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Articles:
The New Age of Science: Coming from the Ancient Past and Racing
toward the Future(1)
Young Academics from Tsinghua University
0
Preface
Humans are about
to enter the 21st century. Looking back at the course of
development of humankind¡¯s science, we discover that the more we
comprehend in breadth and depth, the more inadequate our knowledge
seems to be. The unsolvable mysteries in nature and newly emerging
things that have yet to be recognized seem more numerous. Before
the arrival of the new era, we should perhaps take a short pause
and think about the past, present and future course of science,
and think about how we can bring a new science into the new era of
human history.
Modern science
does not have the ultimate truth. Persistent seeking, repeated
overturning of old theories, and the creation of new theories are
the ceaseless inner motivations for the development of modern
science. Speculating on the history of the development of science
from a macroscopic level, we see that throughout the creation,
development and perfection of any new field of science, there is
always a process of breaking through traditional scientific
conventions. It would not be smooth sailing, however, and one
might even run into criticism and oppositions caused by
conventional notions and preconceived ideas. As a true and serious
scientist, one should confront newly emerged things with a
rational attitude and not hold on to preconceptions. One should
explore with a realistic and truth-seeking scientific attitude.
Otherwise, human science would not make any new developments, and
humankind would not have any progress.
The masterpiece
of Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun (Written by Master Li Hong Zhi, the
Publishing Company of Chinese TV Broadcasting, Dec. 1994), is a
magnificent work describing the cultivation practice of one¡¯s
body. It also gives us many invaluable revelations on the numerous
realms of life, the universe, and time-space. The principles that
Zhuan Falun teaches are a higher science that can enable humankind
to perceive traditional scientific conventions in a completely new
light. It provides tremendously helpful inspirations for mankind¡¯s
exploration of the truth of the universe and for the development
of science. This article will discuss some of our experiences and
understandings of Zhuan Falun and the existing conventions of
modern science from the aspects of prehistoric civilization, the
time-spaces of the universe, the science of the human body, the
phenomena of life, and the history of the development of science.
1. The Existence
of Multiple Periods of Human Civilization
¡°Many bold
scientists abroad have already publicly recognized this as
prehistoric culture and a civilization prior to this of our
humankind. In other words, there existed more than one period of
civilization before our civilization. Through unearthed relics, we
have found products that are not of only one period of
civilization. It is thus believed that after each of the many
times when human civilizations were annihilated, only a small
number of people survived and they lived a primitive life. Then,
they gradually multiplied in number to become the new human race,
beginning a new civilization. Later, they were again exterminated
and would then once again produce a new human race. It just goes
through such different periodical changes.¡± (From ¡°Qigong Is
Prehistoric Culture¡± in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun)
This theory has
been confirmed by a myriad of archeological discoveries in the
past two decades. Some of these scientific findings have been
selected and are summarized in the following section.
1.1 Discoveries
of Pre-historic Man-Made Tools and Ancient Relics
Modern
archeologists discovered a large quantity of pre-historic man-made
tools and ancient relics and measured their respective geological
ages (There are a number of approaches to determine the geological
age of a fossil. Most of these approaches measure the half-lives
of the radioactive elements existing in the fossils in question.)
All of the measurements of the artifacts revealed a fact --- human
civilizations began further back than we think.
A fossil of a
dinosaur footprint from the Cretaceous period was discovered in
the riverbed of the Raluxy River in Texas. This discovery was
followed by a more astonishing one --- a fossil of 12 pairs of
human footprints was discovered 18 and a half inches above the
dinosaur footprint. A pair of human footprints was pressed over
the three-toed dinosaur footprint, cutting into it. Thus, the
vertical section of the dinosaur footprint showed signs of
compression. These signs proved the fossil to be authentic because
no existing technology today is capable of achieving the same
result. Archeologists also discovered fossils of a human finger
and of a hammer made of iron and wood inside and aligned with a
layer of rock. The handle remained attached to the hammer. The
hammer was made of an alloy of a mixture that had never been seen
before, which was 96.6% iron, 0.74% sulphur, and 2.6% chlorine. It
is beyond today¡¯s technology to make an alloy out of a combination
of these elements. The handle had turned into coal; this kind of
transformation requires an extremely high pressure and temperature
from the rock stratum in the area. If the hammer had been dropped
in the area after the rock stratum had been formed, there simply
was nothing in the environment that could have caused this
transformation. The only logical explanation was that the hammer
had been in the rock stratum before the stratum was formed.
Because there was no fossil found in other stratum in the area and
the only fossils of the dinosaur footprint and of the hammer were
inside the same rock stratum, archeologists were able to confirm
that man and dinosaurs did exist in the same period of time.
It is known that
the trilobite existed between 280 million and 320 million years
ago, and had become extinct. However, an American scientist named
William J. Meister, during his expedition at Antelope Springs in
Utah, discovered a fossil of a shoeprint of an adult human and a
footprint of a human child. This fossil measured about 10 and
quarter inches long and half an inch wide. It was found within a
sedimentary rock from the Cambrian period with another trilobite
fossil only inches above. Melvin. A. Cook, a renowned chemist at
Utah University has confirmed that the shoeprint and footprint on
the fossil came from a human.
