Bitcoin Cash: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash (BCH)

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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Website:

https://www.bitcoincash.org/

Bitcoin Discussion

/r/BitcoinCash is for discussion focused on Bitcoin Cash (BCH) news, information, and development! For general Bitcoin discussion please continue to use /r/btc.

What is Bitcoin Cash?

Bitcoin Cash brings sound money to the world. Merchants and users are empowered with low fees and reliable confirmations. The future shines brightly with unrestricted growth, global adoption, permissionless innovation, and decentralized development.

All Bitcoin holders as of block 478558 are now owners of Bitcoin Cash. All Bitcoiners are welcome to join the Bitcoin Cash community as we move forward in creating sound money accessible to the whole world. The ticker symbol for Bitcoin Cash is "BCH", but is sometimes referred to as "BCC" on some exchanges/wallets. Please do not confuse "BitConnect" (which also uses the ticker symbol "BCC") with Bitcoin Cash.

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Bitcoin Cash: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash (BCH)

Neo-vlkisch movements – Wikipedia

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Neo-vlkisch movements, as defined by the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, cover a wide variety of mutually influencing groups of a radically ethnocentric character which have emerged, especially in the English-speaking world, since World War II. These loose networks revive or imitate the vlkisch movement of 19th and early 20th century Germany in their defensive affirmation of white identity against modernity, liberalism, immigration, multiracialism, and multiculturalism.[1] Some identify as neo-fascist, Alt Right, neo-Nazi, or Third Positionist; others are politicised around some form of white ethnic nationalism or identity politics,[1] and may show right-wing anarchist tendencies.[2] Especially notable is the prevalence of devotional forms and esoteric themes, so that neo-vlkisch currents often have the character of new religious movements.

Included under the neo-vlkisch umbrella are movements ranging from conservative revolutionary schools of thought (Nouvelle Droite, European New Right, Evolian Traditionalism) to white supremacist and white separatist interpretations of Christianity, pantheism and paganism (Christian Identity, Creativity Movement, Cosmotheism, Nordic racial paganism) to Neo-Nazi subcultures (Esoteric Hitlerism, Nazi Satanism, National Socialist black metal).

Among the terms used are Nazi Satanism and Fascist Satanism. Sometimes these groups self-identify as "Traditional Satanism" and consist of small groups in Norway, Britain, New Zealand and France, under names such as Black Order or Infernal Alliance, which draw their inspiration from the Esoteric Nazism of Miguel Serrano.[3] Uww, founder of black metal fanzine Deo Occidi, denounced Anton LaVey as a "moderate Jew", and embraced the "esoterrorism" of the Scandinavian Black Metal milieu. Small Satanist grouplets catering to the black metal Satanist fringe include the Black Order, the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), the Ordo Sinistra Vivendi (formerly the Order of the Left Hand Path) and the Order of the Jarls of Baelder.[4]

The chief initiator of Nazi Satanism in Britain has been alleged to be David Wulstan Myatt (b. 1950), active in neo-Nazi politics from the late 1960s.[5] The ONA was allegedly led by Myatt[6] who converted to Islam in 1998, but renounced Islam in 2010[7] in favor of his own Numinous Way philosophy.[8][9] Myatt however has always denied any involvement with the ONA and Satanism, and has repeatedly challenged anyone to provide any evidence of such allegations.[10][11]

The Order of Nine Angles "represent a dangerous and extreme form of Satanism" [12] and first attracted public attention during the 1980s and 1990s after being mentioned in books detailing Satanist and far right groups.[10][13][14][15] The ONA was formed in the United Kingdom, and rose to public note during the 1980s and 1990s. Presently, the ONA is organized around clandestine cells (which it calls traditional nexions)[citation needed] and around what it calls sinister tribes.[8][16]

Joy of Satan ministries is another notable satanic organization that combines elements of Nazism with Theistic Satanism, believing that the "Aryan race" was genetically-engineered from Nordic extraterrestrials.[17]

The Order of the Jarls of Baelder (OJB - which was dissolved in early 2005) was a British neopagan non-political and non-aligned educational society founded in 1990 by Stephen Bernard Cox who was briefly associated, in the 1980s, with the Order of Nine Angles,[18][19] Cox having published the ONA's book Naos in 1990 under the imprint of his Coxland Press[20] and also, in 1993, Antares by the ONA's C. Beest.[21]

According to Anti-fascistische Actie Nederland, "The Order of the Jarls or Baelder belonged in the nineties of the last century to the international network of satanic Nazi organizations which the Order of the Nine Angles (ONA) played a pivotal role." [22]

The OJB - (Jarl is Scandinavian for earl) - which was renamed the Arktion Federation in 1998 - was also described by Partridge as a fascist Satanist group.[23] However, according to the OJB these allegations are incorrect. Instead, the OJB claimed to have advocated pan-European neo-tribalism, which involved celebration of the rich tapestry of cultural diversity of humanity, study of Aryan traditions and heritage, pursuing the "aeonic destiny of Europe" and the emergence of the elitist super race, as an element of the unfolding of variant global/continental cultural forms. The activities of the OJB, which functioned as a spiritual and heritage group for people of any race or religion, included such activities as rock climbing, hang gliding, hiking, and the study of runes.[24] Gay members were encouraged to join because it was felt they added to the male bonding of the organization. The OJB symbol formerly consisted of the valknut combined with the Gemini sign within a broken curved-armed swastika.[25] Its symbol was later changed to a representation of the world tree embracing the yin-yang and maze with sun and stars.

As defined by Goodrick-Clarke, Nordic racial paganism is synonymous with the Odinist movement (including some who identify as Wotanist). He describes it as a "spiritual rediscovery of the Aryan ancestral gods...intended to embed the white races in a sacred worldview that supports their tribal feeling", and expressed in "imaginative forms of ritual magic and ceremonial forms of fraternal fellowship".[26] The mainline Odinist, Asatruar and Germanic Neo-Pagan community does not hold any racist, Nazi, extreme right-wing or racial supremacist beliefs, and most Neo-Pagan groups reject racism and Nazism.[27][28][29]

On the basis of research by Mattias Gardell,[30] Goodrick-Clarke traces the original conception of the Odinist religion by Alexander Rud Mills in the 1920s, and its modern revival by Else Christensen and her Odinist Fellowship from 1969 onwards. Christensen's politics were left-wing, deriving from anarcho-syndicalism, but she believed that leftist ideas had a formative influence on both Italian Fascism and German National-Socialism, whose totalitarian perversions were a betrayal of these movements' socialist roots. Elements of a leftist and libertarian racial-socialism could therefore be reclaimed from the fascism in which they had become encrusted.[31] However, Christensen was also convinced that the diseases of Western culture demanded a spiritual remedy. Mills' almost-forgotten writings inspired her with a programme for re-connecting with the gods and goddesses of the old Norse and Germanic pantheons, which she identified with the archetypes in Carl Jung's concept of the racial collective unconscious. According to Christensen, therefore, Odinism is organically related to race in that "its principles are encoded in our genes".[32]

The satr movement as practiced by Stephen McNallen differed from Christensen's Odinist Fellowship in placing a greater emphasis on ritual and a lesser focus on racial ideology. In 1987, McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly collapsed from prolonged internal tensions arising from his repudiation of Nazi sympathizers within the organization. A group of these, including Wyatt Kaldenberg, then joined the Odinist Fellowship (as its Los Angeles chapter) and formed an association with Tom Metzger, which led to a further rebuff since "Else Christensen thought Metzger too racist, and members of the Arizona Kindred also wanted the Fellowship to be pro-white but not hostile to colored races and Jews".[33] A series of defections from both of the main US-based organizations created secessionist groups with more radical agendas, among them Kaldenberg's Pagan Revival network and Jost Turner's National Socialist Kindred.[33]

Kaplan and Weinberg note that "the religious component of the Euro-American radical right subculture includes both pagan and Christian or pseudo-Christian elements," locating Satanist or Odinist Nazi Skinhead sects in the United States (Ben Klassen), Britain (David Myatt), Germany, Scandinavia and South Africa.[34]

In the United States, some white supremacist groups and terroristsincluding several with neo-fascist or neo-Nazi leaningshave built their ideologies around pagan religious imagery, including Odinism. One such group is the White Order of Thule.[35] Founding members of the Order were Odinists.[36] Anders Brievik, a Norwegian terrorist who committed the 2011 Oslo attacks, identified himself as an Odinist.[37] Wotanism is another religion that has appeared in the US white supremacist movement, and also utilizes imagery derived from paganism. Odalism is a European ideology advocated by the defunct Heathen Front.

The question of the relationship between Germanic neopaganism and the neo-Nazi movement is controversial among German neopagans, with opinions ranging across a wide spectrum. Active conflation of neo-fascist or far right ideology with paganism is present in the Artgemeinschaft and Deutsche Heidnische Front. In Flanders, Werkgroep Traditie combines Germanic neopaganism with the ideology of the Nouvelle Droite.

In the United States, Michael J. Murray of satr Alliance (in the late 1960s an American Nazi Party member)[38] and musician/journalist Michael Moynihan (who turned to "metagenetic"[39] Asatru in the mid-1990s),[40] though Moynihan states that he has no political affiliations.[41] Kevin Coogan claims that a form of "eccentric and avant-garde form of cultural fascism" or "counter-cultural fascism" can be traced to the industrial music genre of the late 1970s, particularly to the seminal British Industrial band Throbbing Gristle, with whom Boyd Rice performed at a London concert in 1978.[42] Schobert alleges a neo-Nazi "cultural offensive" targeting the Dark Wave subculture.[43]

Mattias Gardell claims that while older US racist groups are Christian and patriotic (Christian Identity), there is a younger generation of white supremacists who have rejected both Christianity and mainstream right-wing movements.[44] Many neo-Nazis have also left Christianity for neopaganism because of Christianity's Jewish roots, and patriotism in favour of Odinism because they view both Christianity and the United States government as responsible for what they see as the evils of a liberal society and the decline of the white race.[45] Kaplan claims that there is a growing interest in one form of Odinism among members of the radical racist right-wing movements.[44] Berger judges that there has been an aggregation of both racist and non-racist groups under the heading of "Odinism", which has confused the discussion about neo-Nazi Neopagans, and which has led most non-racist Germanic neopagans to favour terms like "satr" or "Heathenry" over "Odinism".[46] Thus, the 1999 Project Megiddo report issued by the FBI used "Odinism" as referring to white supremacist groups exclusively, sparking protests by the International Asatru-Odinic Alliance, Stephen McNallen expressing concern about a "pattern of anti-European-American actions".[47]

The older Tempelhofgesellschaft (THG) was built in the 1980s by a few members of the nazi "Erbengemeinschaft der Tempelritter". The leader of this group was the former police officer Hans-Gnter Frhlich who resided in Germany/Homburg. The group had close links to the German-speaking far-right network. Its first publication was Einblick in die magische Weltsicht und die magischen Prozesse (1987).[48]

The younger Tempelhofgesellschaft was founded in Vienna in the early 1990s by Norbert Jurgen-Ratthofer and Ralft Ettl to teach a dualist form of Christian religion called Marcionism and a form of gnosticism.[49] This one was a part of the main THG/Homburg. The group identifies an "evil creator of this world," the Demiurge with Jehovah, the God of Judaism, and holds that Jesus Christ was an Aryan, not Jewish. They distribute pamphlets claiming that the Aryan race originally came to Atlantis from the star Aldebaran (this information is supposedly based on "ancient Sumerian manuscripts"). They maintain that the Aryans from Aldebaran derive their power from the vril energy of the Black Sun. They teach that since the Aryan race is of extraterrestrial origin it has a divine mission to dominate all the other races. It is believed by adherents of this religion that an enormous space fleet is on its way to Earth from Aldebaran which, when it arrives, will join forces with the Nazi Flying Saucers from Antarctica to establish the Western Imperium.[24][48] Its major publication is called Das Vril-Projekt (1992).

After the THG had been dissolved, Ralf Ettl founded the Freundeskreis (circle of friends) Causa Nostra. It remains active and maintains relations to far-right publishers like the Swiss Unitall-Verlag.[48]

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What First Amendment? – prospect.org

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April Ryan, of American Urban Radio Networks, raises her hand to ask a question of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a press briefing at the White House

Conservatives who should be appalled by President Donald Trumps anti-media attacks have responded instead with a collective shrug.

Never mind that Trump has taken steps to block publication of a critical book, assures a typical Wall Street Journal editorialhe would never follow through, and the courts would never go along. The Journal likewise brushes off Trumps threat to open up the libel laws as familiar and feckless bluster. Trump may brand journalists the enemy of the American people and hand out fake news awards, goes the argument from the right, but his actions matter more than his words.

This sanguine take on Trumps campaign to demonize the news media overlooks the real-world damage it inflicts on journalists, both at home and abroad. Trumps words and actions have materially chilled speechin the U.S., where 78 journalists were attacked or arrested last year, and around the world, 262 journalists are in prison, 21 of them for publishing fake news. The toxic fallout includes death threats, anti-Semitic media harassment, physical attacks, and GOP governors who deny interviews. (One politician paid more than $5,000 in fines and restitution after body-slamming a reporter.)

