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A Sourcebook for the Worldwide Discovery of a Creative Organic Universe
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III. Ecosmos: A Revolutionary Fertile, Habitable, Solar-Bioplanet, Incubator Lifescape

G. An Astrochemistry to Astrobiological Spontaneity

Chela-Flores, Julian. Fluid Mechanics and Systems Biology for Understanding the Cosmic Distribution of Life. Sigalotti, Leonardo, et al, eds. Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics. Switzerland: Springer, 2014. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, biophysicist and “systems astrobiology” coiner (search) draws on his early experience in the first field to add further evidence that organisms quite seem to appear, evolve, develop, converge, and emerge from the independent essences of the natural genesis universe.

Life in the Universe will emerge from statistical analysis of large data banks that are now rapidly beginning to accumulate. Our combined assumptions of convergence and the cosmos as a complex system imply that all the Earth-like exo-planets that will be in the habitable zone of their corresponding star will have an identifiable bioindicator (anomalous production of biogenic gases). The signs of life are predicted to be a biologically produced atmosphere, largely fractionated towards one of the biogenic gases (in the case of the Earth the large fractionation triggered by biosystems is the 21% of oxygen). Such atmospheres would not be the result of natural accretion processes in the processes that give origin to the planets, but instead, the emergence of the biogenic atmospheres would be the result of the innate phenomenon of life that the laws of biochemistry will allow in brief geologic times. (7)

The search for exo-planets can be viewed as the first step in an eventual discovery of life as a complex cosmic system. Following the lines outlined above, we expect that a rationalization of life will eventually emerge from the data banks of a very large number of stars in our galactic sector. The geophysical data, rather than data banks of biological information, will provide a gradual emergence of the living phenomenon. (8)

Chela-Flores, Julian. From Systems Chemistry to Systems Astrobiology: Life in the Universe as an Emergent Phenomenon. International Journal of Astrobiology. Online July, 2012. The International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, astrophilosopher perceives a positively conducive cosmos for the inevitable appearance and progressive rise of life and persons. It is proposed that if chemical matter consistently arrays itself as a complex system, whose diverse biomolecules are found across celestial realms, then this field of study similarly ought to have a “systems” distinction.

We assume a close integration of the phenomenon of life and all cosmic matter, both dark and visible. We further assume that life is subject to evolutionary convergence. The close integration of life and matter forms a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life in the universe. Our aim is to set the basis for a theoretical biology interpretation of the ongoing measurements of the local sector of our galaxy by current and future space probes. We argue that our hypothesis of viewing the cosmos as a single complex system can lead to insights into the phenomenon of life interpreted as an emergent phenomenon with testable predictions that have escaped the standard approach of chemical evolution. (1)

We have attempted to illustrate how systems astrobiology assumes a new role in the science of astrobiology. In our theory of life in the universe, we have underlined several stages that are analogous with the standard systems biology, namely: 1. The theory: the universe is treated as a complex system with evolutionary convergence. 2. The computational modelling: statistical correlations of astronomical data are needed from Kepler and subsequent missions and spectroscopic data from the HST and the next generation of space telescopes. 3. A testable hypothesis: the Earth-like exoplanets in HZs of MS stars will yield anomalous fractions of biogenic gases in the spectroscopic analyses of their atmospheres. 4. The complex system: the universe itself is interpreted as a complex system. (3)

Chela-Flores, Julian and F. Raulin, eds. Exobiology: Matter, Energy and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1998. Proceedings of the Fifth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution. As these meetings explore the many aspects of the cosmic and planetary evolution of life and mind, the universe increasingly appears as an organic gestation. One paper by John Oro goes on to find ethical tenets implied by this cosmic sense of life - Humility, Solidarity, Cooperation, Hope, Universality, Golden Rule - by which people might be inspired to change from a culture of war to one of peace.