A renowned
archeologist, Mary D. Leakey, led her research expedition team in
1976 to Leotoli, east of the East African Canyon of northern
Tanzania. The expedition team discovered a set of footprints,
which resemble those of modern human beings. The footprints were
found on sedimentary rock from volcanic ash. They made a geologic
measurement on the rock and determined its age to be between 3.4
million and 3.8 million years. The footprints spanned 27 meters
when lined up. The structure of the foot appeared to differ from
that of an ape. The depth of the imprint suggested that the person
had landed his/her feet in the following sequence: heel, arch,
sole, and finally the thumb toe. The thumb toe appeared to be in
line with the foot. On the other hand, chimpanzees and
Australopithecus land their feet in a different sequence: heel,
outer rim of foot, and then the middle toe. Moreover, each thumb
toe was diagonal to the foot.
In 1817, two
archeologists, Henry R. Schoolcraft and Thomas H. Benton,
discovered two human footprints on a piece of limestone at the
west bank of the Mississippi River. Each footprint measured ten
and half inches long. The distance between each toe was wider than
today¡¯s man. There was hardly any arch in the feet, a common
result from walking bare-foot on a daily basis. The footprints
appeared to be made by a person who walked at a steady and slow
pace. These characteristics of the footprint together suggested
that the area of limestone used to be soil long time ago and,
according to geological measurements, was 270 million years old.
In 1880 a
geologist, J. D. Whitney, discovered a series of man-made stone
tools from 300 feet underground at Temple Mountain in California.
He began his analysis on these tools and found that one of them
resembled today¡¯s butter churning stick. The stratum was
determined to be of 55 million years old.
In 1887 an
archeologist named Florentino Ameghino discovered firestones,
fossils of human bones, and an ancient furnace dating back to 3.5
million years ago at Monte Hermoso in Argentina. The discovery
revealed the existence of a human civilization 3.5 million years
ago.
On May 27th 1999
Scientific News in China reported a discovery in Spain of fossils
of human pelvises, hipbones, and some man-made tools of stone from
300,000 years ago. There was another front-page illustrated news
story about a domestic archeological discovery of rice grain from
7000 years ago in China¡¯s Zhe-Jian Province.
The November
1998 edition of Science magazine told a story of an archeological
discovery in the ruins of a city dating back 9000 years. The
discovery was made by Tim Appenzeller, Daniel Clery, and several
other archeologists during their expedition in Anatolia in western
Asia. The May edition of Science magazine told another story in
the Mungo Lake and the Willandra Lake in Australia where
archeologists uncovered 350 pieces of human bones as well as
ancient artifacts such as furnaces from 30,000 years ago. In the
third cave of Mungo they also uncovered a male human mummy wearing
dye made out of dye stone. The mummy¡¯s arms were crossed before
his chest, an indication of a burial custom in the ancient
civilization.
In 1965, two
archeologists, Bryan Patterson and W. W. Howells, discovered a
human humerus dating back 4 million years in Kanapoi of Kenya.
Professor Henry M. McHenry and Professor Robert S. Corruccini at
the University of California examined the humerus and found it
almost identical to that of modern people. In 1972 a large
quantity of human thigh bones from 2 million years ago were
discovered in the Turkana Lake of Kenya. These thighbones were
also very similar to those of today¡¯s humans. In 1913 a German
scientist, Hans Reck, discovered a complete human skeleton in the
Olduvai Canyon of Tanzania. The structure of the skeleton found
was also found to be virtually identical to that of today¡¯s human
with one distinction --- the skeleton was one million years old.
On April 6, 1998
the People¡¯s Daily newspaper in China featured a story with the
following headline: ¡°Scientists¡¯ Studies on ¡®Wizard Mountaineers¡¯
Confirmed Human Civilizations in China Appeared as Early as Two
Million Years Ago.¡± In November 1997 Huang Wang-Po at the
Department of Ancient Amniotes and Ancient Anthropology at Chinese
Science Institute, along with Professor Xu Zi-Kang at the Peking
Library, started an archeology expedition in the Wizard Mountain
District of Chong-Qing City in search for relics of legendary
¡°Wizard Mountaineers¡±. A large quantity of man-made stone tools
was discovered. Jia Lang-Po, an Ancient Anthropologist, and other
experts, after their studies on these artifacts, concluded that
the artifacts revealed signs of usage by humans, the very same
signs shown in other stone tools surfaced at other ¡°Wizard
Mountaineer¡± sites. They were indeed artifacts from ancient human
civilizations. Fossils of ¡°Wizard Mountaineers¡± were first
discovered in 1985 at the Dragon Skeleton Hill by Huang Wang-Po.