American journalists on a recent panel co-hosted by the Newseum and the Committee to Protect Journalists described struggling to do their work in an unprecedented atmosphere of hostility, suspicion, stonewalling, and even fear. Death threats are routine. The FBI is on speed dial. So is the Secret Service, and the local police department, said panelist April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, who has publicly tangled with Trump.

Foreign journalists are paying an even bigger price, prompting some conservatives to finally speak up. Trumps unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets have provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit, wrote GOP Senator John McCain, of Arizona, in a recent Washington Post op-ed. McCain cited journalists arrested and systematically discredited in China, Egypt, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and elsewhere.

His fellow Arizona Republican, Senator Jeff Flake, noted in a Senate floor speech that such despots as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte have used the words fake news to justify their human rights abuses. Trumps use of Josef Stalins phrase enemy of the people to describe journalists is a testament to the condition of our democracy, said Flake, who added that of course, the president has it precisely backwarddespotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy.

Conservatives blithe dismissal of Trumps chilling impact is all the more striking given the First Amendments increasingly central place in conservative orthodoxy. The conviction, however unfounded, that campaign-finance limits would lead to book banning was at the heart of the Supreme Courts Citizens United ruling to deregulate corporate political spending. Since Hillary Clinton opposed that ruling, conservatives argue, she posed a greater First Amendment threat than Trump. Besides, they assure, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch will rigorously defend free speech.

But not all First Amendment defenders take Trumps media wars so lightly. None other than constitutional law expert Floyd Abrams, who led the GOPs charge to deregulate politics in the name of free speech in Citizens United, warned The Wall Street Journal in a letter that its editorial board is far too serene about Trumps bid to silence author Michael Wolff. Trumps threats have led to actual lawsuits, Abrams wrote, and not all publications and journalists can so easily shrug off such threats of financially crippling litigation.

In an interview, Abrams acknowledged that Trump would find it hard to expand libel laws, which now fall largely under state jurisdiction. But he warned that there is no guarantee that an extraordinary event, such as a terrorist attack, might not prompt Trump to push hard to federalize libel laws. Abrams said hes hopeful that Gorsuch will rigorously defend the First Amendment, but that no one knows how he might rule in a case that, say, pitted national security against free speech concerns. Trump has so far been unable to stifle speech of which he disapproves noted Abrams, but the unending drumbeat of criticism, accusation, and denigration of the press takes a toll.

Indeed, Trumps assault on free speech is far more direct, aggressive, and broadly destructive than anything yet seen in the United States. Hes threatened legal action to silence critics; called for news organizations to fire specific journalists; tweeted videos and images of himself inflicting bloody violence on figures bearing the logo of CNN, a favorite target; and has weaponized mainstream media outlets as fake news.

The news media, from cable channels dominated by shouting matches to news outlets that fail to check their facts, do share some of the blame for this mess. Only 33 percent of Americans have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the news media, noted a report from Gallup and the Knight Foundation, and 66 percent say the media are bad at separating fact from opinion. Such surveys reflect a larger news industry crisis in confidence, and come amid soul-searching forums like the one at the Newseum, and another this week at The Washington Post.

And progressives, too, have failed to consistently defend free speech. Campus political protests, while often overblown and even egged on by conservative provocateurs, have raised legitimate First Amendment concerns. Anti-fa activists have resorted to violence. President Barack Obama kept a tight rein on information, was not transparent, and aggressively prosecuted whistleblowers, according to Reporters Without Borders.

But Trumps assault on free speech goes far deeper, advancing a Soviet-style disinformation campaign that helps fuel what a recent Rand Corporation report dubbed Truth Decay. Trump treats facts as irrelevant and fungible, having made 2,140 false or misleading claims in his first year. Yet heightened disagreement about facts and how to interpret data, Rands report warns, contributes to government dysfunction, hurts diplomacy and economic investments, and poses a threat to the health and future of U.S. democracy.

And Trump may be gearing up to go further, materially weakening media protections in the U.S. Last year, 34 American journalists were arrested, many when they were covering protests, and one photojournalist went to trial (and was acquitted) for a felony offense. American journalists still enjoy far greater institutional protections than journalists in, say, Turkey, where 73 journalists are now imprisoned, notes Alexandra Ellerbeck, North American program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signaled plans to revise Obama administration media guidelines, making it easier for the Trump administration to subpoena reporters. Obama prosecuted eight leakers under the Espionage Act, according to CPJ, but the Trump administration has 27 leak investigations open. Any move that makes it harder for journalists to protect their sources is a fundamental and basic assault on information gathering and news reporting, warns Ellerbeck.

None of this seems to worry supposed First Amendment champions on the right. With a few exceptions, such as Flake and McCain, conservatives take Trumps assaults on free speech merrily in stride. As GOP election lawyer Jim Bopp recently assured the Center for Public Integrity:

Liberals refuse to understand with Trump that you cant take what he says literally. What is important about Trump is what hes doing and not what hes saying, and in practice, everything hes done is in step with maintaining a First Amendment-friendly approach to campaign finance.

Bopps comments shed light on the real reason Republicans dont really care whether Trump trashes press freedoms. For many on the right, the First Amendment is less important as a tool to protect speech than to protect money, and those who spend it. As ethics attorney Kathleen Clark, who teaches law at Washington University in St. Louis, puts it: Economic power, and the ability to exploit economic power, is at the center of their vision of the First Amendment.

Its not the only way that Republicans have swept aside Trumps threats to democracy, national security and the rule of law. If they just change the subject to Hillary Clinton or Neil Gorsuch, Republicans seem to think, all will be well. Nor is it the first time the GOP has elevated partisan politics above long-cherished principles. But given how highly conservatives purport to prize the First Amendment, its remarkable how casually theyve abandoned it.

This article has been updated.

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What First Amendment? - prospect.org

ZEITGEIST HOME – Zeitgeist

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KARIN KRAEMER &PAT JOYELLE

I grew up in Minneapolis and received my BFA in glass working from St. Cloud State University in 1986. After blowing glass in Colorado, MinnesotaandWisconsin, I moved to West Virginia, where I began to make clay work and pit firing it in myyard,and was hooked. I moved to Carbondale, Illinois and did graduate work in Ceramics, there. I received my MFA in 1996, moved to Victoria, British Columbia and spent two years making pots, gardening and traveling. Duluth became my new home in 1998.

My studio, the Duluth Pottery has moved to1924 W. Superior Streetin Duluth, smack in the middle of the new Lincoln Park Crafts District on the same block as Frost River, Bent Paddle Brewery, and the new OMC Smokehouse! We have a beautiful fine clay gallery and have more room for making pots and events of all sorts.I enjoy working in pottery andtile,because they bring art to the table andevery dayuse. Clay is a great medium for expression. I love that I exist in a long line of potters through history and a reflection of our culture.My work is Maiolica, an in-glaze hand painted tin glaze technique. I make functional pots and tiles that are meant to celebrate the day. My individual wall pieces and compositions of tiles are hand built and decorated with colorful, loose brushwork.I draw fromevery dayscenes and objects for my imagery. Capturing the color and movement of the moment is my aimthe flowers in my garden trembling in a slight breeze and the sun glowing through them, or the light coming in the window and lighting the room.

For years, Pat Joyelle has been working in my studio, painting Duluth grill cups with me, as well as making her own beautiful tiles. She is a fabric designer, fine clothes maker, jeweler and much more. I am so happy to be able to show our work together here.

PAT JOYELLEMy tiles are a celebration of color in flowers, leaves, branchesandtwigs. Majolica is the perfect vehicle for this celebration. The intensity, varietyandflatness of the glazeinspiresmy paintings and encourages me to explore a variety of subjects in the natural world. It is a

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North Carolina Beaches – Best Beaches in North Carolina

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The best beaches in North Carolina are found along the Outer Bank. The well known Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear are just the beginning of some of the great beaches in North Carolina. Most of the areas mentioned are also places where excellent North Carolina beach rentals can be located for a vacation stay of a weekend or an entire week. Whether you head to one of the major state parks for North Carolina fishing or plan to hide away at a cabin on one of the smaller North Carolina beaches, beaches in North Carolina are often referred to as some of the best on the Atlantic Coast.

Carolina Beach State Park is one great option for a trip to the beach. Although swimming is not allowed at Carolina Beach State Park, this is a popular place to go for sea life enthusiasts. The creatures and surrounding plants (including native Venus Flytraps) make for a great day of walking and exploring. There are also just over 5 miles worth of hiking trails, and many consider this to be one of the best beaches in North Carolina. The beach goes on for about 10 miles, and there is no entrance fee to use the park.

Another of the best beaches in North Carolina is the Wrightsville Beach. Located on the Cape Fear coast near Wilmington and the Cape Fear Museum, Wrightsville Beach is generally packed with swimmers and loungers during the summer. There is no fee imposed for using the beach, and the beach is actually located on an island which is connected to the main shore by a draw bridge. Travelers will find toilet facilities and picnic areas at the beach, but if you go in the summer get there early, especially on the weekend. By lunchtime, the picnic tables and the entire beach is full of people.

Another great choice among North Carolina beaches is Kure Beach. This is one of the best beaches in North Carolina for travelers looking for an un-crowded place to kick back during the summer. Kure Beach is located close to Cape Fear River and is a relaxed place where a nice selection of beachside cafes comes to life mainly during the summer for tourists and local residents. Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head are also popular beaches in North Carolina.

North Carolina beach rentals can be found near or on all of the beaches mentioned above. The Outer Bank is another place to go in general to find great North Carolina beach rentals for a vacation. Note that in North Carolina, swimming is off-limits at some beaches due to high winds and difficult currents. Some beaches might be closed during summer hours when they would normally be open due to inclement weather conditions, so be sure to check your weather report before packing up your beach gear.

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North Carolina Beaches - Best Beaches in North Carolina

Genetics Smithsonians Human Origins Program

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DNA

Through news accounts and crime stories, were all familiar with the fact that the DNA in our cells reflects each individuals unique identity and how closely related we are to one another. The same is true for the relationships among organisms. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that makes up an organisms genome in the nucleus of every cell. It consists of genes, which are the molecular codes for proteins the building blocks of our tissues and their functions. It also consists of the molecular codes that regulate the output of genes that is, the timing and degree of protein-making. DNA shapes how an organism grows up and the physiology of its blood, bone, and brains.

DNA is thus especially important in the study of evolution. The amount of difference in DNA is a test of the difference between one species and another and thus how closely or distantly related they are.

While the genetic difference between individual humans today is minuscule about 0.1%, on average study of the same aspects of the chimpanzee genome indicates a difference of about 1.2%. The bonobo (Pan paniscus), which is the close cousin of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), differs from humans to the same degree. The DNA difference with gorillas, another of the African apes, is about 1.6%. Most importantly, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans all show this same amount of difference from gorillas. A difference of 3.1% distinguishes us and the African apes from the Asian great ape, the orangutan. How do the monkeys stack up? All of the great apes and humans differ from rhesus monkeys, for example, by about 7% in their DNA.

Geneticists have come up with a variety of ways of calculating the percentages, which give different impressions about how similar chimpanzees and humans are. The 1.2% chimp-human distinction, for example, involves a measurement of only substitutions in the base building blocks of those genes that chimpanzees and humans share. A comparison of the entire genome, however, indicates that segments of DNA have also been deleted, duplicated over and over, or inserted from one part of the genome into another. When these differences are counted, there is an additional 4 to 5% distinction between the human and chimpanzee genomes.

No matter how the calculation is done, the big point still holds: humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos are more closely related to one another than either is to gorillas or any other primate. From the perspective of this powerful test of biological kinship, humans are not only related to the great apes we are one. The DNA evidence leaves us with one of the greatest surprises in biology: the wall between human, on the one hand, and ape or animal, on the other, has been breached. The human evolutionary tree is embedded within the great apes.

The strong similarities between humans and the African great apes led Charles Darwin in 1871 to predict that Africa was the likely place where the human lineage branched off from other animals that is, the place where the common ancestor of chimpanzees, humans, and gorillas once lived. The DNA evidence shows an amazing confirmation of this daring prediction. The African great apes, including humans, have a closer kinship bond with one another than the African apes have with orangutans or other primates. Hardly ever has a scientific prediction so bold, so out there for its time, been upheld as the one made in 1871 that human evolution began in Africa.

The DNA evidence informs this conclusion, and the fossils do, too. Even though Europe and Asia were scoured for early human fossils long before Africa was even thought of, ongoing fossil discoveries confirm that the first 4 million years or so of human evolutionary history took place exclusively on the African continent. It is there that the search continues for fossils at or near the branching point of the chimpanzee and human lineages from our last common ancestor.

Due to billions of years of evolution, humans share genes with all living organisms. The percentage of genes or DNA that organisms share records their similarities. We share more genes with organisms that are more closely related to us.

