Evolution and Specialness of Humanity

I hear a bunch of folks shouting down the idea of being special. I guess in a cosmic sense no one is particularly special, but then again we all are.It's a matter of perspective. We are special to ourselves, those who care about us, and those we affect. And in the end, that's all that matters. Generations of nothingness preceeded us and the same will come again.In the words of George Carlin: "Who gives a fuck?"Seriously, have fun, enjoy your life, have sex, and go out with a bang.

Hey Prophex, Ya, so? You are not unique by virtue of your species, you are unique because of your individuality. Try and kill a dog, I bet he will struggle, show fear, try and get away, plead with you... why do you think that is? It's because he is unique, he has value to himself, he doesn't want to die.You and me share the same uniqueness as individuals.
What you are failing to understand is the idea that just because we arose from natural means, does not mean that everything we experience and feel is now somehow false. Let me put it this way:
Lets leave out love and all the other high-minded crap. Lets talk about eating and shitting.Now, I have to eat to survive, it's a necessity imposed on me by evolution. Does this mean that I don't enjoy gourmet cuisine as much as I do? Because last time I checked I am still a fan of French cooking. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that good food is one of the highlights of my life.Now, even though that food is lovingly prepared, and I have an intense emotional reaction every time I eat it (I do, trust me ), it's still gonna come out the other end in a big stinky turd....So, what exactly about the fact that my culinary experience is based on totally naturalistic impulses and physical needs, makes my experience any less valuable or special?This message has been edited by Yaro, 10-19-2005 09:04 AM

lol, thanx.Although, re-reading that post, I think I have had some "stinky turd experiences" that illicited an intense emotional reaction as well.

Hey prophex, have a look at my post Message 241. Give me a reply if you can.

It was a serious question Prophex, though told with some levity.A culinary experience can be deeply emotional, plesureable, and down right life changing. Now, does the fact that this experience is generated by purely naturalistic and physical needs make it any less profound?

Prophex,Nothing has meaning unless it is physical. I could give you tons of morphine and I bet you would feel great, why is that? Because it's a physical chemical reaction occuring in your brain.Don't you get that? There is no such thing as beyond physical, everything in our experience is tied to physical phenomena. Wonder why love is usually applied to those of the oposit (or prefered) sex?Assuming your not gay, when is the last time you had a crush on a boy? It's probably not gonna happen eaither. Does that make love for a girl any less special or magical?

I don't think god or soul has much to do with it at all. What exists on earth only has significance because we assign it such. It's important to us, thus it's significant.As far as the world being an illusion, I don't think so. Our perception of the world is, in some sense, illusory; however those perceptions are formed as a reaction to stimuli seperate from our experience.In other words, I may belive a gun is a bannana, but it dosn't make it any less lethal should someone pull the trigger. Hmmmm... I think that line applies more to christianity than to eastern religion... In any case, I disagree whole-heartedly.Life is constantly getting better preciesly becaus of the fruitfull human persuit of truth seeking. Thrugh science, we have made our lives hundreds of times better than we could have otherwise hoped for. I think the search for truth has been far from futile. Hmmmm... well, my spouse whome I love very dearly. My art work which gives me great joy and personal satisfaction. The enjoyment of everyday life. Good movies, friends. I don't see what 'truer' purposes you could have.You tell me something prophex, what would you call a TRUE purpose? The afterlife is a joke. If anything it robs life of it's value. What good is something that's so cheep? After all, if it's gonna go on for ever, why is life special in the first place?We value things that are rare and temporary not things that are common and ubiquitous. The idea of an afterlife cheepens existence.As to finding oneself, I think that's a worthy persuit. If your journey is anything like mine, you will probably learn that what you call "finding god" was really "finding yourself" all along. That is to say, you were god the whole time. Really? I can't think of one non-psysical thing that has given me sattisfaction, can you? Name me a non-physical thing in your life that has given you satisfaction.HEll! Even the feeling of satisfaction is a physical phenomena! I could give you a labodomy right now prophex, bet you will never be unhappy ever again I'm afraid it is. Sorry, but if a meteor smashes our solar system out of existence tommorow, what significance did we ever have except to ourselves? As humans, we are very very small. To assign our lives cosmic importance is the height of arrogance. You can be glorious right now by living a good life! Hopeing for unreasonable nonsense like an endless consous existence is probably going to get you to waste more time. Get busy living prophex, you only get one chance. And that's why life is valuable!