INQUIRER Volume 6, Issue 05, May, 2003, Long Island Secular Humanists Box 119, Greenlawn, NY 11740, Email: LISecHum@aol.com. A Thumbs Up Publication Editor: Gerald Dantone, Art Design: John R. Wilmarth Copyright LISH 2000 (All articles in this newsletter may be reprinted by organizations affiliated with the Council for Secular Humanism with a reciprocating reprinting agreement with LISH, so long as the article is used in full and with complete crediting. Edited versions can be used with written permission.) Visit LISH on the web: http://nyhumanist.org/lish.htm
Table of Contents
1) When good things come from bad things
2) Making the rounds with Norm
3) Letters to the editor
4) Origins part 7, the Cambrian explosion
5) Quickies!
6) Socrates: mentor for humanistsLISH MEETING INFORMATION
Socrates in Person!
* Socrates will be the guest speaker at our public forum on Friday, May 16, 7:15PM at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library, 999 Old Country Road, Plainview, Nassau County, NY. Spend a gala evening with the first great humanist hero in the Western tradition! Socrates exemplifies independent, critical thinking. He celebrates individual freedom and dignity, the use of reason, and fulfillment in this life.
Portrayed by Ronald Gross, who chairs the University Seminar on Innovation at Columbia University, Socrates has been featured in the New York Times, Newsday, and other national media. Gross' article "Socrates the Humanist" will appear in the Spring issue of Free Inquiry magazine. (For more information please visit the website: www.SocratesWay.com)
Socrates will share what it was like to live amidst "the glories that were Greece," as he describes: wielding his famed "Method" in the marketplace, out-drinking and out-philosophizing his friends at the most famous dinner party in Western history, fighting for his life at the age of 70 at his famed Trial, charged with atheism, and making the decision to take the hemlock (which launched our tradition of Civil Disobedience).
The speaker's recently-published book, Socrates' Way: Seven Master Keys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost, has been widely acclaimed. "Ron Gross calls Socrates up from the past to invigorate and enrich our lives today," says Michael Gelb, author of the best-selling How to Think Like Leonardo.
Enlivened with video, slides, costume, and theatrics, this unforgettable encounter with "The Gadfly" will inspire you to apply his seven master keys to using your mind to the utmost, including “Know Thyself, “Ask Great Questions,' “Free Your Mind, Grow with Friends,' 'and Challenge Authority.” It' free!
* The 7:15PM, Friday, June 27th forum @ the Library will feature Deborah Rudacille, author of “The Scalpel and the Butterfly,” a book about the ethics of medical testing on animals.
* On May 31, 9AM to 5PM, and June 1, 9AM to Noon, the Center for Inquiry International will hold a briefing on “Responding to Evangelical Influence in American Public Life,” featuring Wendy Kaminer, Paul Kurtz, Tom Flynn and others at the Doral Hotel, 70 Park Avenue, NYC. Registration, $79, call 800 634 1610.
Visit LISH on the web: http://nyhumanist.org/lish.htm [TOC]WHEN GOOD THINGS COME FROM BAD THINGS Gerry Dantone
[TOC]
Only the most dogmatic anti-American could not feel good about the ending of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, symbolized by the toppling of his 20+' statue in Firdos Square in downtown Baghdad on April 9. Yes, this is a good thing, isn't it?
The testimony of numerous Iraqis after the toppling confirmed what many have thought all along - that the fear of Saddam Hussein and his minions was so pervasive that no one dare utter a criticism of him (or support for the US) as long as he was in power. With his fall from power, this fear could now be articulated.
Does this justify this war? Does this mean that a good thing has resulted from war?
To be precise, the ending of Hussein's regime is a positive factor that tends to justify the war and it is a result of the war - but this does not mean, at least not yet, that this war is to be judged “good” overall. In fact, it is far too early to pass a positive judgment at all.
The days immediately following the symbolic toppling brought sobering, if not distressing, news: No weapons of mass destruction had yet been found; suicide attacks on US soldiers had occurred, leading to US soldiers inadvertently killing innocent civilians as a reaction; rival Iraqi religious leaders were hacked to death by an angry mob at a meeting designed to bring about reconciliation; looting and lawlessness broke out in major cities in Iraq; hospitals were in crisis mode due to the problems caused by war; protestors demonstrated in the Shia-dominated are of Iraq over the British choice of former Baath Party leaders to head an interim authority in Basra; some exiled Shi'ite factions boycotted a meeting of Kurdish, Sunni and Shi'ites to discuss the future of Iraq; thousands of Iraqi civilians have perished, and many other troubling problems on the ground.
An extended period of this chaos could quickly erase the positive of Hussein's removal in the minds of many currently celebrating Iraqis.
Meanwhile, in nearly the rest of the world, the US is viewed as a bully that believes it should decide unilaterally which government or leader it should terminate. The US is not trusted or admired. Instead of inspiring the world, we are scaring it. The war was not quite over when the Bush administration began to accuse Syria of harboring Iraqi Baath Party leaders and possessing weapons of mass destruction! Evidence of these assertions was not provided to the public.
The Iraq War may have harmed the “War on Terrorism.” In Yemen, numerous suspects in the bombing of the SS Cole escaped - is this a coincidence or a sign of weakening support?
At home, we still have a President and attorney general who believe that they have the right to “disappear” any American citizen, anytime, anywhere, and without giving a reason to any court, and without allowing access to that citizen to an attorney or anyone else. And then there's the economy which can only be weakened by the additional debt, rise in interest rates, inflation and other trauma that the expense of war and occupation will possibly bring.
Is this war a good thing? Two years from now, the people of Iraq will know whether they are better off or not as a result of this war. The world will view the US's actions with better perspective, hopefully. The US economy will have reacted to the expense of war. There will be new US Presidential elections. And that's when we'll know whether good has come from bad.
