Chapter 1.

Were Plato and Aristotle right about life?

In the vast expanse of space, beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the orbit of the Moon, lies an enigmatic barrier. A barrier that has been a subject of philosophical debate for thousands of years. Philosophers Plato and Aristotle believed that life beyond the Moon was impossible, as they saw it as a boundary between the realm of life and the realm of permanence.

Today, humans dream of flying off into space to explore the universe. Popular culture, from Star Trek to modern space exploration initiatives, has ingrained the idea that we can travel freely through the cosmos, as if we are fundamentally independent of our solar system. But what if Plato and Aristotle were right?

If life is bound to a region around the Sun, the implications would be staggering. Humanity might be unable to travel to distant stars or galaxies. Instead of attempting to escape Earth, we might need to focus our efforts on protecting our planet and the Sun itself as the very source of life. This realization could fundamentally reshape our understanding of our place in the universe and our responsibilities as inhabitants of Earth.

Can humans travel beyond the Moon and reach the stars? Is it possible for Earth's organic life to exist on Mars?

Let's explore this question using philosophy, a discipline that has long grappled with humanity's deepest questions about existence and our place in the cosmos.

Chapter 2.

About The Author

The author, founder of 🦋 GMODebate.org, began his philosophical journey around 2006 through the Dutch critical blog 🦋Zielenknijper.com. His initial focus was an investigation into what he categorized as the free will abolishment movement. This early work laid the foundation for a broader exploration of philosophical issues related to eugenics, science, morality, and the nature of life itself.

In 2021, the author developed a groundbreaking new theory about the source of life. This theory proposes that the source of life cannot be contained within either ¹) the bodily individual or ²) externality and must reside in a context Other than what existed (beginning-less infinity). This innovative perspective emerged from an interaction with renowned philosophy professor Daniel C. Dennett in an online forum discussion titled Consciousness without a brain.

This philosophical breakthrough led the author to a simple yet profound question:

How far away from Earth has life traveled in space?

To the author's astonishment, he discovered that no form of Earth life, including animals, plants, or microbes, has ever been scientifically tested or sent beyond the Moon. This revelation was shocking, given the major investments into space travel and plans to send humans to Mars. How could science have neglected to test whether life can survive farther from the Sun?

Chapter 3.

Mystery

Why didn't science test whether life can travel beyond the Moon?

The mystery deepened when the author discovered that Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle had predicted that life is restricted to a sublunary sphere below the Moon. Their theory suggests the possibility that life may not be able to exist in the superlunary sphere beyond the Moon.

Could Plato and Aristotle have been onto something? The fact that this question cannot be dismissed even in 2024 is remarkable.

Chapter 4.

A Key Part of The History of Science

The theory of Plato and Aristotle has played a pivotal role in the history of science. The scientific revolution, in many ways, was a revolt against the idea that life cannot exist beyond the Moon. This concept lay at the foundation of the transition from Aristotelian physics to modern scientific theories.

Francis Bacon, a key figure in the scientific revolution, rejected the Aristotelian distinction between the sublunary and superlunary spheres. Philosopher Giordano Bruno also sought to discredit the division between sublunary and superlunary regions. The distinction between these spheres was further challenged by the development of new scientific theories and discoveries, such as the work of Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills.

The persistence of Plato and Aristotle's theory throughout scientific history underscores its significance. It raises the question: why hasn't modern science tested whether life can travel beyond the Moon, especially now that we have the technological capability to do so?

Chapter 5.

Exile For Questioning Beliefs

Throughout history, philosophers and scientists such as Socrates, Anaxagoras, Aristotle, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Baruch Spinoza, and Albert Einstein have faced exile for their unwavering loyalty to truth and their pursuit of knowledge that challenged prevailing beliefs and norms, with some, like Anaxagoras, being exiled for asserting that the Moon was a rock, and others, like Socrates, being sentenced to death for questioning the established religious and social order.

Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for questioning the Sublunary theory of Plato and Aristotle.

Giordano Bruno\'s Universe 18th century woodcut depicting Bruno's dreams beyond the classical universe.

Virgil (Aeneid, VI.724–727) had described the super- and sublunary regions as animated from within by spiritus, which Giordano Bruno identified in this context with the Universal Soul, and added that they were moved by a Mind diffused throughout their vast mass.

Giordano Bruno was a Renaissance philosopher who questioned the dominant Aristotelian view and proposed an elemental theory that contradicted the Sublunary theory of Aristotle. The Roman Inquisition burned him at the stake for his unorthodox beliefs.

The author of 🦋 GMODebate.org has experienced modern forms of exile for questioning sensitive topics. He has been banned often, for example for discussing plant sentience or for criticizing the Big Bang theory. These banishments have even extended to his business and private life, including a mysterious WordPress plugin ban and the Moss Ball ban story.

Chapter 5.2.

Banned For Questioning The Big Bang Theory

In June 2021, the author was banned on Space.com for questioning the Big Bang theory. The post discussed recently discovered papers by Albert Einstein that challenged the theory.

Mysteriously lost papers by Albert Einstein that he submitted to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin were found in Jerusalem in 2013...

(2023) Getting Einstein to Say I Was Wrong Source: onlinephilosophyclub.com

The post, which discussed the growing perception among some scientists that the Big Bang theory has taken on religious-like status, had garnered several thoughtful responses. However, it was abruptly deleted rather than simply closed, as is the usual practice on Space.com. This unusual action raised questions about the motivations behind its removal.

The moderator's own statement, This thread has run its course. Thank you to those who contributed. Closing now, paradoxically announced a closure while actually deleting the entire thread. When the author later communicated a polite disagreement with this deletion, the response was even more severe - their entire Space.com account was banned and all previous posts were erased, suggesting a concerning intolerance for scientific debate on the platform.

