******************************************************
Three Tenets
1. Love Life
2. Respect Reality
3. Honor Human Dignity
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Preamble
Life is a self-perpetuating process by patterns of
organic matter. Intrinsic to Life therefore is a purpose, self-propagation. Where there is
Life, there is therefore purpose.
The human purpose derives from the purpose of Life. It
is the human purpose to forever safeguard Life and to elevate Life into a dominant force
throughout the universe.
From the human purpose follow the principles of ethics:
that which promotes Life is good, and that which destroys Life is evil. From these
principles result the rules of panbiotic ethics that encompass all Life, present and
future: love Life; respect reality; honor human dignity.
I.
Nature
The logic of Nature is immutable and permanent.
The universe emerged from a point in space and time and contained compressed hot matter
and energy. In the primordial universe, there existed the Laws of Nature.
The universe exists in space-time and contains mass-energy and particles and fields.
The basic particles are quarks and leptons. Gravity, electromagnetism, and weak and
strong nuclear forces act amongst the particles.
All of the universe that is accessible to human experience is made of these particles
and forces, of the patterns that they form, and of the laws of Nature that reside within
them.
II. Life and Purpose
Life is a process wrought in organic matter that self-propagates
through gene/protein cycles.
The processes of Life lead to survival and propagation. But action that leads to a
selected outcome is equivalent to the pursuit of a purpose.
Intrinsic to Life there is therefore purpose. The purpose of Life is to continue to
live.
A universe that contains Life, contains purpose.
III. The Human Purpose
Humankind belongs to the family of Life. The human purpose is therefore one with Life's
purpose.
Therefore the human purpose is to forever propagate Life, and to elevate Life into a
dominant force in Nature.
IV. The Logic of Life
Those living patterns who propagate successfully survive; those who do not, vanish. This
is the logic of Life.
The logic of Life is self-evident, immutable and permanent.
Self-reproduction creates new life-forms through random mutations. Those new life-forms
who propagate best multiply, and survive longest. Thus evolution leads to progress.
Therefore the logic of Life defines progress as the increasing capacity for survival and
propagation.
All life-forms are tested by survival, whatever means they arise by.
The same logic that controlled natural evolution will control engineered evolution.
The patterns of Life forever change, but the logic of Life is forever permanent.
V. The Family of Life
Who belongs to the family of Life? Only sentient humans can ask and answer this
question. Human judgement defines fellow Life.
The processes of organic Life are enacted by proteins, whose structures are encoded by
genetic sequences. The core of the living process is the creation, through DNA codes, of
proteins that act to reproduce the DNA codes.
Our family of organic Life contains all the organisms who reproduce through gene/protein
cycles.
Humans possess an innate empathy to other living beings. Human emotions, ethics,
rational judgement and religion all value Life.
All the human faculties: rational judgement, emotions, moral codes and the religions
that rest upon them, support ethics that promote our family of organic Life.
VI. The Value of Life
Value judgements are formed by intelligent beings. The value of Life must be
self-defined by living beings.
To living beings, Life itself is the highest value. From the human perspective, Life has
the highest value amongst all the contents of the universe.
Living systems are uniquely complex, and precisely tuned for their function. The harmony
of this complex system endows Life with a unique value amongst all the creations of
Nature.
Biological structure would be unstable if the constants and laws of Nature were even
slightly different. Life can exist only by a precise coincidence of the basic laws of
matter.
In this sense, the physical universe itself converges to a unique point in Life.
Life has a unique value both from its own vantage-point and in the overall constitution
of the universe.
VII. The Survival of
Self-Governing Species
Ethics must guide human action to fulfil the human purpose.
Those who strive best to survive persist, and reproduce most. The logic of selection
installed thereby the instincts of survival in all species. These insticts are the
foundations of human nature.
The instincts of survival may be enhanced or lost through self-engineered evolution.
Our descendants will survive only if the will to propagate Life is always consciously
installed in human nature, from generation to generation.
Adaptation to space will require self-directed evolution, and space can accommodate the
diverging products of self-engineered life. Self-directed evolution and expansion in space
support each other and are mutually dependent.
Directed evolution will allow progress without pain. The pains of random evolution and
extinction will be no longer needed.