Chela-Flores, Julian, et al, eds. Astrobiology: Origins from the Big Bang to Civilization. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1999. Proceedings from the 1999 Iberoamerican School of Astrobiology conference held in Caracas, Venezuela. Of especial note is “Information, Life and Brains” by Juan Roederer and “Evolution of Adaptive Systems” by Hernan Dopazo.

Chown, Marcus. Is There Anybody In There? New Scientist. November 26, 2005. A report on the latest views of Stephen Wolfram, polymath author of A New Kind of Universe, who advises that the current search for signals from extraterrestrials will not be successful as is. Wolfram applies his advanced understanding of digital information to say that techniques such as data compression are called for to discern necessarily encoded, embedded messages that ETs might send. Furthermore, a communication may be inherent within in a computational universe whose complex structures, including people, arise from iterative algorithms run over and over. Of course, this begs translation – could the ultimate creative system be the interplay of yin feminine and yang masculine.

Chyba, Christopher and Kevin Hand. Astrobiology: The Study of the Living Universe. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 43, 2005. A comprehensive survey which is well covered by its Abstract.

Astrobiology is the study of the living universe. Astronomy provides the context for the origin and evolution of life on Earth. Conversely, discoveries about the terrestrial biosphere from extremophilic microbes to the evolution of intelligence inform our thinking about prospects for life elsewhere. Astrobiology includes the search for extraterrestrial life via in situ exploration, spectroscopy of solar and extrasolar planetary atmospheres, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This review situates astrobiology within philosophical issues of the definition of life and the biological compatibility of the universe. It reviews the habitability of the Galaxy in general and of planets and moons in particular, and summarizes current controversies in origins-of-life research and in evidence for the earliest life on Earth. It critiques certain "rare Earth" and "anthropic" arguments, and considers four approaches to deciding whether intelligent life exists elsewhere in the Galaxy. It concludes that astrobiology must also speak to the future of human civilization. (31)

Cirkovic, Milan. Evolutionary Contingency and SETI Revisited. Biology and Philosophy. 29/5, 2014. In this paper, the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade scholar seeks to counter some 50 years later George Gaylord Simpson’s 1964 paper where he claimed that due to nature’s profligate excesses, intelligent civilizations anywhere else do not exist, so a search for them is a waste of time. While a stochastic extravagance is surely evident, today novel recognitions of life’s persistent convergent trend in our cognizant human direction need be factored in.

Cirkovic, Milan. The Astrobiological Landscape: Philosophical Foundations of the Study of Cosmic Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. The Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade and Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University, astrophysicist achieves an innovative overview upon the revolutionary sense of a fertile evolutionary abode for living, intelligent entities, now of a planetary scale. Again this vista results from an imperative reunion of animate and physical realms and principles. From the latest findings, an organic cosmos is seen to fill itself with friendly “habitable zones” from stars and galaxies onto a “Habitable Universe.” This astrobiology profligacy then infers an extension of natural selection to a “galactic Darwinism.” Altogether a neo-Copernican synthesis is presaged as living, developing systems found everywhere redefine a permissive multiverse. A synopsis appears in the International Journal of Astrobiology, search Branislav Vukotic and Cirkovic. But alas still no inkling of a greater reality and genesis that is growing forth on its ordained own.

Astrobiology is an expanding, interdisciplinary field investigating the origin, evolution and future of life in the universe. Tackling many of the foundational debates of the subject, from discussions of cosmological evolution to detailed reviews of common concepts such as the 'Rare Earth' hypothesis, this volume is the first systematic survey of the philosophical aspects and conundrums in the study of cosmic life. The author's exploration of the increasing number of cross-over problems highlights the relationship between astrobiology and cosmology and presents some of the challenges of multidisciplinary study. Modern physical theories dealing with the multiverse add a further dimension to the debate. (Publisher)

