Documenting a Paradigm Shift

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

1/10

1

THINGS ASTHEY ARE,WERE

ARE TO COME

Documenting

a Paradigm ShifANTHONY E. LARSON

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

2/10

THINGS AS THEY ARE,WERE AND ARE TO COME

Documentinga Paradigm Shif

Copyright 1999 Anthony E. Larson

In 1997 fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy plowed into the planet Jupiter,

leaving huge craters. In one fell swoop the sciences were began looking at

change in our natural world diferently. Without mentioning the name o

catastrophist, Immanuel Velikovsky, scientists began embracing the pos-

sibility that change in the natural world can be dramatic and instantaneous.

his past summer saw the release o two dramatic motion pic-tures Deep Impact and Armageddon both dealing withctional events surrounding the impact o an asteroid or comet hereon our home planet, Earth. Additionally, the Learning and Discoverychannels have recently presented numerous documentaries touchingupon the same subject.

While all this is very entertaining and inormative, the questionarises: Why are we seeing this now? Such scenarios were unthinkable

just a ew short years ago. Reputable scientists o good standing in

the scholarly community once ridiculed such ideas as anciul and

impossible the wildest type o unsubstantiated speculation.

You may recall that the debate surrounding Dr. Velikovskys publi-

cation o Worlds in Collision was acrimonious. Te mere suggestion

that the Earth might be menaced by bodies rom space caused a re-storm o derision and such antagonism that almost a hal-century later

the name Velikovsky is still a hiss and a byword in scholarly circles.

Interestingly, various individuals who have published and promoted

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

3/10

3

ideas that were rst oered by the good doctor have built a number

o academic and scientic careers in recent years. Yet, credit is never

given to Velikovsky or his preeminence in this area. Instead, his name

is judiciously avoided

seemingly at all odds

except to cast urtheraspersions on his name and his work.

oday we see well-respected scientists and scholars talking and

writing about the reality o past and uture impacts; Hollywood pro-

ducers have certainly ound valid story line material in the premise;

even NASA has sought unding to track killer asteroids and comets,

potential Earth impactors. What could have happened to instigate

all this recent discussion o past and uture impacts when only a ewshort years ago the mere mention o impacts in these circles would

have brought orth deamation, ridicule and derision? Why is this

suddenly being taken seriously? Something must have occurred to

radically alter their point o view.

A celestial visual aid

Te reason or this change o heart in the academic and scientic

communities, as well as the newound media interest in astronomi-

cal collisions, can be ound in recent history. In July 1994, ragments

o comet Shoemaker-Levy, as predicted, repeatedly slammed into

the planet Jupiter. At least one o those impact sites le a pockmark

on Jupiters ace that was larger than the Earth. Estimates were that

the rst ragment alone struck with the orce o 200,000 megatons!

Nineteen more ollowed, leaving visible impact scars around Jupiters

southern hemisphere. Tis was an unprecedented, historic, celestialevent. Nothing like it has occurred in our solar system since Galileo

Galilei invented the telescope.

What crucial lesson did that impact teach scientists? Cosmic col-

lisions do occur, and in the time rame o a human lie. Moreover, i

it can happen to Jupiter, it can happen to the Earth. Still more to the

point, it most certainly will have happened in the past.

A major shift

Almost overnight the scientic community did a conceptual about-

ace that was as dramatic as it was sweeping. Tey had been treated

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

4/10

4

to a celestial visual aid o cosmic proportions; the impossible had

occurred beore their very eyes. Tere was no denying the possibility

o catastrophic impacts any longer.

Seemingly overnight, scientic sleuths discovered impact craterseverywherenot just on other planets and moons, but right here on

Earth. Astronomers suddenly noticed that the space around Earth,

indeed in the entire solar system, was littered with asteroids and

cometspotentially devastating impacts in the making. Space scien-

tists began talking about ways to use existing technology and space

hardware to locate and divert any object on a collision course with

Earth, thus avoiding the worldwide devastation o an impact. So it isthat the Shoemaker-Levy event marked the beginning o a revolution

in scientic thinking.