SECULAR HUMANISM is the philosophy of life guided by reason and science, freed from religious and secular dogmas, motivated by an appreciation of life and the lives of others, seeking to reach goals of human happiness, freedom and understanding on this earth, in this life.
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All articles in this newsletter may be reprinted by organizations affiliated with the Council for Secular Humanism, American Atheists or the American Humanist Association, with a reciprocating reprinting agreement with LISH, so long as the article is used in full and with complete crediting. Edited versions can be used with written permission. [TOC]
MAKING THE ROUNDS WITH NORM Norm Roscoe
As I make the rounds, I am finding areas of considerable concern. I will now give a brief report a couple of events and how they relate to these concerns.
Suffolk Ethical Culture, Smithtown, March 2, 2003: On this day Nancy Mion, past president of American Association of University Women, reported on the "Privatizing of Water." Ms. Mion indicated the desire of folks taking greater control of water access to "make more money." Artificial shortages are created and capitalized upon. The greater issue came down to ecological ones with efforts centered on conservation and decreasing pollution.
Bellport UU Fellowship, March 9, 2003: On this day Sanaa Nadim from the Long Island Multi Faith Forum appeared at the Fellowship. Ms Nadim appeared previously at our November Panel.
Many probably would not fully agree with her positions, even with her statements on the Koran. However, if at least she decreases the number of misconceptions and negative stereotypes that is a help.
One major effort is to make a distinction between basic religion and cultural situation in different places so that Islam on Long Island is much different than in Arab countries. Customs may have more impact on lifestyles than the official religion itself. Many Muslim women on Long Island have great professional positions as doctors, professors and other high level positions. Also Long Island Muslims dress in a wider variety of fashions. Not all Muslim women dress in the conventional manner.
Most of the folks from other places are greatly influenced by the western impact. Not only Muslims but other eastern faith practitioners have shown the influence of Western ways.
LI Havurah for Humanistic Judaism: One afternoon each month the Long Island Havurah conducts a bible study and Philosophy group. Biblical sources are contrasted with Philosophy. We find that the emphasis is on obedience and faith with bible sources while the Philosophy involves intellectual exchanges. Religion involves statements such as commandments while philosophy questions and seeks.
It seems curious that we might find minor differences as to which philosophers we admire. Many would seem to go for Socrates and others with the Sophists. Humanists have traditionally honored Protagoras: "Man is the Measure of all things". My struggle with the Sophists is the apparent emphasis on "rhetoric." Len Cherlin makes a very strong point of defending the Sophists as being inductive and avoiding absolutes. It is also understood that the power of the Socratic Platonic Aristotelian complex has a rather negative slant towards the Sophists.
As we study other sources such as Russell's History of Western Philosophy we find a much more sympathetic view of the Sophists. Both Russell and Len Cherlin show that the times were ripe for roving teachers to educate the young for a democratic culture to defend themselves and since not every one was as affluent as Plato and his ilk, charging money for the education was not unwarranted. I also found that not all Sophists were of the same philosophical bent. There were more similarities to style than substance as presented by other Sophists.
I, however, did not see with considerable further study the evidence that these teachers were really scientific in their epistemology; but more rational. Even Democratis, an early Materialist, did not trust the senses enough. We need to get to Epicurus and the Hellenistic scientists before the use of the senses were depended upon. Aristotle did use the senses, but used them to back up his claim of a teleological universe.
We honor the use of reason by the Sophists, and the need to show that there were no absolutes. Some of the later Sophists were quite extreme and maybe these were the ones who were worthy of criticism by the Philosophical establishment.
I hope to continue this effort to further understand the "early Humanists" but I hope we are claiming the right people.
Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, Garden City, March 16, Sunday AM.: March is a month to honor women. Here at the Ethical Humanist Society a rather beautiful program featuring a Women's choir from Brooklyn was the main focus this morning. Famous women and less famous women mostly from labor organization history were presented in story and song. This was extremely well done; there was great singing accompanied by a guitar playing leader. Anne Klaeysen, the new leader of this Society and member of this chorus, read and sang from the platform. A number of other members of the chorus also sang and read.
Bellport Sunday March 23 2003: On this day Bob Festa, Zen Buddhist and Multi Faith board member, spoke at the fellowship. This is the other non theist in the Forum. The Buddhist emphasis is on this life and to try to not be so possessive of everything including our ego. This life style calls for simplification and a more contemplative one. Sorrow comes from wanting too much and stressing out the small stuff.
This view has many of the humanistic values we share. However, I find that some things in life are worth working for such as the performing arts, music and other beauties of life.
I also find some other Buddhist views a little too pessimistic about life. I do not find a "joie De Vivre" with Zen Buddhism. I do, however, respect quite a bit of the ethical messages from this movement.
March 30, 2003, Bay Shore UU Fellowship: We heard a young women talk about the Middle Ages and the state of religion during this time. Karen O'Bierne spoke about an alternative Christian Religion during the 10th and 1lth Centuries. This movement was called Catherism. The main idea was it was not a papal group and had a few different ideas. Needless to say, this movement was crushed by the Inquisition around the 13th century.
The main point here is of course is freedom of belief. However, as I observed, there is considerable leeway as to what would be endorsed or encouraged to believe. Several references to New Age ways of knowing such as "Intuition" and references are made to Deepak Chopra and Rumi Poetry.
I find that we have very agreeable folks who work at many of our common decencies values but differ in knowledge seeking methods. The service closed with a Sufi blessing. Am I too critical? I have been complaining about the changing scene in Unitarian Universalism. However, I am not alone; James A. Haught, in the Fall 2002 Issue of FI also posits complaints about the UUs.
With the Post Modernization of UU Humanism it is difficult to maintain optimism in this movement. I guess this makes the remaining Humanist coalition members more precious.
