The Conscious Universe

The average guy on the street doesn’t think about the “Big Bang”, quantum physics, or what twisted mood the Creator must have been in to whip up the warped little Universe we live in. Frankly, most of us are busy trying to keep enough money in the bank, the government out of our pockets and figuring out why our kid just has to have a nose ring. We haven’t got the time or inclination to speculate technically on why the Universe is the way it is.

Spaceport America In New Mexico To Open 2011

 

Governor Bill Richardson and Virgin
Galactic CEO Richard Branson

Welcome to Spaceport America fellow intrepid voyagers. Located near White Sands New Mexico, this world class, dare I say out of this world class facility, is slated to open for business sometime later this year. What kind of business? Space business.

Touted as "the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport", Spaceport America will provide launch facilities to support for-profit space enterprises, sub orbit (planning on low-orbit) tourism and hospitality. Wow. In our lifetime.


The initial construction ground breaking ceremony took place on June 19, 2009, culminating almost two decades of work to promote the commercialization of space by building a government licensed, but private launch facility outside of the provincial confines of NASA's Cape Canaveral located on the Florida coast.



Construction is due for completion in 2011

 The initial proposal for a commercial space facility was submitted by Dr. Burton Lee, of Stanford University back in 1990. He also wrote the initial business and strategic plans to obtain a 1.4 million dollar congressional earmark as seed money for studying and subsequently stumping for a federal land grant located in New Mexico near the US Army's White Sands Missile Test Range. Which is a mere 130 or so miles from the infamous alien spaceship crash site at Roswell New Mexico. Coincidence? I think not!

Governor Bill Richardson soon after convinced the X-Prize Foundation to move to New Mexico and shortly after landed the real prize by getting entertainment and airline mogul Richard Branson to relocate his Virgin Galactic company headquarters to the facility as well.

Proposed Spaceport Passenger Terminal

The finished site will rest on approximately 27 square miles of federal land, with almost 15 acres of combined facilities space: terminal and smaller aircraft hangars, support along with administrative offices for Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, a double-height hangar for housing the WhiteKnight Two and SpaceShipTwo crafts.

In addition, they will provide a primary operational training area, departure lounge, spacesuit dressing rooms, and celebration areas, on site restaurant and a mission control room with commanding views across the concrete apron and the 10,000 runway beyond.

SpaceShip Two in low orbit

Thus far, Virgin Galactic has accepted 370 reservations for suborbital trips, and collected $50 million in deposits. The company is planning on the maiden launch of its first flight in 2011 from Spaceport America. Book your tickets on Virgin Galactic's ticketing page!

And if $200,000 per ticket sounds a little steep to you, compare that to NASA's current ticket price of $20M. But after all, NASA gives you the full shuttle experience, multiple Earth orbits and spacefood! Whereas the Virgin Galactic experience would be more like the ultimate roller coaster ride into low Earth orbit and back. But, good news! They might be serving Tang as their in flight beverage!

X-Prize

Virgin Galactic

Spaceport America

A New Theory Of The Universe

Robert Lanza is a serious scientist. In fact his credentials include: Chief Scientific Officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He knows a thing or two about biology.

In 2007 he wrote an article entitled: A New Theory of the Universe which appeared in the prestigious American Scholar magazine. He is quoted as saying:

“Instead of assuming a reality that predates life and even creates it, we propose a biocentric picture of reality. From this point of view, life – particularly consciousness – creates the universe, and the universe could not exist without us.”

Now to some that would appear to be an absolutely astounding proclamation. Particularly to those adherents of  New Atheism, which is headed up by another outspoken biologist, Richard Dawkins. Obviously, as the name New Atheism would imply, they don't care much for Lanza's theories about a bio centric Universe. Dawkins, an esteemed Ethologist and Evolutionary Biologist in fact holds a rather dim view of anything that would belie a Universe of conscious design beyond what might be contained within our brains; as evidenced by this quote:

"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference."

Now those two statements, each uttered by exceptionally bright and credentialed biologists at the top of their field, could hardly be farther apart in viewpoint. So what are the rest of us poor troglodytes supposed to believe in? This is after all the most important question before all of mankind. We've listened to all the theories, carefully studied our science and biology books, read our Bibles, Torahs or Korans. And still the question persists without a widely agreed upon answer. So, IS consciousness a figment of our biologically induced, chemically transmitted imaginations? IS something, someone really out there? Can we ever know the answers to those questions?

Personally, I like Professor Ervin László's take on the situation. He also knows a thing or two about science and evolution as well. He's the editor of the international periodical World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution.  He has a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne and is the recipient of honorary Ph.D.’s from the United States, Canada, Finland, and Hungary. He was also twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and 2005. This quote from his 2004 book entitled: Science and the Akashic Field seems to sum things up nicely:

"There is much we do not yet understand about the farthest reaches of human consciousness, but one thing stands out: consciousness does not vanish when the functions of the brain and body cease...in this interpretation, the perennial intuition of an immortal soul is no longer inconsistent with what we are now beginning to comprehend through science about the true nature of reality."

I think I'll stick with that until proven otherwise.