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The human species doesn't matter. Species come and go. The only thing that matter is Life. Life must continue.
by ghssds 1y ago
The human species doesn't matter. Species come and go. The only thing that matter is Life. Life must continue.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- speakfreely 1y agoWell, over a sufficient timeline, humans will just be a common ancestor species of a series of new, distinct species. That's how it goes. It's a bit disappointing to think that billions of years of evolution would result in only hardy bacteria or algae surviving to represent life. I think the continuation of consciousness is a more interesting goal... whether it happens in our carbon-based biology or in some other way is a secondary concern.
- ghssds 1y agoHow do you know bacteria and algae aren't conscious?
- lazide 1y agoI asked them and they told me no.
- IAmBroom 1y agoYou seem unaware of extinction events. Humans are not guaranteed descendent species.
- speakfreely 1y agoUnnecessary snark, especially based on my comment and what I was replying to. Hope your day gets better.
- okayishdefaults 1y agoThis is hacker news, and so I mean this earnestly Why though? Because they have little to no ability to understand the consequences of their actions? ot: have you ever looked into what the proper nomenclature is for dog breeds? None! They have subspecies based on vibes. Species is a human construct, one that doesn't even serve us in our second most familiar of categories. It seems difficult to double down based on a "science" of naming things.
- ghssds 1y ago> Why though? Life matters. A lot. The whole Universe is this big mechanical device that obeys to the law of causality: every change in nature is produced by some cause. For billions of years, this was all there was. Then suddenly Life happened, turning causation on it's head: Life's actions have what Aristotle called a "final cause", that never existed before. Life has at least the goal of survival, and maybe more, yet to be discovered. And this changes the nature of the Universe for the Universe now has will. As for humans, my comment was not meant to disparage them. They are far from perfect, basically apes, and right now they are the best hope we have for Life to survive the Sun. But humans are only a transient form that Life can take. There was Life before humans, let's hope there the will be Life after them. They are no more than a cog, albeit one that may someday reveal itself to be useful.
- deepsun 1y agoYes, but there's no universal law that Life must persist. It's totally possible that Life just dies. Like due to increased solar heat or a random comet. Dinosaurs (and other saurs) wandered Earth for hundreds of millions of years, humans are just a blip on the radar. But dinosaurs wouldn't be able to predict Sun's death and do something about it.