Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Fundamental Biological Activity of the Universe

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Eco-Phenomenology: Life, Human Life, Post-Human Life in the Harmony of the Cosmos

Part of the book series: Analecta Husserliana ((ANHU,volume CXXI))

Abstract

If everything is in permanent change, can the Universe itself be fundamentally passive? Answering this question requires a clear concept of ‘activity.’ The nature of ‘action’ is a central and unsolved philosophical problem. Actions play a crucial role in the way we conceive of ourselves, life and the Universe, and the value we put on these. In four decades of research on solar activity, we found that activity is not a mere occurrence but a genuine activity of the Sun, initiated globally by the Sun using quantum processes as tools that generates suitable primary mass flows locally in the solar core that are capable of producing a working dynamo. We argue that solar activity is initiated by biological causes existing beyond the system of physical causes.

The anthropic principle demands an extremely special trigger initiating the Big Bang in a way suited to the development of life. The Astrobiological Revolution indicates the generation of complex organic molecules preferentially favorable to life even in the ‘impossible’ physical conditions present in extremely rare and cold cosmic clouds. With the help of Ervin Bauer’s biological principle, we find explanation for biological determinism and life’s being a ‘cosmic imperative.’

Modern cosmology uses obsolete Laplacean models. We show that the biological principle in the Universe involves a continuous biological activity of the Universe prevailing everywhere, including in ourselves. This universal activity is the basis of our life instinct and of logic too.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Works Cited

  • Bar-Nun, A., S. Bar-Nun, S. Bauer, and C. Sagan. 1970. Shock synthesis of amino acids in simulated primitive environments. Science 168: 470–473. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrow, J.D., and F.J. Tipler. 1986. The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, 132. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrow, J., S.C. Morris, S.J. Freeland, and C.L. Harper Jr., eds. 2007. Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, E. 1967. Elméleti biológia (Theoretical Biology). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. Print (in Hungarian; translated by Dr. Miklós Müller from Russian “Theoreticheskaya Biologiya” and from German “Die Grundprinzipen der rein naturwissenschaftlichen Biologie”; with excerpts in English, main text in Russian, 1982; in Russian, 1935, 1993, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R.F. 2012. Self-Control—The Moral Muscle. Psychologist 25: 112–115. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohr, Niels. 1933. Light and Life. Nature 131: 421–423, 457–459. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, K.G., C.J. Schrijver, M. Karovska, et al. 2005. Stellar Imager Vision Mission Report. Vision Mission Study Report. 15 September 2005. http://hires.gsfc.nasa.gov/si/documents/SI_Report_final_091505_ebook.pdf.

  • Chaplin, M. 2015. Water Structure and Science. Anomalous Properties of Water. http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/water_anomalies.html

  • Chatzitheodoridis, E., S. Haigh, and I. Lyon. 2014. A Conspicuous Clay Ovoid in Nakhla: Evidence for Subsurface Hydrothermal Alteration on Mars with Implications for Astrobiology. Astrobiology 14: 651–693. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chyba, C.F., and K.P. Hand. 2005. ASTROBIOLOGY: The Study of the Living Universe. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 43: 31–74. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway Morris, S. 2010. What is Written into Creation? In Creation and the God of Abraham, ed. David Burrell et al., 176–191. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Print.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, Paul C.W. 1998. The Fifth Miracle. The Search for the Origin of Life. London: Penguin. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003. How Bio-friendly is the Universe? International Journal of Astrobiology 2, 115–120. http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0403050.pdf.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? New York: Allen Lane, Penguin Books. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Duve, C. 1996. Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative. New York: Basic Books. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vera, J.-P., P.D. Schulze-Makuch, A. Khan, A. Lorek, A. Koncz, D. Möhlmann, and T. Spohn. 2012. The adaptation potential of extremophiles to Martian surface conditions and its implication for the habitability of Mars. Geophysical Research Abstracts 14: EGU2012–EGU2113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dick, S.J. 2009. Cosmic evolution: History, culture, and human Destiny. In Cosmos & Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context, ed. S.J. Dick and M.L. Lupisella, 25–59. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Cosmic Evolution. History, Culture, and Human Destiny. Chapter 2 in: Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context. Washington, DC: NASA. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. Critical Issues in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Astrobiology. Astrobiology 12: 906–927. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Testimony of Dr. Steven J. Dick, Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, December 4, 2013. http://docs.house.gov/meetings/SY/SY00/20131204/101546/HHRG-113-SY00-Wstate-DickS-20131204.pdf.

