Origin of Life: The 5th OPTION
by
Bryant
M. Shiller
542 pages; Perfect bound quality trade paperback; ISBN
0-9739936-0-X;
US$22.95 shipping and handling included (US and Canada only).
US$22.95 plus $9.00 shipping cost outside North America.
Introduces the “Rational Design Hypothesis”
It's all here in The 5th OPTION: What
Life is; What it is doing here; and How it got here! The answers will change forever
your perception of reality!
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Glossary |
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Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
Used in The 5th OPTION |
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NOTE:
All italics used in the Glossary indicate original terms,
expressions and/or ideas developed in this book.
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ACP |
Anthropic Cosmological Principle: "The
universe is fine-tuned for the evolution of intelligent life" |
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ADP |
"Discharged" biochemical fuel
cells that can be recharged into ATP. |
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Adaptive Evolution |
Evolution by means
of ‘adaptive selection’:
species’ built-in propensity to anticipate changes to external
biosphere conditions. |
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Adaptive Selection |
A more precise description
of ‘Natural
Selection’ as the prime mover of evolution whereby LS species
come equipped to survive by anticipating changes to external biosphere
conditions (‘species biosphere-attribute anticipation’ (SBAA)). |
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AmAcid Node Diagram |
Visual representation of the special relationship
between the codons and their single basepair mutations |
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Anticodon |
The basepair compliment of a codon that
forms part of transfer DNA. |
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Apoptosis |
Programmed cell death. |
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Archeabacteria |
Considered the most ancient prokaryotic
life-form in biology. |
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Artificial Life (AL) |
Computerised metaphoric analog of living
entities |
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ATP |
Chemical "storage batteries" that
provide energy to fuel all cellular activity. |
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BA |
Biosphere Attribute: A single variable
biosphere condition affecting organism survival. |
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Basepair |
A single chemical letter in the genetic
alphabet. |
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Chemical Soup |
The aqueous environment within which biological
life is thought to have self-generated (abiogenesis), according to
the 2nd OoL option. |
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Chromosome |
A collection of genetic and “junk” sequences
of DNA. |
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Coded Self-Assembly |
Self-replication that occurs under the
control of coded information. |
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Codon |
A single chemical word composed of three
letters of the genetic alphabet (signifies one of 20 amino acids or “stop” instruction). |
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Complexity |
A nebulous description of convenience applied
to any complicated phenomenon. |
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Creationism |
The 1st OoL Option: "God created Life
on Earth!" |
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Distribution Curve |
A plot of the distribution of measurable
species attributes (SA's). |
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DNA |
The chemical medium where the species genome
is written. |
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DPS |
Directed Panspermia - The 4th OoL Option: "The
seeds of Life were purposely dispersed from somewhere in outer space." |
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Ecosphere |
Areas of the universe habitable by living
things. |
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Elan Vital |
Suggested “life-force” ingredient
that permeates the living phenomenon. |
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Embryogenesis |
The formation of a complete organism from
a single cell. |
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Emergence, Theory of |
Essentially: “the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts”. |
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EpE |
Equivilency Principle
of Evolution: “Fitness
derived from changes to BA’s are equivalent to that derived from
SA’s.” |
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Eukaryotic Cell |
Nucleated biological cell from which all
higher life forms are derived. |
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Eubacteria |
More recent bacteria considered to be derived
from archaebacteria. |
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ETI |
Extra Terrestrial Intelligence |
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Evolution |
The subsystem of the life-system (LS) responsible
for species adaptation to changing external biosphere conditions. Also,
the results of such adaptation. |
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Evolution Filter |
Function of the specific degenerate form
of the genetic code. |
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Exobiology |
Field of research into the likelihood of
the existence of extraterrestrial biological life. |
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Exon |
Expressible sequence of genetic DNA. |
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Fortuitous Emergence |
System change (characteristic of life)
that is neither deterministic nor retraceable. |
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FPE |
Formitive Period of Evolution |
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Gene |
A single genetic instruction (usually a
recipe for a protein). |
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Genetic Code |
The 64 possible combinations of chemical
3-letter words that code for the 20 amino acids used throughout the
LS and the instruction "stop". |
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Genotype |
All of the expressible information contained
within an organism's genetic library. |
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Hydrothermal Vents |
Light deprived hydrothermal deep sea ecosystems
that support unique life-forms. |
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Inevitable Emergence |
