If we emerged from a pool of primordial ooze after being struck by lightening and created by mere chance. What chance is it that we are on this Earth for a purpose. We live, we die, we become extinct. For no purpose unless we evolve into a higher life form which seems unlikely. It seems we have stretched eveloution to our limit. It is more likely the cockroach will take over from here. How many say we can take it one more notch and how many are for the cockroach?
2007-10-30 16:45:13 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
There is no reason not to suppose we have reached such a high level that further evolution is unlikely. Crocodiles seem to have reached near perfection in their niche. Personally, I think it likely that there is plenty of room for change now that we can evolve without the fear of predators and other dangers in the environment. Only time will tell.
2007-10-30 16:55:33 · answer #1 · answered by bravozulu 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There is no way to really know because we are "new" to this planet. By new I mean that there has never been another species that has been as intelligent as us before, therefore we can't know whats going to really happen. Just guessing however, I believe that there are two options. First, we will figure out a way to live on other planets, and will survive for a long time to come. Second, we will become extinct very quickly and violently, either by a meteor, war, famine, epidemic, etc. Really I think that the odds are kinda stacked against us, but as I said there's no way to really know.
2007-10-30 23:58:51 · answer #2 · answered by Woden501 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to a recent book, the cockroach wouldn't do very well if humans disappeared from the earth because most of them live off of our scraps.
Evolution is happening all the time, all around us, very slowly. Human evolution has taken a dramatic turn because of the human intellect -- there's not much chance of a physical change becoming part of the whole gene pool because of how dispersed we are over the planet and how variable the human genome is.
2007-10-30 23:57:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
think about this out of a scientific context. during the feudal era, nobody would have ever thought that another kind of economic system could have existed. but look what happened, now we have capitalism. what comes after capitalism? to us, it seems like there could be nothing after capitalism because the idea of something else is so strange. but something will definitely take its place at some point in history.
so to say that nothing could come after humans is a justified way of thinking because we couldn't imagine what such a creature would look like. plus it'd take thousands of years for evolution to do its thing and come up with a new organism.
2007-10-31 00:02:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a great question. But unfortunately it is not a science question, much less a biology question, or an evolution question.
To offer a non-scientific answer to a non-scientific question ... we are in *BIG* trouble if we cannot find a "purpose" that is completely independent of our origins. This applies not only to humans as a species, but each human being as an individual. Your destiny and "purpose" is not dependent on who your parents are or what thought (or lack of thought) went into conceiving you. Likewise the destiny and "purpose" of humans on this Earth is not dependent on where the species came from or what thought (or lack of thought) went into creating us.
In short, you make your own purpose. That can be motivated by faith in a higher power or Creator. Or it can be motivated by a genuine desire to simply help people or to make a better world. If your *only* "purpose" is to avoid "punishment" for yourself or to reap "reward" in a promised afterlife ... then how valuable can such a self-serving "purpose" be?
2007-10-30 23:56:28 · answer #5 · answered by secretsauce 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I say we have at least 3 more notches if we do not kill or polute ourselfs to death.
The mind is still expandiing, and we barely know the limits of what the mind can control. If we are smart enough to migrate off this planet and hopefully meet other types of beings we have a chance to expand to unknown limits.
2007-10-30 23:55:38 · answer #6 · answered by Carl P 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
evolution is not geared towards creating an ultimate organism. and, non-philosophically, the "purpose" of life is to propagate more life; "life" is self-replicating molecules' tricky way of making better and more versions of themselves.
furthermore, evolution (like sht) happens--whether we like it or not.
...whether we live, die, or make things on this planet completetly unbearable for life as we know it to exist here is inconsequential. the world has been around a long time and has been through a lot more punishment that we've dished out. it's a vanity to think that anything we do makes a ripple in the vast ocean of time and space.
2007-10-31 00:33:35 · answer #7 · answered by Extra Ordinary 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, I'm glad you think well of yourself, but how could you possibly imagine humans are about as smart as they could possibly be?
Seriously, what aspect of human diversity even remotely suggest that our evolution has stopped.
We live, we die, we are replaced by that which evolves.
Now we aren't necessarily replaced by what evolves from us, but the current trend is that human evolution is accelerating not fading.
2007-10-31 00:29:49 · answer #8 · answered by Phoenix Quill 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no limit to evolution, since it is directionless. As for a purpose, life has taught us that we must make a purpose not simply be handed one.
2007-10-31 01:02:33 · answer #9 · answered by High Tide 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As you were told in R and S, purpose is not assigned to " on " this earth, but is engendered within you.
2007-10-31 00:02:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