Purpose of Life

Discussion in 'About the Members' started by Hermann, Sep 14, 2005.

  1. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    I wouldn't call that a "purpose". It's more of a biological imperative, like eating and sleeping. I wouldn't call eating and sleeping "the purpose of life". As a "purpose" that's about as empty as "serving the creator".
     
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  3. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    The question is "what is the purpose of life" which is an abstraction and can only be addressed in the abstract, without attachment to sentient intention or choice.
    I believe that one can make a persuasive argument that the term "biological imperative" identifies an ultimate natural utility or purpose, a mathematical chronology which is unalterable in function.

    Using "serving the creator" can be a choice and changed to "disobeying the creator", but Life does not offer such a choice. Life's only purpose is life itself, IMO.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2018
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  5. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    No, because nature and evolution don't have goals.
     
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  7. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    ok drop purpose (as an intentional goal). Then it becomes just utility, which IMO is sufficient causality. The fact remains that evolution is a natural survival mechanism.
     
  8. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Not reproducing could be a personal survival mechanism, which would falsify a supposedly universal purpose.
     
  9. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    In that case the OP question is meaningless. It does not ask about a personal goal, it asks about "Purpose of Life"

    My answer was in context of an impersonal and implacable natural imperative to procreate in order to assure continuation of a species. This is usually associated with Darwinian Evolution, combating Natural Selection for best adaption to extant natural conditions.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  10. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    What is the purpose of "sleep"? Seems that 1/3 of our lives are spent sleeping with several important health benefits extending life of an organism.
    Can we say that sleep has a definite naturally evolved purpose ?
    https://www.activebeat.co/your-health/the-9-health-benefits-that-occur-during-sleep/3/
     
  11. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    And how much longer would you live not reproducing? Moreover, when you die, your DNA cannot be passed on, thus ending your bloodline altogether.
     
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Self interest isn't necessarily bloodline interest.
     
  13. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    I agree, but self interest does not allow you to live longer. In addition, I read somewhere that a healthy sexlife actually allows one to live longer. Of course a healthy sexlife does not necessarily have to be for procreation, but it certainly imitates the act of procreation.
    Thus the purpose of procreation has been fullfilled, albeit without result.

    I have a female minpin dog who loves to hump a big neutered male cat. Riddle me that one...

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  14. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Doesn't matter.
     
  15. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    I'm 60 and still going.
     
  16. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    I would disagree. I would suggest that only sentient life - and possibly only sapient life - can have any concept of "purpose".
     
  17. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    We're talking about the purpose of life, not the purpose of sleep. A hammer has a purpose but it is not related to the purpose of life.
     
  18. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    What is the difference? If so, that renders the OP title and question meaningless.

    IMO, Life is a self-organizing function (Hazen). It needs not be sentient. Therein lies the crux.

    For my purpose of discussion, I was giving the word "purpose" the broadest possible abstract interpretation and meaning as a general "function" or "role".
    https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/purpose

    Thus the function (purpose) of Life is Life itself.
    There never was sentient intent to create Life
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  19. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Place a flowering plant under stress and it will begin to bloom. What is the purpose in that?
    Think about it.
     
  20. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    The purpose of a flower is relative to the species. Relative to everything, there is none.
     
  21. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Right, but why does it try to procreate when placed under stress? It doesn't know that blooming invites bees for pollination does it? It just does it.

    The same way that many growth patterns in nature follow the Fibonacci sequence. This is not a sentient action, it is a result of millions of years of natural selection for efficiency in growth patterns.

    And here "natural selection" is not an intentional act either, contrary to what the term "selection" implies.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018
  22. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    It procreates because it's parents did. I think it takes sentience to establish a purpose. Since there is apparently no universal sentience, there's no universal purpose.
     
  23. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    I could agee with that, but we still have to explain what the evolutionary process is all about. It isn't random but probabilistic, because natural selection passively "selects" the best adapted to a particular environment.

    IMO, it is all mathematical in essence (Tegmark) and may be compared to a pseudo-intelligence or pseudo-sentience and then it begins to make sense. To me anyway.....

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    And I have a powerful ally in this perspective by the name of Roger Penrose, at least as far as I can understand him...

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    If I do, Penrose proposes that the quantum function and the wave collapse produce and constitute a pseudo-sentient process and experience in and of itself. A pseudo-sentient living universe.

    What is physics all about, if not physical interaction....

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    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018

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