System change (characteristic of non-life)
that is deterministic and therefore retraceable. |
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Information |
A set of data. |
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Intron |
Intervening information DNA sequence commonly
referred to as "junk DNA". |
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ISRN |
Inverse Square Root of N rule: A mathematical
expression of confidence for a group of observations, dependent on
the number of events “N” |
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Intelligence (dictionary) |
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Intelligence (generic) |
System capacity to:
counteract entropy of information; differentiate information from
randomness; affect “choice” over “chance”. |
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LS |
The Life System: The total interactive
system comprising biological life on the planet. |
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"M" mutation |
Basepair mutations to genetic information
that occur in sex cells between the time an organism emerges (is produced)
and the time it reproduces offspring. |
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"m" mutation |
Basepair mutations to genetic information
that occur only during the actual replication processes involved from
the time offspring replication begins until the emergence of a fully
formed offspring (embryogenesis). |
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mRNA |
Messenger RNA: Edited working copy of a
gene |
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Militant Enthusiasm |
Term coined by Kanrad Lorenz to describe
the human propensity for attitudes that fuel human aggression that
leads to "warfare". |
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Morphogenesis |
The formation and differentiation of tissues
and organs during embryogenesis. |
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Mosaic gene |
A gene which contains both introns and
exons. |
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NASA |
National Aeronautical and Space Administration |
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Natural Selection |
Darwinian doctrine of evolution by selection
of the fittest organisms that pass on their genes to future generation(s). |
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Occam's Razor |
The maxim: "Entities are not to be
multiplied without necessity." |
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OGEF |
Operational Genetic Evolution Filter: The
capacity of the form and function of the genetic code to control and
guide the consequences of random mutations within the genotype in specific
non-random directions within the phenotype |
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Phenotype |
The physical expression of the information
contained within the genetic library of an organism. |
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Polypeptide |
A chain of linked amino acids. |
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PoM |
Principle of Mediocrity (as it applies
to Life): Chances are that life is a common occurrence in our universe. |
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PdP |
Primary Design Platform of Life: The basic
irreducible operational framework of bio-life not subject to evolution. |
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PdPe |
Generic eukaryotic PdP. |
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PdPp |
Generic prokaryotic PdP. |
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Prokaryotic Cell |
Primitive cell from which all bacteria
are derived. |
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Protein |
A polypeptide chain of amino acids folded
in three-dimensional space. |
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PS |
Panspermia - The 3rd OoL Option: "Life
originated from seeds from outer space." |
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QO |
Quantized organism = Quantized genotype
(QG) expressible as Quantized phenotype (QP) |
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QTE |
Quantum Theory of
Evolution: A proposed theory that only certain “quantized” genotypes (QG) can
qualify as capable of being translated and expressed as viable phenotypes
(QP). The theory is meant to explain both missing transitions in the
fossil record as well as ‘punctuated evolution’. |
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Rational |
Having reason or understanding; relating
to, based on, or agreeable to reason: |
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RDH |
The Rational Design
Hypothesis - The 5th OoL option: “Life was purposefully engineered
and implanted on planet Earth to solve a utilitarian problem |
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Ribosome |
Cellular machine tool that translates genetic
instructions into proteins |
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RNA |
The chemical medium where genetic information
is transcribed from DNA into a “working instruction”, before
being translated into a physical protein. |
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RNA World |
A general solution for the 2nd OoL option
that suggests RNA as a chemical precursor molecule predating biology. |
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SA |
Species Attribute: A single variable within
a species phenotype important for survival. |
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SAb |
Spontaneous Abiogenesis - The 2nd OoL Option:
The "primordial chemical soup" OoL theory – life spontaneously
happened all by itself |
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SBAA |
Species Biosphere
Attribute Anticipation: The primary mechanism of ‘Adaptive Evolution’ responsible
for species ‘Selective Adaptation’. |
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SE |
Systems Engineering: The "intellectual
catalyst" used in The 5th OPTION to analyze the form, function,
and design intent of biological Life. |
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SEGI |
Search for Extraneous Genomic Information |
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SETI |
The "Search for Extra-Terrestrial
Intelligence". |
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Synonymous Mutation |
Basepair change that yields no amino acid
substitution. |
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UDIF |
Universal Dogma of
Information Flow: “Design
must derive from information; information must derive from intelligence;
intelligence must derive from intelligence;…” |
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