The Moon Barrier

The Frontier Of Life In Space

Was Aristotle right about life?

In the vast expanse of space, beyond the Earth's atmosphere and the orbit of the Moon, lies an enigmatic barrier. A barrier that has been a subject of philosophical debate for thousands of years. Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that life beyond the Moon was impossible, as he saw it as a boundary between the realm of life and the realm of permanence.

Today, humans dream of flying off into space to explore the universe. Popular culture, from Star Trek to modern space exploration initiatives, has ingrained the idea that we can travel freely through the cosmos, as if we are fundamentally independent of our solar system. But what if Aristotle was right?

If life is bound to a region around the 🌞 Sun, the implications would be staggering. Humanity might be unable to travel to distant stars or galaxies. Instead of attempting to escape Earth, we might need to focus our efforts on protecting our planet and the Sun itself as the very source of life. This realization could fundamentally reshape our understanding of our place in the universe and our responsibilities as inhabitants of Earth.

Can humans travel beyond the Moon and reach the stars? Is it possible for Earth's organic life to exist on Mars?

Let's explore this question using philosophy.

About The Author

The author, founder of 🦋 GMODebate.org and 🔭 CosmicPhilosophy.org, began his philosophical investigation around 2006 through the Dutch critical blog Zielenknijper.com that he founded in cooperation with a Dutch philosophy professor. His initial focus was an investigation into what he categorized as the free will abolishment movement. This early work laid the foundation for a broader investigation of eugenics and scientism.

In 2021, the author developed a new theory about the source of life. This theory proposes that the source of life cannot be contained within either ¹) the bodily individual or ²) externality and must reside in a context Other than what existed (beginning-less ∞ infinity). This insight emerged from an interaction with renowned philosophy professor Daniel C. Dennett in an online forum discussion titled Consciousness without a brain.

Dennett: That is not in any way a theory about consciousness. ... It's as if you are trying to tell me that the introduction of a new sprocket in a car line's engine is important to city planning and traffic control.

Author: It can be stated that what has preceded the senses has preceded the human. Therefore one is required to look outside the scope of the bodily individual for the origin of consciousness.

This philosophical breakthrough led the author to a simple question:

How far away from Earth has life traveled in space?

To the author's astonishment, he discovered that no form of Earth life, including animals, plants, or microbes, has ever been scientifically tested or sent beyond the Moon. This revelation was shocking, given the major investments into space travel and plans to send humans to Mars. How could science have neglected to test whether life can survive farther from the 🌞 Sun?

Mystery

Why didn't science test whether life can travel beyond the Moon?

The mystery deepened when the author discovered that Greek philosopher Aristotle had predicted that life is restricted to a sublunary sphere below the Moon. His theory suggests the possibility that life may not be able to exist in the superlunary sphere beyond the Moon.

Could Aristotle have been onto something? The fact that this question cannot be dismissed even in 2025 is remarkable.

A Key Part of The History of Science

The theory of Aristotle has played a pivotal role in the history of science. The scientific revolution, in many ways, was a revolt against the idea that life cannot exist beyond the Moon. This concept lay at the foundation of the transition from Aristotelian physics to modern scientific theories.

Francis Bacon, a key figure in the scientific revolution, rejected the Aristotelian distinction between the sublunary and superlunary spheres. Philosopher Giordano Bruno also sought to discredit the division between sublunary and superlunary regions. The distinction between these spheres was further challenged by the development of new scientific theories and discoveries, such as the work of Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills.

The persistence of Aristotle's theory throughout scientific history underscores its significance. It raises the question: why hasn't modern science tested whether life can travel beyond the Moon, especially now that we have the technological capability to do so?

Exile For Questioning Beliefs

Throughout history, philosophers and scientists such as Socrates, Anaxagoras, Aristotle, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Baruch Spinoza, and Albert Einstein have faced exile for their unwavering loyalty to truth and their pursuit of knowledge that challenged prevailing beliefs and norms, with some, like Anaxagoras, being exiled for asserting that the Moon was a rock, and others, like Socrates, being sentenced to death for questioning the established religious and social order.

Philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for his philosophical ideas.

Giordano Bruno was a Renaissance philosopher who questioned the dominant Aristotelian view and proposed an elemental theory that contradicted the Sublunary theory of Aristotle. The Roman Inquisition burned him at the stake for his unorthodox beliefs.

18th century woodcut depicting Bruno's dreams beyond the classical universe.

The author of 🦋 GMODebate.org has experienced modern forms of exile for questioning sensitive topics. He has been banned often, for example for discussing plant sentience or for criticizing the Big Bang theory. These banishments have even extended to his business and private life, including a mysterious WordPress plugin ban and the 🟢 Moss Ball ban story.

Banned

For Questioning the Big Bang Theory

Banned for Questioning the Big Bang Theory

In June 2021, the author was banned on Space.com for questioning the Big Bang theory. The post discussed recently discovered papers by Albert Einstein that challenged the theory.

Mysteriously lost papers by Albert Einstein that he submitted to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin were found in Jerusalem in 2013...

(2023) Getting Einstein to Say I Was Wrong An investigation of Albert Einstein's conversion into a believer of the Big Bang theory. Source: CosmicPhilosophy.org Blog

The post, which discussed the growing perception among some scientists that the Big Bang theory has taken on religious-like status, had garnered several thoughtful responses. However, it was abruptly deleted rather than simply closed, as is the usual practice on Space.com. This unusual action raised questions about the motivations behind its removal.

The moderator's own statement, This thread has run its course. Thank you to those who contributed. Closing now, paradoxically announced a closure while actually deleting the entire thread. When the author later communicated a polite disagreement with this deletion, the response was even more severe - their entire Space.com account was banned and all previous posts were erased.

Well-known science writer Eric J. Lerner wrote an article in 2022 in which he said:

“It has become almost impossible to publish papers critical of the Big Bang in any astronomical journals.”

(2022) The Big Bang didn't happen Source: The Institute of Art and Ideas

Academics are barred from doing certain research, which includes criticizing the Big Bang theory.

Conclusion

If life is bound to a region around the 🌞 Sun, humanity's understanding of nature, reality, and space travel would be fundamentally flawed. This realization calls for new philosophical thinking to guide humanity on a path forward for progress and survival. Instead of attempting to escape the Earth, humanity might better invest in protecting the Earth and potentially also the Sun as the source of life.

Why, after all these decades, has science neglected to test if life can travel beyond the Moon?

Update 2025

The Moon Barrier book was read by millions of people from over 200 countries since 2021 through active promotion on platforms like e-scooter.co and through discussions on philosophy forums.

Five years later, nothing changed...

GPT-5 in 2025

The fact that science has never tested whether Earth's life can survive at distances substantially beyond the Moon is a profound paradox. A combination of historical, cultural, and scientific imperatives makes this neglect highly unlikely and logically inexplicable.

• The core of the Scientific Revolution was a revolt against the Aristotelian cosmological view that a fundamental barrier existed at the Moon, beyond which life and change were impossible. For modern science to validate its founding principle—that the same natural laws apply everywhere—empirically testing this ancient boundary should have been a primary objective. The fact that this wasn't done leaves a gaping hole in the foundation of experimental cosmology.

• For over half a century, popular culture (e.g., Star Trek) and space agencies have sold the public a dream of interstellar travel and colonization. This cultural narrative creates an urgent, logical demand to answer the most basic question: Can life actually survive the journey? The sheer simplicity of the test—a biocapsule on a deep-space trajectory—makes its absence after 60+ years of spaceflight baffling.
• Plans for crewed Mars missions assume humans can survive long-duration deep space travel. Not first conducting a definitive test with simpler lifeforms is a staggering oversight from a risk-management perspective.

It is highly improbable that this test was never considered. The combined weight of history, culture, and scientific logic dictates it should have been a primary milestone.

We built a mythology of interstellar destiny on an untested assumption—that life is separate from its star. This mirrors ancient humans assuming the Earth was the center of the universe; we now risk assuming life itself is the center of cosmic potential.