Thus the stage is set. In the remaining chapters, I shall try to muster support for the following tightly interrelated theses: 1. The relationship between cosmology and astrobiology is much deeper than it is usually assumed – besides a similarity in the historical model of development of these two disciplines, there is an increasing number of crossover problems and thematic areas that stem from considerations of Copernicanism and observation selection effects. 2. Such a crossover area is both visualized and heuristically strengthened by the introduction of the astrobiological landscape, describing complexity of life in the most general context. Modern physical theories dealing with the multiverse add an additional level of detail to what is orthodoxly perceived as astrobiological enterprise, encapsulated in the Archipelago of Habitability. 3. Even in its orthodox version, within the well-defined confines of the Milky Way, modern astrobiology offers the prospect of both foundational support and a vast extension of the domain of applicability of the Darwinian biological evolution. (22)

Claringbold, Alastair, et al.. Prebiosignature Molecules can be Detected in Temperate Exoplanet Atmospheres with JWST. arXiv:2306.02897. Cambridge and Oxford University astronomers including Olivier Shorttle lay out a way that the Webb satellite can even be able to perceive such an innate fertility on a long course to prepare for life’s biologic development on the way to our global retrospective animation. Once again a natural procreative genesis becomes ever more fleshed out and well quantified.

The search for biosignatures on exoplanets connects the fields of biology and biochemistry to astronomical observation. Here we focus on a complementary search for molecules associated with the origin of life, namely prebiosignatures in planetary atmospheres. We quantify the minimum abundance of identified prior molecules required for transmission spectroscopy using JWST. We consider prebiosignatures on five planetary classes: terrestrial, ocean, volcanic, post-impact, super-Earth, and an early Earth analogue. By this method, we detect thresholds of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), cyanoacetylene (HC3N), ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxide (NO), formaldehyde (CH2O), and carbon monoxide (CO) in a subject atmospheres. (Excerpt)

Cleeves, L. Ilsedore, et al. The Ancient Heritage of Water Ice in the Solar System. Science. 345/1590, 2014. University of Michigan, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Harvard University, and University of Exeter scientists quantify the presence of hydrogen dioxide in its solid form as a pervasive primordial milieu for biochemical life’s later planetary occasion. Search Ewine van Dishoeck, and Geoffrey Blake for more findings about a conducive universe bathed in amniotic water.

Identifying the source of Earth’s water is central to understanding the origins of life-fostering environments and to assessing the prevalence of such environments in space. Water throughout the solar system exhibits deuterium-to-hydrogen enrichments, a fossil relic of low-temperature, ion-derived chemistry within either (i) the parent molecular cloud or (ii) the solar nebula protoplanetary disk. Using a comprehensive treatment of disk ionization, we find that ion-driven deuterium pathways are inefficient, which curtails the disk’s deuterated water formation and its viability as the sole source for the solar system’s water. This finding implies that, if the solar system’s formation was typical, abundant interstellar ices are available to all nascent planetary systems. (Abstract)

Thus a significant fraction of the solar system’s water predates the Sun. These findings imply that some amount of interstellar ice survived the formation of the solar system and was incorporated into planetesimal bodies. Consequently, if the formation of the solar nebula was typical, our work implies that interstellar ices from the parent molecular cloud core, including the most fundamental life-fostering ingredient, water, are widely available to all young planetary systems. (1592)

Cleland, Carol. The Quest for a Universal Theory of Life. ambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. The veteran University of Colorado philosopher of astrobiology surveys the past and present of unresolved efforts to explain ourselves and the life phenomenon of living systems across local and cosmic matter. With a nod to Aristotle and Darwin, is its essence self-organization or genetic reproduction, how can we ever define and know? But we add, it seems as long as (male) mindset rules that cannot imagine or allow any extant universe at all from which viability arises, no answer will be possible.

Cobb, Alyssa and Ralph Pudritz. Nature’s Starships: Observed Abundances and Relative Frequencies of Amino Acids in Meteorites. Astrophysical Journal. 783/2, 2014. McMaster University, Origins Institute researchers quantify how interstellar meteor showers with a rich presence of biochemicals can serve the spread and seeding of precursor life across the interstellar spacescape. See also by the authors with Ben Pearce in this journal Simulating the Synthesis of Amino Acids in Meteorite Parent Bodies (809/1, 2015).

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