The Minden Monster, What Killed Lucy

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Brian H. Gill

The ‘Minden Monster,’ a whacking great carnivore that lived about a hundred million years before T. Rex, is in the news again. Studying it will help scientists work out details of megalosaur development.

I’m fascinated by that sort of thing. Your experience may vary.

Other scientists think they know what killed Lucy, our name for a famous Australopithecus afarensis skeleton. It looks like Australopithecus afarensis was a little more at home in trees than we are.

  1. The Minden Monster
  2. What Killed Lucy?

But first, (quite) a few words about Adam, Eve, and getting a grip.

Adam and Eve aren’t German

We are created in the image of God, male and female. Each of us is a person: not something, but someone; made from the stuff of this world, and filled with God’s ‘breath:’ matter and spirit, body and soul. (Genesis 2:7; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 355, 357, 362–368)

That doesn’t mean that the first of us looked pretty much like Albrecht Dürer’s 1504 engraving.

I read Genesis 1:1–2:4 and 2:4–25 as an explanation of God’s role in our existence: among other things. As far as I’m concerned, all that’s changed in the last few centuries is how much we know about the “clay” God used.

A Great Deal Left to Learn

Humanity’s family history is nowhere near as simple as folks figured when Carl Linnaeus published “Systema Naturae” in 1735.

I learned about hominids when that term didn’t mean quite what it does today, and didn’t run into “hominin” until fairly recently.

Around the 1960s, when I was in high school, scientists were rethinking primate taxonomy: again.

Carl Linnaeus set up a taxonomic system that’s still in use — with considerable tweaking. Taxonomy is what we call classifying organisms: and by extension, anything else that’ll sort out in a nested hierarchy.

Folks like Anaximander and Empedocles speculated that today’s critters — humans included — had changed since the world’s beginning. Folks like Pierre Louis Maupertuis and Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon wrote about more-or-less-systematic change in the 1700s.

Comte de Buffon also used experimental data to estimate Earth’s age. He was wrong by several orders of magnitude: but in the 1700s it was a good educated guess. (August 28, 2016)

Charles Darwin didn’t single-handedly start the idea that organisms change in a rational way: but his “On the Origin of Species” (1859) was an important contribution to evolutionary theory. It also dropped “evolution” into popular culture.

We’ve learned quite a bit since then, much of it in my lifetime: and there’s a great deal left to learn.

“Even Greater Admiration”

Like I said, over the last few centuries we’ve learned that Earth — and the universe — is much older than we’d thought.

I’m okay with that, and even if I wasn’t: it wouldn’t matter.

“Our God is in heaven; whatever God wills is done.”
(Psalms 115:3)

As my father once told me, ‘at a certain level of authority, argument becomes pointless.’

I figure my job is appreciating God’s handiwork: not telling the Almighty how it should have been designed.

That’s because there is not an 11th Commandment against using the brains God gave us.

Science and technology, studying this wonder-filled universe and using what we learn to develop new tools, is okay. (Catechism, 2293–2295)

Scientific discoveries are invitations “to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator.” (Catechism, 283)

Honest and methodical study of this wonder-filled creation cannot interfere with an informed faith, because “the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God.” (Catechism, 159)

What we learn sometimes obliges us to reexamine preconceived notions: but I’m okay with that.

Faith isn’t reason: but it’s reasonable, and certainly not against an honest search for truth. (Catechism, 31–35, 159)

“Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny” — Almost, Sort Of


(From G. J. Romanes, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(G. J. Romanes’ 1892 copy of Ernst Haeckel’s ‘recapitulation’ illustration.)

Some of my high school science textbooks talked about Haeckel’s “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” theory. It’s the idea that an embryo goes through the critter’s entire evolutionary history. It’s not quite accurate, but there’s some truth to it.

Every tetrapod, for example, has pharyngeal arches as an embryo. Tetrapods are vertebrates with four limbs: amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles.

Fish are vertebrates, but not tetrapods. Their pectoral and pelvic fins correspond to our arms/wings/forelimbs and back legs.

Depending on how you look at them, Sarcopterygii, lobe-finned fish, are a clade of fish; or a really early model of tetrapod. The only lobe-finned fish around these days are coelacanths and lungfish.

Getting back to pharyngeal arches, I had them when I was about four weeks old. By the time I was born the first arch had developed into my upper and lower jaws and hard palate. In fish, pharyngeal arches become branchial/gill arches.

Apparently Haeckel was trying to combine Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s idea that critters pass traits they picked up to their offspring1 and Goethe’s Romantische Naturphilosophie with Darwin’s theory.

Folks like Karl Ernst von Baer and Wilhelm His, Sr., didn’t believe Haeckel’s theory, and thought his drawings weren’t accurate.

Turns out that they were right.

“Intricate and Quirky”


(From Ernst Haeckel, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Ernst Haeckel’s 1868 illustration in “Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte,” showing similarities between embryos of a dog (hund) and human (mensch).)

Haeckel’s illustrations are more nearly accurate than Percival Lowell’s maps of Mars: but Haeckel apparently de-emphasized features that didn’t agree with his theory — while his critics emphasized those features in their drawings.

I figure Haeckel believed that he was drawing what he was observing, and compensating for limitations of available technology: a reflecting microscope.

Haeckel could, in principle, have used micrography for his research. But let’s remember that this was the 19th century.

Alfred Donné took the first photomicrographs in 1839, using the daguerrotype technique. The microscope ‘photo-électrique’ was available by 1845: but it was still an emerging technology.2

Haeckel was right, too, but we’ve learned that life is a whole lot more “intricate and quirky:”

“…Embryos do reflect the course of evolution, but that course is far more intricate and quirky than Haeckel claimed. Different parts of the same embryo can even evolve in different directions. As a result, the Biogenetic Law was abandoned, and its fall freed scientists to appreciate the full range of embryonic changes that evolution can produce — an appreciation that has yielded spectacular results in recent years as scientists have discovered some of the specific genes that control development.”
(“Early Evolution and Development: Ernst Haeckel,” The History of Evolutionary Thought, Understanding Evolution, U. C. Berkeley)

1. The Minden Monster


(From Joschua Knüppe, via Phys.org, used w/o permission.)
(“Artist’s impression of W. albati. The dinosaur is shown together with other organisms whose fossil remains were recovered in the same locality.”
(Phys.org))

“A Middle Jurassic monster put in its taxonomic place”
Phys.org (September 1, 2016)

“An analysis of the fossil known as the Minden Monster has enabled paleontologists to assign the largest predatory dinosaur ever found in Germany to a previously unknown genus, among a group that underwent rapid diversification in the Middle Jurassic.

“This huge dinosaur dates to about 163 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic. And it is not only the first carnivorous dinosaur from this period to be unearthed in Germany, it is also the largest ever found in the country: Based on the remains so far recovered, the specimen is estimated to have been between 8 and 10 meters in length. In comparison with other carnivorous dinosaurs, the animal was very sturdily built, weighed more than 2 tons – and was probably not fully grown when it died.

“…The first fossilized bones and teeth were discovered in 1999 during a routine surface survey in an abandoned quarry in the Wiehengebirge, a range of low hills south of Minden. Although the fossil clearly represents a terrestrial form, the remains were embedded in marine sediments. It is however known that, in the Middle Jurassic, large areas of what is now Central Europe lay below sea level, and the shallow waters of this sea were dotted with islands….”


