible.

"The earlier Mesopotamian stories are very similar where the gods are sending a flood to wipe out humans," said biblical archaeologist Eric Cline. "There's one man they choose to survive. He builds a boat and brings on animals and lands on a mountain and lives happily ever after? I would argue that it's the same story."

Catastrophic events of this kind are not unique to the Bible. Some contemporary examples include the 2004 tsunami that wiped out villages on the coasts of 11 countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. There was also Hurricane Katrina, described as the worst hurricane in United States history.

Scholars aren't sure if the biblical flood was larger or smaller than these modern day disasters, but they do think the experiences of people in ancient times were similar to our own.

"If you witness a terrible natural disaster, yes, you want a scientific explanation why this has happened," said Karen Armstrong, author of "A History of God." "But you also need to something that will help you to assuage your grief and anguish and rage. And it is here that myth helps us through that."

Regardless of whether the details of the Noah story are historically accurate, Armstrong believes this story and all the Biblical stories are telling us "about our predicament in the world now."

Back in the Black Sea, Ballard said he is aware that not everyone agrees with his conclusions about the time and size of the flood, but he's confident he's on the path to finding something from the biblical period.

"We started finding structures that looked like they were man-made structures," Ballard said. "That's where we are focusing our attention right now."

At first Ballard's team found piles of ancient pottery, but then they made an even more important discovery. Last year, Ballard discovered a vessel and one of its crew members in the Black Sea.

"That is a perfectly preserved ancient shipwreck in all its wood, looks like a lumber yard," he said. "But if you look closely, you will see the femur bone and actually a molar."

The shipwreck was in surprisingly good condition, preserved because the Black Sea has almost no oxygen in it, which slows down the process of decay, but it does not date back as far as the story of Noah.

"The oldest shipwreck that we have discovered so far of that area is around 500 BC, classical period," Ballard said. "But the question is you just keep searching. It's a matter of statistics."

Still, Ballard said the find gives him hope that he will discover something older "because there, in fact, the deep sea is the largest museum on Earth," he said.

Ballard does not think he will ever find Noah's Ark, but he does think he may find evidence of a people whose entire world was washed away about 7,000 years ago. He and his team said they plan to return to Turkey next summer.

"It's foolish to think you will ever find a ship," Ballard said, referring to the Ark. "But can you find people who were living? Can you find their villages that are underwater now? And the answer is yes."

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Globalist Report

Vatican Calls for the Establishment of World Government and a New World Order

Posted by Andrew Puhanic

The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, has called for the establishment of World Government and a New World Order.

In a speech made at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on Monday December 3 2012, the Pope called for the "construction of a world community, with a corresponding authority," to serve the "common good of the human family".

As a means of defending global peace and justice, the pope's vision for the establishment of World Government and a New World Order is supposedly not to create a new superpower, but a new governing body that offers to those (politicians) who are responsible for making decisions, criteria for judgment and practical guidelines.

The pope was quoted as saying:

The proposed body (World Government) would not be a superpower, concentrated in the hands of a few, which would dominate all peoples, exploiting the weakest.

THE pope also described his vision as a "moral force" or moral authority that has the "power to influence in accordance with reason, that is, a participatory authority, limited by law in its jurisdiction."

These latest remarks made by the Pope and the Catholic Church come as no surprise considering that in 2010 the Catholic Church sought the establishment of a new Central World Bank that would be responsible for regulating the global financial industry and the international money supply.

It was reported that the Vatican sought "a supranational authority" which would have worldwide scope and "universal jurisdiction" to guide and control global economic policies and decisions.

China's new push for closer ties with Russia, the growing intrusions from the United Nations with regards to control of the internet and the latest remarks made by the catholic church all point to a new world order that will set in stone a path the world may not be able to recover from.

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Activist Post

2013: The Year of the Comets

December 8, 2012

Last Great Comet Hale-Bopp (1997)

Wiki image

Nicholas West

Some ancient cultures referred to them as "the Menace of the Universe" and "the Harbinger of Doom." Comets have almost universally been viewed by the ancients as messengers or omens carrying bad news from the gods.

In the midst of our busy lives it's difficult to keep in mind that we reside on a ball that's corkscrewing through space around a ball of gas called our sun, which is also sweeping through our galaxy.

