KEN RUEGG
VICTIMIZED BY MILLIONS
variation in species: did varieties ever exist?
                                                                                                                                                          A SPECIES, such as a penguin, aardvark, or human, can only reproduce sexually viable offspring within that species. A horse bred to a donkey results in a mule, but all mules are sterile. They cannot reproduce. VARIATION WITHIN SPECIES is common. Pigeons can be different colors, humans vary in such things as eye color and skeletal size, and just as dogs and cats can be different breeds, or mixed breeds, people can be different races, or mixtures of races. But pigeons, dogs, cats, and humans are still distinct SPECIES, limited to their own group to reproduce and continue their line. VARIOUS SPECIES OF MAN EXISTED, and are part of the "human family tree". Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Australopithecus were different species of Man than Homo sapiens sapiens (ourselves).                     VARIETIES NEVER EXISTED AT ALL as defined by Charles Darwin, who postulated organisms with variations, which could reproduce viably outside their own group. THEY ARE NOT IN THE FOSSIL RECORD, AND THEY DO NOT EXIST TODAY. Furthermore, SPECIES ARE FIXED, AND DO NOT SLOWLY VARY UNTIL THEY CHANGE INTO NEW SPECIES. That type of GRADUAL, SLOW CHANGE DIDN'T HAPPEN, and is absent from the fossil record. Darwin saw the constant, slow change over enormous lengths of time described in Charles Lyell's "Principles Of Geology", and mistakenly applied the idea to the evolution of life.                                                                                                                                                                  We find long periods of time in the fossil record with no qualitative change, and then the sudden appearances of radically new species. Things are at a given STAGE for a long time, while that STAGE, or ENVIRONMENT, is completed, and then move on to the NEXT HIGHEST STAGE, which begins with the appearance of a previously unseen, and MORE ADVANCED SPECIES, QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT from the others,* which needed that ENVIRONMENT to sustain itself.                   The proliferation of that SPECIES, and OTHERS SIMILAR TO IT QUALITATIVELY, develops that ENVIRONMENT further.              Those SPECIES become a part of their environment, introducing significant change. Such change contributes to preparing that environment for a further STAGE in speciation, whether or not such a STAGE is achieved.                                                                                                                                              As a student at Rutgers-Newark during the early 1970's, I attended a lecture on the fossil record given by a visiting professor of paleontology. The expert put two diagrams on the blackboard, one being a smooth curve rising upwards, the other being a set of steps similar to a flight of stairs, also ascending upwards. The lecturer said that according to Darwin's concept, the smooth curve would correctly illustrate Evolution. He stated that what scientists were finding in the fossil record, and could not understand, was that the step diagram was correct. I have since realized that the rising steps represented evolution of species in stages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ECOLOGY TEACHES THE INTERDEPENDENCY OF ALL SPECIES IN ENVIRONMENTS, TERMED "ECOSYSTEMS", INCLUDING "THE GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       THE CONCEPT OF THE ECOSYSTEM VALIDATES THE THEORY OF SPECIATION IN STAGES: THE COMPLETION OF ALL PREVIOUS STAGES, MEANING ENVIRONMENTS, PROVIDES THE ENVIRONMENTS REQUISITE FOR FURTHER STAGES OF MORE ADVANCED SPECIATIONS.                                                                                                                                                             CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENTS MAY BE BENEFICIAL TO CERTAIN GROUPS OF SPECIES, WHILE REMAINING DETRIMENTAL TO OTHERS: NOTE THE TOTAL SUDDEN EXTINCTION OF DINOSAURS AND OTHER SPECIES DUE TO CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM AN ENORMOUS METEORITE IMPACT SOME 66 MILLION YEARS AGO, WHICH ALSO ENABLED THE WORLDWIDE DOMINANCE OF MAMMALS, A MORE ADVANCED FAMILY OF SPECIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                        ALSO NOTE THE MANY EXTINCTIONS PRESENTLY OCCURRING DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ALL EXTINCTIONS RESULT FROM CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENTS.                                                                                                                                                 SPECIATIONS WITHOUT THE NECESSARY ENVIRONMENTS EITHER DID NOT OCCUR, OR OCCURRED AND FAILED.                                                                                                                                                                                    STAGES CONTAIN LEVELS. SUCCESSFUL SPECIATIONS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT MOVEMENT TO HIGHER LEVELS, OR ADVANCEMENT TO SUCCESSIVE STAGES. THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF THE CHANGE ARE THE DETERMINING FACTORS.                                                                                                                                                                   THE UPWARD THRUST OF EVOLUTION, WITH MORE ADVANCED, AND QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT GROUPS OF ORGANISMS APPEARING, IS INDICATIVE OF SPECIATION IN STAGES. CONSTANT, GRADUAL CHANGE DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR SUCH QUALITATIVE "LEAPS", OR THEIR SUCCESSIVE APPEARANCES. THE SLOW, STEADY CHANGE DESCRIBED BY DARWIN, WOULD NOT RESULT IN SUCH ADVANCEMENTS, BUT ONLY IN A PROGRESSION OF "MORE OF THE SAME" AT HIGHER LEVELS, i.e. ONE ENORMOUS STAGE. THE UNDERLYING CAUSE(S) OF SPECIATION, MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH KNOWN ADVANCEMENTS TO HIGHER STAGES. DARWIN'S MECHANISM OF SPECIATION WOULD ALLOW ONLY THE PRESENCE OF SUCCESSIVE LEVELS IN EVOLUTION, HIS MECHANISM FOR SUCH ADVANCEMENT REQUIRING ABUNDANT VARIETIES, WHICH ARE ABSENT FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD. It is the step diagram noted above, rather than the smooth curve, which correctly illustrates Evolution.                                                                                                                                 *****EVOLUTION IS ABOUT SPECIES. IF MIND IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF BODY, THEN EVOLUTION WORKS THROUGH SPECIATION OF MIND, JUST AS IT DOES THROUGH SPECIATION OF BODY. MAN'S BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION THROUGH TIME INVOLVED DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BODY, AND HUMAN MENTAL EVOLUTION THROUGH TIME INVOLVES DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HUMAN MIND. FURTHERMORE, A TOTAL LIFE PROCESS SUCH AS EVOLUTION IS NOT GOING TO STOP FUNCTIONING MERELY BECAUSE MODERN MAN IS HERE. IT CONTINUES IN HUMAN MIND. IT MAY ALSO CONTINUE AT SOME FUTURE TIME IN HUMAN BODY. I HAVE ALREADY DESCRIBED DIFFERENT TYPES OF MIND, WHICH WORK DIFFERENTLY, IN MODERN MAN. THE CONCEPT THAT HUMAN MENTAL SPECIATION REQUIRES PHYSICAL SPECIATION, HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY DISPROVEN (see "the wolf boy" under "contact").                                                                                                                                                             SPECIES PROPAGATE BY THE TRANSMISSION OF GENES, OR BOTH GENES AND THOUGHT. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MINDS, BY ANY MEANS, IS TRANSMISSION OF THOUGHT. LOWER SPECIES LACK MIND. MIND IN HIGHER SPECIES DEPENDS UPON BODY. MENTAL SPECIATION, THROUGH COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MINDS, WITHIN THE SAME BIOLOGICAL SPECIES, IS DEPENDENT UPON THE PROLIFERATION OF THAT BIOLOGICAL SPECIES, THROUGH SEXUAL REPRODUCTION. THIS IS THE CASE WITH PRESENT DAY HUMANS.                                                                                                                                                                           THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM USED IN BIOLOGY, OF KINGDOM, PHYLUM, CLASS, ORDER, FAMILY, GENUS, AND SPECIES,** IS BASED UPON THE FACT THAT BIOLOGICAL SPECIES ORIGINATE FROM OTHER BIOLOGICAL SPECIES, SUCH SPECIES BEING DEFINED USING THE CRITERIA OF SUCCESSFUL SEXUAL REPRODUCTION. A SIMILAR SYSTEM FOR MIND WOULD BE USELESS, HUMAN MENTAL SPECIATION BEING BASED UPON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGHER STAGES OF MIND BY INDIVIDUALS, OR GROUPS, BELONGING TO THE SAME BIOLOGICAL SPECIES.                                                                                                                                                                                 MENTAL SPECIATION IS THE ACQUISITION BY MIND OF AN ADDITIONAL COMPONENT, THROUGH THE LEARNING OF THAT COMPONENT DURING A STAGE.                                                                                                    THE ADDITION OF A COMPONENT TO MIND RESULTS IN AN INCREASED COMPLEXITY OF ORGANIZATION.                                                               THIS INCREASE IN COMPLEXITY YIELDS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION DIFFERENT FROM, AND MORE ADVANCED THAN, BUT ALSO INCLUSIVE OF, AND MODIFYING, THAT WHICH PRECEDES IT.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    A SPECIES OF MIND IS UNIQUE TO A PARTICULAR STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT. ALL HUMANS AT A GIVEN STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT BELONG TO THE MENTAL SPECIES PECULIAR TO THAT STAGE.                                          ALL MENTAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE SAME STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT, MAY BE CONSIDERED VARIATIONS IN THE SPECIES OF MIND UNIQUE TO THAT STAGE.                                                                                                  STAGES CONTAIN LEVELS. ADVANCEMENT WITHIN A STAGE INVOLVES MOVEMENT TO HIGHER LEVELS.                                                                            NOT ALL DIFFERENCES WITHIN A SPECIES OF MIND INVOLVE SUCH MOVEMENT. VARIATION IS NOT NECESSARILY ADVANCEMENT.                                     MAJOR QUALITATIVE CHANGE INDICATES ADVANCEMENT TO A HIGHER STAGE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 THE DESIGNATION "HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS" ("thinking man") EXPRESSES THE ASSUMPTION OF ONE SPECIES OF MIND IN ONE SPECIES OF BODY. HUMAN MENTAL SPECIATION INDICATES DIFFERENT SPECIES OF MAN, WHICH ARE THE SAME BIOLOGICALLY.                                                                               MENTAL EVOLUTION IN LOWER SPECIES, DEPENDS UPON SPECIATION OF BODY. HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS IS THE FIRST BIOLOGICAL SPECIES, FOR WHICH THIS IS NOT SO.                                                                                                                                                                                                AN ENVIRONMENT IS THE TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF ALL PREVIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT NECESSARY FOR THE NEXT STAGE TO OCCUR. SPECIATION NEEDS AN APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH TO OCCUR SUCCESSFULLY.                                                                                                                                                                                         THE MENTAL SPECIES WHICH I CALL "CIVILIZED" MIND, REQUIRES THE ENVIRONMENT KNOWN AS "CIVILIZATION". CIVILIZATION ITSELF OCCURRED DUE TO THE COMPLETION OF STAGES OF MAN'S EVOLUTION NECESSARY FOR ITS APPEARANCE.               FURTHER ADVANCEMENTS, BUILDING UPON CIVILIZATION, WILL PROVIDE THE ENVIRONMENTS NECESSARY FOR FURTHER MENTAL SPECIATIONS IN MAN.                                                                         THE ATTAINMENT OF CIVILIZATION WAS CRUCIAL TO MAN'S MENTAL EVOLUTION, BECAUSE HIS EVOLUTION OF MIND DEPENDS UPON COMMUNICATION. HUNTER-GATHERER GROUPS, USUALLY CONSISTING OF A MALE, A FEMALE, AND ONE CHILD, WERE DISPERSED, AND SUBSTANTIALLY ISOLATED.                                                                                          THE ANIMAL VIOLENCE CHARACTERISTIC OF SPECIES OF MAN PRIOR TO CIVILIZATION, AND WHATEVER ADVANTAGE SUCH SPECIES HAD, IN INTELLIGENCE, TO MAKE THAT VIOLENCE MORE EFFECTIVE, ACCOUNTS FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THOSE SPECIES IN NATURE.                            MAN, IN CIVILIZATION, RETAINS THE SAME AGGRESSIVE INSTINCTS.***                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     "CIVILIZED" MIND IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE ABSENCE OF CRIMINAL VIOLENCE, THAT ABSENCE BEING NECESSARY TO SOCIETY.       SUCH MIND USES THE AGGRESSIVE ENERGY INHERENT IN MAN TO ADVANCE CIVILIZATION.                                                                                       THE PROLIFERATION OF "CIVILIZED" MIND, AS A PART OF CIVILIZATION, GUARANTEES THE SUCCESS OF BOTH THAT SPECIES, AND ITS ENVIRONMENT, PROVIDED THAT CHANGES IN BOTH SPECIES AND ENVIRONMENT, ENABLE SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION.****                                                                   THE SPECIES TERMED "CRIMINAL" MIND IS DOOMED TO EXTINCTION, BECAUSE MAN'S ENVIRONMENT CHANGED, TO ONE PROGRESSIVELY LESS FAVORABLE TO "CRIMINAL" MIND, WHEN HE ATTAINED CIVILIZATION. GRADUAL EXTINCTION, DUE TO INABILITY TO ADAPT TO PROGRESSIVE CHANGE IN ENVIRONMENT, IS CLASSIC DARWINIAN THEORY.                                                                                                    TOTAL PROLIFERATION OF "CIVILIZED" MIND WILL COMPLETE THIS STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT. A FURTHER MENTAL SPECIATION IN MAN WILL THEN OCCUR, THE ENVIRONMENT APPROPRIATE TO IT HAVING BEEN ATTAINED.                                                                                              