(From I. West, R. Gallois, R. Blakey, used w/o permission.)
(Much of Europe was an archipelago during the Middle Jurassic.)

Earth has changed quite a bit since it formed, which still upsets some folks.

Pangea, our name for a continent that formed some 300,000,000 years back, was splitting into Laurasia (north) and Gondwana (south) during the Middle Jurassic. Ichthyosaurs had been joined by pliosaurs.

Cynodonts were skittering around, sharing territory with dinosaurs — don’t bother trying to memorize those names, there won’t be a test on this.

Das Monster von Minden, “the Minden Monster,” is probably easier to remember than Wiehenvenator. That’s the predatory megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the article.

Theropods are still around, but a whole lot smaller than in their heyday. The biggest living theropod is the ostrich.

Megalosaurs showed up in the Middle Jurassic. They’re not as famous as Tyrannosaurus Rex, but many were as big or bigger than T. Rex — which flourished about a hundred million years later.

We still don’t know why so many carnivores were so much larger then.

The Minden Monster is a big deal to scientists because dinosaurs like it were rapidly diversifying during the Middle Jurassic.

Part of the article I didn’t quote mentions phylogenetic analysis, which isn’t just about genetics. Phylogenetics studies how critters are related to each other: sort of like an evolutionary family tree. That’s probably why a phylogeny is called a phylogenetic tree.

Phylogenetics is a fairly new discipline. The word goes back to 1866, when Ernst Haeckel wrote about “Phylogenie” and his recapitulation theory; and I talked about that earlier.

I put links to more ‘Minden Monster’ information near the end of this post.3

2. What Killed Lucy?


(From Science Photo Library, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(“Lucy is one of the oldest and most complete fossils of any human ancestor”
(BBC News))

“Early human ancestor Lucy ‘died falling out of a tree’ ”
Jonathan Webb, BBC News (August 29, 2016)

“New evidence suggests that the famous fossilised human ancestor dubbed “Lucy” by scientists died falling from a great height – probably out of a tree.

“CT scans have shown injuries to her bones similar to those suffered by modern humans in similar falls.

“The 3.2 million-year-old hominin was found on a treed flood plain, making a branch her most likely final perch.

“It bolsters the view that her species – Australopithecus afarensis – spent at least some of its life in the trees….”

Australopithecus afarensis is our name for a hominin species — I talked about taxonomy earlier, and put a mess of resource links near the end of this post.4 They lived in eastern Africa between 3,900,000 and 2,900,000 years ago.

Or maybe it’s who lived: I don’t think we can tell whether Lucy was a critter who looked a lot like us, or a person who’d have a terrible time trying to fit in today.

We’ve been learning that life is very modular on the sub-cellular level, which makes horizontal gene transfer possible, and that’s another topic.

We’ve also learned that there’s less than a 2% difference between human and chimpanzee genes. That doesn’t make us chimps, or chimps human, though. The chimp-human genetic difference is about 20 times the difference between any two humans.

Scientists have found 23 genes in our genome that aren’t in any other primate: including SRGAP2C.

This particular genetic module apparently goes back about 3,4000,000 years: and it’s one of 23 that are uniquely human.

We’re Wired Differently

Anatomically modern humans, humanity’s current model, don’t just have an oversized brain. Our version of the SRGAP2 gene helps determine how our brains are wired. Among other things, it boosts the density of dendritic spines.

We’re wired differently: which I think helps explain why we’re so good at making flint arrowheads, steam engines, and cochlear implants.

All mammals have the SRGAP2 gene. Our version’s prototype showed up some 3,400,000 years back: very roughly 200,000 years before Lucy lived and died. Does that make her “human,” a person? I don’t know.

Fall From a Height


(From John Kappelman, UT Austin, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(“The team reconstructed how the various injuries could have occurred”
(BBC News))

“…’We weren’t there – we didn’t see it – but the subset of fractures that we’ve identified are fully consistent with what’s reported in a voluminous orthopaedic surgical literature about fall victims who have come down from height,” said lead author John Kappelman from the University of Texas at Austin.

” ‘It’s tested every day in emergency rooms all around the planet.’

“Discovered in Ethiopia’s Afar region in 1974, Lucy’s 40%-complete skeleton is one of the world’s best known fossils. She was around 1.1m (3ft 7in) tall and is thought to have been a young adult when she died.

“Her species, Australopithecus afarensis, shows signs of having walked upright on the ground and had lost her ancestors’ ape-like, grasping feet – but also had an upper body well-suited to climbing….”Jonathan Webb, BBC News)

My knee-jerk reaction to “…an upper body well-suited to climbing…” was the thought that whoever wrote it hadn’t seen, or didn’t remember, kids on a jungle gym.

Humans spend most of our time on the ground: but we can climb pretty well.

Then I did a little checking. Sure enough, Australopithecus afarensis had longish arms, compared to today’s model; and their shoulder joints were mounted higher than ours. Both features would make climbing trees easier.

On top of that, scans show that their bony labyrinth, housing their semicircular canals, wasn’t optimized for walking upright. They most likely were more at home in trees than we can be, and maybe a bit less steady on their feet.

Tools and Being Human


(From The Earth Institute, Columbia University, used w/o permission.)
(Anatomically modern humans at the Lomekwi dig in Kenya holding 3,300,000 year old tools made by someone else.)

We’ve been learning that quite a few non-human animals use tools, but it’s still a very “human” thing.

Someone was using stone tools in Lucy’s part of the world about 3,300,000 years ago: roughly 100,000 years before her day.

They weren’t particularly efficient tools, certainly not up to the standard we expect to see in Lowe’s: but that “human brain” gene had been around a hundred thousand years by then. My guess is that they were used by someone: not something.

On the other hand, we’ve changed in the 3,200,000 years since Lucy lived.

Brains and Speculation

As I said earlier, she’d have a terrible time trying to fit in today.

For starters, she was 1.1 meters, three feet, seven inches, tall.

She’d be looking up at just about everyone, since her eyes would be only slightly above the top of your typical cummerbund.

The view would be — strange. Our heads, compared to her family’s, have ‘too much’ forehead and nowhere near enough face.

‘Human brain’ gene or not, her head had room for about a third of the neural circuitry we use. There’s more to intelligence than brain size: but my guess is that she’d have trouble passing the ACT or SAT.

Scientists are still wrapping their minds around the idea that Neanderthals may have buried their dead with as much care as the British.5 We know much less about the folks whose bones were interred, or just happened to end up, in Rising Star Cave. I won’t be surprised if we learn that burial customs go further back than folks who look like us.

That might explain why there’s only one mark on her bones from a carnivore’s tooth. That’s not typical of a body left in the open.

If Lucy’s people were people, and even remotely like us, they’d have noticed when she didn’t return from whatever errand she was on. As the University of Texas at Austin’s John Kappelman said — “We weren’t there – we didn’t see it….” But I suspect that we found so many of Lucy’s bones because someone found her body, and brought it home for burial.

Then again, maybe not. We don’t know.

