Discourse 13.3: Punctuated Equilibrium Secondary to Geomagnetic Variations

Space Weather III

*This essay seeks to bookmark a brief theoretical idea for posterity*

Recently I wrote an essay that postulated that we are evolving our species by deploying an increasing number of unnatural systems to immerse ourselves in. This is causing us to form maladaptive changes, and we are presently undergoing various levels of Dysevolution.

Essentially, we are anesthetizing and evolving ourselves through social conditioning. We are losing the spark that not only makes us human and develop individual identity, but losing the type of public culture that it took to build civilization. It has been replaced by mass society and mass man- who has become just an instrument of that society and not an integral component of it. In that essay I included the following paragraph:

“Perhaps we were blinded by the mentality of gradualism and uniformitarianism, which place blinders on our perception of changes. Perhaps we did not think we could have such a profound impact on our species in such a short period of time. We have been conditioned to not think of ourselves as evolving in smaller timescales than geologic time, but this is a fatally flawed paradigm. Not only with our hubris of social engineering, but this flawed perception has had an impact on another topic; that of punctuated equilibrium.”

This is that discourse.

PART 1: Punctuated Equilibrium

*Punctuated Equilibrium: Theory of evolutionary change that states that most of a species history is spent in a form of genetic stasis where minimal changes occur- but it is “punctuated” by periods of rapid changes with brief bursts of speciation.

To begin with, I suspect we have been blinded to such sudden changes due to the concepts of gradualism and uniformitarianism and to a large degree I think this was intentional. It is important to note, while not relevant to this discourse, these concepts not only apply to our sciences-but to our perceptions of political philosophy and culture.

Gradualism tells us that change happens slowly and incrementally over time instead of through sudden transformations. Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity, tells us the same natural laws and processes that operate today have always operated in the past – and will continue to do so. While they both seem to be true for a majority of the time, we know they do not model our current knowledge base accurately. Gradualism as an absolute is annihilated by cataclysms that we know have occurred. Uniformitarianism is annihilated just by documented solar events as well as by documented changes to the earth’s magnetosphere, which alter a wide spectrum of energetic forces that have significant effects on biological life and climate. The magnetosphere is seemingly undergoing such a change presently.

So, what does this blind us to?

Among several things, the general theory of evolution is not as solid as people think it is. The fossil record is incomplete, and the missing parts are filled in with theoretical duct tape reminiscent of the usage of dark matter and dark energy in current cosmological models. Others have eviscerated these current models well so I will not venture too far into that direction. Some may argue that these are merely working theories, but there is more to it than that. They are taken as gospel, not theory. The point here is that they are incomplete and do not provide answers to real scientific questions that are lingering.

To the point of this essay, in our current model we see that species will arrive out of nowhere without a pre-existing lineage, and then others disappear without apparent cause. While there are some explanations for these occurrences, they are hardly sufficient to satisfy the questions. There is a growing stack of evidence that the current model is wrong and that these periods of slow change are interrupted by quick transformations. This is slowly being accepted within academic circles.

So, what do I think this means as it relates to evolution?

I suspect that the catalyst for these punctuations is tied to alterations in the earth’s magnetosphere. It appears as though our magnetic environment affects our evolutionary capacitance to a high degree.

*Evolutionary Capacitance- is the storage and release of variation, just as electric capacitors store and release charge. Living systems are usually robust to mutations. This means that living systems accumulate genetic variation without the variation having a phenotypic effect. But when the system is disturbed, robustness breaks down and the variation has phenotypic effects and is subject to the full force of natural selection. An evolutionary capacitor is a molecular switch mechanism that can “toggle” genetic variation between hidden and revealed states.

The stasis period referred to in the definition of punctuated equilibrium, is when a species has a really high degree of stable canalization.

*Canalisation- is a measure of the ability of a population to produce the same phenotype regardless of variability to its environment or genotype. It is a form of evolutionary robustness.

There are an increasing number of studies showing that changes to the magnetic environment that a biological form is immersed in affect this stability, potentially leading to periods of rapid decanalisation. Meaning, our capacitors discharge.

*Decanalisation- a phenomenon where species development becomes less stable leading to increased phenotypic variation. It is the loss of a trait’s “canalisation”, or the tendency to develop a specific trait in a consistent manner.

It is through this process that the diminished magnetosphere triggers periods of rapid changes with brief bursts of speciation – as mentioned in the definition of punctuated equilibrium. This is my speculation.

*Speciation- evolutionary process where one ancestral species gives rise to two or more descendant species.

PART II – The reason for my Inquiry

Almost ten years ago I began researching a particular topic for a book. I sought to answer a few questions about humans and behavioral modernity. How smart were our ancestors? When did they become that way? How did this affect the velocity of our development? What did our social structures look like and how did they form? At its core, I was doing a biological examination of the political and philosophical concept of natural law. I was even in contact with Noam Chomsky at one time as I saw similarities in his Language Acquisition Device (LAD) theory with my concepts of innate “natural law”. Concisely, he felt we are born with the ability to develop language rapidly as its structure is “built in”. I posit this is similar to morality and why there are so many universals among disparate peoples. A framework, not concrete.