Saturday April 5, 2003; Shelter Rock Unitarian Universalist Society: On this day we heard a series of lectures from faculty members from Harvard Divinity School. Issues addressed were urban ministries, diversity in American life and understanding Islam in America.
The most noticeable thing noted was our naiveté in understanding all of these issues especially by official leadership in America. Dr Nancy Richardson pointed out what is really happening in urban settings and the disparity from popular conception in this area.
David Lamberth presented a program addressing the greater impact of diversity caused by considerable immigration from much more varied cultures and thus diverse faiths. I, of course, saw this as related to our Multi Faith Forum and the further study by divinity students in addressing the impact of varied culture and religions.
It was also pointed out how the impact of Western culture alters the practices of these new religions in The United States.
William Graham highlighted the experience of Muslims is this admixture mentioned above.
Harvard Divinity calls itself a Liberal Religious Faculty highlighting freedom of thought, tolerance and social action (social gospel?) I saw no evidence of a complete break from the supernatural, however. (In other words, our Modifying Liberal, one who adapts their beliefs but not one to give them up entirely). This school has no legacy of Humanistic history; it was noted that in other divinity schools, such as Starr King in California provide Humanist history but no contemporary coverage; or more extensive Humanist study in Chicago (Meadeville Lombard) but with Post modern additions.
None of the Unitarian Universalist Theological schools provide a strong contemporary coverage of Humanism. It appears that the Humanist Institute in New York City would be the main Humanist Institute training Humanist leaders. We realize that other workshops and institutes are also being offered around the nation.
Sunday April 6, UU Fellowship in Bellport: Today we heard from Arvind Vora who is Chairperson of the Long Island Multi Faith Forum. Mr. Vora is a Jain and we found out about this not well known faith. Jainism, which is one of five major faiths from India, shows its connection with Hinduism and how it evolved into a different movement with a number of Hindu effects.
There is the strong emphasis on anti violence (ahimsa). This is realized with a strict vegetarianism highlighting an extreme version of ahimsa which promotes not doing violence even to vegetables by only eating that portion that would not kill the host plant. Also adherents would cover their mouths to avoid swallowing small life forms.
Two other main features include trying to take multiple views on issues; this involves trying very hard to look at contrasting views and trying to understand even if you do not agree with this different position. Also, one tries to determine their real needs and try not to seek more than this. If one needs X dollars to live your life that should be enough; anything extra could go to charity or any effort to enhance life in the larger community. This challenges you to determined who you really are and meet the needs of your real you.
This takes a more positive view from the Buddhist view of this life being bad, and to prepare yourself to want less. This Jain position takes a more positive stance of determining a realistic need and enhancement instead of the privation in some other eastern positions.
The Jains do have divine prophets but their practices seem quite ethical and exceedingly intelligent.
Areas of concern: As I visit some of these Long Island humanist groups, I find some areas of concern. I had mentioned previously our considerable absence of women leadership and absence of people of color. I now add the added concern of the "Graying of Humanism." We did address this concern in January and I hope we don't let it die here.
As an example, it was amazing at a Humanistic Jewish gathering that folks could not find drivers to pick up those who could not drive; not enough young drivers.
As I look around I find only one place where we have inter-generationality and that is with Ethical Culture. LISH leader Gerry Dantone and his wife Rosemary take advantage of Ethical Culture with a program for their children in Garden City. As we embark on some major decisions I wish to help us realize the implications of the future of the entire Humanist movement.
I start out by encouraging us to support Ethical Culture in both counties. This may be our only current path for future generations. Garden City is a relatively successful Society with a good children's program. Suffolk is struggling with no children's program. If we could just give these two groups some support; we know some LISH folks go to Garden City and we have had small visits to Suffolk by some of our members.
We could enhance programming in Suffolk and with a few new folks really build up this group. There would be very little commitment except for some Sunday mornings and Saturday evening fellowship.
In April we have an exciting Science program on a Saturday evening and fine programs in May on Sunday morning. This can usually be followed by brunch together.
If our Nassau folks could enjoy some Platforms in Garden City and Suffolk can do the same in Smithtown we could be having good fellowship while hoping to help the future of the entire movement.
My final concern: I checked upon the progress of the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Publication which is one and a half year behind schedule. I find that there is no immediate prospect for this to come out. The Humanist arm of Unitarianism Universalism is having a tough time. Complaints from some UU societies show a diminution of a Humanist presence. Maybe this gives even more reason to check out Ethical Culture as well as other active Humanist outlets.
For disgruntled UU Humanists, please be in touch with us to enhance the places which will meet these needs. [TOC]LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Re: LISH Question of the Month: Why is the Bush administration promoting a unilateral pre-emptive attack on Iraq?
3/2/03 Could it be.... Satan? Really, Gerry, this seems to be the answer among many supposed "critical thinkers."
And what a loaded question you ask! The Bush administration isn't promoting non-involvement of the UN, it's challenging that organization to act on its own resolutions. It is PROMOTING the involvement of the UN. Nor will a large scale action against the Saddam Hussein regime be "preemtive." In the first place, that regime is in violation of the terms of surrender. Secondly, hostilities have been ongoing for a long time. This would be an escalation, not an initiation of hostilities. Anthony O'Donnell via Internet.
Response: If you read the newsletter, this attribution of evil to Bush is one thing rejected and criticized in those extremists who portray Bush as “evil personified.” That is ridiculous but it does not stop ideologues from arguing this way. I believe that this is NOT about oil, or taking over the world, or colonialization, etc. However, I believe it IS ideological, and simplistic. It is wrongheaded.
I think Bush sees things as good and evil and that of course, Hussein is evil. Hussein therefore should be eliminated. If there were no other repercussions to removing Hussein, of course most would agree. But there are repercussions. And since there was no compelling reason to attack immediately, I saw little down side to patience. Perhaps in a few months from now, the whole world would have been on board. It happened once before. GH Bush was able to do it - he WAS patient.