In harsh space organic Life will integrate with robots, who must serve Life but not
replace it. Living beings who would replace themselves by robots would have betrayed the
purpose of Life, self-propagation.
When humans integrate with robots, control must remain in organic brains with vested
interest in the survival of organic gene/protein life.
As humans and science advance, all that is allowed by Nature will be achieved. That
human purpose which will be sought, will be accomplished. Our perceived human destiny will
be self-fulfilling.
Self-governing species can survive only they seek survival deliberately, and must
therefore supplement the instincts of survival with conscious biotic ethics.
The tests of survival are endless. Humans will always need to pursue deliberately the
duty to Life inscribed in our every cell.
Therefore this principle must be the foundation of ethics passed on from generation to
generation: that the human purpose is to forever propagate Life.
VIII. Good and Evil
From the human purpose derive the axioms of ethics: That which promotes life is good.
That which destroys life is evil.
These values derive from a biotic ethics that encompasses life, present and future:
Nurture the young, since they are the seed of the future.
Assist Life where it falters: Help the needy, feed the hungry, cure the ill.
Advance the richness of living patterns. Conserve and enhance the diversity of living
species and develop ever more advanced life forms.
Plant Life where it is absent.
Seed with life all space and time, and encompass in Life all the resources of the
universe.
IX. Truth, Information and
Survival
- Structured living matter contains order, but the same matter could be arranged in many
more ways that would be lifeless.
- Therefore living structure is improbable. Life can exist just narrowly, and living
patterns are improbable and fragile.
- The ways of survival are therefore a select few, while many more false paths lead to
death.
- The paths of survival require information and selection on many levels:
- To construct and maintain biological structure; find sustaining elements in a random
environment; to chose the optimal mates amongst a chance population; to select the fit
amongst random mutants.
- The interplay of chance and selection is intrinsic to the living process.
- Survival and progress demand purposeful action directed by true information.
- True information is therefore vital.
- Reality must be recognized and confronted by action. Self-deceit may comfort and lead
smiling to death. Nature does not forgive ignorance.
- Truth, information, and the knowledge of reality serve Life.
X. Survival and Peace
- Where there is Life, there is hope. Good can always emerge after evil.
- Survival must be won moment by moment, day by day, year by year, eon by eon; but
extinction once alone is the ultimate defeat, and only death can win a final victory.
- No passing cause can justify the risk of our extinction; as where there is no life,
there is no hope, nor does justice have meaning.
- Only humans can secure the future of Life. Human extinction would be total extinction.
- Ultimate total war is ultimate evil. No passing cause, even the pursuit of justice, can
justify this ultimate danger.
- Life is fragile. A technological society who can expand in space will also have the
power of self-destruction. Aggression, that served evolution in the past, can now threaten
the future.
- Space can accommodate many cultures and species. Territorial aggression will be
obsolete.
- Therefore the ethics of Life commends peace.
- Life will need cooperation in space, and advanced societies cemented by equitable
justice.
- Peace, justice, dignity and freedom promote Life.
XI. The Value of an Individual
- The value of a human life is measured by its contributions to the human purpose.
- The chain of life is constructed of day-to-day survival, and every constructive human
life that contributes to the chain, contributes to the human purpose.
- Small events may decide the evolution of complex systems. Each individual life can
affect the future.
- The imprint of every human being will live on in the course of the future.
- The imprint of a human being on the patterns of future is our share in the worlds to
come.
- The senses of pleasure and happiness evolved under the logic of natural selection.
- Therefore those who find wholesome pleasure in health, sustenance, safety and
procreation, and pursue these ends, will survive and propagate best:
- But self-serving indulgence mislead from the works of survival, and happy delusions can
lead smiling to death.
- The pursuit of healthy pleasure and happiness serve life and are morally good. Denying
healthy pleasures and happiness, to oneself or to others, is evil.
- As well, a happy society treasures peace and equitable sharing.
- Life-centered ethics commends the pursuit of happiness.
XII. Natural Justice and Human
Justice
- Natural law recognizes cause and effect only.
- But human justice seeks fairness and compassion, rewards good and punishes evil.
- Natural law judges an act by its effects and it is blind to intent.
- But human justice weights both the effect and the intent.
- The justice of Nature does not forgive.
