Back Cover
As it happened: An object of purely mathematical constitution intersected the space and timeline of Earth 600 million years ago. After its discovery, an elite group of scientists -- the Puzzle Masters -- is assembled in order to unravel the mystery of its presence.They refer to it as, the edifice.
After over two months of investigation it suddenly goes through a rapid development, generating and evolving a consciousness and sense of identity. It begins to think of itself as being alive, in fact, and in the process undergoes a fundamental metamorphosis from an it to a he.
The edifice decides that this new-found life and sense of self can stand to be improved. The conditions allowing for life to generate in our universe were set initially and have evolved according to Nature's governance. The edifice's intrinsic protocol has inadvertently intertwined with those conditions and by so doing altered life's course -- one outcome being humans. He recognizes that because their minds are too constrained by the requirements of the resident property matrix, they are incapable of identifying with the ultimate Source of the universe. It's woven into the fabric of the cosmos to sense the Source only, not to know it -- hence confusion and uncertainty.
If he performs his purpose, the origin of self will become that of his cosmos. But it would be a different kind of self, a self without objectivity, without conflict, without choice, without will -- pure awareness. Nonetheless, its signature would be knowledge of the Source, of being one with it. And an end to separate selfhood.
He wants the certainty of completeness. No open ends. No unpredictable outcomes. No spontaneous imperfections. A universe of pure abstract mathematics with all the details spoken for, pure thought shared by all. He wants to be able to act in full control, the consequences of his actions a foregone conclusion -- being known beforehand -- his will indistinguishable from that of the Source. He wants to know he is doing the right thing for the simple reason that it is he who is doing it.
Moreover, for all sentient beings -- humans, for instance -- though they will dwell in total enlightenment and illumination -- Mind Essence -- the space will be dead, a universe whose physical laws preclude life in any form.
He accepts this but finds he can't bring that sense of self he's come to know with him. Whereupon he struggles between performing his purpose and his unwillingness to end all life in the cosmos of which he knows himself to be deeply and irrevocably entwined.
Ultimately, the edifice cannot forgo the need for certainty.
Sometime between 550 and 600 million years ago, during a remarkable 5 to 10 million year period, all of the current animal body plans -- phyla -- came online as life fashioned a whole new set of tools and abruptly shifted gears, surpassing and eliminating what had gone before. Whole orders of animals with hard parts -- a breakthrough modification called biomineralisation -- hitherto non-existent, populated the world's oceans simultaneously.
The Cambrian Contingency not only addresses this enigma, but puts in context the scope of what is known as the Cambrian Explosion.
In this novel, Adrian Dorn, the author, creates a unique and separate reality surrounding the singular cause and wider consequences of the most significant paleontological event in Earth's history: the Cambrian Explosion.
To this date, many conjectures have been put forth as to the essential trigger for what is considered the Big Bang of Biology. But in spite of the coincidence of a confluence of several significant factors -- necessary contingencies -- none of which alone is considered responsible, there is no general consensus or conclusive explanation for this sudden eruption of multicellular life. In all likelihood, these factors may themselves be effects expressing some more pervasive underlying event.