It is also fair to say it is pre-emptive. We are not attacking them because they have disobeyed UN resolutions. Other countries violate UN resolutions all the time as well but are not attacked. We are attacking them because of the supposed future threat they pose to the US, a threat, however, few equate as equal to the threat of Al Qaeda. Again, I doubt Bush would quibble with this, except that he is trying to make the equation of Al Qaeda and Iraq believable. This is dishonest.
To call it an "escalation of hostilities" and not a pre-emptive strike is a quibble. It would not be unfair to call it pre-emptive. G.D.
3/1/03 On 9/11, the fourth hijacked airliner was, in my immediate opinion, headed for either the White House or Congress. This served as a reminder to Bush that his father failed to finish his job in 1991. The elder Bush snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when he failed to go after Saddam himself when it would've been easy. He next betrayed the Iraqi rebels he coaxed out of hiding to attack Saddam, but then refused to help them. They got slaughtered, and we got to be even more hated for the betrayal.
Those who think that we cannot go after a head of state should remember that we blasted the front and rear cars of a three-car motorcade that we correctly thought carried Saddam (he was in the center car) and built special bombs to blow him out of his deep bunker. And then, isn't Noriega still in jail in Florida? George W. sees Saddam as one who has a personal grudge toward us and his old nemesis. As the son, our current president sees himself as a prime target for assassination by Iraqis. Neil Slater via Internet.
Response: The above may be true, but shouldn't a President realize that the best interests of the world are more important than improving his personal safety? More likely the above rationale is one minor ingredient of many in the motivational stew. G.D.
3/4/03 Multiple reasons, I think: Short-term, long-term, and personal.
Short-term: re-election. Americans are reluctant to vote against a wartime President, and an active war always boosts approval ratings, at first, anyway, as people want to "support the President".
Long-term: Oil is being used faster than it is being discovered. Even industry scientists agree that supply will peak no later than mid-century, probably much sooner. Some think it may happen this decade, maybe even this year, though that wouldn't become obvious right away. US production peaked several decades ago, in the1970's, and has been declining since. To maintain our standard of living requires oil, and plenty of it. Iraq has the second largest known reserves in the world. Currently, contracts for that oil are held by France and Russia, but, with a new regime, new contracts can be signed.
Personal: "He tried to kill my Daddy." That, and the fact that not ousting Hussein is seen by many as the greatest failing of the first Bush administration require at least the attempt by the current President to rectify that failing, and get revenge for the attempt on his father's life. Isaac via Internet.
Response: Do not discount what Bush would consider “idealistic” motivations. He may actually believe that ousting Hussein would lead to a democratization of Iraq followed by, in domino style, the rest of the Middle East. The scary part is that this belief might be based on his faith that God is on his side, not sober analysis. If indeed Hussein is ousted, we should all hope that this democratic domino effect will be the case though I cannot see how we can at all expect it. To believe that this scenario is more likely than an increase in Islamic extremism is optimistic to say the least. Probably the truth is: No one has a clue.
3/5/03 It rhymes with coil, boil, soil ... and this is a toil... :-) Abel Valls via Internet.
Response: 'Cause he's loyal?” G.D.
2/10/03 Even though I haven't seen you guys and girls at the meetings lately, I'm still right there with you. I've been very busy with my 3 jobs, and going to school; I have only 5 more classes for my associate's degree.
Anyway I caught, finally, Rabbi Wine and you all on cable tonight, on “What is Secular Humanism?” I was riveted and wished it was a 24 hour show. When it was over I shut off the TV and took down my copy of your, our, Ten Commandments, which I've renamed the “Ten Suggestions” and wrote a song as I promised I would at the picnic. Keep sending me stuff - I suck up every word like a sponge squeezed dry by the endless losing battle of this life of “courage.” (The following is an excerpt from his song inspired by the LISH Standard Ten Suggestions/Commandments)
I Will Because I! Am
© B. Aretakis 2003
I will be free to think, free to choose
Free to win and free to lose
I will not harm anybody or anything
And enjoy how all living things do their thing
I will tell the truth and hold myself to it
If something won't be good I just won't do it
I'll be nice to all, if even just for my sake
How much little energy that would really take…
Love, peace and strength, Bob Aretakis, Farmingville.
Response: “Ten Suggestions” is all these “Ten Commandments” really are. (The 'Commandments' thing is a marketing ploy.) Thanks for the letter. G.D. [TOC]
Origins: Part 7 THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION Oleg Dei and Joy Marie Dei
“The difficulty of assigning any good reason for the absence of vast piles of strata rich in fossils beneath the Cambrian system is very great”… Charles Darwin
HADEAN - 4.5 TO 3.8 BILLION YEARS AGO
Four and a half billion years ago our Solar system was forming from a large cloud of gas and dust called the accretion disk. The relative abundance of heavy elements in the Solar System suggests that they were the remnants of a supernova, a cataclysmic explosion of an old massive star. Elements are generated by stars through the process known as fusion. In essence each star is a giant nuclear furnace fusing hydrogen into helium thus converting matter into starlight.
A star is kept in equilibrium and in balance by the gravitational forces pulling inward and the expansion caused by the explosive power of fusion - expanding outward. In the infant stage of our solar system, as the sun “turned on”, surrounding particles coalesced into planetesimals eventually forming the nine planets. The material that was left over formed the asteroids and comets with the dust being blown out by the Solar wind. Because collisions between planetesimals released a lot of heat, Earth and the other planets were molten in their early histories. As the Earth cooled the molten material solidified into rocks.
The oldest meteorites and lunar rocks are dated to be 4.5 billion years old, while the oldest rocks on Earth measure 3.8 billion years old. Sometime during the first 800 million years or so of its history, the surface of the Earth solidified. Once solid rock formed, Earth's geological history began, erosion and plate tectonics destroyed all traces of rocks older than 3.8 billion years old.