Te gush o recent movies and documentaries is simply the medias

response to this dynamic new trend in scientic and academic circles.

While all this media attention has the eect o raising the general

publics awareness, the realization is coming very slowly. Even with

all this new evidence and conjecture, most people seem nearly oblivi-ous to this conceptual revolution. Te man on the street continues to

generally disregard any possibility that space debris might bombard

the Earth. For most people it is still little more than the premise or

an entertaining action fick.

The fallout from a cosmic collision

Beore the impact o Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter, the only physi-

cal evidence o ancient impacts had been oered by geologist WalterAlvarez and his ather, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez,

as well as a team o distinguished scientists. Tey were the rst to cite

geologic evidence o an impact that probably destroyed the dinosaurs.

(See Te Prophecy rilogy, Vol. II, pp. 70, 71, or a discussion o the

Alvarez discovery.) Tis was the beginning o a revolution in Geology

and Paleontology. Almost overnight, long-held scientic views began

to change. Te process eventually accelerated to the point that sciencetextbooks were obsolete beore they came o the presses.

But, it took the impact o comet ragments with Jupiter to re-

ally blow the lid o the sciences. Te very oundation o scientic

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

5/10

5

thought the concept o slow, gradual changebegan to crumble.

Where or almost two centuries scientists and scholars had seen only

slow, uniorm processes o change, now they saw catastrophesudden,

tumultuous events

as the primary mechanism or change.Oddly, these scholars and scientists try hard to leave the impres-

sion with the public that these revolutionary ideas are nothing new

or them. Tey present their new arguments or catastrophic change

with as much o a straight ace and calm demeanor as they can muster,

even though the subject matter is truly revolutionary and sensational

compared to the orthodoxy o yesteryear. Tey seek to make it appear

that this novel thinking represents no real shi o opinion at all, thatthey have always believed and taught catastrophism. Even though

they are still loath to use the word catastrophe, this is at the heart

o the revolution.

Rewriting history

Paleontologists have long recognized that there are clear divisions

in the geologic record. Like pages in a book, the deposits o each age

lay one atop another, the present epoch at the surace. Even to an un-

trained eye, when exposed to view they look like the layers o a cake.

Each layer contains the ossils o the plants and animals that lived

thena record o stones and bones, i you will. Te lines between

those ages, between the pages o Earths book, are also clearly visible.

Tose divisions or boundaries, mapped out long ago, are clear lines

o demarcation between distinct ages.

Te layers were all given names now amiliar to all rst-year Geol-ogy students (Jurassic, riassic, Permian, Devonian, etc.). Te primary

layers immediately above and below them dene the boundaries. Te

well-known K- (Cretaceous-ertiary) boundary, made amous by

the Alvarez team and which divides the age o dinosaurs rom the

age o mammals, is only one such boundary.

Until the revolution began, the transition rom one age to an-

other

represented by these boundary layers

was thought to havebeen a slow, gradual process with one orm o lie gradually replacing

another as global conditions slowly changed to avor certain orms o

lie over other, less adaptive species. Ten the Alvarez team proposed

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

6/10

6

that the iridium in the K- boundary was persuasive evidence o a

cataclysmic impact. Tey maintained that the dinosaurs did not slowly

die out, as was previously thought; they were destroyed in a sudden,

lethal event and its devastating aermath.While the Alvarez theory sparked heated debate and captured the

public ancy (as with all things having to do with dinosaurs), most

paleontologists were still unconvinced. Ten the Shoemaker-Levy

comet hit Jupiter, presenting or all to see exactly how an impact oc-

curs and what are its eects. Tere was no mistaking its catastrophic

signature. Almost immediately, most opposition was swept away.

Tis event orced scholars to re-examine the Alvarez impact theory.Could this be the mechanism that changed the ace o the Earth so

many times in the past?