THIS PROCESS OF SPECIATION WILL CONTINUE IN MAN, UNTIL HIS EXTINCTION.                                                                                                                                                              THE FACTOR OF ISOLATION OF ENVIRONMENT IS PRESENT, MAN'S EVOLUTION BEING LIMITED TO THE EARTH.                                                                    THE POSSIBLE FUTURE LIFE OF MAN IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS, COULD PROVIDE FURTHER ISOLATIONS FOR MENTAL SPECIATION, WHILE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT CONTACT BETWEEN SUCH ENVIRONMENTS PROVIDED BY TECHNOLOGIES.                                                                                                                                                                       THE HUMAN MIND MUST CONTAIN ALL PREVIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NEXT STAGE TO OCCUR. THIS INTERNAL MENTAL ENVIRONMENT IS ESSENTIAL FOR THAT STAGE. A NORMAL HUMAN DEVELOPS HIS INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT, PRIMARILY BY INTERACTION WITH HIS EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT, ESPECIALLY THE MINDS AND RESULTANT BEHAVIORS OF OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE WORLD BUILT BY ALL OF THEM IN WHICH TO LIVE. A WORLD IMPROVING OVER TIME, WITH GREATER PERCENTAGES OF PEOPLE AT HIGHER STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT, MEANS THAT MORE OF THOSE BORN INTO IT WILL ACHIEVE HIGHER SPECIES OF MIND, BECAUSE THE NECESSARY ENVIRONMENTS WILL BE READY, AND WILL CAUSE THOSE SPECIES TO DEVELOP, BY ENABLING THEM TO DO SO.                                                                    THE FACTOR, IN TOTAL POPULATIONS, OF INCREASING PERCENTAGES OF THOSE FURTHERING THIS PROCESS, AND DECREASING PERCENTAGES OF THOSE HINDERING IT, CONTRIBUTES TO THE ACCELERATION OF THE PROCESS ITSELF, AS DOES POPULATION GROWTH, ESPECIALLY AT INCREASING RATES. EVOLUTION OF MIND ACCELERATES.                                                                                                                                                                                 THIS PROCESS INVOLVES BOTH ORGANISM AND MECHANISM. IT IS ORGANISMIC, BECAUSE HUMANS FULFILL THEMSELVES, BASED UPON WHO THEY ARE AT BIRTH, BUT IT IS ALSO MECHANISTIC, BECAUSE THEY CANNOT CHOOSE THE ENVIRONMENT INTO WHICH THEY ARE BORN, WITH WHICH THEY MUST INTERACT TO DEVELOP. AND AS THEIR ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS THEM, THEY AFFECT THEIR ENVIRONMENT. THEY ARE A PART OF IT. THIS DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS IS A COMPLEX MIXTURE OF ORGANISM AND MECHANISM, INVOLVING ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF PEOPLE OVER LONG PERIODS OF TIME. IT IS THE CONTINUOUS EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN RACE BEYOND THE BIOLOGICAL.*****                                                                                                                                                                                                                 EVOLUTION OF MIND OCCURS IN ENVIRONMENTS PROGRESSIVELY CREATED AND MAINTAINED BY MIND:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    THE HUMAN RACE at any point in time is made up of individuals interacting with their world. As time progresses, those die, and are replaced by new individuals born into a more advanced world with which to interact. EVOLUTIONARY TIME is ENORMOUS. THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE RACE TO HIGHER SPECIES OF MIND requires ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF TIME, as we know time from the perspective of our short lives, or the paltry 6,000 years of History, AS DOES SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OF THE WORLD, the environment of which Man is a part, and improves by his efforts, by using his mind, and that process results in his total growth as a race.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  (the term "species of mind" means mind which functions differently in some important way, such as "criminal" mind as compared with "civilized" mind. The word "species" means "type" or "sort". Minds such as "criminal" minds are FIXED as physical species are. They don't change. They remain so for life. We come from apes, and that violence toward others by criminals is animal, not civilized. The civilized stage of development wasn't attained:                                                                                                                     See "TWO DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS", and "CRIMINAL MIND AND ANARCHY - ADVOCATING THE STATE OF NATURE", under "home"; and "apes and humans", and "CHEMICALS AND MIND", under "contact", for more information. Also see relevant items under "about". For the future achievement of "civilized" ("non-criminal") mind by the Human Race, see "morality over time" under "contact").                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                *it is up to experts to decide how much advancement, and difference, a speciation represents. Stages contain levels. Paleontologists can assign levels and stages to points in the fossil record. Biologists can use the concept in the classification of living organisms. The controlling factors are the extent, and nature, of the change.                                                                                                                                                 **this system involves larger, more inclusive groupings of species. Stages indicate major change. Particular biological speciations may not represent such change, or even movement to higher levels within stages. The defining characteristic of a STAGE, is that its members are not only MORE ADVANCED than, but also DIFFERENT from those belonging to previous stages, such DIFFERENCE being QUALITATIVE.                                                                                                                                                          ***the idea of a reversion to animal mind, by men removed from Civilization, the controls of society on such violence being absent, is seriously presented by two novelists: Joseph Conrad, in "Heart of Darkness", and William Golding, in "Lord of the Flies". Both authors recognize Man's retention of what Sigmund Freud termed the "id", violent animal instincts inherited from the Great Apes, and that humans adapt to change of environment, progressively or retrogressively, depending upon the nature of the change.                                          