During the period of 1988 to 1996, researchers from Iowa
University, Archeology Department of Peking University, and
Chinese Geologist Institute, measured the geologic age of the
fossils and learned that they were approximately 2 million years
old. Back in 1995 Dr. Shi Han of Ancient Anthropology, and Huang
Wang-Po published their findings in an article titled ¡°Ancient
Anthropology in Asia and their Craftsmanship¡± in 6554th edition of
Science magazine. Because their arguments were based on only two
pieces of artifacts of ¡°Wizard Mountaineers¡±, there was a general
skepticism on whether ¡°Wizard Mountaineers¡± were humans or apes.
The discovery in 1997, therefore, confirmed that ¡°Wizard
Mountaineers¡± were indeed humans. Moreover, this discovery updated
the history of human evolution, and made experts wonder the
reliability of Darwin¡¯s theory of evolution. Meanwhile, the
discovery has also motivated archeologists to continue their
searches in China of ancient human fossils and relics with the
ambition to resolve the enigma of the origin of human life with
scientific evidence.
In June 2 1999
Chinese Central Television featured a story titled ¡°The Earliest
Human Relics in China¡±. Archeologists made even further progress
when Chinese archeologists discovered a large quantity of tools of
stone and bones inside the Ren-Z cave in Fan-Chang of An-Hui
Province. Experts examined these tools and concluded that these
man-made tools were dated back from 2 to 2.4 million years ago,
which was at least 30,000 years earlier than the earliest
discovery in Asia. A news critic made a comment about this report:
the origin of human life has been the most popular subject in the
fields of Archeology and Ancient Anthropology. Scientists
worldwide have been searching for the fossils from the earliest
human civilization. With each new discovery of fossils experts
continue to update themselves on the knowledge of human evolution.
The
aforementioned scientific evidence has confirmed that there have
been pre-historic human civilizations. In addition, these
archeological discoveries revealed the existence of very advanced
civilizations. These civilizations were highly achieved in the
areas of architecture, astronomy, geography, physics, alchemy,
medicine, and in the arts. Some civilizations were even far more
advanced than today¡¯s civilization.
1.2 Prehistoric
Architecture
In architecture,
many prehistoric architectural complexes on earth are made of
megalith. They are characterized by their huge and magnificent
style and gigantic stones. In addition, they are put together in a
precise manner. These stones can only be moved by modern machines.
For some of them, even modern machines are not able to move them.
These architectural complexes incorporate precise astronomical
knowledge. The dimensions and angles of these buildings correspond
precisely to the relationships of certain heavenly bodies and
contain very profound meanings.
For example, Khufu Pyramid was composed of over 2.3 million blocks
of stone. The average weight of a stone is 2.5 tons, and the
heaviest one weighs as much as 250 tons. Its geometry measurements
are very exact and its four faces look out towards the East,
South, West and North. Its height times 109 equals the distance
from the earth to the sun, and if times 43,200, equals the
distance from the North Pole to the equatorial plane. Its
perimeter times 43,200 gives the exact perimeter of earth equator.
Its location is just on the meridian of the earth, and a small
hole inside the pyramid is aligned to Canicula. In addition,
French chemist Joseph David Duvais believed that the stones of the
pyramid very possibly were poured artificially, based on the study
of chemistry and micrology.
The Sphinx on Giza Plateau faces east. According to the latest
astronomical and geological analysis, its time of construction was
very likely much earlier than previous archaeologists¡¯estimates.
Professor Robert M. Schoch, from the Geological Society of
America, said that corrosion on the body of the Sphinx was
probably not due to sand blown by wind. The corrosion made by sand
and wind would be horizontal and sharp, but the edge of corrosion
on the body of Sphinx was comparatively round and blunt and showed
curved down waviness. Some of the corrosion was very deep, up to 2
meters. On the other hand, the level of corrosion on the upper
body was relatively more serious than that of the lower body. This
is a typical of corrosion made by rain. The time that the Sphinx
was exposed to the air was no longer than 1,000 years, and after
that it was buried under sand and stones. If the Sphinx was really
built in the Khafre Dynasty in ancient Egypt and was corroded by
sand and wind, its contemporaneous architecture made of limestone
should have corrosion to the same degree as the Sphinx had.
However, since 3000 B.C. there has not been adequate rainwater
that could have corroded the Sphinx of Giza Plateau. So, the only
possible explanation for the corrosion would be that it was made a
long time ago when there was plenty of rain and the temperature
was high on Giza Plateau. Additionally, based on astronomical
calculation, from about 11,000 B.C. to 8,810 B.C., during the
vernal equinox each year on the earth, the sun rose in the east
sky with Leo as background. At that time the Sphinx faced Leo
exactly. According to analysis above, archaeologists presumed that
the Sphinx was built more than 10,000 years ago.
