homunculus writes:
In the realm of evolution, everything is prostrated to, nothing! Nothing created everything (big bang). Nothing created life (abiogenesis). Nothing designates purpose, reason, design and meaning. and human beings have absolutely no value at all.
From the perspective of the universe as a whole (or our particular galaxy, our solar system, or just the planet we are on), the assertion that human beings have absolutely no value is actually true. From such a larger external perspective, whether we flourish or perish is a matter of no particular importance -- the rest of existence goes on, and if/when we perish, perhaps some other sentient species somewhere will succeed in ways that we did not. I see nothing wrong with this perspective. It entails that we view our own existence with a healthy degree of humility and a respectful sense of tenuousness.
From our own perspective as human beings, however, it is utterly wrong, false, misguided and frankly stupid to conclude that, because we arose "accidentally" and "from nothing", we have no value. Life in general, and the human species in particular, is a powerful force capable of inducing/creating order from chaos.
The massive amounts of energy being thrown from the sun to the earth, and being generated and circulated by the earth itself in its geological, electromagnetic and chemical processes, is being absorbed, channeled, and redirected by life into structures and populations of ever-increasing complexity. The proliferation of life coincides with a growing ability, dramatically accelerated by the emergence of homo sapiens, to influence and even control some of the processes and energy sources in this environment.
Altogether, it's an awesome development, despite its ultimately humble scale and tenuous grip in the larger (universal) scheme of things. Sure, a collision with an asteroid of moderate size would obliterate us in an instant, but the more time that passes before that sort of thing happens, the better our chances become that we might be able to take action that would foresee and prepare for such an event -- possibly being able to survive or even prevent the impact.
The universe does not embody a value system. Humans do, and that is what counts. We don't need a God of our own invention to project our values to a universal scale. We need to understand our true status in the universe, as well as our true nature and true history; most of all, we need to understand the value(s) we are able to create, and we need to choose our behaviors accordingly.
Perhaps the most intriguing/perplexing/awesome factor in our development is the fact that evolution is still working on us (though we are getting rather close to exerting deliberate and significant influence on that process as well -- indeed, we've been exerting influence on it for millennia, though focusing almost entirely on other species). And so far, we still can't quite see or imagine what lies ahead for us.
autotelic adj. (of an entity or event) having within itself the purpose of its existence or happening.
™ Version 4.2