These ideas are validated in two actual cases of modern humans who were separated from society, and therefore placed by circumstances in The State of Nature. A plane crash stranding survivors on a glacier, resulted in their consuming the flesh of passengers dead from the crash. A small group of people sealed inside a mine by a cave-in, realized that one of them would have to be killed, so as to ensure sufficient air and provisions for the others. They drew lots, and killed the person drawing the lot indicating death. The others were rescued, and prosecuted for murder: the judge ruled that during their separation from society by the disaster, they were not subject to society's laws. In other sections, I have indicated murder and cannibalism as elements needed for human survival in The State of Nature, prior to Civilization.                                    Also note that when an enormous hurricane struck New Orleans, many residents sought shelter in a domed sports stadium. When conditions inside deteriorated, violence, including assaults and rapes, became so bad that police seeking safety from the crowd, locked themselves in a room behind a steel door.                                                                    Those who advocate Anarchy, advocate unrestrained violence to others, as in The State of Nature. Such violence was endemic in Medieval Europe, following the collapse of the Roman Empire.                                    Members of a "non-judgemental society" despise and devalue both conscience and law, the two pillars of Civilization, which results in unrestrained violence to victims, by criminals lacking self-control. The absence of conscience is the defining characteristic of humans prior to Civilization, and of "criminal" mind as a "species" in society today.                                                                                                                                   See "TWO DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS", and "CRIMINAL MIND AND ANARCHY - ADVOCATING THE STATE OF NATURE", under "home"; "CRIMINALS AND CONSCIENCE", "VIOLATING THE FREUDIAN MODEL", "BIOCHEMISTRY AND SOCIETY", and "ABSENT MIND - A PIECE IS MISSING", under "about"; and "apes and humans", "CHEMICALS AND MIND", and "FUNCTIONAL CRIMINAL INSANITY", under "contact".                                                                                                                                   ****I CAUTION here about all changes made by humans presenting the possibility of their extinction, such as global warming, nuclear warfare, and present research which can result in matter-anti-matter weapons, which would be enormously more destructive than nuclear ones.                                                                                                                                     Regarding GLOBAL WARMING, climatologists have mapped past cycles of Earth's average temperature changes on graphs, using data on various factors to do so. The curves are all consistent, except for the last one, which indicates abnormal global warming since Mankind's burning of fossil fuels. That last curve shows data on critical factors indicating a totally atypical rise in average temperatures, unlike any of the previous natural changes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   AS OF APRIL 22, 2023, scientists have reported that European glaciers have been melting at an alarming rate during the past 2 years, due to atmospheric temperature increases, and reduced amounts of snowfall. Water supplies available for human consumption are threatened.                                                                                                                               THERE ARE unexpected problems everywhere: in addition to the threat posed by sea level rise, the combined weight of New York City's skyscrapers is causing that city to slowly subside!                                                                                                                                                       BIOLOGISTS are presently reporting an abnormal number of species going extinct due to climate change. Note information in this and other sections concerning the interdependency of species in environments, termed ecosystems, one of the critical factors affecting ecosystems being average yearly temperatures.                                                                                                                                                                                     THE AMOUNT of Antarctic sea ice has been reduced by climate change!                                                                                                                   WHALES in the Antarctic feed upon Krill, organisms which in turn feed upon unicellular photosynthetic species attached to the undersides of ice packs. Less ice due to an increase in average yearly temperatures, is resulting in disruption of this food chain: there are significantly fewer whales!                                                                                                                                                                                                                               THIS EXAMPLE illustrates that limiting or removing a "keystone species" at the apex of a food chain, is not the only way in which an ecosystem may be impaired or destroyed. The above ecosystem is being destroyed from the bottom of its food chain upwards! GLOBAL WARMING resulting in less ice to which the photosynthetic unicellular organisms can attach themselves, in turn results in fewer of the unicells, fewer of the Krill which feed upon them, and fewer of the whales which consume enormous numbers of the Krill!                                                                                                                                                                                           IN EARLY APRIL, 2023, oceanologists have reported that the average temperature of the world's oceans has increased to an all-time high since such measurements have been recorded! This increase in ocean temperature also causes sea water to expand, contributing to rising sea levels!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     AS OF MAY 14, 2023, scientists are now concerned about record high temperatures which will be generated by a worldwide heat wave termed "El Nino"!                                                                                                                                                                                                                     AVERAGE YEARLY temperature increases have affected the physical environment necessary for the above Antarctic ecosystem to thrive! Physical and biological environments are important components of ecosystems! Also see the information below on the significance of "keystone species" as essential components of such systems!                                                                                                                                     