Tiahuanaco
cultural relics are located on a plateau with an altitude of 4000
meters, which is on the borders of Bolivia and Peru in South
America. It is not far away from Lake Titicaca and was built by
laying huge stones next to one another, where each stone weighed
as much as tens of tons, even several hundred tons. Archaeologists
also found some small metal nails in the gap of the stones, whose
function was to fix the stones. It was speculated that these metal
nails were made by melting metal, followed by pouring it into a
chiseled stone mold. Probably the most spectacular thing was the
stone gate, which was made out of one piece of rock. It stood tall
and upright on a foundation of 30 feet in length, 15 feet in width
and 6 feet in height, and was chiseled from the same stone as the
gate was made. On the Sun Gate of the ancient city of Tiahuanaco
was sculpted the ancient animal, Cuvieronius (similar to the
modern elephant), which became extinct 12 thousand years ago, and
Xiphodon, which became extinct at the same time. Also, on the Sun
Gate was carved the astronomical calendar that was both
complicated and accurate. A lot of fossils of marine creatures
like seashell and flying fish were dug out from Tiahuanaco relics,
which indicates it was a harbor with complete boatyards and docks.
Among all docks was a huge one that could accommodate hundreds of
ships to load and unload goods simultaneously. The weight of each
stone used to build the dock varies from 100 to 150 tons and the
largest one weighs up to 440 tons. According to the calculation of
Bolivian scholar Professor Posnansky, who devoted his lifetime to
the study of Tiahuanaco culture, based on the obliquity of the
ecliptic, the ancient city might have been built 17 thousand years
ago.
An ancient castle, Sacsayhuaman, was located on the north suburb
of Cozco, the capital of the ancient Inca Empire in the mountains
of Andes in South America. It was built by the laying and delicate
chiseling of gigantic stones, weighing more than 100 tons each.
One of the stones is as high as 28 feet and its estimated weight
is as much as 360 tons (equal to the weight of 500 cars).
Located in ancient Babylon relics and built 5000 years ago, the
Tower of Babel was 91 meters in length and 91 meters in width. It
was built by laying giant stones. It had seven stories and was as
high as hundreds of meters.
Tall Stonehenge
stones stand upright on the Salisbury Plain in southwest England.
Generally, it is believed that it has 4,000 years of history. It
subtly incorporated a lot of astronomical knowledge. There are
also many megalith buildings like these in the world.
1.3 Prehistoric Astronomy
In Astronomy, ancient Mayan did not have the telescope but they
knew the precise circulation periods of heavenly bodies that were
very close to modern calculations. For instance, the precise
modern measurement of one solar year (i.e., one year, as spoken in
common usage) is 365.2422 days, and ancient Mayan believed that
the length of one solar year was 365.2420 days, which is only
0.0002-day less than the accurate value. Similarly, the Mayan
concept of the time that the moon finishes one circle around the
earth was 29.5305588 days, while modern measurement is 29.528395
days. The Mayan calculation of syzygy period of the Venus was as
accurate as one day missing in every 6,000 years. In Guatemala, a
stele excavated from Quiriga recorded the positions of the sun and
the moon on a certain day 400 million years ago, and the process
of calculation was showed clearly. In Africa, there is a tribe
named Dogon. By their peculiar understanding, they knew Canicula
in detail. Canicula was so hard to observe that not until 1970
could modern astronomers obtain its first picture. In the legend
of a Dogon tribe, Canicula is an amphiaster. The observation of
modern astronomers, using the most advanced telescope,
demonstrated that Canicula really has two companion stars. Dogon
people also knew that Saturn has rings and Jupiter has four major
moons.
1.4 Prehistoric Geography
In Geology, a
map drafted by a Turkish person, Piri Ibn Haji Memmed, in 1559,
showed clearly the coastlines of North and South America, but it
was two centuries later when America was discovered by
excursionists and mapmakers. (See http://www.wwatching.net/enigma_ancient_maps.htm)
Additionally, there were also records about America in ancient
Tibetan documents that could be dated 3,500 years ago. A South
Pole coastline map drafted by a Turkish person, Oronteus Finaeus,
in 1532, was very similar to the modern map of Antarctica. (See
http://www.wwatching.net/enigma_ancient_maps.htm#Antarctica) In
addition, he drew the shape of the Antarctic continent accurately
when it was not covered by ice 8,000 years ago. But it was not
until 1958 A.D. when scientists performed a survey, penetrating
the ice cover, that modern people knew the shape of Antarctica
covered by ice. All these maps from the 16th century were copied
from still older maps.
1.5 Prehistoric Physics
In physics, a
large-scale nuclear reactor was discovered at the Uranium mining
area of Oklo in the Republic of Gabon in Africa. In June 1972, a
Uranium refinery in France, which imported Uranium ore from Oklo,
surprisingly found that the U235 content of the imported Uranium
ore was less than 0.3%, while the U235 content of any other ores
was above 0.72%. Later on, several scientists went to investigate
this issue. Finally, they acknowledged it was an ancient nuclear
reactor, which was built 2 billion years ago, and had been running
for 500 thousand years. From June 23 to 27, 1975, International
Atomic Energy Agency held a special topic conference of scientific
discussions on Oklo phenomenon in Libreville, Gabon. The meeting
received more than 40 papers from 74 attendees from 19 countries
and 2 international organizations.
