Mass Extinctions, Evolutionary Leaps, and the Virus-Information Connection
- Thread starter Pierre
- Start date
Benjamin
The Living Force
It was a long list of words!
Don't worry about how many there are. The subject matter is complex enough.After seeing the changes, I felt almost embarrassed and perhaps honoured that they were made. Certain parts were almost, in a way, surreal to read. Some of those changes also confirm that I'm understanding, at least, some of the material enough to make some suggestions/alternatives. And that comes from how well you have written these easy-to-understand chapters. Thanks Pierre!
I did happen to find a few in the updated pdf that I think were just missed:
-...uninterrupted...
- Delete 'that'.
- Delete ':)' ... unless it's intentional. :)
- There is a completely blank page before 'Paleochristian populations' in the updated pdf.
- And what is the tantalizing link that the journalist carefully omits to disclose? Remember that Julius Caesar was the first to have a dedicated flamen (plural flamenies) priest.
- What part of society did the Carolingians consider to be degenerate?
- One of the main battles...
- Bavaria was Christianized during the 7th Century at the latest, which predates Charlemagne...
- If the Vikings were not barbarians but civilized Paleochristian people, what was the reason behind the raids of monasteries?
- Various reasons are ascribed to the Vikings for targeting monasteries.
- So were the Viking raids that targeted monasteries motivated by looting...
-...Julius Caesar against(?) Pompeii...
(also)
-...above, Croatia... (add comma)
- The "Controversies about (the) spring equinox and Christmas" section does not appear at the end of the updated pdf. You may have decided to put it elsewhere.
It was a long list of words!
After seeing the changes, I felt almost embarrassed and perhaps honoured that they were made. Certain parts were almost, in a way, surreal to read. Some of those changes also confirm that I'm understanding, at least, some of the material enough to make some suggestions/alternatives. And that comes from how well you have written these easy-to-understand chapters. Thanks Pierre!
I did happen to find a few in the updated pdf that I think were just missed:
-...uninterrupted...
- Delete 'that'.
- Delete ':)' ... unless it's intentional. :)
- There is a completely blank page before 'Paleochristian populations' in the updated pdf.
- And what is the tantalizing link that the journalist carefully omits to disclose? Remember that Julius Caesar was the first to have a dedicated flamen (plural flamenies) priest.
- What part of society did the Carolingians consider to be degenerate?
- One of the main battles...
- Bavaria was Christianized during the 7th Century at the latest, which predates Charlemagne...
- If the Vikings were not barbarians but civilized Paleochristian people, what was the reason behind the raids of monasteries?
- Various reasons are ascribed to the Vikings for targeting monasteries.
- So were the Viking raids that targeted monasteries motivated by looting...
-...Julius Caesar against(?) Pompeii...
(also)
-...above, Croatia... (add comma)
- The "Controversies about (the) spring equinox and Christmas" section does not appear at the end of the updated pdf. You may have decided to put it elsewhere.
Correction made in the master file and in pdf. I replaced the pdf for chapter 20. Indeed the subchapter about "Controversies about spring equinox and Christmas" was missing. Thanks!
Corrected in the master file. Thank you. I liked the Bleak Death though!
Benjamin
The Living Force
With the 'Controversies' added again, there are just 6 small corrections needed:
-...about the spring...
- Since Easter predates...
(or)
- Easter predates Roman Christianity. Could it date back...
- Notice that, like Easter, Christmas...
- There is no mention...
- This was corrected, however, in the pdf, the 'th' is 'small' and 'of' is also 'small'.
-...built...
All correction added to the master file (not in the online version, not in the pdf file). Thank you!
dennis
Jedi Council Member
I'm somewhat behind on following this thread. Pierre are you familiar with this? Interesting considering all that is going on.
The Rosetta mission studied the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko at close range for two years. The trove of information from Rosetta provides a highly detailed basis for designing a sample return mission to this comet. And the detection of tholins on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko make it an extremely attractive object for further study, with the promise of illuminating how life began. The Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return Mission (CAESAR) is a proposed mission back to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to sample the comet and bring the samples back to earth. Currently, it is one of a pair of finalists selected for further concept development in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. The other is the Dragonfly mission to Titan.
I just stumbled on this article (in French)
Don't really know its value (recentism always give me a lot of headaches!) but maybe there is some things of interest in it.
Satirev, like Fomenko or Guyenot is maximalist. They propose that about 1000 years were added (from ca.500 AD to ca. 1500 AD). I think part of their mistake is to consider that the Dark Age (ca. 500 - 800 AD) didn't exist. But as demonstrated by Ward Perkins, the three blank centuries doesn’t mean added.
Last edited:
Chapter 21: Society before and after the Black Death
Conditions before the Black Death
The oppression at the onset of the Black Death was quite similar to what happened before the Plague of Justinian.
In the beginning of the 13th century, courtly love was condemned by the church as heretical[1]. In 1209, Pope Innocent III, backed by the French monarchy, initiated the Cathars crusade.[2] In 1229, the Inquisition was established.[3] Over the following years of barbarism, one million[4] innocent French people were slaughtered[5] and the whole Occitan culture, one of the cradles of Paleochristianity was swept away.
