It’s Armistice Day, November 11th, in thenation's capital. It is a brisk day at Arlington National Cemetery. Dignitaries stand silently on the third anniversaryof the ending of World War I, watching as a single white casket is lowered into a marbledtomb. In attendance is President Calvin Coolidge,former President Woodrow Wilson, Supreme Court Justice (as well as former President) WilliamHoward Taft, Chief Plenty Coups, and hundreds of dedicated United States servicemen. As the casket settles on its final restingplace in the tomb, upon a thin layer of French soil, three salvos are fired. A bugler plays taps and, with the final note,comes a 21 gun salute. The smoke clears and eyes dry as the UnknownSoldier from World War I is laid to rest; the first unknown soldier to be officiallyhonored in this manner in American history. The United States’ allies in World War I,France and Britain, were the first countries to practice the concept of burying an “unknownsoldier.” World W...
Imagine NASA announced todaythat they found aliens. Bacteria on Mars, weird alien fishin the oceans of Europa, and also ancient alien ruins on Titan. Wouldn't that be great? Well, no. It would be horrible news, devastating even. It could mean that the end of humanityis almost certain and that it might be coming soon. Why? Why would the most excitingdiscovery of our lifetime be bad? Let us imagine the development of life, from its inception to us today, as a flight of stairs. The first step is dead chemistrythat needs to assemble itself into self-replicating patterns,stable and resilient, but also able to change and evolve. The second step is for our early life tobecome more complex, able to build more complicated structures, and use the available energymuch more efficiently. On the next step, these cells combineto become multicellular beings, enabling unbelievable varietyand further complexity. The step above sees the speciesevolve big brains, enabling the use of tools, cult...