1.6 Prehistoric
Smelting Technology
With respect to
the field of smelting technology, miners at Klerksdorp in South
Africa found a few hundred metal spheres from a stratum of earth
estimated to be 2.8 billion years old. There are very fine grooves
on the spheres, which specialists in iron technology concluded
could not have occurred by any natural process. In 1968,
archaeologists Y. Druet and H. Salfati found a metal tube from the
Cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago, in the Saint-Jean
de Livet region of France. In 1871, while archaeologist William E.
Dubois was drilling a well at Lawn Ridge in Illinois, he found a
coin-like object at a depth of 114 feet. The Illinois State
Geological Survey Department confirmed that the strata in which
the object was found belonged to a geological period 200,000 to
400,000 years old. On June 5, 1852, the Scientific American
magazine published an article entitled "A Relic of a Bygone Age,"
which mentioned that in the Dorchester region of Massachusetts, a
metal vase was found from a Cambrian period stratum of 600 million
years ago. The vase was determined to be made from a white zinc
alloy and included a large amount of silver. In the summer of
1966, American geologist, Dr. Virginia McIntyre, examined a batch
of iron spears from Mexico, which were initially estimated to be
20,000 years old. After further investigations they were found to
be 250,000 years old. Erected at a temple in New Delhi, India, is
an iron pillar that is at least 4,000 years old. Even today, there
is no rust found on it after exposure to phosphoric and sulphuric
chemicals, as well as rain.
1.7 Prehistoric
Medical Science
China¡¯s earliest
traditional Chinese medicine work, "Huang Di Nei Jing," consists
of "Su Wen", "Ling Jiu" and so on, a total of eighteen volumes and
162 sections. There are many topics besides medical science. They
include astronomy, geography, phenology, meteorology, the calendar
and so on. The contents include physical fitness, "yin yang", the
state of internal organs, main and collateral channels relating to
acupuncture points, diagnosis, channelling of body energy,
properties of medicines and so forth. Main and collateral channels
have been verified by modern science, and on this basis various
equipment for probing acupuncture points have been developed.
Although many acupuncture points are extremely well concealed and
not easily located even by the most modern medical equipment, the
ancient Chinese were already very familiar with, and were
utilizing such points for curing patients. The acupuncture
knowledge of China has been referred to by the West as the "Magic
Needle of the Orient" and acknowledged as a miracle in the medical
history of the world. A single needle can be inserted into the top
of a person¡¯s head and come out of the lower jaw, without bleeding
or pain. It can also be used on many other acupuncture points to
cure illnesses. How did the ancients know of such channels,
acupuncture points and the art of acupuncture?
1.8 Prehistoric
Arts and Crafts
Regarding arts
and crafts, in the wilderness of the Nazca region of Peru there
are gigantic patterns on the ground, the largest being five
kilometers long. The patterns look vividly alive, and the whole
pattern can only be fully recognized from high up in the air. The
width to depth ratio of the channels making up the patterns were
so accurately calculated and designed, that the patterns would be
formed with the light and shade of the rising sun, making the
patterns appear vividly on the surface of the earth. On May 17,
1997, China Science News published an article titled "China
Discovers Hundreds of Million-Year-Old Rock- Painting from
Antiquity" that reported China's archaeologists finding in the
quarry at Guangxi's Bao Mountain vivid rock paintings. According
to the authentication by the National Minerals Special Research
Station, the paintings are 450 million years old. Included in the
article was a photo of the rock paintings captioned, "Early
Spring." The commentary said that every piece of painting was a
unique and never duplicated treasure. Archaeologist W. Eric Wendt
used carbon-14 dating to determine the age of a small piece of
rock carving from South Namibia's Apollo Number 11 cave and
concluded that it was 27,000 years old. That puts it in the same
time frame as the European "Super Palaeolithic Art" period.
Science magazine of the United States in an article issued on
November 20, 1998, reported that archaeologists all over the world
were discovering large quantities of prehistoric carvings and
frescos. The discovery of a fresco in France at Grotte Chauvet is
32,000 years old, and it depicts a pregnant woman together with
various animals such as lions, bears, rhinoceros and so on.
Alexander Marshack, an archaeologist at Harvard University, after
examining a 30,000-year-old elephant tusk carving unearthed in
Vogelherd, Germany, concluded that the tools used in carving the
tusk were very sophisticated and that those who did the carving
were highly civilized and extremely skilled craftsmen. In Tata,
Hungary, a polished woolly mammoth tusk used as a wall plaque was
unearthed, and its age was estimated to be between 50,000 to
100,000 years old. At the Golan Heights in the Middle East a
250,000-year-old prehistoric implement known as the "Berekhat Ram"
had a head portrait of a woman wearing delicate ornaments carved
on it.
An extremely
long list of similar reports to those above in the field of
archaeology can be made. The traditional viewpoint is that the
human race became civilized only in the past few thousand years.
