François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform, despite strict censorship laws with harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day. Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Richard Price, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émilie du Châtelet) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions. — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire
Spiritualism: In Search of Proof of Spirits
During the rise of spiritualism in the mid-1800s and into the early twentieth century, there were mediums who claimed they could speak to the dead and bring forth oddities from the other side of the grave. There were also photographers who produced intriguing psychic photographs of the deceased who were appearing beside loved ones. Arguments ensued about whether or not these paranormal claims were true. Arthur Conan Doyle found that a group of mediums called the “Crew Circle” and one of its members in particular, psychic-medium Billy Hope, had come under strong attack by now legendary ghost investigator, Harry Price, of the Society for Psychical Research. Price was claiming Mr. Hope had switched photographic plates during Price’s investigation of him. Doyle elected to defend Mr. Hope and “maligned members of the Crewe Circle” by publishing evidence in support of the ghost photographs being produced by the group.
Doyle the Spiritualist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a spiritualist who believed that ghosts and spirits could be contacted by use of a psychic-medium. To prove this idea to others, he elected to personally investigate the production of ghost pictures from mediums who were adept at creating this phenomena. His findings were published in 1923 in a book entitled, The Case for Spirit Photography. As of this writing, copies of his book can fetch between $150-300, depending upon condition.
In The Case for Spirit Photography, Arthur Conan Doyle explains his intentions to defend the Crewe Circle, Medium Billy Hope and spirit photography:
“I hope to make it clear to any unprejudiced mind that there is overwhelming evidence that we have in Mr. Hope, a man endowed with most singular powers, and that, instead of persecuting and misrepresenting him, it would be wiser if we took a sympathetic view of his remarkable work, which has brought consolation to the afflicted, and conviction to many who had lost all belief in the independent life of the spirit.”
Mr. Hope, following on the heels of famed spirit photographer, William Mumler, at the time of Doyle’s investigation, had been producing ghosts in photos for 17 years. He had been tested by the experts of his day who were proficient in photography, science, and investigative journalism. Arthur Conan Doyle tested Mr. Hope and his ghost picture process by purchasing, opening, marking, and inserting his own photographic plates into Hope’s camera. After medium Hope took a picture with the plates, Doyle removed them, developed, and fixed them himself. The pictures would reveal a smoky presence Arthur Conan Doyle called “ectoplasm” – evidence of spirit presence.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle continues detailing other experiments involving Mr. Hope and the Crewe Circle, including the examination of their character. By the end of the book, we read numerous personal testimonies corroborating Doyle’s conclusions. The testimony of George H. Lethem, at the time serving as Justice of the Peace for the City of Glasgow, was highly credible. Lethem also examined the entire process of the Crewe Circle members and came to the following conclusions about their photographs:
The plates were not faked before exposure.
There was no substitution of plates.
There was no double exposure.
There was no double printing.
The plate was not faked after development.
Mr. Hope was never proven a fraud. His process went with him when he left this earth in 1933. Doyle’s book survives today as a positive testimony of Hope’s legacy. The debate about the validity of ghost and spirit photographs still continues to be waged, today, by both skeptics and believers.
After viewing the ghost pictures and evidence that Arthur Conan Doyle puts forth in his book, do you believe he has proven the case for spirit photography? Were the photos just hoaxes or were they real evidence produced by members of the Crewe Circle? You decide…
“…there are millions of species [i] (Footnote) of insects. About 350,000 of these are species of beetles. [ii] (Footnote) There may be as many as 100 million species of life forms on Earth at any given time. In addition, there are many times more extinct species of life on Earth than there are living life forms. Some of these will be rediscovered in the fossil or geological records of Earth.
The current “theory of evolution” of life forms on Earth does not consider the phenomena of biological diversity. Evolution by natural selection is science fiction. One species does not accidentally, or randomly evolve to become another species, as the Earth textbooks indicate, without manipulation of genetic material by an IS-BE. [iii] (Footnote)
A simple example of IS-BE intervention is the selective breeding of a species [iv] (Footnote) on Earth. Within the past few hundred years several hundred dog breeds and hundreds of varieties of pigeons and dozens of Koi fish have been “evolved” in just a few years, beginning with only one original breed. Without active intervention by IS-BEs, biological organisms rarely change.
The development of an animal like the ‘duck-billed platypus’ required a lot of very clever engineering to combine the body of a beaver with the bill of a duck and make a mammal that lays eggs. Undoubtedly, some wealthy client placed a “special order” for it as a gift or curious amusement. I am sure the laboratory of some biotechnical company worked on it for years to make it a self-replicating life form!
The notion that the creation of any life form could have resulted from a coincidental chemical interaction moldering up from some primordial ooze is beyond absurdity! Factually, some organisms on Earth, such as Proteobacteria, [v] (Footnote) are modifications of a Phylum [vi](Footnote) designed primarily for “Star Type 3, Class C” planets. In other words, The Domain designation for a planet with an anaerobic atmosphere nearest a large, intensely hot blue star, [vii] (Footnote) such as those in the constellation of Orion’s Belt in this galaxy.
