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<DIV><SPAN class=495375323-26112005><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>These
are exciting ideas you are writing about!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Joel Isaacson
[mailto:isaacsonj@hotmail.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, November 26, 2005
12:41 PM<BR><B>To:</B> andresevic@earthlink.net; shovland@mindspring.com;
paleopsych@paleopsych.org; eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il<BR><B>Cc:</B>
jz@bigbangtango.net; sjlee@howardbloom.net; kblozie@yahoo.com;
idigdarwin@yahoo.com; BobKrone@aol.com; ohbeeb@yahoo.com<BR><B>Subject:</B>
Re: [Paleopsych] re: bacterial engineering and our future in
space<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=3>Hi Jill,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3>Yes! Francis Crick (with Leslie Orgle) suggested
something of the kind more than </FONT><FONT size=3>30 years
ago... I am writng a paper that, in fact, concludes with this
theme. </FONT><FONT size=3>Following is an exrept:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4><B>Futuristic research directions. </B>Panspermia relates to a
hypothesis that the seeds of life are prevalent throughout the universe, and
that life on our planet began by such seeds landing on it from outer space and
propagating themselves. </P>
<P>Francis Crick (with Leslie Orgel) suggested in 1973 a theory of directed
panspermia, where seeds of life (such as DNA fragments) may have been
purposely spread by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Critics argue
that space travel is damaging to life because of exposure to radiation, cosmic
rays and stellar winds. </P>
<P>Introduce now the notion of telepanspermia which postulates panspermia that
is guided by means of coded fantomark patterns (or their streaks), not
necessarily through the physical transport of actual "seeds" via meteors,
comets, and the like.</P>
<P>Telepanspermia may be guided by means akin to pilot waves in Bohmian
quantum mechanics. So, working on guiding mechanisms in telepanspermia may
converge with non-local hidden variable theories in fundamental physics.</P>
<P>Development of an information theory that is extended to fantomark-coded
messages and streaks would be crucial, as it would facilitate the invention of
superior intelligent artifacts; could hold a key to communication with
extraterrestrial modes of intelligence; and eventually help us understand our
cosmic ancestry and the relationship between implicate and explicate orders,
as outlined by David Bohm. Ref [ ]</P>
<P></FONT><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma,sans-serif">
<HR color=#a0c6e5 SIZE=1>
From: <I>Jill Andresevic <andresevic@earthlink.net></I><BR>To: <I>Steve
Hovland <shovland@mindspring.com>,The new improved paleopsych list
<paleopsych@paleopsych.org>,<isaacsonj@hotmail.com>,<eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il></I><BR>CC:
<I><jz@bigbangtango.net>,<sjlee@howardbloom.net>,<kblozie@yahoo.com>,<idigdarwin@yahoo.com>,<BobKrone@aol.com>,<ohbeeb@yahoo.com></I><BR>Subject:
<I>Re: [Paleopsych] re: bacterial engineering and our future in
space</I><BR>Date: <I>Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:28:34 -0500</I><BR><BR>
<META content="Microsoft SafeHTML" name=Generator><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Steve / Howard, I read that Watson or Crick (not sure
which one) wrote about DNA being sent to Earth on a spaceship, because his
theory was Earth could not create life, therefore life had to brought here
from another place (interesting how this is not something well known, if
indeed it is true). This also could connect to the fact that a pig and a
chicken and a human embryo all look very much the same early in embryonic
development, since I am speculating that there was one form of DNA that then
evolved into different life forms. I am not a professional scientist
like most of you (I am guessing), just a fan of Howard’s. Curious as to
what you think of this, if anything. Jill<BR><BR>
<HR align=center width="95%" SIZE=3>
<B>From: </B>"Steve Hovland" <shovland@mindspring.com><BR><B>Date:
</B>Sat, 26 Nov 2005 06:52:45 -0800<BR><B>To: </B>"The new improved paleopsych
list" <paleopsych@paleopsych.org>, <isaacsonj@hotmail.com>,
<eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il><BR><B>Cc: </B><jz@bigbangtango.net>,
<sjlee@howardbloom.net>, <kblozie@yahoo.com>, "Jill Andresevic"
<andresevic@earthlink.net>, <idigdarwin@yahoo.com>,
<BobKrone@aol.com>, <ohbeeb@yahoo.com><BR><B>Subject: </B>RE:
[Paleopsych] re: bacterial engineering and our future in
space<BR><BR> <BR>Some people think our DNA came here from
space<BR>encapsulated in bacteria...<BR> <BR>Steve <BR></SPAN></FONT>
<P></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #a0c6e5 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT face=Tahoma>-----Original
Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org
[<A
href="mailto:paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org]">mailto:paleopsych-bounces@paleopsych.org]</A><B>On
Behalf Of </B>HowlBloom@aol.com<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 25,
2005 8:50 PM<BR><B>To:</B> isaacsonj@hotmail.com;
eshel@tamar.tau.ac.il<BR><B>Cc:</B> paleopsych@paleopsych.org;
jz@bigbangtango.net; sjlee@howardbloom.net; kblozie@yahoo.com; Jill
Andresevic; idigdarwin@yahoo.com; BobKrone@aol.com;
ohbeeb@yahoo.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Paleopsych] re: bacterial
engineering and our future in space<BR><BR></FONT></SPAN><FONT