Periods earlier than that are considered to belong to primitive
society. Then how did the ancients obtain the know-how of science
if their level of civilization does not conform to their
knowledge? How is it then that there are relics of human
civilization from tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands
years ago? In accordance with Darwin's Theory of Evolution, how is
it possible for monkeys of tens of thousands or hundreds of
thousands of years ago to have such advanced scientific knowledge
and human civilization? This inspires us to re-evaluate the
traditional theory of human civilization and history.
1.9 Questions regarding Darwin's "Theory of Evolution"
The evidence of
scientific knowledge in prehistoric civilizations initiates an
extremely forceful challenge to Darwin's "Theory of Evolution".
Firstly,
Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" is only a set of theories based on
"Gradualism". However, this gradualism theory contains many flaws.
Darwin's theory states that natural selection must necessarily
develop through a very slow process of continual accumulation of
optimal hereditary changes in the organism. In his letter to
Charles Lyell, he stated that "if my theory of natural selection
requires to draw support from...then only can the passage of
sudden evolution be coherent, I will discard it as muck.... and if
at any step in the process, mystical progress is required then the
natural selection theory is not worth a dime." Advocates of the
evolution theory contend that hereditary changes must occur at an
infinitesimally slow pace and cannot be observed. After an
extremely long period of natural selection, fauna and flora will
evolve into new species. Higher order animals are derived from
lower order species. The animal kingdom can be compared to a large
tree. Starting from the same source, lower animals can be compared
to the root, while higher animals can be compared to the branches.
In this way, evolution is a progressive and continuous process,
gradually improving. This is the well-known "Evolution Tree" in
biology.
If this were
true, then for a primordial organism to evolve to a complex higher
life form, they must undergo a series of a large number of very
minute changes morphologically. However, archaeologists have not
discovered evidence of transitory organisms even at the present
time. The Theory of Evolution maps out the progression as:
primordial unicellular organisms, multicellular micro-organisms,
lower life forms in the sea, crustaceans, fish, amphibians,
reptiles, birds, mammals, primates, apes, humans. However, not a
single example of life forms between those listed organisms have
ever found. Therefore, how did the life forms progress slowly from
the lower end to the higher end? How can the flaw in the theory
linking the various species be explained?
As an example,
if human beings were descended from apes (anthropoids), then on
the intervening stages there must be evidence of transitory
creatures, like various fossils and implements they used, proving
that they existed. Fossils of early humans have been unearthed.
Fossils of the apes have been found. But not a single fossil of
the creatures in the transition period was ever found. If there is
no such evidence, then the theory of apes evolving into humans is
groundless. In 1892, archaeologist Dubois discovered a skull
fragment similar to that of an ape and at a distance of 40 feet
from a thighbone. He said that it was obvious that both pieces of
bone belonged to the same animal. This animal was man-like as it
stood and walked erect but had bones like the apes. This would be
the transitional creature linking apes to humans. Later it was
established that the bones were from an ape and a human
co-existing in the area at that time. Donald Johansson found at
the Great Rift Valley of South Africa some bones of a creature
that was named "Lucy," who was described as the common ancestor of
apes and humans. Present day scientists have determined that it is
the remains of an extinct ape belonging to the "Ancient Southern
Afarensis species" and not related to humans.
Also, recorded
in fossils from 2.8 billion years ago, the most obscure is the
"Cambrian Life's Explosion" or also known as "Cambrian Life's Big
Bang" (denoting it as similar to the "Big Bang" Theory; animals
suddenly appearing on earth). On May 25, 1995, the People's Daily
Overseas Edition reported on the subject in an article "Focus on
the Results of Research of the Fossil Cluster at Cheng Jiang". The
report mentioned that the "Cambrian Life's Explosion" was a major
event in the evolution of life on earth. Conducting further
research in this area could very well shake the theory of
evolution. On July 19, 1995, the People's Daily published another
article, "The Fossils at Cheng Jiang Challenges the ¡®Theory of
Evolution¡¯". The author of the article Ding Bangjie pointed out
that the core contention of Darwin's Theory of Evolution was that
species evolve by gradual changes. But during the Cambrian Period,
about 530 million years ago, life on earth suddenly changed from
unicellular to multi-cellular organisms. This change was a giant
leap.
The
archaeological discovery of the "Cheng Jiang Fossil Cluster in
China" attracted immense interest from the world news media. It
shook the world archaeological and biological community. The Cheng
Jiang fossil cluster was from the Pre-Cambrian Period (before 550
million years ago). In addition, a similar discovery by Burgess in
a shale layer was made in Canada (before 530 million years ago).
It also contained evidence of an "explosion" of a diverse set of
life forms. It can be seen that during the Cambrian Period (before
507 to 500 million years ago), the vast majority of the various
classes of animal life already had their own clear
representatives. But before the Cambrian Period, not only were
multicellular organisms extremely rare amongst the various fossil
clusters found, no indication was ever discovered of anything
resembling the ancestors of animals. That is to say, though most
classes of animals appeared in the Cambrian Period, according to
Darwin's Theory of Evolution, then the multicellular organisms
appearing in the Cambrian Period must have undergone a slow and
lengthy period of change to reach the state that they were found
in. However, no evidence of transitory fossils was ever found.