Creating life forms is very complex, highly technical work for IS-BEs who specialize in this field. Genetic anomalies are very baffling to Earth biologists who have had their memory erased. Unfortunately, the false memory implantations of the “Old Empire” prevent Earth scientists from observing obvious anomalies.”
“In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are often used, such as based on similarity of DNA or morphology. Presence of specific locally-adapted traits may further subdivide species into subspecies.
The commonly used names for plant and animal taxa sometimes correspond to species: for example, “lion,” “walrus,” and “Camphor tree,” each refers to a species. In other cases common names do not: for example, “deer” refers to a family of 34 species, including Eld’s Deer, Red Deer and Wapiti (Elk). The last two species were once considered a single species, illustrating how species boundaries may change with increased scientific knowledge.
Each species is placed within a single genus. This is a hypothesis that the species is more closely related to other species within its genus than to species of other genera. All species are given a binomial name consisting of the generic name and specific name (or specific epithet). For example, Pinus palustris (commonly known as the Longleaf Pine).
A usable definition of the word “species” and reliable methods of identifying particular species are essential for stating and testing biological theories and for measuring biodiversity. Traditionally, multiple examples of a proposed species must be studied for unifying characters before it can be regarded as a species. Extinct species known only from fossils are generally difficult to give precise taxonomic rankings to. A species which has been described scientifically can be referred to by its binomial names.
Nevertheless, as Charles Darwin remarked,
‘I look at the term species as one arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals closely resembling each other …. it does not essentially differ from the term variety, which is given to less distinct and more fluctuating forms. The term variety, again in comparison with mere individual difference, is also applied arbitrarily, and for mere convenience sake.’
Because of the difficulties with both defining and tallying the total numbers of different species in the world, it is estimated that there are anywhere between 2 million and 100 million different species.” — Reference: Wikipedia.org
“Beetles are a group of insects which have the largest number of species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera, which means “sheathed wing” and contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about twenty-five percent of all known life-forms. Forty percent of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species), and new species are frequently discovered. Estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at between 5 and 8 million.
Beetles can be found in almost all habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. They interact with their ecosystems in several ways. They often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are prey of various animals including birds and mammals. Certain species are agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata, the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and the mungbean or cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, while other species of beetles are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, coccinellidae (“ladybirds” or “ladybugs”) consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.” –– Reference: Wikipedia.org
[iii] “One species does not evolve to become another species, as the Earth textbooks indicate, without the intervention and manipulation of genetic material by an IS-BE.”
“Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification / manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms applied to the direct manipulation of an organism’s genes. Genetic engineering is not to be confused with traditional breeding where the organism’s genes are manipulated indirectly. Genetic engineering uses the techniques of molecular cloning and transformation. Genetic engineering endeavors have found some success in improving crop technology, the manufacture of synthetic human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the manufacture of erythropoietin in Chinese hamster ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the oncomouse (cancer mouse) for research.
Since a protein sequence is specified by a segment of DNA called a gene, novel versions of that protein can be produced by changing the DNA sequence of the gene. The companies that own the modified genome are able to patent it. In the case of basic crops, the companies gain control of foodstuffs, controlling food production on a large scale and reducing agrobidiversity to a few varieties. The only apparent interest in promoting this tecnology appears to be purely economic, despite the claims of seed companies such as Monsanto and Novartis to solve the world food scarcity. It is now popularly understood that it is not the lack of food on a wholewide scale that is the main problem, but its distribution, aggravated by prohibitive tariffs by rich nations. Genetically modified crops do not reduce hunger. The majority of genetically crops are destined for animal food to meet the high demand for meat in developed countries. No genetic modification have yet to serve the needs of mankind despite all the promises in this direction.
However, even with regard to this technology’s great potential, some people have raised concerns about the introduction of genetically engineered plants and animals into the environment and the potential dangers of human consumption of GM foods. They say that these organisms have the potential to spread their modified genes into native populations thereby disrupting natural ecosystems. This has already happened.” — Reference: Wikipedia.org
“How much genetic variation is there? Historical debate: Classical school held that there was very little genetic variation, most individuals were homozygous for a “wild-type” allele. Rare heterozygous loci due to recurrent mutation; natural selection purges populations of their “load” of mutations. Balance school held that many loci will be heterozygous in natural populations and heterozygotes maintained by “balancing selection” (heterozygote advantage). Selection thus plays a role in maintaining variation.
How do we measure variation? To show that there is a genetic basis to a continuously varying character one can study 1) resemblance among relatives: look at the offspring of individuals from parents in different parts of the distribution; can estimate heritability (more later). 2) artificial selection: pigeons and dogs show that there is variation present; does not tell how much variation.” — Reference: http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BIO48/5.Geno.Pheno.HTML
“The Proteobacteria are a major group (phylum) of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera. Others are free-living, and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation. The group is defined primarily in terms of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences, and is named for the Greek god Proteus (also the name of a bacterial genus within the Proteobacteria), who could change his shape, because of the great diversity of forms found in this group.
