Looking at the nature, I see, the ecosystem is designed to propagate the specis. It is an inherent quality of life. If you remove humans from this planet, there is nothing here that can take any of the plant or animal life to elsewhere in the universe. So, my thinking is that we are designed (and hence destined) to move beyond the confines of this planet. Any thoughts?
I think nature has developed a creature perfectly suited to using tools, whether on planets or in space. Our entire body is suited for it. Our arms and hands to grasp and use; our legs to brace and provide leverage; our head in a perfect position to monitor and control. I thkn nature has developed a creature capable of doing whatever it can imagine, eventually. We can imagine space travel, and other worlds; and I think we will do it. Given our perfect build for using tools (in my opinion, although we'll no doubt ocntinue to change in future), and our imagination and ability to create from our imagination, I have no doubt that it is our destiny. Whether that is a common thing in nature is another matter. Also another matter is whether there are methods of transferring life between worlds other than through intelligent tool-using creatures, such as via comets and other things. Is there any standard method in nature which allows life to move from one world to another without the intercession of creatures like us? I don't know. Maybe it's only an occasional accident from smashed planets and asteroid strikes. Maybe organic molecules are brought to planets from the vast clouds of gas and dust in space which contain many organic molecules.
The destiny of humankind will be whatever that it can imagine and take collective interest in. Half of doing is deciding that it can and should be done.
I, too, believe that mankind may be destined to leave this world, but my spin might be a bit different from yours. Consider that we were an evolutionary aberration that survived. Nature, recognizing us as a destructive influence on her ecosystem now pushes our evolution at an accelerated pace so that she can get us the hell off of her planet! :bugeye: Peace.
I also believe that we are destined to move beyond this planet. If we as the human race do not chose this destiny, which I believe is in our reach, we will cease to exist. I like to look at this Migration as Universal Evolution. Look at it from a different angle, maybe this is how we have come to be.
So after we destroy our own planet, we're destined to destroy other perfectly good planets? Great. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The reality of the distances involved makes it unlikely to be anytime soon (as in not within the next century or two). Most likely thing in some distant time would be habitable planets being used like Australia was. Earth packs up the criminals and sends them on a 30 year flight to a neighboring solar system... like a more humane alternative to the death penalty or something. Of course you've got to have more than a few dozen people on a planet in order to have enough genetic diversity for the species to expand. Finding enough people who want to be shipped off with no contact with anyone from earth (say "Hi" and get the response "Hello" back 20 years later at the speed of light) might be hard. Anyhow, it's only been what, 150 years at most that people have thought much about exploring space? That never seemed like human destiny to people before.
I think...nature waited this long for her tree to bear fruit...she can wait till it ripes...a thousand years is not much in cosmic time... I think in a hundred years, we will have the knowledge to move from planet to planet in a matter of a few months and not years.
That relies on a belief that it is theoretically possible for large objects (space ships) to move faster than light. I don't see any reason to believe it's possible. Of course I could be wrong, but I don't see it, seems to me the speed of light is the theoretical limit and the practical limit is a bit lower (at high enough speeds you'd need immense shielding just to protect yourself from being punctured by space dust). I guess I'm just not into destiny anyway. I believe it's the destiny of the human race to live for a while and then die off like everything eventually does.
Oh, sending criminals to Australia worked out fine. Our whole society developed alopng who was the biggest crook. Now we elect the worst criminals into government. Worked out fine. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That is an unsupported brag! I will put my country's elected criminals up against yours any day! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Peace.
I guess most people overseas haven't heard of him, but... Jeff Kennet. He is the real life Darth Vader. I'm not joking.
Okay... this is as far off-topic as I will go. ----- One day, Jeff Kennet is being driven through the Victorian outback, when the driver swerves to avoid a pot hole and hits a pig on the side of the road, killing it. Jeff suggests to the driver that he should go up to the farmhouse and apologize for the accident and offer to pay for the damages. An hour later, the driver returns, with all his clothes torn, holding a bottle of wine in one hand, a Cuban cigar in the other, and swaying left to right as he walked. Jeff asks the driver what happened. "Well, the farmer gave me this bottle, his wife gave me this cigar, and his beautiful 19 year old daughter made passionate love to me!" "Bloody hell - what did you tell them?" "I said 'Hi, I'm Jeff Kennet's driver, and I just killed the pig!'" ----- If we discuss Jeff further, we should move over to the Politics forum. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Peace.
Well now... here's a web page that you might want to check out! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Peace.
Um... aren't you kinda confusing cause and effect ? We evolved in this ecosystem, not the other way around ! We're no pinnacle of evolution. We just happen to have surged ahead in the evolutionary arms race at this point of time. If our species goes extinct, after another billion years or so another might take its place. There is no intended destiny here. But yeah, colonising space or other planets might be a good idea nonetheless. Spreads our risk, in case Earth gets destroyed or inhabitable etc. - Sivakami.
Re: Re: Destiny of Mankind The debate whether we have a purpose in life has been continuing since the "Bhagabat Gita" days...Is it intended or not can only be answered by someone outside of this reality/creation/ nature etc... Does it matter? whether you earn to live or live to earn? If the cause and effect are binding and unchanging...whether you are confused or not ...the inference is the same. Are we having second thoughts of being here?...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Cause and Effect The problem with cause and effect is that when some one sees the effect as the cause, it creates unintended results. Take the example of Israel-Palestine conflict. Ones effect is anothers cause. Talk about confusing.... In business, I see it everyday. A company neglects or treats their customers really bad. They go to the competitor. The company files bankcrupty and blames the competitor. KMart, Gadzooks, Stage stores etc are great examples....
kmguru, that's because all of those things are both causes and effects... but not of the same thing. Every cause is the effect of various other things, and every effect is the result of various causes. If you're talking about the design of the universe, you're talking about an original cause. To say that at the moment of creation the future ecosystem was intended for us is to assume that there was an orignal single cause of everything. Since you can never get back to an original moment in time (there's always an earlier moment) it's hard to see how there could be an original cause like that. Anyway, if the ecosystem is designed to propogate a species, it must be deisgned to propogate bacteria. Since the planet seems to like them so much better than it likes us, I guess that means they're the ones with the great destiny... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That is what I call "Emergent Complexity" or simply "Complexity". I could be persuaded to agree with that....Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. May be that is why the natural spaceships called asteroids keep taking bacterias everywhere. A way to propagate??? (and time to rephrase my original 2 cent opinion "there is nothing" to "there is no creature made vehicle" ) ...for the planet could blow up and take the bacteria with it....to a distant planet...not very efficient means....
Re: Re: Re: Destiny of Mankind By default we dont assume patterns. Therefore, since we dont have any objective evidence of any universal purpose, we believe there isn't one ... until we find (if at all we do) evidence of some divine (or other) purpose. Does it matter if I kill you or you kill me ?! What sort of question is this ? Of course it matters ! How can you confuse cause and effect and say it doesn't matter ?! The inference changes totally. The ecosystem was there long before us. We evolved much later in this ecosystem, so obviously it will be suited to us. No. Why do you ask ?! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! - Sivakami
ssivakami ... Re. "We just happen to have surged ahead in the evolutionary arms race at this point of time." We have? Or did we simply, temporarily, destroy the ecosystems that support other life forms? Other than smallpox, what other lifeforms have we intentionally destroyed that were inimical to our species? Take care Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