Humans belong to the biological group known as Primates, and are classified with the great apes, one of the major groups of the primate evolutionary tree. Besides similarities in anatomy and behavior, our close biological kinship with other primate species is indicated by DNA evidence. It confirms that our closest living biological relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos, with whom we share many traits. But we did not evolve directly from any primates living today.

DNA also shows that our species and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor species that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. The last common ancestor of monkeys and apes lived about 25 million years ago.

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Genetics Smithsonians Human Origins Program

Free gattaca Essays and Papers – 123HelpMe

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Title Length Color Rating Gattaca, A Film by Andrew Niccol - Gattaca, A Film by Andrew Niccol Exactly five seconds after he came into the world, Vincent Freeman was already considered to be a loser. His first genetic test revealed high probabilities of hyperactivity, sight troubles and serious heart diseases, a life expectancy of 30 years and 2 months and quite low intellectual faculties. At that time, the artificial insemination of test tube babies selected according to their genetic potential had become for many people the natural way of making children.... [tags: Movie Films Gattaca Niccol Essays]1596 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] A Brave New World and Gattaca - Anti-humanity; people arent even people. Could you possibly visualize that type of world. A world where people are invented and controlled. That type of world is inhuman, and inhumanity is an interesting concept pointed out in the perfect/not so perfect world that Aldous Huxley describes in his classic novel, Brave New World, and what Andrew Niccol describes in his famous film Gattaca. In the stories presented by both of these writers, viewers and readers witness a dystopian world where the government controls the people, and people are conditioned to like the social class set for them, whether it be lower, middle, or upper class.... [tags: science fiction film vs utopian-dystopian fiction]1219 words(3.5 pages)Better Essays[preview] General Science and GATTACA - General Science is a study involving biology, chemistry, physics and environmental sciences. Students from Year 7 to Year 10 are introduced to these various disciplines to gain general knowledge about science and can later be develop into deeper concepts. Science is not just fat laboratory coats, Einsteins equations, mixing chemicals, massive space shuttles, or peeking through microscopes but involves critical thinking, analysing data and apply understandings in the natural world to solve real problems.... [tags: vincent freeman, movie analysis]993 words(2.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Gattaca: A Philosophical Analysis - Brimming with ultramodern scenery and metaphysical speculation, Gattaca is a profound glimpse into the not-so-distant future of humanity. Vincent, the main character, is a frustrated faith birth living in a world in which his genetically manipulated peers have succeeded him in every competition. Motivated by an unquenchable fascination with space, Vincent recruits the chronically petulant but genetically flawless Jerome Morrow, who allows Vincent to assume his genetic identity in exchange for companionship and free alcohol.... [tags: Literary Themes]:: 2 Works Cited 1070 words(3.1 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Gattaca: A Dystopian Society - 1.Gattaca is a world where only people with perfect genetics are valid. A natural born, Vincent, forges an identity to follow his dream of becoming a space traveler. Gattaca is an imaginary place where perfect society is created by cloning. The subject of human cloning that does not currently exist which makes this movie science fiction. They have unreal technology like, the machines that determines health issues and life expectancy right at birth. The advancement in technology and new scientific research has made cloning possible.... [tags: film/story analysis]:: 7 Works Cited 1025 words(2.9 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Gattaca and Jurassic Park - The films Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol in 1997, and Jurassic Park, directed by Stephen Spielberg in 1993 seem like two films that have no connection. Gattaca is a film about a man, Vincent Freeman, overcoming his genetic disadvantage to become an astronaut. Jurassic Park on the other hand is a film about bringing dinosaurs back to life, while also causing massive chaos. However, despite these major differences in plot, both films are based on a similar idea, genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is defined as the process of directly affecting the genetic makeup of an individual using biotechnology.... [tags: film, andrew niccol, stephen spielberg]:: 3 Works Cited 1110 words(3.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Debate for Genetic Engineering Exposed in Gattaca - ... The child will get fed up and decide to leave. I believe that children should be left to chance or be genetically modified. There can be no in between; it puts too much pressure on society and on individual parents and kids. While the movie states that there are laws against genetic discrimination, it still does not protect those who were brought into this world by chance, because of illegal urine or blood tests. While greed and competition is evident in our society, this genetically perfect world would create a whole new battle field.... [tags: imperfect, fear, society]593 words(1.7 pages)Good Essays[preview] Movie Review: Gattaca - Vincent Freeman was born into a futuristic society dominated by biological technology. In this society, genetic technology has become so advanced, a drop of blood at the time of your birth can tell you any diseases you might develop the day you will die. More importantly, wealthy parents can choose to have their unborn children engineered to be as perfect as their potential would allow. This type of technology created a prejudice society of the genetically altered against natural-borns. Vincents parents did not have the foresight to know that the future of a natural-born would be laden with prejudice and discrimination, and they conceived him through the power of love, rather than techn... [tags: sicence fiction films]819 words(2.3 pages)Better Essays[preview] Analysis of the Bioethical Issues in Gattaca - Analysis of the Bioethical Issues in Gattaca Biology is the science of life. Technology uses science to solve problems. Our society has progressed in its understanding of life to the point that we are able to manipulate it on a fundamental level through technology. This has led to profound ethical dilemmas. The movie Gattaca explores some important bioethical issues that are currently the focus of much dispute. The underlying thematic issue presented is the question of the extent to which biologically inherent human potential determines the true potential of a person.... [tags: Papers]843 words(2.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] Brave New World and Gattaca - Brave New World and Gattaca Huxley Living in a genetically perfect world is not necessarily a great achievement to mankind. It makes one think, "where do you draw the line in the advancement of eugenics?" Both worlds, the Brave New one and Gattaca, are alternative futures (clearly dystopic), written and shown in a believable way (not as much in BNW, though) through the use of satire. Also, for GATTACA, the director incorporates the traditional elements of movie - a murder-mystery tied in with a love story PLUS a science fiction touch - very effectively. Satire in Huxley's novel is glaringly obvious (mockery of the education system and the morals of today along wi... [tags: Brave New World]624 words(1.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Gattaca The Movie And Discrimination - In the movie Gattaca the main character Anton was discriminated against because of his gene makeup. Anton never even had a chance in the society in Gattaca because the potential employees of companies were not tested on their skills or knowledge but on their physical and mental possibilities. The same society also used derogatory terms for people like Anton. Just because his parents decided that he would come into the world naturally instead of through gene therapy or alteration. Terms like faith birth'; and invalid'; were used against Anton.... [tags: essays research papers]409 words(1.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Dehumanization in Never Let Me Go vs. Gattaca - The movie Gattaca and the novel Never Let Me Go, both display a form of dehumanization and the relationship between those who have been dehumanized and those who are brought up in a more ideal way. Gattaca and Never Let Me Go, try and show an alternative future based on the advancement of genetics and how they affect our world in a possible future. They do this by genetically cloning individuals for organ harvesting and attempting to create a perfect world by creating perfect humans. Living in a world where they have successfully created human clones for organ donations, is not a great achievement to mankind in any way, shape, or form. It makes you wonder, where exactly do you draw the... [tags: genetics, cloning, humans, perfect]828 words(2.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] Gattaca - Gattaca is a movie directed by Andrew Niccol and the film is set in the "not too distant future." Andrew Niccol's perception of the future isn't what most people expect, but once thought about carefully it seems quite believable. This movie presents us with a new method in which society strives for perfection and it also makes us wonder if genetic engineering is morally correct. Your place in society in Gattaca is based on your genetic makeup and the way you were born. People born the way we know as natural are "in-valids".... [tags: Movies Film]703 words(2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] How Genetic Engineering will Affect the Human Race in Gattaca - If you could change things about yourself whether physical or mental, what would you change, and why. In the movie Gattaca, a science fiction film directed by Andrew Niccol, characters are genetically modified before birth to avoid all and any imperfections that could occur in their lifetime. This movie stars Ethan Hawke and Jude Law as the main characters Vincent Freeman and Eugene Morrow. Supporting roles are played by Uma Thurman and Loren Dean as Irene Cassini and Anton Freeman. Gattaca gives us a futuristic idea of how genetic engineering will affect the human race and discriminate those of less genetic superiority.... [tags: dna, traits, superiority]:: 1 Works Cited 1598 words(4.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Comparison of Scales of Justice and Gattaca - Comparison of Scales of Justice and Gattaca The texts Scales Of Justice and Gattaca are two texts which allow the reader to witness a variety of interpretations and explore the relevant issues that are visible within contemporary society. Such issues as corruption within the police force, racism, sexual harassment, discrimination and manipulation of power are shown to give different interpretations of issues which plague todays society and potentially our future. Scales Of Justice shows the corruption in the police force.... [tags: Contemporary Society Literature Essays]3904 words(11.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Gattaca - The story of Vincent shows in Gattaca that there is possibility of beating the genetic engineering system. Vincent is one of the last naturally born babies born into a sterile, genetically enhanced world, where life expectancy and disease likelihood are ascertained at birth. Myopic and due to die at 30, he has no chance of a career in a society that now discriminates against your genes, instead of your gender, race or religion. Vincent an invalid, dreams of working within Gattaca and making it into space.... [tags: essays research papers]667 words(1.9 pages)Good Essays[preview] Gattaca - Film Name: GATTACA Director / Writer: Andrew Niccol Producers: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher Co-Producer: Gail Lyon Main Characters: Ethan Hawk as Jerome Morrow / Vincent Uma Thurman as Irein Jude Law as Eugene / Jerome Morrow Summary of Film: The film starts out in the not-too-distant future. The setting is a dark almost surreal view of Nineteen-Fifty Retro. In fact, every object in the film has a Fifties look to it, yet every thing was operated with future technology.... [tags: essays research papers]799 words(2.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] 1984, by George Orwell and Gattaca, by Andrew Niccol - Nineteen Eighty-Four written by George Orwell and Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol are prophetic social commentaries which explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government. Both texts depict a futuristic, dystopian society in which individuality is destroyed in favour of faceless conformity. Niccol and Orwell through the experiences of their protagonists reflect the impact isolation from society has on individuals. The authors of both texts also use their protagonists Winston, who cannot understand the rhetoric of the government party and Vincent, who is trapped, unable to achieve his dreams because of his imperfect genome, to demonstrate individual rebellion against society and... [tags: Prophetic Social Commentaries]987 words(2.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Genetic Perfection in Gattaca - Genetic Perfection in Gattaca Topic: "The world of Gattaca is focused on genetic perfection, yet it is the imperfect Vincent that achieves the most" Discuss. Set within a world governed by genetic engineering, Andrew Niccol's film, Gattaca, portrays the dire consequences of such a society in "the not too distant future". Given a pre-determined life as a "god child" due of his parent's adherence to religious beliefs, Vincent Freeman is an individual who "refuses to play the hand he was dealt". Vincent although seemingly cursed with an imperfect genetic composition manages to overcome considerable odds in order to achieve his dream of space travel.... [tags: Movie Film Review]1051 words(3 pages)Good Essays[preview] Cross-Cultural Film Analysis - Gattaca - Cross Cultural Film Analysis - Gattaca Film Summary Vincent is destined to be a second class citizen, conceived naturally, rather than in a laboratory. He is born into a world which discriminates against genetics, rather than religion, race or gender. In order to gain access into the Gattaca Corporation and reach his dream of going to Titan he takes on the identity of Jerome Morrow, a person with ideal genes but crippled from an accident. He uses Jeromes hair, blood, urine and skin to pass all tests and is set to reach his lifelong desire when the mission director is murdered.... [tags: Film Movie Analysis]1219 words(3.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Human Genetic Screening and Discrimination in Gattaca - Human Genetic Screening and Discrimination in Gattaca Works Cited Missing A few months ago I watched a movie called Gattaca, which dealt with the issue of genetic discrimination in the near future. In the movie, people were separated into two classes, those that were genetically screened and positively altered before birth and the class that was unaltered. The separate classes had stark divisions, from what jobs that you were able to apply for to where you could eat. Security was aimed at keeping unaltered people away from the enhanced people.... [tags: Movie Film Biology Biological Papers]1808 words(5.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Andrew Niccols Film, Gattaca - Andrew Niccols 1997 film Gattaca supports the belief that nature, despite its defects, is preferable to a flawless genetically engineered existence. This idea is explored through the character of Vincent who exhibits desire, resilience and determination, natural human elements that cannot be manufactured and are seemingly not present in the faultless future that is presented in Gattaca. These characteristics appear to be contrasted by the other characters in the film, such as Anton and the conforming Irene, who are perceived to be flawless in the context of their surroundings but are quite mechanical and emotionless.... [tags: Movies, Films]711 words(2 pages)Better Essays[preview] Exploring the Future - Science Fiction often opens the eyes of humanity so we can try to imagine what the future will hold. More specifically, Science Fiction movies allow us to explore examples of utopian or dystopian societies. They allow us to explore different planets in outer space. Due to all of the creative components found in the set designs of several science fiction movies, a viewer can watch the movie and escape reality. The interesting innovations seen in the set designs look very futuristic so the viewers imagination is inspired and lets you indulge in the film.... [tags: Science Fiction, Gattaca]1252 words(3.6 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Idea of Discrimination Based on Genetic - The film Gattaca was released in 1997, just six years prior to the completion of the Human Genome Project (completed in April 2003), with a working draft completed in June 2000. The name of the film refers to an Aerospace corporation featured in the movie; however, its letters correspond to the 4 nucleotide bases that make up the integrity of the human genome. The sequencing of the human genome poses tremendous benefits not only in the future, but in the present. From identifying pharmaceutical targets in the body, screening for diseased genes, or determine if individuals are predisposed for certain hereditary or nonhereditary illness.... [tags: human genome, gattaca, genetic discrimination]1245 words(3.6 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Cracking Your Genetic Code: A Review of Genetic Testing - Cracking Your Genetic Code: A Review of Genetic Testing In Gattaca, the plot focuses on the ethics, the risks, and the emotional impact of genetic testing in the nearby future. The film was released in the 90s; yet in the present, the film does not give the impression of science fiction. Today, genetic testing is prevalent in many aspects of the scientific community. This paper will describe genetic testing, its purpose, diagnostic techniques that use genetic testing, relating Huntingtons disease to genetic testing, and the pros and cons of genetic testing.... [tags: film analysis, gattaca, ethics, risks]:: 9 Works Cited 1554 words(4.4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Comparing Dystopian Dream of Brave New World, The Handmaids Tale and GATTACA - The Dystopian Dream of Brave New World, The Handmaids Tale and GATTACA In Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill writes that it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. By this he meant there are qualitative degrees of satisfaction and if to be satisfied were lowered in status to that of a pig, its better for us to be dissatisfied humans. The film GATTACA and the books Brave New World and The Handmaids Tale create fictional places where the needs and desires of humans are met, but not as well as they should be and not without a price.... [tags: comparison compare contrast essays]3033 words(8.7 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Discussion of Whether Gattaca Portrays A Realistic View Of The Future And Gene Manipulation - Discussion of Whether Gattaca Portrays A Realistic View Of The Future And Gene Manipulation Media. It controls a lot of what we think, what we believe and so changes our attitude and behaviour towards certain things. It has changed our thinking so much so that we believe almost anything and everything the media say and do. Without the media, life would not be as it is. Newspapers, magazines, television, internet, radio, the lot have very much altered our thinking. Lately, there have been many talks on the issues regarding genetic manipulation and human cloning.... [tags: Papers]1548 words(4.4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Eugenic Decision-Making - Eugenics is defined, in some way or the other, as the process of reshaping the human race by determining the kinds of people who will be born. As such, there is much debate in the field of eugenics, with authors, like Philip Kitcher, who support laissez-faire or a minimalist approach of eugenics in which eugenic decision-making should be limited only to avoid neurological illnesses and in which parental free choice is valued. Gregory Stocks essay, The Enhanced and Un-Enhanced, presents otherwise by supporting the position of maximalist eugenics, allowing individuals the full extent in the selection of genes.... [tags: Gattaca, Laissez-Faire, Maximalist Eugenics]1482 words(4.