ARCHAEAN - 3.8 TO 2.5 BILLION YEARS AGO
Traveling forward in time we reach the age of Archaean. This was a very primitive period of time for our newly formed planet. The atmosphere during this time consisted of methane, ammonia, and other gases that would be toxic to most of life on Earth today. The crust had cooled enough that rocks and the continental plates began to form.
It was early in the Archaean that the first life appeared on Earth. The oldest fossils date over 3.5 billion years old and consist of bacteria microfossils. Life during this time period consisted of only bacteria that lived in the oceans. Their signatures left behind in the form of stromatolites, remnants of a different and alien world.
PROTEROZOIC ERA - 2.5 BILLION YEARS AGO TO 543 MILLION YEARS AGO
This epoch in Earth's history can be further broken down into three distinctive time periods. The Paleoproterzoic which lasted from 2.5 billion to 1.6 billion years ago, which was followed by the Mesoproterozoic which covered 1.6 billion to 900 million years ago and was succeeded by the Neoproterozoic which spanned 900 to 543 million years ago. This period saw the first appearance of multicellular organisms which appeared in the Vendian 650 million to 543 million years ago.
The oxygen crisis became the first major mass extinction that occurred 2.2 billion years ago. There was a rapid increase in levels of oxygen in the atmosphere that resulted in the extinction of countless bacteria. The source of this oxygen was cyanobacteria, photosynthetic organisms that produce oxygen as a byproduct. They first appeared 3.8 billion years ago, but became predominant in this era. Their photosynthetic activity was primarily responsible for the rise in atmospheric oxygen. The insurmountable evidence for the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere is seen today in the form of iron oxides in paleasols (fossil soils), and the appearance of “red beds” containing metal oxides.
Organisms had to evolve biochemical methods for rendering oxygen harmless; one of these methods--oxidative respiration, had the advantage of producing large amounts of energy for the cell, and is now found in most eukaryotes. Another method to ensure survival became symbiosis, the joining and interaction of organisms to survive. Stromatolites, layered mounds produced by the growth of microbial mats, became common in the rock record.
Before 1 billion years ago, they flourished in shallow waters throughout the world. Herbivorous eukaryotes evolved and began to feed extensively on these growing stromatolites.
THE VENDIAN ERA-600 MILLION TO 543 MILLION YEARS AGO
The Vendian, also known as the Ediacaran, is the latest portion of the Proterozoic Era. It ended about 543 million years ago, with the beginning of the Cambrian period. Many paleontologists held little hope that fossils would ever be found in rocks as ancient as the Vendian. We now know that rock layers may be deeply buried, twisted, folded and melted by geologic forces. Such changes to rock would destroy any fossils that might otherwise have been preserved.
In the 20th century, macroscopic fossils of soft-bodied animals, algae, and fossil bacteria have been found in these older rocks in a few localities around the world. The question of what these fossils are is still not settled to everyone's satisfaction-at various times they have been considered algae, lichens, giant protozoans, or even a separate kingdom of life unrelated to anything living today. Some are most like worms, or soft-bodied relatives of the arthropods. Others may belong to extinct phyla.
A second mass extinction occurred at the end of the Ediacaran and wiped out the distinctive faunas. Many scientists believe that the Ediacaran fauna were a separate development, not related to the modern animal phyla. Nature began experimenting with more complex forms of life. The notes to the music of life were becoming melodies-in future epochs these would evolve into beautiful symphonies.
THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD-543 MILLION YEARS TO 490 MILLION YEARS AGO
Animals showed dramatic diversification during this period of Earth's history. This has been called the “Cambrian Explosion”. The fastest growth in the number of major new animal groups occurred during the Tommotian and Atdabanian stages of the Early Cambrian - a time which may have been as short as five million years. After billions of years of microscopic and simple life, suddenly the oceans were swarming with animals large enough to channel water currents through their shells or to furrow deep into mud and sand. Perhaps a permanent rise in the levels of oxygen dissolved in the water enabled specific organs in the body to take over the job of delivering this rich supply to the inner cells. This allowed the animal to use the rest of the outer surfaces in different ways.
There was virtually limitless abundance at a number of niches for life to evolve the ability to ingest microbes living on the sea bottom or floating in the water. More complex animals would develop the power to dig up the sea floor and feed upon the microbes living in the sediment. Finally, the third step allowed even more complex organisms crawling over the sea floor with an option to prey on simpler forms. There were foraging and tube-dwelling worms, all sorts of mollusks, brachiopods, as well as conical shelled hyolites. What the Cambrian revealed was a sudden profusion of animal fossils at a wide variety of sizes. Fossils from this time include annelids, arthropods, brachiopods, echinoderms, molluscs, onychophorans, poriferans, and priapulids.
Almost every metazoan phylum made its first appearance in the Cambrian. Trace fossils made by animals show that the animals which lived during this time were developing new strategies such as active hunting, burrowing deeply into sediment, and making complex branching burrows. Moreover, the Cambrian saw the appearance and/or diversification of mineralized algae such as the coralline red algae and the dasyclad green algae. However, although almost all of the living marine phyla were present, most were represented by classes that have since gone extinct. Echinoderms included edrioasteroids, eocrinoids, and helicoplacoids. Starfish, brittle stars and sea urchins had not yet evolved.
Other dominant Cambrian invertebrates with hard parts were trilobites. The Cambrian saw the appearance of primitive mollusks. These animals lived like clams but did not possess two valves. The archaeocyathans were solitary colonial animals that were related to sponges, filtering food particles from water brought in through their porous skeletons and expelled through the central opening. The opabinia was a fantastic predator that had a streamlined segmented body, gills along its sides, five eyes on its head and a strange nozzle-like structure protruding forward for capturing prey. There were strange looking ancestors of sponges and jellyfish swimming through the primitive seas. This period marked the appearance of the earliest bivalve mollusks, including echinoderms, the ancestors of modern sea urchins and starfish.
