Global Bioethical Prevention of the Collision of Biological and Cultural Evolution on Miserable Human Survival

Abstract

With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world "is" (facts), while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world "ought to be" (values), those in position of global-, national-, and local-political power make major decisions of the use (or non-use) of scientific knowledge and technology. As a result, the human being has created a non-scientifically based cultural environment that is affecting his ability to survive. In effect, cultural evolution is occurring more rapidly than biological evolution that can adapt to the changes brought about in the physical and psycho-social environments. In a pluralistic cultural world, where each society has generated a different view of human nature and different ethical values, the use, misuse, or non-use of scientific and technological advances are derived from these unscientific views of human nature. Since all life depends on limiting interacting environmental and ecological factors, it is imperative that scientific information be used to govern how to minimize irreversible effects on life-sustaining ecological factors, but also scientific information bearing on understanding human nature ought to be integrated into a "global bioethics". While ethical values cannot be directly derived from scientific factors, it is also true that human values or our "ought" cannot be maintained in ignorance or defiance of the facts or the "is".

A Conceptual Integration of Extra-, Intra- and Gap Junctional- Intercellular Communication in the Evolution of Multi-cellularity and Stem Cells: How Disrupted Cell-Cell Communication during Development can Affect Diseases later in Life

“…While this concept of the fundamental roles that gap junctional intercellular communication plays in the normal physiological functions of all organs of the metazoans, including the human being, this concept is still not generally recognized as key factor in the fields of toxicology, cancer, neurosciences, nor in the emerging field of stem cell regenerative therapy, as it should. However, it is a fact that these gap junctions exist in all organs and the gap junctional intercellular communication process, which, homeostatically, regulates cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis can be modulated by all kinds of physical, chemical and biological agents, as well as by behaviors, such as smoking; excessive calories and cultural conditions (changing diets; lack of exercise) [38,39]. With the explosion of experiments linking alterations of the gut microbiome to various chronic diseases of the human [40,41], and with the known association of gut bacteria, Heliobacter pylori, and stem cells in the stomach [42,43], as well as various secreted inflammatory factors from various populations of the microbiome that could modulate gap junctions in the gut cells [44], one could reasonable speculated that these factors could stimulate normal or "initiated" adult gut stem cells to bring about chronic inflammatory bowel diseases or intestinal cancers.…”