  • Dick, S.J., and J.E. Strick. 2004. The Living Universe. NASA and the Development of Astrobiology. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, G.F.R. 2005. Physics, Complexity and Causality. Nature 435: 743. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Physics and the Real World. Foundations of Physics 36: 227–262. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. Editorial note to: Brandon Carter, Large Number Coincidences and the Anthropic Principle in Cosmology. General Relativity and Gravitation 43: 3213–3223. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S. 1988. Prebiotic Toots of Informed Protein Synthesis. In The Roots of Modern Biochemistry, ed. H. Kleinkauf, H. von Dohren, and L. Jaenicke, 897. Berlin: de Gruyter. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S., and K. Dose, eds. 1997. Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life. New York: Marcel Dekker. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gold, T. 1992. The Deep, Hot Biosphere. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 89: 6045–6049. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grandpierre, Attila. 1986. A Convective Flare Theory. In Flare Stars and Related Objects, 176–184. ed. Byurakan Symposion. L. V. Mirzoyan. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1988. Flares: Magnetic or Convective Origin? In Activity in Cool Star Envelopes, ed. O. Havnes et al., 159. Dordrecht: Springer. Print.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1991. A Convective Model of Solar and Stellar Flares. Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana 61: 401–407. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1996a. A Pulsating-Ejecting Solar Core Model and the Solar Neutrino Problem. Astronomy and Astrophysics 308: 199–214. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1996b. On the Origin of Solar Cycle Periodicity. Astrophysics and Space Science 243: 393–400. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. The Book of the Living Universe (in Hungarian). Válasz Könyvkiadó.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Biological Extension of the Action Principle: Endpoint Determination Beyond the Quantum Level and the Ultimate Physical Roots of Consciousness. Neuroquantology 5 (4): 346–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008a. Cosmic Life Forms. In From Fossils to Astrobiology. Records of Life on Earth and the Search for Extraterrestrial Biosignatures, ed. Joseph Seckbach and Maud Walsh, 369–385. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008b. Fundamental complexity measures of life. In Divine Action and Natural Selection: Questions of Science and Faith in Biological Evolution, ed. J. Seckbach and R. Gordon, 566–615. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Dynamism in the solar core. In Proceedings of the third UN/ESA/NASA workshop on the International Heliophysical Year 2007 and Basic Space Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, ed. Hans J. Haubold and A.M. Mathai, 103–139. Springer. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012a. The Book of the Living Universe 2012 (a thoroughly new version, in Hungarian). Titokfejtő Könyvkiadó. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012b. Genuine Biological Autonomy: How can the Spooky Finger of Mind Play on the Physical Keyboard of the Brain? Athens: ATINER’S Conference Paper Series no: PHI2012-0197. Print. http://www.atiner.gr/papers/PHI2012-0197.pdf.

  • ———. 2012c. On the Biological Origin of Design in Nature. In Origin(s) of Design in Nature: A Fresh, Interdisciplinary Look at How Design Emerges in Complex Systems, Especially Life, ed. L.S. Swan, R. Gordon, and J. Seckbach, 17–41. Dordrecht: Springer. Print.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. The Origin of Cellular Life and Biosemiotics. Biosemiotics 6: 421–435. Print. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12304-013-9173-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014a. Biologically Organized Quantum Vacuum and the Cosmic Origin of Cellular Life. Analecta Husserliana 116: 107–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. On the Origin of Solar Activity: The Interplay of Rotation, Magnetic Braking, Planetary Influences and Local Thermonuclear Runaways in the Solar Core. In Planetary Influence on the Sun and the Earth, ed. Nils-Axel Mörner, 91–108. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018a, The Helios Theory – The Sun as a Self-Regulating System and as a Cosmic Living Organism. Process Studies, 46(2) (in print).