More of our continuing search for knowledge, and why I think that’s okay:

1 Maybe you’ve read that August Weismann and 68 white mice finally demonstrated that Lamarckism didn’t work. Folks have pointed out that amputating a mouse’s tail is hardly a case of “disuse,” but we’ve learned that Gregor Mendel was on the right track.

2 Background:

3 Stuff you don’t need to know about:

4 Australopithecus afarensis, human evolution, and all that:

5 Neanderthal burial practices are still debated. Some scientists say evidence of flowers buried with the Shanidar IV skeleton indicate ritual burial. Others insist that it can’t be so, since the evidence might have been planted by rodents. I think we’re still not certain: but that Neanderthals have been looking more ‘human,’ the more we learn about them.

I suspect we’re still getting over the old “caveman” image:

“Neanderthal reconstruction by F. Kupka, Illustrated London News, 1909. This reconstruction has practically become iconic as an example of the bias of early-twentieth-century understanding of Neanderthals.”
(Caption for František Kupka’s illustration, “Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World’s Most Famous Human Fossils,” p. 32, Lydia V. Pyne (2016) via Google Books.)

Posted in Science News | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Shopping Center Attack: Why I Care

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Brian H. Gill

Saturday night’s attack in a St. Cloud shopping center was uncomfortably close to home. Crossroads Mall is about an hour down the road from where I live, and a place I’ve enjoyed visiting.

Only one person died, the attacker: a 22 year old St. Cloud-area student.

  1. Death in a Shopping Center
  2. “Let’s Spread Love, not Hate”

Caring About Human Life

The incident hasn’t exactly been headline international news, but the attention it’s gotten is impressive, considering what else has been going on:

Getting back to what happened in St. Cloud, I’m still upset about the attack: and sorry that the attacker is dead. That, I’d better explain.

I believe that human life is sacred: all human life. Each of us has equal dignity: no matter where we are, who we are, or how we act. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 360, 1700–1706, 1932–1933, 1935, 2258)

Murder, deliberately killing an innocent person, is wrong. (Catechism, 2268–2269)

Maybe the young man didn’t really mean to kill anyone: but what he was doing with a knife apparently looked like murderous attacks. I can’t say that I am sorry that his attacks were stopped.

But I do regret that he is dead.

His actions disturbed his community, which is uncomfortably close to mine. If he had lived, it’s possible that he could have made some reparation, “paying” in some way for his actions; and helping to heal his community.

One of these days I’ll talk about justice, the common good, and all that. But not today. (Catechism, 1905–1912)

Why should I care? Like I keep saying: I should love God, love my neighbor, see everybody as my neighbor, and treat others as I’d like to be treated. (Matthew 5:43–44, 7:12, 22:36–40, Mark 12:28–31; Luke 6:31, 10:25–27, 29–37; Catechism, 1789)

Somali-Americans and Leviticus

He was a Somali-American, born in Kenya. There’s been a civil war in Somalia since around 1990, which encouraged many families to get out while they were still alive. Many of them came to America — mostly Minnesota.

Some will probably decide to move back, when and if things settle down in the old country. I hope some decide to stay: if for no other reason than that I haven’t had a chance to try their coffee yet.

Part of my attitude toward Somali-Americans comes from my family background and personal experience. But even if I wasn’t inclined to accept folks who don’t look and act exactly like me: I’d be obliged to cultivate that acceptance:

“The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.

“Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”

(Catechism, 2241)

An ‘open door’ immigration is not a new idea:

“You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 23:9)

” ‘When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him.

“You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God.”
(Leviticus 19:33–34)

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,”
(Matthew 25:35)

About Catechism, 2268–2269, and the newcomer’s obligation “to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens” — it looks like many Somali-Americans in St. Cloud are as upset about the young man’s actions as I am.

More so, since they’re still at the stage my ancestors were, just a few generations back: trying to convince ‘regular Americans’ that they’re new neighbors, not threats. More of that below, under “Let’s Spread Love, not Hate”.

1. Death in a Shopping Center


(From AFP, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(“Dahir A Adan had been in the US for 15 years, his father said”
(BBC News))

“Minnesota mall knifeman was student, says father”
BBC News (September 19, 2016)

“A knifeman who stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping centre at the weekend has been identified by his father as a 22-year-old student.

“Dahir A Adan is a Kenyan-born ethnic Somali who had been in the US for 15 years, his father told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

“He said he had ‘no suspicion’ that his son was involved in extremist activity….

“…The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Rasd, a news agency linked to the group, claimed on Sunday the Minnesota attacker was a ‘soldier of the Islamic State’.

“The attacker, who was dressed in a security uniform and carrying what appeared to be a kitchen knife, reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking, said police.

“Adan had been working as a security guard for the mall’s Electrolux Home Products store, according a company spokeswoman….”

We still don’t, as far as I’ve read, know why Dahir1 A Adan decided to attack those folks. What does seem clear is that he cut or stabbed several people at a shopping mall, and was killed by an off-duty police officer.

I’m sorry that those folks got hurt, and that young Mr. Adan is dead. But I’m not going to denounce Crossroad Mall for inciting violence against shoppers, or call for stronger anti-knife legislation.

There’s been enough craziness this year:

“The Least Force Necessary”

I went over legitimate defense on September 11, 2016.

I’m allowed to avoid or resist the attack; using the least force necessary. The same principle applies to groups of people. (2263–2267, 2307–2317)

Ideally, someone would have found a way to restrain Dahir A Adan, not kill him. But everything I’ve read says that he started this mess, attacking folks with a knife.

I’m not going to criticize someone for protecting innocent shoppers: particularly since a knife, even a “kitchen knife,” can be a lethal weapon. It’s a wonder that more folks didn’t end up hospitalized.

Non-lethal weapons have been moving out of pulp science fiction and into research and development. But even those are controversial, and that’s another topic.

2. “Let’s Spread Love, not Hate”


(From Jared Goyette, via The Guardian, used w/o permission.)
(“Somali-American leaders hold a press conference in St Cloud, Minnesota, to address the mass stabbing attack of Saturday night.”
(The Guardian))

“Somali-American leaders speak out in press conference”
Ben Rodgers, St. Cloud Times (September 18, 2016)
(Includes video)

“A group of St. Cloud Somali-American leaders, as well as other community leaders, spoke out in a nationally televised press conference on Sunday afternoon at Lake George.

“The press conference came after an incident Sunday night involving a stabbing attack at the Crossroads Center in St. Cloud. The community leaders used it as an opportunity to stress the attack was perpetrated by a single individual, that it does not represent the Somali-American and Muslim community and to express support for the victims….

“…Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Association: ‘They are minorities in our faith that are misusing the credibility of our faith. Islam is peace.’

“Lul Hersi, member of the St. Cloud Somali-American community: ‘Let’s unite as one Minnesota. Let’s take love instead of hate. Let’s preach the good of us, not the bad that happens just once in a while. … I said last night, not in St. Cloud. That is what I told my kids, not in St. Cloud. I hope my neighbors, my co-workers, my friends, my community member, my elders and other take this to heart. Let’s spread love, not hate.’