OTHER FACTORS which affect species include severe droughts, and sea level rise. The progressive melting of polar ice caps and glaciers will cause flooding of coastal and other areas having low elevations, inundating habitats and wiping out their species. Microorganisms are being released from melted ice, infecting animals. The pathogens then infect humans coming into contact with the diseased animal species. As of June 20, 2023, concerned scientists report that Himalayan glaciers may lose 75% of their ice by 2100. Two billion people living downstream will be endangered by torrential floods and severe water shortages. The widespread destruction of rainforests by humans so as to plant crops, and to raise cattle, and the subsequent burning of the fallen timber, releasing carbon dioxide emissions, are also important problems. The clearing of the rainforests by those raising cattle has by far exceeded previous estimates of the amount of damage, because of increasing human demand for beef. The extensive melting of Arctic permafrost is resulting in the release of significant amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere, by microorganisms in the melted substrate. Methane is 30 times more effective at heating the atmosphere than CO2. To date (as of early 2022), approximately 40% of all organisms in soils have gone extinct worldwide. This impairs the ability of soils to reprocess fallen debris from plant life. Ecosystems throughout the world are being affected.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 WE HUMANS, as a species, belong to the GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM, and depend upon it for our survival. A recent documentary on PBS (early April, 2021) stated that 10% of all species on Earth are now in danger of extinction, due to the consequences of GLOBAL WARMING, and that the situation will continue to worsen.                                                                                                                                                                                         ONCE this process goes beyond a certain point, it will acquire its own momentum, will no longer be dependent upon human activity, and will be irreversible! With enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, severe droughts, and disastrous wildfires caused by lightning strikes under extremely dry conditions, such as those which have already occurred in Australia, California, Chile, and Canada, will be common. Chile recorded severe temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Wildfires there have killed at least 23 people. Wildfires in Canada have blanketed large parts of the United States with toxic fumes. Such fires consume plant life needed to reprocess carbon dioxide into atmospheric oxygen, and into carbon retained in plant cell walls in the form of cellulose. The fires will release enormous amounts of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, continuing to promote the process, which will worsen the environmental impact. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will continue to increase, raising the average yearly temperatures even further, while resulting wildfires will cause a constant decrease in the amount of plant life needed to process the CO2 into oxygen and cellulose, as a consequence of extensive and severe droughts, termed "mega droughts", wildfires, and extinctions!                                                                                                                                                                                 THE EFFECTS will not be limited solely to environments on land:                                                                                                                                       CORAL thrive only within certain temperature ranges. Coral are absent from the sea floor off the coast of New Jersey, because at that latitude the waters are too cold to support their growth. Other marine species which do require that colder environment, will be displaced by warmer waters. Ocean currents will undergo temperature increases. Ecosystems function not only on land, but also in the seas. Environmental changes resulting from GLOBAL WARMING will affect increasing numbers of land and marine-based species, causing many to go extinct!                                                                                                                                                       THE SURVIVAL of coral reefs around the world is now threatened, as is indicated by a phenomenon known as "bleaching". Barrier reefs provide protection to land masses from oceanic disturbances such as storm surge. They also provide large numbers of fish as a protein source for humans. The reefs are maintained by living coral organisms. Many species of coral are dying out, which results in a condition known as "bleaching": dead portions of the once colorful reefs turn white. "Bleaching" of parts of The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is a prime example.                                                                                                                                                                                                             ATMOSPHERIC and related disturbances worldwide will continue to worsen: wildfires driven by catastrophic "mega droughts" and record high temperatures, record winter cold spells, disastrous floods, tornado outbreaks, and hurricanes such as Ian, which caused unprecedented damage to Puerto Rico and Florida in 2022, will increase in frequency, intensity, and duration! The costs of recovery from Ian alone are estimated at 100 billion dollars! There have been 125 fatalities so far, most of them due to drowning.                                                                                                                                                                                             I SERIOUSLY DOUBT that the entire human population of nearly eight billion people will be persuaded to take the steps necessary for their own survival, soon enough to avoid disaster! Mankind itself will face extinction! To limit the effects of GLOBAL WARMING, measures must be taken soon enough to prevent the process from acquiring its own momentum. Once the process reaches the point at which the changes continue to worsen independently of human activity, such thresholds being termed "tipping points" by climatologists, Mankind will thereafter go extinct!                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "TIPPING POINTS" are "points of no return", at which major changes continue to worsen, having become irreversible! Arctic sea ice passed such a "tipping point" in 2007, thinning dramatically and permanently. The consequences of GLOBAL WARMING are becoming unchangeable, and unsurvivable! As of June 3, 2023, scientists have reported that 6 of 7 key "thresholds" needed to protect life on Earth have been "breached" due to human activity, and that the 6 "tipping points" of concern are rapidly being approached!                                                                                                                                                                                                   