Could it be that the records of fossils are incomplete? But it
must be noted that fossils form randomly, then why is it that only
the transitory fossils are missing?
When law
Professor Phillip Johnson at the University of California at
Berkeley read the document on the Theory of Evolution, he
immediately found many flaws in its presentation and
circumventions. As a judge, he questioned, "How can we think the
¡®Theory of Evolution¡¯ factual? Where is the irrefutable evidence?"
In the book he wrote, "Darwin on Trial", he summed up by saying,¡±
What fossils expose to us are all sudden appearance of organisms
without any indication of evolution...the sudden appearance of
such organisms on the whole did not evolve further irrespective of
climatic or environmental changes in subsequent millions of years.
If this sustains Darwin¡¯s Theory of Evolution, then these
circumstances should bring about immense changes to the various
species."
Secondly, the
mutation of genes in the Theory of Evolution lacks scientific
evidence. From the point of view of the component of the Theory of
Evolution, the theory postulates that genes of organisms are
basically very stable, but suddenly they mutate and give rise to
variations of the previous generation. Moreover, these variations
can be transmitted to the next generation. Because they can be
carried from generation to generation, the variations between
generations become greater and greater. According to this logic,
sudden change becomes the evidence of evolution. Nevertheless,
according to results of statistical analysis, more than
ninety-nine percent of mutations are abnormal and are even harmful
and have defects to the extent of becoming life threatening. They
are not the beneficial, appropriate or positive type of variation.
Furthermore, after the changes, the organisms will not survive for
long. Therefore, sudden changes in organisms are rare. Such
changes are degenerative and not evolving. There are changes in
organisms, maybe in coloration, but basic structures are not
altered. For example, a snake can change its color to white, and
the fruit fly can change into a larger fruit fly because of
variations. Tortoises can change so the color of its shell is
variegated. However, no matter how the sudden changes occur, the
organisms still remain within itsown species and do not become a
higher, different species.
Chinese
scholars, from the probability of gene mutations calculated the
probability of creation of a new species by the formula:
N*S)*B*L*C*P£½£¨M
M denotes the
probability of a species mutating (1/1000); C denotes the
probability that the mutated gene can co-exist with the other
genes in the new organism at a higher level (estimated to be
1/100); L denotes the probability of surviving competition and
being able to reproduce (1/10); B denotes probability that the
organism's changes is related to and conducive to evolution (most
mutations are harmful, the probability is 1/1000); S denotes the
probability that the mutated gene can be stable and expand
(1/100); N denotes the number of the genes required by the new
organism, say 10 (actually the number required is far greater than
10), then the probability of an organism evolving into a new
species is therefore:
10 = 10-10*1/100)
*1/1000*1/10*1/100*P£½£¨1/1000
Assuming that
the organism reproduces 1,000 generations per year with estimated
number of 1,010 units per generation, to produce a new species via
evolution requires 1097 years, but at present the universe is
estimated to be 20 billion years old, it shows that to evolve
through genetic changes is nearly impossible.
At present,
several schools of thought have put forward and developed new
theories of evolution. German biologist Weissman believes that
organisms are composed of germ plasm specializing in reproduction
and other tissues specializing in other functions. Germ plasm has
continuity and independence, and is not subject to influences of
other tissues or the environment. Germ plasm is considered the
object of natural selection. He believes that the natural
selection of germ plasm is the one and only mechanism of
evolution. He opposes the idea proposed by Darwin's Theory of
Evolution that characterized regression and acquired hereditary
characteristics as evolution's auxiliary factor. Instead, he
considers evolution as a process with no guidance, program,
target, character, or predictability, but is an entirely natural
process. This germ plasm theory is not consistent with the fact
that there are hereditary substances in body cells as well.
Supporters of this theory are unable to produce the transitory
evidence. In spite of so much opposition towards the Theory of
Evolution, they still hold on to the "gradualism" theory.
At the present
time, courageous, internationally known scientists have already
begun to address the severe challenge to Darwin's Theory of
Evolution. They recognize that Darwin's Theory of Evolution is
just one of many theories regarding the origin of life but not the
absolute truth. New Zealand molecular biologist Michael Denton in
the book Evolution: Theory in Jeopardy concluded in the last
section that irrespective of the high status placed on the theory
of evolution, with numerous people placing their hearts and
energy, confining their thoughts within the Darwinian doctrine,
the truth tells us that nature is not confined. As of today, we
still do not comprehend the sudden appearance of life forms. This
"riddle within a riddle" -- the beginning of life on earth -- is
still as mysterious as when Darwin set sail on the ¡°Beagle."
Summing up the
above, Darwin and others who subscribe to the theory of evolution
are faced with countless flaws and face doubts everywhere. The
cyclical civilization of mankind has much scientific basis.
