Is life realy nothing special?

LaraLara

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Attention title misnomer: the treat is about the existence of life (and indirectly fine tuning).

There is an argument here that I am trying to understand which claims we we should not wonder that life exists because that is not anything less improbable that that a tornado exists. Judging from the aftermath the existence of anything looks statistically improbable.

(I think the debate has some connection to the other treat "why is there anything instead of nothing" because some people might already wonder why the tornado exists.)

Now I disagree with the idea that life is not anything special that should not be explained further. I think because life is very complex it is as well very unlikely to arrive by chance. In general there has been a move of the universe from less complex states to more complex phenomena over time (although that will propably not continue in the future).

Back to the complexity of life issue:

1. Life has the capability to resist entropy at least within it's own boundaries and for some time. That is not something that seems particular likely if you judge it from the laws of physics. Indeed if a bodyless lifeform that has no clue what material life and would watch it - it would be astonished how all the chemicals inside a body are protected by highly intricate structures form going into chemical equilibrium.

2. Consciousness. Conciousness is a property that shares nothing in common with all the other properties and objects in the universe so one might wonder where that has suddenly sprung from.

Now life is the most complex system there is in the universe so it is as well the most unlikely.

Complex system are not JUST defined by that they have many parts but that that parts produce an interesting meta quality. If you are unsure please use wikipedia to inform yourself about complex systems, it's a whole science.

The (meta)quality of the parts of atoms would be that they allow for chemical reactions between them.

The meta-quality of life is consciousness and the ability to resist entropy.

Now a complex system does not get more complex just because you add a new component. If you for example add an invasive species to an ecosystem
it might - for a moment - have more parts but over the long reason gets less complex and might even fail to give basic meta-functions such as for example cleaning the water.

An atheist here told me that life with cancer is more complex than without cancer and hence according to my theory should need a more urgent explanation. This is a misunderstanding of the term complexity. A life form with cancer is simply a life form failing the battle with entropy, there is nothing that needs a special explanation. The cancer is harming the meta functions of the body so it is reducing the complexity of the overall system in the end. Cancer cells perform already less functions than the healthy cells so they are in themselves less complex.
 
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pitabread

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To answer your question about whether life is special; this should set you on course:

<snip non-sequitur response>

Looks like someone didn't read past the thread title.
 
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bhsmte

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There is an argument here that I am trying to understand which claims we we should not wonder that life exists because that is not anything less improbable that that a tornado exists. Judging from the aftermath the existence of anything looks statistically improbable.

(I think the debate has some connection to the other treat "why is there anything instead of nothing" because some people might already wonder why the tornado exists.)

Now I disagree with the idea that life is not anything special that should not be explained further. I think because life is very complex it is as well very unlikely to arrive by chance. In general there has been a move of the universe from less complex states to more complex phenomena over time (although that will propably not continue in the future).

Back to the complexity of life issue:

1. Life has the capability to resist entropy at least within it's own boundaries and for some time. That is not something that seems particular likely if you judge it from the laws of physics. Indeed if a bodyless lifeform that has no clue what material life and would watch it - it would be astonished how all the chemicals inside a body are protected by highly intricate structures form going into chemical equilibrium.

2. Consciousness. Conciousness is a property that shares nothing in common with all the other properties and objects in the universe so one might wonder where that has suddenly sprung from.

Now life is the most complex system there is in the universe so it is as well the most unlikely.

Complex system are not JUST defined by that they have many parts but that that parts produce an interesting meta quality. If you are unsure please use wikipedia to inform yourself about complex systems, it's a whole science.

The (meta)quality of the parts of atoms would be that they allow for chemical reactions between them.

The meta-quality of life is consciousness and the ability to resist entropy.

Now a complex system does not get more complex just because you add a new component. If you for example add an invasive species to an ecosystem
it might - for a moment - have more parts but over the long reason gets less complex and might even fail to give basic meta-functions such as for example cleaning the water.

An atheist here told me that life with cancer is more complex than without cancer and hence according to my theory should need a more urgent explanation. This is a misunderstanding of the term complexity. A life form with cancer is simply a life form failing the battle with entropy, there is nothing that needs a special explanation. The cancer is harming the meta functions of the body so it is reducing the complexity of the overall system in the end. Cancer cells perform already less functions than the healthy cells so they are in themselves less complex.

How special life is, is up to each person to decide. Assigning a value to life, is a psychological process, not a physical one.
 
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pitabread

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I think the OP's thread title is going to throw a lot of people off track with respect to what they are talking about in their opening post.

It's less about if life is special in a "what is the meaning of life" context. Rather, it's about whether the existence of life itself is remarkable relative to the nature of the universe (correct me if I'm off-base here, OP).

In the case of the latter context, I'm not sure that question can really be answered with current knowledge of living things relative to the whole universe. Certainly Earth is the only planet with life on it that we know of, so it gives us a limited sample size to work from.

Personally, life's existence appears to be just a natural consequence of the universe itself and the various physical and chemical behaviors of which it is made. A bigger question to me would be whether life could arise in other configurations of the universe, but since we've only got the one to work from, such a question isn't entirely answerable.
 
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dmmesdale

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How special life is, is up to each person to decide.
An apologist for subjective fictions and contradictions.
Assigning a value to life, is a psychological process, not a physical one.
There is no ojective value to life. Be it psychological or physical.
 
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Sanoy

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I think that is a variation on the Anthropic Principle. The idea that we would only see results with in the range of observation. So we wouldn't observe a non life permitting universe because we wouldn't exist so we shouldn't think that a life permitting universe is anything special, no matter how statistically unlikely. I think that is just a means of looking away from the conclusion. Some people choose to do that, but it's not a rationally mandatory choice.