size=4><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR>Joel--The
article you sent, the one below, is not only amazing. It
dovetails with a piece of poetry I wrote as a treatment for a short
film in 2001. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>As usual, the poem
was inspired immensely by my interchanges with Eshel. Take a
look:<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=5><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could swarms
of robo-microbes<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Made by humans and
biology<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The techno teams <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">That come from dreams<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The wet dreams of
technology<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could cyborg microbes by the
trillions<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Launched as space
communities<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Explore the dark beyond our
skies<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Thrive on starlight, climb and dive
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">through wormholes and through
nebulae?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they re-landscape Einstein’s space
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">And tame time with phrenology?
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they ride herd<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">on mass stampedes <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">of x-rays and raw
energy<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">corralling flares spat by black holes
<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">at the cores of
galaxies?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could genes retooled<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">In swarms of cells<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Become our new
conquistadors?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could they explore<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Galactic shores<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">And synapse reports<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">To our brains?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">From global thinking<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">Could we go<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">To cosmos-hopping
megaminds<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">One small step for E.
coli<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">A giant step for human
kind?<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
size=5><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 18px">The
article:<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Retrieved November 25,
2005, from the World Wide Web <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/national/24film.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1132979630-umqKos8HcAa3U8FsuKGPrQ&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/national/24film.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1132979630-umqKos8HcAa3U8FsuKGPrQ&pagewanted=print</A>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 24, 2005 Live From the Lab, a Culture Worth a
Thousand Words By ANDREW POLLACK Your portrait in a
petri dish? Scientists have created <B>living photographs made of
bacteria, genetically engineering the microbes so that a thin sheet
of them growing in a dish can capture and display an image.</B>
Bacteria are not about to replace conventional photography because
it takes at least two hours to produce a single image. But <B>the
feat shows the potential of an emerging field called synthetic
biology, which involves designing living cellular machines much as
electrical engineers might design a circuit.</B> "We're actually
applying principles from engineering into designing cells," said
Christopher A. Voigt, assistant professor of pharmaceutical
chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a
leader of the photography project, which is described in a paper
being published today in the journal Nature. <B>One team of
synthetic biologists is already trying to engineer bacteria to
produce a malaria drug that is now derived from a tree and is in
short supply. And J. Craig Venter, who led one team that unraveled
the human DNA sequence, has said he now wants to synthesize microbes
to produce hydrogen for energy. </B>The technology could also be
used to create new pathogens or synthesize known ones. So far,
however, most synthetic biology accomplishments have been like the
bacterial film - somewhat bizarre demonstrations of things that can
easily be done with electronics. <B>Synthetic biologists
have</B>, for instance, <B>made the biological equivalent of
an oscillator, getting cells to blink on and off</B>. To make the
bacterial film, <B>common E. coli bacteria were given genes that
cause a black pigment to be produced only when the bacteria are in
the dark.</B> <B>The camera, developed at the University of Texas,
Austin, is a temperature-controlled box in which bacteria grow, with
a hole in the top to let in light. An image on a black-and-white
35-millimeter slide is projected through the hole onto a sheet of
the microbes. Dark parts of the slide block the light from hitting the
bacteria, turning those parts of the sheet black. The parts exposed
to light remain the yellowish color of the growth medium. The result
is a permanent, somewhat eerie, black-and-yellowish picture.