“The Rev. Randy Johnson, pastor at First United Methodist Church: ‘As Christian leaders we have come to gather with our brothers and sisters who are Muslims on this day to say the work will continue. That peace is our goal and we will continue together to make this a community that is known throughout this nation as a community that never quits working for peace.’…”

The press conference isn’t the highest-profile item around, no surprise considering how much else has been happening, but it’s getting a bit of attention:

Some of the bad news is good news, sort of, from the ‘you’re known by the enemies you make’ viewpoint —

“…Jaylani Hussein, the executive director for the Minnesota chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, said central Minnesota has a history of anti-Muslim organizing. He pointed to a string of incidents dating back years, including visits by well-known anti-Muslim speakers and a recent billboard, eventually removed, that read ‘Catholic Charities Resettles Islamists, Evil or Insanity.’…”
(Associated press, via ABC News)

I don’t know which “Catholic Charities” the billboard folks had in mind. There’s Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud and of St. Paul and Minneapolis, among others.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, it was a complaint by the St. Cloud Catholic Charities that encouraged Franklin Outdoor to take the message down.

There’s an interesting conflict between freedom of expression, civic responsibility, and common sense involved: but I can’t say that I’m sorry to see that particular bit of anti-Catholic xenophobia gone.

Tolerance and Hope

Over the centuries, America’s government and has showed an increased tolerance of non-English, non-Protestant Americans.

I see that as a good thing, partly because many of my ancestors are of ‘low type.’2 I’m nearly half Irish.

Most Americans eventually realized that many if not most Irishmen were not violent drunkards with criminal tendencies.

I’m pretty sure that a century from now most of us will have gotten used to the descendants of today’s immigrants. And, most likely, a few will be upset about some other bunch of newcomers.

My hope is that folks with get-up-and-go will keep getting up and going: to America. I think we all benefit when folks add new ideas and fresh enthusiasm to America’s mix.

More of my take on:


(Image from Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)

1 On a poignant note — apparently the name Dahir, or Daahir, comes from a Somali word meaning “pure” or “religiously pure.”

My native culture was more apt to give girls names like Chastity or Katherine — which may or may not be from Αικατερινη. Tohar, טוֹהַר, apparently means “pure,” but I’ve never run into someone with that name.

2 I really do not miss the ‘good old days:’


(From The New York Times, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
((Some) help-wanted ad in The New York Times, 1854.)


(From H. Strickland Constable, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Allegedly-scientific reason for keeping ‘low types’ in our place.)

“The Iberians are believed to have been originally an African race, who thousands of years ago spread themselves through Spain over Western Europe. Their remains are found in the barrows, or burying places, in sundry parts of these countries. The skulls are of low prognathous type. They came to Ireland and mixed with the natives of the South and West, who themselves are supposed to have been of low type and descendants of savages of the Stone Age, who, in consequence of isolation from the rest of the world, had never been out-competed in the healthy struggle of life, and thus made way, according to the laws of nature, for superior races.”
(From “Ireland from One or Two Neglected Points of View,” H. Strickland Constable, 1899)

I used the Constable illustration last month. (August 26, 2016)

Posted in Being a Citizen, Being Catholic | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

SETI and Life’s Ladder

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Brian H. Gill

I’d be surprised if many folks took movies like “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers,” “Invaders from Mars,” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” seriously: as something other than entertainment, anyway.

All of which has about as much to do with space exploration, astronomy, and SETI, as “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” does with family counseling.

I’ll be talking about SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; the Fermi paradox; and whatever else comes to mind — but first, the Copernican principle, which arguably sounds cooler than the mediocrity principle.

That’s the idea that Earth isn’t the center of the universe, and that conditions here aren’t unique. One of these days I’ll probably talk about Anaximander and the Ptolmaic system, but not today.

I think Earth is special, for the same reason I think Minnesota is special. I live here.

But I also think we’ve been finding the same elements, and same physical laws, throughout the universe. We’ve also been learning that the universe has been changing since it started, some 13,799,000,000 years back, give or take.

So there’s some truth in the Copernican principle. Which makes the lack of space alien visitors remarkable.

Where is Everyone?

The Fermi paradox — both Enrico Fermi and Michael H. Hart raised the question, I don’t know why it’s named after Fermi — is a nifty name for the ‘where is everybody’ question.

It’s a reasonable question.

That’s because many of this galaxy‘s 100,000,000,000-plus stars have planets somewhat like Earth.

Some fraction of those planets may support life, which might lead to intelligent life. Some of those planets are billions of years older than Earth.

Folks who are anything like us could have sent interstellar probes here from the other side of the galaxy in about a million years. That’s a very short time, on a cosmic scale.1

A few of our spacecraft are already headed out of the Solar System, sending back data about conditions beyond the heliosphere.

If we had neighbors, and they’re anything like us, the assumption is that we’d have found at least the alien equivalent of 50-gallon oil drums and six-pack rings by now. We haven’t.

Folks have quite a few explanations for this lack of evidence, some more plausible then others:

  1. Extraterrestrial life is rare or non-existent
  2. We’re the only intelligent life
  3. Everybody else is low-tech
  4. Intelligent life
    • Destroys itself
    • Destroys other intelligent life
    • Gets killed by natural events
  5. We’re the first
  6. It’s a big universe
    • Intelligent civilizations are too far apart in space or time
    • The Galaxy is too big for us to meet each other
  7. We haven’t been around long enough
  8. We’re not listening properly
  9. Civilizations broadcast detectable radio signals only for a brief period of time
  10. Civilizations tend to isolate themselves
  11. The aliens are too alien
  12. Everyone is listening, no one is transmitting
  13. They’re avoiding us
    • We’re in a
      • Zoo
      • Wildlife preserve
      • Terrarium
    • They’re afraid of us
  14. They’re already here
    • And hiding
    • But the government/Big oil/Microsoft/The Illuminati won’t let us know

Like I keep saying, I don’t believe that life exists elsewhere in this universe, or that it does not. We don’t know, not yet.

If we do have neighbors, and we meet, I’m pretty sure that some folks will be upset, and that others will realize that the people from another world are — people.

That doesn’t mean that I think they’ll be particularly “human,” and that’s a topic for another post.

Scala Naturae: The Ladder of Nature

Depending on who’s talking, that’s a diagram of the scala naturae, ladder of nature/life, or chain of being.

It’s been around in one form or another for quite a while, and can be a handy way to categorize things.

Plato wrote about the father-son relationship; the nature of knowledge and opinion, perception and reality, nature and custom, and body and soul; and art.

He didn’t discuss cosmology much, although Pythagoras had called the order of the universe κόσμος, cosmos decades before Plato was born.

Alexander von Humboldt dusted the Pythagorean word off and used it as the title of his “Kosmos” about two dozen centuries later — and that’s another topic.

Plato did write about metaphysics and his theory of forms. That’s the idea popularized by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Maybe “popularized” is putting it a bit strongly, but my guess is that you’ve heard of Plato’s cave.

Skipping lightly over Aristotle, Plotinus, and Neoplatonism, which hasn’t been new since Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote “De libero arbitrio,” and that’s yet another topic.

Where was I? “Invaders from Mars,” the Fermi paradox, Plato’s theory of forms. Right.

Anyway, Neoplatonism includes a celestial hierarchy which arguably goes back to Aristotle’s idea of the The Great Chain of Being/Scala Naturae/Ladder of Life.