In the beginning of the 13th century, courtly love was condemned by the church as heretical[1]. In 1209, Pope Innocent III, backed by the French monarchy, initiated the Cathars crusade.[2] In 1229, the Inquisition was established.[3] Over the following years of barbarism, one million[4] innocent French people were slaughtered[5] and the whole Occitan culture, one of the cradles of Paleochristianity was swept away.
© Public Domain
Burning of heretics
In 1252, Pope Innocent legalized torture.[6] The Inquisition engulfed Europe, leaving hundreds of thousands of victims[7], while the 7th, 8th and 9th crusades were waged against the ‘infidels’.
In the beginning of the 11th Century philosopher Avicenna developed the concept of courtly love[13], which was subsequently popularized in Northern Europe by Minnesingers[14] and in Southern Europe by the troubadours, which embodied the new Occitan culture based.
Still in Southern Europe in 1143 AD was written the first report[15] about Cathars by the cleric Eberwin of Steinfeld. John Damascene, writing in the 8th century AD, also notes of an earlier sect called the "Cathari", in his book On Heresies, taken from the epitome provided by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion[16] This suggests that Cathars were active for decades before growing enough to be worth being mentioned in written document.
The 12th Century also marked the apparition of the first gothic building after more than millennia of Roman architecture. The Basilica of Saint Denis in Paris was the first gothic building[17] begun in 1140, followed 23 years later by Notre-Dame de Paris[18]:
Notre-Dame de Paris at night
Conditions after the Black Death
Like for the plague of Justinian, it took centuries for civilization to re-emerge after the Black Death. I ndeed, the European population did not regain its 1300 level until the 1500’s[19]. However, the cometary induced cataclysms were lesser during the Black Death.
The Inquisition (1229–1821),[20] the Black Death (1347–1837)[21] and the Little Ice Age (1350–1800)[22] all synched up over almost the same five century period of time.
Similarly to the recovery from the plague of Justinian, the recovery from the Black Death exhibit features evoking life explosion. For example women’s fertility unexpectedly spiked up:
Likewise the average height increased markedly:
Increased fertility and height are usually hallmarks of healthy populations. These are not features you would expect in Sweden after centuries of pandemics when the country was still ravaged by famine, malnutrition, sickness, cold weather and grieving. Did Black Death virus induce beneficial genetic changes that increased fertility and height in survivors?
The aftermath of the Black Death was not only marked by physiological changes. The effects on the very way of thinking might even be greater.
The Renaissance appeared during the first Black Death epidemics (ca. 1347-1353). Of all places Renaissance is believed to have started in Florence, Italy[25] which was the first Western European country to be struck by the Black Death. Italy might even have been the first country affected in the world since the alleged epidemics migration from Crimea to Italy doesn’t stand factual scrutiny[26].
Within Italy, Florence was one of the cities exhibiting the highest death toll. In a mere four years (1348-1352) the population was more than halved:
Despite the utter devastation experienced by Florence, or because of it, three of the greatest minds of the Renaissance in the whole world were born in this town or its close vicinity:
Maybe, like the above mentioned quote suggests, the birth of the three of greatest minds of the renaissance was due to sheer luck, or maybe the integration of the viral sequence of the Black Death virus, in the genome of the survivors and their progeny enable a new way of thinking?
Notice a fundamental paradigm shift compared the middle Ages. It’s as if man had replaced God.
In particular, empiricism marked the sole focus on observable facts at the expense of the invisible and, thereby, the divorce between religion and science:
The Black Death was probably an important cause for the Renaissance, which initiated a fundamentally new way of thinking, a shift from religious belief to scientific knowledge:
The reason for the shift from religion to science is usually attributed to the loss of faith caused by the Black Death:
If it’s so, why did the plague of Justinian induced exactly the opposite effects, namely a revival of devotion of religiosity, particularly Christianity?
The death of faith would neither explain why Florence, of all places was the cradle of the Renaissance, or why 3 of the most brilliant geniuses of Renaissance were born in the vicinity of Florence within 3 decades.
What if the real cause of the Renaissance was indeed the Black Death, not so much through the destruction it induced but rather the genetic mutations in the human genome induced by the virus? The question is worth asking when one knows that Ebolavirus[37] and smallpox[38] virus, the two closest cousins of the Black Death virus were repeatedly integrated in the genome of humans and other vertebrates.
© Commons
“Human Fragility” by Salvator Rosa ca. 1640
“Human Fragility” by Salvator Rosa ca. 1640
[1] Roger Boase (1986) "Courtly Love" in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Charles Scribner's Sons Vol. 3, pp. 667–668
[2] Bird, J. (2014) “Crusade and Christendom” Outside the Americas, p.66
[3] Tyerman, C. (2006) “God's War: A New History of the Crusades” Harvard University Press, p.602
[4] Quénot, K. (2012) “Cathares : Le massacre oublié” Hugo et Compagnie, p.11
[5] In Beziers, the whole population, estimated to be 20,000, was slaughtered in an ‘exercise of charity’. It was during this episode that the abbot of Citeaux, Arnaud Amaury, allegedly said: ‘Kill them all. God will know his own’
[6] Tracy, L. (2012) “Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity”, Literary Collections, p.22
[7] The Spanish Inquisition alone tallied about 350,000 victims (burnt, tortured, condemned) between 1480 and 1815
See: Pérez, J. (2006) “The Spanish Inquisition: A History”, Yale University Press, p. 170
[8] Baillie, M. (2006) “New Light on the Black Death” Tempus, pp. 136-160
[9] Gauthier Langlois (2012) “Bélibaste, le dernier parfait cathare occitan’’ Paratge
[10] Diana Wood (2003) “Clement VI: The Pontificate and Ideas of an Avignon Pope” Cambridge University Press, pp. 32-33.