All Proteobacteria are Gram-negative, with an outer membrane mainly composed of lipopolysaccharides. Many move about using flagella, but some are non-motile or rely on bacterial gliding. The last include the myxobacteria, a unique group of bacteria that can aggregate to form multicellular fruiting bodies. There is also a wide variety in the types of metabolism. Most members are facultatively or obligately anaerobic and heterotrophic, but there are numerous exceptions. A variety of genera, which are not closely related to each other, convert energy from light through photosynthesis. These are called purple bacteria, referring to their mostly reddish pigmentation.”
“In biological taxonomy, a ‘phylum’ is a taxonomic rank at the level below Class and above Kingdom. “Phylum” is adopted from the Greek φυλαί phylai, the clan-based voting groups in Greek city-states.” — Reference: Wikipedia.org
“Blue stars are very hot and very luminous; in fact, most of their output is in the ultraviolet range. These are the rarest of all main sequence stars, constituting as few as 1 in 3,000,000 in the solar neighborhood. (Blue) stars shine with a power over a million times our Sun’s output. Examples: Zeta Orionis, Zeta Puppis, Lambda Orionis, Delta Orionis”.. — Reference: Wikipedia.org
A “holodeck” is an enclosed room in which objects and people are simulated by a combination of transported matter, replicated matter, tractor beams, and shaped force fields onto which holographic images are projected. Most holodeck programs shown in Star Trek episodes run in first person “subjective mode”, in which the user actively interacts with the program and its characters. The user may also employ third-person “objective mode”, in which he or she is “apart” from the actual running of the program and does not interact with it (all of the program’s characters will ignore the user as if he or she was not there. (READ MORE about “Holodeck”)
Virtual reality (VR) or also called Immersive Multimedia is a computer-simulated environment that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds. (READ MORE about “Virtual Reality”)
In the philosophy of consciousness, “sentience” can refer to the ability of any entity to have subjective perceptual experiences. This is distinct from other aspects of the mind and consciousness, such as creativity, intelligence, sapience, self-awareness, and intentionality (the ability to have thoughts that mean something or are “about” something). Sentience is a minimalistic way of defining “consciousness“, which is otherwise commonly used to collectively describe sentience plus other characteristics of the mind.
Eastern religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism recognize non-humans as sentient beings.According to Buddhism, sentient beings made of pure consciousness are possible. In Buddhism, the concept is related to the Bodhisattva, an enlightened being devoted to the liberation of others. The first vow of a Bodhisattva states: “Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to free them.” Sentience in Buddhism is the state of having senses (sat + ta in Pali, or sat + tva in Sanskrit). In Buddhism, the senses are six in number, the sixth being the subjective experience of the mind. Thus, an animal qualifies as a sentient being.
In Buddhism the skandhas (or aggregates in English) are the five functions or aspects that constitute the human being.The Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really “I” or “mine”. Suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to an aggregate. Suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates.
The five skandhas:
“form” or “matter” external and internal matter. Externally, is the physical world. Internally, this includes the material body and the physical sense organs.
“sensation” or “feeling”, sensing an objectas either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.
“perception”, “conception”, “apperception”, “cognition”, or “discrimination”, registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).
“mental formations”, “impulses”, “volition”, or “compositional factors”, all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, prejudices, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.
The Buddhist literature describes the aggregates as arising in a linear or progressive fashion, from form to feeling, to perception, to mental formations to consciousness.In the early texts, the scheme of the five aggregates is not meant to be an exhaustive classification of the human being. Rather it describes various aspects of the way an individual manifests.
Understanding suffering: the five aggregates are the “ultimate referent” in the Buddha’s elaboration on suffering in his First Noble Truth: “Since all four truths revolve around suffering, understanding the aggregates is essential for understanding the Four Noble Truths as a whole.”
Clinging causes future suffering: the five aggregates are the substrata for clinging and thus “contribute to the causal origination of future suffering”.
Release from samsara: clinging to the five aggregates must be removed in order to achieve release from samsara, literally meaning “continuous flow”, is the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (reincarnation)
— I HAVE EXCERPTED THE TEXT ABOVE FROM VARIOUS ARTICLES AND LINKS FOUND IN WIKIPEDIA.ORG (LRS)
Spiritualism: In Search of Proof of Spirits
“I hope to make it clear to any unprejudiced mind that there is overwhelming evidence that we have in Mr. Hope, a man endowed with most singular powers, and that, instead of persecuting and misrepresenting him, it would be wiser if we took a sympathetic view of his remarkable work, which has brought consolation to the afflicted, and conviction to many who had lost all belief in the independent life of the spirit.”