Sharing a Rung with Cousins

We’ve learned a great deal since Aristotle’s day, so these days we divide living creatures into domains and kingdoms, two of which are plants and animals; but I think the “ladder” model is good enough for this post.

Humans are animals, living creatures with a material body. But we’re not just animals.

Each of us is an animal with free will who can think; a ‘someone,’ not a ‘something.’ We can decide what we do or do not do. It’s being rational creatures that makes us “in the image of God.” (Genesis 1:27; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1700–1706, 1730, 1951)

Getting back to the “ladder,” we’re material creatures. In that way, we’re like rocks, plants, and animals. We’re also people: able to think and decide what we do.

If we meet folks who aren’t human, intelligent creatures made from the stuff of this universe, they’d be on the same ‘rung’ of the ladder as we are.

I think Brother Guy Consolmagno is right: they’d be so much like us, basically, that they’ll be more like cousins than “aliens.”2

More-or-less-related posts:

1 Lets see how many years ago a few key events happened:

  • 13,799,000,000 – universe starts
  • 4,540,000,000 – Earth forms
  • 4,100,000,000 – life starts on Earth
  • 2,600,000 – Oldowan stone tools made
  • 39 – Voyager 1 launched

Voyager 1 is currently about 20,200,000,000 kilometers from our sun, outward bound and still sending back data. That’s a tiny fraction of the distance to the nearest star. But if other folks were launching their first space probes while we were making our first stone chopping tools, today they could be using tech we’ll be developing 2,600,000 years from now. 2,600,000 years seems like a long time, but it’s less than one one-thousandth (26/45,400) Earth’s age.

2 From “Brother Astronomer;” Chapter Three, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? — Brother Guy Consolmagno (2000)

“…Frankly, if you think about it, any creatures on other planets, subject to the same laws of chemistry and physics as us, made of the same kinds of atoms, with an awareness and a will recognizably like ours would be at the very least our cousins in the cosmos. They would be so similar to us in all the essentials that I don’t think you’d even have the right to call them aliens.”
(Brother Guy Consolmagno)

Posted in Being Catholic | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

ESA’s Gaia, HD 164695, and SETI

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Brian H. Gill

Scientists working with ESA’s Gaia space observatory published the first part of a three-dimensional sky map this week. It’ll be the most comprehensive all-sky survey done so far.

Not unexpectedly, this year’s ‘ET calling’ headlines gave way to something slightly more down-to-Earth.

We may eventually pick up an artificial signal from the stars: but that burst of radio noise from the direction of HD 164695 was almost certainly due to a clerical error of sorts. It wasn’t our first false alarm, and I doubt it will be the last.

  1. Gaia’s Map Takes Shape
  2. False Dawns
  3. SETI and an Unregistered Satellite
  4. HD 164595, Speculation, Miscellany

Life in the Universe?

It’s among my favorite ‘flying saucer’ jokes. The lurid accounts of wrecked spaceships and alien autopsies at Area 51 are an elaborate cover story, concealing the installation’s true purpose: storing and analyzing a wrecked alien spaceship and its deceased crew.

My interest in SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, which doesn’t have much to do with the Roswell UFO incident, prompted me to participate in a highly-unscientific poll earlier this year.1 I was the 55,742th respondent.

The current results are about the same as they were then:

  • “Do you believe alien life exists elsewhere in the universe?”
    • Yes – We may not have found them yet, but they’re out there
      65% (145,192 votes)
    • No – Aliens are just part of science fiction
      20% (43,894 votes)
    • I’m not sure
      15% (32,726 votes)
      (Space.com)

I’m still in the 15% minority.

Maybe that seems odd, since the Bible doesn’t mention space aliens: and I’ll get back to that.

God’s God, I’m Not

I’m a Catholic, so I believe God is infinite and eternal, almighty and ineffable: beyond our power to describe or understand. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 202, 230)

I also believe that God is creating a good and ordered physical world; and that this universe is changing, in a state of journeying toward an ultimate perfection. (Catechism, 282–308)

Studying this immense and ancient creation honestly and methodically cannot interfere with an informed faith, because “the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God.” (Catechism, 159)

Whether or not we have neighbors isn’t, as I’ve said before, my decision. God’s God, I’m not, and I’m okay with that.

Astrobiology and Psalms 111:2

Before rambling on about HD 164695, radio signals, and space aliens, here’s how the Pontifical Academy of Sciences’ 2009 Study Week on Astrobiology2 booklet began — plus something from Psalms.

“…Among my Predecessors of venerable memory there were some who studied this science, such as Sylvester II who taught it, Gregory XIII to whom we owe our calendar, and St Pius X who knew how to build sundials. If the heavens, according to the Psalmist’s beautiful words, ‘are telling the glory of God’ (Ps 19[18]: 1), the laws of nature which over the course of centuries many men and women of science have enabled us to understand better are a great incentive to contemplate the works of the Lord with gratitude.
Benedict XVI, Angelus, St Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Advent, 21 December 2008

“Introduction
Prof. JONATHAN I. Lunine, chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee
Dr. José G. Funes, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory

“Astrobiology is the study of life’s relationship to the rest of the cosmos: its major themes include the origin of life and its precursor materials, the evolution of life on Earth, its future prospects on and off the Earth, and the occurrence of life elsewhere. Behind each of these themes is a multidisciplinary set of questions involving physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, planetology, and other fields, each of which connects more or less strongly to the central questions of astrobiology. Stimulated by new capabilities for scientific exploration on and off the Earth, astrobiology seems to be establishing itself as a distinct scientific endeavor….

“…Ultimately, much of the fascination of astrobiology comes from the question of whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds, and whether forms of life alien to our own in fact coexist with us – today – on our own home world. Session 8, Intelligence Elsewhere and Shadow Life, explores both these issues. The search for intelligent life elsewhere is being conducted by listening to the cosmos with radio telescopes in an effort to pick up a signal of inarguably artificial origin. A search for life with a biochemistry different from that of all the known life on Earth – what has been termed ‘shadow life’ – on our own planet is a fascinating possibility but one fraught with daunting difficulties.

“Astrobiology is an effort to use a diverse range of scientific techniques, focused on targets from the molecules in cells to the vast cosmos around us, to provide a deeper appreciation of humankind’s place in the cosmos. It is a recognition of the remarkable intricacies of all that is within and around us and a 21st century realization of the psalmist’s recommendation (Ps 111:2) to delight in its study….”
(“Study Week on Astrobiology,” Pontifical Academy of Sciences (November 6-10, 2009))

“Great are the works of the LORD, to be treasured for all their delights.”
(Psalms 111:2)

1. Gaia’s Map Takes Shape


(From ESA, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(“Gaia’s first sky map”
(ESA))

“Gaia space telescope plots a billion stars”
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (September 14, 2016)

“The most precise map of the night sky ever assembled is taking shape.

“Astronomers working on the Gaia space telescope are releasing a first tranche of data recording the position and brightness of over a billion stars.

“And for some two million of these objects, their distance and sideways motion across the heavens has also been accurately plotted.

“Gaia’s mapping effort is already unprecedented in scale, but it still has several years to run.

“Remarkably, scientists say the store of information even now is too big for them to sift, and they are appealing for the public’s help in making discoveries.