The Cambrian also saw the appearance of the trilobites, an arthropod class that were shaped like wood lice with segmented sections. Tiny crustaceans made their appearance and other bizarre arthropods, unrelated to anything living today.
Many organisms produced mineralized shells and skeletal structures composed of calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate and silica. It is uncertain why animals rapidly evolved hard skeletons but scientists think that once animals began to isolate masses of minerals outside all layers, those masses could quickly be co-opted for other needs such as support, muscle attachment, feeding and defense.
The end of the Cambrian saw a third mass extinction, nature continued her experiments-choosing different designs. Very shortly there appeared an animal who be - came so adapted and so successful in the seas that its ancestors eventually evolved and climbed out of the oceans and invaded the lands. Some ancestors took to the skies while others climbed out of the trees, their brains enlarged; they developed advanced intelligence and terraformed the planet. They visited another world and sent their robotic explorers to other planets. They developed weapons of mass destruction and killed off countless of species of organisms. These animals would eventually become a danger to themselves and every organism on the planet. They became the most dangerous animals that the planet Earth had ever evolved. They named themselves Humans!
Research Material:
1) Web Geological Time Machine Www.Ucmp.Berkeley.Edu
2) The Book of Life- Edited By Stephen Jay Gould
In the next Origins, Part 8: The Appearance of the Fish-The Sultans of the Seas. [TOC]QUICKIES! Gerry Dantone
Item: (AP) President Bush can order U.S. citizens captured overseas indefinitely detained as enemy combatants without the rights normally afforded citizens charged in criminal cases, a federal appeals court ruled.
The ruling focused only on those captured in hostile action overseas, stopping short of approving those same powers over Americans arrested on U.S. soil. Legal experts said that leaves a major question for courts to settle in the future.
The appeals decision overturned a lower court's ruling that 22-year-old Yaser Esam Hamdi, a Louisiana native captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, must see the government's evidence supporting its claims that he fought with al-Qaida and Taliban forces against the United States.
Courts, the judges ruled, must be ''highly deferential'' to the government during wartime, even an unconventional war such as that against global terrorism. Hamdi, they added, is being held under ''well-established laws and customs of war.''
Constitutional activists called the decision an abdication of the judicial system's duties to protect the rights of U.S. citizens. ''This decision condones government's creation of a constitutional no man's land,'' said Susan Herman, law professor at Brooklyn Law School.
The court did not address questions about U.S. citizens arrested as enemy combatants in this country. The government has classified as a combatant Jose Padilla of Chicago, who was arrested at O'Hare Airport after returning from Pakistan.
Comment: In essence, American citizens lose their Constitutional protections once they leave the country, and they do NOT have to be in combat against the US to lose them since the Court has decided that the government does not have to prove anything if they are “captured” outside the country. What if Mr. Hamdi was NOT actually fighting with the Taliban but was, instead, a tourist? The Courts have ruled he has no recourse… forever! We will just have to “trust” John Ashcroft and George W. Bush.
Item: (Baltimore Sun, 9/20/2000) So when he was a kid, George W. enjoyed putting firecrackers into frogs, throwing them in the air, and then watching them blow up. Should this be cause for alarm? How relevant is a man's childhood behavior to what he is like as an adult? And in this case, to what he would be like as president of the United States.
Cruelty to animals is a common precursor to later criminal violence. But in rural West Texas, where George W. grew up, it was not uncommon for some boys to indulge in such cruelty.
His blowing up frogs or shooting them with BB guns with friends does not have the same significance it would have if, for example, a city boy blew up the family cat. In fact, George's childhood friend, Terry Throckmorton, openly and laughingly admits, "We were terrible to animals." (Story by Myriam Miedzian, who is the author of "Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Betweeen Masculinity and Violence" (Doubleday, 1991; Anchor, 1992) and numerous articles on preventing violence.)
Comment: Perhaps this story is unfair, but I'd feel a lot better if our President was never a recreational animal abuser. At least he believes in God, however...
Item: The man who joined his teenage son in attacking Kansas City Royals coach Tom Gamboa during a game in September apologized in a phone call from jail to a Chicago-area newspaper. "I regret what happened," 35-year-old William Ligue Jr. said in Thursday's editions of the Daily Southtown. He added that he doesn't remember much from the bizarre episode. "If I was in my right state of mind, this would never have occurred," he said. "I am so sorry for Mr. Gamboa. I disgraced Chicago and myself. I apologize with my heart." "I have a terrible drug problem I cannot control," he said. "I need help." He called the Sept. 19 incident, "God's way to straighten me out by putting me here."
Comment: There is no report of Coach Gamboa's reaction to the info that it was necessary for God to have him beaten up in order to help Mr. Ligue. I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
Item: (AP) A Christian activist chosen by the White House for a presidential AIDS advisory panel is withdrawing his name under pressure after characterizing the disease as the ``gay plague,'' along with other anti-homosexual statements.
The administration had chosen Jerry Thacker to serve on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS. He was to be sworn in along with other new commission members next week by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.
On Thursday, however, Thacker was sending a letter signaling that he would not accept the appointment, administration officials said.
The administration's choice of the Pennsylvania marketing consultant had come under severe criticism from gay rights groups and others. Thacker contracted the AIDS virus after his wife was infected during a blood transfusion.
Thacker is a former Bob Jones University graduate who later ran a radio station at the school, and his Web site at one point referred to AIDS as the ``gay plague.'' He also referred to gay people as practicing a “death style,” rather than a lifestyle. He has described homosexuality as a condition that can be cured by Christianity.
Comment: I'm sure it comes as a shock to the Bush administration that someone from Bob Jones University has extreme views. Yeah, right.