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018b. The Living Universe Through the Eyes of a Solar Astronomer. (book manuscript, submitted).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandpierre, A., and M. Kafatos. 2012. Biological Autonomy. Philosophy Study 2: 631–649. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Genuine Biological Autonomy: How can the Spooky Finger of Mind Play on the Physical Keyboard of the Brain? In An Anthology of Philosophical Studies, ed. P. Hanna, vol. 7, 83–98. Athens: Athens Institute for Education and Research. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandpierre, A., D. Chopra, and M. Kafatos. 2014. The Universal Principle of Biology: Determinism, Quantum Physics and Spontaneity. NeuroQuantology 12(3): 364–373. Print. http://www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/view/747.

  • Gurevich, L., and V. Mostepanenko. 1971. On the Existence of Atoms in n-Dimensional Space. Physics Letters A 35: 201. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harold, F.M. 2001. The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms and the Order of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heldmann, J.L., L. Schurmeier, C. McKay, A. Davila, C. Stoker, M. Marinova, and M.B. Wilhelm. 2014. Midlatitude Ice-Rich Ground on Mars as a Target in the Search for Evidence of Life and for In Situ Resource Utilization on Human Missions. Astrobiology 14: 102–118. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, L.J. 1913. The Fitness of the Environment, 312. New York: Macmillan. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, R. 2014. Need to Track Organic Nano-Particles Across the Universe? NASA’s Got an App for That. https://www.nasa.gov/ames/need-to-track-organic-nano-particles-across-the-universe-nasas-got-an-app-for-that/NASA. Retrieved 22 February 2014.

  • Hoyle, F., and N.C. Wickramasinghe. 1999a. The Universe and Life: Deductions from the Weak Anthropic Principle. Astrophysics and Space Science 268: 89–102. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1999b. Biological Evolution. Astrophysics and Space Science 268: 55–75. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C., K.T. Wikfeldt, T. Tokushima, D. Nordlund, Y. Harada, U. Bergmann, M. Niebuhr, T.M. Weiss, Y. Horikawa, M. Leetmaa, M.P. Ljungberg, O. Takahashi, A. Lenz, L. Ojamae, A.P. Lyubartsev, S. Shin, L.G.M. Pettersson, and A. Nilsson. 2009. The Inhomogeneous Structure of Water at Ambient Conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106: 15241. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iess, L., R.A. Jacobson, M. Ducci, D.J. Stevenson, J.I. Lunine, J.W. Armstrong, S.W. Asmar, P. Racioppa, N.J. Rappaport, and P. Tortora. 2012. The Tides of Titan. Science 337 (6093): 457–459. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, R.I., A.M. Stockton, Y.S. Kim, E.C. Jensen, and R.A. Mathies. 2013. On the Formation of Dipeptides in Interstellar Model Ices. The Astrophysical Journal 765: 111. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, E.F., E.W. Kelly, A. Crabtree, A. Gauld, M. Grosso, and B. Greyson, et al. 2007. Irreducible Mind. Toward a Psychology of the 21st Century, 482ff. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon, D.H. 1974. Prefigured Ordering and Protoselection in the Origin of Life. In The Origin of Life and Evolutionary Biochemistry, ed. K. Dose, S.W. Fox, G.A. Deborin, and T.E. Pavlovskaya. New York: Springer. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, W., F.K. Tengra, Z. Young, J. Shong, N. Marchand, H.K. Chan, R.C. Pangule, M. Parra, J.S. Dordick, J.L. Plawsky, and C.H. Collins. 2013. Spaceflight Promotes Biofilm Formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS ONE 8 (4): e6237. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuan, Y.-J., S.B. Charnley, H.-C. Huang, W.-L. Tseng, and Z. Kisiel. 2003. Interstellar Glycine. The Astrophysical Journal 593: 848–867. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwok, Sun. 2009. Organic Matter in Space: From Star Dust to the Solar System. Astrophysics and Space Science 319: 5–21. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. Organic Matter in the Universe. Weinheim: WILEY-VCH. Print.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Stardust the Cosmic Seeds of Life. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwok, S., and Y. Zhang. 2011. Mixed Aromatic-Aliphatic Organic Nanoparticles as Carriers of Unidentified Infrared Emission Features. Nature 479: 80–83. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S.L. 1955. Production of Some Organic Compounds Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions. Journal of the American Chemical Society 77: 2351–2361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya, C.J. 1990. The Philosophy of Action: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nandy, D., and P.C.H. Martens. 2007. Space Climate and the Solar-Stellar Connection: What Can We Learn from the Stars about Long-Term Solar Variability. Advances in Space Research 40: 891–898. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neal-Jones, N., and W. Steigerwald. 2011. Building Blocks of Life Created in “Impossible” Place. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2350. Retrieved 7 October 2014.