The ancients didn't have distractions like TVs and the Internet. They looked to the sky for clues and guidance for life on Earth, and comets brought mythology of angry gods and instilled fear in them.

Strangely, in more modern times, comets have been associated with actual dark events.

According to NASA:

Comets' influence on cultures is not limited simply to tales of myth and legend, though. Comets throughout history have been blamed for some of history's darkest times. In Switzerland, Halley's Comet was blamed for earthquakes, illnesses, red rain, and even the births of two-headed animals.

The Romans recorded that a fiery comet marked the assassination of Julius Caesar, and another was blamed for the extreme bloodshed during the battle between Pompey and Caesar. In England, Halley's Comet was blamed for bringing the Black Death. The Incas, in South America, even record a comet having foreshadowed Francisco Pizarro's arrival just days before he brutally conquered them. 

Comets and disaster became so intertwined that Pope Calixtus III even excommunicated Halley's Comet as an instrument of the devil, and a meteorite, from a comet, became enshrined as one of the most venerated objects in all of Islam. 

Although comets are not uncommon in our solar system, Great Comets only appear once a decade on average .  There's is no major significance about the size of "Great Comets", rather they are simply defined as comets that become exceptionally bright and can be seen by casual observers with the naked eye.  This usually has to do with their distance from Earth.

Comet types depicted as daggers

So what are we to make of the possibility of two Great Comets flying by Earth in 2013?

Astronomers have discovered two new comets that are fast approaching our planet and have the potential to be Great Comets. One might be "bright enough to be seen in the day" and the other is projected to become "one of the brightest in history" and possibly "outshine the Moon".

The first comet, named C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), is expected to make its arrival in March 2013. According to astronomers, it will be "potentially visible to the naked eye low in the western horizon just after sunset" and also has the "potential that it may be visible during the day."

Richard Wainscoat, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii who co-discovered the comet, claims there is no danger of collision with Earth but admits "since we don't have a lot of data on it, we really don't know the orbit well enough right now."

The second comet, the one which could possibly outshine the Moon, was only just discovered this September and is called 2012 S1 (ISON). Astronomers predict "current orbital predictions indicate the comet will look brightest to us in the weeks just after its closest approach to the sun, on November 28, 2013."

Comet ISON may be visible for the last two months of the year as well as early 2014 and is the more likely of the two to be a spectacular event:

The comet is already remarkably bright, given how far it is from the sun, astronomer Raminder Singh Samra said. What's more, 2012 S1 seems to be following the path of the Great Comet of 1680, considered one of the most spectacular ever seen from Earth. 

'If it lives up to expectations, this comet may be one of the brightest in history,' said Samra, of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada. (Source)

This comet is considered to be larger than most at 3 kilometers wide (roughly 2 miles) adding to the anticipation of its arrival.  It, too, may be visible during the day according to astronomers.

The last Great Comet highly visible from Earth, Hale-Bopp, arrived 16 years ago in 1997. So we are long overdue considering the average of one-per-decade. Although very little major news occurred in 1997, the last 16 years have been perhaps the most tumultuous in human history from 9/11 and the war on terror to a devastating financial collapse, both of which have still not peaked.

Astronomers are cautious not to make wild predictions about approaching comets, always adding the caveat that they never really know how comets will react as they get closer to the sun. Yet, it does seem significant that 2013 may have two Great Comets.

Will one of them be a "Harbinger of Doom" and bring dark times with it? As the world braces for the end of the much discussed Mayan Calendar on December 21st, 2012, these comets only add more intrigue to cosmic conspiracies.

The authorities and media downplay "end of the world" talk which is probably the responsible thing to do to stave off panic. However, it's increasingly difficult to know where to find the truth. And NASA isn't exactly known for its honesty either, sometimes being referred to as "Never A Straight Answer".

Even if we won't get a straight answer from NASA, we should heed the advice they gave to their staff to be prepared to survive potential emergencies:

A major initiative has been placed on Family/Personal Preparedness for all NASA personnel. The NASA/Family Preparedness Program is designed to provide awareness, resources, and tools to the NASA Family (civil servants and contractors) to prepare for an emergency situation. The most important assets in the successful completion of NASA's mission are our employees' and their families. We are taking the steps to prepare our workforce, but it is your personal obligation to prepare yourself and your families for emergencies. (Source)

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Until next week...keep on believing.

Almondtree Productions

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.”
(Psalm 100:1)