The only reason our species exists on this planet is because it hasn't been killed yet.
Makes your life seem rather nonessential doesn't it.
2007-11-14 11:14:24 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
On analysis; maybe so. However, we experience through our consciousness: beauty, happiness, love, enlightenment, hope and contentedness not in spite of evolution but because of evolution.
2007-11-14 11:51:05 · answer #1 · answered by The Will 2 Defy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are species which have been around an extremely long time, for instance many trees were around when the dinosaurs were, and the genera for horseshoe bats, red and grey squirrels and one species of rhino have been here for tens of millions of years. We don't know how long we've got. This is the same as with an individual life. Just because we're going to die in the end doesn't mean our lives are meaningless.
Concerning natural selection though, it has allowed cooperation to evolve. Cells are communities of organisms which have evolved to live together, and bodies are made up of billions of cells which cooperate by living together in groups. Different species can't survive without each other, and all this has happened because of natural selection. So, i would say, no it doesn't make the world seem brutal and merciless, but full of beings working together for the good of all.
2007-11-15 10:57:12 · answer #2 · answered by grayure 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the world *is* a brutal and merciless place. And our life *is* rather nonessential. Even if you pretend natural selection is not true, that doesn't change those facts.
However we as humans have the ability to render life meaningful *ourselves*. We can give meaning to our lives by how we live them: by helping others, or working to make the world a better place for them, or simply by creating some beauty in the world.
Natural selection simply describes how the world is. It does not have anything to say about how we should live our lives. That's up to us.
2007-11-15 06:34:31 · answer #3 · answered by Daniel R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, from what I see on the news every night makes the world seem like a brutal and merciless place.
2007-11-14 19:31:47 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be "brutal and merciless" if nature kept producing members of a rational species that could not adapt to change.
What does your question have to do with "being killed off"? Being killed off is not a necessary condition of life. And if we were "killed off," how would that make my existence as I have known it "nonessential"? It is certainly essential to me even if I die individually tomorrow, or as part of our species.
2007-11-15 09:18:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Our species is special. We can outdo the brutality of natural selection by our ability for artificial selection.
Eg. we can burn down malaria-ridden forests, we can redirect flood-prone rivers, we can utterly destroy everything in nature which we deem to be "brutal and merciless to our species".
When it comes to brutality and mercilessness, nothing can beat humans.
Muahahaha...
2007-11-14 20:51:31 · answer #6 · answered by Tuna-San 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The surface may appear to be full of danger, but the inner immortal aspect of your own life will come to the rescue... We are more than we know.
2007-11-14 19:20:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God no, it makes the world only natural instead of social.
2007-11-15 08:20:35 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life is harsh, thats why humans felt the need to make their lives better. the spark of invention the need to make our lives better.
2007-11-14 19:23:45 · answer #9 · answered by Ossren 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