¡°Qigong is a
Prehistoric Culture¡± in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun says: ¡°It is
impossible that our planet Earth, in this immense universe and the
Milky Way, has been orbiting very smoothly at all times. It might
have bumped into a certain planet or run into other problems,
leading to great disasters¡ only a small number of people would
survive and enter the next period, again living a primitive life.
As the human population increased, civilization would eventually
emerge again.¡±
In the lengthy
history of the universe, the Earth has encountered great floods,
tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, glaciers and even
the possibility of bombardment by extra-terrestrial objects.
Within the solar system are an estimated 1.4 billion comets, and
some small planets that may stray into the system too. Of course
quite a number of these objects will be captured by the gravity of
Jupiter and be drawn into its orbit. But who can guarantee that
some of these objects will not hit earth? Especially when all
planets in the solar system are lined up a shape of a cross, those
comets at the LaGrange instability points are even more likely to
hit Earth. The present understanding by scientists is that any
extra-terrestrial object with a diameter between 0.6 kilometers to
5 kilometers crashing into earth would cause a "meteor winter." It
would cause total darkness and force the earth to be in total
winter conditions for many months or years. There will be no
harvest of crops, with the ecology completely destroyed and the
entire planet facing famine. With the annihilation of living
things, the destruction of the ozone layer, the appearance of acid
rain, the poisoning of flora, the human race will be facing the
brink of the end of the world. A U.S. Geological Survey
Department's astronomer Schumacher predicted that in the vicinity
of the space near earth are more than 200,000 small satellites of
diameters of about ten meters, some of which will collide with
Earth once every 1,000 years. There are also 2,000 similar objects
with diameters exceeding one kilometer. These are estimated to
collide with earth once in 100,000 years. Between July 17 and 19,
1994, the Schumacher-Levi No. 9 comets crashed into Jupiter. The
energy released by the collisions totaled many times the energy of
all the nuclear weapons on earth combined. Is there not a
possibility that such comets may veer off course and hit the
earth?
A geology
specialist from the University of California, Los Angeles, Frank
Kyte, wrote to Nature magazine (Letters to Editor section) on
November 18, 1998, pointing out that he had been in the Yucatan
Peninsula of Mexico and found in the cretaceous layer of the
Chicxulub Crater when the third period (same period as when the
dinosaurs became extinct) began. Meteorites were found embedded in
that layer. The fossils contained chromium, and were determined to
be 65 million years old, proving that the meteor crashed into the
Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico during that period. The gigantic
explosion from the collision scattered the meteorites 5,400 miles
in a westerly direction, settling in the seabed in the mid-Pacific
Ocean area. That collision led to the extinction of dinosaurs.
Other than the
collisions with Earth that brought great disasters, there could
also be other factors. An example is the movement of the tectonic
plates. During the early nineties, some Australian scientists
found beech estimated to be two to three million years old at a
site two hundred miles from the South Pole. According to
assumptions by contemporary geologists, to move the tectonic plate
at the South Pole to a site where beech can survive, it would take
fifty to sixty million years. But the specimen found was only two
to three million years old. There is only one explanation for this
anomaly: it was possibly due to immense upheaval of the tectonic
plates that the Continent of the South Pole moved to the Temperate
zone in less than two million years.
In 1977 in
Siberia, a worker from the former Soviet Union commenced work with
his bulldozer and found a carcass of an elephant-like animal.
Later it was confirmed by specialists that it was the complete
remains of a woolly mammoth. Subsequently, archaeologists found an
abundance of frozen remains of mammals in the uninhabited regions
in Northern Siberia and the North Pole regions. They were mostly
mammoths but included rhinoceros and other animals. Many of the
remains were well preserved and whole, though some were crushed
and mixed with tree branches. The contents of their stomachs were
examined and found to contain much vegetation like hyacinth,
calamus and some wild flowers, which had not been completely
digested. Such vegetation cannot survive in present day Siberia.
They were from warmer regions and found only in the plains. But
why were they found in a region so close to the North Pole?
Besides this, countless frozen remains of large animals have been
found in Alaska. Together with these remains were also found
handcrafted stone implements, thus proving that humans were
already co-existing with these creatures. Such mystical
occurrences can only be explained by the huge displacement of the
tectonic plates. Their positions have been displaced to one of
much colder weather conditions.
The Great Flood
could also be one of the reasons for the catastrophic changes. In
the mythologies of many countries there are traditional records of
the Great Flood. Of the more than 130 Native American
nationalities, there is none that does not utilize a great
catastrophe as the main theme in their traditional myths.
According to information from the Xinhua News Agency on April 9,
1986, Turkey Official News Agency repeated that on top of Mount
Ararat (5,200 meters above sea level), a vessel similar to that of
¡°Noah's Ark¡± was found. Photographic records of the site were
made. The bow of the vessel is shaped like an onion, the length
being identical to that mentioned in the Holy Bible. Did the Great
Flood cause the extinction of the previous human civilization?
This question is worth contemplating. |