“A web portal has been opened where anyone can play with Gaia data and look for novel phenomena….”

The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission is a followup to their 1989-1993 Hipparcos mission that gave us the 118,218-entry Hipparcos Catalog.

If all goes well, the Gaia catalog will have around 1,000,000,000 entries: 1% of the Milky Way galaxy’s stars, give or take, plus thousands of Jupiter-sized exoplanets.

If the name Gaia sounds familiar, you know your ’90s cartoons. Whoopi Goldberg (1990-1993) and Margot Kidder (1993-1996) voiced Gaia, the anxious Earth-goddess in Captain Planet and the Planeteers.3

Getting back to the ESA’s space observatory, “Gaia” started an acronym: Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics. The original idea was that they’d use interferometry, measuring how light waves overlap.

They eventually decided that measuring stellar paralax, how much a star shifts position against more distant objects, was a better idea; but kept the “Gaia” name “to provide continuity with the project,” as ESA put it.

There’s an ESA’s Gaia resource link list near the end of this post.

2. False Dawns


(From BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(“The Allen Telescope Array, which has joined the search for possible alien radio signals”
(BBC News))

“The wrong turns and false dawns in Earth’s search for alien life in the universe”
Alex Partridge, BBC News (August 31, 2016)

“There was excitement this week when it emerged a Russian radio telescope had detected a strong signal coming from the direction of a star 95 light years away from Earth.

“Could alien life finally have been found?

“The signal was detected by the RATAN-600 telescope, in the town of Zelenchukskaya near the Georgian border, last May.

“At the time, the telescope was pointed in the direction of a star called HD 164695.

“It’s a similar size to our sun but is only known to have one gassy, Neptune-like planet orbiting it….”

I didn’t pay much attention to this ‘alien signal’ story at first, partly because it peaked in late August: along with other ‘silly season’ news.4

A few decades back, that would be when more than the usual quota of alien abduction and Elvis sighting stories would spill over from grocery checkout lines.

I might have ignored it entirely, but the headlines were starting to look interesting:

I didn’t know what to expect from the Forbes op-ed; and was less than impressed when Dr. Miller cited a science fiction novel, “The Three Body Problem,” as an authority.

Don’t get me wrong: I like science/speculative fiction, but realize that ‘good enough for a story’ ideas don’t necessarily work in real life.

Secrecy, Religious Polarization, and Phyllosilicate Minerals: a Digression

Dr. Miller figured this is what we could expect, if someone got solid evidence that we’ve got neighbors:

  1. Secrecy
    • for as long as it could be maintained
  2. Authoritarianism
    • An almost war footing for governments as they try to work through implications
  3. Religious polarization
    • The religious spectrum polarized more dramatically towards the poles
  4. Societal shift.
    • A shift in sciences, resurgence for evaluating cultural differences, language, humanities, and communications

I’m not sure what he meant by “evangelicals” in his discussion of “religious polarization.” If it’s his polite way of saying Bible thumpers, he’s probably right:

“….Not a complete shift, but more evangelicals, and more hard-core atheists. The people in those categories become more extreme; those in between are annoyed by them….”
(John L. Miller, via Forbes)

I put an excerpt from Dr. Miller’s piece, including an extended version of that list, near the end of this post.5

Some of that “polarization” popped up last summer, when “Earth 2.0,” Kepler-452b, was in the news. I’ve quoted this before. (July 29, 2016)

“Earth 2.0: Bad News for God”
Jeff Schweitzer, Huffington Post (July 23, 2015)

“…Let us be clear that the Bible is unambiguous about creation: the earth is the center of the universe, only humans were made in the image of god, and all life was created in six days. All life in all the heavens. In six days….”

From the tone of Dr. Schweitzer’s op-ed, I suspect that the only Christians he encountered were wholeheartedly convinced that their version of the Bible was literally, word-for-word, true.

Like I’ve said before, I’m a Catholic: so I must take Sacred Scripture seriously. It’s ‘Catholicism 101’ — and then some. (Catechism, 101–133)

But I don’t have to believe that the creation story in Genesis 1:1–2:4 and the one in Genesis 2:4–7 are both literally word-for-word true.

That’s just as well, or my faith would be threatened every time I see something other than phyllosilicate minerals — literal clay — when I check my blood sugar; and I’ve said that before. (July 15, 2016)

Martian Canals and a Microwave Oven

Alex Partridge — I’m back to the BBC News item now — skips lightly over Giovanni Schiaparelli’s observations of Mars and how “canali” became “canals.”

Percival Lowell had a lot to do with it, and I’m skipping lightly over the matter, too.

Partridge discusses three other “wrong turns and false dawns:” the 1977 “Wow! signal,” a radio signal detected at Ohio State U.’s Big Ear; a 17-year intermittent transmission from a break room’s microwave; and the whatsit around KIC 8462852.

He didn’t, however, mention 19th-century proposals for signalling Mars, Nikola Tesla, or PSR B1919+21 — and neither will I. Not today. I’m leaving that for another post.

3. SETI and an Unregistered Satellite


(From nat-geo.ru, via SETI Institute, used w/o permission.)
(“The RATAN-600 radio telescope”
(SETI Institute)

“A SETI Signal?”
Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer; SETI Institute (August 30, 2016; updated August 31, 2016)

“…The signal seems to have been discussed in a presentation given by several Russian astronomers as well as Italian researcher, Claudio Maccone, the chair of the International Academy of Astronautics Permanent SETI Committee. Maccone has recently sent an email to SETI scientists in which he describes this presentation, including the signal ascribed to star system HD 164595….

“…So what’s the bottom line? Could it be another society sending a signal our way? Of course, that’s possible. However, there are many other plausible explanations for this claimed transmission – including terrestrial interference. Without a confirmation of this signal, we can only say that it’s ‘interesting.’ “

My hat’s off to the SETI Institute for that ‘wait and see’ attitude.

It looks like the signal did come from space: but wasn’t sent by space aliens.

Director of the Institute of Applied Astronomy at the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Ipatov explained that the RATAN-600 radio telescope had been pointed at HD 164595 and an unregistered Soviet-era satellite when that signal came in.

“…’We, indeed, discovered an unusual signal. However, an additional check showed that it was emanating from a Soviet military satellite, which had not been entered into any of the catalogs of celestial bodies,’ Ipatov said….”
(Tass (August 30, 2016), quoted by the SETI Institute)

If this was a science fiction story, we’d be in Dr. Miller’s first and second stages now: secrecy and authoritarianism. I’ve enjoyed yarns like that, but think Ipatov is probably right.

Various nations launched roughly 6,600 satellites since Sputnik 1 went up. A little over half are still in orbit, and about 1,000 are still in operation.

One of the Soviet Union’s military satellites, with its transmitter switched on, crossing in front of HD 164595, seems likely enough. The folks at RATAN-600 would, ideally, have known about every satellite ever launched; but we don’t live in an ideal world.

HD 164595 is a great deal like our sun: spectral type is G2V D, compared to our star’s G2V; with pretty close to the same temperature, mass, and metallicity. That last item, metallicity, is the fraction of its mass that’s not hydrogen or helium.

HD 164595’s single known planet, HD 164595 b, isn’t particularly Earth-like.

