From: Miriam English (miriam@werple.net.au)
Date: Mon Jan 28 2002 - 20:24:25 MST
At 01:01 PM 29/01/2002, Damien Broderick wrote:
>Of course that is very different, as most of us have agreed, from making
>the category mistake of leaping to the pseudo-question: what is *Life's*
>purpose?
Actually, it seems to me that life *does* have a purpose, and that is
simply, and necessarily: life. Life is its own purpose. I suppose,
occasionally lifeforms arise that do not have that as their purpose, but
for that reason they select themselves out of existence. The lifeforms that
remain do so because they promote life -- their own of course, but as a
general rule promoting other life is useful for survival (except for that
sabretooth about to pounce upon you).
Beyond that, intelligence makes its own many, varied, other purposes and
finds all manner of weird and wonderful meanings in any particular thing...
but that is different of course.
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To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
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http://werple.net.au/~miriam
http://members.optushome.com.au/miriame
Virtual Reality Association http://www.vr.org.au
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