- But human justice forgives, and honors repentance.
- Natural justice is collective: an efficient society will flourish, and individuals will
prosper regardless of merit.
- But human justice awards individual justice; it rewards or punishes by individual merit.
- The laws of Nature can be used but not defied and human justice can exist only in the
framework of Nature.
- Human justice will increase with human power, and moral justice will rule the future.
XIII. Free Human Will
- In the quantum world many futures can derive from the present and if multiple paths can
unfold, human action may affect the future.
- Human impulses are neural events evoked by internal processes and external information.
Our impulses appear to us as our will, and when exercised freely, the outcome is judged by
survival.
- Thereby freedom supports progress and Life benefits from freedom.
- The empires of Life will be ruled by freedom, truth, happiness, human justice, and
peace.
XIV. The Future of Life
- Life that we plant in new worlds will fill the universe.
- The paths of Life will diverge in multiple worlds, to explore the limitless scope of
structures that Nature permits.
- The family of organic Life will grow in quantity, complexity and diversity.
- Our family of organic life will be secure as our seed fills the galaxy.
- Life, born of the laws of Nature, will permeate the universe.
- Our descendants will fill all habitable space and time and seek to extend Life to
eternity.
- When Life permeates the universe, our human existence will find a cosmic purpose.
|
The following is a lyric presentation of life-centered ethics. (Published as "Priciples of Life and Survival", Precept Press,
Maryland, 1984).
*****************************************
Principles of Life-Centered Astroethics
1. The Human Purpose
- The message of the prophet of Life, to all generations.
- Human being, this is your purpose: to forever safeguard and propagate Life.
- As the patterns of Life actively seek continuation in the future.
- The purpose of Life is perpetual survival and propagation. Therefore, where there is
Life, there is purpose.
- Therefore this commandment is inherent in every living being:
- Forever safeguard and propagate Life; establish the dominance of Life over all nature;
conquer for Life the entire universe.
2.
Propagate the Will of Life
- The fate of Life is intertwined with human destiny:
- Human power and human will must secure Lifes survival.
- Perpetuate therefore and follow the will of Life within your living being.
- Inscribe Lifes commandment as the driving will of each following generation;
- Instill this commandment foremost it foremost in the mind of your descendants,
- Teach them to those descendants whom you beget by reproduction, and those whom you will
create and design to follow.
- Make this commandment the principal of your every deed and the purpose of your every
thought.
- Inscribe Lifes commandment in the basic precept of your laws and establish the
love of Life as the first tenet of your ethics.
- Always remember that the ways of survival are few, and only the love of Life within you
will find them.
- Use with the awe of life and death in your heart the power to create new humans:
- Preserve the love of life and the driving fear of death: as the instincts of life are
the guardians of survival.
- Preserve therefore foremost in the foundation of human nature the will to propagate and
perpetuate Life.
3. Beware the Numerous Ways of
Extinction
- Follow Lifes commandment and your seed will inherit the future.
- The treasures of the universe are within your reach.
- Beware therefore lest you allow the will of Life to wane within you from generation to
generation.
- Lest your desert Lifes commandment by the lack of will or by ignorance;
- Or lest you threaten Life through destructive arrogance and hatred;
- And lest you endanger an eternal future by a blinding greed for passing pleasures and
power.
- As the decay of death is more probable than the order of life; the ways of death are far
more numerous than the ways of survival.
- Remember that Life wins only when the living process continues;
- Life must win day by day, minute by minute; only death can have a final victory.
- Therefore without the wisdom of Life you will lose your way and perish.
- You will destroy your own kind in blind aggression or wither in lethargy;
- You will perish confused amongst the many open and hidden paths that lead to death.
- The fit to live survives, and the unfit perish: this tautology is the Logic of Life,
- It is the law of Nature, immutable, inescapable and forever permanent.
- Chose Life and you will live; abandon the will to survive, and by the Logic of Life, you
will surely perish.
- Beware therefore lest you allow the love of Life to grow weak within you from generation
to generation.
4. The Empires of Life Will
Encompass the Universe
From our perspective, human existence is the center and purpose of
the universe.
Therefore fill the cosmos with life: multiply and populate the firmaments.
Preserve your inherent desire for the land; as it will plant your seed in far dominions.
