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Poltergeists of the Woods in Search of Hungry Ghosts Asexual Human EdgeScienceNumber 43 September 2020 Current Research and Insights Poltergeists of the Woods In Search of Hungry Ghosts Asexual Human Reproduction A publication of the EdgeScience #43 September 2020 EdgeScience is a quarterly magazine. CONTENTS Print copies are available from edgescience.magcloud.com. For further information, see edgescience.org Email: edgescience@scientificexploration.org THE OBSERVATORY Why EdgeScience? Because, contrary to public Is the Viral Pandemic an Evolutionary Step Towards perception, scientific knowledge is still full of unknowns. Asexual Human Reproduction? What remains to be discovered — what we don’t 3 know — very likely dwarfs what we do know. And By Dr. Alejandro Peralta Soler what we think we know may not be entirely correct or fully understood. Anomalies, which researchers tend to sweep under the rug, should be actively pursued LETTERS as clues to potential breakthroughs and new directions 5 in science. PUBLISHER: The Society for Scientific Exploration EDITOR: Patrick Huyghe ASSOCIATE EDITOR: P.D. Moncrief Jr. FEATURES CONTRIBUTORS: Chelsea Blakely, Joshua Cutchin, Louis Proud, Alejandro Peralta Soler DESIGN: Smythtype Design Wildnisgeist: Poltergeists of The Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) is a 6 the Woods? professional organization of scientists and scholars By Joshua Cutchin who study unusual and unexplained phenomena. The primary goal of the Society is to provide a professional forum for presentations, criticism, and debate concerning topics which are for various reasons ignored or studied inadequately within mainstream science. A secondary goal is to promote improved understanding of those factors that unnecessarily limit the scope of scientific inquiry, such as sociological constraints, restrictive world views, hidden theoretical BACKSCATTER assumptions, and the temptation to convert In Search of prevailing theory into prevailing dogma. Topics under Hungry Ghosts: investigation cover a wide spectrum. At one end are 14 apparent anomalies in well established disciplines. The Mysterious Death At the other, we find paradoxical phenomena that of Joe Fisher belong to no established discipline and therefore may By Louis Proud offer the greatest potential for scientific advance and the expansion of human knowledge. The SSE was founded in 1982 and has approximately 800 members in 45 countries worldwide. The Society also publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Scientific Exploration, and holds annual meetings in the U.S. and biennial meetings in Europe. Associate and student memberships are available to the public.To join the Society, or for more information, visit the website at scientificexploration.org. PRESIDENT: William Bengston, St. Joseph’s College VICE PRESIDENT: Garret Moddel, University of Colorado, Boulder SECRETARY: Mark Urban-Lurain, Michigan State University TREASURER: York Dobyns EDUCATION OFFICER: Chantal Toporow EUROPEAN COORDINATOR: Anders Rydberg Copyright © 2020 Society for Scientific Exploration Cover: © Future Primitive by Chelsea Blakely The authors, artists, and photographers retain copyright to their work. ISSN 2330-4545 (Print) (indeterminateimmediateart.com) ISSN 2330-4553 (Online) EDGESCIENCEEDGESCIENCE #43#31 • SEPTEMBER 20202017 / 3 THE OBSERVATORY Alejandro Peralta Soler, MD, PhD Is the Viral Pandemic an Evolutionary Step Towards Asexual Human Reproduction? could remain as an option, as in other species, depending on resources and environmental pressures. This has been previ- ously proposed by astrophysicist John Gribbin and biologist Jeremy Cherfas in The Mating Game (1984) and in an earlier edition of their book entitled The Redundant Male. It is our contention, they wrote, “that the human male may have out- lived his usefulness and could, in evolutionary terms, be redun- dant.” The question is why are males still around and playing a decisive role in reproduction of so many species, including humans? The answer may not be obvious for the individuals participating in the process. However, humans can generate rapid and profound modifications in environmental and phe- notypical features, as well as in social behaviors, which could eventually speed the natural evolutionary time frame. The direction towards asexual reproduction, as in many evolutionary changes, can occur in multiple steps. As in any ould humans be evolving towards asexual reproduction? biological process, the steps are not uniform or unidirec- CThe hypothesis proposed here is that this is an evolution- tional. The significant overall decline in human fertility (The ary process of the species, and that the events leading to human ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, 2001) is a tendency that sug- asexual reproduction are being interpreted