<BR></B></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=5><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Courier New"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><B></B>Scientists
involved in the project said they envisioned being able to use light
to direct bacteria to manufacture substances on exquisitely small
scales. "It kind of gives us the ability to control single
biological cells in a population," said Jeffrey J. Tabor, a graduate
student in molecular biology at Texas. <B>Scientists, of course,
have been adding foreign genes to cells for three decades, and the
distinction between synthetic biology and more conventional genetic
engineering is not always clear. </B>Proponents of synthetic biology
say genetic engineering so far has mainly involved transferring a
single gene from one organism into another. The human insulin gene,
for instance, is put into bacteria, which then produce the hormone.
Each project, they say, requires a lot of experimentation, in
contrast to <B>true engineering, like building a microchip or a
house, which uses standardized parts and has a fairly predictable
outcome.</B> "We haven't been able to transform it into a discipline
where you can simply and predictably engineer biological systems,"
said <B>Drew Endy, an assistant professor of biological
engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</B> "It
means the complexity of things we can make and can afford to make are
quite limited." Professor Endy <B>and colleagues at M.I.T.
have created a catalog of biological components, which they call
BioBricks</B>, which are s<B>equences of DNA that can perform
particular functions like turning on a gene</B>. Still, since cells
differ from one another and are extremely complex, it is open to
question how predictable biological engineering can ever be.
<B>M.I.T. has also begun holding a competition for college
students to design "genetically engineered machines." The bacterial
camera was an entrant in 2004 and was made in part using BioBricks.
Mr. Tabor said the idea for bacterial photography came from Zachary
Booth Simpson, a digital artist who has been learning about biology
at the university.</B> By chance, the Texas team learned that
Professor Voigt in San Francisco and one of his graduate
students, Anselm Levskaya, had already developed a bacterial light
sensor. So the two groups teamed up. The E. coli bacterium was
chosen because it is easy for genetic engineers to work with. But
<B>since E. coli live in the human gut, they cannot sense light. Mr.
Voigt and Mr. Levskaya put in a gene used by photosynthetic algae to
respond to light. The bacteria were also given genes to make them
produce an enzyme that would react with a chemical added to the
growth medium. When that reaction occurs, a black precipitate is
produced. </B>The scientists created sort of a chain reaction inside
the bacteria. When the bacteria are in the dark, the enzyme is
produced, turning the medium black. When the bacteria are exposed to
light, production of the enzyme is shut off. Copyright 2005 The New
York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help
Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top <BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
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face=Verdana><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR> <BR> <BR></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><FONT face=Arial>----------<BR>Howard
Bloom<BR>Author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into
the Forces of History and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind
From The Big Bang to the 21st Century<BR>Recent Visiting
Scholar-Graduate Psychology Department, New York University; Core
Faculty Member, The Graduate
Institute<BR>www.howardbloom.net<BR>www.bigbangtango.net<BR>Founder:
International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: Epic of
Evolution Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; founder:
The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York Academy of Sciences,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, American
Psychological Society, Academy of Political Science, Human Behavior
and Evolution Society, International Society for Human Ethology;
advisory board member: Institute for Accelerating Change ; executive
editor -- New Paradigm book series.<BR>For information on The
International Paleopsychology Project, see: www.paleopsych.org<BR>for
two chapters from <BR>The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition
Into the Forces of History, see www.howardbloom.net/lucifer<BR>For
information on Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big
Bang to the 21st Century, see www.howardbloom.net<BR></FONT><FONT
face=Verdana><BR></FONT></SPAN><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>