ON APRIL 5, 2023, a documentary on PBS television, confirmed that emissions of methane gas into Earth's atmosphere due to the thawing of Arctic permafrost, have presently reached an irreversible "tipping point"! The total effect upon GLOBAL WARMING cannot be estimated! These changes are self-perpetuating! Methane released into the atmosphere causes temperature increases, which in turn cause further thawing of the permafrost, releasing greater amounts of methane! This represents a self-sustaining, irreversible vicious cycle! As is noted above, methane gas is 30 times more effective at heating the atmosphere than CO2!                                                                                                                                 THE ABOVE MENTIONED 10% of endangered species which now face extinction, belong to ecosystems upon which much larger numbers of organisms depend for their survival. An ecosystem is similar to a finely crafted watch. Removing or damaging one of the key components known to ecologists as "keystone species", causes the entire mechanism to fail. This is characteristic of all ecosystems. The GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM of which we humans are a part, and upon which we depend for our survival, consists of the total aggregate of tens of thousands of smaller ecosystems of varying extent and importance. These smaller ecosystems can only be viewed as components of the larger Global Ecosystem! Mankind cannot survive the failure of that enormously complex, worldwide GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM!                                                                                                                                                                                         IN DECEMBER, 2022, a U.N. commission evaluating the effects of climate change reported an alarming rate of decrease in biodiversity worldwide! Diversity of both species and their environments (i.e. ecosystems) is a critical factor enabling the GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM to remain viable!                                                                                                                                     IN JUNE, 2023, Atlantic Ocean water temperatures reached an all time high, which contributes to increases in atmospheric temperatures, causing an earlier than expected, more catastrophic hurricane season!                                                                                                                             SPECIES OF CORAL can only thrive within certain temperature ranges. The existence of barrier reefs located off the Florida Keys, is threatened by the increases in water temperatures noted above! Such reefs are havens for marine life, including fish, and provide protection to land masses from storm surge during hurricanes! See the above information on coral and coral reefs.                                                                                                                                                                                                 LARGE NUMBERS of dead fish are washing ashore at various points due to oxygen starvation, a result of GLOBAL WARMING! Fisheries are being impacted by increasing water temperatures!                                                                                                                                                                     AS OF JULY 8, 2023, climatologists have reported that the Earth has reached its hottest temperatures in thousands of years!                                                                                                                                                     AS OF JULY 10, 2023, catastrophic flooding is being reported in the northeastern United States, including parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York State! There are reports of casualties from the floods!                                                                                                                                 AS OF JULY 13, 2023, flooding in the Northeast, tornadoes in the Midwest, and extreme heat in the West and Southwest are being reported! Tornadoes have touched down in the Chicago Metro area! Temperatures of nearly 130 degrees Fahrenheit are expected in the Southwest!                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ON JULY 14, 2023, during a severe atmospheric disturbance, a bolt of lightning struck the Freedom Tower, at One World Trade Center in New York City!                                                                                                                                                                                                                               AS OF JULY 18, 2023, a European "heat dome" has raised temperatures in Italy, Spain, Greece, and neighboring countries to nearly 104 degrees Fahrenheit! More than 60,000 people died in Europe in heat waves last summer!                                                                                                                                                                                                                       EXTREME HEAT is being felt around the world! Large parts of The United States, Europe, and Asia are affected! Scientists predict a worldwide shortage of food due to the failure of crops! Food supplies for both domesticated animals, and species of wildlife inhabiting wilderness areas, will also be impacted!                                                                                                                                                                                             HEAT KILLS MORE AMERICANS than any other weather-related disaster, according to The National Weather Service!                                                                                                                                                                       AIR CONDITIONING, as one of the primary means used to protect us from lethal heat, places further demands upon electricity generated by burning natural gas, oil, and coal. Burning larger amounts of fossil fuels adds to the original problem, by releasing increased amounts of gases which raise atmospheric temperatures further! In attempting to survive, we humans worsen the problem costing our lives in the first place! This is another "vicious cycle" characteristic of world climate change!                                                                                                                                   The head of the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION has urged world leaders to act now upon the climate crisis! Time is of the essence!                                                                                                                                   ON JULY 20, 2023, hailstones the size of golfballs and baseballs struck a small town near Flint, Michigan, damaging cars and homes, and other structures!                                                                                                                                                                                                                             