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That's why some say there exists good and evil. Creation and destruction. Think about it.
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And yet we humans organize for war, as if we cannot imagine the horrors of war...
Or as if we don't even care...
I think you are misunderstanding me. I don't have any information about the life in the rest of the universe.So, you think we are rare, that "millions and millions haven't", huh, (and I would ask you how you arrived at that conclusion) And, even if were, that, "one in millions", even one in millions could be very, very many, considering the entire universe that is...
As far as the conditions go, you don't think anyone had a hand in that...? And might do so in other places too...?
You don't believe in higher intelligence than us...? What makes "us" the "most intelligent" lifeform in the entire universe...?
What if ones began where we are now, where are they now?, or where would they be by now? How would they exist? In what form?,
Depending on where they are at, we could all be still in our infancy to them, as they once were (maybe).... I think they some of them went beyond of this realm, or one of them/us did, maybe after millions of years in a humanoid like form, evolved into something else... "Q" like maybe...
It's possible...?
Well, if life and intelligent life like us is not as rare as you think, you'd almost have to conclude that some lifeforms did develop into a higher state of being, if intelligent life or humanoid like life, is not as rare as you think, and it really hinges upon that...
God Bless!
Diamonds are actually really, really common. That diamonds are so expensive is just a scam perpetrated by the jewel industry which withholds the largest part of the worlds reserves.Why would any form of life ever develop the ability to reason and think in abstracts well enough to "discover" anything again? Mutations are so random. So random, it could never happen again.
...That's why we're the diamonds of the universe. We are literally stardust made animated, yes, but our minds, with our conscience, are even more precious of a gem. So precious, and so rare, it probably could never happen twice -unless it's the very language of the universe. But that's not possible. Is it?
That's why some say there exists good and evil. Creation and destruction. Think about it.
Yeah, it's easy to blame Satan and Evil.
"The Devil made me do it."
Right?
Yeah, right.
Some people don't want to be responsible for their own behavior.
If you look at the evolution of evolution, doesn't it seem like it was all (in preparation for) the rise of mankind (humankind)...?
Or not...?
Comments...?
God Bless!
Unless consciousness is the goal, and the ability to think in abstracts, rather than 'diversity'.
Humans aren't the only species on Earth capable of abstract thought and having a degree of consciousness and intelligence - but ours is generally richer and more sophisticated than others we've seen.Why would any form of life ever develop the ability to reason and think in abstracts well enough to "discover" anything again? Mutations are so random. So random, it could never happen again.
...That's why we're the diamonds of the universe. We are literally stardust made animated, yes, but our minds, with our conscience, are even more precious of a gem. So precious, and so rare, it probably could never happen twice -unless it's the very language of the universe. But that's not possible. Is it?
Yeah, it's easy to blame Satan and Evil.
"The Devil made me do it."
Right?
Yeah, right.
Some people don't want to be responsible for their own behavior.
I think it's more about understanding what evil is and trying to avoid it than blaming our faults on the devil.
All that does is just redefine the problem, not solve it. For now we just added another layer that needs to be resolved, while in fact not addressing the original one sufficiently. We just define consciousness as something different, extend it as almost an Aristotlean Sensitive Soul into most of Animalia, while thus failing to address our Reason and so forth, that which traditionally is termed Consciousness or Sentience.He was describing what he thinks is necessary and sufficient for consciousness in general, not just human consciousness. The elements you mention are enabled by consciousness, but not required for it and are features of the interaction between a rich consciousness and preconscious cognitive elements.
There is confusion here. Let us take the four cause approach: The material cause are the animals themselves, the Efficient cause is their 'survival of the fittest' competition, the Formal cause is the genetic material being passed on. How can we leave out the Final cause; the propagation of those genes, the organism's survival and its most succesful competitive advantages? Clearly Evolution is driven by survival, for otherwise none of it could occur. This is its final cause - it need not be a conscious decision to do so, but to affirm three and deny the fourth renders the concept incongruent, to my mind.We have a strong tendency to ascribe teleological agency, but evolution isn't teleological, although it produces the kind of results we often associate with teleological processes. There's no purpose; evolution is what happens when natural selection filters populations that reproduce with heritable variation. The cause of evolution is the filtering effect of natural selection on populations that reproduce with heritable variation.
Agreed, but you need to differentiate 'because' as well. It can be read as 'on account of' or 'by reason of'. These suggest very much different things, as the second also suggest agenticity. If you look at a broader view of an organism, a trait evolved because it aids survival, but is maintained in order to do so, of which both are slippery evolutionary constructs with multiple philosophic interpretations of our terms.There's a subtle but crucial difference between saying, 'a trait evolved because it aids survival' and 'a trait evolved in order to aid survival'. Viewing the results of evolution, it's tempting - but wrong - to express them in terms of the latter rather than the former. It's like seeing a tall guy playing basketball and saying "he's tall because it makes him good at basketball", rather than, "he's good at basketball because he's tall".
