Atheists - will you help answer this question?

Question

I was recently involved in a conversation that led to the following question: "Well, if there is no God, then explain the will to live. Why is there life instead of non-life? Why is there a will to live, and how did it originate?"

I'm an atheist, and explained that atheism isn't a claim at a certain working of the universe, but is simply the lack of belief in gods. However, I'm left lacking a way to explain the origin of the will to live. I can explain evolution quite well, but it all revolves around improvements that meant the progression of the species. Why is there progression at all?

"The Dude" wrote: "Simple. If species didn't have the will to live, they wouldn't last long. The ones that survive have a will to live."

I'd like to use his answer to clarify what it is I'm asking. For what reason is not "lasting long" a negative thing? I'm asking why it is that species strive to "last" in the first place.

Please refrain from posting theist propaganda. I'm looking for serious answers.

Answer 1

The ultimate drive in evolution is reproduction. You can't reproduce it you are dead.

When the oceans were just pools of chemicals, all sorts of reactions took place. Chemicals that catalyzed receations that produced similar chemicals were the precursor of life. This was a different form of natural selection. Anything that can reproduce more effectively, for whatever reason, will tend to pass the traits to its offspring. That is the basis of progression.

I'm not an atheist. Non-atheists also evolve.

Answer 2

There are different theories of evolution, one of which is Darwinism, which states that evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest.

Others say that all living things mutate, it's merely the ones that are most suited to the environment that move on. In times of catastrophe, creatures and plants would die out, perhaps mutate due to changes in the environment, or coexist until the most suited outlived the least suited.

Still others believe that evolution is driven by sex. Whatever is most attractive to the females is what helps evolution move forward. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

I think it's probably a mix of the theories to find the truth.

As far as your first question, the will to live, beings are alive because they have the correct combination of energy, chemicals, and atoms. In an experiment I saw something like 15 years ago, a mix of elements found in the primordial earth were put into a glass globe and subjected to extreme heat and electricity as scientists believe the earth was like in it's formative days. The globe eventually produced amino acids, the building blocks of life. From this point, it still took millions of years for those building blocks to form anything useful in terms of living things, but it eventually happened.

It's hard to explain or even comprehend how much could change in a species or even a planet when you are talking about millions and billions of years, how even minute changes in the short term would lead to huge differences long-term. It's interesting to think about, though. Don't you just love the Discovery Channel? :)

Take care,
R

Answer 3

I don't understand what a will to live has to do with whether there is a God or not. But lust for life is built into any living creature because if it was not then the creature would not be living. That is a totally flawed answer because it is a totally flawed question.
At this point in time the definition of what life itself is and what can be considered a living thing is open. Are viruses alive, what about prions?

Answer 4

Why do people think mythology or theism help explain . they only address explanation at the expense of reason logic and rational mindedness. If you need explanation for the essence of something that goes without reason because it is self explainable than you are (excuse the explanation) mentally
deficient. No offense intended either .... for instance does the existence of a rock require a god for the benefit of explanation then why, the will to live after all these years when most of our development went prior to our invention of superstition and deity.
seems you've got it backwards we should question the invention of deities as in dire need of explanation especially above and beyond the feeble excuses given on a day by day basis.
the phenomenon is sometimes thought of as instinctual or archetypal but it is less evident when viewed as merely the function of chance latter given to supposed beliefs in the survival instinct. this is just as basic as hunger or sex both being pleasurable and hence helping to maintain the species . Is it judgment or just the remnants of mindless chemical proclivities.
these are mysteries to me and speculative arguments to most.
thanks for the provocative question.
peace out

Answer 5

You're asking two separate, but related questions: What is the origin of the will to live, and what motivates our adaptation?

I want you to consider something.

We are alive. Without this quality of "aliveness" we are simply inert corpses. Unlike, say, a rock or a drop of water, we don't properly exist unless we are alive. We share this quality with all life. So the simple fact that our existence is predicated upon being alive means that in order for our existence to continue, we must keep on being alive. By definition, life has to keep on living to exist. This makes the will to survive the most fundamentally Darwinian of traits. Without that tendency towards survival, things don't survive.

However, don't read too much into the word "will". Very often we anthropomorphize things that don't have human consciousness. The cactus doesn't "will" itself to survive in the desert. It just is a cactus, living in the desert. It isn't a testament to generations of hard-working cacti. It lives there because it can. The dog fighting off a couple of coyote, doesn't fight hard because it fears death. It fights because surviving is a quality of being a living dog, therefore it has received that trait from previous dogs who survived because of that trait.

Answer 6

You really can't explain how it started. If I had to guess though (and I'm completely bullshiting this), I'd say a random combination of specific chemicals started to fuse and slowly it's materials were able to transcend erosion or weathering i.e. live. The fusion sparked more fusions with this weird kind of magnetism and life began kind of like a puzzle piece coming together.

Just tell your friend that if you went to the Dark Ages and gave someone an iPod, they would "know" it was from either God or the Devil.

Answer 7

Simple. If species didn't have the will to live, they wouldn't last long. The ones that survive have a will to live.

Answer 8

Hey why dont u believe in GOD, Answer these if you can :)

1) You are lost in a forest, there you see a house in the middle of the forest. you are certain that this house has been built by someone. you may not know who he is but you are dead sure that the house has a owner. WHY?

2)You dont see Infra-Red radiations, yet you believe its existence. you dont see the waves that are meitted while we talk, yet you can feel it. you have not seen a single galaxy yet you believe the presence of millions of galaxies. WHY?

3) You were not present when an Apple fell over Newton. And he discovered Gravity. yet you believe Newton discovered 'Gravity'. have you seen it? Yet you believe in the phenomenon called 'Gravity'.

4) Nobody knows where is the exact location of 'Mind' and the 'Soul' in the human body, yet millions accept its prescence.

If you can affirm all these without seeing them, Can not the whole of the universe be built by ALmighty GOD???

The house in the forest has to have an owner, The Gigantic universe running in precise equilibrium, without an Owner?

GOD exists and HE is only ONE.

HE Created each and everything. There was never an evolution for any living creature. Instead it was meticulous creation.

Did the PC evolve from the TV?
Did the Car evolve from the motorbike?
Did the Aeroplane evolve from the Helicopter?
Did the Petronas tower evolve from a hut?

When this cant happen, How can living beings which are much more complex evolve from one another.

There was much engineering, design, planning involved when the first PC was made. But then to change it from Pentium I to Pentium IV was not evolution, it was infact re-engineering, reducing scan times, re-design at the structural level which resulted in the Pentium IV chip being manufactured or lets say 'Created'

the most complex of all machines in this world, viz. the human body evolved from apes???

Dont you see the miracle of creation???
Know more:

http://www.harunyahya.com/m_presentation...
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_design_unive...

Answer 9

That is a really good question.

Looking at evolution...by the time sex drives and such come into play, it makes sense, but before that...hmm. Really hard to say.

I certainly don't know, but this will be a fun thing to mull over and watch answers...

Answer 10

Biological anthropolgy tells us that the will to live comes from synaptic nerve function in the brain due to the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland. In short, our will to live comes from our urge to have sex. The reward of sexual pleasure, love, orgasm, survival of the fittest, the pride of passing on your genes. Very primal stuff. Not 'spiritual' at all.....