AS OF JULY 23, 2023, wildfires have ravaged the Greek isle of Rhodes, forcing thousands of residents and tourists to flee!                                                                                                                                                           AS OF AUGUST 10, 2023, the Hawaiian island of Maui was devastated by wildfires! People jumped into the ocean to avoid the flames! There have been 114 confirmed deaths, and officials expect that number to rise! An estimated 1,000 to 1,100 persons are missing! More than 2,000 buildings have been destroyed! Severe winds caused by a nearby hurricane fanned the flames! The cost of recovery is estimated at 6 billion dollars!                                                                                                                                     AS OF AUGUST 11, 2023, NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a U.S. Government scientific agency) reported increasing their expectation of a more dangerous hurricane season by 60%. See the information above regarding increasing temperatures causing an earlier, more severe hurricane season.                                                                                                                                                                                               AS OF AUGUST 11, 2023, a headline on the internet read, "Drought Causing Floating Traffic Jam At Panama Canal". Water conservation efforts made necessary by GLOBAL WARMING have limited the number of ships allowed passage through the canal! More than 200 ships are stranded, denied use of the waterway! The traffic jam could take ten months to clear! This impacts global commerce!                                                                                                                                                                   AS OF AUGUST 12, 2023, scientists have reported that increasing water temperatures may cause the Atlantic Ocean's circulating currents to slow down by the year 2025, which would result in previously unseen levels of catastrophic oceanic and atmospheric disturbances!                                                                                                                                                       AS OF AUGUST 18, 2023, Southern California is under a first-ever tropical storm watch as Hurricane Hilary continues to approach! The storm is barreling its way towards Mexico's Baja California peninsula, and the U.S. Southwest, and will cause torrential rain and catastrophic flooding! These life-threatening conditions are prompting evacuations!                                                                                                                             EXTENSIVE WILDFIRES in Canada are also forcing evacuations!                                                                                                                                         AS OF AUGUST 22, 2023, 141 million people are under alert as a major heat dome covers portions of the Midwest, Southwest, and Western United States; in addition, tropical storm Harold is bringing torrential rain and strong wind gusts to South Texas!                                                                                                                                                                         AS OF AUGUST 28, 2023, tropical storm Idalia is expected to strengthen to hurricane force, and to ravage parts of Cuba and Florida's Gulf Coast with life-threatening conditions!                                                                                                                                                                                           AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2023, Super Typhoon Saola is sweeping towards southern China cities!                                                                                                                                                                                                           AS OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2023, the City of Hong Kong has been deluged by its worst floods in 140 years!                                                                                                                                                                                                 AS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2023, at least 5,300 people are presumed dead due to drowning and 10,000 missing in Derna, Libya, after a powerful storm named Daniel forced the collapse of two ageing dams! Libya's flood death toll may exceed 20,000 according to experts!                                                                                                                                                   AS OF SEPTEMBER 14, 2023, 10,000 victims are known dead, and thousands more missing, due to the catastrophic flooding in Libya!                                                                                                                                   AS OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2023, Mississippi River water levels are drastically low for a second year in a row. The effect on shipping is expected to cost 20 billion dollars!                                                                                                                                                                                                                     AS OF SEPTEMBER 23, 2023, Tropical Storm Ophilia is unleashing torrential rain, flooding, and power outages on the East Coast, threatening areas from North Carolina to New Hampshire!                                                                                                                                                 AS OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2023, the Borough of Manhattan and the NYC subway system have been severely damaged by torrential downpours due to Ophilia, followed by more widespread flooding of the tri-state area! A state of emergency has been declared!                                                                                                                                                                   DURING MARCH, 2022, scientists noted the most intense heat wave ever recorded on Earth, at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, in Antarctica! See the above information about consequences resulting from the melting of Antarctic sea ice!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           AS OF OCTOBER 5, 2023, scientists reported that the hottest global temperatures ever recorded for July, were followed by hotter record temperatures for August, and still hotter record temperatures for September, 2023!                                                                                                                                                                                                                   