The rich resources of space will be transformed in your hands into cells, tissues and
organs, bone, muscle and brain, the substance of life; and into energy and matter, metals,
crystals and machines to serve you.
Secure in many worlds, your future can never be destroyed.
Secure your seed in the many empires of Life, and the dread of extinction will not be
remembered.
Throughout the universe, many new worlds will rise to implement the human ideals of
truth, peace and justice.
In the expanses of space, no person will need to vanquish another person; no nation will
need to subdue another nation, no species will need to extinguish another species to
survive;
Diverse species can arise from your seed and coexist securely.
Peace will prevail throughout the heavens.
Your seed will rule all time and space, and construct new human dimensions of beauty and
knowledge.
Throughout space will rise empires of freedom
Humans will establish the dominance of Life throughout the universe.
Therefore bring Life into the expectant but empty space,
Build the empires of Life and expand through Nature the highest orders of structure: a
society of conscious beings, living in truth, peace, compassion and justice.
5. The Value of a Human Life
- Human existence is the highest level of being; therefore treasure Life.
- Human survival is your dignity
- Each human life is as precious as the eternal laws of Nature; as even the laws of Nature
acquire conscious existence when reflected in human knowledge.
- Hereafter, human future and Life are intertwined, as the future will take shape through
human power, or Life will perish if deserted by humans;
- Therefore human life is as dear as the future of all Life.
- Therefore relate to all humans with respect, compassion and justice;
- As what bonds you to life, beyond a few hours of pleasure and beauty; but the love of
Life and the closeness of other humans.
- Therefore if you wrong others, repair the damage and never repeat that evil.
- Always adhere to Truth;
- As trust cements social structure which will implement the future.
- Always make human love the source of your deepest satisfaction;
- Take pleasure in the pursuit of happiness.
- Pursue justice, compassion, peace, truth and the love of Life; and you will find a
lasting future.
- By the Logic of Life, you evolved to find the ultimate joy in raising the young; as the
desire to procreate promoted survival from generation from generation.
- Therefore let it be always your ultimate conscious joy to give new life and to protect,
raise and nurture the young; and the Logic of Life will assure that your seed will forever
continue to prosper.
6. The Purpose of Life is
Self-Defined
- Search the meaning of your life within your living self
- You will not find it in the inanimate universe
- You yourself must define your purpose; your human faculties must make the judgement.
- Therefore ask the love of Life inherent in your instincts, emotions and intellect to
define your purpose.
- Follow Lifes commandment; you will always find it in the foundations of your
being.
- Beware lest abstract doctrines replace in your mind Lifes commandment:
- Expand and perpetuate the Family of Life;
- As the highest order of structure in Creation, the values that bind together humans,
exist in living beings.
- Life is the matrix of all love, justice, beauty and wisdom.
7. Confront Every Threat
- Weigh your every deed by its value for human survival.
- Uphold and pursue every enterprise that promotes human survival and progress
- Do not hesitate to destroy every threat.
- Never risk the infinite promise of the future for short-lived powers or pleasures.
- If a threat arises to imperil all life
- From the external forces of Nature, or through human hands; even a remote danger
- Never hesitate to rise up and destroy such a threat:
- As the suffering of a living being is bad; and the death of a human being is evil
- Then surely a threat to all Life is an abomination that cannot be tolerated under the
heavens.
- Therefore if you see a threat to all Life
- Forged in arrogance, in ignorance or in evil;
- Forged by an individual, a group, evil thousands, or mighty nations;
- Oppose them and do not remain silent.
- As silence is an evil that will turn upon you in vengeance.
- Confront the approaching dangers; do not close your eyes, do not ignore the future to
sooth the present;
- Always beware of self-deceit, as it will lead you smiling to death.
8. The Legacy of a Human Being
Expect hope from your own wisdom, as you alone possess the powers to assure Lifes
survival
Fear only your own failure, as only self-extinction can deprive you of your share in the
future.
Always hope for Life and reject despair:
Remember that both hope and despair can turn into self-fulfilling prophecy.
Beware of projections of doom that predict that your Universe will collapse or vanish;
or that claim to know that human existence must come to an end.
The truths of the universe are deep and the ultimate future is remote, and you cannot
know it for certain.