Its year is about 960 hours long, roughly 40 days; the planet’s mass is 16.14 times Earth’s, give or take; and the temperature is right around 5,790K: over 9,900 degrees Fahrenheit, 5,500 Celsius. That’s almost hot enough to boil tungsten.

There could be an Earth-like planet farther out, but no: this does not look like a ‘first contact’ situation.

4. HD 164595, Speculation, Miscellany


(From ESO, via CNN News, used w/o permission.)
(“Mysterious signal not from aliens, scientists say”
(CNN))

“Hear me now? ‘Strong signal’ from sun-like star sparks alien speculation”
James Griffiths, CNN (August 30, 2016)

“Astronomers engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are training their instruments on a star around 94 light years from Earth after a very strong signal was detected by a Russian telescope.

“An international team of researchers is now examining the radio signal and its star, HD 164595 — described in a paper by Italian astronomer Claudio Maccone and others as a ‘strong candidate for SETI’ — in the hopes of determining its origin.

” ‘The signal from HD 164595 is intriguing, because it comes from the vicinity of a sun-like star, and if it’s artificial, its strength is great enough that it was clearly made by a civilization with capabilities beyond those of humankind,’ astronomer Douglas Vakoch, president of METI International, which searches for life beyond Earth, tells CNN….”

The article also quotes Vakoch on the odds that this was a signal from the stars:

“…’Without corroboration from an independent observatory, a putative signal from extraterrestrials doesn’t have a lot of credibility,’…

“…’the greatest limitation of the May 2015 signal is that it hasn’t been replicated. Before we can give any credence to a signal as coming from extraterrestrials, we need to see it repeatedly to make sure it wasn’t just a transient phenomenon.’

” ‘It deserves at least a few hours of observing time by SETI researchers at other locations to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity to make first contact, however remote.’…”
(James Griffiths, CNN)

He also mentioned gravitational lensing, where light from a distant source gets focused when it passes by a closer mass. Like I said about the SETI Institute, my hat’s off for METI’s ‘wait and see’ attitude.

Neither outfit was just waiting, though. METI and SETI International were making followup observations of HD 164595 at the Optical SETI Observatory, and Allen Telescope Array: with no positive results.

If that two-second pulse — the chart is from Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams, via Wikimedia Commons — had come from near HD 164595, the transmitter would have been very powerful.

That’s what fueled speculation that it was an “isotropic beacon from a Type II civilisation.” (Wikipedia)

An isotropic beacon is, or would be, a transmitter that sends an unmodulated signal in all directions. Folks who could tap a star’s energy output, all of it, to broadcast static might use one to get attention.

That strikes me as a remarkably inefficient use of resources.

Which gets me to Type II civilizations and the Kardashev scale.

The Kardashev Scale and Pheromone Trails

Astronomer Nikolai Kardeshev came up with it in 1964, and it’s been extended since then.

I agree with folks who say the Kardashev scale isn’t universally useful because folks who aren’t human — may not act like us.

On the other hand, it’s a handy way to think about what sort of civilizations could exist. Kardeshev’s scale sorts hypothetical civilizations by how much energy they can store and use:

  • Type I
    All energy reaching their planet from their sun
  • Type II
    Energy of the entire star
  • Type III civilization
    Energy on the scale of its entire host galaxy

On this scale, we’re working our way up to Type I.

Then there’s XKCD’s commentary on our efforts to find intelligent life in the universe.

More of my take on:

In case you haven’t had enough of SETI, exoplanets, and all that, I put a sincerely-excessive number of resources in a ‘background‘ link list at the end of this post.

1 That’s the “Starshot, SETI, and the Universe” post, back on Blogger. (April 15, 2016)

The ‘do you believe’ poll was under Still Searching for Neighbors — “Belief in Extraterrestrial Life:” Certainty, Uncertainty, and Religious Affiliation, and here’s a link to the article that got me started:

2 Extraterrestrial life, science, and the Vatican:

3 Gaia is also the ancient Greek version of Mother Earth, and Gaianism is what happened when 20th-century environmentalism got mixed up with New Age grooviness.

I’m a Catholic, so I see letting anything — money, politics, pleasure, family, fame, whatever — except God take first place in my priorities as a bad idea. (Catechism, 1723, 2112–2114, 2289, 2424)

That said, I live on Earth, so enlightened self-interest dictates a reasoned concern over this planet’s condition. On top of that, we’re this world’s stewards, responsible for managing the place: using this world’s resources wisely, showing concern for our neighbors and future generations. (Catechism, 339, 952, 2402–2405, 2415, 2456)

I talked about sane environmentalism last month. (August 12, 2016)

4 ‘Silly season:’ the later part of summer, when newsworthy events are generally few and far between; in the English-speaking northern hemisphere of Earth, anyway.

5 Excerpt from Dr. Miller’s op-ed:

“…The implications of realizing we’re not alone in the universe would go something like this, I think:

“1. Secrecy, for as long as it could be maintained. People blissfully unaware, and no change to our lives.

“2. Authoritarianism. An almost war footing for governments as they try to work through implications. Similar impact on people’s liberties as being at war, as resources are diverted to figure out what it means, and others take advantage of that diversion of resources.

“3. Religious polarization. The religious spectrum polarized more dramatically towards the poles. Not a complete shift, but more evangelicals, and more hard-core atheists. The people in those categories become more extreme; those in between are annoyed by them.

“4. Societal shift. A shift in sciences, resurgence for evaluating cultural differences, language, humanities, and communications. Other ‘hard’ sciences get reduced. Again, this affects those in those disciplines.

“Ah, but that wasn’t the question. For the average person, I think life would trundle on. It’s like a building toppling over next door. You stop, you stare, you’re amazed. Then you move on. Maybe your life is a little different, a little less convenient, but a million details are still the same….”
(John L. Miller, on Quora, via Forbes)

ESA’s Gaia:

Background, more than you may want to know about about:

Posted in Science News | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Love, Mercy, and 9/11

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Brian H. Gill

Airliners were flown into New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon 15 years ago today, killing nearly 3,000 folks whose chief offense had been living in an American city and going to work Tuesday morning.

The 19 immediately responsible died with their victims. They were waging Osama bin Laden’s religious war against the United States.

Osama bin Laden is dead now, and so are a great many others: perpetrators and victims; Christians, Muslims, and folks who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On top of that, about 1,800,000 folks were stopped last year, while trying to get into Europe. Some may have had ulterior motives; but most were trying to stay alive, fleeing because their former homes had become a war zone.

It’s the biggest problem of that sort Europe’s had since the 1940s. Quite a few folks are upset: partly because most of the refugees hadn’t had opportunities to fill out all their paperwork before entering Europe.

The “European migrant crisis” is anything but simple.1

My family and I aren’t as far-removed from the situation as it might seem.

The regional economy here in central Minnesota includes a fair number of jobs that require no language skills or previous experience: so quite a few immigrants find their way here, despite the climate.

How I feel about that involves stories about sheep, a lost coin, and a playboy.

Living the High Life – – –

Today’s Gospel reading is a longer version of what we heard back on March 6.2 Both start in the same place:

“1 The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him,

“but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

“So to them he addressed this parable.”
(Luke 15:1–3)

The rest of Luke 15:1–32 is the familiar parable of the lost sheep, coin, and son; three mini-stories with the same message.