SEE THE INFORMATION ABOVE concerning mega-droughts, wildfires, and extinctions due to excessive heat. Ecosystems require specific temperature ranges for their survival. The three months of record temperatures reported in October, 2023, are GLOBAL events, and therefore adversely affected the entire GLOBAL ECOSYSTEM!                                                                                                                                           ON NOVEMBER 9, 2023, scientific experts stated that, "Humanity has just lived through the hottest 12 months in at least 125,000 years!".                                                                                                                                 ON FEBRUARY 12, 2024, U.N. experts warned that 20% of Earth's migratory species are at risk of extinction!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I WILL NOW stop listing details of environmental events due to GLOBAL WARMING in this footnote: the intent was not to present an unending catalogue of such events, but rather to explain the nature, principles, and progression of the process of GLOBAL WARMING itself.                                                                                                                                               The information presented here about the effects of CLIMATE CHANGE reads like a script for a disaster movie! It is nevertheless factual, and noteworthy! While not specifying viable solutions, putting the details together in one place shows the collective magnitude of the problems! For action to be taken, the availability of such information is essential!                                                                                                                           The United States will now invest more than 1 billion dollars to test and further develop "direct air capture" technology, which is seen as being a promising solution to the climate crisis, solar, wind, and tidal power, and electric cars being additional solutions. The actual problem is that it will take the Earth millions of years to recover from ​environmental changes which have already taken place, and will continue to worsen! Efforts to mitigate global warming are attempts to limit further damage, which cannot be reversed entirely! See the above information about "tipping points": once achieved, they prove irreversible in the short term!                                                                                                                                   Detrimental changes to the world ecosystem of which scientific experts are presently unaware, will prove to be substantial, irreversible in the near future, and potentially overwhelming:                                                                                                                                                                         As of September 22, 2023, NOAA experts have stated that the United States is not prepared to handle the financial costs of climate change: disasters costing one billion dollars or more, previously happened every three months. They are presently occuring every three weeks!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   For information on HUMAN EXTINCTION, see "A NOTE ON ANTI-MATTER", and the * footnote in "TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES", under "home"; and "FALLING ON YOUR SWORDS TOGETHER - THE MATHEMATICS OF THE EXTINCTION PROBLEM", under "about".                                                                                                                             Also see THE MACHINE STOPS, in "bibliography and notes", and the ***** footnote to "God and Man Evolving", under "contact", for a potential threat to humans due to their research and development of artificial intelligence.                                                                                                                                                                                                               Regarding factors signaling the FAILURE OF CIVILIZATIONS, see the item THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, in "bibliography and notes", under "contact".                                                                                                                                                                                                 Regarding EVOLUTION OF MIND, see "DARWIN - FREUD - PIAGET", under "about"; and "Advancement as Intrinsic to Evolution", and "Piaget's Stages and Man's Evolution of Mind as Collective Growth", under "contact".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           THE SURVIVAL OF MANKIND is not guaranteed! In the year 1859, a solar flare enveloped the Earth with electro-magnetic radiation, wiping out all electrical systems then in use. A smaller flare occurred in 2005. A major flare was expected to occur sooner or later. It would likely cause many systems based upon electricity to malfunction! Solar scientists recently issued warnings of a severe flare occurring on May 10, 2024!                                                                                                                                       MORE THAN 10 YEARS AGO, a giant meteorite impacted the planet Jupiter. The explosion was the equivalent of 10,000 atomic bombs, all of them detonating simultaneously at the same location. Had the meteorite hit the Earth, which is a much smaller planet than Jupiter, the entire Earth would have been destroyed! A meteorite impact 66 million years ago, caused the sudden extinction of many plant and animal species, including dinosaurs, due to environmental changes! Note the recent attempt by NASA, in 2022, to alter the trajectory of an asteroid, by impacting it with a space vehicle designed to do so! The attempt by NASA worked!                                                                                                                                                                                                                     THE SURVIVAL OF MAN, and of the Earth itself, are by no means certain! The evolving Universe is a random process, however, which guarantees its success: the development of mind in the Cosmos throughout time, is not dependent solely upon humans. Creation will expand forever, in an unending infinity of events. Probability raised to infinity, is certainty! Evolution of Mind will continue to occur!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY..."                                                                                                                                                                       -the opening caption to the movie "Star Wars".                                                                                                                                   See "Eternal Mind using Random Chance", under "contact", to understand the continuous evolution of the Universe ordained by God.                                                                                                                           See "STAGES OF MIND", under "contact", for information on the random progression of Evolution of Mind throughout human history.