It was not long beore paleontologists recognized that each o the

boundaries in the geologic record represented a mass extinction

caused by a cataclysmic event. Tey now recognize 24 noteworthy

extinction events, 5 major and 19 minor. Tat represents one o the

quickest opinion reversals in the history o science

even aster thanthose wrought by the work o Copernicus, Kepler or Newton!

Craters, schmaters!

Another rapid shi o opinion involves the craters le by impacts.

Until the comet ragments hammered Jupiter, astronomers insisted

that nearly all the cratering seen on other planets and moons in our

solar system (they had spectacular photos o those planets and moons

sent back to them by various space probes) were the result o volcanicactivity or volcanism. Tey insisted that all the cratering rom impacts

was done early on, during the ormation o the solar system and that

very little had occurred since. Aer Shoemaker-Levy, they were no

longer so cock sure! Once they looked with new eyes, they began see-

ing impact craters everywhere (as i they had suddenly appeared out

o nowhere!). Volcanism, as the mechanism or cratering, died a quick

death now that the idea o impacts carried the day. Tey even went soar as to point out that the Earth would look just like the pockmarked

moon i it were not or erosion, which tended to erase the evidence

o earthly impacts. It was not long beore the impact site or the me-

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

7/10

7

teorite that killed the dinosaurs was ound on the northern tip o the

Yucatan Peninsula. Tey gave the buried crater the exotic-sounding

Mayan name or that region: Chicxulub (pronounced chic-shoe-lube).

Peaceful planet or cosmic shooting gallery?

Almost overnight, scientists began speaking o the threat posed by

Earth-crossing asteroids and comets. NASA proposed a program and

sought unding to nd and track any object that might collide with

the Earth. Most revealing were some recently declassied, top-secret

data dating back to the days o the Cold War that was made public to

bolster NASAs claim o the danger posed to the Earth by near-earth

objects, or NEOs.

As it turns out, the United States maintains a number o satellites

in orbit as well as super-sensitive listening devices strategically placed

around the surace, designed to detect the explosion o nuclear de-

vices. Tese necessary measures were employed to veriy compliance

with nuclear treaties. Remarkably, those sophisticated surveillance

devices detected several detonations each year in Earths upper at-

mosphere

some o them as large as 1 kiloton. Reports in the mediao mysterious explosions in remote parts o the world went unex-

plained because the inormation was classied. Intelligence concerns

prevented it rom reaching the scientic community and the public.

However, the intelligence community readily identied the mystery

detonations as asteroids that entered Earths atmosphere and exploded.

With the collapse o the Soviet Union and the end o the Cold War,

the military began to declassiy this inormation. Te astronomers,geologists and planetary scientists were shocked by the gures. Still

more stunning was the requency with which the Earth is bombarded

by space debris and by the size o those objects. Los Alamos scientists

now estimate 10 or 11 objects explode in the atmosphere each year with

the orce o a one-kiloton nuclear warhead. One or more explode yearly

with the orce o a 15-kiloton explosionabout the same size as the

nuclear detonation that vaporized Hiroshima! Te largest meteoritestruck south o Arica on August 3, 1963, producing a blast equal to a

one-megaton nuclear explosion or one million tons o high explosive!

It has become apparent that the Earth is constantly bombarded by a

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

8/10

8

variety o rocks, ranging in size rom a grain o sand to boulders

twenty eet wide. Some are even larger.

A mystery, a solution

One o the most mysterious explosions in history occurred in 1908

over Siberia. Called the unguska Event afer the area primarily a-ected, it has been the subject o intense speculation and conjecture

right down to the present. An enormous reball rent the early morning

sky, as witnessed by hundreds o Siberians, producing a column o

fame and clouds o thick, black smoke. A shock wave o epic propor-

tions was elt in England some 5 hours later as it spread out across

the globe. Te immediate impact o that shock wave alone fattened

more than 1,000 square kilometers o Siberian orests!