Item: (Newsday) A Brooklyn jury convicted a Catholic priest of sexually abusing a 12 year old girl in early 1999. The priest, Rev. Francis Nelson was arrested in May 2002 after the diocese turned over its files to D.A. Hynes. Even though they knew Nelson had gone to Manhattan, officials from the diocese initially told Hyne's office that Nelson had returned to India, his home country, according to trial testimony. Investigators found Nelson working in Manhattan, on their own. The Manhattan diocese was never notified of the allegation when he was transferred in 1999.
Comment: What is left to say? Everything in this story destroys the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy credibility in Brooklyn: There is no homosexuality involved so that scapegoat is unavailable; there is incredible self-serving deceit, and a Church unconcerned about Catholic and other children. Disgusting, unless I missed something!
Item: (Newsday) A 180 page report from a Suffolk County Grand Jury in February 2003 found that hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the Rockville Centre Diocese concealed the criminal behavior of its priests and used "deception and intimidation" in dealing with abuse victims. The report repeatedly points out how avoiding bad publicity was paramount. Calling the diocesan policy of dealing with abusive priests a "sham," the report exposes a "system that left thousands of children in the diocese exposed to predatory, serial child molesters working as priests."
In one case, despite the fact that a predatory priest admitted to abuse and the crime was prosecutable, "no consideration was given to reporting the abuse to law enforcement." Neither was an effort made to locate and assist the victim. "Not one priest in the diocese who knew about these criminal acts reported them to any law enforcement agency."
In another case, a priest who reported his concerns and helped the victim's mother pursue her complaint had a memo placed in his file saying "no serious consideration" would be given to offering the concerned priest another assignment. "In the diocese of Rockville Centre, a priest who molests children should suffer no disgrace, but one who advocates on their behalf risks banishment," the report says.
Comment: One wonders how the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has the nerve to show their collective faces. The only answer can be that they do not care since they remain in the good graces of the Vatican whose policies they carried out faithfully. Catholic children are apparently of little importance according to the report. Congratulations to courageous Catholic DA Spota for spearheading this investigation. Shame on Nassau DA Denis Dillon for washing his hands of the scandal months ago.
It cannot be repeated often enough that this scandal is not simply one of sexual abuse of children and teenagers - in fact that has become a minor portion of the scandal since it is understood that every class of persons will contain some abusers. The real scandal is the total moral abdication on the part of nearly the entire hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, from the parish priest who looked the other way to the Pope who cared more about image than the well being of children. That the failure was so complete must call into question the entire moral foundation of this Church. It must be concluded that faith and ethics are unrelated at best, and it's possible that faith hinders or prevents moral judgment at worst.
Item: (AP) KARACHI, Pakistan (Feb. 22, 2003) - Gunmen opened fire inside a Shiite mosque in southern Pakistan on Saturday, killing eight worshippers and injuring at least 10 others, police and hospital officials said.
At least three gunmen entered the Imam Bargha Mehdi as worshippers were performing evening prayers and sprayed automatic weapons fire, Interior Ministry spokesman Iftikhar Ahmed said. The gunmen had been waiting at a nearby tea shop, according to witnesses.
Mohammed Ali, one of the worshippers, said he saw four gunmen ride up to the mosque on two motorcycles and open fire just after the call for prayer started.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Pakistan has been wracked by religious violence in recent years, most by Sunni Muslim extremist groups that have been targeting minority Shiites.
Most of the deaths have been blamed on a Sunni Muslim extremist group, Sipah-e-Sahabah Pakistan, or SSP, outlawed by the government. A breakaway faction of the SSP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, also is blamed for attacks on Shiite Muslims and several of its members have been arrested.
Comment: It's all about religion. Please note that if an “infidel” or non-Muslim were to have committed these crimes, the calls for vengeance and retribution would have been widespread.
Item: (AP) MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- The Catholic church joined a public debate set off by an abortion performed on a 9-year-old rape victim, comparing the procedure to a bombing.
"Is there any difference between a bus full of passengers that receives the impact of a car bomb and a metallic instrument that impacts the maternal womb to suck out a fetus?" the nation's bishops asked in an open letter issued Monday night. ( http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1795452 )
Comment: Let's get this straight: Forcing a nine-year old rape victim to have the baby due to the rape is more moral than allowing her to have an abortion? I just wanted to get this right!
Item: (From U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling's 2/27/03: Letter of Resignation, to: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell) My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal. It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature.
But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer. The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known...
The September 11 tragedy left us stronger than before, rallying around us a vast international coalition to cooperate for the first time in a systematic way against the threat of terrorism. But rather than take credit for those successes and build on them, this Administration has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally. We spread disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq... For the entire letter, go to, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=3151.
Comment: A mistake by a President can be understood - no one is perfect. However to mislead the public in order to garner support is near criminal. Haven't we learned the lessons of Viet Nam? We cannot be dishonest when we place the lives of our soldiers and innocent civilians at great risk. [TOC]
May 8 to 11, American Humanist Association Conference, in Arlington, Virgina; call 800 837 3792 or go to www.americanhumanist.org for info. Hotel reservations, $109/day, call 800 233 1234.
Book Discussion Club!
If you are interested email us @ LISecHum@aol.com. All meetings are at 8 PM unless otherwise noted.
Date: 9 May, 2003, Place: Charlotte Herrmann's house, Amityville, OMIcharlotte@aol.com, Book: Richard Elliott Friedman, "Who Wrote the Bible."
Date: 13 June 2003, Place: Mary Jane Marrifield & Warren Rothstein's house, Patchogue, NY, waremmy@optonline.net, Book: Greg Palast, “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”
Date: 11 July 2003, Place: Dorothy Burns' house, Huntington, NY, doburns@suffolk.lib.ny.us. Book: Michael Shermer, "Why people believe weird things: pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time."
Date: 8 August 2003, Place: Norm Roscoe's house, Oakdale, Book: Antonio R. Damasio, "Looking for Spinoza: joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain."
