Ignoring life from space evidence could threaten our survival

At a UN-sponsored Symposium on the “Space Science and the United Nations” held in Graz, Austria, from 22-24 September 2014, Chandra Wickramasinghe presented a paper entitled “The transition from Earth-centred biology to cosmic life” with co-authors Gensuke Tokoro and Milton Wainwright. The paper, now published in Journal of Cosmology 24, 12080-12096, argues that a paradigm shift with potentially profound implications for humanity has been taking place over the past 3 decades and is on the verge of acceptance.  In an accompanying second paper (JoC, 24, 12097-12101) the same authors show that the recent discovery by radio astronomers of isopropyl cyanide in interstellar clouds adds to earlier discoveries in astronomy that have indicated the widespread occurrence of even more complex organics that can be interpreted as the break up products of living cells when they are exposed to conditions of space. They argue in these two papers the new data is not consistent with the reigning dogma in science that life emerged from inorganic chemicals on the Earth. Life, including a capacity to evolve into the magnificent spectacle we see around us, requires a system infinitely bigger and much older than our truly insignificant planet Earth. A large fraction of the matter in the entire universe and enormous spans were needed generate the all-encompassing “blue print” of life. The authors of the new papers argue that every living species on the Earth, including Homo sapiens, is the result of the assembly of cosmologically derived viral genes. Evidence for this point of view has grown to a stage that it can no longer be denied by the scientific community. Accepting our cosmic origins, and the evidence for a continuing ingress of alien viruses may be important for our very survival. The authors point out that new viruses capable of threatening Man’s very existence could arrive from space, and it will thus be prudent to monitor the stratosphere on a regular basis. Moreover, from an acceptance of our cosmic connection we need to understand that we must live in harmony with the Earth and its ever-changing biosphere if we are to coexist with it.