[11] Baillie, 2006. pp. 145-155
[12] The first outbreak alone (1347–1351) took some 75 million lives.
See: Edwards, K. And America Quaked: A Chilling Series of Visions of a Future American , p. 100
[13] G. E. von Grunebaum (1952), "Avicenna's Risâla fî 'l-'išq and Courtly Love", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 11 (4): 233-8
[14] Moller, H. (1960) “The Meaning of Courtly Love” The Journal of American Folklore, 73(287), 39-52
[15] Matthew A. McIntosh (2020) “The Medieval Cathari: Religious Sect Wiped Out in the Albigensian Crusade” Brewminate
[16] Schaff, Philip et al. (1994) “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers”, Second Series, vol. 14: Hendrickson
[17] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021) “Gothic architecture” Encyclopaedia Britannica
[18] Actes du colloque scientifique tenu au Collège des Bernardins (2013) ‘’Notre-Dame de Paris 1163-2013’’ BREPOLS
[19] July Galens et al. (2001) "The Late Middle Ages" Middle Ages Reference Library
[20] The Inquisition was officially abolished six centuries after its creation, in 1821
See: Juan Antonio Llorente et al. (2009) “J. History of the Spanish Inquisition” Kessinger Publishing, p.247
[21] Kelly, J. (2006) “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death” Harper Perennia,l p. 135
[22] Husher, J. (2008) “Facts and Myths Facing Today’s World” iUniverse, pp.17-30
[23] Dobler Sacha (2017) “Black Death and Abrupt Earth Changes in the 14th century” Abrupt Earth Changes, P.35
[24] Lagerås, Per (2015) “Environment, Society and the Black Death: An interdisciplinary approach to the late-medieval crisis in Sweden” Oxbow Books
[25] Dick Harrison (2000) “Den värsta katastrof som drabbat Europa” Ordfront
[26] Hannah Barker (2021) “Laying the Corpses to Rest: Grain, Embargoes, and Yersinia pestis in the Black Sea, 1346–48”, Speculum 96
[27] Dorsey Armstrong (2021) “The Black Death: How It Ravaged Florence” The Great Courses Daily
[28] (1452 – 1519) born in the metropolitan area of Florence
[29] (1445 – 1510) born in Florence
[30] (1475 – 1564) Born in Arezzo, 80 km (50mi) from Florence
[31] Wikipedia contributors (2021) “Renaissance” Wikipedia
[32] Hayden Spencer (2018) “English Literature: From Renaissance to Seventeenth Century” Scientific e-Resources, p.10
[33] Ibid
[34] Jessie Szalay (2016) “The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of Science & Culture” Livescience
[35] Bartleby Editors (2021) “The New Ways Of Thinking Influenced The Renaissance” Bartleby Research
[36] Ibid
[37] Belyi, V. et al. (2010) “Unexpected inheritance: multiple integrations of ancient bornavirus and ebolavirus/marburgvirus sequences in vertebrate genomes” PLoS pathogens, 6(7), e1001030
[38] Alison P. Galvani (2003) ”Evaluating plague and smallpox as historical selective pressures for the CCR5-Δ32 HIV-resistance allele” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
I was reading this article and one thing reminded me about our comets:
That would also explain why there were so many tunnels dug in the old cities. Even if they couldn't protect people from direct hits, they could protect them from schock waves.
He would talk about how they and the Vietnamese realised that what killed you were the shock waves from those explosions which expanded the air in the nasal cavity and you then died from the subsequent internal bleeding that was caused, as you bled through your eyes, ears and nose.
The way to mitigate the shock waves that caused air to compress and then expand in rapid tight concentric waves around these massive explosions was to dig a trench and lie in it and wait for the shockwaves to pass over you. That is why there were so many tunnels dug in Vietnam.
NATOstan: She’s looking at YOU
Written by Supratim Barman NATOstan: she’s looking at YOU. A Roma untermensch packaged by Ukrainian “democracy”. The above picture and...southfront.org
That would also explain why there were so many tunnels dug in the old cities. Even if they couldn't protect people from direct hits, they could protect them from schock waves.
Goemon_
The Living Force
As I read the following a few days ago in The Idea Of History by Collingwood, I'll just put it there:
"Certain historians, sometimes whole generations of historians, find in certain periods of history nothing intellegible, and call them dark ages ; but such phrases tell us nothing about those ages themselves, though they tell us a great deal about the persons who use them, namely that they are unable to re-think the thoughts which were fundamental te their life."