This goes back to Final Causes that I talked about earlier. When a phenomenon appears to have a goal, it is necessary to explain this or at least the appearance thereof. In Biology, there is a need to ask a couple of related questions:I didn't see it that way because I don't see how natural selection is teleological - can you explain?
I think you misread his intent - he's not explaining consciousness in depth, he's describing it as an instance of a certain class of self-organising processes.All that does is just redefine the problem, not solve it. For now we just added another layer that needs to be resolved, while in fact not addressing the original one sufficiently. We just define consciousness as something different, extend it as almost an Aristotlean Sensitive Soul into most of Animalia, while thus failing to address our Reason and so forth, that which traditionally is termed Consciousness or Sentience.
I'm no expert on Aristotelian metaphysics, but I think the answer to that question depends on the interpretation of Aristotle's teleology and so what 'Final Cause' means. As I understand it, there are two views, that of intended purpose, and that of the natural result of physical law (laws of nature) operating on/in some context; and to complicate things, they may not necessarily be exclusive.There is confusion here. Let us take the four cause approach: The material cause are the animals themselves, the Efficient cause is their 'survival of the fittest' competition, the Formal cause is the genetic material being passed on. How can we leave out the Final cause; the propagation of those genes, the organism's survival and its most successful competitive advantages?
No, survival is an enabler, not the driver. Survivors are the raw material on which evolution acts. It is driven by natural selection, with survival and heritable variation as enablers (although there is an argument to be made that genetic drift is an evolutionary driver independent of natural selection, so heritable variation could be considered a subsidiary driver). Some recent ideas also suggest that phenotypic plasticity (phenotypic changes by the selective activation or deactivation of genes, e.g. epigenetics) and boichemical self-organisation (e.g. protein folding) can also be evolutionary drivers.Clearly Evolution is driven by survival, for otherwise none of it could occur.
Either way, the basketball player analogy applies.Agreed, but you need to differentiate 'because' as well. It can be read as 'on account of' or 'by reason of'. These suggest very much different things, as the second also suggest agenticity.
I agree that a trait evolves because it aids survival, but I don't agree a trait is maintained in order to aid survival - a trait is maintained because it aids (continues to aid) survival; as I suggested earlier, it's an ongoing process.If you look at a broader view of an organism, a trait evolved because it aids survival, but is maintained in order to do so, of which both are slippery evolutionary constructs with multiple philosophic interpretations of our terms.
It seems to me that we favour teleological (purposeful, agent-centred) descriptions because we have a temporally extended consciousness that enables us to plan ahead (model futures) and so define explicitly goal-seeking behaviour. We call this having purpose or intent. We can also visualise the past to trace the consequences of our past (and possible past) actions, which inclines us to interpret causal sequences teleologically.This goes back to Final Causes that I talked about earlier. When a phenomenon appears to have a goal, it is necessary to explain this or at least the appearance thereof. In Biology, there is a need to ask a couple of related questions:
When we ask why do goal directed entities exist, we can comfortably answer that evolution by Natural Selection produced them. This easily encompasses all of population genetic theory. We then ask what their goals are, we point to adaptive devices for feeding, defence, reproduction and in short, survival. We then ask how goal-directed entities work and we enter the realm of complex systems, of General Systems Theory or Control Theory or even things like Cybernetics.
The latter two are part of modern biology and the Sciences. They are also very much Final Causes, in essence Teleological explanation of the activity produced by Natural Selection then. Natural Selection is merely a part of the complex, not that itself is teleological, but our broader modern physiological systems very much are. This is why his procrustean theory of consciousness seems set against itself.
If you look at the evolution of evolution, doesn't it seem like it was all (in preparation for) the rise of mankind (humankind)...?
Or not...?
Comments...?
God Bless!
“This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in — an interesting hole I find myself in — fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.”
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
Being able to reason helps with survival.
We are star stuff, so you would have to say the entire universe was created for our sake and the drama that is playing out here right now.If you look at the evolution of evolution, doesn't it seem like it was all (in preparation for) the rise of mankind (humankind)...?
If you look at the evolution of evolution, doesn't it seem like it was all (in preparation for) the rise of mankind (humankind)...?
Or not...?
Comments...?
God Bless!
No. It seems like it (including mankind) was all (in preparation) for the rise of cancer.If you look at the evolution of evolution, doesn't it seem like it was all (in preparation for) the rise of mankind (humankind)...?
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