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Evolution of Human Characteristics - Human characteristics have evolved all throughout history and have been manipulated on a global scale through the use of science and technology. Genetic modification is one such process in which contemporary biotechnology techniques are employed to develop specific human characteristics. Despite this, there are a countless number of negative issues related with genetic modification including discrimination, ethical issues and corruption. Hence, genetic modification should not be used to enhance human characteristics.... [tags: genetic modification, ethics, discrimination]794 words(2.3 pages)Better Essays[preview] Creating the Perfect Child - Everyone wishes for their child to be perfect, and new measures are being taken to ensure their child is everything and more. To make sure a child has all the desired traits necessary, humans genetically modify them. In doing so, changes are being made to the DNA code of the child to take the best characteristics of the parents and pass it down to the child. The ideal traits, such as being athletic, tall, and smart are given to the child and undesirable traits, such as being colorblind and having other genetic mutations, are prevented.... [tags: genetics, moral, design]834 words(2.4 pages)Better Essays[preview] A Critique on the Transhumanism Movement - When did being human become not good enough. Transhumanism theories strive toward the perfect human, a posthuman, which can be achieved through modern technology. In the opinion of transhumanists, humans are constantly subject to change and their calling is to transcend their body and brain in order to reach their full potential. While this may have positive effects for the people involved, such as immunity toward hereditary diseases, Down syndrome for example, the question arises what is considered ethical in these practices.... [tags: Genetic Manipulation, Nanotechnology]:: 18 Works Cited 3010 words(8.6 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Fishing in the Gene Pool - I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science.-Vincent. The previous statement was said by the main character Vincent in the futuristic movie known as Gattaca. In the movie Gattaca, parents who wish to have a child are recommended to go to a geneticist in order to help pre select their future child. The reason for this is to help avoid the chances of the child inheriting genetic diseases such as heart disease, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, etc.... [tags: heart disease, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia]:: 1 Works Cited 965 words(2.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Dangers of Genetic Engineering - The Dangers of Genetic Engineering Science is defined as knowledge based on observed facts and tested truths arranged in an orderly system. It has had an extreme effect on technology, which covers production, transportation, and even entertainment. In the past, though, science has always remained distant. However, with the birth of genetic engineering, science has become something that will deeply affect lives. Advancements are being made daily with genetic engineering: the Human Genome Project is nearly done, gene replacement therapy lies within reach, and cloning is on the horizon.... [tags: Papers]1248 words(3.6 pages)Good Essays[preview] The Battle Between Science and Religion: The God of the Gaps Theory by Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Imagine a world where many people are not born the way they are just by chance, but by design. Not a design by a god but by men. What is one of the most common science fiction topics. Well thanks to scientific advancement people can start moving cloning more into science and less into fiction. Thanks to the impeccable work of many scientists across the world the world is moving forward in many ways. But it begs the question, what limits do politicians have to place on science. Is best to let them have free reign over their domain, as politicians have on their own, or do they need to be tethered.... [tags: god, scientific ignorance, bias, media]:: 5 Works Cited 1676 words(4.8 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Programmed To Be Free: Exploring Andrew Niccol's Gatacca - Programmed To Be Free Gatacca by Andrew Niccol tells the story of Vincent, a young man naturally and traditionally engendered in a world where genetic engineering is the followed pattern to have a child. Few minutes after his birth, Vincents fate is revealed through a DNA analysis. Two important facts in the analysis will mark Vincents life, a fail in his cardio system and his life expectancy, only thirty years. The film shows a world where life is highly determined by genetics, and happiness is mostly based on the quality of the genetic profile, a kind of identity card for people.... [tags: Film Analysis, Movies, Films]:: 4 Works Cited 1231 words(3.5 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Case Against Perfection by Michael Sandel - Michael Sandel is a distinguished political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. Sandel is best known for his best known for his critique of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. While he is an acclaimed professor if government, he has also delved deeply into the ethics of biotechnology. At Harvard, Sandel has taught a course called "Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature" and from 2002 to 2005 he served on the Presidents Council on Bioethics (Harvard University Department of Government, 2013).... [tags: ethics, biotechnology, genetic engineering]:: 4 Works Cited 972 words(2.8 pages)Better Essays[preview] Testing an Authors Vision Organization Guide - Testing an Authors Vision Organization Guide Introduction You will need to transition us, the readers, from our world into your paper. Make sure you give us a sense of context (what gave rise to your paper?), conflict (give us a sense of They Say/I Say), and focus (give us a question that focuses your paper or give us your thesis statement). So, for the focus you might have: ---Is this vision of genetic manipulation in literature possible, and if so, should we be afraid. ---OR.This vision of genetic manipulation is occurring in small amounts today and could blossom into a world in which individuals fear imperfection and groups of perfect people wield power over those less than the visio... [tags: Assignment]1045 words(3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] ?Vincent is not a hero? Discuss - Vincent is not a hero Discuss Andrew Niccol has created a character that is portrayed as being a struggler from the moment he was born, he was destined to play this role as soon as he was conceived naturally as he was to wear the label of God child for the rest of his life , this label determines they life style and quality of life he will lead and the prospects are not good -They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore. Niccol leads us to believe that Vincent is a man who has overcome the odds in order to achieve his dream in a society where individuality is an unrequited trait and the ability to conform plus right DN... [tags: essays research papers]972 words(2.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Genetic Engineering is Immoral - Genetic engineering gives the power to change many aspects of nature and could result in a lot of life-saving and preventative treatments. Today, scientists have a greater understanding of genetics and its role in living organisms. However, if this power is misused, the damage could be very great. Therefore, although genetic engineering is a field that should be explored, it needs to be strictly regulated and tested before being put into widespread use. Genetic engineering has also, opened the door way to biological solutions for world problems, as well as aid for body malfunctions.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays]423 words(1.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] What is a Designer Baby and How are They Made? - DESIGNER BABIES There have been many social views on the topic of designer babies, which include a scientist point-of-view. Designer babies are those of which parents can make the rash decision to genetically alter their child so that they do not develop the genetic disorders that many of us have today. By using IVF or InVitro Fertilization as the method of altering the genes, doctors have been able to custom make unborn babies to portray or eliminate certain characteristics. What is a Designer Baby and How Are They Made.... [tags: Genetically Modified, Genes, Alterations]:: 6 Works Cited 1687 words(4.8 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Neo-Eugenics The Social and Biological Ethics of Designer Babies - Neoeugenics is the idea of new, neo, eugenics or a new way of creating a healthier race. Eugenics was first defined in the late 1800s by a man named Sir Francis Galton who said that it was basically the study of traits that will cause an advantage or disadvantage in the traits of future generations. Eugenics soon turned from being about the use of artificial selection of breeding to create a stronger species, to being about the advancement of certain races over others. When talking about neo eugenics, it is believed that it may turn into something similar to that of eugenics in that the use of artificial selection would now be used to bring the upper class higher in standards of health and... [tags: Healthier Reace, Future Generations]:: 2 Works Cited 1586 words(4.5 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Hollywood: Promoting Stereotypes to Make Easy Money - Every week numerous Hollywood movies and rereleases open in theaters, video stores, and online movie distributors nationwide: heartwarming films such as The Blind Side; laughter inducing and children captivating classics like Aladdin; movies about overcoming struggles such as, Gattaca. All these new movies and classics alike hold a particular place in our hearts and in our lives. Maybe because of a similarity to our own lives or the main character embraces characteristics we hold dear. Whatever the reason, a contributing factor to the variety of movie produced in Hollywood can trace itself to liberal and socially progressive movie making.... [tags: Hollywood vs Minorities]1841 words(5.3 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] The Ethics of Genetically Enhancing Children - The term designer children is unnerving at first to many. The idea of parents designing the genetic makeup of their offspring makes children seem like a commodity in a genetic free market. Thoughts of a dystopian society like the one in the film Gattaca come to mind. However, taking an immediate repugnant stand against genetic enhancement is not well-founded. A more open-minded inspection of the issue reveals that the idea of parents improving their childrens life prospects through genetic engineering (provided it is safe) is, at its core, not unethical.... [tags: designer children]1314 words(3.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] The Decline of the World's IQ - What will end the world as we know it. It could be climate change, disease, famine, or global war. If none of those come to pass there is always the truth that we are breeding our IQ into the basement. Its called dysgeneic fertilization, and it has been happening for as long as weve been recording intelligence. Although this decline can be seen across the board, not everyone is affected the same way or to the same extent. With each generation that passes a gap widens between those retaining intelligence and those hemorrhaging intelligence.... [tags: Dystopic Apocalypse]:: 6 Works Cited 1099 words(3.1 pages)Strong Essays[preview] DNA Donation: A Personal Choice - Moral choices, ethical dilemmas, personal biases, and strong opinions tend to go hand in hand; you certainly cannot have one without the other. The topic of this paper is an ethical dilemma that will cause me to make a moral choice; I am also personally biased and strongly opinionated in regards to the situation. The topic is the donation of my DNA for a research study; the goal of the study will be to find a variant of a gene that will resist specific bacterial diseases. If the company succeeds in finding this gene, it may be able to produce a drug to sell to people who have these diseases.... [tags: Medical Ethics ]:: 5 Works Cited 1340 words(3.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Should Human Cloning Be Pursued? - ... Stem cells can replace worn out or damaged tissues and is an alternative to organ donation. It is less likely to result in rejection by the recipient because the tissue would be made from the recipients own genetic material. Like stated previously, therapeutic cloning does not involve the creation of a live human being. However, despite the benefits of therapeutic cloning, there are huge controversies surrounding the topic. One argument against therapeutic cloning is that creating stem cells on a large scale would require the use of vast amounts of human eggs.... [tags: reproductive and therapeutic cloning]:: 9 Works Cited 814 words(2.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Altering Human Genome - Altering Human Genome The gene pool could use a little chlorine. -Bumper Sticker Consider Gods handiwork; who can straighten what He hath made crooked? -Ecclesiastes 7:13, from Gattaca I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature. I think Mother wants us to. -Willard Gaylin, from Gattaca With the scientific breakthroughs of the recent decades the humans have become more powerful than ever in their mastery of Nature. The genetic engineering that allows extracting and modifying the genetic makeup of the future person or animal is in a sense the power of Creation.... [tags: Eugenics Genetics Science Essays]:: 14 Works Cited 1425 words(4.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Value of a Dystopia - A perfect world with no negative aspects can be defined as a utopia. A utopia consists of having all the required or desirable elements of life that one has in mind. Everyone has an altered perception on what a utopia is, but in order for the world to be a utopia a universal definition is vital. Some elements to be considered in a utopia include a society that is stable socially, morally, politically, and economically. The more a world is in deficient to these key elements of a utopia, the farther the world travels from the parameters of a utopia.... [tags: Sociology ]:: 5 Works Cited 2306 words(6.6 pages)Term Papers[preview] The Theory of Knowledge - That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow. Knowledge itself can be compared to a small child who is about to begin the long way in learning. Why this comparison. Since, as the child grows and goes through all the school years, with time, he will learn more and more than what he did before. The same situation can be applied to knowledge itself. The pursuit of knowledge has lead mankind to the point of development we are at as of the 21st century. With the passing of time, new ideas and methodologies, and key technological developments have lead, not to discarding knowledge, but to modifying our previous knowledge.... [tags: Natural Sciences]:: 3 Works Cited 1037 words(3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis - In todays advanced world, modern technology has enabled humans to accomplish tasks once thought to be purely science fiction. We live in a world today where everything is instant and customed designed. Who would have ever thought that one day parents would be able to design their children. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a process [that] involves taking a 3-day-old embryo and pulling one of its six cells to test for genetic markers of disease. (Edmonds). Although this process is meant to help to discover harmful diseases or complications like cancer, the idea of parents using this process to give their children what they consider ideal traits comes into question.... [tags: designer babies]:: 5 Works Cited 1117 words(3.2 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Dystopian Comparisons - In the Book A Clockwork Orange, the short stories Harrison Burgeron, The Lottery and the movies Gattaca and the Truman Show by Anthony Burgess, Kurt Vonnegut, Shirly Jackson, Andrew Niccol and Peter Wier respectively. These pieces of literature(and cinematography) all have a society that controls and manipulates the individual or Protaganist. The society does this because it wants total control over both the individual and the society as a whole. A Clockwork Orange is futuristic look at England.... [tags: Compare Contrast]1439 words(4.1 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Genetic Engineering and the End of the World As We Know It - "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" --- From a Song by REM Having completed the Human Genome Project, scientists now seek to uncover the secrets of the human proteome (Begley 1). It is "guesstimated" that the proteome, meaning all the proteins, will involve up to 1000 times more data than the genome did. But this again brings us to the question: What will the scientific and medical communities do with all this information. deCode Genetics, partnered with Roche Holding of Basel, wants Iceland's genes to examine 25-35 common genetically linked diseases (Marshall 539).... [tags: Genetic Manipulation Essays]:: 5 Works Cited 1406 words(4 pages)Powerful Essays[preview] Designer Babies - Within the last 100 years or so scientists have many valuable discoveries that have benefited mankind. These discoveries include the discovery of genes. Scientists have discovered what makes humans so unique from one another. However, with this newly gained knowledge of the function of genes comes the ability to alter or change them. Just imagine in the not so near future, you and your partner want to start a family together. You travel to your local gene councillor to pick the physical and characteristic traits of your child.... [tags: Genetic Engineering]:: 3 Works Cited 1141 words(3.3 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Therapuetic Cloning - Children grow up watching movies such as Star Wars as well as Gattaca that contain the idea of cloning which usually depicts that society is on the brink of war or something awful is in the midsts but, with todays technology the sci-fi nature of cloning is actually possible. The science of cloning obligates the scientific community to boil the subject down into the basic category of morality pertaining towards cloning both humans as well as animals. While therapeutic cloning does have its moral disagreements towards the use of using the stem cells of humans to medically benefit those with incomplete sets of DNA, the benefits of therapeutic cloning outweigh the disagreements indubitably due... [tags: dna, medicine, treatment]:: 5 Works Cited 1296 words(3.7 pages)Strong Essays[preview] Genetic Engineering - In the field of animal and human genetic engineering there is much more speculation, than fact, because very little has actually been tested in the real world. Firstly, theres a big question mark over safety of genetic engineering. In addition, genetic engineering can cause greater problems than that what we have today. Moreover, we can create a injustice world between Designer vs Non-designer children. Furthermore, genetic engineering is a type of murder because of the process of genetically modifying a baby.... 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With the honor of being the first child to be formally adopted by a corporation, Truman has had every moment of his existence captured by television cameras. The Truman Show, a worldwide reality series that runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and every day of the year, has been witness to his first words, his first steps, his first day at school-- nothing has escaped the... [tags: Papers]677 words(1.9 pages)Better Essays[preview] Genetic Manipulation - Genetic Manipulation Genes, being part of the basic building blocks of man, control all aspects of one's life. They control how tall you are, what color your eyes are, and what diseases might afflict you in the future. Therefore, the manipulation of such genes can be a controversial topic. The controversy most likely stems from the ethical and social questions that are raised by this procedure. Jean Dausset, author of "Scientific Knowledge and Human Dignity," and George B. 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Niccol, including last years "Gatttaca," a similarly themed tale, Niccol delivers optimism and affection for the human condition. Jim Carry plays the role of Truman Burbank who is a charming and unwitting star, the world's most popular, 24 hour non-stop soap called 'The Truman Show'. Pleasantville is a winsome and witty comedy/ drama starring Tobey Maguire as 'David' and Reese Witherspoon as 'Jennifer'.... [tags: Papers]1332 words(3.8 pages)Strong Essays[preview]