Well-known science writer Eric J. Lerner wrote an article in 2022 in which he said:

“It has become almost impossible to publish papers critical of the Big Bang in any astronomical journals.”

(2022) The Big Bang didn't happen Source: The Institute of Art and Ideas

Academics are barred from doing certain research, which includes criticizing the Big Bang theory.

Chapter 5.3.

Censored On Other Platforms

This pattern of censorship extends beyond just one platform. The author's attempts to discuss his new theory of the source of life has been met with resistance on various forums and academic platforms.

For example, a related philosophical question on philosophy.stackexchange.com, regarding the idea that life on Earth might be tied to Solar-neutrino energy from the 🌞 Sun, was closed almost instantly, as being ‘off-topic’.

Chapter 6.

Materialism

The Western intellectual establishment has largely embraced materialism, dismissing older philosophical metaphysics as relics of superstitious times. This materialist worldview has profound implications for our understanding of life and its relationship to the cosmos.

In 2020, philosopher Dr. Bernardo Kastrup wrote a critical article titled Materialism will be mocked in which he argued that materialism has been developed and maintained through deception and trickery.

In truth, materialism has survived thus far not because of magic, but because of tricks.

The idea that life is fundamentally independent of the Solar System has been culturally ingrained through science fiction and popular media. This has led many to believe that humans, as independent biochemical bundles of matter, can freely travel through the cosmos. But what if this assumption is fundamentally flawed?

Dr. Bernardo Kastrup wrote the following about the potential influence of a cultural momentum to misguide science:

Today we think that materialism is plausible, by mere force of habit and inherited cultural momentum...

Could a dogmatic belief in materialism explain why science has neglected to perform a simple test of life's ability to exist beyond the Moon?

Chapter 6.1.

Scientism

While materialism plays a significant role in shaping our understanding of life and the cosmos, it is not the root cause of science's potential misguidance. Rather, materialism is an effect of a broader ideological movement known as scientism.

Scientism elevates scientific knowledge above all other forms of understanding, including philosophical and moral considerations. This ideology has been gaining momentum for over a century, resulting in the suppression of philosophy and its relegation to a status comparable with religion.

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) in Beyond Good and Evil (Chapter 6 – We Scholars) already warned about the start of the development in 1886.

The declaration of independence of the scientific man, his emancipation from philosophy, is one of the subtler after-effects of democratic organization and disorganization: the self- glorification and self-conceitedness of the learned man is now everywhere in full bloom, and in its best springtime – which does not mean to imply that in this case self-praise smells sweet. Here also the instinct of the populace cries, “Freedom from all masters!” and after science has, with the happiest results, resisted theology, whose “hand-maid” it had been too long, it now proposes in its wantonness and indiscretion to lay down laws for philosophy, and in its turn to play the “master” – what am I saying! to play the PHILOSOPHER on its own account.

Science has been attempting to rid itself of philosophy and morality, a process Nietzsche aptly termed an attempt to emancipate science from philosophy.

For readers interested in a deeper exploration of scientism and the emancipation of science from philosophy movement, a comprehensive philosophical investigation is available in a chapter of the eugenics article on 🦋 GMODebate.org.

(2024) Science and the Attempt to Break Free from Morality Source: 🦋 GMODebate.org

In a world governed by scientism, the pursuit of scientific progress becomes the highest good, potentially at the expense of moral considerations. This shift results in a deterministic worldview without free will.

A growing chorus of scientists and philosophers argue that free will does not exist. Could they be right? By far the most unsettling implication of the case against free will is what it says about morality...

(2021) The clockwork universe: is free will an illusion? Source: The Guardian

In a world where morality is fundamentally abolished and the interests of science are elevated as the highest good, corruption naturally emerges as an ethical means for strategic progress and advantage.

Given the likelihood that science has attempted to send life beyond the Moon, potentially discovering its inability to survive, a troubling question arises: Could the scientific establishment have chosen to deceive humanity all these years, engaging in dogmatic corruption as part of a calculated effort to divert humanity from religious beliefs? This deception may stem from a stubborn adherence to scientism, coupled with the hope that future discoveries might eventually explain why life cannot travel beyond the Moon.

Chapter 7.

Conclusion

If life is bound to a region around the 🌞 Sun, humanity's understanding of nature, reality, and space travel would be fundamentally flawed. This realization calls for new philosophical thinking to guide humanity on a path forward for progress and survival. Instead of attempting to escape the Earth, humanity might better invest in protecting the Earth and potentially also the Sun as the source of life.

Why, after all these decades, has science neglected to test if life can travel beyond the Moon? What if Plato and Aristotle were right - and the Moon marks a barrier that life cannot cross?

Chapter 8.

Update 2024

Since 2021, three years ago, this article has been prominently promoted in over 99 languages on a website for clean mobility that is visited by people from over 200 countries per week on average.

Strangely, nothing changed.

GPT-4: no form of Earth life, including animals, plants, or microbes, has been scientifically tested or sent beyond the Moon.

In December 2023, Iran sent a special capsule with unknown animals into space. Will Iran be the first to do the scientific test?

(2023) Iran has sent a capsule carrying animals into space Source: Al Jazeera

The persistence of this unanswered question, even in 2024, underscores the ongoing relevance of philosophical inquiry in the age of advanced science and technology.

eBook Collection

This eBook is part of a series of free publications from 🦋 GMODebate.org that delve into closely related topics. Other eBooks in the series explore the philosophical underpinnings of eugenics, scientism, the broader emancipation-of-science from philosophy movement, the anti-science narrative, and modern forms of scientific inquisition.

📲 (2024) Free Philosophy eBook Collection Source: 🦋 GMODebate.org

Printed on August 7, 2024

plant GMO Debate A critical perspective on eugenics

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