Another way to put it is this. Lets say you have received the death penalty and you are standing before the firing squad and the warden says fire. The shots ring off and you are not hit. He says fire again. The shots ring off and you are not hit. This happens all afternoon until they are out of bullets, and they take you back to your cell. Would you wonder what happened? Or would you think the event non special because the only way you could have experienced the event was if they didn't kill you? Like you, I think it would be very special.
 
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dysert

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How special life is, is up to each person to decide. Assigning a value to life, is a psychological process, not a physical one.
Well that's one opinion. My opinion is that (human) life is special because it was created in the image of God.
 
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NothingIsImpossible

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Life isn't anything special or important to some degree. I mean you can create a cure for cancer, solve world hunger and achieve world peace and it is all for nothing since after He comes and does stuff, He then destroys the universe and after creates earth again, but perfect. At that point that life matters. Of course thats not to say we should just sit and watch tv all day because "Life doesn't matter!". We are still on a mission to lead others to salvation by spreading the Word.

Though to be fair we are special because God created us. And our achievements are special to some degree to, but in the grand sceme there are some achievements that are pointless. Lik,e scoring a perfect 300 game in bowling. Or giving your kidney to someone...etc. I mean giving your kidney is amazing of course, but it won't change anything once we are done with this life.
 
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Kenny'sID

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It's pretty darn special to me.

For someone who feels it happened by chance, my life is still special, and I'd be very happy the cards fell where they did.

If God made me, and I believe he did, and even though it was no big deal to him, I'm ecstatic he saw fit to do so.

Watch what happens when a screaming mad man with a gun runs in your direction...you run. Why? It ain't rocket science. :)
 
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juvenissun

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There is an argument here that I am trying to understand which claims we we should not wonder that life exists because that is not anything less improbable that that a tornado exists. Judging from the aftermath the existence of anything looks statistically improbable.

(I think the debate has some connection to the other treat "why is there anything instead of nothing" because some people might already wonder why the tornado exists.)

Now I disagree with the idea that life is not anything special that should not be explained further. I think because life is very complex it is as well very unlikely to arrive by chance. In general there has been a move of the universe from less complex states to more complex phenomena over time (although that will propably not continue in the future).

Back to the complexity of life issue:

1. Life has the capability to resist entropy at least within it's own boundaries and for some time. That is not something that seems particular likely if you judge it from the laws of physics. Indeed if a bodyless lifeform that has no clue what material life and would watch it - it would be astonished how all the chemicals inside a body are protected by highly intricate structures form going into chemical equilibrium.

2. Consciousness. Conciousness is a property that shares nothing in common with all the other properties and objects in the universe so one might wonder where that has suddenly sprung from.

Now life is the most complex system there is in the universe so it is as well the most unlikely.

Complex system are not JUST defined by that they have many parts but that that parts produce an interesting meta quality. If you are unsure please use wikipedia to inform yourself about complex systems, it's a whole science.

The (meta)quality of the parts of atoms would be that they allow for chemical reactions between them.

The meta-quality of life is consciousness and the ability to resist entropy.

Now a complex system does not get more complex just because you add a new component. If you for example add an invasive species to an ecosystem
it might - for a moment - have more parts but over the long reason gets less complex and might even fail to give basic meta-functions such as for example cleaning the water.

An atheist here told me that life with cancer is more complex than without cancer and hence according to my theory should need a more urgent explanation. This is a misunderstanding of the term complexity. A life form with cancer is simply a life form failing the battle with entropy, there is nothing that needs a special explanation. The cancer is harming the meta functions of the body so it is reducing the complexity of the overall system in the end. Cancer cells perform already less functions than the healthy cells so they are in themselves less complex.

The biology of human life is not that special. But human body is only a part of human life.

What is the other part? Is that part real?

If you think the answer is a yes, then you have solved your problem.
 
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pitabread

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The biology of human life is not that special. But human body is only a part of human life.

What is the other part? Is that part real?

If you think the answer is a yes, then you have solved your problem.

I like this answer. Kudos.
 
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LaraLara

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I think the OP's thread title is going to throw a lot of people off track with respect to what they are talking about in their opening post.

It's less about if life is special in a "what is the meaning of life" context. Rather, it's about whether the existence of life itself is remarkable relative to the nature of the universe (correct me if I'm off-base here, OP).

In the case of the latter context, I'm not sure that question can really be answered with current knowledge of living things relative to the whole universe. Certainly Earth is the only planet with life on it that we know of, so it gives us a limited sample size to work from.

Personally, life's existence appears to be just a natural consequence of the universe itself and the various physical and chemical behaviors of which it is made. A bigger question to me would be whether life could arise in other configurations of the universe, but since we've only got the one to work from, such a question isn't entirely answerable.

You are correct I made a bad title.
 
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LaraLara

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There is no ojective value to life. Be it psychological or physical.

I have not assigned a psychological value to life. I said a complex system is less likely to arrive by chance.
 
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LaraLara

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How special life is, is up to each person to decide. Assigning a value to life, is a psychological process, not a physical one.

I said life is special because a more complex system is less likely to arise by chance. That has nothing to do with psychology. Its propably a misunderstanding because my title was badly named.
 
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LaraLara

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I in Certainly Earth is the only planet with life on it that we know of, so it gives us a limited sample size to work from.
.

I an heading more to the multiverse theory. Life builds on preexisting complexity and a less complex universe is already more likely than a complex one. I am not at ease with the idea that we should not at all think about likelyhood when tackling the question of life but maybe there is something I am not getting.
 
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xianghua

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God is not something to be proven but experienced.

why not? we know by experiments that a dog for instance will stay as a dog and cant evolve into something that isnt a dog. so this can prove that god exist. we also know that there are motors in some bacteria (an atp synthase for instance). again: a spinning motor is evidence for design even if its small or have a self replicating system.
 
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