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The eclipse of Darwinism – Wikipedia

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Julian Huxley used the phrase "the eclipse of Darwinism"[a] to describe the state of affairs prior to what he called the modern synthesis, when evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles but relatively few biologists believed that natural selection was its primary mechanism.[2][3] Historians of science such as Peter J. Bowler have used the same phrase as a label for the period within the history of evolutionary thought from the 1880s to around 1920, when alternatives to natural selection were developed and exploredas many biologists considered natural selection to have been a wrong guess on Charles Darwin's part, or at least as of relatively minor importance.[4][5] An alternative term, the interphase of Darwinism, has been proposed to avoid the largely incorrect implication that the putative eclipse was preceded by a period of vigorous Darwinian research.[1]

While there had been multiple explanations of evolution including vitalism, catastrophism, and structuralism through the 19th century, four major alternatives to natural selection were in play at the turn of the 20th century:

Theistic evolution largely disappeared from the scientific literature by the end of the 19th century as direct appeals to supernatural causes came to be seen as unscientific. The other alternatives had significant followings well into the 20th century; mainstream biology largely abandoned them only when developments in genetics made them seem increasingly untenable, and when the development of population genetics and the modern synthesis demonstrated the explanatory power of natural selection. Ernst Mayr wrote that as late as 1930 most textbooks still emphasized such non-Darwinian mechanisms.[6]

Evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles within a few years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, but acceptance of natural selection as its driving mechanism was much less.[7] Six objections were raised to the theory in the 19th century:[8]

Both Darwin and his close supporter Thomas Henry Huxley[f] freely admitted, too, that selection might not be the whole explanation; Darwin was prepared to accept a measure of Lamarckism, while Huxley was comfortable with both sudden (mutational) change and directed (orthogenetic) evolution.[12]

By the end of the 19th century, criticism of natural selection had reached the point that in 1903 the German botanist, Eberhard Dennert (de), wrote that "We are now standing at the death bed of Darwinism", and in 1907 the Stanford University entomologist Vernon Lyman Kellogg, who supported natural selection, asserted that "... the fair truth is that the Darwinian selection theory, considered with regard to its claimed capacity to be an independently sufficient mechanical explanation of descent, stands today seriously discredited in the biological world." [13] He added, however, that there were problems preventing the widespread acceptance of any of the alternatives, as large mutations seemed too uncommon, and there was no experimental evidence of mechanisms that could support either Lamarckism or orthogenesis.[14] Ernst Mayr wrote that a survey of evolutionary literature and biology textbooks showed that as late as 1930 the belief that natural selection was the most important factor in evolution was a minority viewpoint, with only a few population geneticists being strict selectionists.[6]

A variety of different factors motivated people to propose other evolutionary mechanisms as alternatives to natural selection, some of them dating back before Darwin's Origin of Species. Natural selection, with its emphasis on death and competition, did not appeal to some naturalists because they felt it was immoral, and left little room for teleology or the concept of progress in the development of life.[15][16] Some of these scientists and philosophers, like St. George Jackson Mivart and Charles Lyell, who came to accept evolution but disliked natural selection, raised religious objections.[17] Others, such as Herbert Spencer, the botanist George Henslow (son of Darwin's mentor John Stevens Henslow also a botanist), and Samuel Butler, felt that evolution was an inherently progressive process that natural selection alone was insufficient to explain. Still others, including the American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt, had an idealist perspective and felt that nature, including the development of life, followed orderly patterns that natural selection could not explain.[10]

Another factor was the rise of a new faction of biologists at the end of the 19th century, typified by the geneticists Hugo DeVries and Thomas Hunt Morgan, who wanted to recast biology as an experimental laboratory science. They distrusted the work of naturalists like Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, dependent on field observations of variation, adaptation, and biogeography, considering these overly anecdotal. Instead they focused on topics like physiology, and genetics that could be easily investigated with controlled experiments in the laboratory, and discounted natural selection and the degree to which organisms were adapted to their environment, which could not easily be tested experimentally.[18]

British science developed in the early 19th century on a basis of natural theology which saw the adaptation of fixed species as evidence that they had been specially created to a purposeful divine design. The philosophical concepts of German idealism inspired concepts of an ordered plan of harmonious creation, which Richard Owen reconciled with natural theology as a pattern of homology showing evidence of design. Similarly, Louis Agassiz saw the recapitulation theory as symbolising a pattern of the sequence of creations in which humanity was the goal of a divine plan. In 1844 Vestiges adapted Agassiz's concept into theistic evolutionism. Its anonymous author Robert Chambers proposed a "law" of divinely ordered progressive development, with transmutation of species as an extension of recapitulation theory. This popularised the idea, but it was strongly condemned by the scientific establishment. Agassiz remained forcefully opposed to evolution, and after he moved to America in 1846 his idealist argument from design of orderly development became very influential.[19] In 1858 Owen cautiously proposed that this development could be a real expression of a continuing creative law, but distanced himself from transmutationists. Two years later in his review of Darwin's On the Origin of Species Owen attacked Darwin while at the same time openly supporting evolution,[20] expressing belief in a pattern of transmutation by law-like means. This idealist argument from design was taken up by other naturalists such as George Jackson Mivart, and the Duke of Argyll who rejected natural selection altogether in favor of laws of development that guided evolution down preordained paths.[21]

Many of Darwin's supporters accepted evolution on the basis that it could be reconciled with design. In particular, Asa Gray considered natural selection to be the main mechanism of evolution and sought to reconcile it with natural theology. He proposed that natural selection could be a mechanism in which the problem of evil of suffering produced the greater good of adaptation, but conceded that this had difficulties and suggested that God might influence the variations on which natural selection acted to guide evolution.[22] For Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley such pervasive supernatural influence was beyond scientific investigation, and George Frederick Wright, an ordained minister who was Gray's colleague in developing theistic evolution, emphasised the need to look for secondary or known causes rather than invoking supernatural explanations: "If we cease to observe this rule there is an end to all science and all sound science."[23]

A secular version of this methodological naturalism was welcomed by a younger generation of scientists who sought to investigate natural causes of organic change, and rejected theistic evolution in science. By 1872 Darwinism in its broader sense of the fact of evolution was accepted as a starting point. Around 1890 only a few older men held onto the idea of design in science, and it had completely disappeared from mainstream scientific discussions by 1900. There was still unease about the implications of natural selection, and those seeking a purpose or direction in evolution turned to neo-Lamarckism or orthogenesis as providing natural explanations.[24]

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had originally proposed a theory on the transmutation of species that was largely based on a progressive drive toward greater complexity. Lamarck also believed, as did many others at the time, that characteristics acquired during the course of an organism's life could be inherited by the next generation, and he saw this as a secondary evolutionary mechanism that produced adaptation to the environment. Typically, such characteristics included changes caused by the use or disuse of a particular organ. It was this mechanism of evolutionary adaptation through the inheritance of acquired characteristics that much later came to be known as Lamarckism.[25] Although Alfred Russel Wallace completely rejected the concept in favor of natural selection, Charles Darwin always included what he called Effects of the increased Use and Disuse of Parts, as controlled by Natural Selection in On the Origin of Species, giving examples such as large ground feeding birds getting stronger legs through exercise, and weaker wings from not flying until, like the ostrich, they could not fly at all.[26]

