From Where To Where

From the time humans became sentient, we have been driven by two basic questions: where did we come from, and where does our journey as a species end? Many different answers have been presented over the centuries, from I couldn't care less because there is nothing I can do about it anyway, next is, it’s all part of God’s master plan and he’ll reveal it to us when he feels we’re ready, and finally, science and logic will find the answers.

Dan was raised in the God camp and was a fervent believer until, after reaching his mid-teens, various events mentioned in the bible didn’t make sense to his logical mind. If Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth, then how was Lilith, Adam's first wife? When Cain was kicked out of Eden, why was Eve concerned for his safety? Because bad people are living outside the garden who might do him harm? How was it possible that Noah’s ark, which was approximately the same size as a modern yacht, was able to fit all of Earth's land-dwelling animals on board along with enough food for forty days and stay afloat? These were only a few of the bible's many incongruities that Dan’s logical mind refused to accept. The word, miracle, to him meant “copout” because logic rejected the religious explanation.

Science had to be where he could find true logical answers for the two questions: how did we get here, and where are we heading? Dan spent much of his free time combing through scientific journals and listening to recorded lectures on both subjects, and although some of the works were interesting, none were definitive.

The theory that seemed most believable came from the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (500-428BCE), called Panspermia. It claims that microscopic seeds of life travel throughout the universe by means of solar winds and on meteors. When these microspores land on a planet that can support life, they germinate and eventually combine to form advanced life forms. Charles Darwin’s Theories of Evolution and Natural Selection seemed to be derived from Panspermia.

The more Dan investigated the two questions, the more convinced he was that the answers would come from the answer to an additional question: “Where did these ancient people actually come from?” Were these highly intelligent people actually from Greece, Egypt, Persia, China, and Rome, or did their home world merely drop them off in those locations with a mandate to build a new world? If he could find the answer to that question, he would have the answer to where we came from.

If Dan were able to prove his theory, how would it affect the world’s many diverse societies? Of course, the people who say, “I couldn't care less because it doesn’t change my life,” there will be no effect whatsoever. The societies affected the most by Dan’s theory will be the ones based on religion. Everything they have been taught, from creation to heaven and hell, is false. Wars are likely to be fought over the validity of his theory rather than admitting what they were taught was wrong. The business and political communities won’t care as long as there is a way to make money from the theory.

That leaves the scientific communities. Their response will most likely be, "You’ve only solved half of the problem." Dan’s answer will most likely be something like this. "Think of the universe as a vast billiard table with the planets as balls and the stars as Q-balls. As they become supernovas and explode, they will, in turn, send parts of themselves into the planets that surround them. Those planets become the vehicles that will carry whatever life forms they have to the other planets they crash into. Hence, the theory of Panspermia. That’s the answer to the second question, “Where are we going?” It’s just one huge loop.