Executive Intelligence Review
Subscribe to EIW This article appears in the October 22, 2010 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

The View from the Galaxy:
Science from the Top, Down

by Michelle Fuchs

[PDF version of this article]

Oct. 16—Get off your couch. In fact, leave your house, fly up off the Earth and out of its atmosphere, and don't stop until you've exited our lowly little Solar System and entered into the real universe known as cosmic space. As presented in the new LPAC-TV feature, "Our Extraterrestrial Imperative 2: Cosmic Rays," it is only when you have taken this journey beyond your senses, and what you think you know about the world around you, that real science can begin.

A scientific revolution was launched last week with the release of the video, which presents the hypothesis of the galactic processes that influence and shape the development of life on our planet. The video begins by taking the viewer back in time, asking the question of how and why different species of life enter and exit the stage of planetary history in measurable cycles of increase and decrease. These cycles also participate in the longer-term process of upward evolutionary progress. Then, in the search for the cause, the video proceeds to take the viewer from the domain of the very large, to the very small.

First you, the viewer, explore the galaxy from the outside, from a God's-eye view of the proceedings, where it is shown that our Solar System is only a tiny object in our galaxy, both bobbing up and down, and swimming in and out of its spiral arms. You see that the cycles of changes in life on Earth correlate with the cycles of exposure to cosmic radiation that the Solar System experiences, as it makes its way through the galaxy.

From there, you are taken into the very small—into the domain of the potential effects of radiation on life itself. Animated experimental subjects, including oysters, potatoes, fiddler crabs, and onions, all become test subjects that show effects of this cosmic radiation. A consistent theme through the presentation is the role of "weak forces," like cosmic radiation—or, analogously, an effective, but small-numbered political movement—which appear to be weak forces, but are, in reality, dominant factors in the development of the universe. The universe is constantly in a process of development, constantly self-creating. Another less apparent theme is the role that mankind plays as a co-creator in the universe, participating consciously in the universe's process of self-development.

While this written explanation of the video can give a sketch of facts of the presentation, the effect of the video cannot be replicated in print. With the aid of animation, the video's viewer is brought through the experience of a genuine scientific investigation, from the posing of a scientific paradox, to the implied resolutions to that paradox. This includes seeing phenomena which are not visible to the human eye. For example, the experience of soaring outside the galaxy, and seeing the entire Solar System wend its way through a much larger and more complex system, is not replicable on paper. Nor is the fun of hearing the clacking of oyster shells or the quick-breathing of potatoes, as they react to their changing environments.

So take both this preface and the following script as merely a shadowy foretaste of what has been produced in "Our Extraterrestrial Imperative 2." And watch this video as soon as possible.