In the late 19th century the term neo-Lamarckism came to be associated with the position of naturalists who viewed the inheritance of acquired characteristics as the most important evolutionary mechanism. Advocates of this position included the British writer and Darwin critic Samuel Butler, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, the American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt, and the American entomologist Alpheus Packard. They considered Lamarckism to be more progressive and thus philosophically superior to Darwin's idea of natural selection acting on random variation. Butler and Cope both believed that this allowed organisms to effectively drive their own evolution, since organisms that developed new behaviors would change the patterns of use of their organs and thus kick-start the evolutionary process. In addition, Cope and Haeckel both believed that evolution was a progressive process. The idea of linear progress was an important part of Haeckel's recapitulation theory of evolution, which held that the embryological development of an organism repeats its evolutionary history. Cope and Hyatt looked for, and thought they found, patterns of linear progression in the fossil record.[27][28] Packard argued that the loss of vision in the blind cave insects he studied was best explained through a Lamarckian process of atrophy through disuse combined with inheritance of acquired characteristics.[29] Packard also wrote a book about Lamarck and his writings.[27][30]

Many American proponents of neo-Lamarckism were strongly influenced by Louis Agassiz and a number of them, including Hyatt and Packard, were his students. Agassiz had an idealistic view of nature, connected with natural theology, that emphasized the importance of order and pattern. Agassiz never accepted evolution; his followers did, but they continued his program of searching for orderly patterns in nature, which they considered to be consistent with divine providence, and preferred evolutionary mechanisms like neo-Lamarckism and orthogenesis that would be likely to produce them.[27][30]

In Britain the botanist George Henslow, the son of Darwin's mentor John Stevens Henslow, was an important advocate of neo-Lamarckism. He studied how environmental stress affected the development of plants, and he wrote that the variations induced by such environmental factors could largely explain evolution. The historian of science Peter J. Bowler writes that, as was typical of many 19th century Lamarckians, Henslow did not appear to understand the need to demonstrate that such environmentally induced variations would be inherited by descendants that developed in the absence of the environmental factors that produced them, but merely assumed that they would be.[31]

Critics of neo-Lamarckism pointed out that no one had ever produced solid evidence for the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The experimental work of the German biologist August Weismann resulted in the germ plasm theory of inheritance. This led him to declare that inheritance of acquired characteristics was impossible, since the Weismann barrier would prevent any changes that occurred to the body after birth from being inherited by the next generation. This effectively polarised the argument between the Darwinians and the neo-Lamarckians, as it forced people to choose whether to agree or disagree with Weismann and hence with evolution by natural selection.[32] Despite Weismann's criticism, neo-Lamarckism remained the most popular alternative to natural selection at the end of the 19th century, and would remain the position of some naturalists well into the 20th century.[28][33]

As a consequence of the debate over the viability of neo-Lamarckism, in 1896 James Mark Baldwin, Henry Fairfield Osborne and C. Lloyd Morgan all independently proposed a mechanism where new learned behaviors could cause the evolution of new instincts and physical traits through natural selection without resort to the inheritance of acquired characteristics. They proposed that if individuals in a species benefited from learning a particular new behavior, the ability to learn that behavior could be favored by natural selection, and the end result would be the evolution of new instincts and eventually new physical adaptations. This became known as the Baldwin effect and it has remained a topic of debate and research in evolutionary biology ever since.[34]

Orthogenesis was the theory that life has an innate tendency to change, in a unilinear fashion in a particular direction. The term was popularized by Theodor Eimer, a German zoologist, in his 1898 book On Orthogenesis: And the Impotence of Natural Selection in Species Formation. He had studied the coloration of butterflies, and believed he had discovered non-adaptive features which could not be explained by natural selection. Eimer also believed in Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics, but he felt that internal laws of growth determine which characteristics would be acquired and guided the long term direction of evolution down certain paths.[35]

Orthogenesis had a significant following in the 19th century, its proponents including the Russian biologist Leo S. Berg, and the American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn.[36] Orthogenesis was particularly popular among some paleontologists, who believed that the fossil record showed patterns of gradual and constant unidirectional change. Those who accepted this idea, however, did not necessarily accept that the mechanism driving orthogenesis was teleological (goal-directed). They did believe that orthogenetic trends were non-adaptive; in fact they felt that in some cases they led to developments that were detrimental to the organism, such as the large antlers of the Irish elk that they believed led to the animal's extinction.[35]

Support for orthogenesis began to decline during the modern synthesis in the 1940s, when it became apparent that orthogenesis could not explain the complex branching patterns of evolution revealed by statistical analysis of the fossil record by paleontologists. A few biologists however hung on to the idea of orthogenesis as late as the 1950s, claiming that the processes of macroevolution, the long term trends in evolution, were distinct from the processes of microevolution.[10][11]

Mutationism was the idea that new forms and species arose in a single step as a result of large mutations. It was seen as a much faster alternative to the Darwinian concept of a gradual process of small random variations being acted on by natural selection. It was popular with early geneticists such as Hugo de Vries, who along with Carl Correns helped rediscover Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance in 1900, William Bateson a British zoologist who switched to genetics, and early in his career, Thomas Hunt Morgan.[37][38]

The 1901 mutation theory of evolution held that species went through periods of rapid mutation, possibly as a result of environmental stress, that could produce multiple mutations, and in some cases completely new species, in a single generation. Its originator was the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries. De Vries looked for evidence of mutation extensive enough to produce a new species in a single generation and thought he found it with his work breeding the evening primrose of the genus Oenothera, which he started in 1886. The plants that de Vries worked with seemed to be constantly producing new varieties with striking variations in form and color, some of which appeared to be new species because plants of the new generation could only be crossed with one another, not with their parents. DeVries himself allowed a role for natural selection in determining which new species would survive, but some geneticists influenced by his work, including Morgan, felt that natural selection was not necessary at all. De Vries's ideas were influential in the first two decades of the 20th century, as some biologists felt that mutation theory could explain the sudden emergence of new forms in the fossil record; research on Oenothera spread across the world. However, critics including many field naturalists wondered why no other organism seemed to show the same kind of rapid mutation.[39]

Morgan was a supporter of de Vries's mutation theory and was hoping to gather evidence in favor of it when he started working with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in his lab in 1907. However, it was a researcher in that lab, Hermann Joseph Muller, who determined in 1918 that the new varieties de Vries had observed while breeding Oenothera were the result of polyploid hybrids rather than rapid genetic mutation.[40][41] While they were doubtful of the importance of natural selection, the work of geneticists like Morgan, Bateson, de Vries and others from 1900 to 1915 established Mendelian genetics linked to chromosomal inheritance, which validated August Weismann's criticism of neo-Lamarckian evolution by discounting the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The work in Morgan's lab with Drosophila also undermined the concept of orthogenesis by demonstrating the random nature of mutation.[42]

During the period 19161932, the discipline of population genetics developed largely through the work of the geneticists Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright. Their work recognized that the vast majority of mutations produced small effects that served to increase the genetic variability of a population rather than creating new species in a single step as the mutationists assumed. They were able to produce statistical models of population genetics that included Darwin's concept of natural selection as the driving force of evolution.[43]

Developments in genetics persuaded field naturalists such as Bernhard Rensch and Ernst Mayr to abandon neo-Lamarckian ideas about evolution in the early 1930s.[44] By the late 1930s, Mayr and Theodosius Dobzhansky had synthesized the ideas of population genetics with the knowledge of field naturalists about the amount of genetic diversity in wild populations, and the importance of genetically distinct subpopulations (especially when isolated from one another by geographical barriers) to create the early 20th century modern synthesis.[45] In 1944 George Gaylord Simpson integrated paleontology into the synthesis by statistically analyzing the fossil record to show that it was consistent with the branching non-directional form of evolution predicted by the modern synthesis, and in particular that the linear trends cited by earlier paleontologists in support of Lamarckism and orthogenesis did not stand up to careful analysis.[46] Mayr wrote that by the end of the synthesis natural selection together with chance mechanisms like genetic drift had become the universal explanation for evolutionary change.[6]

The concept of eclipse suggests that Darwinian research paused, implying in turn that there had been a preceding period of vigorously Darwinian activity among biologists. However, historians of science such as Mark Largent have argued that while biologists broadly accepted the extensive evidence for evolution presented in The Origin of Species, there was less enthusiasm for natural selection as a mechanism. Biologists instead looked for alternative explanations more in keeping with their worldviews, which included the beliefs that evolution must be directed and that it constituted a form of progress. Further, the idea of a dark eclipse period was convenient to scientists such as Julian Huxley, who wished to paint the modern synthesis as a bright new achievement, and accordingly to depict the preceding period as dark and confused. Huxley's 1942 book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis therefore, argued Largent, suggested that the so-called modern synthesis began after a long period of eclipse lasting until the 1930s, in which Mendelians, neo-Lamarckians, mutationists, and Weismannians, not to mention experimental embryologists and Haeckelian recapitulationists fought running battles with each other.[1] The idea of an eclipse also allowed Huxley to step aside from what was to him the inconvenient association of evolution with aspects such as social Darwinism, eugenics, imperialism, and militarism.[1] Accounts such as Michael Ruse's very large[1] book Monad to Man[47] ignored, claimed Largent, almost all the early 20th century American evolutionary biologists. Largent has suggested as an alternative to eclipse a biological metaphor, the interphase of Darwinism, interphase being an apparently quiet period in the cycle of cell division and growth.[1]

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World Pantheist Movement – Official Site

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Do you feel a deep sense of peace, belonging, and wonder in Nature or under a clear night sky? You may be a scientific pantheist.Scientific pantheism respects the rights not just of humans, but of all living beings.It focuses on saving the planet rather than saving souls.It encourages you to make the most and best of your one life here.It values reason and the scientific method over adherence to ancient scriptures.Take our popular quiz to find out if it suits you:-Atheist, Agnostic, Pagan, Deist, Pantheist or What?

We relate closely to some of the central challenges of our era. At a time when the balance of our Earth is under unprecedented threat, scientific pantheism is one of the few forms of spirituality in which Nature plays a central part. For us, Nature is a source of peace and beauty, as well as the focus for our care and vigilance. Nature was not created for us to use or abuse. Nature created us, we are an inseparable part of her. We have a duty to live sustainably, to care for Nature and to halt and reverse the harm that humans have done to her.

Sign the Earth Pledge

Scientific pantheism is the only form of spirituality we know of which fully embraces science as part of the human exploration of Earth and Cosmos. We wonder at the picture of a vast, creative and often violent Universerevealed by the Hubble Space Telescope. We regard stargazing as a spiritual practice. We oppose climate change denial and evolution denial, especially in education.

Scientific pantheism has a joyous affirmative approach to life. It has a healthy and positive attitude to sex and life in the body. We wont tell you what you should be smoking or doing in the bedroom. We fully accept diverse gender choices, and we oppose all forms of discrimination.

Scientific pantheism moves beyond God and defines itself by positives.Atheism and Agnosticism both define themselves negatively, in relation to a God that they deny or doubt. These are useful starting points but they dont take us very far. Most people also need positive beliefs and feelings about their place in Nature and the wider Universe. We take Nature and the Universe as our start and finish point, not some preconceived idea of God. We do not believe in a supernatural creator god, let alone one that watches or judges us. Most of us avoid god-language or religious words like church, worship, divinity and so on. We regard them as misleading. Those of us who do use those kinds of words do so metaphorically, in a similar way to how Einstein used the word.

Get the Scientific Pantheism handbook.

Our beliefs and values are summarized in our Pantheist Statement of Principles.The statement was drawn up by fallible humans. It is not required dogma it is simply a notice on our door, to show what we are about so people can decide if it suits them or not. These are the key elements:

Many people feel the need to belong to a religious community. Research shows that such groups provide mutual support and friends and are good for physical and mental health. Theres no good reason why groups of like-minded non-theistic folk should not enjoy similar benefits.

In the WPM we are spiritual but not religious. We dont have churches, priests, or prescribed dogma and rituals. But we do aim to provide a home base for people who love Nature and the Universe and do not believe in supernatural entities.

Two of the major benefits our members and friends say they value are gaining new like-minded friends and finding a place where they can share their enthusiasms without fear of being ostracized or feeling isolated. There have been many local meetings of members across the USA and in other parts of the world, where people have found a rare level of fellowship and stimulation.

The WPMs short term goals are to:

In the longer term, as resources permit, we hope to:

If you would like to help promote these goals, please consider becoming a WPM member. Volunteering is another great way of supporting the WPM.

All who agree with our principles are encouraged to join our Facebook page (with more than 160,000 fans), or join our Facebook discussion groupwith more than 10,000 members.

We use the name pantheism because the term encompasses a long and venerable history dating back to Heraclitus and Marcus Aurelius and extending to Einstein, D. H. Lawrence and beyond.

