Can you explain LIFE to me ?

Question

1. Why do living things CARE if they have offspring ? I mean life is a series of chemical reactions right ? But why would a conglomeration of chemicals go through all this trouble to procreate? I mean stars and planets don't. Rocks don't seek to preserve rockdom and water does not attempt to ensure there will always be wetness so why do organisms seek to recreate themselves ?
2. Why the variety ? Evolution doesn't cut it. When the first life forms became sussessful why didn't it stop there? I mean there are types of algea that have been around for over a BILLION years. Long before complex organims. So why did complex organisms develop ? What purpose could that possibly serve the original ones from which they are descended?
3. Since human beings are just intelligent animals everything we do is natural right ? Why should we care about other creatures beyond the extent to which it is to our benefit?

Joan H
You are wrong on both counts. Why is not just a religious question. That statement in itself is preposterous. That means that asking WHY the sun rises in the east and sets in the west is a religious question. Why and how are not contradictory or exclusive and I challenge you to prove otherwise. In the meantime stop wasting my time with non-sense and answer the question or admit you DON"T KNMOW the answer instead of just typing something to get a quick 2 points and trying to look intelligent.
WHY life bothers to reproduce itself IS a scientific question and why is directly related to PURPOSE. There must be a REASON that living things bother to procreate and or evolve. To say such questions are unscientific is traiterous to the very ESSENCE of science which is based on seeking ANSWERS to questions not throwing them off and ignoring them. Shame on you.

Answer 1

Life defies definition. All one can do is describe it.

1) Living things have offspring because it is in their nature to have sex. Human beings are among comparatively rare organisms that are actually aware that copulation produces offspring. Most animals have sex because it's hard-wired into their brains.

2) Variety: Evolution DOES cut it. It's how living organisms have a chance at survival, through variety and sheer numbers. How many salmon would be left if they only laid a few eggs each year? They don't know what they're doing, they don't CARE what they're doing, they just do it, and if they laid only a few eggs each year, salmon (and innumerable other species) would have been snuffed out inside a couple of generations. And evolution is the reason for the multitude of forms, and for the reasons those forms continue to become more complex. Environmental stressors decide who lives and who dies, and the good ones reproduce. Of course, their predators ALSO get better, so it's adapt or die; it's just how it works.

3) A "right" implies that someone/something grants permission for something to happen. If you believe in God or another supreme consciousness, then perhaps it IS a right. If you don't believe in God, then you have to assume that we are the apex predator because we got lucky. Either way, we're on top, for good or for ill.

Why do we have a responsibility to animals and the environment if it's not for our own benefit? First, I would argue that such responsibility IS for our benefit. However, I like to think that there is something more to us than organic-based circuitry, and that we see something intrinsically important about caring for the world that is in our hands, however it got there. Ghandi said that you can judge a society by the way it treats animals, and while I'm not a PETA nut-job, I do believe that such a view is fundamentally and inherently RIGHT.

Answer 2

"Why" is not a science question. "How" is the way you need to start each of your questions. Try that once and you will see that it makes all the difference in understanding the world and how it works. Also, forget about "purpose". There is none.

"Why" is a religious question. "Purpose" is a religious idea.

Addtionally: There is no reason "why" the sun rises in the east. that is just "how" it is. There is no "why" the earth is spinning on it's axis in the direction it is, It just happened that way instead of some other way.

As for purpose, nothing has a purpose unto itelf. There can only be a purpose if something "higher" needs it. Take my snow shovel for instance. It has no purpose unto itself and would rot and rust away on it's own. For me, it has plenty of purpose and use this winter.

All I'm suggesting is that you think in a different more scientific way if you want to ask questions on the science section of Yahoo Answers. (Unless you aren't really looking for sience answers)

Answer 3

Okay, PLEASE take my advice and read the following book:

The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins

It will give you the answer to all the questions you asked, and much more than that. You can find it in your local library.
If you care to really know the answers to your questions, you will get the book.
However, if you really aren't looking for an answer and this is one of your fruitless attempts to stump somebody so that you may parade your religion in their face, you have just wasted a whole lot of your time typing all that.

Answer 4

The Universe created life so It could see Itself