The ‘prodigal son’ story has inspired a mess of creative works, including a painting by Rembrandt, an oratorio by Arthur Sullivan, a movie starring Lana Turner, and a track on Kid Rock’s The Polyfuze Method album.

Yet another — mercifully short — retelling shouldn’t hurt. Feel free to skip over the next few paragraphs.

The younger son asks for his share of the family fortune, gets it, moves to “a distant country” and lives the high life.

Luke doesn’t say, but I figure the sons are probably ‘college age:’ 18-25, which you couldn’t pay me to go through again.3

– – – Until the Money Runs Out

Then his money runs out and a famine hits.

The good news is that he doesn’t starve. The not-so-good news is that the only position available is swineherd: low status, bad work environment, and worse pay.

That’s when he has a eureka moment:

“Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.

“I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

“I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” ‘ ”
(Luke 15:17–19)

You know the rest: the father runs to greet him, orders an extravagant feast, and tries to calm down his older son — who’s understandably piqued. (Luke 15:31–Luke 15:32)

Before talking about sinners, immigrants, and mercy, I’d better talk about sin.

Sin, Sinners, and Me

I sin when I decide that I’ll do something I know is bad for myself, or others: or decide to not do something I should. It’s an offense against reason, truth, and God. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1849–1864)

That happens whenever I don’t love God, love my neighbors, see everybody as my neighbor, and treat others as I want to be treated. (Matthew 5:43–44, 7:12, 22:36–40, Mark 12:28–31; Luke 6:31 10:25–27, 29–37)

Happily, acting like the post-swineherd prodigal son is an option as long as I’m alive. (Catechism, 976–983, 1442–1470, 1021, 1988)

“Love” isn’t “approval,” and I’ll get back to that.

Maybe it’d be simpler if humanity was split into the “righteous” and “sinners:” but that’s not how it is.

I’m a sinner, since I occasionally offend reason, truth, and God.

That doesn’t mean God made a horrible mistake when creating this world and me.

The universe is basically good, and so is every person, including you and me — basically. (Genesis 1:31; Catechism, 31, 299, 355)

Something obviously went wrong, but it wasn’t a design flaw.

We are rational creatures who can decide what we do, like angels. Unlike angels, we are also material creatures: spiritual beings with a body made from the stuff of this world. (Catechism, 311, 325–348, 1704, 1730–1731)

Having a body isn’t the problem, by the way. Satan, like all angels, has no body. That didn’t stop Satan and other angels from saying “no” to God. (Catechism, 385–395)

Since I’m a Catholic, I see original sin as the lasting consequences of a really bad decision.4

Love and Moderation

I also must see human beings as people: all human beings.

Genesis 1:27 says we’re made “in the divine image.”

We are rational and therefore like God, made in the image and likeness of God; created with free will, masters over our actions. (Catechism, 1730–1825)

All humans are people, with equal dignity: no matter where we are, who we are, or how we act. (Catechism, 360, 1700–1706, 1932–1933, 1935)

That includes the 9/11 hijackers.

Thinking that they’re people, with the dignity due to any human being, doesn’t mean I must approve of what they did.

They deliberately killed a few thousand folks, including themselves. They apparently agreed with Osama bin Laden, that Americans should be killed because our government wasn’t doing what bin Laden wanted.

I don’t approve of everything my government does: but killing office workers isn’t a reasonable response.

Murder, deliberately killing an innocent person, is wrong because human life is sacred. (Catechism, 2258, 2268–2283)

Killing my neighbor is wrong; even if I don’t like the color he painted his house, his political views, or how he worships.

Okay, let’s say killing innocent people is wrong: but what about not-innocent people?

Let’s say my neighbor goes nuts and tries to kill me and my family. Loving my neighbor doesn’t extend to passively accepting death at my neighbor’s hands.

I’m allowed to avoid or resist the attack; using the least force necessary. The same principle applies to groups of people. (2263–2267, 2307–2317)

“Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:

If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. … Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one’s own life than of another’s.66“

(Catechism, 2264)

Like I said, the basics are simple: I must love God, my neighbor, and myself.

Applying those simple principles: that’s where it gets tricky, which gets me back refugees, immigrants, and other “strangers.”

America’s consumer spending per household is the second-highest in the world. This is not a poor country.

I think so many folks try to move here because we’re still one of the better places to raise a family.

I don’t see immigrants as a problem, partly because all of my ancestors are immigrants.

Even if I did, I couldn’t: or shouldn’t. Not if I’m going to take my faith seriously. (Catechism, 2241)

Besides: the repentant son and the loving father in that parable seem like better role models than the older brother.

The idea of treating folks who moved into the neighborhood from another country the same way we treat old neighbors isn’t particularly new. It’s also what we’re supposed to do. (Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33–34; Matthew 25:35)

Maybe that sounds nice, but why should I care?

Backing up a bit, I follow Jesus — who set a very high standard; dying for my sake, and yours.5

The Best News Ever

God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (Matthew 5:45; John 1:12–14, 3:17; Romans 8:14–17; Peter 1:3–4; Catechism, 1, 27–30, 52, 1825, 1996)

This is the best news humanity’s ever had.

However, accepting God’s mercy is an option. We can say “no” and walk away. Each of us has free will. (Catechism, 311, 396, 1021–1022, 1704)

I decided that accepting God’s offer made sense, so acting like a member if the family seems reasonable: to me, anyway.

Admitting my faults — and forgiving others — is vital. (Catechism, 1847, 2840)

More about forgiveness and alternatives:

“11 If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

“But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
(Matthew 6:14–15)

“1 2 ‘Stop judging, that you may not be judged.

“For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”
(Matthew 7:1–2)

“1 Therefore, you are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. 2 For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the very same things. … There is no partiality with God.”
(Romans 2:1–11)

Forgiving others and showing mercy does not mean being stupid.

We can decide that what someone does is a “grave offense,” responding with charity and justice. (Catechism, 1861, 1928–1942, 2197–2246, 2401)

And we must trust God’s justice and mercy for what happens to them — and each of us — in the long run. (Catechism, 1861, 1928–1942)

More of my take on acting like God matters:

1 A little background:

2 Gospel reading for March 6, 2016; the fourth Sunday in Lent:

And see:

3 The 18-25 demographic, a little background:

4 Definitions:

“CONCUPISCENCE: Human appetites or desires which remain disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even after Baptism, and which produce an inclination to sin (1264, 1426, 2515).

“ORIGINAL SIN: The sin by which the first human beings disobeyed the commandment of God, choosing to follow their own will rather than God’s will. As a consequence they lost the grace of original holiness, and became subject to the law of death; sin became universally present in the world. Besides the personal sin of Adam and Eve, original sin describes the fallen state of human nature which affects every person born into the world, and from which Christ, the ‘new Adam,’ came to redeem us (396–412).

“SIN: An offense against God as well as a fault against reason, truth, and right conscience. Sin is a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God. In judging the gravity of sin, it is customary to distinguish between mortal and venial sins (1849, 1853, 1854).”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary)

It’s a big deal:

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,

“that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”
(Matthew 5:44–45)

“And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ”
(Matthew 25:40)

“Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life.”
(Romans 5:10)

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