as technological and gests a possible irreversible evolutionary mechanism rather than social advances, or disease events. a circumstantial phenomenon. In this paper three processes Biologists generally consider sexual reproduction as an are proposed as significant steps towards asexual reproduction: advantageous form of reproduction compared to asexual repro- technological developments, sociopolitical movements, and a duction with the argument that the mixing of genes from sepa- viral pandemic. rate individuals will provide better opportunities for adaptation, survival tools for the progeny, and the opening of new evolu- tionary possibilities. However, asexual reproduction requires Technological developments less energy, is fast, can occur in different environments, and At the same time as a global decline in fertility rates, humans requires only a single individual. Overall, asexually reproduc- are developing at a very fast pace new forms of interaction and ing organisms have reached much longer survival and greater contact through non-corporeal media, which have changed adaptability than sexually reproducing organisms. Genetic dramatically our sexual and reproductive behaviors (da recombination in viruses, bacteria, and other organisms can Fonseca, 1992; Cookingham and Ryan 2015). Virtual com- produce astonishing spreading “success,” although obviously munication may be playing a fundamental role towards asexual there are “failures” as well, and extinctions of entire species can reproduction. Eventually, virtual sex may become more preva- occur in the process of genetic modifications. lent than organic sex (Ciocca et al., 2020). Although sexuality The development of sexual and asexual reproduction sys- in humans has many more functions than reproduction, the tems is the result of selective forces over time, space, environ- rapidly evolving technology will soon have a significant impact mental conditions, and population limitations (Otto, 2008). on decreasing human sexual reproduction. Although sexual reproduction is widespread in eukaryotic In addition, new biotechnologies will eventually facili- organisms, the option of asexual reproduction by parthenogen- tate the actual process of female only reproduction. Although esis is present in many animal species, including bees, sharks, the first claim of human cloning in the laboratory (Hwang and Komodo dragons, and a few eukaryotic species have com- et al., 2004) turned out to be false, the authors were the pletely lost the ability to reproduce sexually, such as Bdelloidea first to unexpectedly generate human embryonic cells by rotifers and whiptail lizards. However, asexual reproduction experimental human parthenogenesis (Williams et al., 2007; has not been described in primates. de Carli and Pereira, 2017). This feasible technology was The proposal of this paper is that humans are currently later corroborated (Revazova et al., 2008). Interestingly, evolving towards asexual reproduction, and sexual reproduc- in an animal model, experimental parthenogenesis resulted tion could become extinct. Alternatively, sexual reproduction in increased longevity (Kawahara et al., 2009). In humans, 4 / EDGESCIENCE #43 • SEPTEMBER 2020 increased longevity appears to have predated the process of steps, including humans, cannot possibly predict the future of asexual reproduction. Thus, the possibility of reproduction by the species or the physical and social environments in which human females alone, without male intervention, may eventu- the changes would take effect. ally become a reality. Asexual reproduction forms include fission, which is exclu- The impediments for a full switch in that direction is gen- sive of unicellular organisms; fragmentation, which is common erally considered a reflection of our unique capacity for creat- in starfish, fungi and worms; and budding, typical of yeasts ing rules and moral imperatives over our animal base (Weasel and vegetative reproduction of plants. Given the structure of and Jensen 2005). This argument guides the idea that humans humans, asexual reproduction would be more closely related can reach behavioral levels that are somewhat beyond nature. to parthenogenesis or cloning. These processes could become The general perception is that humans are the commanding either facultative, as in mayflies, Komodo dragons, snakes, and force driving the development of technologies and behavior. sharks, or obligate, as in some lizards (Otto, 2008). Although However, human behavior, including technological and social technologies developed by humans would be required to gen- developments, can interact with biological processes and be erate parthenogenetic or cloned humans, the ultimate result of mutually modeled (de Winter, 1984; Whiten et al., 2017). becoming an asexually reproducing species may not be under the control
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