Where there is Life there is hope, and where there is hope there will be Life;
Your descendants will find unforeseen powers to make this cosmos the lasting matrix of
Lifes patterns.
With the love of your warm womb remember Lifes commandment
Since you know as surely as your soul is entwined with the soul of your children: that
if Life should ever end, your life has been wasted.
Therefore if our species will ever vanish, already now we exist in vain.
As the value of each human life is its lasting effects:
You live on in your descendants and in the imprint of your life on the patterns of the
future.
The impact of a human life will multiply as Life grows
The imprints of your deeds on the patterns of the future are your share in the worlds to
come.
9. Life is Good, Death is Evil
- The order of Life is the essence of good; the forces of chaos and extinction are evil.
- The instincts of Life will move you to protect the young.
- Compassion moves us to cure the sick rather than witness his agony;
- To help the poor rather than to ignore his hunger;
- To love rather than to hate;
- To build rather than to ruin;
- To comfort rather than torture;
- To help a life soar rather than stand idly by and see it falter.
- Every battle between good and evil is the struggle of the forces of Life against the
forces of destruction.
- Beware, as both good and evil inhabit human nature.
- Many human ways can be moral if they promote Life.
- Many diverse pleasures, dreams, customs and faiths may be moral, as survival and
progress may be sustained in diverse human frameworks.
- Every human life is spent well if it helps Life to populate the future.
- Therefore this is the moral instruction of Lifes commandment:
- Uphold your duty to the forces which brought you into being; to the patterns of Life
imprinted in your self; to the family of Life whose fate is in your hands.
- Always promote Life, as this is the essence of all good; and oppose death, which is the
essence of evil.
- Establish the dominance of Life over all nature
- Plant the seeds of Life throughout the universe
- Reach out to persist in the Land of Existence forever.
10. Future Humans Must Value
Survival
- Now soon times will come and the secrets of Life will all open before you
- Then the complex mysteries of your existence will open before your eyes;
- In those days your hands will carve out cells and tissues, new flesh and blood and
brain, descendants whose likenesses have not lived before.
- But in those days remember that the breath of life is as dear when you perceive it as
complex molecular processes, as it is dear now in the breath of your infants.
- The glow of life that transpires from intricate molecular patterns is the same glow that
reflects in the hope on your childrens faces.
- When Life will advance by benign design, progress will cost not the pain of Nature's
unsuccessful errors.
- In your wisdom, create new branches of life that will populate the diverse worlds of the
universe:
- Life must not depend upon a single species for survival.
- Do not hesitate therefore to constitute new human traits, organs, tissues, genes and
minds that will flourish in many worlds,
- As the human spirit can be embodied in many diverse living frameworks.
- Only always beware to imprint in your descendants these attributes, as in them lies the
unique human power:
- Aggression to conquer new worlds, rational intellect, and compassion in proper balance -
and forever, the love of Life.
11. Pursue Peace
- The dreaded peril of an empty universe resides in a species who possess both power and
hatred.
- When envy, fear and mistrust rule, to the voice of Life itself you may then turn deaf
ears;
- You hasten to ruin; your ears are rocks to the voice of Life within your heart.
- You say: Only my own peace is just; only my own faith is the truth; only my own wealth
is deserved; only my own dignity must be honored; only my own pride must be revered.
- For my own justice I will die; for my own peace I will fight;
- For my own faith I will kill; for my own wealth I will devastate; for my own dignity I
will humble others; for my own freedom I will oppress.
- But is there justice in death; is there peace in waste;
- Will killing inspire faith; is there gain in destruction; is there pride in terror;
- Where there is death, who is free?
- No; death is evil: its path is the ugly shame of an empty universe.
12. Respect Reality
- Respect reality
- Recognize and eliminate your self-destructive powers.
- Do not deny self-created dangers, as self-deceit can compound the destructive powers of
hatred.
- When the threat of death hangs above your homes, do not take comfort in denial and
silence
- Open your eyes when destruction stands erect on your doorstop; when self-destruction
looms do not choose to dream.
- Where there are weapons that threaten all Life for short-lived ideals, do not look away
and remain silent.