Our beliefs (see the Statement of Principles) are entirely compatible with atheism, humanism, agnosticism, universalism, and symbolic paganism (viewing magic, gods and spirits as symbols rather than objective realities). We offer a home to all forms of naturalistic spirituality however you may choose to label it. Other paths that approximate include philosophical Taoism, modern Stoicism, Western forms of Buddhism that celebrate Nature and daily life without supernatural beliefs, and Unitarian Universalists who do not believe in supernatural beings.

You are free to adopt the terms and practices you prefer and draw on other traditions for inspiration or celebration. Some call this a religion (a positive one), while others call it a philosophy, a way of life, or a form of general spirituality. Its up to you.

Please explore our pages. If you have any questions, please contact us.

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Chinese scientists break key barrier by cloning monkeys | Reuters

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LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have cloned monkeys using the same technique that produced Dolly the sheep two decades ago, breaking a technical barrier that could open the door to copying humans.

Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, two identical long-tailed macaques, were born eight and six weeks ago, making them the first primates -- the order of mammals that includes monkeys, apes and humans -- to be cloned from a non-embryonic cell.

It was achieved through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which involves transferring the nucleus of a cell, which includes its DNA, into an egg which has had its nucleus removed.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai said their work should be a boon to medical research by making it possible to study diseases in populations of genetically uniform monkeys.

But it also brings the feasibility of cloning to the doorstep of our own species.

Humans are primates. So (for) the cloning of primate species, including humans, the technical barrier is now broken, Muming Poo, who helped supervise the program at the institute, told reporters in a conference call.

The reason ... we broke this barrier is to produce animal models that are useful for medicine, for human health. There is no intention to apply this method to humans.

Genetically identical animals are useful in research because confounding factors caused by genetic variability in non-cloned animals can complicate experiments. They could be used to test new drugs for a range of diseases before clinical use.

The two newborns are now being bottle fed and are growing normally. The researchers said they expect more macaque clones to be born over the coming months.

Since Dolly - clonings poster child - was born in Scotland in 1996, scientists have successfully used SCNT to clone more than 20 other species, including cows, pigs, dogs, rabbits, rats and mice.

Similar work in primates, however, had always failed, leading some experts to wonder if primates were resistant.

The new research, published on Wednesday in the journal Cell, shows that is not the case. The Chinese team succeeded, after many attempts, by using modulators to switch on or off certain genes that were inhibiting embryo development.

Even so, their success rate was extremely low and the technique worked only when nuclei were transferred from foetal cells, rather than adult ones, as was the case with Dolly. In all, it took 127 eggs to produce two live macaque births.

It remains a very inefficient and hazardous procedure, said Robin Lovell-Badge, a cloning expert at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the Chinese work.

The work in this paper is not a stepping-stone to establishing methods for obtaining live born human clones. This clearly remains a very foolish thing to attempt.

The research underscores Chinas increasingly important role at the cutting-edge of biosciences, where its scientists have at times pushed ethical boundaries.

Three years ago, for example, researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou caused a furor when they reported carrying out the first experiment to edit the DNA of human embryos, although similar work has now been done in the United States.

Scientists at the Shanghai institute said they followed international guidelines for animal research set by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, but called for a debate on what should or should not be acceptable practice in primate cloning.

Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Peter Graff

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Chinese scientists break key barrier by cloning monkeys | Reuters

Cyberpunk 2077 Features Music That Has Never Been Heard …

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Details on Cyberpunk 2077 have so far been few and far between, following a cryptic tweet from the developers earlier this month.

Apart from hearing whispers that CD Projekt Red may bring a playable version of its sci-fi RPG to E3 2018, not much is known.

However, some interesting information has surfaced that gives us an idea on the direction of Cyberpunk 2077s soundtrack. According to IMDB listing, Brian Mantia, who has worked as a drummer with the likes of Guns NRoses and Primus is working on the game.

However, hes also spoken about the game publically. In the following article, which appeared on Audified, Brian speaks about his role on Cyberpunk 2077, stating:

Im also working on the soundtrack for theCyberpunk 2077video game. This project in particular has been a little challenging because the developers are looking for music that has never been heard before if that makes any sense They are looking for music that would be made in the year 2077 Im into it because I really love white noise and I figure thats where music is gonna be in 60 years from now (lol) Basically every frequency within the range of human hearing (20 hertz to 20 kHz) Anyways, im really diggin the experimentation on this project!!!

So, it sounds like like the developer will be experimenting with some funky, futuristic sounds!

Its also confirmed that Melissa Reese is also working on the game (as listed in her IMDB portfolio). Shes worked on many video game soundtracks in the past, including Bloodborne (where he was a singer) and InFamous: Second Son.

Stay tuned for more news on Cyberpunk 2077 as it comes in.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Features Music That Has Never Been Heard ...

Bitcoin Cash: Why It’s Forking the Blockchain And What That …

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Bitcoin's scaling debate finally seems to be shaking out, but some users aren't happy with the results.

After a few years of debate, it was perhaps to be expected that at least some were going to come away empty-handed. Controversial scaling proposal Segwit2x tried to remedy this by joining two code change ideas the code optimization Segregated Witness (SegWit) and ablock size increase.

Today, SegWit is just a couple of steps away from activating on bitcoin, but some bitcoin users are unhappy about the outcome.

Others who originally backed the Segwit2x proposal appear to be losing confidence in an eventual block size increase andare now taking matters into their own hands by making their own version of bitcoin and they're doing so on a short timeline.

On August 1, at precisely 12:20 UTC, the group claims that they will split off from bitcoin, creating a newcryptocurrency calledBitcoin Cash.

Developer Calin Culianu, who's contributing code toan implementation of Bitcoin Cash, is one user who doesn't like SegWit, suspecting that others feel the same way.

Culianu told CoinDesk:

If the Segwit2x agreement fails to implement the 2x part, which is not entirely unreasonable, and only ends up being being basically SegWit without the 2x, many miners will likely defect to Bitcoin Cash."

So, what is it? And how does it differ from bitcoin?

There are two main changes of note:

Some, including a few of the project's supporters, call Bitcoin Cash an "altcoin," a term that usually denotes a fork of the software that creates a new cryptocurrency, with its own market.

Indeed, the cryptocurrency is currently trading at$461, meaning it's worth about18%of bitcoin's current price of$2,568, in an already-open futures market.

Unlike other altcoins, though, Bitcoin Cash's transaction history would be the same as bitcoin's at least up until the point of the split. So, if and when Bitcoin Cash splits off, users would have bitcoin on both blockchains.

Another difference is the project says it will support multiple implementations of its software, a move that's not surprising given the criticism that Bitcoin Core's software is too dominant on the bitcoin network.

BitcoinABC is the first software to implement the Bitcoin Cash protocol, but the goal is for there to be many implementations.

Culianu said that both Bitcoin Unlimited and Bitcoin Classic, other implementations that aim to increase bitcoins block size, are working on a version compatible with Bitcoin Cash.

These might or might not be ready for August 1.

So far, most bitcoin companies, mining pools, users and bitcoin developers seem uninterested in the effort. Yet, there are some eager supporters.

Beijing-based miningfirm ViaBTC, which boasts roughly 4% of bitcoins computing power, is the clear ringleader.

The firm, which also operates an exchange, has become the first to list the cryptocurrency and also has plans to launch a new mining pool dedicated solely to Bitcoin Cash. (Though, so far, it's not clear how much of its 4% mining hashrate it will commit to the effort.)

Asked if he believed Segwit2x would fulfill its roadmap, CEO Haipo Yang responded: "I doubt it."

Further, Bitcoin Cash has attracted support from some users who want a block size increase, as well as developers of other proposals such as Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin Unlimited.

What might be more surprising, though, is who's not involved.

Even former supporters, including mining firms Bitcoin.com and Bitmain, seem hesitant to back the effort. For now, they remain committed to controversial scaling proposal Segwit2x.

Mining company Bitmain eveninspiredBitcoin Cash. Yet, the firm said that they only planned on going through with making the switch under certain conditions. Still, the firm might support both Segwit2x and Bitcoin Cash in the future.

In a PSA statement, Bitcoin.com said that it will allow miners in its pool to choose if they want to mine the Bitcoin Cash token BCC.

For now, though, it will mine on Segwit2x chain, though it said it "will immediately shift all company resources to supporting Bitcoin Cash exclusively" if the block size increase part of SegWit, scheduled for roughly three months from now, falls through.

There are a few reasons users and mining pools might like to break off from bitcoin:

This mix of ideological and technical reasons was also on display in conversations with users.

When asked by CoinDesk what BitcoinABC's goal is, Culianuresponded:

"To save bitcoin. We want to scale bitcoin up so that it won't die. It's already a bit sick and dying."

Many other efforts over the last couple of years have said they would split off from bitcoin, if they gained enough support from those operating the computers that secure the network. But, to date, no group has actually carried through with this plan so far.

Bitcoin Cash might be unique in that it's actually committing to a deadline to split bitcoin into two, and that deadline is less than a week away.

If miners and users indeed go ahead with the split, it would mark the first time a cryptocurrency split off from bitcoin, carrying with it bitcoins transaction history.

Like past efforts intended to replace the bitcoin used today with a new bitcoin, however, Bitcoin Cash has the same goal, but it seems willing to wait and see if users join the effort.

Rather than call it bitcoin, ViaBTC, as well as a group of bitcoin companies in China, signed an agreementto label it a "competitive currency," not the "real" bitcoin.

The move could set up the split to happen more quickly, as in the past exchanges have expressed confusion over how to handle a fork.

If a new cryptocurrencysplits off from the main bitcoin network, it will mark a first. So, some users are curious to see what happens.

Still, without much support from miners and users, it might notend up having that much of an impact on the course of the main network.

Nonetheless, it might if be worth watching if the second half of Segwit2x falls through. That's when it might see some more supporters.

Culianu, for example, concluded on an optimistic note:

My secret gut feeling is Bitcoin Cash may surprise all of us. It is not entirely impossible that it will be the de-facto bitcoin after a few months. The much roomier 8 MB block space is attractive."

Bitcoin voucher image via CoinDesk archives

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Interested in offering your expertise or insights to our reporting? Contact us at news@coindesk.com.

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Bitcoin Cash: Why It's Forking the Blockchain And What That ...

About NSA | NATIONAL SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION

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Chartered in 1940, the National Sheriffs' Association is a professional association dedicated to serving the Office of Sheriff and its affiliates through police education, police training, and general law enforcement information resources. NSA represents thousands of sheriffs, deputies and other law enforcement, public safety professionals, and concerned citizens nationwide.

Through the years, NSA has provided programs for Sheriffs, their deputies, chiefs of police, and others in the field of criminal justice to perform their jobs in the best possible manner and to better serve the people of their cities, counties or jurisdictions.

The National Sheriffs' Association headquarters is located in Alexandria, Virginia and offers police training, police information, court security training, jail information and other law enforcement services to sheriffs, deputies, and others throughout the nation. NSA has worked to forge cooperative relationships with local, state, and federal criminal justice professionals across the nation to network and share information about homeland security programs and projects.

NSA serves as the center of a vast network of law enforcement information, filling requests for information daily and enabling criminal justice professionals, including police officers, sheriffs, and deputies, to locate the information and programs they need. NSA recognizes the need to seek information from the membership, particularly the sheriff and the state sheriffs' associations, in order to meet the needs and concerns of individual NSA members. While working on the national level, NSA has continued to seek grass-roots guidance, ever striving to work with and for its members, clients, and citizens of the nation.

NSA has through the years assisted sheriffs' offices, sheriffs' departments and state sheriffs' associations in locating and preparing applications for state and federal homeland security grant funding. The NSA record and reputation for integrity and dependability in the conduction of such public safety programs among government agencies is well recognized and has led to continuing opportunities to apply for grants on the national, state, and local levels as well as management of service contracts.

NSA's roots can be traced back to October 1888, when a group of sheriffs in Minnesota and surrounding states formed an organization, which they named the Inter-State Sheriffs' Association. The purpose of this association was to give opportunity for a wider, mutual acquaintance, to exchange ideas for more efficient service, and to assist one another in the apprehension of criminals.

Over the years the name was changed several times. It is assumed that as laws changed and law enforcement grew and expanded along with the country, the organization felt compelled to change its name to fit its membership and the times. When law enforcement officials in other states and Canada expressed interest in taking part in the Inter-State Sheriffs' Association, the group subsequently changed its name to the International Sheriffs' and Police Association. In 1908 the organization was briefly known as the National Sheriffs' Association before its name was amended as the International Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and then later to the International Sheriffs and Police Association. The organization disbanded in 1938.

The Articles of Incorporation of the new National Sheriffs' Association were filed with the Secretary of State of the state of Ohio on September 26, 1940. Sheriff Walter O'Neil of Akron, Ohio was NSA's first president and held the first annual meeting in 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri. At this meeting a constitution was adopted and the organization's goals, policies, and objectives were agreed upon. NSA began publishing its periodical, The National Sheriff magazine, in February of the same year. NSA's first executive secretary (executive director) was Charles J. Hahn. It is believed that Hahn and the officials of the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association of Ohio set about to form a national association for sheriffs.

The National Sheriffs' Association today is headquarted in Alexandria, VA and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the level of professionalism among sheriffs, their deputies, and others in the field of criminal justice and public safety so that they may perform their jobs in the best possible manner and better serve the people of their cities, counties or jurisdictions.

For more on the history of NSA, consider ordering a copy of our 75th Anniversary Commemorative book. Click here to order today.

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About NSA | NATIONAL SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION

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Jewel V. Nsa stories at Techdirt.

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With some of the proceedings unsealed in the EFF's long-running Jewel vs. NSA lawsuit, more details can finally be exposed. Not that what's already been exposed hasn't been damning enough. Over the past several months, the DOJ has run interference for the NSA, traveling from courtroom to courtroom, destroying and saving (or at least pretending to...) collected data amongst a flurry of contradictory orders.

Not that it ultimately mattered. The NSA just kept destroying relevant evidence, claiming the system was too complex to do anything with but allow to run its course. Evidence would be destroyed at the 5-year limit, no matter what preservation orders were issued. The NSA, of course, has a vested interest in destroying evidence that its 215 and 702 programs collect the data and communications of Americans. Thanks to Snowden's leaks, it can no longer pretend it doesn't. But despite this, the DOJ still claims Section 702 targets only foreigners and American suspects located outside of the US.

The mock concern about compliance with court orders was a hustle. The DOJ wants as much evidence that might be useful to plaintiffs gone as swiftly as possible. Thanks to the unsealing of Jewel court documents, the EFF can now relate that the DOJ's efforts went much further than simply letting aged-off collections expire. It also actively tried to change the historical record of the Jewel case, as Mike covered here recently.

Citing classification concerns, the DOJ sought to editorialize its statements to the court, removing them (not redacting them) from the public record and it didn't want anyone to find out. Take a moment to soak in the audacity of this request, made by the US government in a federal court.

If the judge had sided with the DOJ, there's a good chance some of the transcript embedded below would have gone missing forever. Even after the documents were eventually unsealed, whatever the government had managed to convince the court was "classified" would no longer exist -- despite the fact that one week earlier these statements were made in an open court room.

It's likely that the judge's decision to notify the plaintiffs changed the DOJ's mind about retconning its own statements. It's a good thing nothing's missing. What's in there is terrible. The DOJ basically mounts the argument that no plaintiff should ever have standing to challenge either the Section 215/501 or 702 programs, unless they are Verizon Business customers and even then they should only be able to challenge the former. (Apologies for the all caps, but that's the way the court transcribed it.)

SO WE HAVE NOT CONCEDED THAT STANDING COULD BE FOUND BASED ON THE MERE EXISTENCE OF THE BULK TELEPHONY META DATA PROGRAM, IF THAT IS YOUR QUESTION.

And while acknowledging that it has withheld info on the telephony metadata program, the DOJ's lawyers simultaneously claim the plaintiffs should have been prevented from amending their case to include the recent Section 702 revelations, because that program has supposedly been out in the open and fully transparent since 2008.

NOT ONLY DID IT EXIST BEFORE THIS COMPLAINT WAS FILED, THE JEWEL PLAINTIFFS KNEW ABOUT IT, BECAUSE IT'S PRECISELY WHY THEY FILED SUIT. THAT LEGISLATION CREATED IMMUNITY FOR THE TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES.

THE ACLU OVER IN NEW YORK, KNEW QUITE WELL IT EXISTED. THEY FILED A COMPLAINT, I THINK, THE DAY IT WAS ENACTED INTO LAW. AND THAT MADE A LOT OF HEADLINES, AND IT WAS LITIGATED. AND IT WAS ALL, ALL PUBLIC. NO SECRET PROGRAM. AND IT WAS OUT THERE. SO THAT STATEMENT IS JUST NOT TRUE.

THE SECOND THING THAT'S NOT TRUE IS HER PROGRAM DESCRIPTION. 702 IS A PUBLIC STATUTORY PROGRAM. IF YOU LOOK AT THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DECISION, IT DETAILS HOW THAT PROGRAM OPERATES. AND SO THAT IS THE SOURCE OF WHAT SHOULD BE THE COURT'S UNDERSTANDING FOR THIS PROGRAM AND HOW IT OPERATES.

This is only a small part of a document the DOJ wanted to selectively edit and present later as an untouched factual record of a federal hearing. The government claims no one has standing because everything related to the NSA's programs is "rank speculation" -- basically pretending the "terrible disclosures" never happened. In the same breath, it claims the programs have always been transparent and completely above board, therefore no one should be able to amend their complaints when additional info is exposed by leakers.

The government not only wants it both ways, but it has the breathtaking gall to ask to touch up its talking points after delivering them. After a dozen attempts to wrap up this post with something that pithily highlights the anger the government's editing attempt (and the horrible arguments contained in the transcript) has generated in me, I'm left with little more than this: FUCK THE DOJ -- it and every agency it oversees.

It witholds information about the companies involved in its dragnet surveillance programs, covers up everything else and pretends unauthorized disclosures "don't count," at least not when it comes to citizens being granted standing. It could easily clear up this "rank speculation," but it would rather shelter telcos from irate customers and give itself an easy way to get lawsuits dismissed. Then it spins everything around and claims the plaintiffs are misrepresenting the programs to the court -- something the DOJ has actually done itself -- and should not be allowed to amend complaints to reflect additional evidence gleaned from leaked documents.

Hey, I'm sorry the leaks have made it harder for these agencies to do whatever the hell they want, but they are all part of a government that's supposed to be accountable to the citizens picking up the check. But when faced with unhappy citizens and their diminished rights, all the DOJ's lawyers can say is that the public doesn't know shit and has no right to question the government's activities.

The government has somehow managed to come to a conclusion others reached weeks ago -- there's more than one leaker out there. GOOD. Burn it down. In the DOJ's hands, the government isn't by or for the people. It's despite the people. The DOJ can't be trusted to protect the balance between privacy and security. As it sees it, what the public doesn't know will likely hurt it, and it's damned if it's going to allow citizens to seek redress for their grievances.

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Jewel V. Nsa stories at Techdirt.

Posted in NSA

The NSA Is a Blackmail Agency

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Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

The main function of the National Security Administration is to collect the dirt on members of the house and senate, the staffs, principal contributors, and federal judges.

The dirt is used to enforce silence about the crimes of the security agencies.

The blackmail mechanism was put into gear the minute the news reported that the House Intelligence Committee had assembled proof that the FBI, DOJ, and DNC created Russiagate as a conspiracy to unseat President Trump. Members of Congress with nothing to hide demanded the evidence be released to the public.

Of course, it was to be expected that release of the facts would be denounced by Democrats, but Republicans, such as Rep. Mike Conaway (R, Texas), himself a member of the committee, joined in the effort to protect the Democrats and the corrupt FBI and DOJ from exposure. Hiding behind national security concerns, Conaway opposes revealing the classified information. Thatd be real dangerous, he said.

As informed people know, 95% of the information that is classified is for purposes that have nothing to do with national security.

The House Intelligence Committee memo has no information in it related to any security except that of Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Hillary, Obama, Mueller, Rosenstein, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, the DNC, and the presstitute media.

The logical assumption is that every member of Congress opposed to informing the American public of the Russiagate conspiracy to unseat the President of the United States is being blackmailed by the security agencies who planned, organized, and implemented the conspiracy against the President of the United States and American democracy.

American insouciance is a great enabler of the ability of the security agencies and their media whores to control the explanations.

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The NSA Is a Blackmail Agency

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NSA DELETES HONESTY AND OPENNESS FROM CORE VALUES

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THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCYmaintains a page on its website that outlines its mission statement. But earlier this month the agency made a discreet change: It removed honesty as its top priority.

Since at least May 2016, the surveillance agency had featured honesty as the first of four core values listed on NSA.gov, alongside respect for the law, integrity, and transparency. The agency vowed on the site to be truthful with each other.

On January 12, however, the NSA removed the mission statement page which canstill be viewedthrough the Internet Archive and replaced it witha new version. Now, the parts about honesty and the pledge to be truthful have been deleted. The agencys new top value is commitment to service, which it says means excellence in the pursuit of our critical mission.

Those are not the only striking alterations. In its old core values, the NSA explained that it would strive to be deserving of the great trust placed in it by national leaders and American citizens. It said that it would honor the publics need for openness. But those phrases are now gone; all references to trust, honor, and openness have disappeared.

The agency previously stated on its website that it embraced transparency and claimed that all of its activities were aimed at ensuring the safety, security, and liberty of our fellow citizens. That is another sentence that has been discarded. The agency still says it is committed to transparency on the updated website, but the transparency is now described as being for the benefit of those who authorize and oversee NSAs work on behalf of the American people. The definition of integrity has been edited, too. The agency formerly said its commitment to integrity meant it would behave honorably and apply good judgment. The phrase behave honorably has now been dropped in favor of communicating honestly and directly, acting ethically and fairly and carrying out our mission efficiently and effectively.

The new list of values includes the additions respect for people and accountability. But the section on respecting people is a reference to diversity within the NSA workforce, not a general commitment made to members of the public. Accountability is defined as taking responsibility for our decisions. The one core value that remains essentially unchanged is respect for the law, which the agency says means it is grounded in our adherence to the U.S. Constitution and compliance with the U.S. laws, regulations and policies that govern our activities.

In response to questions from The Intercept on Tuesday, the NSA played down the alterations. Thomas Groves, a spokesperson for the agency, said: Its nothing more than a website update, thats all it is.

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NSA DELETES HONESTY AND OPENNESS FROM CORE VALUES

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Jewel v. NSA | United States Courts

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Case Summary: 08-cv-04373

This case involves claims by numerous citizens that their constitutional rights were violated by the United States government through unauthorized surveillance of their telephone and internet activity by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government actors under the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" or TSP. They allege that this was done in concert with major telecommunications companies and outside of the procedures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and without authorization by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).

According to Plaintiffs, Defendants have a nationwide network of sophisticated communications surveillance devices attached to the key facilities of telecommunications companies that carry Americans' internet and telephone communications. Using this network, Defendants continue to acquire the content of a significant portion of phone calls, emails, instant messages, text messages, web communications and other communications, both international and domestic, of practically every American who uses the phone system or the internet. Plaintiffs also allege that Defendants have unlawfully solicited and obtained from telecommunications companies the private telephone and internet transactional records of those companies customers, indicating who the customers communicated with, when and for how long, among other sensitive information.

Defendants are claiming that the information necessary to litigate plaintiff's claims is subject to and excluded from use by the "states secrets privilege" and other related privileges and that their cases should be dismissed. Plaintiffs counter that Congress displaced the "states secret privilege" in electronic surveillance actions when it enacted FISA. Plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment to have the trial court rule on that issue. This video is of the hearing on that motion.

Case highlights for this case are not yet available.

Case-related documents, including those referenced above, are available via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service. For more information, visit Pacer.gov.

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Jewel v. NSA | United States Courts

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Ripple Price Prediction: 3 Issues with Bloomberg’s XRP Takedown

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Ripple News Update
Ripple (XRP) prices plunged on Friday morning after a Bloomberg Businessweek report said that banks “have no interest in using XRP.” (Source: "Ripple Wants XRP to Be Bitcoin for Banks. If Only the Banks Wanted It," Bloomberg Businessweek, January 25, 2018.).

The post Ripple Price Prediction: 3 Issues with Bloomberg’s XRP Takedown appeared first on Profit Confidential.

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Ripple Price Prediction: 3 Issues with Bloomberg’s XRP Takedown

Litecoin Price Forecast: New Buyers May Enter from India as Zebpay Adds LTC

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Litecoin News Update
Today is another distressing morning for crypto investors. After a brief rally on Thursday, prices are once again cratering on Friday. All of the top cryptos are drowning in red and LTC prices are no different. But like always, I’m looking at the bright side of things.

For instance, the fact that Litecoin just got added to an emerging world exchange renews my hope that new Litecoin buyers may soon enter the market and lend support to prices.

India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Zebpay, added.

The post Litecoin Price Forecast: New Buyers May Enter from India as Zebpay Adds LTC appeared first on Profit Confidential.

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Litecoin Price Forecast: New Buyers May Enter from India as Zebpay Adds LTC

Stellar Price Prediction 2018: Consider XLM, the Possible “Ripple Killer”

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Here’s Why the Stellar Lumens (XLM) Price Skyrocketed
As Ripple (XRP) prices continue to lose steam, a purported “Ripple Killer” is fast catching up. Stellar (XLM) is now sitting at the sixth spot on the list of most valuable cryptocurrencies, after having pushed Litecoin off the podium.

If you follow my work, I’ve been pitching Stellar as a potential multibagger for a while now. This time around, I’ll be flirting with numbers to put a price.

The post Stellar Price Prediction 2018: Consider XLM, the Possible “Ripple Killer” appeared first on Profit Confidential.

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Stellar Price Prediction 2018: Consider XLM, the Possible “Ripple Killer”