Te mystery intensied when no evidence o an impact could be

oundno crater, no meteorite. What could have caused a nuclear-

class explosion long beore there were nuclear devices? Numerous

theories were advanced to explain the lack o a crater: Some thought

it was a small comet made o ice that vaporized beore impacting;

one theory, advanced with a straight ace, declared that a tiny blackhole had passed through the Earth at that spot; many believed that

an alien spacecraf a UFO with an unstable power sourcehad

exploded beore it could land to eect repairs. Yet, now that we better

understand the nature o these cosmic intruders, the unguska blast

can be seen or what it truly was: a stony meteor, roughly 60 meters

in diameter, which entered Earths atmosphere at an oblique angle

and disintegrated in an explosion that virtually vaporized it at about10 kilometers altitude, instantly converting nearly its entire mass

into energyabout the same amount o energy as the Mr. St. Helens

eruption in 1980. Had the meteorite allen to Earth over a populated

city, the devastation would have been nearly total.

Life from space

Tere is still one more noteworthy discovery in all this. Biologists

now speculate that lie may have been transported around the galaxy

by catastrophic means. It is known that certain types o anaerobic

bacteria can exist in extreme conditionsburied deep within the Earth

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

9/10

9

where there are almost no nutrients or air, in the sub-zero cold and

ice o Arctic glaciers, in the searing heat o Yellowstones geysers and

hot pots, in deep ocean volcanic vents where no light ever penetrates.

Speculation has it that these abilities would also allow this bacterium tosurvive the heat and pressure o an impact in the ejecta that is thrown

ree o the planet. Tus, an impact upon a lie-bearing planet could

throw small amounts o debris containing these sturdy bacteria into

space. Tese bacteria would also be able, they conjecture, to survive

the intense cold o space or a prolonged time period as well as the

tremendous reentry pressure when their host rock crashed onto a

new planet, perhaps millions o miles and centuries later, where thesesturdy bacteria could begin the process o lie anew.

By these catastrophic means, they speculate, lie spreads to every

hospitable niche and corner o the universe. It is or this reason that

the so-called Mars rock, which shows microscopic structures that

resemble ossilized bacteria, made such a sensation. I the early con-

clusions are correct, then this bit o ejecta rom the planet Mars may

be the best evidence or this dispersion theory, demonstrating how

lie is scattered throughout the universe. Once again, catastrophism

carries the day. Te pattern here is unmistakable. Science is turning

more and more toward ideas they once thought to be laughable.

Just the beginning

One more element o this ideological revolution should be explored.

Until now, it has primarily aected the sciences o Astronomy, Geol-

ogy and Paleontology. Te disciplines o Archaeology, Anthropologyand Archaeoastronomy the study o mankinds historyhave yet toeel the pressure o this revolution; but it will surely come, bringing

sweeping change with it. It will orce scholars to reconsider everything

we believe about our world and our ancestors. It will become apparent

that we live on a world that is swept with cosmic disaster on a periodic

basis, leaving civilizations decimated and in ruin. Modern man will

discover that he has ailed to recognize the primary truth that theancients endeavored to pass along. It will be seen clearly that man has

survived numerous cataclysmic events, but only barely. Perhaps then

Velikovsky will be acknowledged or his seminal work. More sobering

8/4/2019 Documenting a Paradigm Shift

10/10

10

still is the thought that we may succumb to our own cosmic disaster

beore we realize the truth about our past. Perhaps this is one lesson

we will only learn by tragic experience.

So, this is, in every sense o the word, a revolution o ideas, a para-digm shi. It is most gratiying that each new step along this path o

discovery brings the world closer to the catastrophist view. It would

be encouraging i all Latter-day Saints could ully appreciate what this

means to their understanding o the scriptures and prophecy. Joseph

Smith would certainly be pleased at this turn o events.

For more essays rom this series:http://mormonprophecy.blogspot.com/

For online classes, videos, newsletters and published books exploringthis material in depth:http://www.mormonprophecy.com/

Your questions or comments are welcome:

anthonyelarson@gmail.com