  • Needham, A.E. 1965. The Uniqueness of Biological Materials. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordita Conference. 2014. Water—the Most Anomalous Liquid. Nordita, Stockholm, Sweden, from 13 October 2014 to 07 November 2014. http://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=3989

  • Oro, J. 1963. Studies in Experimental Organic Cosmochemistry. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 108: 464. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petigura, E.A., A.W. Howard, and G.W. Marcy. 2013. Prevalence of Earth-Size Planets Orbiting Sun-Like Stars. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110: 19273–19278. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, Michael. 1968. Life’s Irreducible Structure. Science 160: 1308–1312. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, R. 2013. Evidence that Comets Could Have Seeded Life on Earth. UC Berkely News Center. http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/03/05/research-news-briefs-did-comets-seed-life-on-earth/

  • Schmitt-Kopplin, P., Z. Gabelica, R.D. Gougeonc, A. Fekete, B. Kanawati, M. Harir, I. Gebefuegi, G. Eckeld, and N. Hertkorn. 2010. High Molecular Diversity of Extraterrestrial Organic Matter in Murchison Meteorite Revealed 40 Years after its Fall. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 2763. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, R. 1986. Origins: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth, 186–187. New York: Summit Books. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharov, A.A. 2006. Genome Increase as a Clock for the Origin and Evolution of Life. Biology Direct 1: 1–17. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharov, A.A., and R. Gordon. 2013. Life Before Earth. http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.3381.

  • Shimoyama, A., and R. Ogasawara. 2002. Dipeptides and Diketopiperazines in the Yamato-791198 and Murchison Carbonaceous Chondrites. Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 32: 165–179. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shore, S.N. 1992. An Introduction to Astrophysical Hydrodynamics, 178. San Diego: Academic. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinman, G., and M. Cole. 1967. Synthesis of Biologically Pertinent Peptides under Possible Primordial Conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 58: 735–742. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strömberg, G. 1948. The Soul of the Universe. Philadelphia: David McKay. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensmark, H. 2006. Cosmic Rays and the Biosphere over 4 Billion Years. Astronomische Nachrichten 327 (9): 871–875. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szent-Györgyi, A. 1972. The Living State. With Observations on Cancer. New York: Academic. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • The University of Hong Kong. 2011. Astronomers Discover Complex Organic Matter Exists Throughout the Universe. ScienceDaily. 27 October 2011. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111026143721.htm

  • Tuttle, K. 2009. SLAC Researchers Reveal the Dance of Water. http://home.slac.stanford.edu/pressreleases/2009/20090811.htm

  • Wald, G. 1962. Life in the Second and Third Periods; or Why Phosphorus and Sulfur for High-Energy Bonds? In Horizons in Biochemistry, ed. M. Kasha and B. Pullman, 127. New York: Academic. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wigner, E.P. 1960. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences. Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics 13: 1–14. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zyga, L. 2012. Physicists Search for New Physics in Primordial Quantum Fluctuations. Mar 26, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-03-physicists-physics-primordial-quantum-fluctuations.html. Retrieved 17 June 2015.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Konkoly Observatory, Budapest, Hungary

    Attila Grandpierre

Authors
  1. Attila Grandpierre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Attila Grandpierre .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Phenomenology Institute, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    William S. Smith

  2. World Phenomenology Institute, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Jadwiga S. Smith

  3. World Phenomenology Institute, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

    Daniela Verducci

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Grandpierre, A. (2018). The Fundamental Biological Activity of the Universe. In: Smith, W., Smith, J., Verducci, D. (eds) Eco-Phenomenology: Life, Human Life, Post-Human Life in the Harmony of the Cosmos. Analecta Husserliana, vol CXXI. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77516-6_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation