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15.1
Self-aware life
 
  When we think of self aware life, we naturally think first of humans. It has been a common sense assumption for centuries that the only animal of the God(s) capable of self awareness is the human being.  
  Our Western religious foundations are based on the GREAT CHAIN OF BEING cycle that has historically placed humans above all other living animals on the planet Earth, except God(s).  
  Even the work of Charles Darwin and other great anthropologists and biologists have reinforced the understanding that the human being is the most genetically advanced, sophisticated and intelligent lifeform on the planet Earth.  
15.1.1 The swing back to the notion of "collective" life  
  In parallel to our higher understanding of the meaning of the word LIFE (Chapter 12), we see a greater understanding of the commonality between all living things thanks to the pioneering work of geneticists decoding the proteins within DNA.  
  We are now told accurately, that humans and chimpanzees share 99% the same genetic coding for proteins. Thanks to DNA research, humans have now come to understand that human beings are no longer so "unique" in the living world.  
  At the same time, animal behavioral continuing the pioneering work of Darwin, Pavlov and others have been able to categorically establish that other living species on planet Earth also exhibit signs of community, intelligence, communication, and other social skills. The dolphin, the whale, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, the dog, the wolf are some prime examples.  
  This has also been reflected in the re-evaluation of the history of humanity in respects to these other lifeforms. We have countless stories of intelligent relationships and communication between "man" and "beast". The Bible is full of stories of special humans capable of communicating with other animals- such as the story of Daniel in the lions Den. More recently, we have famous TV series involving intelligent animals, including Rin Tin Tin, Lasse, Flipper to name a few.  
  Any person who has lived with a dog or cat knows that when they are asleep they dream. Even more recently, psychologists have established conclusively that many animals in fact do dream, just like we (humans) do. Further work by language experts have also proven that chimpanzees and other primates do think in similar patterns to the human, thanks to leading work in the use of technology to create symbolic translators between teacher scientist and primate study.  
  Actual demonstrations captured on film and shown in documentaries on Discovery Channel show that primates familiar with these electronic translators actually converse, clear self-aware and willful thoughts of desire, emotion and idea. As a result, many of these test animal subjects have been estimated to be similar in psychological development to a six to eight year old human being. Pigs have been tested on modified technology by similar methods to have an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) potentially as high as a five to six year old human.  
  All this reflects to support a change in attitude as to exactly what lifeforms on planet earth represent higher cognitive "self aware" lifeforms versus lower- simpler forms of life.  
15.1.2 What do we mean now by "self aware" life?  
 

While our awareness of other species on the planet that can share similar characteristics, there is the question to be answered on exactly what do we mean by "self-aware"? For example, we have brains, animals have brains- does that make them self aware? Or even- humans dream, animals dream, but do animals have souls?

  
  Just exactly where the posts now stand is difficult to tell on first glance. For we may have accumulated greater knowledge on the similarities between humans and animals, yet the answers to such questions as an animal "soul" is still largely unanswered.  
  Yet this is not the only unanswered question relating to self aware life. There is also the question of life in other solar systems within the Galaxy and by extension to other galaxies within the universe.  
  In the past 100 years, contemporary Western Culture has created stories and films indicating the existence of other life in the Universe and that they have visited Earth. These ideas are not new. Many ancient cultures on Earth have believed that the planet has been visited and in some cases previously populated by lifeforms from another solar system- "Living Gods" of flesh and blood.  
  " Not only is the question of other life in the universe, not 100% proven in the eyes of many scientists and philosophers, but the question of "are we the highest intelligence of life in the universe?" is also questioned.  
  Our oldest cultures said the answer to the second question is "NO". That is why the Great Chain of Being is one of the oldest hierarchies of knowledge known to humanity.  
  But beyond the categorization of GOD, HUMAN, ANIMAL, there is no attempt to define a boundary between what as been known as "God" and what is understood as "Man". There is no credible categorization system, however "hypothetical until proven", that adequately describes a hierarchy of intelligence to the ultimate potential- or "Godhood".  
  By this we mean the translation of understandings as written by great authors such as ISAAC ASIMOV, DAVID ZILDEN, ARTHUR C. CLARKE who expressed visions of clear categories of intelligent, physical lifeforms of greater intelligence and awareness than human. That in some stories, giant computer networks were sentinel beings, as were fantastic creatures, half biological, half computer.  
  Yet beyond these examples, there is no credible system of categorization  
15.1.3 The classification of SELF AWARE LIFE  
  In the context of the promise that ALL can be seen through the model UCA, we define human life and other physical lifeforms on planet Earth within a framework consistent with the previous chapters on LIFE.  
  This chapter introduces the sixth and final level of all matter- SELF AWARE LIFE.  
  Level 1 Complex Carbon-Molecular (Polymers)  
  Level 2 Simple mono-cellular Hydro-Carbon Biologics  
  Level 3 Simple a-sexual Multi-cellular Hydro-Carbon Biologics  
  Level 4 Simple sexual Multi-cellular Hydro-Carbon Biologics  
  Level 5 Complex multi-cellular life  
  Level 6 Self Aware Life  
  In other words, from Chapter 5 of UCA to this Chapter, we may define and describe all objects, features and relationships within the physical UNITAS according to 6 categories of matter, or 6 categories of awareness, or six categories of life.  
  We define self aware life as those lifeforms that have the capacity to dream, to project their own reality onto the world and self reflect, to display emotions. Principally on Earth, this represents the placentals, the most advanced of all lifeforms (usually called mammals).  
15.1.4 Going beyond Earth  
  Not only will this chapter define self aware life in the context of the planet Earth, but will do so in the context of UNITAS, the universal model of UCA. That higher aware lifeforms exist within UNITAS that have greater abilities in certain areas than humans at present.  
  We do this in the context of civilizations. A 6 level hierarchy that defines all self aware life according to their model and sophistication of community life.  
15.1.5 Differences in contemporary thinking  
  Once again, this chapter like many others in UCA will differ in description to those of contemporary scientific thought. Science for example has not yet provided an adequate description of all levels of self aware life from the lowest to the highest potential.  
  No doubt, these concepts like many others may cause conflict of ideas between people who believe the concepts, and those who refute them. However, as a model, UCA will be seen to be completely consistent with the original understanding that UCA is the dreamer, UNITAS- the physical universe of fundamental units is a dream in motion- and we live within the dream.  
     
 
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