People speak different languages, but they all speak with the same purposes. To communicate. Human nature- human behavior- natural law- is the same way. To organize. The medium is the message here. While there are variations in message, natural law is real and is the epistemic basis of innate morality. (at least for me)

However, during my deep inquiry, I ran into numerous problems that I could not find reliable answers on. This was when I slowly became derailed.

The relevance of my backstory as to how I got here, may be a distinction important to only a few- but I think it is significant, and I want it noted. Before seven years ago I was a conditioned adherent to gradualism. Concepts about pole shifts and cataclysms were either science fiction, conspiritainment, or something relegated to so far in the distant past they were more of a dream state than reality. However, in my research I found what I perceived to be fundamental errors with our present timeline of behavioral modernity in the anatomically modern human. (AMH)

To put it simply another way, our civilizational development does not align with our intellectual development.

It took me years looking for an error in my methods or an explanation for this discrepancy. I communicated with numerous other researchers and academics who likewise did not have an explanation for this variance. Additionally, many were skeptical of the best explanation that I found. Although there are less skeptics these few short years later.

Cataclysms. Seemingly cyclical.

Many of the things I understood about human history and evolution were upended during this process. While my theory on natural law was still relatively intact, I was aggravated because I could not confidently draw any conclusions or even develop specific future questions. My book was briefly published but I pulled it because I knew that it was incomplete. While my theory was not necessarily incorrect, my developmental argument was annihilated- even if only to myself. That work (AOP) was written with the correct styles, notations and references one would expect in a formal work.

However, this short essay, while scientifically supported, will be heavy in speculation and theory. I need to make that clear so I can speak a bit liberally and to the point.

PART III – A Catalyst

I have said previously in the Discourse 13 series that I do not like to write on this subject for several reasons. One, others do it better. Two, on some things I have to walk a line based off knowledge I have which may or may not be linked. Three, I do not clearly know what is currently transpiring and I do not want to muddy waters that are clearly already getting help being muddied.

To the point, allegedly, we are entering a new major geomagnetic event. A pole shift? Excursion? I do not know, but something major is indeed occurring. Although, while these events constitute a critical component of my punctuated equilibrium position, they will remain as such even if the current events turn out to be unrelated. To say it plainly, my position is that regarding the subjects of cataclysms and evolution, the former is a catalyst for the latter.

We can safely assume that cataclysms at the least occur, that is undeniable. Mainstream science is now even admitting the biological effect of the Laschamp excursion, which was a short period of geomagnetic reversal that occurred 42 thousand years ago. This event led to the extinction of many species as well as led to the rise of many others. While frequent can be relative on geologic time scales, they are peppered along our timeline with consistency. The causes are often diverse, from comets, volcanoes, earthquakes and geomagnetic changes. Some speculate, not without evidence, that some of these causes are interrelated. There also does appear to be a rough cycle of 6 thousand years as it relates to geomagnetic changes, but I do not need those to be proven to establish my position.

The point of the backstory was to establish that I did not arrive at this junction based off of a fringe conspiracy theory, I arrived after an exhaustive inquiry into our human development.

Also in the previous Discourse 13 series, I have discussed some of the current science that concerns me is most often neglected in our public media sphere. The earth, sun and the entire solar system are changing. Something large is moving its hand. Is a new cataclysm again on our doorstep? To a large degree, I think so, but I will not speculate as to what exactly nor will I postulate when I think “it” will be. While I am not absent speculation and various degrees of certainty, this essay is a discussion about a theory on the other side of that idea

These events affect our biosphere in ways we do not currently understand, let alone integrate them into our current public epistemology. What we do know is that biologics on earth on occasion are exposed to an environment with a weak or null magnetic field. This is presently uncontested. While I suspect these events are more frequent and consistent than publicly acknowledged, that is beside the point. I posit these events are what primarily drives large leaps in evolution.

I would like to know what these events do to us. What is the purpose?

Perhaps this rapid decanalisation is essentially a “shotgun” method to make sure some life… will hit the right combination to keep surviving in the new environment. Natures own built in survival mechanisms to ensure anti-fragility. To ensure continuation of life in some form.

Perhaps we are about to live through a time where we will see rapid genetic changes and the extinction of some species within living generations. (That are not already part of the ongoing mass extinction event)

Or perhaps we enter a new “age of awareness” where we encounter a new leveling up of our cognitive abilities- for some. Maybe this is what has driven sudden leaps in cognitive abilities as well as produced sudden departures.

Either way, change is indeed coming. History teaches us that this is inevitable. How does it happen and what does it mean are questions we should all be asking more frequently.

I suspect that in the not-too-distant future, our general theory of evolution will incorporate these components of punctuated equilibrium into the models without missing a beat, as if they have always known.

As always in the Discourse 13 series, start looking up and asking questions.