Date: 12 September 2003, Place: Sherman Carl's house, Commack, Book: Noam Chomsky, “What Uncle Sam Really Wants.”
Date: 10 October 2003, Place: Mary Jane Marrifield & Warren Rothstein's house, Patchogue, NY, waremmy@optonline.net. Book: Eric Schlosser, “Fast Food Nation.”
Date: 14 November 2003, Place: To be determined, Book: Morma Khouri, “Honor Lost: Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan.”
TIME TO GROW SOS!
Recent NY State court decisions have created an extraordinary opportunity for SOS to grow in New York State. Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS) must move now to create an infrastructure to enable it to expand and meet the demand created by these decisions.
In Stefano v. Emergency Housing Group, the court ruled that no government-funded social service bureau or other agency in NYS can require clients to attend AA meetings due to their religious nature. Overnight, the only way NY treatment centers could hang onto their AA groups at all was by having SOS groups right down the hall as a secular alternative! New York can be the first state where SOS stands on equal legal footing with AA. Unlike AA, SOS is appropriate for all persons regarding beliefs or non-beliefs. The priority is sobriety not piety at SOS.
The Council for Secular Humanism is requesting donations specifically for SOS programs administration.
Send your donations to:
CSH, PO Box 664, Amherst, NY 114226, and note that the gift is for SOS - NY.
Note: There may be an upcoming SOS meeting available in Garden City or go to http://www.secularhumanism.org/sos/index.htm or call LISH for info.
The home page of SOS is http://www.secularsobriety.org. This web site has much information for downloading on running SOS groups.
Center for Inquiry Summer Sessions 2003
Main Session, July 6 to 20, Amherst, NY: Includes courses on the Psychology of Belief; Reason and Ethics; Practicum; entertainment.
July 25 to 26, Amherst, NY: Debater's Toolbox.
August 15 to 18, U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR: Skeptic's Toolbox.
For all info: Call 716 636 4869, ext. 0. Email adacey@centerforinquiry.net; or apply online @ www.centerforinquiry.net. [TOC]SOCRATES: MENTOR FOR HUMANISTS Ronald Gross
We can draw energy, inspiration, and strategies from the gadfly who launched the Western tradition of independent thinking 2,500 years ago.
As humanists, it's natural for us to look to our fellow human beings for the values and motivation to become all we are capable of being. As we strive to make the most of our lives, our work, and our world, we should find our mentors among the best thinkers and doers of all ages. We should make ourselves part of what Wordsworth called "the one Great Society alone on Earth - the Noble Living and the Noble Dead."
Socrates has been such a figure for generations of men and women of reason in every generation. And today, he is more relevant than ever as we face crises in our lives and culture which are strikingly similar to those he confronted in 5th century Athens.
Socrates calls on us to free ourselves from the "Cave" of illusion and seek our own encounter with what is real -- envisaging our culture of coach-potatoes dwelling among the "shadows" on their TV screens.
Socrates demands that we speak the truth to power - foreseeing our desperate need for "whistle-blowers" do in our day what he did in his time and place. (He was dubbed "The Gadfly" for provocative confrontations.)
Socrates models a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity, in which gratification comes from self-development rather than the accumulation of possessions. ("How many things there are that I do not need," he often observed as he tramped around the Agora in quest of conversation.)
Socrates urges us to enrich our lives with the joys of friendship and true community, so that we grow together. (Today thousands of Americans are joining Socrates Cafes and other convivial groups to do this, as noted below.)
Socrates confronted a citizenry frightened by unprecedented threats to its security, and willing to betray its treasured freedoms. His decision to accept the death penalty rather than flee into exile launched our tradition of Civil Disobedience.
Socrates valued quality of life over mere longevity, leading to the name of The Hemlock Society.
Socrates enjoins us to think for ourselves, examining the preconceptions of our day using his Socratic Method of critical questioning and dialogue.
Socrates' Humanism can help each of to live more rationally, compassionately, enjoyably, and responsibly.
Socrates was the first figure in the Western tradition to exemplify many of basic principles of century Humanism. We share with him the following principles and practices:
We use our reason as our chief tool to seek the truth.
We free our minds from delusions and faulty ideas.
We focus our thinking and efforts on human life rather than supernatural speculations.
We seek to understand ourselves, as the basis for authentic living.
We recognize the limits on our knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
We challenge conventional thinking when necessary, and seek to verify truth for ourselves rather than relying on un-examined tradition.
We champion the rights of the individual.
We thrive on and protect freedom of thought and expression, and open dialogue.
We value the human gifts of friendship, pleasure, healthfulness, and love.
The reason for Socrates' enduring appeal to humanists is suggested by Prof. Alexander Nehamas of Princeton, in his recent The Art of Living: Socratic Reflections, "Socrates shows by example the way toward establishing an individual mode of life," concludes Prof. Nehamas. "His way does not force his followers to repeat his life, but compels them to search for their own." [TOC]
The Science Club
LISH will be providing LI Humanist Coalition members the opportunity to view outstanding science videos and participate in discussions in LISH member homes, and if necessary, larger settings. A schedule of videos, all to be shown at Warren & Mary Jane's home, in Patchogue, as follows:
May 6 - Cosmos # 7, The Backbone Of Night
May 20 - Cosmos # 8, Travelers In Space And Time
June 3 - Cosmos # 9, The Lives Of The Stars
June 17 - Cosmos # 10, - The Edge of Forever
For further info or to confirm the location or schedule episodes contact Norm Roscoe at normrhum@aol.com. This series is open to all Humanist coalition members. Hope to hear from you soon.
Socrates is coming to the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library, May 16, 2003 @ 7:15 PM. Don't miss it. It's Free!
Editor: Gerald Dantone
Design: John Wilmarth
A Thumbs Up Publication
Copyright LISH 2003 [TOC]