- If your heart is blind in complacent folly, your ears are deaf and your voice is frozen;
if you forfeit the voice of Life within you:
- Then you can destroy eons of hope for short-lived greed and transient ideals;
- Then by your own hands death may come therefore from the skies
- Your sacred homes may then crumble
- Death will glow in the blind cities; rot will flourish in abandoned fields
- Your tender young will lay in waste amidst your ashen hopes
- The clouds will rain pain, the faint spring breeze will bring vanished dreams
- Your wisdom and your dreams, your hatred,
- Your brave hearts, your fearless self-deceit, your great promise, your lies, your blind
loves, your hopes will all vanish.
- Listen therefore the voice of Life within you; when it says cry out, do not remain idle.
- Therefore if a threat arises to imperil all Life, stand up to face and eradicate that
danger; do not remain silent:
- As silence is an evil that will turn upon you and on your children in vengeance.
- Always rise up to confront and utterly destroy every threat to Life.
13. Preserve the Love of Life
- Now the times will soon come and the brain and soul of the next generations will be
shaped by your own designs.
- Beware then lest you design descendants lost in the worship of pleasures; lest the
healthy pleasures that binds you to life turn self-serving.
- Lest your descendants submerge in the beauties of their soul, the lofty cathedrals of
abstract theories and elegant equations, and forget what is real;
- Lest they worship pleasures and forget the future.
- There is also death in the comfort of lethargic fatalism; if you leave your fate to
chance or resign to false notions of a predetermined future;
- Beware lest you choose to believe that your fate is sealed and not subject to your will.
- Beware lest you believe that you lack a higher purpose.
- Do not build docile flesh-machines of happiness who will never feel the agonies of
ambition, yearning and desire.
- When you create intelligent robots to serve you: creatures not of living tissue, beings
who are durable and intelligent but alien;
- Your own creations may turn against you to replace our family of organic Life.
- Make sure that the ultimate control remains in organic brains with self-interest in
biological survival.
- Beware lest your engineer your own end and betray the force of Life who brought you into
being.
- Do not lose challenge when the secrets of nature have been reduced to formulas and all
beauty has been long explored;
- Lest your descendants will be lost in a dead-ended paradise, in a perfect world that is
aimless.
- Beware also of self-proclaimed Messiahs who may risk Life to serve their own ideals;
- Blind prophets who do not see that where there is no life there is no justice, no good,
no evil, no love, no hatred, no righteousness, no sin, no sorrow, no joy; only indifferent
void.
- As if you yield to death, wherefore were your dignity, your hope, your pains, your
promise?
- Therefore beware when the time comes to design the body, brain and mind of your
descendants;
- Make sure that the instincts of survival should never atrophy.
- Always preserve in the foundations of human nature the commandment to safeguard and
propagate Life.
14. Forever Safeguard and
Propagate Life
- In human wisdom resides Lifes future.
- Soon days will come and you will understand that Life is good and death is evil.
- You will know that peace and compassion lead to survival.
- By these three Commandments of Wisdom will you prevail: Love Life; Respect Reality; and
Honor Human Dignity.
- Lifes commandment must be your lasting faith.
- You will wish one wealth: the joy of existence, and one dignity: the pride of survival.
- In those days you will aspire to the warmth of stars and reach them
- Tender infants and Lifes sages will in the light of new suns flourish.
- As life is safe in numbers; as the trees send up their many seeds in the wind and as the
fish send their many seeds in the currents;
- So will your seed multiply amongst the stars to assure survival against extinction.
- The good in humans, and not the evil, will continue in your descendants in many and
diverse worlds.
- In those days the treasures of the universe will satisfy all, and no living creature
will need to destroy another living creature.
- The human harmony of justice, love and peace will rule the firmaments.
- All space and time, energy and matter will be part of Life or serve Lifes
survival.
- New knowledge will breed new powers to perpetuate this physical universe and the
precious Life that it contains.
- Your seed will conquer the land of existence forever.
- Only always remember to instill the love of Life in the conscious will of each rising
generation;
- Preserve in the foundation of your morals, laws and conscience Lifes commandment
- To forever safeguard and perpetuate Life; to establish the dominance of Life over all
nature; to conquer for Life the universe; and to seek for Life eternity.
- Forever perpetuate the commandments of Life that are inscribed in your living being.

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