Why Perpetuate the Human Species?

Is there any intrinsic value in perpetuating the human species? Why have kids? What's the point? We are all going to die and will not be alive to witness the lives of future generations anyway. And whatever gains are made will be lost when the sun burns out in one billion years and the Earth becomes vaporized as the sun expands. And even if humans manage to leave the solar system, the universe itself will either expand and dissipate as the rule of Enthropy, or it will implode into a massive black whole, distroying any humans. So, why bother to have kids? Why do we automatically assume that reproduction is a good thing?

 

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Well, Professor John Hartung gives his perspective on why humans should perpetuate themselves: http://members.aol.com/toexist/pfehome.html Interestingly, his article got me even more depressed.

 

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My reason on why we should continue to live is because anything is beter than a void. Without sapient intervention, the universe simply fades into dust. We can delay the inevitable. Life may continue in spacegoing artifacts even after the last star burns out.

What is truely my hope is that we may find a trapdoor out of the universe as we know it, a means of creating a new one, or a loophole in the laws of physics that will help life continue in this one. Even if we can not, nothing was lost by living.

 

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We are descended from millions of generations which bred. This ensures that those who behaved as though they thought there was no value in perpetuating us left no descendants. We are- most of us- literally- made to want to perpetuate ourselves.

 

Hey SI, i think yu are asking the wrong question.
It is not really WHY we perpetuate our species. all species do this. life is s genrative force beyond our imaginings...the ancint Taoists called it Tao

what we SHOULD be asking is: WHy the emphasis on procreation. You will find if you look that it's the patriarchy that demands only sexual procreation, and demonizes sexual exstasy with the babies

The O.T. constantly empjhasizes procreation, damning 'barren' women, and the Hebrew term for 'sin' is literally 'missing the mark'--ie., spilling the male seed on the ground. NOt using it for procreational puposes

also one of the major founding 'fathers' of USa also emphasized procreation of whites so as to fill up the land, and gain power over

so, SI...its not the actual procreeation thats the problem, but the coercion of it, both by patriarchal religion, and ecconomic fasicism which has people in impoverished coutries HAVINg to have large families so as to survive, and the demonization of sexuality which is ecstatic and not for makin babies

Indigenous people have known how to regulate their numbers, through various means. In prepatriarchal times when WOMEN were in control of their OWN reporduction, they natrually know about abortive methods and contraception

 

I believe this is true.

 

best answer I've got is... because.

As far as I can tell, the whole purpose of life is to survive... so that seems like the base line goal for any life form. As to our likely doom, none of that is certain. We have as long to evolve on this planet alone as we've evolved so far. So our decendents could be infinitely more capable then ourselves. Anything is possible...

A better question would be, why not? I'm having fun... aren't you?

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Huuumm.... that sounded very disgusting....

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Like terrorists of jihad?

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No...

You assume that one day the universe is going to 'dissipate as the rule of Enthropy'. Even physicists can't agree if thats the case. You assume that there is a beginning, and assume from that that there will an end.

The goal ..according to the Kaballah.. is to one day control our surroudings..maybe even the entire universe. Wouldn't that be cool? Its a goal worthy of sticking around for.

 

As usual, there's a problem with premisses.
You're assuming we have a choice in perpetuating ourselves. We don't. Ergo, your point is moot.

 

I know, evolutionary wise, there is no end goal, things occur, because products must have a result. I think, when looking for a reason for human life, that we should live because of something, but for the reason "why not". We can't say this is why we are here, but the fact that we are here should dictate the idea that, seeming we are here, lets do something about it.

Just thinking about that actually, let's do something may encompass : Lets push this button and see what it does" Which probably explains bombs, but i think this is leading in a totally different direction, so let's leave this line of thought here. ----> .

 

NO. it would be FAr from cool! The whole idea of 'us controlling the environment' si what is the horror of this world. the environment is INTELLIGENT and eosn't NEEd controlling. do YOU like being controlled? so why whould the environment then?...rather it is going WITH the environment that Is intelligent

 

Well, terrorists of jihad kill the enemies of their beliefs and ensure that those with similar memes to themselves survive. It is comparable with Haldane's remark that sacrificing yourself for two brothers and four cousins was sound evolutionary sense. Same thing for several million co-believers AND a trip to the great knocking-shop in the sky.

 

I like to live... it's nice... and sex is nice too (with the right girl... it's perfect)

 

But you aren't thinking about perpetuating the human species when you have sex- or, at least, not many people are. Perpetuating the human species is a side-effect- it was a side-effect before efficient contraceptives.

 

duendy,

you luddite, please..thats so 16th century.. An advanced species -which we aren't yet- unable to protect itself from the elements is just asking for extinction. Basic shelter was the first run on the ladder. Then things like aqeuducts, seismographs, ocean barriers. The Russians were even working on tech to create artifial clouds (or destroy them? I can't remember..) How is indoor plumbing any different than controlling weather patterns?

Without putting our strong brains to use controlling the environment, humanity is an evolutionary dead end.

 

Humanity may be evolutionarily dead anyway, as a side-effect of trying to control our environment, and quite a few other species too. Actions, such as trying to control the environment, have unpredicted consequences. The "big" environment, the earth itself, will continue much the same in most aspects regardless of whether there are humans or even life itself.

 

As I said earlier, the whole point here is moot. We have (currently) no choice concerning our evolution. The interesting questions begin when we fully establish the technologies granting us a considerable level of control on evolution. Even then, it would literally take centuries to determine whether or not our activities had the desired effect or not.

 

Expanding on what Thersites said, controlling the environment just mess up our lives even more. Like.... how do you think mad cow disease came into being? Not to mention the entire thing of reforesting like crazy, with the same trees and with extreme amounts. It doesn't create an ecosystem and it creates fires that are almost impossible to control. Humans are dumb. We cannot see the whole picture of the ecosystem. We cannot control nature. We simply don't have enough knowledge, and much less wisdom, to do that.

PS: There was also a problem with the salmon we were putting in the ocean, I think. I don't remember now, but maybe someone knows about it?